Machine Learning (Captain Allen and DPD SWAT POV)

"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 other "test run" squads. There was one other Marine detachment, two in the Army, and one in the Navy. My androids in Afghanistan outperformed every single other team in effectiveness, team cohesiveness, and ability to take orders. They benched so well against the others, in fact, that Henderson thought it was a good idea to jump a few steps ahead and put them to the real test: Deployment.

It marked the first official instance that they'd get shipped out where real bad guys would be shooting real guns, and really trying to kill us. 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. Needless to say, there was a lot riding on that mission. But first, we had to make it back alive.

"You know..." I knocked back a beer, pausing before continuing my speech, "Way back when, 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, "I'm not sure, Staff Sergeant."

"She wanted front-row parking privileges at the local 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 loaded cart."

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 a couple of days. 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..."

"So you feel guilty for leaving them?" Phil asked.

"No." I emptied my beer down my throat, and leaned an elbow on my desk, "I feel guilty because I'm anxious to go back. I feel guilty because I miss being out here with my Marines chasing down the bad guys. I feel guilty because when I'm home, way in the back of my mind, I'm itching for leave to end." I rubbed my eyes, yawning, "It was a lot worse when I was younger. I was hooked on the constant danger. I felt like I had a swarm of brothers and sisters to get back to so the party could go on. Nowadays, it's a responsibility thing, like I can't be away for too long or someone will die that could've been saved if I'd been here."