You started working for real the next morning, when you had already ordered your barrack just as you wanted and you had been in full force.

First of all, you unpacked your clothes with delicacy and precision; that was the typical uniform of a warrant officer and consisted in a long-sleeves white shirt, but meticulously folded around your elbows, and a black knee-length skirt with a pair of dark tights and low-heeled shoes. Because of the heat, you avoided wearing an officer's hat.

Then, you fixed your hair by placing a zig zag headband on it and put a few lines of black pencil around your eyes and a transparent lip gloss on your rosy mouth.

《Now I'm ready!》  You said looking in the mirror with your hands resting on your hips and a smile printed on your face.

There, officer's badge stood out proudly on your left chest.

Once outside, the first thing you did was head to the boss's office...Rachel would have let you know everything you needed about the unit.

《Marines, right?》  You said as you checked each soldier's papers.

《Yes, there are about a dozen of them, but less would be enough for what we have to do in a couple of days.》  The field officer answered by leaning towards the same papers on the desk.

At that moment, something else came to your mind.

《Could I have the files of the squad members of Mailman 2-1? It's important I know the requirements, in order to be able to judge these guys as well as possible.》

The older woman agreed and left you the login credentials to access the team's personal information; you took a laptop out of your bag and did what you had to do browsing through the various pages...

Until you started reading the squad leader's card.

Let's find out who you really are, Jason Kolchek.

As you thought, the first lieutenant was a Force Reconnaissance Marine...anyway, you were a little surprised to know that he was just four years older than you. Well, not that he looked older and you could tell by his physical appearance.

Not that you were interested in that, of course, and chuckled carelessly.

According to his biography, he had southern origins and this explained his accent, and his poorly professional and rough approach of the previous day...another detail you had discovered was that he wasn't married and had no children waiting for him at home, but that was superficial, not to mention useless for you.

Anyhow, you were so focused reading the screen that didn't notice the presence behind you.

《Either your cursor is stuck or you're enjoying reading, Miss Hale.》  You recognized Rachel's voice, who was sitting on the table next to you.

《...I was thinking it's a shame he's a senior, I could give him a taste of my discipline at this hour.》  You chuckled again as you backed up with the chair, crossing your arms in front of the chest.

The caramel woman turned for a second with a hidden smile on her lips, she seemed to understand that you didn't like the soldier in the baseball cap.

《Yeah, he's a very confident man, but that's the reason he's considered one of the best...I advise you not to doubt him so soon.》

You didn't say anything, leaving her the last word before she left you alone.

Anyway, you had to leave too, so you turned off your PC. You had a lesson to teach in the field.

• • •

《ATTENTION!》

The men in front of you formed a composed, silent line.

You did it to call back order, as well as thinking of that as such a satisfaction for you.

《I'm Warrant Officer Hale. I'll take care of your military growth in the Camp Slayer from now on.》  You screamed with your voice and in the right tone.

But unexpectedly, the others laughed, starting to sound unpleasant with bad jokes and all of that was quite frustrating.

I see, these thugs aren't taking me seriously.

But before you could say anything else, someone stopped beside you.

《Respect guys, this isn't the way to treat your supervisor.》

Apparently, First Lieutenant Kolchek had come to your rescue.

《What are you doing here?》  You asked looking up at him, not appreciating his intervention.

《I'm in charge of this men, it's my duty to make sure they don't do bullshit.》  But he added  《Any problems?》

You raised an eyebrow annoyed by his last sentence. He was a problem.

《No, I know exactly what I'm doing, Lieutenant.》  You sentenced by wiping away a little sweat that fell on your forehead.

But when you turned to the soldiers, they had scattered all over the camp, going back to what they were doing before.

《Eh, I don't think so.》  Jason added without holding back a grimace under the visor and noticed how embarrassed you were because of that.

Well, that was definitely a punishment for you.

Determined not to stay that way, you clenched your fists and turned completely to him defiantly.

《T-this is because your men don't know discipline! Anyway, this is my job, I ask you not to meddle.》

You said as you looked him straight in his face and with your arms folded at your hips.
The marine couldn't help but stare at those doe eyes of yours and the glitter on your lips, all of that definitely contradicted your stubborn temper.

And he just couldn't stand it.

《I get it, I'll leave you to your business then.》  He said before leaving, snorting without being heard.

However, you didn't stop staring at his back. Just then, Rachel's words came back into your mind and realized you had made a mistake, again, in treating him like that.

Dammit, this is not the way to behave Y/n!

《L-Lieutenant Kolchek, wait a moment!》  You hurried a few steps in his direction and miraculously the other stopped.

《...what now?》  His tone sounded harsher than before, but Jason had decided to do it because he knew you would have been affected.

And it worked great.

《Uhm, I think I can't do this by myself...not without you. You are the leader of the team, after all.》  You stared down when you said those words, you hated admitting you were wrong.

But because of that, you couldn't see the dimple on his cheek as he gave an amused smile.

《Afraid of making more mistakes, Miss Marshal?》  Jason raised an eyebrow tilting the head to one side.

But you started looking into his brown eyes again.

《Not really, but maybe you want me to pay for what happened yesterday. And please, stop calling me that.》  You said without forgetting what happened the day before; Jason stood thinking about it, making you wait in the scorching sun.

Heck, this sun is literally melting me! Can't we discuss it elsewhere?!

《I'm not a resentful one. And yeah, it was also my fault.》  Then, Kolchek's expression softened again. In a way, you were relieved.

It was probably the heat, but his smile left you a little fuzzy, like you weren't expecting every time he did that.

《Shall we go?》  He asked, waking you up from your foolish thoughts; you recomposed yourself by casually adjusting the closed collar of your shirt.

《Sure. Lead me on, Lieutenant.》

You both went back to the middle of the field and, with a notebook in hand, you took note of your superior's explanations and wrote down everything that could be useful for your report. You had to admit he wasn't a great speaker and often words slipped away due to his accent, but you saw him very competent in his role...you were wrong to judge him too quickly.

For his part, Jason Kolchek tried to give you any information, stopping every time you asked him a question...not that it bothered him, on the contrary it was much better when you spoke quietly without accusing anything or anyone.
When he watched you write with absolute care, bending your head towards the piece of paper, he couldn't help but think you were so small...and pretty.

Of course, he was hallucinating from the heat too and turned immediately when you finished writing.

《We can even go back now, I'm literally going crazy out here!》  You sighed as you wiped the sweat off your face all the time.  《How can you handle it with all that stuff on?》

He wore a lot of those on, like the body armor and a gray and green shemagh around his neck...well, he was really cool, but you tried to deny it.

Mpf, I prefer the uniform more.

This time, it was Jason's turn to adjust the cap on his head.

《Well, I'm used to it by now and I prefer to be ready for anything.》  You just nodded to that as you walked on the sand.

Speaking of that, it was your weakness. You paralyzed yourself when you lost control of the situation and that was something you had to work on, especially now that your promotion was close...and you were sure that place would have helped you a lot.

But now, you thought things could be easier, now that you had settled the matter with the first lieutenant...who knew, maybe you could really be teammates.

Suddenly, you stopped walking when two figures approached you two.

《Sergeant Kay. Corporal Merwin.》  You said greeting your subordinates politely.

The corporal gave you a cheeky smile, while Nick glanced at his friend wondering why he was with you, but Jason ignored him.

《How did your first day go, ma'am?》  The corporal asked taking a few steps forward, noticing you just put the pen in your right breast pocket.

《It could have been worse, but thanks to your leader everything went well.》  But you added  《And I think I'm too young to be called that, anyway...》

《Eh, as you like, princess.》  Merwin kept joking with you in front of the other two.

《Weren't the girls met in the town enough for ya, Corporal?》  Suddenly, Jason scolded his man in front of the group and you turned in his direction questioningly.

《...what's wrong Lieutenant, you're afraid that I make her fall for me?》  Nathan replied in a sarcastic tone with the aim of provoking him.

At this point, you crossed your arms behind the back.

《Well, I like confident men so I hope this spirit of yours is no less on the battlefield too, Corporal.》

Those words caused Nick to giggle, while Jason and Merwin were dumbfounded, probably unprepared for your joke.

《You bet, sweetheart, I'm the best technician of the Camp Slayer!!》  He mumbled as if his pride had just been trampled, and mostly by a little girl like you...

But you had to leave that funny talk soon.

《With your permission, I have to go back to the King now.》  You said, as your last glance fell on Jason.

《And thanks again for today, Lieutenant Kolchek.》  You smiled before turning your back on the three men, but just the sergeant noticed something, definitely...

When two of them were alone, Nick patted Jason's shoulder.

《What was that?》  He said jokingly with a grin.

But the cap boy didn't understand, or pretended to do that.

《I don't know what you're talking about, she just needed a hand with the guys out there.》

Between the two, Nick was the romantic type, of course noticed Jason staring at you from the first meeting.

《Well, she's a beautiful girl...and she's boobs the way you like–》

《Ok cut it out now. Anyway, she's too young for my taste.》  Jason turned to stare at him with narrow eyes, he regretted talking about those things with him.

But Nick raised an eyebrow not believing it at all.  《...I'm just saying you shouldn't let her get away.》

《And you should remember why we're here, Sergeant.》  Eventually, Jason walked away not wanting to keep that weird conversation with his friend, who couldn't help but sigh deeply.

• • •

Rachel King wasn't in her office. You had your report ready, but as there was no trace of the field officer, you decided to leave it on his desk.

After that, you headed into the briefing room and observed she wasn't even there. Well, the palace was quite big, but you doubted she had wanted to explore that ruined building.

Besides being hot, that place could be really boring when there was nothing to do and now you had both of them, as your supervisor was busy elsewhere. After refreshed yourself, you took a seat behind one of those PCs scattered around the room and thought about what you did earlier...and just later, you realized you had smiled at the first lieutenant.

I could just walk away...what the heck!

But you had to admit that you did a good job with him and thought it was the least to thank him.

At that moment, the lance corporal walked in there and was a little surprised to see you.

《Miss Hale, what are you doing here?》  The soldier adjusted his glasses, clearly embarrassed, probably because of his friend Merwin and his jokes.

《Nothing really, I was looking for the field officer but I couldn't find her anywhere.》  Then, you asked him if he had seen her, but he just shook his head.

《Just call me Joey, everyone does it and you're part of the team now.》  He added with a more convincing smile and you returned it.

《I'm glad to hear that.》

You could talk more easily with Joey, he was completely different from corporal and when you asked him how he could handle him all day, he started laughing.

You had to admit his smile was cute...

...but the first lieutenant's was better.

You petrified instantly. You couldn't have thought that for real, and in front of someone else!

Anyway, Joey noticed that you were blushing.

《...are you okay?》  He asked politely and you left him a simple nod.

《Yeah, that's nothing.》