Chapter 6

ALL IN ALL, Remnant hunting wasn't very exciting. Royce was both relieved and somewhat disappointed at the discovery, realizing the patrol job he and Peter had been assigned consisted mostly of striding down streets as people hurriedly shut their doors and windows at the sight of them.

Peter, Royce mused, had been dealt a bad hand in the Hunter Guard business; Remnant encounters were rare. Still, the way Peter walked, the way he held his rifle, spoke of imminent violence, whether a threat presented itself or not. Royce felt a little uneasy at the sight of Peter striding down the middle of the empty street in his gleaming crimson armor. He tried to imagine how the average citizen would feel, and then thought better of it. Stay focused. Stay on patrol.

"Hang a left up ahead," Peter said.

"Roger," said Royce. They had made the same turn at least seven times already.

They swung easily around the corner and continued their patrol. Royce glanced at the small digital clock on his helmet's heads-up display and sighed quietly when he saw it was still two hours until Pil II's midnight.

"You say something?" Peter asked.

"Damn," Royce said, realizing what he'd done. "Left the channel open. Just a long first assignment is all."

"I hear that. At least the weather here isn't bad. I spent a while doing patrols on Frost. So cold there my armor's knee joints froze. My partner had to break them loose."

"I can't even imagine," Royce said. "Back on Newton it was always pretty warm. I never owned a coat until I enlisted."

"Funny how that happens," Peter said. "We spend our whole lives in one place, doing one thing. Then we get off-world and we realize how little we've done. Still boggles my mind."

"Yeah," Royce said. Becoming a Guard was surely different from farming, but it still seemed to line up with commercials on the TeleNetwork. See different worlds! Meet interesting people! Protect the Sovereignty! Enlist today! Royce wondered how much of the Sovereignty he actually protected by patrolling this small section of streets over and over again.

"I" Royce began, thinking. "I do miss home."

"Don't we all?" Peter said. "Weª"

"Attention," an urgent voice came over the channel. "Attention. All nearby units, we are requesting backup."

Royce heard gunfire over the channel and halted alongside Peter.

"Confirmed Remnant activity," the voice continued. "Sending coordinates now. Converge on our location immediately. Over."

Royce's HUD generated a map of the immediate area and highlighted a path to the coordinates the other Guard had sent.

"Looks like you're about to see some action, Collins," said Peter. "Let's go."

"Roger," Royce said, conscious of his now-rapid heartbeat. He knew he should have felt afraid, but instead he felt more on edge, ready to strike. He had been trained for this.

Peter jogged down the street and Royce followed close behind, his finger close to the trigger of his rifle.