"So, what's your story, Francis?" Ash inquired as they collected their darts off the board. "Ya may have some fun stories, but ya haven't really talked about yourself."

"What'd'ya wanna know?" he asked apprehensively.

Ash rolled her bruised shoulder.  She had put on some topical ointment to reduce the pain before they left for the bar, but it was still stiff.  She hoped it wouldn't impact her performance after challenging Francis in darts.

"Well, I remember yesterday that Charlie mentioned ya lost your hearin' in the war.  Let's start with that."

"Are ya gonna start, or should I?" he asked, pointing at the board.

"Oh, well, I'll start."  Ash focused as she stood up on the line to throw, then paused.  "Just doin' 501, right?"

"Yeah," he answered.  She lined up her shot again.  "I joinded the revolution right after it started.  Was in the Third Light Infantry Division at the beginnin'."

Ash threw her three during his explanation.  "Low ton," she said proudly after she finished.

"Not a bad start," he replied as he lined up.

"So ya fought in all four years of the war?"  She rolled her shoulder again to try to loosen it.

Francis nodded as he threw his first dart.  "Started in Third LID, then was selected to go into heavy assault school.  Became heavy assault infantry after that."

"Seventy-five, not bad," she complimented.  Her first round was almost double his points at 140.  "So ya saw a lotta action durin' the revolution.  Where all did ya fight?"

She lined up and looked at him.  He was looking away toward an empty corner of the bar.

"Francis?" she asked with concern.

"Sony.  Was in both battles of Kusa, both battles of New Tibet, both battles of Ankara."

"Shit.  I had a friend who was in heavy assault infantry.  He was KIA in the Second Battle of Kusa."

"A lot of HAIs were killed in that battle, a lot of 'em green," he said distantly.

She could see bad memories pop up in his mind as his smile slowly faded.  As heavy assault infantry in the war, she knew that he would have been in some of the worst fighting.  She had heard stories about the retaking of New Tibet, Ankara, and Kusa, and all three of them required horrific urban combat.  The kind of combat that was at close range and visceral.

To make matters worse, she heard that New Tibet was a battle that took twice as long because the Independent Frontier Systems Alliance military told its citizens to leave before a certain day, but the message was intercepted by the Federal Navy, which allowed the Feddies to prepare.

The liberation of Ankara was worse because the IFSA military decided not to warn anyone, and civilians were killed by both sides as they were caught in the crossfire.  The IFSA brass decided to warn the citizens to leave before a certain date, so when the Federal Marines concentrated the day before, the IFSA Navy attacked the Feddies, and leveled most of the city from orbit to take as many Feddie marines as possible.  The Indie fleet shot at the city indiscriminately, hoping that there weren't many civilians left, but many civilians refused to leave.  Both the Feddie marines and the remaining civilians suffered a lot of casualties.

"Y'all want shots?" a waitress asked.  Both of them pulled away from what they were thinking and looked at her.

"Yeah, dressed shot of Juan Diego for me with a Jumper for a chaser," Francis replied.

"Ya got Korzeck?" Ash inquired.  The waitress confirmed.  "Shot of that and come back five minutes after that for another Cornucopia."