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and to Ryck’s left, while Wagons was in trace of Ryck and behind the other two.  Their first mission would be a simple movement to contact.

“Fire team, you may begin,” a voice told them over their comms.

Ryck didn’t wait for Hodges; he simply stepped off, senses on high alert.

He scanned the area in front of him, trying to see any movement, any tripwires, any sign of danger.  He knew that this could be a simple movement, just to let them get used to the simulation, but somehow, he doubted it.  There would be bad guys out there.

He had been intensely aware that what he was seeing would be on a monitor outside, but he quickly forgot about that.  He had immersed himself in the scenario.

What is that? he asked himself. 

He held up one fist, the ancient hand-and-arm signal to stop, and edged over to look at the ground in front of him.  Something had caught his eye.  It was a stick, but it looked out of place.  Carefully, he pulled back the grass from around it, the front of his mind reveling in the tactile feel of the grass despite the back of his mind knowing there was nothing actually there. 

“What is it, Lysander?” Hodges asked.

“Maybe a booby trap, over,” Ryck responded.

Ryck examined it from every angle possible, wishing his helmet had full capabilities so he could do one of the several scans an operational helmet could make.  Finally, he decided it was just a stick.

He started moving the team forward again.  The terrain seemed to rise as if they were walking up a hill.  Once again, Ryck knew the room was level, but his senses warred with that knowledge.  He wondered at the technology that made all of this possible.  This was head and shoulders above what he’d ever experienced in any game before.

Focus! he reminded himself.  Think about how amazing this is after the exercise!

They continued forward, tension building.  If they were going to be hit, it would have to be soon.  Simple logistics told them that with seven fire teams—four from Fourth Squad and only three now from Third Squad—and the number of runs each team was scheduled for the day, each go-through could only take up so much time. 

Ryck just happened to be looking right at a jumble of logs ahead when the enemy soldier rose and fired.  Instinctively, Ryck pulled the trigger, lifting his M99 from low and left to high and right, stitching a line across his target.  This was a technique taught during the last two days of Range Week, after initial qualification, and Ryck was surprised that it worked just as well in this scenario as on an open rifle range.  The enemy disappeared, whether hit or merely taking cover, Ryck would find out during the debrief.

He half-waited for Hodges to shout out an order, and when nothing was forthcoming, he did what Wagons and he had decided earlier.  Charge the bastards.  They had practiced this during Immediate Action Drills, so Wagons and he thought that would be a good excuse if reacting without orders was considered a no-no. 

He saw movement to his front left, so he went right at it, weapon blazing.  A line of fire reached back out to him.  The helmets didn’t have many of the capabilities of an actual combat helmet, but due to the nature of the training, the ballistic indictor was enabled.  A trace appeared on the visor showing the trajectory of the incoming rounds.  The trace started from Ryck’s right, then began to sweep toward him.   Ryck dove to the deck untouched.  He tried to peer ahead and see who had fired at him.  He had a general idea about from where the rounds had come, but he couldn’t see anything.   An explosion sounded to the front, and dirt and debris fell around him.  Ryck could actually feel the clods hit his body.

By now, Hodges was yammering over the comms, asking for an update.  He sounded excited, but not in a good way.  There was a hint of panic to his voice.  At the fire team level, the recruits could communicate directly with each other.  The fire team comms circuit was open between the four of them. 

“We’ve got at least three hostiles to my eleven o’clock.  I’m gonna shift to the right, so cover me,” Ryck transmitted.

“Roger that,” Wagons’ voice came over the circuit.  “Give me a count, then move.”

“Roger.  I am moving in three . . . two . . . one!”

At “one,” Ryck jumped to his feet and darted to his 2 o’clock—and his helmet siren went off. 

“Mother grubber!” he shouted as he stopped and dutifully got back down on the ground.  He was “dead” and so could not participate in any more action—not that he could even if he wanted to.  Getting killed also disabled his SFA, keeping him from firing any more simulated rounds.

He’d been looking forward when he’d been hit, and he’d seen no trace coming at him.  Still sitting, he looked back.  Hodges was behind him, looking guilty. 

That fucking idiot shot me! Ryck thought.  I’m gonna kick his grubbing ass!

The rest of the engagement didn’t take long.  Wagons lasted the longest at another two minutes.  Once he went down, the simulation faded.  They were sitting in an empty space.  The trees, dirt, smells, enemy: all were gone.

Ryck had been killed, and by friendly fire, of all things.  The fire team had gotten wiped out.  But damn it all, it had been a perking blast!  He couldn’t wait for their next turn in the breach.

“Fire team, return to the front hatch,” came over the helmet comms.

Looking back, an innocuous red “EXIT” sign showed them the way.

Chapter 11

 

 

Ryck watched the server plop the shit-on-a-shingle on his plate.  He actually liked the gloppy mess, but he had to wonder just how many millions of soldiers had been fed it over the centuries.  He was pretty sure Roman legionnaires had fueled their marches into Gaul with it.  Hadn’t Dr. Berber said they’d been fed some sort of gruel?  Wasn’t gruel kind of like shit-on-a-shingle?

He moved on down the line, grabbing a panderfruit.  The Roman’s hadn’t eaten those, though.  The hybrid fruit had only been introduced about ten years before.  Their ability to withstand rough handling and their long shelf life had made them an instant hit with industrial food service.  They were pretty damn delicious, too.  Ryck had never actually tried one before getting to Camp Charles, and now he was hooked on them. 

He squirted some ketchup and polly sauce on his breakfast, a combination that some of the other recruits thought was vile, grabbed a cup of coffee, and looked around for a seat.  Platoon 1045 had preceded them in the chow line, and he saw Joshua had taken a seat at the far end of his platoon area.  He waved Ryck over.

There were no rules about where a recruit sat to eat, but common practice was to eat with the others in the unit.  Joshua had seen Ryck and had taken a seat at the edge of 1045’s grouping.  The empty seats next to him were being taken up by 1044 recruits, so Ryck could sit there and still catch up with Joshua.  They’d only known each other for a few days back home before shipping and then while en route, but still, it was good to see someone from home.  Without time the opportunity to socialize, even if Joshua was only in the next squadbay, he might as well have been on another planet most of the time.

“Take a load off, brother-boy,” Joshua said as Ryck walked over.  “Oh, man, what you doin’ to that grubbing food, there?” he added, pointing at the ketchup-and-polly-sauce mix.

“What you grubbing doing to that grubbing food?” one of the recruits next to Joshua mimicked.

“You grubbing mother grubber, grub off,” another said, drawing a laugh from those around Joshua.

“Not only is he from the booger platoon, but he’s one of Josh’s homeys,” chimed in a third recruit.  “Are you another farmer boy?  Josh here’s a right solid recruit, even if he talks like shit.  And he still can’t tell us what ‘grubbing’ means.”

“Well, please allow me the opportunity to introduce you to my planetary compatriot, Mr. Ryck Lysander.  To respond to your inquiry, affirmative, Mr. Lysander was an agricultural engineer at his former abode.  Currently, in the present time continuum, he occupies the position of Marine Corps recruit,” Joshua said with an affected accent, one hand raised, little finger extended.  “Even if he be from the booger platoon,” he added, back to his Torritite accent.

Ryck extended his middle finger before picking up his fork.  “Good to see you, too.  And great to meet all of you grubbing freaks,” he added to the others.

Recruit culture had a decided aggressive nature with smack-talk rampant.  He didn’t take the planetary comments seriously.  Heck, he had given out worse.  The “booger platoon” comment cut though, not that he was going to let anyone know that. More of 1044’s recruits took their seats, but this was a chance to talk to Joshua.

“You heard about Proctor, right?” Ryck asked.

“Yeah, DOR’d.  That shocked me, I be sayin’.   Did you talk to him?” Joshua asked.

“Only for a minute.  I was platoon runner for the day and had to take some papers to the company office.  He was out on the bench, waiting,” Ryck told him.

The “bench” was right outside the company office hatch.  Any recruits leaving training, whether being dropped or by DOR, sat on the bench while awaiting their series and company commander interviews.  Occasionally, a recruit being dropped could convince the officers to overrule the DIs and give a recruit another

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