"You know how we tell a new guy? They kick rocks. It’s human, I guess. We’re tactile sons of bitches, right? There’s some part of our monkey brains that never grows past the stage where you chew on your hands and try to shove blocks into holes."
There hasn't been a real war on Terra for 150 years. But that doesn't mean she hasn't needed soldiers. Gabriella Bishop, a former marine who saw more than her share of combat in things that weren't actually wars, has one more chance to keep her classification, and it's in the form of a recently-separated "Orbital Buddy" named Ace. It's just that Ace wants her help about as much as she wants to give it. But sometimes, the only one who can get through to a new veteran is an old one.