by Mark Rounds
The pressor beams came off and Taol was able look in the direction of the shooting. He saw a tall man in the traditional black and white striped uniform of a referee. He helped Jeffy to get back on his wheels. This is no easy task as Jeffy and the chair together weigh about three hundred and fifty kilos. He was just finishing as Taol managed to stagger over.
"Colonel Ubner, you realize that this was unauthorized combat? The Gaming Commission takes a very dim view of this," said the Ref.
Before Taol had a chance to speak, Jeffy jumped in.
"Jeez Tim," he exclaimed. "You saw what happened. Duewekscu was just covering my ass."
"We've had run in's before, Anton and I," said the Ref, who was regarding Duewekscu darkly. "I know you Jefferson. You could have talked the gun out of that kid's hand given a couple of minutes. Say the word and I'll have Duewekscu out of here on charges."
"Thanks Tim, but that's the way it happened," said Jeffy reassuringly.
"Have it your way then," said the Ref. "But watch that crazy Krasni! He stiffs anyone else and I'll sign the complaint."
"What about the kid, Tim," asked Jeffy quietly. "Will he make it?"
"The Regens got him right away and he was still breathing," answered the Ref. "He has a good chance."
And with that, he got into the other grav sled and lifted off.
"Duewekscu, we need to talk, alone," said Jeffy ominously as soon as the Ref was out of sight.
"Certainly, Sergeant Major," said Duewekscu with a sly grin on his face.
Now most fresh cadets would have let the sergeants hash it out among themselves. This was different. Taol considered the situation for a moment and decided that if he intended to command, this was one situation he had to be involved in.
"Sergeant Major, I believe I'll come along," said Taol in a quiet voice. "I have a couple of things to say."
"Begging the 'COLONEL'S' Pardon,” said Jeffy with emphasis on Taol’s rank, “but I think I can handle this one myself."
Jeffy's emphasis on the word colonel was a red flag. He wanted to handle this one alone.
"I am quite sure that you can Sar Major," said Taol, "But a man's got to do what a man's got to do." Taol had cribbed the line from an old flat screen western. By the way Jeffy rolled his eyes, it was apparent he had seen it too.
"I think we had best go to the conference room to finish this. Mason, carry on with the training," said Taol. He had a lump in his throat as big a golf ball but tried to look collected as they entered the conference room.
Duewekscu sauntered over to the head of the table and rested his arms on the table. He had the air of a conquering hero and looked at Jeffy and Taol with a mile wide grin.
"So talk, Colonel, I have duties that require my services," said Duewekscu. It was evident that he thought he was off the hook.
"The point of this discussion," said Taol meeting his look with a furious glare, "is to decide if those services are needed. You just risked our participation in the game. You lost us the services of one trooper and as hard as those pressors hit, I'm sure others will be injured."
"But Colonel ...,"began Duewekscu.
"Sit down and SHUT UP," roared Taol. Duewekscu flopped down in a chair with a decidedly shocked look on his face.
"You think that we can't risk letting you go now because Jeffy just put his reputation on the line to let us continue this game,” said Taol with menace in his voice. “Well, I don't trust you. You are in the command group and I don't want you at my back with a weapon. Worrying about getting shot will make me lose concentration during the game.
“Our chances are slim enough as it is without that. I'll take my chances with the Gaming Commission rather than have you at my back. You're going down on the next shuttle, I'll make damn sure of that."
Taol quickly glanced at Jeffy. He was wearing his poker face but his eyes were dancing. Taol was pretty sure he knew that this was very similar to the speech that Jeffy was going to make.
The silence lasted several seconds. Finally, Anton began to breathe.
"Surely you could reconsider your decision sir," he said as he backtracked. "My actions were purely in the defense of the Sergeant Major."
"Not on your life!" said Jeffy. "I've seen this happen with you before. You actually like to do this kind of stuff. Your assistance in the intelligence area has been excellent and your training skills are masterful. But the Colonel is right, he doesn't trust you and I don't trust you. You are released from your contract. You will, of course be paid a full share of any profits for your work to this point. I am sure you will be mindful of the Cannons of the Commission and stay away from our erstwhile opponents."
"Now let's see about that shuttle ride the Colonel promised. If you'll step this way, sergeant," said Jeffy as he led a bewildered Duewekscu out.
Svoboda fell in behind Jeffy and Duewekscu as they left the conference room.
"What's she doing here?" mumbled Duewekscu.
"Please understand sergeant, what is about to happen is purely business and not personal," said Jeffy.
"What do you mean?" queried a bewildered Duewekscu.
"You're about to have a training accident," said Jeffy in a strangely quiet voice. "Not bad enough to kill you understand, just enough to get you a three day stay with the Regens. You know too much. You could make quite a few credits for a two-hour chat with Monty."
"I would never deal with that Krasni procurer!" shouted Duewekscu.
With that he launched a violent kick at Jeffy's head. The Sergeant Major was expecting this sort of response and was ready. His chair was designed for more than just urban conditions. By the time the kick was were Jeffy's head was, Jeffy was ten meters back in a cloud of dust. Anton whirled around to meet Svoboda, but it was too late.
She aimed a lightning fast kick at Duewekscu's knee. He went down with a sickening thud. By the way his knee bent, it was obviously dislocated.
"I won't talk, I swear I won't," he pleaded as he rolled on the ground.
"None the less, business is business,” said Jeffy, “Svoboda!"
Svoboda allowed him to begin rise to his feet. Just as he was getting up off of his knees, she snap kicked him in the groin. The impact was not hard enough to knock him unconscious with the pain. It was just hard enough to make his eyes unfocus for a bit.
"That was for the poor boy you brutalized in hand to hand training, you bastard," said Svoboda earnestly as she lunge punched him much harder in the ribs. There was an audible crack as her fist impacted his ribs. The Krasni curled up and went down like a rag doll.
Duewekscu tried to rise up using his arms. Svoboda kicked him in the elbow, causing it to bend in a very unnatural direction. As he attempted to rise a second time, her kick was aimed at his face. It was not a killing stroke, so she just broke his nose and knocked him unconscious.
"Crude, but effective," said Jeffy nodding.
"He's a pro, I took what I could get," she countered.
"I'm not criticizing, sergeant,” said Jeffy, “He is good. If he had gone after you first, he might have got away with it."
"Not bloody likely, Sar Major,” Svoboda, her macabre grin in evidence. “Even in that chair you're a match for damn near anyone. Besides, one does not need a two hundred and fifty kilo chair just to get around. I've often wondered what little secrets it might have."
"You just keep wondering," said Jeffy with a laugh. "Now grab a couple of troopers and get him out of here. Make sure they are the type who will talk a lot. Let them think the Colonel ordered it. Make what they hear vague enough that the boss doesn't suspect what really happened."
"I wasn't born yesterday Sar Major."
"I know, but this one needs a bit of shielding. Later on, he'll understand that there are some things best left to the NCO Corps."
#
As they left, Taol put his head down on the table and began to ponder what had happened. He must have fallen asleep because the next thing he knew, Jeffy was prodding him with his baton.
"Rise and shine, Sunshine," he said as he grinned, "Duewekscu is in the Commission sick bay, awaiting transport. Svoboda kind of disciplined him."
Taol could just imagine what that meant and hoped it wasn't too permanent, but remembering the good sergeant's skills, he wasn’t too sure.
"That could mean some heat with the Commission, couldn't it?"
"Don't worry Colonel," said Jeffy, "Tim was so tickled that the Commission is going to 'officially ignore' the incident. I was trying to figure out a way to get him to quit. You saved me a lot of work. Thanks Colonel."
"What about the troops?" said Taol. "Who is going to tell them? What are we going to tell them?"
"Don't tell them anything," said Jeffy slyly. "Duewekscu had the reputation of a fire eater. The rumor is already out that you canned him. If you just ignore it, and continue like nothing happened, you will have the respect of every trooper in the Solar System.
“It has the side benefit of building your rapport with our own force. They now know that you prize their safety above winning the game. In a couple of hours, when the rumor spreads, they will follow you to hell."
"Sar Major, how did the rumor get started?” asked Taol who could smell a rat in this one.
"Now how can I help what my instructors talk about over coffee?" he grinned mischievously. "Besides, they would have figured it out on their own anyway. I just kind of acted like a catalyst don’t you know. Now you had better get out there and start acting like nothing ever happened. Sergeant Tierney has a demonstration that should lift your spirits. Don't forget your ear plugs."
With that he was out the door. Taol had no idea what he was talking about, but he prudently checked to make sure his plugs were in his pocket. On his way to the practice area, every group he met stopped talking as he walked by. Jarl was working with some troopers on hand to hand combat. Taol stopped for a minute to see how they were doing.
"Hi Jarl, is everything going OK?" he asked.
"Yes sir, Colonel," Jarl said as he saluted.
Taol saluted and walked to the parade ground and then it hit him. Jarl wouldn't call instructors at the Academy "sir" let alone salute unless someone was watching. Something was different. When someone has cadet rank, all the other cadets religiously observe all the protocols of military courtesy, but it's all kind of tongue in cheek. Everyone knows that the jobs rotate every quarter and the Commander one quarter might be a flight leader the next. No one, least of all Jarl, ever took it very seriously. Up till now, all of them had been playing the rank game like cadets. It was obvious that Jarl was treating Taol like a "real" colonel. Taol only hoped he could earn it.
Jeffy and the training NCO’s had been busy, because in the center of the training area, six poles were erected in a loose rectangle. Sergeant Tierney was holding a cable in his hand. On this cable there were six small bulges and a wire leading back to a detonator switch.
"This, ladies and gentlemen is a daisy chain," said Sergeant Tierney. Most of the troopers chuckled or smiled, and the good sergeant allowed them a little time to enjoy the joke before he continued. "Its primary function is to drop a tree in a hurry. Each of these little pouches contains a quarter kilo shaped charge. Each of the wires is clipped and coiled so that all of them should go off at the same time."
“Now this," he said as he held up a pouch about the size of a package of cigarettes, "controls the direction of the fall of the tree. It contains more plastic explosive. Just clip it on to the chain anywhere there is a bare wire. The clip will give this pouch enough delay that the tree should be airborne when it goes off. The blast will push the bottom of the tree away from the direction of the fall, pivoting most of the upper portion of tree in the right direction."
"Now watch as I show you how it's done."
Sergeant Tierney went to the nearest post and wrapped the chain around the post and tightened it by means of an adjustment strap.
"Now why don't all of you get down in the slit trenches in front of you and put in your ear plugs. Anybody caught peeking will probably lose their eyes to wood splinters."
With that he jumped into the trench and waited until the rest of the Legion had joined him. He then took the two wires from the daisy chain and clipped them onto the switch with a battery.
"Heads down everyone," he shouted. After a second or two passed, he looked around to make sure everyone complied and then pressed the switch. The sound was more like a loud crack than an explosion, but it was followed immediately by a blast like a fragmentation grenade. After a couple of seconds Sergeant Tierney gave the OK sign to look.
The post was lying on the ground pointing approximately in the direction Tierney had aimed it. The end that had been caught in the blast was blackened and looked like it had been gnawed on by a three meter high, snaggle toothed beaver.
"Now I'd like all of you to closely examine the nearby posts," he said.
Obediently, Taol and all his comrades trooped up to the nearest posts and saw that they were filled with splinters. Most were quite small but some were several centimeters in length.
"Remember, when you set these things off, get down out of the blast radius," said Tierney. "The amount of splinters it generates is phenomenal."
Now I have another little goody to show you," he said.
He held up an item that looked like a green, symmetrical mushroom cap about thirty centimeters across on top. A pin with a small ring was placed in the top. The whole assembly was mounted on top of a tube that tapered to a point.
"This is called a cratering charge," he said. "To use this little item, all you need to do is mash the pointed end into the ground. If the ground is too hard and you can't mash it in, go somewhere else, the blast will have no effect. But if you can somehow get the thing into the ground, you can scrape a half meter hole in the most stubborn hard pan. The looser the soil, the larger the hole will be. In the kind of soil we will be dealing with, the crater will be about a meter deep."
He then pushed the charge into the ground and pulled the pin.
"Last one back to the bunker will miss the big day!" he shouted as he ran past.
The troopers all scrambled back into the trench and laid there for what seemed like an eternity. There was a dull thump that was felt more than heard. Sheepishly, all the troopers got up and looked at the hole.
It was indeed about a meter deep. It was two meters in diameter and almost perfectly circular. There was a little lip and very little dirt spread about.
"These things are fairly safe if you use them properly," continued the good sergeant impishly. "The ground soaks up most of the blast so there is little noise. Most of the dirt is compressed rather than thrown out of the hole so the sides are very solid."
"Now watch some professionals do it."
Svoboda, Mason, and McIntyre came running up from the berthing area. Svoboda started wrapping daisy chains around the remaining posts. Mason and McIntyre went to opposite ends of the area enclosed by the posts and began stomping cratering charges into the ground. As soon as Svoboda finished, she started laying out wires from the posts to an already prepared trench. In that trench, she connected the wires to a small detonator she had in her cargo pouch.
Meanwhile Sergeants Mason and McIntyre started pulling pins on the cratering charges. Jeffy and Tierney started to shepherd the troopers toward a trench which was built with a ramp to allow Jeffy's chair. Before the last trooper was under cover the cratering charges started going off. They made the troopers’ ears ring a bit but otherwise did not hurt anybody. As soon as they were all safely down, Sergeant Tierney shouted "CLEAR!" at the top of his lungs. The sound of his voice had not died away when there were several loud cracks and muffled blasts.
Sergeant Tierney made everybody keep their heads down for at least fifteen seconds after the explosions had stopped. Then he let them take a good long look.
The posts were dropped in a ragged box. Inside the box at regular intervals were craters that looked all the world like two man fighting positions.
"Ok, troopers," said Jeffy. "We don't have enough posts to have you all build fortifications. What we do have is a computerized simulator. You will take these dummy charges and set them on the rise behind me, then come back here and we will take a look at the holo tank and see how they fall. So, let's get started."
The Legion was broken up into teams of ten and each team raced up the hill, set fortifications and took cover. Sensors placed around the area recorded the positions of the charges and each team's position when they took cover. Then, they all trooped back to watch the simulations.
The entire command watched each team set up. Then the simulation was played back on the holo. Sometimes, the blast killed the team. Other times, the ring was so ragged that it wasn't of much use in defending anything. After watching half a dozen teams, it became obvious that there had to be a plan in place when setting up hasty defenses like this.
The last two teams were from the light infantry. They benefited from everyone else’s errors. The first team set up a pretty decent pattern but got pasted setting it off.
Jarl led the second team up the hill. They completed set up in record time. This left them a few extra seconds to clear the hill before the simulation recorded their position.
The simulation showed a good pattern and they cleared the hill in good order.
Jeffy smiled and said, "That last pattern was damn good. Well done, Jarl."
"All of you will carry this equipment in your vehicles," continued Jeffy. "But the plan has the light infantry as the only ones to emplace it. But you are all aware that no battle plan survives contact with the enemy. Be prepared to use it to fortify at any time."
"That's all the training for today. Tomorrow is a dress rehearsal. The light infantry will set up positions on that hill top. The rest of the unit will assault using all the vehicles and weapons at our disposal. Now naturally, if we use real weapons, we won't have enough troops left to fight the real battle, so we will all use laser designators and sensors. I don't want to see anyone disconnecting batteries or covering sensors with ammo pouches or canteens. This will be a real dress rehearsal and the training will be valuable. Now get some chow and some sleep."