One by one, the Wolfoids ran back into the bay, sliding on the smooth floor as they bumped themselves back into formation.
“We’re going to chow in an orderly manner and you’ll get a little extra time to eat today, twenty minutes instead of the usual fifteen, but first. We need to practice how you will get up in the morning. By the way, which one of you boneheads shot at me?” The Wolfoids stepped away from one individual who was cowering in the back squad.
“Your aim sucks,” Cain told him. “You’re in charge of locking up all the lightning spears each night and then issuing them out when I say so. You understand me?”
The Wolfoid nodded. Cain made an impatient gesture. “Aye. Aye. So, So,” the recruit’s new vocalization device intoned flatly. Close enough, Cain thought.
“Listen up, we’re going to learn to shoot. Power is your ally. If you waste it by missing your target, then you run out before the bad guys. You know what scorched Wolfoid fur smells like? I do and it’s not pretty. First, we need the basics. Make your beds. You have two minutes.” He watched as they scrambled around, throwing covers, declaring victory, and returning to formation.
Cain dumped the first two racks, then gave up. “Like that,” he said impatiently as he pointed to one rack at the far end. “Who’s rack is that?” One of the two female Wolfoids, Night Stalker, raised a paw. “Show them how to do it. You have four minutes to teach them and they have one minute to complete the task. Go.”
She took charge, ripped her rack apart, and showed them by doing. It took two and a half minutes. She gave them the rest of the time to work on their own racks while she walked around and helped.
In Cain’s mind, Night Stalker joined Tracker, Slayer, Flash, and Fang as the leading candidates for the top six, but he still had to see how they fought as a group. Every one of the new Marines needed to be deadly when called upon, without hesitation. They needed to fight together as well as alone. He smelled a field trip to the border of the rainforest, east of New Sanctuary where they’d find plenty of game. He’d turn them loose to hunt, and watch, see what they were capable of.
If nothing else, he appreciated the names of his recruits. They sounded as terrifying as they were supposed to be, then he recalled that morning’s exercise in getting out of bed. Maybe not so terrifying.
The Wolfoids were in formation before the deadline. Cain stalked among the mattresses on the floor and deemed the work acceptable since they were still amateurs. Then he told them to climb back into bed. He wasn’t pleased to have to tell them a second time.
He could see the sadness on their Wolfoid faces as they messed up their freshly made racks. “Get up!” he yelled. They popped out of their beds and half of them ran to get into formation.
“What is wrong with you? Crouch!” he screamed at the six. They dropped into the uncomfortable position and held it as he inspected the other six racks. He waved those six aside. “Up!” the six in formation pushed up to stand on all fours. At least they remembered the difference between that and “stand up.”
“Crouch!” he ordered. He opened his neural implant to see that he had ten minutes to kill before his recruits’ allotted time in the chow hall. He requested the extra five minutes and was promptly denied. He didn’t argue. He crouched them for two more minutes while the others stood by uncomfortably. Finally, Stalker jumped into formation with the six offenders.
‘She’s a good one, pure-heart,’ Brutus told him.
“Night Stalker!” he shouted. “As of right now, you are acting sergeant over this mob. May heaven help you. Have them make their racks and meet me outside. You have two minutes. Go!” He smiled as he walked away. Prior to twenty seconds earlier, he had no intention of enlisting the assistance of a recruit besides the temporary squad leaders. He conceded that he needed help, but Stinky and Pickles were on their way. While he waited for his recruits, he checked in with Holly for an estimated time of arrival for his friends. They were in the middle of the matter transfer process and would arrive sometime later that day.
He asked about the human recruits, but the recruiters canvassing the towns and villages weren’t having any luck getting new volunteers. He’d call Admiral Jesper as soon as breakfast was over and the time of day decent to update his progress and ask for a favor.
“Stinky and Pickles will get here today,” he told the straggly looking ‘cat sitting by his side. “I think that will get the crew riled up. In the meantime, we’ll try to do the best we can with what we have.”
‘I think you are spinning them up perfectly fine on your own,’ Brutus suggested.
“I thank you, my good man,” Cain said as the recruits raced out the door and jumped into formation. He wondered how he could make them look like anything other than a pack of wild dogs.
“Two by two we run, in step, no one breaks formation. Ha!” he shouted as he started jogging in the direction of the dining facility that he’d renamed the “chow hall” to mirror the Marine parlance he’d heard in the instructional videos Holly had played for him.
‘Holly, can you put together a recruiting video for me? Show some of the action on the Cygnus-12. It is okay if some of it is shocking, but don’t fixate on the gore. We won, in a hard way, but we won. If you have anything from the surface of Concordia, then put a few tidbits like that in there, too,’ he requested of the AI.
‘I will have something for your review later this morning,’ Holly replied instantly as if he’d been waiting for that particular request.
Cain minimized his window, so he wouldn’t run into anything. As it was, he suspected he looked like he was staggering down the road. “Wait for me in formation outside the chow hall. Now, all fours and sprint!”
The Wolfoids dropped almost as one and surged forward, racing away from Cain. They only had two blocks to run, but they made it in an impressively short amount of time. Cain slowed to a walk. Less than a minute before he could take them in. The Space School recruits were starting to form up beside the Wolfoids. The first chance to make a good impression. He sprinted the remaining distance, coming to a hard stop before his formation and turning smartly to face them.
“Marine recruits! Howl at the dawn, let it know that you’re coming! OORAH!” he yelled, attempting to replicate the war cry of Marines past. The Wolfoids raised their heads and howled at the sky. He yelled with them. His blood was pumping as his recruits got louder and louder in their exuberance.
Time. “STOP!” he shouted. They stopped as one and faced forward. “Go grab your chow, sit down together and eat quickly. You have fifteen minutes. That debacle this morning cost you your extra five. Night Stalker! Take them inside.” He stepped back as First Squad dashed past him single file, then Second Squad. He followed them in, watching the Space School recruits out the corner of his eye, pleased with the impression his recruits had made. He was sure he’d hear about it later, but for the moment, it felt good.
Discipline
The obstacle course was every bit the debacle that getting out of bed was. By the end of it, Cain ordered them all into the mud pit to thrash around, swimming back and forth. Before stopping them, he cautioned that if anyone shook and got mud on him, they’d spend the rest of the day and the night there. Twelve miserable Wolfoids stood together, unrecognizable within the caked mud. He made them wait in the pit.
‘Admiral Jesper,’ he said when Holly was able to finally connect him with the head of the SES. The admiral was on the RV Traveler presently and keeping slightly different hours than Cain, something he’d have to get used to when working with people across the solar system.
‘Cain! Good to hear from you, son. I apologize for that nasty business in the rainforest. I’m so glad that you were unharmed. We don’t have any more information, before you ask. We’ll keep working until we get to the bottom of it. I think you’re safe at Space School, for now anyway,’ he said cryptically. Cain was hesitant to question him about it, but he didn’t allow himself to worry about things outside of his control.
‘The Wolfoids have offered twelve candidates and I can tell you already, I’m going to have a hard time choosing. This is a motivated and eminently capable bunch.’ Before he could continue, the admiral interrupted him.
‘What do you have them doing?’ Jesper asked.
Cain panicked, but expected the truth was the best approach. ‘They are in the mud pit, sir.’
‘Doing…?’ the admiral prompted.
‘Well, sir, they are learning how to be miserable and still function as a team, which they are doing quite nicely, I’d like to add.’ Cain waited through the silence at the other end. Was that laughter?
‘Sounds perfect, Cain. Carry on.’ The admiral made to sign off, but Cain stopped him.
‘Admiral, I’d like to recruit from those already at Space School. There are two classes currently training, 38-A and 38-B. That’s as many as fifty people, and I only need six.’
‘Like I said, Cain. Carry on. You have my full support. I saw what they did to the ship. We should be at the space center in about three more weeks for the memorial. You’ll need to be there,’ the admiral stated.
‘I will and my recruit squads as well. They need to see that, see what their fate could be and how they’ll be honored if they sacrifice for the SES, for all humanity.’ The admiral didn’t reply and simply signed off.
Cain wanted to think about what that meant, but the Wolfoids looked too miserable for him to leave them in the mud any longer. When he gave the word, they struggled to free themselves from the quagmire, crawling up the bank on all fours, before shaking. All of them throwing mud thirty feet in every direction. Cain happened to be only twenty feet away.
Don’t make a threat unless you’re willing to carry it out. “Stop,” he said in a low and dangerous voice.
The Wolfoids froze. “Sergeant, take the squads back into the pit.” There was a little grumbling, to be expected, but they did as they were told.
Cain waded in after them. “Well, my pretties, it’s going to be a long day, so let’s get comfortable. Bring it in around me. Let’s get to know each other…” Cain told the Wolfoids to say their name and tell everyone a little about themselves. He started.
“I’m Major Cain. Two weeks ago, I was Ensign Cain. A year ago, I was a snot-nosed student, didn’t know anything. I saw the actions of one brave man who gave his life to help others. Since then, I’ve been on a personal mission to help Vii, help the SES.” Cain hesitated. He wouldn’t share that his ultimate goal was to impress a woman. Aletha in bed, tears rolling down her cheeks as he walked away. He looked at the Wolfoids, one to the next, their fur matted where the mud had dried, at least in the areas he could see. The physical misery he shared with his recruits was nothing compared to the pain of his selfish sacrifice. For his personal glory, he’d left the love of his life behind.
“I’ve seen too many die because they weren’t equipped to fight. And I’ve seen others die because they weren’t as ready to kill as I was. And that’s what I demand from each of you. No distractions. You will be singularly focused on defending the honor of the SES and the Cygnus Marines. You pay any price, up to and including your life, for this. Do you understand?” Cain said, deadly serious. There was no hearty vocalization device shout of “aye, aye, sir.” They nodded, slowly, but each of them nodded.
He’d have to talk with Captain Rand, because he suspected he’d be bringing more than twelve recruits to the Cygnus-12.
The Wolfoid stories were the same. They were raised, a little shepherding, a little farming, some hunting. They all enjoyed a good hunt. All of them were in the same blooding of the pups, so Cain figured that they were around a year and a half old. Young, but fully grown, at least in their bodies. They had much to learn to fill their minds.
Night Stalker started the process. Then Razor Fang. The largest of the Wolfoids was called Aurochs Ring. Cain could hardly say it so he told the Wolfoid he was going to be called “Bull.” Ring held up his half-hands/half-paws in resignation. He was clearly proud of his name. His parents could call him by his given name. In the Marines, he’d be known as Bull.
Besides Aurochs Ring, he had Night Stalker, Razor Fang, Bounding Shepherd, Gray Streak, Black Shadow, Silent Tracker, Hidden Slayer, Lightning Flash, Dark Forest, Tan Mountain, and Shades Racer. Cain couldn’t get his head wrapped around the Wolfoid names, so he went one by one, giving each of them shorter names, something he could yell.
Bull, Stalker, Fang, Shep, Grace, Shadow, Tracker, Slayer, Flash, Forest, Mountie, and Shady. Stalker and Grace were the two females, and Cain watched as the males naturally deferred to them. He’d spend more time watching Grace, which made sense since she had the broken leg. The med bots performed an initial bone stitching to bring the pieces together, but she needed time for it to heal properly. He’d have her check in with medical every day.
Lunchtime came and went. He was hungry, but wouldn’t leave his recruits. Holly flashed the implant’s window. He opened it. ‘You can present your recruitment pitch to both classes in one hour. I have some video, if you’d like to review it.’
‘One hour? Damn. I need to get cleaned up. Have another uniform prepared and in my room, please, and one for each of the Wolfoids. They’re coming with me.’ He looked and noted that they hadn’t put on either their protective gear or their harnesses. ‘Belay that, Holly. They haven’t dirtied their uniforms. We’ll rectify that this afternoon. I’ll review the video while I’m cleaning up.’ Cain closed the window before his eye. The Wolfoids watched him as they continued to look miserable.
“Howl at the sun!” They lifted their heads and gave it a meager effort. “AGAIN!” he shouted, howling with them. They kept at it until he was satisfied, which wasn’t long since he had to get cleaned up.
“Out of the mud!” They scrambled and clawed their way out. Cain was pleased to note that none of them shook, although he waited in the pit, expecting them to shake themselves out. “Spread out and shake! Sergeant, then form them up.” They happily found some space and shook to their hearts’ content. A couple barks from Night Stalker and they formed up. Then Cain finally crawled out of the mud, envious of their ability. He scraped off the biggest chunks with his hands, but remained a mess.
“In formation, run to billeting. I will meet you outside in fifty-one minutes. We have a presentation to make to the Space School recruits. Dismissed!” Stalker led the way with eleven Wolfoids following. Cain tromped toward his quarters, starting to review the video as he walked. He stopped more than once to avoid walking into a tree. He gave Holly a couple comments, then stomped some of the mud off his boots and dropped his clothes in the hallway outside his room. He hoped no one else decided to come back in the middle of the afternoon as he stood there in the buff having already tracked mud in to that point, but not wanting to get any in his room.
Straight into the shower, and when he finished, amazingly, fresh and clean clothes, sharply pressed waited for him, along with a new beret. “Holly,” he asked out loud, knowing that Holly monitored him through sensors everywhere he found himself. He hadn’t questioned the beret before then, but hadn’t seen the Marines in the video wear such an item.
“This particular device was used by the elite forces of the day. The only force we’ll have is elite, so there you are. If you don’t like it, then we’ll come up with something else,” Holly answered.
Cain liked it, because there was nothing else close to the beret anywhere on Vii. It would make him stand out. It would make the whole unit stand out, if he could only figure out how to get one on a Wolfoid’s head. Or a ‘cat. He laughed to himself thinking about the ‘cats wearing tiny berets. He thought about the constant struggle to keep the door activation collars on them while aboard the Cygnus-12. They needed them to get around and they still wouldn’t wear them. No berets or other accoutrements of any sort for the ‘cats.
‘I would hate to give you another beat down,’ Brutus said, magically sitting on the bed, which was now made with a new pillow. Cain gave it a tentative snif
f. It was clean.
“What? If there was any beat down, it was your scrawny ass, swinging around the room inside a blanket. You lost the first salvo, my rugged friend, but I’m glad I don’t have to school you a afresh in what a beat down really looks like.” Cain looked smug. Brutus jumped on the bed and walked to the pillow. Cain dove and the ‘cat dodged expertly out of the way, landing on the human’s head, ripping the beret off, and leaving a trail of four razor-thin streaks of blood through Cain’s scalp.
“Would you stop that, you little bully!” Cain picked himself and his beret from the bed. He had no time to deal with the new scratches. The one on his face was red, a little purple on the sides. He survived a fight with three Lizard Men with fewer wounds. “Truce, little man. You win. Please don’t pee on my pillow, and please, stop scratching my head!” Cain pleaded with his new best friend.
‘Just until next time,’ Brutus replied, following Cain out the door.
The recruits were waiting in formation, straightening up when they saw him coming. Cain realized that they had no way to tell time. He wondered how long they’d been standing there, but decided that it didn’t matter. As long as they weren’t late. He waved his arm for them to follow him. They started after him, two squads of six. Cain noted how Stalker put herself in the back with Bull.
Cain led them in to the Space School’s main building where all the recruits were in an auditorium waiting. He had their full attention, including most of the staff. The Aurochs was in the back as he led his recruits in where he had them stand in a single file along the wall while he went to the stage alone.
Cygnus Expanding: Humanity Fights for Freedom (Cygnus Space Opera Book 2) Page 10
