Commonality Games

by Mark Rounds

  "LEGS," shouted Jarl.

  "As well you know," she said with a laugh. "That's right, legs. Looking around, I don't see anybody here strong enough to go one on one with a Krasni. The wimpiest trooper they have can fold you in two, but only if they get leverage on you. So don't let 'em. Use your legs, kick 'em before they can close.

  “Because of the high gravity on Krasni, they don't like to stand on one foot very much. This will guarantee you the longest weapon. It is also your strongest weapon. Anybody who doesn't believe me, try walking around on your arms all day."

  There were some chuckles over that.

  "Now let Anton and me show you a few vulnerable spots to aim for."

  Duewekscu obligingly stood up and moved a couple paces forward to become her workout dummy.

  "OK, the easiest spot to hit is the knee, said Svoboda. “Not much can be done to protect it, since it is so far out of the way. Your target can't move it much since they have to keep at least one foot on the ground.

  “By hitting it soundly, you will severely limit your opponent’s mobility. At best, he will hit the ground and give you an opportunity to get in another lick. But even if he doesn't go down, the blow can cramp his muscles and distract him for another blow."

  At this point she executed a lighting fast kick that stopped bare centimeters from Duewekscu's knee.

  "Remember," she cautioned. "Kick from the side. Any kind of front kick is telegraphed. The professionals you will be dealing with will see it coming and be waiting with some kind of lethal counter if you try such a move."

  "If your target is male, the groin is an excellent target” continued Svoboda with a wink. “All of the Kransi are male and the amount of pain from such a blow is vastly more than a similar blow on any other place on the body. The disadvantage of choosing such a blow is that the target area is fairly small."

  This provoked many half smothered chuckles especially from the female cadets. Svoboda proved she was human by blushing slightly before continuing.

  "The owner of such equipment,” said Svboda determinedly continuing on, “is also usually very motivated toward protecting it and is probably ready for such a move. In addition, many pro's wear a cup."

  She then demonstrated a side kick to the groin. Duewekscu's eyes bulged a bit but again, Svoboda stopped within a centimeter of her intended target.

  "The stomach and solar plexus also make good targets," she said as she demonstrated lightning fast blows to both parts of the body. “These blows are somewhat less expected than those to the groin.

  “Kicks to the head and throat should be attempted only when the target is down. High kicks are difficult and lose power. I'd like you to pair up and practice these three blows. DO NOT ACTUALLY HIT ANYONE."

  And so the troops began to practice. It became obvious that some of the former cadets, like Jarl, had some training in martial arts. These troopers were sorted out to help with the instruction.

  Each of the troops was allowed to develop at his or her own pace. Some never got past the three basic kicks. Others went on to more interesting and lethal combinations. Svoboda was extremely graceful in the execution of a move. Duewekscu, on the other hand, was abrupt, but blindingly fast.

  One trooper, who topped Duewekscu's height by at least twenty five centimeters, made the mistake of thinking Duewekscu's diminutive size meant frailness or weakness. As Anton began showing the trooper a simple break from contact, the larger trooper grasped Duewekscu in a vicious headlock."Look at this! This guy is teaching hand to hand and can't even get out of a simple head lock. HA!" He said as he began to jack Duewekscu's neck around to an uncomfortable angle.

  Then, with no warning, Duewekscu planted his feet and lunged into the big trooper. The trooper sat back into Duewekscu to keep from falling over. Duewekscu suddenly reversed the direction of his lunge, pulling back away from the big trooper. At the same time, he blocked the back of the trooper’s feet with his own.

  Both the trooper and Duewekscu tumbled backwards. As Duewekscu hit the ground he kicked up violently with his feet, forcing the big trooper to fly head over heels and land, face down, about a meter away. Duewekscu let the momentum of the kick carry him over and was on the big trooper before he even began to get up.

  Each time the trooper made a move to stand up or cover himself, he met with one of Anton's counters, kicks, or punches. After about a minute of this, the big trooper began to call for mercy.

  "Leggo damn it! I give! I give! UNCLE!!!" he whined.

  "Remember this," said Duewekscu with a snarl. "The Krasni will not let you up!"

  With that, he stopped hitting the big trooper. Duewekscu was up in a combat stance before the trooper moved. The look in his eye dared anyone to try and take him, but no one did.

  Each squad had one more stop before they were done. The company’s vehicles, in particular, were in rough shape so the recruits all spent at least an hour on that first day with Sergeant Tierney learning to set up and repair the much-abused equipment. At any given time, four troopers out of each squad were loading clips for training. With all the firing going on, the recruits were going through a lot of ammo, both live rounds and blanks. The rest of the time was spent unpacking vehicle parts and sorting them. Sergeant Tierney kept an eye out for those troopers with any aptitude for primitive machinery.

  Taol’s squad worked for about an hour with Sergeant Tierney before he called a halt to the festivities. As they headed in, some of the recruits were selected to help with meal preparation. This time, they received a hot meal that was about as good as pre-prepared, prepackaged food can get. However, the NCO's dished it up for the Legion and they had to clean their plates to the sergeant’s satisfaction. After dinner, everyone assembled in the training area. The recruits were exhausted from the first full day of training. Jeffy wheeled up and addressed the assembled group.

  "Well, I've seen better," he said. "But all in all, you’re not bad for the first time out. We have one more new weapon to let you play with. That is the grenade. This is the infantrymen's portable artillery. In this habitat, most long-range weapons will be limited due to the Coriolis Effect. If your cover is good, you might get into grenade range of vehicles or concentrations of infantry. So, let's play. Each of you will be issued one practice grenade. They have a wooden handle to help with throwing. Every one of you will throw your grenade at least twenty-five times a day at the twenty meter target. Remember, pull the arming pin and then toss the grenade. Messing up the order costs us money and helps the enemy find out where you are."

  There were some chuckles over that.

  "After you have become proficient with these practice grenades," continued Jeffy. "We will let you try a couple of live ones to get the feel of it.

  "Now I don't want any practical jokes with these practice grenades. If you get careless with the practice grenades and play with the real ones, we will have to send your remains home in an envelope."

  That night, the big trooper who had tried to fight Duewekscu became the first reject. He spoke with Jeffy and left the berthing area. The rest of the recruits never saw him again.

  #

  The next day was much like the first except certain troopers spent more time at different training stations than others. Jeffy had let the staff know in advance that they were going to start specializing the training as soon as they could find troopers with the appropriate aptitudes. Taol was aware that it would happen but didn't think that it would begin so fast. Jeffy assured him it would work and besides, they had so little time to work with that they really had no other choice.

  As a result, Jarl and a couple of others spent a lot of their time training troopers in unarmed fighting. Haloran, Taol, and another trooper named Ortiz spent a lot of time in the tactics area and Harm was almost always working with Sergeant Tierney getting equipment up and going.

  Even Jeffy had taken on an assistant. She was a large, Amazonian blond named Stoltz. She could fire on the run with one hand and hit the target on the second or th
ird round every time.

  The training also became a little more intricate. Jeffy had set up three cross firing automatic bunkers instead of just one. The tactics NCO's were starting to have the recruits work on patrolling and recon. Even Sergeant Tierney in maintenance was having selected recruits do more complex and exacting work.

  On the fourth day, the recruits were introduced to the MG-34 medium machine gun. This was going to be the squad automatic weapon. In addition, two were mounted on each of the infantry carrying halftracks and one was mounted on just about every other vehicle the Legion owned.

  "ATTENTION," shouted Jeffy. "What you see up here on the stage is the MG-34 medium machine gun. It was probably the finest weapon of its class in World War II. It was so good that the Americans used a poor copy of it called the M-60 for forty-five years after the war was over. Every one of you will become intimately familiar with how to fire this weapon. Only those troops who are chosen to use it as a primary weapon will learn the guts of it."

  The weapon itself looked long, lean, and deadly. It had a bipod mount near the barrel. There was a shoulder stock at the rear of the weapon indicating that it was meant to be fired from a prone position. It was fed ammunition from a belt coming from a box beside it.

  Jeffy fired a ten-round burst at three targets a hundred meters away, knocking down all three.

  "You will note that the rate of fire is significantly higher than the MP-38's you are carrying," he continued. "This is to accommodate the role that Germans saw for their automatic weapons. They believed that if they shot more, they would kill more, and that the sound would affect morale. Be sure to fire it from a vehicle mount or in a prone position. If you don't, the recoil will spoil just about any shot you bunch of Yahoos could make. The belts for this weapon have also been loaded with one tracer every second round for aiming, just the same as your submachine guns.

  “The weapon can be managed by one trooper, but in practice, a second trooper will be assigned as part of the crew to help carry ammunition as it goes through a lot, and make sure the belt doesn't twist when being fired.

  “In addition, each trooper will add to their basic equipment one fifty round belt of MG-34 ammo. This will ensure that there is always some around. We will start by learning the parts of this weapon. Let's begin."

  "Barrel!"

  "BARREL!"

  "Stock!"

  "STOCK!"

  Thus, the recruits began learning a new weapon. A new station was added to the training cycle. Stoltz took over Jeffy's firing station and the Sergeant Major started a new one on the care and feeding of the MG-34.

  #

  After dinner came grenade practice. Tossing a one kilo grenade twenty-five times may not seem like much, but with the recruits already tired muscles, it was all they could do to get them past their feet. Accuracy was unheard of. Jeffy watched the show for a while and then broke into laughter.

  "Well, don't that beat all," he said with a laugh. "I thought you people wanted to win this little playground scuffle. We didn't give those things to you as an afterthought. This is your most destructive short range weapon, but it is only effective if you get it near the target. So, effective immediately, each and every one of you will throw that thing fifty times instead of twenty-five times."

  The recruits all groaned audibly at that one.

  "And that's not all, boys and girls," he said sweetly. "You must hit the twenty meter target at least twice in order to be allowed to return to the berthing area. Svoboda will count the hits, so you can't cheat. Ta ta."

  And with that he left. The twenty-meter target was a metal hoop one meter in diameter, laid on the ground. It took quite a while to drop it in the circle even once. Most of the former cadets went well over a hundred tosses. Some troopers did not get back to the berthing area before 2300. That made for a short night when reveille was at 0400.

  Chapter VIII

  Training the next day introduced the former cadets to the panzer faust. Jeffy had a half dozen of them up on the stage. All it consisted of was a wooden pistol grip supporting a metal launch tube with a primitive optical sighting mechanism on the side.

  "This stove pipe is the final development of German infantry anti-tank rockets," said Jeffy. "It is known as the Panzer Faust 88 or the Panzer Busche. Its maximum range is two hundred meters. In combat, I wouldn't use it at more than a hundred and fifty meters if you have any choice in the matter."

  "To fire the weapon, place one of the projectiles in the back of the tube and secure the cover. Then release the safety and pull the trigger. There will be a noticeable delay between pulling the trigger and firing of the rocket so stay on target!

  “There is a large flash out of the rear of this weapon so stay clear. This flash will give away your position through all but the densest cover and toast whoever is behind to medium well done. So, stay clear and move after you shoot."

  "If there is any kind of malfunction," he warned, "throw this thing as far and as hard as you can. The rocket contains a shaped charge big enough to melt through a hundred millimeters of sloped armor. The blast will take you and three of your closest friends and blow them into pieces so small, you will need a magnifying glass to separate them.

  "While this weapon can easily be fired by one trooper, in practice we will use two. The second trooper will carry extra rockets and help load to speed up the rate of fire. In addition, each trooper will add one rocket to your basic kit. Now pay close attention as I fire the weapon."

  Jeffy turned and fired at a target a hundred meters distant. There was a sound more like flowing air than an explosion. Behind Jeffy, a three-meter blast of flame extended past the weapon. There was a noticeable delay between firing of the weapon and impact on target. The blast at the target was disappointingly small. It took a minute to realize that a neat hole had been punched in the armor.

  "Each of you will fire three of these rockets at the MG-34 station. Now let's move out!"

  With that the recruits began hitting the training stations. Firing a panzer faust was harder than it looked. The sights weren't very good, and the rocket wobbled in flight. Still, after the second time through the station, most of them developed acceptable accuracy.

  By noon, all of the recruits had been through the MG-34 station. Jeffy closed it down and gathered Harm and Taol and headed for the conference room.

  #

  "Well, gentlemen," said Jeffy, "this is the end of basic training. We need to start thinking of assignments. I'll outline a table of organization, subject to the Colonel’s approval. Then we will start shuffling bodies into those spots."

  In the holotank on the opposite wall, a diagram appeared. There was one central group labeled COMMAND GROUP. Under that block was Taol’s name, along with Harm, Duewekscu, and a half dozen of blank spots. Next to it were the vehicle listings. The Command Group was authorized two Sdk 250 halftracks and two 251 command vehicles.

  Four blocks radiated out from the central block. The first one was labeled ARMOR with Jeffy's and Sergeant Tierney's names underneath followed by fourteen blank lines. There were four Pzk 222 armored cars in the vehicle column.

  The second block was labeled ARMORED INFANTRY. Beneath it were Svoboda's and Ortiz's name with forty eight empty slots to fill. The vehicle column contained five Sdk 250's. A small block detached from this one. It was labeled REACTION FORCE. It had Stoltz as the commander and one halftrack to move it. The size of this force was ten troopers including the vehicle crew.

  The third block contained the name LIGHT INFANTRY. Underneath this block was Jarl's name and Haloran's and twenty two open positions. In the vehicle column was the word motorcycles followed by a question mark. Sergeant Tierney was having some trouble putting together enough motorcycles. The Legion started with twenty, but they were pretty well used. Many had to be scrapped. Tierney was reduced to putting side cars on all of them in an effort to fill the quota for light infantry.

  The last block contained McIntyre and Mason and was labeled ANTI-TANK. Bene
ath it were holes for twelve more troopers. The two Pak 40 anti-tank guns and two halftracks filled the vehicle column. The grand total came to one hundred and twelve troopers.

  "Sar Major, we have one hundred and seventeen effectives out there training," said Harm. "That leaves five extra troopers. Where do they fit in?"

  "I am assuming some training losses," he replied. "Some will be injured, and some will quit. I think losing just five is being very optimistic. I expect to lose more. If we do, we'll just have to start paring down the command group and the infantry."

  The staff began the arduous task of filling all the slots. It became quickly obvious that there weren’t enough qualified people to fill all the leadership and technical positions.

  "Jeffy, this just isn't going to work," said Taol hopelessly. "Sergeant Tierney has given us ten names of people he'd trust with his machinery plus three probables. We can't even put one in each vehicle, let alone make a crew out of them. And look at the list of infantry leaders. It'll be hard to fill all the squad leader slots let alone start thinking about fire teams."

  "Relax, Taol," said Jeffy soothingly. "We don't have to fill all the slots with qualified people. Just share the wealth around the best we can so that we can do the job. Don't leave any formation too short handed and no one will gripe much. We both knew there was going to have to be a lot of on the job training."

  So, they sorted. And they argued. Then they juggled priorities and sorted and argued some more. About three hours later, there was a Table of Organization to present to the rest of the troops.

  Jeffy went out and gathered a couple of the NCO's and about ten troopers. They laid out syntho steaks, real potatoes, corn on the cob, and a tub of beer as big as an armored car.

  It was about 1800 when Jeffy called a halt to training and had everyone gather in the berthing area.

  "Well troopers," he announced. "You have completed basic training. From here on out we will be working on specialized training within our units. Colonel Ubner has come up with a list of assignments. They are posted over on the wall behind me. After you have all had a chance to look, we have prepared a little celebration."