by Saxon Andrew
Mica stared at Jason and after a moment said, “Are you suggesting that if they attack one of the planets we’ve freed that we should just let it happen without response?”
“That’s what the Cats are insisting we do, Your Highness. If they don’t see us as a real problem, they’ll probably just leave and we’ll have lost only one planet.” Mica started to disagree until Jason said, “We don’t know their strength, their number of planets, how many of those ships they have, or anything else. The Cat insists the entire Realm will be placed in danger if we take these beings on before we have the technology to counter them.”
Mica slowly shook his head, “This decision will have to be made by the King.”
“That’s how I see it, Your Highness.”
“Send all the available information to him with an analysis of what you know.”
“I’ll send it out momentarily.” Mica nodded and the display went dark. Jason shook his head and said, “What little we know.”
• • •
Pixie looked through her scanner and saw the enemy unit hidden in the ravine ahead of her unit. Russell Slade was the platoon leader for the exercise and he looked at his display and ordered two squads to teleport in behind the unit while the other two squads went in from the front. Pixie wanted to warn him not to divide his forces but he was in charge and the platoon members were charged with following his orders. She decided to at least try to warn him of his error. “Sir, they appear to have fortifications on both sides of their positions.”
“Can the chatter, Private and follow your instructions.”
“Yes sir.”
Pixie shook her head. Russell was a minor Royal and let everyone know it. She watched her command circuit and saw her squad was going in head on. She saw the coordinates she was to teleport to and locked them in. She pulled in her scanner and focused in on the enemy bunker she was to take out. She waited and knew Russell was missing something but she couldn’t see what it was on her scanner. She closed her eyes and saw the bunkers were only manned by one warrior. Where were the others? She looked around the target and then looked above the site and shook her head. The teleport order came in and Pixie teleported to her coordinates and fired a light mini-hornet into the bunker. She immediately teleported inside the bunker as all of her squad’s beepers went off.
She rolled out of the bunker and fired thirty light hornets at the invisible attack craft circling the ravine. All thirty attack craft suddenly became visible indicating they had been destroyed. Pixie ran through the bunkers firing light hornets into them and arrived at the rear of the enemy forces just as they finished eliminating the two squads sent against them. She managed to knock out half of the bunkers before she was caught in a cross fire and her beeper started sounding.
The Command frequency said, “This exercise is completed; return to base for analysis.” Pixie looked at the trainees in her platoon and saw most of them had not even gotten off a shot. She glanced at Russell and saw he was stunned at the sudden defeat of his forces. Perhaps he might learn from the experience.
• • •
Colonel Telah Dorg looked at the trainees and said, “I guess congratulations are in order.” The platoon looked at each other and wondered what the Colonel was saying. They had been wiped out so fast most of them were out of the exercise before it started. Russell Slade was the most surprised of them all. “You managed to kill the enemy forces but not because of your brilliant abilities.” Telah turned to Russell and said, “What possessed you to divide your forces?”
Russell’s face turned red and he said, “I determined that we could hit them head on and our squads coming in from the rear could roll them up.”
Telah stared at Russell and shook her head, “Did you not see those bunkers were facing both directions?”
“Uhhh, Yes Sir.”
“So your incredible logic said that if they had two warriors in each bunker with one at each end of the bunker, you would be matching them one on one and they were inside an armored bunker. Is that how you saw it?”
Russell was shaking his head, “They didn’t have two warriors in each bunker.”
“Did you know that before you issued your orders?”
Russell knew his scanners would not have given him that information. “No Sir.”
“So I ask you again, what logic did you use to hit them one on one in a two sided bunker?”
“It just seemed like the most appropriate use of our forces, Sir.”
Telah stared at Russell and said, “So you really don’t have a good reason for doing it that way?”
Russell’s face grew redder and he said, “No Sir.”
Telah looked at the platoon, “Private Mille, explain to me why you went into that bunker.”
Pixie said, “There was only one warrior in the bunker, Sir.”
“So?”
“That meant the others were somewhere else and trying to find them from inside a bunker seemed like the safest way to make that determination.”
Telah smiled, “And what did you discover?”
“They were in camouflaged attack craft circling overhead. My scanner saw their beams hit the rest of my squad and located them on my targeting computer.”
“Go on, Private.”
“I exited the bunker and launched the training hornets at them and then started taking out as many bunkers as possible.”
Telah looked at the rear of the classroom and said, “Private Callaway.”
“Yes sir.”
“Why did you teleport away from the site of the exercise?”
Everyone turned around and looked at the trainee on the back row. “I saw there was only one warrior in my assigned bunker and decided that before I went any further, I needed to locate the others. I teleported back to the location I started the exercise and saw the attack craft firing. I designated hornets to take them out but Private Mille beat me to it. I jumped in a mile in front of the bunkers and launched hornets into the bunkers at the rear of the enemy, Sir.”
Telah said, “Well, you are the only one that survived the exercise. However, you did take out the bunkers left by Private Mille. The two of you eliminated the trainer platoon.” Telah looked at the class, “The rest of you were there for your good looks. You served no other useful purpose in this exercise. I’m not really certain about good looks, but it at least allows you some sort of credit for an abysmal performance.” She hesitated and said, “However, you did win so your platoon is tied for first place.” She looked around the room and said, “You really don’t deserve it.” She closed her book and Staff Sargent Malone said, “Platoon, Atennnshun!” The platoon jumped to its feel and Colonel Dorg walked out. “Class dismissed.”
Pixie was mad. That other private had survived. She’d see how it went next time. She looked for Callaway but he had left the room. Russell came up and said, “Thank you for bailing me out. I should have listened.”
Pixie quit looking for Callaway and said, “Did you run your plan through anyone else?” Russell shook his head. “That’s your mistake.” Pixie walked by him and out the door.
Russell watched her leave and decided he was going to get to know her. She was absolutely gorgeous. He looked at the other members of the platoon and saw they weren’t happy with his failure. Tough, they’d won. So get over it.
• • •
Pixie sat at a table and finished her second tray of food. “Do you mind if I join you?”
Pixie looked up and saw Russell standing in front of her. “Sit down.”
“You’re right, I should have asked before I committed to the plan. I won’t make that mistake again.”
Pixie stared at him and said, “You know there had to be more than what you were seeing on the scanners. Every exercise so far has had elements of surprise factored in.”
“I know, I know, I just thought this one would be a straight exercise since we’re nearing the end of our training.”
“Assume nothing, Russell.”
“Those
attack craft were in full invisibility mode. There was no way to scan for them.”
“Even so, you should have known it was not going to be what it appeared to be.” She stood with her tray and Russell said, “I’ll take it for you. I appreciate your willingness to try and help.”
Pixie sighed, “Thank you. I’ll see you in class.”
“I look forward to that.”
Pixie walked away from the handsome warrior and saw he might not be as bad as she thought. He was very nice to look at. Russell saw her look back at him and he smiled, “I’ve got ya.” She was interested. If she had just walked out without looking back, he knew his work would be cut out for him. Now he had to play up to her and compliment her profusely. Women like that.
• • •
Colonel Dorg stood at the front of the large classroom and said, “Your platoons are the only ones that actually won an exercise. You will compete for the class championship in an exercise pitting you against each other. The two privates that were in command when you scored your victory will be in command of your platoons during this exercise.”
Pixie saw everyone look at Russell and he had a huge smile. She noticed many of the platoon members shaking their heads.
“Which ever platoon wins this exercise; the commander will leave training with a rank of Staff Sargent and take command of a squad of Life Warriors. Now, I will flip a coin and heads, first platoon will be the aggressor and tails they will be the defender.”
Telah flipped the coin and said, “Slade, your platoon will be the aggressor. Good luck to both of you. You’ll receive your starting coordinates in your individual classrooms and the exercise will begin in the morning at nine hundred hours.” Telah paused and said, “Did I mention that you will only be allowed to teleport one time?” The two platoons stared at her, shocked by the limitation. “Well, you better use it wisely.”
The class came to attention and Telah left the room.
Russell went up to Sgt. Malone, “Are any of the trainers allowed to assist us in our planning?”
Malone smiled, “No.”
“Just checking, Sir.”
Russell left the room with his platoon following him and Pixie saw everyone’s expectation to have Russell mess everything up again. She thought they should give him a chance.
Russell went into the classroom and pulled up the situation board on the display and saw that the second platoon was going to defend the central area in a valley. They had not had an exercise in that area before and it was new ground for everyone. Russell used a pointer and said, “We only have one teleport, so we will teleport fifteen warriors into the enemy’s location and the rest will track their departure. We’ll then teleport in on them and take them out.”
No one said a word. After a long pause, Mitch Callaway said, “And what is going to happen to the fifteen you jump in to their ranks?”
“They’ll take out as many as they can and we’ll clean up the rest.”
Mitch leaned back in his chair, “Are you going in with them?”
Russell stared at Callaway and said, “I will be directing the others to their targets. Does anyone have suggestions?”
Pixie said, “What do you think the other platoon is going to do when we jump our warriors in?”
“They’ll be forced to teleport away and then we’ll have the advantage. Whoever uses their single teleport first will lose this exercise.”
Russell listened to everyone’s suggestions and vetoed them. Finally, he said, “I will send you your assignments.”
Callaway said, “I’ll go in with the fifteen.”
Russell looked at him and said, “Why would you volunteer for that?”
“So I can get out of this exercise quickly and watch just how big a fool you make of yourself…Sir.”
“You will go with the main body.”
Callaway shook his head and rolled his eyes. Pixie thought Callaway wasn’t a team player, Russell’s plan might work. Callaway saw her looking at him and he shook his head. Pixie saw he thought she was an idiot as well. Her anger was immediate and he waved a hand at her and left the room.
Russell came over to Pixie as the room emptied and said, “Do you see anything I’ve missed?”
Pixie looked at him and shook her head. He had already made his mind up and revisiting the suggestions was a waste of time. She walked out and saw on the tactical display that she was also assigned to the main group. The fifteen assigned to the initial jump just shook their head and planned to jump in blind.
Pixie found Callaway as he was walking toward his barracks and grabbed his arm, “What’s your problem?”
Mitch looked at her hand on his arm and then looked her in the eyes. She saw something in his expression that was hard to describe and she released his arm. “That narcissist moron is so enamored with himself that he can’t see his backside for his ego. You are the only one in that room that he would possibly listen to and you didn’t say anything. You’re just as bad as he is.”
“Just who the hell do you think you are to say that!? He doesn’t listen to anyone.”
“He would listen to you.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s set his sights on you and wouldn’t want to lose the opportunity to chalk you up as another conquest. You could have done something and you didn’t. I thought you had some intelligence. I was wrong.” He turned and started walking away.
“What makes you think you’re so smart?”
Callaway stopped and looked back at her, “I know this is a training exercise but I want you to ask yourself this question; if it were the real thing, would he still send fifteen warriors to their death?” Pixie stared at him and knew he would. Callaway looked at her and said, “And you’d just stand there and let him do it.” He shook his head and walked away.
Pixie watched him go and shouted, “I wouldn’t do it.”
She barely heard Callaway over the wind, “You just did by saying nothing.”
Pixie watched him disappear into his barracks and knew he was right. Russell had given her a chance and she had turned it down. She looked at her tablet and saw she was slated to be next to Russell during the exercise. She saw that Callaway was right. She started to go and saw Callaway walk out of the barracks and head toward the tree line. She followed him and watched until he activated his armor and disappeared. She knew where he was going. She activated her armor and teleported away. She watched Callaway from the hill overlooking the site of the next day’s exercise. He was moving around the buildings at the site and after twenty minutes he teleported away. What was he doing? She teleported back to her barracks and didn’t feel very good.
Chapter Two
There was fifteen minutes remaining before the exercise started and the two groups were gathered getting ready for their roles. The fifteen warriors slotted to jump in to the enemy camp were sitting and Callaway was talking with them. Russell saw them and said, “Callaway, your position is over here.”
Pixie saw Mitch look at Russell and slowly stand. He said something to the group and they all nodded. He smiled and started walking toward the main group. Russell stared at him as he arrived and Mitch said, “Don’t you have words of encouragement for the first group, Sir?”
“It appears you already did that. Get in your position.” Mitch sauntered over to the back rank of the third squad and shook his head. The Countdown reached zero and the fifteen warriors disappeared as they teleported into the enemy’s camp. The camp immediately came under fire from two groups of warriors positioned on sides of the hills overlooking the camp. Russell saw five warriors in each group. He scanned for the other warriors in second platoon and couldn’t find them.
“Where are they? They should have teleported out of the camp by now.”
Pixie looked at Mitch and saw him slowly shake his head. Russell didn’t know what to do. He kept looking at his scanner and couldn’t locate the main body of the other platoon. Suddenly the general frequency activated and everyone heard, “First pla
toon, you are the designated aggressor. You will commence your attack or forfeit the exercise. Russell said, “We know they have to start the exercise within two hundred yards of the camp. We will teleport around the valley with equal spacing and find the enemy.”
Mitch said, “I am going to go and relieve our warriors pinned down by those two enemy bunkers. I need one more to assist me.”
Russell started to snarl at him until Pixie said, “I’ll take the one on the west.”
Russell looked sharply at her and saw her staring at him. “Go and do what you can. I’ve given everyone else their coordinates and we’ll be jumping in ten seconds.” The thirty three warriors disappeared and Mitch said, “I told you he would listen to you.”
“Yeah, yeah; are you ready to do this?”
Mitch nodded and said, “Yes but we’re not going to waste our teleport to do it.” Pixie did a double take and Mitch said, “I believe they have their armor set to automatically teleport if it detects a teleport field.”
“Then how do we do it?”
“We’ll go to full invisibility mode and fire our armor’s leg jets at full blast. Have your armor target your assigned bunker. Also have your armor programmed to fire your jets at the very last moment to allow you to land safely. Keep your legs under you and fire on the bunker as you fall toward it.”
“Are you serious?”
“If you’re scared, say you’re scared.”
Pixie shook her head and entered the commands. Mitch said just before they blasted off into the atmosphere, “Keep your legs locked until the jets stop firing. Ready?” Pixie nodded, “Now!” Both of them disappeared as they blasted a mile above the valley.
• • •
Russell was in a continual state of nervousness, nothing was going according to his plan. His warriors teleported around the valley and immediately started looking for the enemy platoon. They began receiving fire and may have had a chance but the enemy platoon had not used their teleport and outnumbered him. More than twenty of the second platoon were hit by training lights but all of first platoon was wiped out. The twenty survivors of the second platoon teleported into the camp to wipe out the final survivors of the first group and didn’t find any of them. Suddenly their armor began beeping as the fifteen warriors along with Pixie and Mitch came falling in on them from above. They never saw them coming and the exercise ended with just one survivor of the second platoon hiding behind one of the buildings. Col. Dorg and Sgt. Malone led all of the casualties down the hill to watch the end of the competition. The sole survivor of second platoon couldn’t even raise his head. Light from the lasers around him were a constant stream. All he could do was stay down behind the bunker.