While Nico and Corporal Walker were deep in discussions about the fine-tuning of the energy blade the Officers of Central Command were deep in discussion about how to avert a political disaster.

Somehow word had gotten out to the Anti Monarchist faction that the first wave of troops to land had taken heavy casualties against the Narsians and they were going all out to paint the Royal family as callous Warmongers who were too detached from the consequences of their actions.

For this reason, the Nobles who ran the bureaucracy insisted, that they should be removed and the more caring and connected politicians should take over.

It was an easy sell to the civilians who had never seen war and those who lost loved ones. The ones who would never understand that every battle in the last ten years was a defensive one, protecting their allied planets.

So Central Command needed to do something in coordination with army intelligence to salvage the situation.

They were already hunting down the informants, but the easiest answer was an intensive propaganda campaign. The recruitment from Kepler 111 would be folded into other units as an auxiliary reinforcement, with the survivor’s registration numbers altered to hide the total numbers.

Nobody would ever be able to prove how many were lost and they could paint the entire mission as heroic work to save civilians from hostile aliens.

The more truth there is in a propaganda campaign, the more effective the lies you folded in will be after all.

To the allied worlds, the initial force won’t have taken heavy casualties, they will have joined the following waves as experienced local guides and bonded with their new units.

Since the following waves of arrivals were much larger, the numbers will easily vanish in the fog of missing-in-action soldiers that are expected after any large battle. By the time the casualty lists are finalized the uproar will have died down and the propaganda department will be launching its own offensive, accusing those spreading negative reports of being traitors to humanity.

Is not the first time they have done something similar, and the ones making the most noise against the Emperor will quietly disappear over the next few years.

“For this to work, we need a public face. Someone from the first wave that we can show in the thick of battle. It needs to be a unit that didn’t lose many officers, so we can make a big deal of promoting them. Emperor knows we have enough vacancies.” One of the Generals suggests, checking his reports.

“What about these ones? There’s lots of good footage of them in combat, they still have all six of their officers, two Majors, and four Captains, plus the Bronze and white is pretty photogenic.” Another General suggests, bringing up a short video of the Narsians charging at Tarith’s Rage which appears to be taunting them with its sword while the artillery fire of the Carpe Noctem rains down around it.

“The two Majors are my Proteges, so I would ask that they be kept together.” General Tennant informs the group, looking over the footage that they have.

“It looks like the Tech Department has already claimed them for a special project. I’ll send the group the data logs. From what I can see here, the two Majors both managed to meet or exceed the maximum design parameters of the Crusader Class Mecha Chassis. They must be absolute monsters in the cockpit if they are faster than the machine can keep up with. No wonder you wanted them for yourself, Tennant.” General Mons laughs, connected to the group chat via the holographic link from the Carpe Noctem.

The Generals looked over the data set that Tech had provided along with their request for transfer and found that one of the two routinely pushed the movement of the Mecha well beyond design parameters, while the other had an astounding rate of fire with precise targeting adjustments between every shot. It was the precision that had caught the Tech department’s eye initially. It suggested to them that he had a System skill that was well suited to their newest project. The incredible rate of fire was simply a bonus they would have to examine later.

“That works in our favor then. We won’t even need to make up a reward for them. Tech will do it for us and the messaging group can spin it however they like. Why don’t we send the others to you General Mons? They can take a promotion and become Company Commanders to replace the ones you lost, and we will fold a chunk of the recruits from Kepler 111 into your Regiment to make up the numbers?” The head of the committee announces.

He might have phrased it as a question, but he had already made the decision. The Special Tactics Unit will be broken up, with the infantry forming a new Special Forces Unit, and a round of promotions will be announced in a few weeks, once they are safely away from the battlefield.

The orders that make it to the Unit are simple ones:

[Stalwart Special Tactics Unit will join Noctem Regiment aboard Abraham Kepler, headed to the Orbital base in orbit of Comor for designated Relaxation time before redeployment.]

“Good news everyone. Orders are in and we are boarding a Lander in the first group to head up. Abraham Kepler will be taking us to Comor, a heavily populated planetary system with two designated vacation worlds plus the industrial hub world.” Max informed the unit, turning the quiet discipline into raucous cheering and dancing.

A system with vacation planets was the very best of options. The vacation designation meant that they had been terraformed after the expansion of the main planet’s population, and hadn’t had their natural beauty exploited for resources. They were paradise worlds, intended for nothing but pure enjoyment.

They didn’t even have to go looking for a working Lander, one was being sent for them that same evening to leave in the morning. That cut their time on the planet almost a day shorter than they had anticipated, and for Max, it couldn’t be soon enough.