Machine Learning (Captain Allen and DPD SWAT POV)

Field Test

"Before God, I swear this creed. My rifle and I are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life."

After a few months with the brave little toasters, I started getting reports about those in other squads in comparison. There was one other Marine detachment, two in the Army, and one in the Navy. Our androids in Afghanistan out-performed every single other team in effectiveness, team cohesiveness, and ability to take orders. They benched so well against the others that our commanding officer thought it was a good idea to jump a few steps ahead and put them to the real test...deployment.

The first time they'd get shipped out where real bad guys would be shooting real guns, and really trying to kill us – and them. I guess I can't say first time. First planned time. It was easy to forget these idiots were responsible for me being alive right now after what happened in the tunnels. Either way, my reward if the mission was successful? Getting my old squad back.

Apparently there was room on the team for everyone, and I would receive a hard-earned promotion while leading a larger team than before – each human paired with an android. There was a lot riding on this. But first, we had to make it back alive.

"You know..." I knocked back a beer, pausing before continuing my speech, "Back home, my wife always gave me shit about not moving up in the ranks fast enough. Jokingly, of course...well, probably not, but she delivered it like one. Wanna know why?"

Phil, who was in my tent-office, sat in a chair in the corner of the room. He gave me a shrug and a confused look.

"More money to raise your daughter? I'm not sure, Staff Sergeant."

"She wanted to be closer to the front of the grocery store..." I chuckled, "The higher rank your significant other is, the closer you can park to the door. She got tired of having to walk extra rows back with a baby strapped to her hip and a cart full of groceries."

Phil smiled, "I can imagine one of the many hardships of raising a child by yourself is having to take them everywhere."

I winced on the inside. I knew he didn't mean anything by it, and that Sadie having to raise Tali by herself the majority of her life was a simple fact.

"Yeah..." I drank a lot more beer after that, "I can imagine, too."

"Can I ask you a personal question, Staff Sergeant?"

"You're going to anyway..."

"Not if you tell me no."

"Bullshit."

The two of us stared at each other, deadlocked, before I finally broke down.

"Fine, go ahead."

"What's it like when you go home to see them?

He was quick to ask. It must've been on his mind for awhile. Questions like these made me hate these conversations with him. I hummed to myself, adjusting in my chair, my feet resting on a milk crate flipped upside down.

"Strange." I settled for that word, "It can be hard sometimes."

"Interesting..." Phil seemed to wonder the idea, "I thought it would've been a happy moment in your lives, resembling a reunion."

"It is, after the first few minutes and a couple of days pass after the fact. When that initial adrenaline wears off, it's...awkward. At least for me. I don't feel like Sadie's husband, I don't feel like Tali's father, I feel like a long-lost friend that's in town visiting for the weekend. And then what really tears me up inside is when I leave, knowing I'm going to miss more of their lives, knowing they ask themselves why I leave them all the time..."