by Terry Mixon
The two of them turned back and resumed their argument. Yep, this was definitely the stupidest thing that she’d ever seen in her entire life.
“This is a huge breakthrough,” Diana whispered in her ear. “Claudio doesn’t like you any better than he did before, but he’s associating you with the platoon and defending the platoon. He might not like you, but he’s not going to let anyone outside it trash talk you. That’s an incredible step forward.”
“Maybe,” she said, unconvinced. “Right up until the point they start throwing down on one another, then this turns into a brawl, and we’re all in deep, deep trouble. Why doesn’t Claudio just let the guy come at me? It seems like he’d want to see the other guy try to take me down.”
“It’s because he wants to do it himself,” JR said, stepping up on her other side. “If he lets this loser cut onto his turf, he loses control of winning the fight he’s got going with you. He’s not going to do that. So, as weird as this seems, he’s got to defend you so that he can be the one to beat you.”
“That’s… crazy.”
“If you were expecting Claudio to make sense, you haven’t been following along with the rest of the audience. He’s one of the most bigoted, self-important, egotistical jackasses I’ve ever met. He literally does think that everything revolves around him.
“What I don’t think he realizes is the awkward position this is going to put him in tomorrow. No matter how this fight comes out, he and you are going to be closer than you were before. He’s allowed a crack in his armor, and it’s something that you can exploit if you do it right.”
“Why are you helping me?” Andrea asked. “You’re his friend, and I’m pretty sure that you don’t like me any better.”
“Eh, I’m not that bad. My feelings are a little muddier, but you’re growing on me. Like a fungus.”
Andrea laughed in spite of herself. The joke was just so unexpected. Almost as surprising as the admission that she was wearing him down. The idea of having done so was thrilling because it was what she’d wanted so badly to happen.
She was still trying to figure out how to respond when the fight finally broke out. She caught the first movement out of the corner of her eye as the unknown boy tried to kick Claudio in his junk, but as she personally knew, the ass was much better at hand-to-hand combat than he let on.
He grabbed the boy’s leg, heaved it high into the air, and planted a kick of his own in the boy’s torso, sending him flying back into a group of his friends, who all went crashing into one of the bunks.
“Uh-oh,” she said under her breath as they all climbed to their feet and started forward. Even those that hadn’t been involved in the fight were now stepping up to join their comrades, and she could hear her platoon gathering with a low growl.
If she didn’t act right this very moment, there was going to be a monstrous brawl, and every single last one of them was going to be in deep trouble.
“You heard Andrea,” Diana roared. “Nobody attacks one of our people! Get them!”
Shocked at the unexpected betrayal, Andrea was swept forward as her platoon charged. She had no choice but to block the first swing that came her way and gave in to her frustration by kicking the woman square in her junk.
And with that, the riot was on.
Fei wasn’t sure what to wear when meeting a crime family, so she decided to go with something severe and black. It would suit her scowl that way.
She met Still Water downstairs, where an air car had landed to pick them up. He nodded approvingly and gestured for her to climb into the back of the vehicle. When she was securely strapped into the luxurious car, he climbed in beside her, and it quickly took to the air as he secured himself.
“So, what’s our plan, and exactly who are we dealing with?”
“The Mackie family is one of the premier criminal organizations on New Dallas. Honestly, I’m not certain why they would’ve gotten involved with this because that’s not their strong suit, to go with a gambling metaphor. I won’t be at all surprised if we find out that this is some kind of misdirection.”
“Then why are we going? Simply to rule them out?”
He grinned at her as he opened the small built-in bar between them and the driver’s compartment. He selected a dark bottle and poured them both a small amount before putting it away and handing her a glass.
“We’re going to confront them as if they’re the ones responsible, and then I’m going to have them use their resources to figure out who we should really be talking to.
“They’ll want nothing to do with Imperial Intelligence. In fact, they’ll do everything in their power to make sure that we don’t take a very close look at everything they’re doing.
“They might have the local police paid to look the other way, but if I send a team to tear them apart, they’re going to be very, very sorry.”
“And what part am I playing in this?”
She took a sip of the drink and found it was a smooth but sweet liquor. She wasn’t sure if she’d like it, but she wasn’t going to turn it down either.
“Oh, you can be yourself. Tell them that since this was an act against the Imperial Marines, you’re here to get a good look at everyone responsible. Add that if you determine that they’re behind this, you’ve been authorized to put all of their facilities on the Imperial blacklist so that no military personnel will ever use them again.”
That was actually a pretty severe threat. Military personnel were a significant percentage of the patrons to many businesses designed to separate them from their pay, including gambling dens.
Marines loved to bet money. Sadly, they were also very good at losing it. Being blacklisted would have a measurable impact on the crime family’s bottom line.
“How are you planning on getting in to see someone in charge? Are you proposing that we just waltz in the front door and demand to see the boss?”
He grinned toothily at her. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’d imagine that it’s not going to happen immediately, but rest assured that the process is going to be enjoyable for both of us.”
“Are you expecting us to be in any danger? This is, after all, a criminal enterprise.”
He shook his head. “I can’t imagine them going after anyone that publicly. The last thing they’ll want is a scene, particularly one with an Imperial noble representing Imperial Intelligence at its center.
“But I’m not actually going to be doing most of the talking. I’ll kick the door open, but I want you to do the grilling. You’re actually much more intimidating than I am, and I plan to use that to our advantage.”
She was still considering how that would work when the air car landed in front of a bright casino filled with well-dressed people. A uniformed woman immediately raced to the side of the vehicle and opened the door for her.
Well, she’d just have to figure it out on the move.
“Shall we go inside and see what kind of damage we can do to the house?” she asked Still Water with a grin.
31
Page had been asleep when the riot broke out, so it took him a couple of minutes to get himself in order and get to the bunkroom. The drill instructors who’d been training the recruits in the small craft bay had responded to the fighting, but they’d made errors.
First, they hadn’t kept their group of recruits separated, so as soon as they saw that there was fighting, they broke ranks and joined in to assist their comrades. That only made the situation worse.
He arrived on the scene at the same time as Senior Sergeant Gunnarsdotter, and they waded into the fighting, separating the two sides.
A quick scan of his people showed injuries ranging from cuts and bruises to sprained limbs and the occasional broken bone. Nothing life-threatening.
He’d known that there would be a fight, but he’d expected it to be something less all-encompassing. Now that they had the situation under control, he had to figure out what had sparked the raging bonfire. Then he’d have to deal with the ca
uses.
Luckily, just like the barracks down on New Dallas, everything here was monitored. He was able to access those feeds and scroll back to when Recruit Baker and one of the recruits from the other platoon had gotten into an argument.
He should’ve known that boy was involved.
With the volume they were shouting, it wasn’t difficult to discover that the argument was about Tolliver. No surprise there. Baker had serious issues with Tolliver, and apparently so did the other recruit. The ironic portion of this entire incident was that they were fighting over which one of the two should put Tolliver in her place.
Morons.
Sometimes, recruits just didn’t make that much sense to him anymore. Any pair of ordinary people would’ve decided to work together, but no, these two had to fight it out to see which one had the privilege of crushing Tolliver under his heel.
As if she’d been all that crushable to begin with.
The real excitement came when Tolliver joined the conversation. She started off—to her credit—by trying to break up the fight. Unfortunately, she ended up throwing her hands up in disgust and allowed them to figure it out themselves.
He supposed that she really hadn’t had that much of a choice. It wasn’t like either of them had been disposed to listen to her.
When the first strike came, he was happy to see that it was the boy from the other platoon that swung first. Baker ably defended himself and kicked the boy back into his friends, which knocked over a whole pile of them. That got everybody on their feet and facing off in what was already bound to be a brawl.
There was still a moment where the situation could’ve been salvaged, and he saw Tolliver open her mouth to say something, but then Recruit Randall exhorted the platoon to attack in Tolliver’s name because Baker had been attacked.
He stopped the feed and backed it up, listening to everything said as closely as possible. There was a lot of noise, but he clearly noted that Tolliver had said no such thing. In fact, the expression of horror on her face when her friend had started the riot in her name was priceless.
Page froze the feed there and considered. There was no telling what Tolliver had been about to say, and at this point, she might not even remember. Her actions had been hijacked by her friend, and she’d basically been shoved into the middle of the riot.
Randall had started the fight, but in the process, she’d bound Tolliver firmly to the platoon by forcing her to support Baker, at least so far as everyone else was concerned. If Tolliver was backing up her worst enemy inside the platoon, how could the platoon not support her?
It was brilliant.
It also broke so many regulations that he could barely count them, but it was still stinking brilliant. Sadly, he now had to be the bad guy and punish them for doing exactly what he’d wanted.
He left the rest of the drill instructors keeping the two groups separated and sought out Gunnarsdotter. He found her leaning against the wall in the corridor, rubbing her temples.
“So,” he said in a drawl, “did the confrontation work out quite the way you’d expected?”
The look she shot him was filled with tired disgust. “No. I expected there to be a little bit of pushing and shoving, not an all-out war. Now I’m going to have to start punishing people that I don’t want to see kicked out of training. This is a nightmare.”
He leaned up against the wall beside her and scratched his chin. “Nobody on my side was seriously injured. A couple people have some fractures but nothing the medical center can’t handle.
“I’ve reviewed the recordings, and I have to say things didn’t play out quite the way I expected. As we’d planned, Tolliver was the ignition point, but she didn’t actually get involved in the fighting or encourage it until she had no choice.
“Ironically, it was her friend that shoved her into the center of things in such a way that it pulled my entire platoon together. I’m both horrified and impressed.”
Gunnarsdotter nodded. “I saw that. That was a really keen and insightful thing she did. As long as Tolliver keeps her mouth shut, she’s bound to the platoon, and they’re bound to her. That part worked out really well.
“Unfortunately, we can’t let this riot pass without punishing people. Exactly how do we do that without permanently impacting them?”
He smiled. “I’ve got a few ideas. We’ve had them living side by side, but in retrospect, maybe that’s not the best idea. Perhaps it would be better to have one platoon off training while the other sleeps and then switch them out.”
The other drill instructor nodded. “That’ll prevent future fighting, but what do we do about what’s already happened?”
“I don’t think there’s any need to drag officers into this. We can handle this all on our own. I suggest that we do this.”
He leaned over closer to her and explained his plan in greater detail.
She listened and slowly began to smile. “You know, that might actually work. They won’t like it, but I think you’ve found probably the best way to handle it. I look forward to seeing how it turns out.
“I’ll have to come down like the wrath of God on my people, but they need to know that other marines are still marines. They have to find a way to stick together.”
“Agreed. Time to go make everyone very unhappy.”
Because of her skill at hand-to-hand combat, Andrea hadn’t been in any real danger during the fight. That hadn’t kept her from getting hurt because she couldn’t keep her attention in every direction she needed to be looking and still protect her platoon mates.
She’d been kicked and punched and even thrown, though she hadn’t been seriously hurt. The worst she’d suffered had been a couple of minor cuts and a lot of bruising.
Even though they were all in tremendous trouble, she’d had a blast. She’d never fought in a mass combat situation before and had found it exhilarating. It had been totally different than any kind of sparring she’d ever done.
Even so, her enthusiasm vanished as soon as she and the rest of the platoon were lined up against the bulkhead, eyes forward as Senior Sergeant Page stopped in front of them.
“I cannot believe the gall of you recruits,” he shouted. “What in the universe makes you think that it’s acceptable to brawl in my bunk room? Worse, to fight another platoon?”
He turned on his heel and pointed at them, running his finger down the line until each and every one of them had seen him looking into their eyes with condemnation.
“It’s a bloody miracle that no one was seriously injured. By all rights, I should throw every single last one of you out of my beloved Corps. Have you no dignity? Have you no common sense? Where is your esprit de corps?”
He threw his hands up into the air and resumed stalking back and forth. “Who am I kidding? You people have no idea what esprit de corps is. You have no sense of identity. About the only positive thing I can find about this sorry affair is the fact that at least you were defending one of your own, even if him getting into an argument like this was a disgrace.
“Let that be a lesson for you. No one can control stupid. The best you can do is try not to get any on yourself. And in this case, you have each failed.”
Page pulled his hat off his head and rubbed his hand across his short hair. “There are going to be consequences that none of you are going to like. I came into this with the expectation that you could work with others, but you’ve proven me wrong, and that means that I’m going to have to be harder on you than I’d planned.
“As of right now, you can’t stay in the same bunk room as the other recruits. The other platoon will work and train together while you sleep, and then you’ll do the same. That means that at no time will you be sharing training space or bunkroom with the other platoon. That’s going to make life more difficult for me, and I’m going to make it more difficult for you.
“The first thing that happens is that I’m firing the acting squad leaders. They should’ve been front and center, making sure this brawl never happen
ed.
“Second, it’s time to single out the people of note in this fight. Let’s start with Recruit Baker. Front and center, Recruit.”
Claudio stepped forward and stood at attention in front of Page. If he was frightened, Andrea couldn’t tell.
“I want you to explain yourself, Recruit. Tell me exactly how this fight started and what the cause was. Save your justifications and just give me the facts.”
“I was arguing with one of the other recruits about Tolliver, Drill Instructor. We shared a negative opinion of her, but he thought it was his place to pit himself against her. I disagreed. He swung at me, and I kicked him back into his friends. That’s when the fight started.”
Andrea blinked in surprise. That might technically have been when the fight started, but he hadn’t mentioned anything about her instigating the general brawl. Not that she had, but that was what everyone else thought, since Diana had basically shoved her into it.
Should she correct the record? Just how much about the fight did Page know?
The drill instructor put his hands on his hips and shook his head disapprovingly. “So you couldn’t be bothered defending your platoon mate? Why do you continue to feel the need to fight with Recruit Tolliver?”
“I’ve stated my reasons, Drill Instructor. She’s not fit to be an Imperial Marine.”
“What makes you worthier than her? You certainly haven’t covered yourself in glory today. Did she start a brawl?”
Claudio opened his mouth to say something but then closed it. When he did speak, it was in a measured, clipped tone.
“No, Drill Instructor.”
“Uh-huh. Get back in line, Recruit.”
Page turned to look at Andrea. “Front and center, Tolliver.”
She marched up in front of him and stood at attention, staring at the center of his chest.
He stared at her for a long moment and then shook his head. “You’re coming into this training with a lot of things stacked against you, Tolliver. Why in the world would you order this entire platoon to attack?”
