Hello! This was previously a draft of a chapter for a potential novel I am working on, which you may have seen on my SoFurry. I have since revised my story structure a bit since taking a close look at how things needed to be written, and this will no longer take place within the confines of the novel. It will likely take place some time after, and perhaps makes a good setup for a sequel someday. Any feedback on the story would be greatly welcome!
Since I wrote this with the intent of it being a chapter within a novel, some things might not be fully explained. In particular, the main character is Captain Alexandra "Echo" Rawley. Captain Rawley formally, Alex to her friends outside the military, and Echo as her callsign to her military friends. The name shifts throughout the story depending on the context of who is speaking, though I've taken to using Echo as the default for 3rd person writing, since that's what everyone calls the character IRL.
The digital drawing is by HoltzWorks, who I commissioned to create a piece for this story specifically. Hope you enjoy!