Burns invited me in, sat me down and placed two cool glasses of water on the kitchen table. I sat down after Mrs. Burns had. She waved me to sit in th... other seat.I took a deep breath, settled myself and thought; ‘nothing ventured nothing gained’.“I have two topics to talk to you about. I hope you will hear me out before you answer.” I pushed on before she replied. “I wanted to talk to you about Rory’s birthday. I want to do something special for him, but it will depend on the rest of this. No one was moving except Harvey, who was up ahead, driving the big engine that pulled our train, and Kip, who was entering the Dining Car, having just patrolled through the Guest Wing. I scanned around the train for a mile or so and saw that we were leaving a populated area, but I had no idea where we were."I just checked and everything appears normal," I thought to Kip."Huh? Oh, good," Kip replied, sleepily. "What are you doing awake at this time of night?" I think I was dreaming when. The individuals appearing were known as Steel’s Gauntlet. Handpicked by Stahl, these Marines gave the Tomradi a taste of war they never faced before.Chief Redhorse, Gunnery Sergeant of Steel’s Gauntlet crouched on Stahl’s other side. “Sorry Sir, could not stay away and let you have all the fun alone.”“Chief, good to see you, Do you think we can establish a defense parameter. I need some room to understand what we need to do next.”“I brought an entire regiment of Cerbs, Sir.”Out of all this. .. those kinds of stories, but just a comforting, oddly, safe, kind of feeling. I was there to keep Jenny safe and warm while she was unconscious, but oddly, I felt a warmth and safety with this girl, and I quickly dropped off to sleep. The next morning I awoke, before Jenny did. She seemed to be sleeping peacefully, and her forehead seemed to be about the right temperature, and her skin had normal color, her breathing was deep and unhurried. I figured she'd weathered at least one of her.