by Kal Spriggs
I heard him give Sashi his approval and then we waited as he inspected others. After a moment, “Senior Cadet Instructor Mackenzie, the Candidates are acceptable.
“Very well,” Mackenzie said. “Candidates, you are dismissed. Those of you going to standard service will form up for myself in the parade ground. Those of you going to Catholic or Protestant services will form on Cadet Instructor Marris. The rest of you will form up on Cadet Instructor Ingvald.”
I hurried out with the others. I saw, with a bit of surprise, that Karmazin was with the three others grouped in front of Mackenzie. If I remembered right, they were the group attending more “esoteric” services, whatever that meant. It was another bit of the puzzle with him and I realized with surprise that it was a puzzle I wanted to solve.
Time for that later, I thought to myself, even as we marched off the parade field.
I was a bit surprised when we wound through several unfamiliar corridors and finally stopped in front of what looked like bunker doors. I saw several other clusters of candidates, some already filing in and others waiting.
“Candidates,” Mackenzie said, somewhat formally, “These doors are from the CPM Liberty, they were salvaged from her wreck after she was destroyed in the Three Day War. They guard our chapel, just as the ship and her crew guarded our world. Remember them, as you step through those doors.” He looked around, “File out.”
I was in the front rank, Sashi had gone with one of the other groups. I led the way through the battle-scarred vault-like doors and then into the chapel. It was a shock, almost like falling into water. The chapel was long and wide, with a high ceiling that felt more like the outdoors than I could have expected from this deep underground. Beautiful stained glass windows, lit up from behind, glowed along the sides. The chapel was huge and could easily seat four thousand or more attendees… yet the design made it feel oddly close and comfortable.
The noise of the Cadet Instructors and Candidates outside cut off like a knife. Compared to the noise and chaos of the past week, the place was eerily quiet and serene.
A Cadet Instructor ahead of me gestured for me to come forward, a slight smile on his face, and the pointed me down a pew. Other candidates continued to file in behind me. When we gathered for physical training, I’d had a sense of several other sections and now I saw that there must be over eight hundred of us, plus any other candidates gathered for other services. But there were far more than candidates here, I saw cadets and even officers file in behind the last of the candidates and take seats as well, filling the entire chapel almost to capacity.
I was shocked by how many people I saw. My world until now had been tiny, I realized. A few dozen people at Black Mesa Outpost. The thirty other candidates in my section. The Admiral’s big, empty house with James, Stacey, and their son I’d never even met. Here I was, surrounded by people. Other candidates who I hadn’t even realized existed but who were going through the same torture… and cadets who had already been through it all.
I was a part of something, something far bigger than I had realized… and that left me feeling at once both overwhelmed and strangely content.
I took my seat and felt the peace and quiet seep into me.
I felt a sense of almost supernatural awe. I had never considered myself religious. My parents went to service when we visited my grandmother, but even then my father grumbled about it under his breath and my mother spent most of the time on her datapad. My grandmother had never struck me as strongly religious, either, and it seemed like she dragged us to church more to show off her son and his family to her friends than out of any strong convictions.
Church had just been someplace where I had to dress up and sit quietly while someone talked about things like self-sacrifice and doing right to others. While I had no personal issues with either of them, I was honest enough to admit I probably could do better in both respects.
Still, it wasn't as if I was a bad person, I thought, even as I stared ahead at the big spread of windows at the end of the room. Yes, I'd acted in self-interest when doing my application for Champion Enterprises, but it wasn't as if I'd had much choice.
Or did I? I wondered. Sashi had applied at both Champion Enterprises and the Academy Prep School, and she was accepted at both. I could have done similar. In fact, if I had and if I hadn't gone behind my parents backs and lied to them, I wouldn't be here now. If I hadn’t been so angry with my father over his refusal to sign the paperwork without my mom’s approval, I wouldn’t have done it… but I’d still made the decision.
I felt a little sick to my stomach as I finally admitted to myself that this could have all been avoided. Yet at the same time, while most of me wanted an escape, any escape, from this place, part of me didn't regret it at all. I had succeeded, so far, under enormous pressures. The stress and worry of the internship would surely be easier once I had completed this course.
And I wouldn't have met Sashi Drien, or Ashiri Takenata, or even Alexander Karmazin if I hadn't come here, I thought. For that matter, I wouldn't have met the Admiral, and certainly it seemed like there was much to be learned about that part of my family. In the quiet of the chapel, I thought about the oddness of how little my mother had spoken of her mother... and how important some of that history might be. If I was going into some kind of family feud at Champion Enterprises, I needed to know that information.
For that matter, I thought suddenly, Tony should know about it or his father should, anyway, since he's Leo Champion's son. That thought made me suddenly uncomfortable. Surely, if there was some problem between his family and mine, he would have told me. If not him, then my mother might have at least said something, given me some reason for her distrust of him? Yet suddenly I remembered just how little she and I had spoken in the past few years and how many of those conversations had turned into fights. She might have tried to tell me, I realized, but maybe I wasn't going to listen.
Still, she should have tried harder, I thought darkly.
Yet as I sat there, in the quiet, beautiful church, I thought quite a bit about what I really wanted in life... and how I might be a better person.
***
Chapter Thirteen: They Call It The Grinder
The skimmer that picked us up on day eight was a sleek, tan one. It had weapons mounts on the nose: two large guns that jutted from its snout like tusks on a desert boar. In the back, there were simple cloth and metal bench seats, with four point harnesses that I had to struggle with to get clipped in. At this point, I was aware enough to see that I was far from the only one to have that struggle. Even Sashi, with her siblings and parent's advice still took as long as I did to get herself buckled in. To my surprise, Alexander Karmazin sat back, buckled up and weapon clenched in front of him without issue. Combined with how easily he had taken to Squad Leader position and how he had helped me with rifle practice, I took it to mean that whatever his past, he had some kind of military training. What that meant with his age, I wasn't certain. It wasn't as if he were twenty or something, he couldn't be much more than a year older than I was, if that.
The skimmer rose up with a smooth, slick motion that made me feel suddenly sick to my stomach. I had expected it to be loud, but the engines were a low hum, more felt than heard. Across from me, I saw Takenata's face grow pinched with worry and I gave her a thumbs up, “It'll be alright,” I said, with far more confidence than I felt.
She gave me a nervous smile and I realized that I wasn't the only one who had grown up a bit. I felt a matching smile grow on my face. “We can do this, right?”
Sashi leaned over and gave me a grin, “Of course we can!”
I realized with a shock how connected I felt with these others. Not just with Sashi and Takenata, but with everyone in my section. The power of shared experiences, I knew, yet I couldn't fight that pull. More amazing to me was that I didn't want to... I felt like I was part of something.
I felt the skimmer start to move, a rolling, smooth motion as its pilots kept it hugging the ground
. Out the tiny porthole I could see brown dirt as often as I saw dusty blue sky. Even while my stomach protested the rolling motion, I felt a rush of excitement. I'd never done anything like this before, even when Tony and I had taken his parent's skimmer out, it was under computer control the entire time and we had stayed at safe altitude.
My grin grew a bit strained as the skimmer turned sharply and threw me against my restraints. Out the porthole I could see brown sand and rocks going past fast enough that they were only a blur. The skimmer lurched the other way and down the aisle, I heard someone gag. A moment later, something hot and wet spattered my face, followed instantly by the smell of vomit.
My own stomach rose up at that and even as I choked it down, Albany – right next to me – gagged and started to throw up. This time it wasn't a spatter, but a splash that caught me and I lost control of my own stomach. All down the compartment I could hear others begin to puke as the gyrations of the skimmer continued.
I was a sodden mess when the skimmer finally grounded and the back doors opened. “Alright, candidates! You have arrived. Off the bird, move, move, move!”
I fumbled the straps off my shoulders and then stumbled out. As my squad fell in on me I had a very good look upon the Grinder.
The combat skimmer had landed on a low ridge that overlooked the valley. Either weather or equipment had ripped the surface of the valley into deep gullies, trenches, and canyons. Burned out vehicles, piles of rubble, and tangles of razor wire and other detritus littered the terrain. It would be virtually impossible to cross that valley, I saw, because it was a warren of narrow, winding routes, many blocked with wreckage and debris.
Above it all, the hot sun beat down. We had to be below the inhabited zone, for the early morning was already hot enough that the heat distortion rolled off of everything. The vomit on me had already begun to bake dry.
“Alright, Candidates,” Mackenzie said, “Welcome to the Grinder. Fall in.” Like us, he wore a combat fatigues, body armor, and wore a slung weapon.
We rushed into position, reacting almost instantly to his command. I covered down on my squad and when it was my turn to report, snapped out, “Second Squad, all present and accounted for.”
The formalities done, we stood waiting, stinking of vomit and cooking in the sun for what seemed like an hour but was probably closer to five minutes. Out of the periphery of my vision, I saw someone signal Mackenzie and he gave a nod. “Candidates,” he snapped, “right face.” We spun right. “Forward, march.”
He marched us quickly out of the area and then down a ramp into a cramped, dirty bunker. “Pay attention, now,” he said. “In the future, candidates, you'll be expected to clear the landing zone – the LZ – within thirty seconds, establish a security perimeter, and be ready to take fire. From here on out, you are under combat conditions. You've already received your combat load. The rounds you carry are training rounds. What that means for you is that anyone you hit in a vulnerable point will receive a nasty welt as well as a good dose of Excelsior sleepy drug. They'll wake up in the field hospital here and then be processed back into their unit.”
He smiled slightly, “Most of the opponents you face will be armed similarly. There are, however some exceptions. Don't get hit by one of the heavy training rounds, those hurt a lot more. Also, during your final exercise, you will operate under fire from lethal rounds.”
I felt a chill at that. They had lethal rounds? We were kids, what were they doing shooting at kids with lethal rounds?
“By that point, I expect you all to be capable, fit, and able to conduct that attack in a manner which will prevent any injury to yourselves,” Mackenzie said. “For this first day, your cadet instructors will show you the proper manner of patrolling. After today, you will be given missions, most commonly squad level, and then sent to succeed or fail. You see someone with a white armband, like this,” he pointed at the armband he wore, “that means they're Grinder cadre. Don't shoot us, we don't like that. Most of us will also be wearing white helmets and we'll be the only ones walking around without taking cover.” He gave a broad smile, “Any questions?”
“Sir,” Takenata raised her hand, “Who are we fighting, sir?”
Mackenzie smiled, “From today on... everyone.”
***
We found out the truth of that the next morning, when we awoke to the sound of snapped out orders and gunfire. I sat up, fumbled for my weapon, and then caught two training rounds in the chest.
I wasn't really ready for that. I managed to get my weapon up and aimed vaguely at a target, and then the next thing I knew, I was waking up on a cot. A man with a medic's armband had just hit me with an injector.
I sat up with a shout and then I groaned as the painful bruises on my chest reminded me what had happened. “Easy there, Candidate, you're fine.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“Your whole platoon got taken out,” he said with a smirk, “you might want to post sentries next time, but y’all are the ones going to be officers someday.”
I ignored the sarcasm in his voice. We had made a mistake, we thought we were safe... clearly nothing was safe in the Grinder.
He monitored me for a few minutes and then sent me out to join the rest of the platoon. “Form up,” I said to my squad, “Dawson, Wallace, you're our sentries.”
Sashi looked over at me in surprise, “You think they'd attack us here?”
“They attacked us at our 'base' so why wouldn't they hit us here?” I asked. Behind her I saw Karmazin nod and he started to disperse his squad, even as I checked everyone over. All of us had been shot as we lay sleeping, most of us without any of our gear. Thankfully the Grinder's cadre had brought it with them when they dropped us off at the field hospital. It took us almost fifteen minutes to get everyone's gear out of the pile, donned and then equipped. Fifteen seconds after that, Dawson told me we had someone coming in.
A moment later, I saw a man in a white helmet come up. He looked us over for a moment, but he didn't introduce himself, “Your entire section was killed before day one even finished. That's ten points deducted from all of you.”
I saw Sashi wince at that. I didn't know where exactly I stood, point wise, but I felt certain I couldn't be in the running to score particularly high at this point.
“Each of your squads will find their mission orders in their envelope,” he said as he passed one to Karmazin, one to Sashi, and one to myself. “Good luck, candidates, don't embarrass yourself again.” with that he turned and walked away.
“All right,” Karmazin said, as he looked his over. “Third squad, form on me...”
I pulled my orders out of the envelope. They held coordinates for an ambush somewhere near the north end of the Grinder. Since we were at the south field hospital, just looking at the map I saw that we didn't have much time to get moving.
I called Takenata up, “We've got to get to the north side, we've got just under three hours,” I said. I could see her pale a bit at that. The instructors had walked some of the Grinder with us the previous day, but we'd not gone that far north before... and we were bound to run into someone along the way. “We'll move out in five minutes. Check to make certain everyone has rations and water, I'll check their ammo loads, and then we roll out.”
Alexander Karmazin came over my way. “Got a mission out west, you?”
I wasn't certain that I should share with him, but at the same time, I didn't see the harm. “North.”
He stepped close and I could see him hesitate. Up close, I could smell him. Since we both still stank of vomit from our ride the previous day, along with sweat and body odor, it wasn't exactly a comforting feeling. “Look,” he said in a low voice, “be careful out there. I overheard one of the medics when I was still coming too. They were joking about how candidates are fodder out here for everyone else.”
“Oh?” I asked. That was valuable information, if not particularly good to hear.
“Yeah,” he nodded, “the enlisted basic trainees u
se the Grinder too, and most of them are led by their drill sergeants. There's also some reservist units out here on rotations for training. Some of them will be operating at company level or larger. So be careful.”
I nodded at that... though I didn't know how exactly I was supposed to be more careful. I was already determined to avoid getting shot again. “You too.”
He just gave me a nod and he turned back to his squad. I wasn't certain I was ready for this. Sashi had coached me a bit in the past couple days. Karmazin's mentoring had helped me get my combat skills like shooting and map-reading up to a minimal standard. But could I put all this together and pull it off?
Well, I thought, I was about to find out.
***
Chapter Fourteen: The Daily Grind
We didn't get much further than the southern boundary before we came under fire. Dawson was on point and he dove for cover as someone took him under fire. All of us went down and for just a moment, all I could do was hug the dirt as bullets passed overhead. They were only training rounds, I told myself, but they still hurt... and something about the raw surprise of coming under attack just took all the fight out of me.
Yet as I looked around and saw my squad, I saw they were frightened too. We were just kids, after all. This wasn't a game, though, this was training for war... and in war, we couldn't afford to lay out in the open while someone fired at us. Someone had to take charge... and apparently that someone was me.
I popped my head up and saw what I could. I spotted three of them on the ridge above us and a couple more off to the side. “Dawson, you good?”
“Yeah,” he said, “my armor caught the couple hits, scared the crap out of me, though.”
“Dawson,” I said, “you and the twins get ready to lay down some cover fire to the north.” If they fired in the direction of our ambushers, it should make them get their heads down or at least shake their aim a bit. “Wallace, Conklin, Mikuluk, and Takenata, you're with me, we're going to assault right and then move up north.” I was nervous and I hoped I'd used the right words. Sashi had drilled me on them mercilessly as well as some basic reaction drills, which she said was about all they would expect out of us.
