by Terry Mixon
Fei nodded, not even trying to hide the truth. “Yes. I have experience with her, and I’m cleared to know all the details of how she came to be in the Empire.
“That said, while I’m guiding this platoon, I’m not influencing how the training goes for her. That falls to Senior Sergeant Page and your team.
“She’s been given an Imperial dispensation to be here, and I expect her to get a fair shot at completing the training. That doesn’t mean that she’s going to get a pass. You’re going to work her just as hard as anyone else and push her past the breaking point. The only thing I demand is that if you have a bias, you set it aside.”
The woman considered her and then shook her head. “That’s not the whole story. What’s your real connection to her?”
Fei smiled coolly. “The details of that are classified. All you need to know is that I’m playing referee. If there’s going to be trouble with bias, I’m going to see it, and I’m going to act. Be evenhanded with all of the recruits—including her—and we’re not going to have a problem.
“Because of my connection to her, we won’t be letting the recruits know about me. She knows me, so we’ll leave Lieutenant Evans listed as the platoon leader. Is that clear?”
Both of the noncoms nodded.
“Excellent. Now, how is day one going?”
Page smiled. “The first day is always fun. You get to take people that think they want to be marines and run them into the ground. Honestly, while the later portions of the training are more rewarding, these first couple of weeks are more enjoyable. A little browbeating isn’t going to hurt them.”
“I think this group is going to be lively,” Gomez allowed. “That’ll make things a bit more chaotic than usual, but I think this is a good set of people. We’re going to run some of them out because I can already see a few that aren’t going to put in the effort it takes to make it.”
“We’ll have our share of bullies and sadists, just like every single group I’ve ever trained,” Page added. “They’ll want to lord it over the others and think that being a marine is all about fighting and killing. We’ll identify the worst of them and kick them out.
“That isn’t to say we won’t have jackasses. I already know of one that’s going to be a pain in Recruit Tolliver’s ass. He’s decided to run her out of the Corps. We’ll keep an eye on their interactions, but I’m not going to intervene unless things get out of hand.”
He watched her closely, obviously wanting to see how she reacted.
Fei shrugged. “We all have asses to deal with in life, so that’s good training. Hopefully, she’ll find allies to help her. In any case, I’m not worried if you’re not.”
That answer seemed to satisfy him, though Gomez seemed less convinced. Well, it would take time to show them that she was sincere.
“Okay, run me through the plans for today, and then let’s go over the next few days,” Fei said. “I’ve got a lot to take in, and I need to do my part to make this the most rewarding and painful training cycle for the recruits that I can.”
There were interesting times ahead for both Andrea and her. She’d be ready. She only hoped her girl was.
Once he and Gomez had finished their meeting with Lieutenant Na, he waited until the officer had returned to her office before he called the available drill instructors to a meeting in the same room.
Two of the DIs were going to be keeping an eye on the recruits as they had their first group meal once they’d cleaned up. Then they’d shepherd them back to the barracks so that instruction could begin.
Page had initially intended to take that time off, but then he’d reconsidered. He needed to be the face the platoon saw going forward. That meant he’d be exhausted by noon, but that couldn’t be helped. He’d deal with it.
The two absent drill instructors would be listening in on the meeting via their implants. If they had anything to add, they’d be able to do so remotely.
Before he could even start talking, Gomez shared her opinion of the situation. “This is bullshit. Lieutenant Na is here to interfere on behalf of that thing, and we need to talk to the major about it.”
Page gave his friend and subordinate a stern look. “Before we start discussing options, we need to brief everyone on the situation, don’t you think?”
He turned his attention to the other two drill instructors without waiting for a response. Sergeants Rafael Engel and Lucy Carmichael had been with him almost as long as Gomez, and he trusted their insight and wanted to hear from them before things got heated.
Engel was built like a bear and dominated the other end of the table. Having seen the man in the shower, Page knew that he had as much hair as a bear as well. Even though that type of condition could be treated these days, Engel seemed to enjoy having a pelt and encouraged the jokes about how primitive he was.
Carmichael was the exact opposite, being of slight build with exquisitely delicate features. Beneath that harmless-looking exterior was a bulldog. She was one of the most aggressive drill instructors he’d ever met, and she didn’t know the word “quit.”
She could run any recruit into the ground, and he wasn’t willing to bet that she couldn’t do the same to Tolliver, even with the girl’s advantages.
The two drill instructors that weren’t present were sergeants Stephan Bluefield and Gail Wright. They were both very competent, but he had no idea how they’d respond to the situation. The same was true of Engel and Carmichael. Only Gomez had tipped her hand.
Once he had their undivided attention, he laid out the basic facts about Tolliver and her situation. He then passed on some of the information about their new platoon leader. He didn’t mention that there was more to the relationship between Na and Tolliver than he was telling.
When he’d finished, he let the conversation flow based on what his associates were thinking. As he’d expected, there was a fair bit of consternation. No one liked the Singularity, and the idea of training someone from one of their senior lines generated some strong feelings.
Also, as expected, Carmichael was the voice of reason. The slight twang to the woman’s voice betrayed her rural upbringing and always made him smile. It was as if she’d come from the old state of Texas on Terra. He could see her riding a horse and wearing a big hat without any trouble whatsoever.
“If the girl was rescued when she was twelve years old, then it’s not exactly like she’s a hardened enemy,” Carmichael said in her easy drawl. “Even though she was indoctrinated until she was twelve, she’s had a marine officer undoing all of that over the last six years. I feel pretty confident that whatever she learned as a child has been successfully counteracted, at least mostly.
“But that doesn’t mean we won’t have trouble with or about her. Just like Gomez, there are plenty of marines with perfectly valid reasons to hate anyone from the Singularity.”
She turned to face Gomez directly. “I’m not saying that you’re wrong, Sophia. What I am saying is that it isn’t right to blame children for the actions of adults. We need to judge her on her merits, not her past.”
“Technically, she’s not even a person,” Engel said, his voice a low rumble. “Imperial law is clear. She’s property.”
“That’s sheer and utter crap,” Carmichael shot back, glaring up at the big man. “People are people. Anything else smacks of slavery and all kinds of other unwholesome things that I won’t accept.
“And you need to keep the dispensation she was given in mind. If she finishes training, her recognition becomes permanent, and that’s a wedge that somebody means to drive into the Empire to change the law itself.
“If you don’t think that’s the emperor’s hand at work, then you’re an idiot. Ask yourself this, are you really going to be the one that stands up to the emperor?”
That silenced the conversation for a few seconds, but Gomez was more than ready to jump back in. “What about the lieutenant? She’s here because she has knowledge of Tolliver. She’s got a bias and wants to see the girl succeed.�
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“And you don’t?” Page asked, inserting himself back into the discussion. “I thought we all wanted to see every single recruit succeed. Sometimes they’re not suited, and we run them out, but we don’t know enough about Tolliver to make that call yet.
“Sophia, you need to get a grip. You’re prejudging Tolliver without even trying to understand her. You need to focus on figuring out how she’s different than the Singularity troopers that killed your friends. She is going to be different, and you need to do some hard thinking to make sure you understand that.”
Gomez shook her head. “Why should I? I can do my job and still dislike the girl. I don’t think she has what it takes to be a marine, and I don’t think she should be allowed in. Are you going to hold that against me?”
“No, but don’t let it cloud your judgment. The goal is to see what she’s made of. If she’s got what it takes to become a marine, then we’re going to help her. If she doesn’t, then we’re going to end her career before it starts. I don’t want to see anyone’s biases getting in the way of doing what’s right for the Corps. Is that understood?”
There was a lot of grumbling, and Page could tell that no one was happy with him laying down the law, but that didn’t stop him from doing it.
“I can’t say that I’m happy about it, but I’ll do it,” Carmichael said without hesitation. “Sophia, if she’s got Singularity sympathies in her, we’ll find them and run her right out the door.”
Gomez grunted. “I just don’t like this situation. It stinks.”
And that set the tone for the remainder of the meeting. There were some questions that he couldn’t answer, and some he simply avoided or pretended ignorance. Eventually, things wrapped up, and he dismissed them to get about their duties.
The next twelve weeks would be interesting. He couldn’t wait to see how Tolliver did, but he also knew that her presence would affect everyone around her. The only unmitigated truth he could see was that things weren’t going to be boring.
13
Andrea and the rest of the platoon were marched to the clinic she’d been at last night and given a rigorous examination. Even though she’d already been looked over, the same doctor was there and ran her through even more detailed scans with equipment that had obviously been brought in just for her.
The exams ate up a couple of hours, but the drill instructors eventually herded them back to the barracks and promptly abandoned them with calls to be ready for chow in half an hour.
She grabbed her shower kit from her locker and headed for the showers with the rest. She stank and was sore in places that she hadn’t realized had muscles.
Andrea walked through the area with the toilets and discovered that the shower itself was coed. That only surprised her for a moment before she understood. There was no such thing as body modesty in the marines.
When she’d been on the raiding ship, she’d seen and experienced that, even if only a little. This had to be the drill instructors’ way of training the recruits about it. It would’ve been less shocking if they’d explained it, but this was also another test.
Even as the rest of the recruits—male and female—were blinking in shock and murmuring to themselves, Andrea stripped off her uniform and undergarments, dumped them into a bin by the door, and walked boldly in.
She selected a shower and started soaking down as if this were the most natural thing in the world, though she was acutely aware that everyone was staring at her.
The boys started in next, and the girls followed more hesitantly. Andrea could hear them muttering among themselves even as the boys were making jokes. And staring.
A few moments later, Diana took the showerhead next to Andrea, her eyes darting around at the people near them. The redhead—was that still true when she had almost no hair on her head?—seemed to want to cover herself at every turn.
“Did you know that we were going to be showering with the guys? Is this even legal?”
Andrea smiled wryly. “I didn’t know, but I can’t say that I’m surprised. Marines have to armor up without body modesty, and this is one of the best ways I can think of to get rid of it.
“Of course, the marines are all professionals. These guys are just losers.”
As she said the last, she jerked her chin toward where Claudio was lathering up while eyeing both of them. His expression said that he liked what he saw.
Yuck.
Though honesty compelled her to admit that even for being an ass, he wasn’t hard on the eyes. He had muscles in all the right places and was fit. If he hadn’t been such a jerk, he might’ve made pleasant eye candy.
“I can’t stand the fact that he’s staring at me,” Diana muttered. “It’s degrading.”
Andrea used the body wash to cover her entire body. It wasn’t as if she needed shampoo.
“Put that out of your head. You can’t control what he does, only how you react to it. This is as much a test as everything else we’re going through. If you can’t adjust to the fact that we’re naked in the same room as the guys, that will be a strike against you.
“Just ignore him ogling you. If he can’t get past this, it’ll trip him up, and he’ll wash out. Be smarter than him.”
Her friend stared at her for a moment, unmoving. “Holy crap, that’s really deep. You’ve thought about this, haven’t you?”
Andrea nodded. “When I got into armor for the first time, I was surrounded by guys, and I’d never even met a male before. It was hard, but necessary.
“You need to accept that none of this is going to be easy. That’ll give you a leg up when it comes to the mental game that the drill instructors are playing with us.”
“You’ve been in armor? Really? How?”
“We don’t have time for that story now,” Andrea said. “I’ll have to tell you what I can later. Hurry up.”
Her friend resolutely turned her back on the rest of the showers and cleaned herself off as quickly and efficiently as she could.
Andrea exited the showers as soon as they were done, grabbed a towel, and dried herself off—no need to worry about her nonexistent hair.
That done, she marched back to her bunk, completely naked with her chin held high. Wrapping a towel around herself would’ve only undone the mental headspace she’d built.
She opened her locker and started dressing in a deliberate, unhurried manner. Diana moved more quickly but tried to emulate what she was doing.
Claudio sauntered up, naked. He boldly put his hand on his hips and assessed her.
“I was wondering if those weird tattoos went everywhere. The good news is that you’d look great if you put a bag over your head.”
She pulled her panties up and put her hands on her own hips, letting her bra dangle from one fist as she stared at him just as boldly. “Are you going to talk to the medics about that thing?”
He gave her a quizzical look, his grin fading slightly. “What?”
“That,” she said with a gesture toward his lower half. “I understand they can use modern medical techniques to make up for genetic deficiencies like that. Surely they can enlarge it enough to bring it up to something, well, average. Maybe.”
Claudio’s mouth opened as if he were going to say something, but no words came out as he started turning red.
His bunkmate chose that moment to walk by and laughed. That made Claudio’s face darken even more.
“You bitch.”
“Sure,” she agreed, “but marines can be bitchy. You can’t be a marine with that little thing. That’s like bringing a penknife to a knife fight. You’ve got to have something that you can do battle with, you know?
“Talk to the medics. I bet they can fix you right up. Well, at least enough not to humiliate yourself with that. Come on, man. Marines have standards.”
That was too much for Diana. Her friend burst into laughter, bending over at the waist with howls of amusement.
The girl’s reaction wasn’t isolated, since Andrea hadn’t spoken all that
softly. Far from it. The entire platoon seemed to be laughing now.
This incident wasn’t going to improve her relationship with Claudio, but she didn’t care. He’d been looking for a fight, so she might as well get this party started.
She noted with amusement that the boy’s hands had moved down to shield himself. She made sure that her implants captured that particular image because it would provide her with needed entertainment when things got tough.
“You’re going to regret this,” he promised darkly.
“Not as much as your last girlfriend, I’d wager.” She made a shooing motion with her hand. “Get going, Tiny. I’m hungry, and looking at your micro junk is making me lose my appetite.”
He stormed around the wall locker and was immediately accosted by his bunkmate. “How’s it hanging, Tiny?”
That caused even more raucous laughter.
Diana grabbed her shoulder. “Oh, my God! I can’t believe you did that! You’ve turned this whole thing around and made it about him. I love it!”
Andrea smiled with satisfaction. “It was pretty funny, but he’ll try to make me pay for it. Come on, let’s get dressed and get something to eat. I’m starving.”
Fei had summoned a runner from battalion to grab something for her from the mess hall. Her last meal had been a long time ago, and she hadn’t been able to sleep at all.
The food was of excellent quality, but that wasn’t a surprise. The Imperial Marines prided themselves on providing good food.
People on the outside always told stories about how terrible military food was—particularly coffee—but that just wasn’t the case. The meal wasn’t gourmet—not by any means—but that didn’t mean it wasn’t wholesome and well prepared.
When she’d finished eating, she piled everything back onto the tray and set it on the edge of her desk to wait for the runner to come back for it.
Her new office was eerily bare now that all of Lieutenant Evans’s personal effects had been removed. The spartan nature hardly mattered because her attention was going to be laser-focused on her girl and the rest of the recruits under her care for the next three months.