by Jean Johnson
“In the same grouping as standards and splatters, we also have piercers, which are marked with a red triangle.” Tae paused and gave his cadets a solemn, grim look. “If at any time you are issued piercers while in space, it is your duty, above and beyond obeying the orders of your superiors, to question their issue,” he emphasized. “Piercers are sharp enough to pierce a standard ship hull, if you hit it in a thin or otherwise vulnerable spot. There may come a time when they will be issued deliberately; if they are and you have questioned your orders and received confirmation, make absolutely sure you, your fellow teammates, and all allied personnel within effective range are wearing lifesuits at the very least before opening fire with a red triangle marked c-clip full of piercers.
“Space is not the place for ammunition mistakes.” Handing back the black c-clips with their various marks, he accepted two more c-clips. They were not black, however, unlike all the previous cases. One was a striped dun yellow and burnt orange just a little too bright to be mistaken for brown, the other a checkered bright orange and black. Lifting them, Tae displayed the distinctive cases. “The last two types of c-clip ammunition are the HEs and the SHEs . . . and as most sentient species will tell you, SHEs are more deadly than HEs.”
For a moment, the normally sober, semi-grim sergeant smiled. It unnerved most of his recruits, Ia included. A few managed to chuckle, but that was all. Tae dropped the smile and continued their lecture.
“This is because HEs stand for High Explosives, and are marked by this striped yellow and orange c-clip casing. SHEs stand for Shrapnellated High Explosives, and are marked by this black and orange checkered casing. They are not only identifiable by sight, but also by a subtle difference in touch. Like the piercers and the gaggers, you should also question any orders to use these. HEs and SHEs can be used to pound through an interior bulkhead or a ship’s hull, set cabins on fire, and blow up sentients, so make absolutely sure you question any orders which cause them to be issued to you while on board a spaceship. Just like gassers and gaggers, HEs and SHEs are capable of hitting not only your target, but others as well. Exploding with enough force to cover a diameter of up to nine meters in the SAC, they can hit your target’s nearest neighbors, and potentially your own sweet self if you’re close to your target. So be very careful where, how, and when you use ’em.
“Which brings me to the Four Fanaticals.” Passing back the clips, Tae accepted the first weapon once more from the buck sergeant. Cradling the black-and-white bulk of the 40-MA stunner rifle, he met each recruit’s gaze in turn as he continued. “The Four Fanaticals refer to the Rules of the Range. You will abide by these four rules at all times when handling all forms and sizes of projectile, laser, and stunner weaponry, whether they are rifles, handguns, mechsuit machinery, weapons mounted on your various modes of transport, or even the occasional infantry mortar.
“Rule One: Always point your weapon in a safe direction until you are ready to fire. Rule Two: Always assume your weapon is loaded and ready to fire until you yourself have personally inspected it . . . even if you just saw someone else inspect it and claim it to be safe before handing it over to you. Rule Three: Always keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire. Don’t mess around with it even as a joke, particularly in conjunction with Rule One. And Rule Four: Always be aware of what is downrange of your target, in case you miss. Failure to follow the First and Third Fanaticals can result in being charged with Fatality Thirteen, ‘Friendly Fire,’ as can failure to be aware of the consequences of Rule Four.
“Remember, the effective range of the Heck is two full kilometers in the SAC. If you miss your enemy in the foreground, you could end up scorching a civilian somewhere down the road. Or hitting the hull of a ship, or the edge of a dome. It’s not one hundred percent likely that you may cause harm from that far way, but it is possible. It is very possible if your inadvertent target is situated somewhere close behind your missed target . . . and you can be held responsible for whatever you do in a misfire situation.”
Accepting the e-clip the buck sergeant held out to him, Tae slotted it home in its socket on the back of the rifle. He flicked the power switch, letting the weapon warm up audibly. He also cranked the nozzle from narrow to wide, though he kept it pointed up into the sky.
“Remember: Always point your weapon in a safe direction until ready to fire. Always assume the weapon is loaded until you yourself have checked. Always be aware of what is downrange of your target. And always keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire.”
Snapping the weapon down, he pumped the trigger, spraying the startled recruits with a zzzzzt of white-flashing electrosonic static . . . all who were within the 120 degree range of the wide-open cone and its accompanying ten meter maximum range. All who had been lulled into complacency by his long-winded display of all that weaponry.
Bodies slumped to the ground.
B and C Squads, sitting in the front rows, simply toppled over to one side or the other, since their owners were already seated. D and E Squads, caught kneeling behind the other two, flopped over as well. A Squad, standing at the back of the group, crumpled from soles to heads. They landed in a tangled jumble on the dusty ground of the firing range, some on top of each other, some at awkward angles which would be uncomfortable upon awakening, whenever the effects the stunner rifle wore off.
Caught off guard by the sudden attack, Ia forgot to slump as well. Frozen by surprise, but still trapped by it, she swayed a little as Mendez’s slumping body bumped against her shins. She almost dropped herself on top of him a moment later, but knew it was too late. Both Tae and the buck sergeant were already staring at her. Blushing, she cleared her throat and remained on her feet, hands clasped behind her back in the At-Ease position they had all learned in their first three days of training.
Frowning, the first sergeant checked the settings on his rifle. Lifting it, he shot her again with another flash of white. Unfortunately, it was still too late.
Knowing the damage was done—but believing it was correctable—Ia didn’t bother to fake unconsciousness. She just stood there while Tae frowned, ratcheted the cone narrow enough to single-target her, did something to its power setting, and fired again, this time aiming high enough that the white pulse-beam avoided the others. The tightly narrowed field tingled against her face and shoulders as the pulse passed through her, but did nothing to knock her over.
Scowling, he lowered the weapon, pointing it at the ground. “Why the hell didn’t you fall down, Recruit?”
Her only recourse was to tell the truth. At least a small, palatable part of it. Meeting his glare steadily, Ia gave him the portion of the truth he could handle. “Sergeant, this recruit is from Sanctuary. That’s why this recruit did not fall down like the others, Sergeant.”
“Explain yourself,” he ordered. The wind, a soft breeze until now, gusted a bit, tugging at the brims of their hats. She could smell the faint sting of ozone, like a taste of home. Reminded of what she had given up, Ia did her best to explain.
“Sergeant, Sanctuary has a core comprised of both molten iron and gold. This combination not only creates a magnetosphere capable of shielding its surface from the usual dangers of cosmic radiation, it also creates an electrosphere. An inherent electrical field,” she told both sergeants. “The planet Earth, Motherworld of the Human species, averages about one thousand lightning strikes per second across its entire surface. Including that storm in the distance. Sanctuary averages twelve million per second, Sergeant.”
The buck sergeant spoke up, her freckled brow furrowed in confusion. “How does that keep you from falling down under stunner fire?”
“Sergeant, by the second generation of colonization, after being constantly exposed to the prevalent static charges of the daily lightning storms, a few of us have already developed a certain resistance to strong electrical shocks. Some more than others, obviously,” Ia added dryly. “This recruit is fairly certain that is the reason why the stunner field did
n’t work, Sergeant. At least, there is no other reasonable explanation which this Recruit could offer, Sergeant.”
The real truth was, the only two who had developed that level of resistance already were herself and her older half brother, Thorne. The others back home wouldn’t develop it for another two or three generations at the earliest. Why she couldn’t be shocked was a secret she herself had only discovered by carefully tracing the timestreams into the past. But being honest about the fact that only she and her elder brother were fully resistant would only open up a host of extremely dangerous questions right now. So Ia kept her mouth shut on that part.
“Shova v’shakk,” Tae growled, glaring at her. “I haven’t heard any such thing.”
“Sergeant, this recruit is not surprised you haven’t heard anything, Sergeant,” Ia allowed. “Stunners have been banned from Sanctuary since our colonists first explored it more half than a century ago, Sergeant.”
“Why would it be banned?” the buck sergeant asked, tugging her hat a little lower against the gusting breeze. “Stunner weaponry is standard equipment on all survey missions, in case the surveyors encounter a potentially sentient life-form.”
“Sergeant, because of Sanctuary’s natural electrosphere, any stunner weapon fired on Sanctuary will automatically malfunction,” Ia explained patiently. “Seven out of ten times, Sergeant, that ‘malfunction’ manifests as static lightning striking whoever or whatever is holding the stunner gun. Two out of ten times, it will strike the target, and the remaining one in ten times, lightning will strike either both parties, or somewhere in between. The lethality of these malfunctions has caused the weapon to be permanently banned from use on the surface of this recruit’s homeworld.
“Additionally, testing in the early days of colonization showed that the natural prevalence of the static field can even trigger an indoor lightning attack, so stunner weaponry isn’t used inside buildings. It isn’t allowed to be used beneath the surface of the planet, either, because that same electrosphere goes straight down to the planet’s core,” she added. The third person referencing was wearisome, but she knew she had to wade through it, or risk unnecessary demerits. “While this recruit has never before been shot by a stunner weapon, this recruit did know about the results of those early difficulties, as they were included in the standard Sanctuarian colonial history curriculum. From there, it was easy enough to extrapolate the most probable cause as to why this recruit did not fall down, Sergeant.”
He stared at her. Finally, his thumb moved, snapping off the power supply to the rifle in his arms. Pulling out the e-clip, Tae handed both pieces back to his assistant. “What am I going to do with you, Recruit?”
“Sergeant?” Ia asked, not sure what he meant. She stayed where she was as he approached, unable to retreat thanks to the fallen, slumbering bodies of her fellow recruits. The tall bulk of Mendez had landed across her feet, pinning her partly in place, though she could have picked her way free had she really tried. But she didn’t move.
He rested his fists on his hips, studying her. “You are good. In fact, you act like you’ve been a soldier before. I don’t trust that.”
“Sergeant . . . permission to speak both freely and directly, Sergeant?” Ia asked, mindful of the passing of time. In the distance, the thunderheads swelling along the horizon were starting to darken ominously along their bases.
“Granted.”
She lifted her chin a little and spread her hands, shrugging. “I have found the place I need to be, Sergeant Tae. I’m just doing my best to fit in. If that makes me a good soldier even this early in my training, then it only supports my theory that I do indeed belong here. To try anything less than my best would be an insult to the Space Force, to the Marine Corps, and to my own sense of duty and proper effort.”
He studied her a moment longer, glanced at the buck sergeant, then sighed roughly. “You do realize I’ll now have to go three times as hard on you with that little confession, just to break you down and build you up the right way?”
“That’s your job, Sergeant,” Ia acknowledged. “I won’t hold it against you.”
His mouth tightened. He looked like he wanted to say something more, but a couple of the fallen recruits were beginning to stir. Glancing at the buck sergeant, Tae sighed again. “Well. Looks like I’ll have to haul out the hovercams for the days ahead.”
Not sure what he meant, Ia dipped quickly into the timestreams. Not strongly enough to lose her sense of the world around her, but enough to learn he meant using a hovercamera to record everything he would make her do, to make sure there were no infractions of just what he could do to her, and what he couldn’t, or shouldn’t.
Mendez roused, shifting off her feet with a grumbling moan. He rubbed at his head, then squinted at the other bodies, more of whom were stirring. Twisting his body, he peered up at Ia. “What . . . what happened?”
Ia glanced at Tae briefly before answering under her breath. “Sergeant Tae, in his infinite wisdom, decided to stun all of us.”
“He what?” Mendez accepted the hand she offered him, helping him to his feet. Others were rousing as well, most of them grumbling or groaning as they regained their senses. “He stunned all of us? That’s why we all fell down?”
She didn’t bother to correct the impression that she had fallen down, too. It wouldn’t do to give the others—particularly Arstoll—even more reason to resent her.
After everyone had roused, while they were still milling around, trying to make sense of what had just happened, Tae spoke. His words cut through their mutterings, some of it increasingly angry for having been attacked without warning. “Back into your places, Recruits!”
His snapped command made them shuffle back into position, with the two front rows sitting, the next two kneeling, and the last standing. All of them did so quietly except for Kaimong, who continued to curse under his breath.
“Recruit Kaimong!” Sgt. Tae snapped. “Twenty sit-ups for attitude! Recruit Johnston, sit on his feet.”
Glaring, Kaimong rocked onto his back while his squad mate shifted over, weighting down his feet for the sit-ups. As soon as he was done counting out his demerits in grunts, Tae continued.
“Some of you may be wondering why I stunned you. That’s because most of you don’t take stunner technology seriously. It may not be a directly lethal weapon, but if the enemy knocks you out, they can and will use your helpless state of unconsciousness to close in and finish you off. Stunner fire can also prove lethal if it knocks you off the edge of a bridge, a cliff, or a building, or even while driving a vehicle, just to name a few examples,” Tae reminded them. “Stunners are weapons, not toys, and you will treat them with all the care, gravity, and safety precautions that fact requires.
“With that in mind, you will move on to learning how to properly and safely handle the 40-MA. You will learn how to load, charge, operate, safely fire, disassemble, clean, and reassemble the Mama stunner rifle. These are the parts of the . . .”
Reality dropped away from her with a jolt. Dumped into the timeplains, Ia blinked and spun around, quickly orienting herself in the sepia-toned world inside her mind. Glancing down, she peered into the waters intersecting like vine-shaped rivulets. Her gifts didn’t activate this abruptly unless there was something she needed to see. Something which would change the course of the future, unless she acted upon it.
There—in Kaimong’s water!Leaning over his stream, she tried to make sense of what she saw.
He . . . just stepped forward with the rest of E Squad, helping the buck sergeant to pass out the black and white rifles . . . then people fell down a few moments later. But that shouldn’t have worked; the rifles didn’t have e-clips yet. I can’t see from up here . . . ugh!
Gritting her teeth, Ia stepped into the water. She let the flow of his future life soak up into her senses until she was Wong Ta Kaimong . . . mad and hurt and vengeful.
. . . There—I’ll get that e-clip while the bitch is looking the other way . . . co
ver it up with this . . . I’ve had enough of this shakk—if this is what a “respectable citizen” has to put up with, I’d rather take my chances with organized crime—and I’ll grab that laser rifle along with the projectile one while I’m at it, just in case anyone decides to—
“. . . Recruit Ia!”
Jolted back into awareness, Ia blinked and swayed back from the tilted brim of Sergeant Tae’s hat, which threatened to knock against her own brim, given the upward jut of his chin. “Sergeant, yes, Sergeant?”
“Were you not paying attention to me, just now?” he demanded, glaring at her.
A lightning-fast dip into the timestreams—her timestream, and nowhere near the same level of immersion she had used in looking into Kaimong’s future—showed that this, too, could be salvaged. “Sergeant, no, Sergeant!”
“You . . . what?” he rasped.
Carefully, she flicked her gaze to her right, where the majority of the other recruits stood, then looked back at him. And even more carefully winked, very briefly, with her left eye. The one farthest away from the others. Come on, Sergeant, she coaxed silently, though not through actual telepathy—she didn’t possess that particular gift in any real strength. Think. You want to be harder on me than the others, but neither of us really want them knowing what you now know . . .
She flicked her gaze to her right again for just a little bit longer, then returned it to him. Comprehension dawned in his dark brown eyes. The merest hint of a smile ghosted across the corner of his lips then flicked down into a scowl. Reaching up, Tae ripped her chevron patch from her shoulder. “I am demoting you from boot chevrons, Recruit! And twenty—no, forty pushups for failing to pay attention, too! Move to the far end of your squad’s line as soon as you are through. Recruit Mendez, you are now the leader of A Squad.”
