Letters From School

Dearest sister,

I have arrived, and it is beyond everything we’ve heard. The crowds and noise of the city would be overwhelming if I hadn’t spent so long doing language training at Holger Station.

The air smells weird here. I’ve been assured it’s perfectly safe, but there are so many different chemicals that once I get used to one scent, another comes along. The strongest come from the eateries, the odors of cooking pouring out to the streets to entice customers in, but as I’m not used to the food, it’s just strange.

I was met at the port by Lt. Stephen Marks. He’s been an absolute gentleman. After he got me set up in my quarters, he took me out for dinner and introduced me to tacos. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but they were flavorful and filling, once I got over the mix of several strong flavors all at once. He has promised to ensure I get as full education an in all the world’s cuisines and cultures as possible.

I’m still nervous about the course, but I have a few days before it starts to get myself settled and get to know some of the other students. To think that I’m the first of our people to attend — it’s a big honor, but you know how I feel about that sort of thing.

I’ll be cutting this letter short, though, as I need to get some rest after the trip and try to “get my internal clock set to local time,” as Stephen puts it.

Give my love to matron. Your loving sister,

Mia.

###

Little sister,

It’s good to hear that you arrived safely. The danger is over, at least until it’s time to come back home. I have no doubt the officer you’re already on a first name basis with, ~Stephen~, will keep you safe.

You know I’m just teasing. But just in case you ~do~ end up getting involved, you have to promise to tell me if the rumors are true. The ones about human males, I mean. Skies be damned, tell me the truth about ~all~ the rumors, but first the one about the males. I crack myself up.

You need to take holos of ~everything~. I’m not the only curious person around here. How does it feel to be surrounded by a bunch of humans? Do they trip over you? How do you keep from getting your tails stepped on?

As far as the “big honor” goes, you’re a war hero whether you want it or not. And before you start with that stupid ~I just did what anybody would do~ nonsense, NO YOU DIDN’T! You did exactly the right thing at the right time and kept an invading army from taking our home. My silly ass would’ve just run away.

That’s why you’re the youngest Commadorer in the army, and I sell fur care products and groom strangers for pay. By the way, I sent you some of the new fur shine I told you about before. You don’t take enough care of yourself, and since I’m not there to groom you, you have to promise to use it when it gets there. If you don’t I’ll slap you ~so hard~. And then I’ll run, because you can thrash your big sister’s tails. No respect for your elders. It’s so sad.

 I know matron wanted you to go into business, but I’m glad you’re in the military instead. I agree with what the Minister of State or whatever said when you got your Super Value Medal. If you hadn’t been there, we’d all be slaves to the Grogant.

I’ll light a candle for you and send your love at matron’s grave when I go tomorrow.

Cuddles and grooms for my beloved little sister, the savior of Meelak and all Mataka

Nia

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Dearest sister,

You are forever a source of exasperation. If you want to know about the “rumor” as you put it, pick up your Xeno Biology book from the class you failed and look it up. You’ll find the answer in the section about Terran mammals (which includes humans.) By the way, yes, most Terran mammal males have their gonads suspended outside their abdomens.

I’m not going to argue with you about hero or not anymore, it’s not worth the hassle. But I don’t know what a “Commadorer” is. I’m the youngest Commander in the Army. Also, the Minister of State had nothing to do with my Commendation for Supreme Valor, (“Super Value Medal”? really? what am I, a sale?) — that was the Director of Military Affairs.

No, the humans don’t step on my tails or trip over me. We’re about the same size as a human child and they seem to instinctively watch out for people our size.

The first few days of the course were all classroom stuff, but still intense. It turns out that the humans have different militaries that all send officers to this course, along with some civilians as well.

They have a force that fights only on the ground (Army), one that fights in the air (Air Force), one dedicated to fighting on and in the water, how weird is that? (Navy — that’s where Stephen is from), one dedicated to fighting in space (Space Force), one that specializes in moving from water or space to land or ship-boarding in both places, (Marines), and even a force that only engages in electronic warfare, (Cyber Force.)

At first, I was confused. How could they keep all the different services coordinated? That’s what this course is about: coordinating the efforts of the different services, civilian organizations, and even militaries from other worlds in a war.

There is a lot I need to catch up on in terms of tactics, but it’s engrossing. I was thoroughly embarrassed, though, to find out that the battle of Meelak was taught as a prime example of a “hold and delay” action. The instructor then had a question-and-answer period, where I had to answer the questions. I honestly didn’t know what I was doing most of the time during Meelak. I just made it up as I went since the Commander was dead.

I got the fur shine today. Thank you, my fur was getting dry. Just because I don’t spend two hours every morning grooming my fur, though, doesn’t mean I’m a slob. Seriously, a full treatment every few days is plenty. I’m not trying to be a model. Besides, you got all the looks in the family.

I need to turn in. We’re heading out early in the morning to begin a training exercise involving all the different services. Stephen will be on a ship — as in a water ship, while I’ll be working with an Army mechanized infantry unit. They’ve outfitted me with a modified, smaller version of their uniform (with a hole for my tails) and a civilian pack that’s more suited to my size. They even found a plate carrier and plates small enough for me but, skies above, all this stuff is heavy.

I probably won’t have a chance to send another letter until the end of the course, as the next few weeks will be spent on the exercise, which takes place all over the planet.

All my love,

Mia

###

Little sister,

I don’t care what your award is called, it’s awesome and you’re awesome. My award is that I have the ~best sister in the whole galaxy~!

I don’t know when you’ll get this, since you said you’ll be moving all over the place, but I’m thinking of you every day.

You were right about the bio book, it even had drawings. WEIRD!

Lezl has been reading your letters, by the way, and says hi. She also said you called me dumb in your last letter but I didn’t see it anywhere. That just made her LAUGH at me! I think she made that up just to tease. Thanks for admitting that I’m the prettier one, though. You’re ~so sweet~!

It sounds like the humans are overdoing it on the different militaries. Kind of like using fur shine, then washing with deep rinse, then doing a steam treatment, and then, whatever. You get what I mean. It’s good we just have the army and you are the ~Commander~!

Have fun exercising, and I can’t wait to hear how it went.

Cuddles and grooms,

Nia

###

Dearest sister,

First, allow me to correct something you said. I am not The Commander of the Army, I am A Commander in the Army. I’m in charge of a cohort, what the Terran Army calls a company. In this course, though, we get the chance to take command of an entire brigade combat team, (about the same size as what we call a major combat group), and coordinate with the other services’ teams.

And it’s not that I was out exercising, (although I got plenty of that), the training simulation is called an exercise. We are fighting (with fake rounds) the Opposing Force (OPFOR) made up of other units from the human militaries. While the OPFOR was meant to be generic, the units and tactics they used were exactly like the Grogant. If we’d had this sort of training and cohesion, we could’ve driven them back in half the time, without having to resort to orbital bombardment of three whole cities to get rid of them.

In other words, we “won” the exercise and defeated the OPFOR in a matter of weeks. The training ended with live fire demonstrations of the human “rods from god” which is what they call heavy tungsten rods released from orbit with no guidance or explosives. They are far more precise and cause less surrounding damage than our own orbital bombardment, but still more than enough to demolish a Grogant carrier spike ship with full shields. (How they got one that works is beyond me, and I know better than to ask.)

The different militaries: yes, it does somewhat seem like they’ve overcomplicated it, but it all works together so well that it makes our own Army look somewhat lackluster. Imagine if the major combat groups and cohorts only focused on one type of warfare. Just one thing, rather than being expected to provide ship-board security, then do a boarding action, then defend on the ground, then drive armor, then use artillery, then work to repair vehicles, and so on. We’d be much better at it if we specialized in one job. In this case, the humans have the right of it. Considering that only deep space navigators and trans-light pilots are specialized, we’re all just sort of okay at everything and an expert at nothing.

One thing that surprised me was that your letter got here as quickly as it did. The humans have logistics down to a science. It’s been made clear to me through the exercise that logistics are what makes or breaks a military and can decide battles and even wars.

I would’ve written back sooner but was too busy. Even though it was for training, it was exhausting and hard. They have a saying that exactly translated is, “Don’t use only half your haunches while training. How you train is how you will fight.” I think the first part of that means give it your all. The humans have a lot of sayings involving their haunches; maybe because they don’t have tails. Who knows?

Anyway, I’m heading home tomorrow, so I should be there no more than a day or two after this letter reaches you. I’m bringing home my certificate from the Terran Joint and Combined Warfighting School, a host of things to teach to my higher-ups in the Army, an honorary commission as a Captain in the Terran Army, and contacts of some new friends. Sorry, I only managed to make about three hundred holos, I know you’ll complain it’s not enough.

See you soon, dear sister,

Mia.