The Bennett Family

"Lee Pachinyang used to work at Wolf Industries. When the war broke out and the economy went into a depression, the company laid him off, so he joined the military. Lee takes everything he does seriously and is never careless. Well, if you meet him, you'll definitely remember his deep black eyes, like the depths of space."

Rick stared at Augustus without looking away. For a moment, he felt that Augustus was like an older brother to these men, knowing his subordinates as well as he knew brothers he'd grown up with. Augustus fretted over their bad habits and took pride in their strengths, and that photograph was like a family portrait.

Back in boot camp, few people in Rick's squad had been willing to talk to him either. He didn't like communicating with people, and he wasn't funny or entertaining. Most importantly, whenever he smiled, it always seemed fake.

Though Rick had corrected his smile in the mirror countless times during boot camp, trying to make it look more natural, that hadn't made him any more popular.

Rick had once been part of one of Tarsonis's Old Families. He'd grown up in a privileged but extremely sheltered environment. In Tarsonis City, where vast slums still sprawled, Rick's life would have seemed like heaven to those at the bottom who could barely scrape by.

But in Rick's heart, everything came at a price.

From childhood onward, Rick had never once stepped outside the several-hundred-story Bennett Sky Tower that his family owned in the heart of Tarsonis City. The people he saw most often were his nanny, butler, and maids. He had a whole staff of private tutors to teach him economics, politics, art, management, history, and noble etiquette.

On top of that, Rick had to study aerospace engineering, starship construction, interstellar port management, and other subjects closely tied to his family's businesses. When Rick was five, his father gave him a homework assignment: which costs in the interstellar barge transportation network should be cut to increase profits? Rick's answer was people.

His parents had never let anyone outside the family and their servants get close to their son. That was, of course, partly to keep their children out of the public eye as much as possible and reduce the risk of kidnapping.

But Rick knew they simply wanted to ensure that their son, who possessed the best genes of two great families, would become the heir they wanted, completely free from outside interference.

Rick disliked politics. He knew all too well the schemes and intrigues the Old Families used against one another. All the Old Families were both friends and enemies. They formed alliances for profit and power, and they also drew their swords against one another for even greater power and profit. The leaders of the Old Families were monarchs of vast business empires, and their families were the royal courts within those empires.

As the economic and political heart of the Terran Confederacy, Tarsonis had spent the past few decades siphoning off the resources of other planets through commodity dumping, land grabs, economic sanctions, and other means, all to fuel its own growth.

The Terran Confederacy was like a pressure cooker set over a raging fire. Hundreds of planets, such as Korhal IV and Turaxis II, were tossed into the pot and boiled until flesh separated from bone, until every last nutrient and scrap of nourishment had been extracted, leaving nothing but skeletons behind.

This life, like that of a prince in a royal court, left Rick feeling truly empty. For eighteen years, his days had been monotonous, each one indistinguishable from the last.

Every day, he looked down from the top floor of Bennett Sky Tower at bustling Tarsonis, watching hundreds of skyscrapers and sky towers cut the deep blue sky into jagged strips.

But just like every other city in the Terran Confederacy, behind the grand skyscrapers stretched miles of slums. Beneath the dazzling, beautiful buildings lay a gray expanse, where rivers of industrial wastewater flowed and piles of discarded parts and trash from the upper classes accumulated.

People who never saw the sunlight lived in shacks built from scrap metal. This most wretched hell on earth in the Terran Confederacy existed on the edge of law and morality.

Rick knew that the slums were where poor people lived, and he knew how painful their lives must be. But it all felt so unreal to him, just like the bustling Tarsonis outside his window. He couldn't reach any of it.

If Rick had been the family's only heir, he asked himself, perhaps he could have endured that life. Sooner or later, he would take charge of the Bennett Family and gain his freedom. But he had a sister who was far more capable than he was and much better at managing businesses. She had already been all but confirmed as the family's heir.

From then on, Rick's future looked bleak. He wouldn't receive any businesses, starports, or space stations owned by the family, lest its assets and power be divided.

After his father decided that Rick should marry a noblewoman from another family to seal a political alliance, Rick resolutely fled home, unwilling to be shackled—even though the noblewoman looked charming and beautiful in her photographs and portraits. He concealed his Bennett surname, kept his background secret, and joined the Marine Corps, determined to seek a future of his own.

"Why the long face? Smile a little," Augustus said when he noticed Rick looked troubled.

Rick knew his smile must have looked awful.

"From now on, 1st Squad, 3rd Platoon is your home," Augustus said. "We're all brothers here."

After Rick Kydd was assigned to 1st Squad, the squad had thirteen members, already over its standard strength.

The sniper insignia on Rick's uniform and the long, elegant FN-92 Boatswain Sniper Rifle slung over his shoulder made the soldiers in 1st Squad—Raynor especially—green with envy. Rick still seemed rather reserved around everyone, though.

After spending some time together, Harnack concluded that Rick came from a noble or wealthy family, even though Rick didn't want to talk about his background. After all, he didn't even know a single good, loud curse word.

When they learned Augustus had been promoted to lance corporal, everyone in the squad had been prepared for it, but they still went wild with joy. Lance corporal was the transitional rank between enlisted men and noncommissioned officers, which meant Augustus would soon be promoted to corporal at the same rapid pace.

After their initial surprise came an overwhelming sense of pride. During their two-plus months together in boot camp, they had come to think of Augustus as one of their own. There was no doubt that Augustus had become the heart and soul of the squad.

That evening, Augustus had wanted to take the squad out for a big meal, just as he had back in boot camp, to celebrate his promotion. Unfortunately, Camp 5 had nothing but an airdropped supply depot and a mess hall. The camp's cooks only ever made a handful of dishes: stewed potatoes, vegetable soup, and boiled pork sausages.

Even those meals weren't something the Marines could count on. Often, all they had to eat were heat-and-serve meals or nutrient bars.

After training ended at eight that evening, while the others were busy with their own things, playing cards or reading e-books, Augustus sat down to write a letter to his sister and mother.

Ever since he left Korhal, Augustus had made time to write letters every week.

As always, in his letters to Dorothy, Augustus never mentioned the brutality of the battlefield or politics. He mostly wrote about the beautiful stars beyond Korhal and the local customs near their base. In his letters to his mother, he would ask how things were at home, and sometimes ask about his father and his revolutionary cause.

Augustus knew those letters would make his parents happy.

Thanks to Lotus Root Stewed Dragon, Clement001, and Agent Rongrong for the tips. Thanks to A Dream of a Thousand Years, Yada Who Was Driven Out, Clement001, Teng Lingxiao, The Little Hero Who Cannot Be Killed, Jinghu Yejing, and Waffle Famine for the monthly tickets. Thanks for the investments and recommendation tickets!

I just found out that after the Writer's Assistant website was updated, it stopped auto-saving on my computer. No wonder some parts were still wrong even though I'd clearly edited them.