by Terry Mixon
That sent a dark chuckle through the ranks.
Once their amusement had passed, he continued. “The fighting field will be the one area where you’re going to be encouraged to fight one another full out. I understand there have already been several scuffles inside the barracks, but those don’t count.
“Here, your fighting style will be scrutinized, and any bad habits that you’ve developed will be corrected. We’re going to train you how to maim and kill your opponents with or without a weapon so that they don’t do the same to you.
“I know what you’re thinking. You’re going to become Imperial Marines, fighting in powered armor with flechette rifles and plasma grenades. Why do you need to know how to fight with your bare hands?”
He grinned at them. “That’s a great question. The problem with fighting in a technological society is that sometimes you find yourself out of ammunition, and you have to make do. Teaching you the basics of hand-to-hand combat will also form a foundation to teach you other useful battlefield skills later.
“I’m not going to explain exactly what that means at this point, but I suspect you’ll be able to figure it out as the training progresses. Let me be very clear. The fighting here will be more dangerous than a fistfight in the barracks. This means that you’re going to have to be more deliberate and careful in what you do. It also means we have medics standing by and a field medical facility right at hand.”
He stopped for a moment to look at each recruit individually to make sure they knew that his gaze was upon them.
“Since the chance for injury is higher, there are going to be ground rules, and I expect them to be followed to the letter. This is not the place for you to work out your frustrations with your bunkmates. Is that clear?”
“Yes, Drill Instructor!” they shouted back in unison.
“Excellent. Some of you probably already know a few things about fighting. For almost all of you, that knowledge will prove a hindrance because we’re going to have to train the bad habits out of you and teach you how to do things properly.
“Let’s start off with finding out who thinks they know how to fight, just to see where we’re starting from. If you’ve received any formalized hand-to-hand training, raise your hand.”
About a third of the recruits raised their hands. That was about average. Almost all of those would be some form of martial arts training. They likely had a few bad habits in their training styles that would have to be corrected. That wouldn’t be a challenge.
“If your training only lasted a couple of years and hasn’t been something that you’ve pursued, lower your hands.”
Most of the hands that had been raised now dropped. That left him with six recruits that thought they had some type of professional training that they were still continuing.
He noted that Recruit Tolliver still had her hand up. Honestly, knowing what he did about her mentor, he suspected that she was the only one who really knew anything compatible with what they were about to learn.
“When I point at you, I want you to briefly explain the type of training you’ve received and how long you’ve pursued it.”
He pointed at the first recruit and listened as she explained about receiving training in one of the myriad martial arts prevalent throughout the Empire and that she had achieved a second-degree black belt.
Page nodded. “That’s good. The dedication you’ve invested in learning it will carry over even if the specific techniques do not. Next.”
He continued going through the recruits, saving Tolliver for last.
When he finally pointed toward her, she spoke. “I’ve received six years of basic marine hand-to-hand combat instruction, Drill Instructor.”
Page pursed his lips. “I’ll need a bit more information, Recruit. What exactly did that entail?”
“Six years of almost daily instruction, bare hands and with weapons that are commonly used in the training regimen of an Imperial Marine, Drill Instructor. My teacher was a qualified marine hand-to-hand combat instructor.”
That was actually something of an understatement. Lieutenant Na had both graduated from and received a teaching certificate in the advanced combat course. The real question was how much of that knowledge she had passed on to her student.
If Tolliver had been training with basic combat forms for six years, she’d be more than capable of wiping the fighting ground with any of the other recruits. If she’d been given any of the advanced classes, she might be even more dangerous than that, considering her other physical enhancements.
Page considered asking for even more details but decided that he’d rather judge her skill for himself. That would serve the dual purposes of demonstrating to the recruits that they had a lot to learn and put Tolliver on notice that she wasn’t the biggest dog in the pack.
“That sounds very impressive, Tolliver, yet I wonder how much you’ve actually picked up. If what you say is accurate, then the next few weeks of hand-to-hand training will only be covering the very basics of what you already know.”
He took off his drill instructor’s hat, set it down on the platform, and jumped down to the ground. He gestured for the recruits to back away until only he and Recruit Tolliver were left standing inside a circle of observers.
“Attack me,” he said.
“Drill Instructor?” she asked hesitantly.
He made a gesture with his hands. “I’m not asking you to maim me, Recruit. I want you to try to put me on the ground. This is your chance to strike a drill instructor without reprisal. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
She’d respond one of two ways: either she’d be hesitant, or she’d come after him with everything she had. He suspected the latter, so he prepared himself.
Tolliver raced in and punched at his head. He was glad that he’d been prepared for her attack because she was faster than he’d counted on.
He moved his head clear and struck back. She blocked his blow and tried to grapple with him, but her technique was rushed. That allowed him to use a counter move and break free.
The two of them circled one another. She was obviously assessing his skill level and deciding what the best way forward would be.
Rather than giving her the time to make up her mind, he charged in and launched a kick at her midsection. She twisted, her hands grabbing his foot and heaving him past her. Damn, she was strong.
He hit the ground and rolled, coming to his feet just in time to meet the charge he’d expected. Only he thought she’d be farther away. Instead, she was already in his face.
This time, he wasn’t able to dodge the fist she slammed into his midsection, and he discovered that knowing she was roughly half again stronger than a girl her size should be did absolutely nothing to minimize the stunning shot.
Page tried to use his skill and get out of striking range, but she kicked his legs out from under him and slammed him into the sawdust with all of the force that he’d have expected from a full-grown man.
She landed hard on top of him and jammed his arm behind his back, effectively ending the fight.
He tapped the ground with his free hand, and she immediately released him and backed away.
Page climbed to his feet and brushed sawdust from his face as the recruits gazed on in awe and horror. Others might have been humiliated at having a recruit beat them, but he was always willing to recognize an accomplishment. Besides, this fight wasn’t over yet.
“That’s pretty good,” he admitted with a grin. “You’re faster than I expected, even knowing what I know about you. You’re going to be able to use that to your advantage on the battlefield, but I think there are a few things that your instructor hadn’t gotten around to teaching you yet. Have you heard about the advanced course?”
Tolliver nodded warily. “I’ve heard of it, Drill Instructor. I can’t say that I’ve been trained in anything from it.”
“Thought not.”
Without saying another word, he launched himself at her and pulled out some of the dirtiest, n
astiest tricks he’d learned in the advanced course. It was going to stretch his skill to get her, but he wasn’t going to allow himself to be beaten by a recruit.
This time when she tried to counter punch him, he not only pulled her off balance, he kicked her legs out from underneath her while grabbing her uniform and hurling her off to the side.
She landed hard and rolled, not quite making it back to her feet before he landed on top of her. She squirmed, but he was able to lock her arm behind her back.
Tolliver proved her experience by immediately tapping out. Many people would’ve kept resisting, but she’d recognized that the fight was over without the drama. His positive opinion of her and her mentor grew.
The two of them rose to their feet and circled one another again for the third and last bout. He liked the fact that she wasn’t intimidated by him. She wasn’t afraid to throw a punch or take one. That was going to count for a lot going forward.
He took two steps forward and struck at her head with his fist, but it was only a feint. His real attack was the knee that followed up to her gut. The surprise strike drove the air out of her lungs and sent her staggering back.
Page expected that to be the end of the fight, but she didn’t go down. She was still struggling to breathe, but her fists were up.
Damn, she was good.
Hoping to end the fight quickly, he stepped into range with her, and they traded blows. She got one good strike to his chin before he popped her one on the side of the head. She staggered to the left, and he was on her.
Even with his larger size, she almost kept him from forcing her to the ground, but he managed to kick her legs out from under her again and pinned her.
When she tapped out, he climbed to his feet and stepped away until she rose.
“Are you okay, Recruit?” he asked, not bothering to hide the fact that he was a little winded.
She nodded, rubbing the side of her head. “Yes, Drill Instructor. That was… educational.”
“It was meant to be. Allow me to commend your trainer. You’ve got a good grounding in basic marine hand-to-hand combat, though you’ve got a lot of dirty tricks from the advanced course to learn if you graduate.
“Unfortunately for me, that means I need to find something to do with you for the next few weeks, since you’re not going to learn anything new from this segment of training. The solution is to put your skills to use and allow you the opportunity to help teach your fellow recruits how to fight.”
She blinked. “Drill Instructor?”
He grinned. “I think you understood me. For the next few weeks, it’s going to be your responsibility to help instruct your fellow recruits on how to fight. I’d wager that will teach you a few things and try your patience more than you could possibly imagine.”
It would also give him a deep insight into what made her tick. He was already inclined to think she would make a good marine, but seeing how she took a position of authority would be a window into her soul.
He only hoped she was up to the challenge.
22
Peter was pouring himself a cup of coffee in his office when Charlie knocked on the door and stuck his head in. “That woman is here.”
He immediately knew that the man had to be talking about his troublesome and unwelcome client. Honestly, it had taken longer than he’d expected for her to come looking for answers.
“Tell her that I’m with a client and that I’ll see her as soon as I’m free. Keep her held up at least twenty minutes.”
“You got it, boss,” Charlie said with a grin as he headed back out.
As Peter sat at his desk, he made a mental bet with himself. His suspicions were confirmed when there was shouting outside, and he smiled inside as the door burst open a few seconds later.
“Don’t try to put me off,” the woman snarled. “Why haven’t you carried out the job that I hired you for?”
He stared at her coldly for ten long seconds without speaking. “It’s a good thing that I told my client to go into the next room because I expected you to burst in. This isn’t something that I’m willing to tolerate. My people won’t even let you into the building the next time. You’ll need to call for your updates from here out.”
She planted both of her palms on the top of his desk and leaned over it to glare at him. “I have called for updates, and all I’ve received are excuses. You’ve had weeks to kill the girl, and you haven’t. Why not? I believe that I made it abundantly clear that this needed to be carried out in a timely fashion.”
He leaned back in his chair and smiled slightly. “Timely can mean many things. It can mean quickly, as I assume you think it means, or it can mean at the appropriate time, which is what I interpret it to mean. Doing the job to my satisfaction requires that I raise as little suspicion as possible. That takes time.”
“I paid extra to make certain that this happens quickly, and your delaying tactics are pissing me off. Get with the program and take care of the girl. Now.”
Peter shook his head. “Not going to happen. You don’t have to live on this planet once the job is done. Could I send someone to the base to shoot her? Certainly, only that would draw law enforcement attention.
“I need to make sure that their suspicions are never aroused. As I recall, I told you several times before I agreed to do this that I was going to do it in my own fashion. You had every opportunity to approach someone else, yet you didn’t. I wonder why that was?
“Oh. That would be because I’m the best at what I do. So rather than telling me how to do my job, why don’t you leave me to take care of this in the manner that I think best?
“You don’t even need to be here, you know. You can go back wherever it is that you came from. So long as the money is in escrow, your presence is not required or desired.”
If anything, the woman turned even redder than she had been before. “I’m not going anywhere until this job is done. If you want any peace whatsoever, you’ll get it done as quickly as possible. If that girl isn’t dead within the next week, I’m going to be coming here every single day. If your thugs try to stop me, I’ll bring my own to make certain that I get in.
“Understand this very clearly. I’m not someone that you can toy around with. Just like you threatened me on that first day, keep very clearly in mind that I can end you. And before you think that you can just threaten me with death again, you should know that I’ve already informed the people that need to know that if I disappear, you’re the one responsible, and you’ll end up regretting ever crossing swords with me.”
He stared at her, his eyes hard and unblinking. “I’m taking steps to see that everything happens in the sequence that I want it to. If you show up with thugs, you’ll survive the experience, but they won’t. I put word to that effect out right now so that anyone stupid enough to work for you is marked for death. Good luck hiring anyone.
“We’re done here. You can walk out that door, or Charlie can throw you out. I don’t care which. No, scratch that. I’d prefer it if Charlie throws you out so that I can watch you bounce down the stairs. Now, get out.”
With steam virtually rising from her hair, the woman turned and stalked out. Charlie followed and closed the door after her.
Peter waited for a full fifteen seconds before he began to chuckle. That chuckle turned into a full laugh, and moments later, he leaned back in his chair, roaring.
He hadn’t had this much fun in years. Pissing that woman off was a reward in its own right. He hadn’t expected that.
Once he’d gotten his mirth under control, he looked up a number on his computer. He’d already contacted several people that worked on the base and had laid the groundwork for the job, but it was time to get things started.
As he’d told the woman, this operation was meant to be subtle. If his people performed as he desired, no one would suspect foul play. The girl would survive, but circumstances would prevent her from completing her training and thus satisfy the terms of the contract.
The
fact that the girl would live would piss the woman off, and that would make him laugh even harder. She really wanted Tolliver dead, so he was determined to complete the contract while not killing the girl if possible. It was pure pigheaded stubbornness on his part, but he wasn’t going to be bullied.
Over the next few days, Andrea Tolliver’s circumstances would change for the worse, but she’d survive. He had no idea what would happen to her after that, and he didn’t care, but his business with the woman would be complete, and he could move on with his life.
Fei sat at her desk going through the paperwork that a marine training platoon generated and once again thanked the gods that it wasn’t her real job. She couldn’t imagine how Grace had lived with this for so many years.
It wasn’t difficult work, but it kept her at her desk far longer than she preferred, going through data to formulate the reports she needed to send up the battalion every single day. She’d known that Grace had spent a lot of time in her office but hadn’t imagined that there’d been so much data manipulation. It was far better to be the senior NCO of a platoon than to be an officer.
Even so, the last three weeks had shown her what she needed to do, and she’d fallen into a routine. She saved the drudgery for the afternoon while reserving the morning for going through all the data she and Riggio were collecting, looking for anything that might stand out.
Not that she’d found anything. Things had been far too quiet, and she was getting worried.
She was just wrapping up a series of reports covering the last week when there was a knock at her door.
“Come in,” she said briskly as she cleared the display above her desk.
When the door opened, it didn’t reveal one of the drill instructors or someone from battalion. Instead, Earl Still Water stood in the hallway.
“I hope I’m not disturbing you,” he said with an urbane smile.
“Not at all,” she said as she stood. “Come in and close the door behind you.”
