by Chris Hechtl
“Yeah. I did it yesterday.”
“So, when do you deploy?” Nohar asked.
The Master gunnery sergeant cocked his head as he consulted his orders on his implants. “You know, it's open. They didn't specify a date.”
“You want my advice? Go. Go now on the next convoy out. Pass on your load to whoever is taking over for you and then get the hell out of dodge before they can change their mind,” Nohar growled.
Schultz grimaced in distaste as he checked the convoy schedule. “There is a convoy coming in next week. It'll be reloaded and ready to go in ten, twelve days,” he said.
“Good,” Nohar said. He turned and extended a hand. “If I don't see you again, have a good life. Kick ass Gunny,” he said.
“You too.”
“We aim to please,” the tiger said as he turned to watch the shuttles and aircraft moving out in the setting sun. “Speaking of which, I need to go roar at someone to go get the lead out,” he said striding off with purpose to a shuttle still on the taxiway.
Schultz snorted, then shook his head as he walked off.
<)>^<)>/
“We'll miss you, Gunny,” Ted said as he eyed the NeoDoberman. Schultz snorted as he turned around. He was in uniform but Ted was in his civvies. Most likely because it was the weekend he thought. He'd kept his departure low key. Trust Ted to have gotten word somehow he thought.
“Yeah, like a hole in the head,” the gunny growled gruffly. “You take care of yourself, sir,” he said with a nod to the captain.
“I'll take care of my troops. Like you taught me,” the Neochimp said.
“You'd better,” the Neodog growled. After a moment, both of them chuckled in their own way.
“Shuttle nine, last boarding call,” a voice said over the PA.
“Well, that's your cue I suppose. I won't hold you. You didn't let the grass grow under you when they issued those orders, did you?” the captain said as the duo shook hands.
“Hell no. I need to go before someone changes their mind,” the NeoDoberman said with a shake of his head. He'd re-upped but only for a three-year hitch. Hopefully, they'd keep their word, though he wasn't looking forward to playing with public affairs.
Penance he thought.
“I know General Forth would have seen you off,” the captain said as he waved for them to go to the boarding ramp.
“He's busy. Also still pissed I did what I did. He'll get over it,” the NeoDoberman said with a shrug. “Your lot can look after yourself now,” he said. “Just don't try what I did,” he warned.
“Perish the thought,” the Neochimp murmured. “I wouldn't mind another deployment myself. I'm hoping he'll stick me in Fifth Division or baring that a staff post in Sixth. Though I'd hate to be staff,” he said with a grimace. “I'd like to at least get my ticket punched before that,” he said as they got to the gate.
“I know the feeling. Okay, good luck,” the NeoDoberman said as he shouldered his duffel then extended his free hand once more. Ted took it, shook it, and then pulled the Neodog into a hug. “As you were, sir!” he said gruffly.
“Stay safe,” Ted said as he laughed and released him.
“Hell with that. Where's the fun?” the NeoDoberman said with a shake of his head. “Semper Fi.”
“Hoorah,” Ted said as he waved. The NeoDoberman nodded once, then went up the boarding ramp as the lights began to blink from green to yellow in warning.
<)>^<)>/
Brigadier General Jersey Forth watched from his office as the Marines loaded onto the shuttles that would carry them up to the transports. Agnosta was exporting Marines now, almost as many Marines and soldiers as they got in it seemed. The kids came to the pastoral moon full of excitement and adventure. They left almost in the same state but hopefully with a hell of a lot of wisdom, training, and equipment to go with it. Maybe, just maybe it would keep them alive. It was too much to hope for that it'd keep them all alive though he thought, turning away from the view.
Working with the Marine officers from Bek had been something of a mixed blessing. He was glad he'd thrown the Army over to Pasha and that the other man had insisted on a hands-off approach.
That hadn't gone as well as the colonel had expected though when he'd come to the Marines with hat in hand for help less than a week later he thought with a shake of his head.
He already missed Schultz. The NeoDoberman had taken a lot of the headaches and handled them without them ever getting to his level. Now that the Neodog had shipped out, he was stuck making certain his replacements knew the job. Some did, but they were still working on their confidence on handling the decisions themselves.
Integrating the Bekian Marine officers had been tricky initially, he mused. He'd wanted to throw them at a division and let them build it on their own, but there was decided differences in their approach and methods, enough to make him reconsider that plan. He shook his head. Major Theodore Edward Bear IIXXX … and who the hell named their cub that? He thought wryly as he flicked a stylus on his desk. The Neopolar bear had finally settled in and seemed to be working out. And now that he was up to speed on implants and training, Jersey had been confident enough to toss him at his own division. The bear had his own way of doing things, but he was fortunate enough to be building the division from the top down instead of half-assed like Pendeckle and the others had been forced to do.
The Nuevo Army group had been far easier to handle. They had virtually a blank slate at the top, so they were actually grateful for the guidance and new chain of command when the Nuevo officers had arrived. Good for them he thought. His brief times with Lieutenant Colonel 101011 made him cherish the times away and made him want to stay clear with a certain amount of fervor. He was glad they'd settled the Army group on their own island nearby. They still had to come over to the Marine base for supplies and to ship off-world through the spaceport, but at least they were mostly out of his hair he thought.
He frowned thoughtfully, mind turning to the bigger picture. Schultz was off to Antigua and then from there who knows. Most likely Pi sector he thought. He should have thrown the dog at the damn Tau sector project instead he thought.
Pi sector, Tau, Agnosta, Antigua, Bek, Nuevo … invasions on Destria and Protodon, planned and now on hold invasions of Nuevo Madrid and Dead Drop … things were getting just a tad complicated. And they were going to get worse the bigger the branch grew.
The various staffs involved were still working on a plan to integrate and bring training up to homogenous standard across the board. Bek had its own ideas, and he had to stop himself and his people from stomping all over them. He'd come to learn that the bear was as stubborn as the day was long. He wuffled. If the bear was anything like the rest of the chain of command in Bek … but then, they did say jarheads were stubborn, didn't they? Jersey shook his head. "We do it this way and not-made-here attitudes are best to be avoided," he said out loud.
"Sir?" Lieutenant Lincoln asked from his open door.
"What brings you to Marine country, Lieutenant?" he asked, ignoring his last statement.
"Sorry to bother you, but your secretary is out I guess and the door was open," she said, coming in to the room. She came to attention. He nodded. "I've got the reports and additional requests, sir," the recently-promoted Army lieutenant said, handing him a memory chip.
"Okay. Are you getting anywhere with the implant tech?" the general asked as he took the chip. He set it into his tablet and did a brief scan of the contents.
Technically, they could have uploaded the data. But the lieutenant had something else in mind he noted as his eyes returned to his guest.
She grimaced ever so slightly. "We're not getting anywhere with Army medicine if that is your question. We're still reliant on the Navy medics," she said.
"Which is probably just tickling your boss pink right about now," the general said. Ever since the Nuevo duo had shown up, the requests for transfer to the Army had been cut back and then dried up. Apparently the colonel had rubbed a lo
t of people the wrong way. But, he was getting the job done, the general noted.
Well, he did have a lot of help from a certain ancient yellow Neotiger he thought as he scanned the document. "I'm impressed with your engineering training program," he admitted.
"Thank you, sir. The ground engineering was something the Spacebees and your own Marines were overlooking, sir," she said.
"Well, not quite, but I get the point," he replied with a nod. "Deploying a small unit to Protodon like you did should go a long way to help smooth things over there. Are we still on track for a joint exercise next month?" he asked.
The lieutenant nodded. "I think it's a go, sir. The colonel hasn't objected at any rate. We need to work out the details," she said. "We're limited on numbers of course. We also didn't discuss which scenarios to work on. I'm assuming we'll take turns being the op force?" she asked.
The general nodded. "I think that's fair," he said, steepling his fingers.
"That leaves venue, sir. Is this going to be SIMS or in the field? And what type? Obviously we're not trained for space," she said as she pointed to the ceiling.
The general smiled ever so slightly. "Heaven forbid we take you out of your comfort zone. I think we can do some door kicking," he said.
She nodded and took her tablet out from under her arm and made a note. "Urban and suburban, I'm assuming IEDs and counter insurgency. Do you want to do a hot drop SIM on a city or town? Full court press or small engagements, sir?" she asked.
"I like where you are going with this, Lieutenant," the general said with a smile. "But for the first engagements, let's follow the KISS principle. We can always build in complexity later," he said.
She nodded.
"As for the rest," he said, indicating she take a chair, "I think we can do a mix of both. We've got shoot houses on both islands; seeing unfamiliar surroundings would be good for our people I suppose," he said thoughtfully.
"Yes, sir," she said, eyes bright. "I was thinking …"
<)>^<)>/
“So he's okay with the joint op?” Captain Church asked excitedly as the senior staff filed into the conference room for the morning briefing.
“Yes,” Captain Yee said as the colonel came in.
The officers shot to their feet, but he waved them back into their seats as he sipped his coffee. “As you were,” he said. “We're on track for the joint training OPS?” he asked as he walked around the room.
“Yes, sir. I was about to fill the others in there, but I had something else in mind I wanted to bounce around, sir,” she said.
“Oh?”
“I've got something of a proposal for you, sir,” Lieutenant Lincoln said as the colonel took his seat.
“Oh?” the colonel asked mildly as he took a sip of coffee.
“We're earmarked for each of the planets that have been invaded. The powers that be want to eventually swap out the Marines there and eventually replace them with our troops. I'm proposing we move on that. Move in before they do a Marine division swap.”
“In other words do our jobs,” Captain Church said.
“Essentially, yes,” Lieutenant Lincoln said with a nod over her shoulder to him before she turned to continue to address the colonel. “The current plan is for the ships in Destria orbit to be emptied and then most returned to Pyrax for refit before they come here to pick up reinforcements or a replacement division.”
“Major Bear's Fifth Division since First is stuck here,” Captain Yee pointed out. They all knew the major was up for promotion to lieutenant colonel. BuPers was being sticky about the paperwork but the promotion was inevitable now that he'd gotten Fifth Division. Just like a certain lieutenant was up to promotion to captain as soon as BuPers got its stick out of a certain orifice.
The question on everyone's mind was when would Colonel 1010111 get his much deserved upwards kick … which would then inevitably kick loose everyone else's promotions along with it.
“Exactly. “What I'm saying is we put our own people up for the deployment instead. It would accelerate the occupation plan for each planet by two years and free up the Marines for the next invasion, sir,” Lieutenant Lincoln stated.
“I like it,” Captain Church said, rubbing his hands together.
Lieutenant Lincoln eyed him and then turned to look expectantly at the colonel. There was no love lost between Church and Lincoln everyone knew. Lieutenant Lincoln, like the colonel, was the new kid on the block ;the other captains outranked her by a full grade. In Church's case, he tended to rub it in. She cozened up to the colonel since they shared a birth world and training.
But Captain Church had proven himself in SIMS that he was indeed a good field commander. He just lacked proper administration skills. He was improving them steadily though.
“If we play our cards right, sir, we could lift a battalion and ship them one company or even one platoon at a time to Pyrax. They could then board the transports, and the ships could then carry them to Destria and Hidoshi's World,” Lieutenant Lincoln stated. “There is plenty of room for them to be housed in Camp Pendleton temporarily,” she stated. “I know, I checked that part. Transporting them in stages now would cut down on transit time by two months or more.”
“And you think a Battalion will be enough though?” Colonel 1010111 asked carefully.
“For the past several years, the Marines have been holding Hidoshi's World together with a Marine company, sir. Originally, a scratch half-trained Marine platoon, sir, with minimum support,” the lieutenant replied with a shake of her head. “I think a fully outfitted Army company would be able to handle the job. And remember, the Marines will be leaving a lot of their gear behind for us to use.”
“Hmm,” the colonel said thoughtfully.
“I agree, sir,” Captain Church said as the colonel turned his thoughtful gaze towards him. Captain Yee nodded when that gaze turned his way.
“Okay, one battalion. Figure out which one and how you are going to divvy up the companies. I'll take the plan to General Forth and the admiralty and get their blessing. If I get it fast enough, I want this on the snap kick. Which means we'll need to start shipping units and equipment to Pyrax on the next ship,” he warned.
Lieutenant Lincoln nodded.
“My battalion can handle it, sir,” Captain Church said. “Though I obviously can't exercise command and control over the distances between star systems effectively,” the captain stated.
Colonel 1010111 glanced at Lieutenant Lincoln. She shrugged minisculely.
“Okay, I'll take that under advisement,” the colonel drawled. “I'll want this as objective as possible. Write up the deployment plan and contingency set,” he ordered.
“I'll need the latest INTEL and projections from each planet,” Captain Church said with a nod to Lieutenant Lincoln. He kept his look of triumph away from his face. “I think since Hidoshi's World has a Marine company we can get away with sending Gamma there. That would keep Alpha and Beta for Destria since it has only recently been invaded. I admit I haven't kept up with the latest news on either planet though,” he said.
“Hidoshi's World has a growing terrorist movement. Most of it has the Horathians and their native supporters behind it,” Lieutenant Lincoln said as she pulled up the files. “Destria hasn't met hard resistance yet, but the Marines know it is there.”
“Understood. By the time we get there, we'll know more,” Captain Church said. “I hope they leave enough for us,” he said.
“Don't get cocky. And don't bite off more than you can chew, Captain,” the colonel warned.
<)>^<)>/
Despite his misgivings over things, Nohar Rajestan had allowed the new powers that be to make him a warrant—a W-1, which was as high as he was willing to go. He'd taken the rank only so he'd be at the top; he'd seen enough of young pissants trying to tell him how to do his job to last a lifetime.
A noncom's job was to train and run the unit. It was up to the officers to direct the unit, shuffle paperwork, and generally be a pain
in the ass to the noncoms. That was how Army personnel were supposed to work, but until the fresh faces from Nuevo had arrived, it hadn't seemed like it was going to stick. They'd certainly got the generate paperwork and be a pain in the ass part down beforehand though.
He'd had a bit of … interesting interactions with Colonel 1010111. His point of view of the base and chain of command and how things should be run was more in line with Nohar's, though he had a tendency to micromanage and absolutely hated reading or doing paperwork.
He wuffled a bit, flexing his ears. Both ears, since he'd gotten cloned rebuilds. And his arm, he noted, flexing both arms and then extending his claws. He flicked a clod of dirt off one and then let them retract partially. He had seen some small changes filter down from above as the colonel had settled in and started to flex his muscles. That had eventually gotten to the point where they could see the small changes in training and doctrine as well as the return of certain traditions and values begin to build up. He now had a sense of satisfaction from work and a sense of pride in what they were accomplishing.
He nodded briefly to a squad out for a morning run. They wore vests since they were traveling the open road where fast moving vehicles might not see them easily. Good he thought with a mental nod of approval.
And it had only taken a bunch of hicks from the back of beyond to make it work. Go figure he thought shaking his head. He had wondered briefly about what things would be like when more of the Bek and Nuevo contingent showed up. Would they come in greater numbers? Entire units? He hoped so. The colonel had a lot to learn about paperwork and implants, but he was pretty good at leadership and managing the units in the field, Nohar thought absently as he strode across the quad to the admin building.
The first deployment of an Army unit to Protodon had bothered him. But the reports had made it clear they were standing on their two feet and making a positive impression with Naval Command, the Marines, and the locals. That was a good thing, though he didn't care what the Marines thought of him … as long as they were respectful about it in public. He'd tear anyone a new one if they weren't and had made no bones about making that point of view known.
