"I don't want to interrupt," you say smoothly, spotting Amori seated nearby. "But I figured the least I could do was service my own weapon."
"That's not necessary, sir," Shah says with a frown. "No doubt you have other duties to attend to."
"In an hour or so," you reply, stepping past him. "But until then I'll make myself useful."
Shah says nothing, but Amori is rising to his feet with his usual grin. His own rifle is partially disassembled on the deck.
"I was going to do your weapon next," he says, motioning you toward the arms locker. "But let me get it so I can walk you through it, sir."
"Don't think I know how to service a rifle, Trooper?" you ask good-naturedly.
"I refuse to reply," he says loudly enough for the other troopers to hear, "for fear that I may incriminate myself."
You join in the laughter as you follow him into the heavily reinforced room. The arms locker is a tight fit, but you manage to squeeze in past a few stacked crates of ammunition as you follow Amori further in.
He unlocks your rifle and quickly checks it over before handing it to you.
"Are you feeling recovered, sir?" he asks.
"More or less," you reply, making a show of flexing your sore shoulders. "You?"
"Never better," he says with a wry grin.
It takes him a moment to secure the locks again and turns to face you. His holds your gaze for a moment, but seems unusually subdued suddenly.
"We took some damage on that last mission," he says, nodding toward where you know the platoon is sitting. "We're missing a lot of good people."
"Well," you say, "your job is to keep me safe. My job is to keep them safe. I'll try and do better."
"You're doing great," he says quickly. "Sorry."
You lead the way back out of the arms locker and take a seat on the deck next to Amori's rifle. The troopers talk freely among themselves, clearly comfortable with your presence. At first you just focus on your maintenance task, listening to the chatter around you. Troopers start to ask you a few questions about the recent mission, but you can tell they're holding back. Amori clearly has something on his mind, too. Finally, he puts down his reassembled weapon.
"Sir," he says, "what do you think our chances are if we get orders to attack the surface again? What's your take on the rebels?"
The chatter around you suddenly fades away, and you notice all eyes on you.