It took a strong act of will to shake off the implied insult. It seemed the Navy branch of EsDef thought themselves above the others, and especially looked down at the Recon division. But he knew his platoon, they were not violent psychopaths, nor where they simple-minded trigger pullers. His specialists were highly trained combat operatives, dedicated to their craft and willing to put their lives on the line for the safety of others. He didn't like their commitment being disrespected, and yet there was nothing he could do about it.
"Secondly,” the video went on, “I ask that you restrict yourselves to B section. You have everything you need in that area and, with the enlisted mess on the secondary arm of the ship, you have no need to traverse the connecting corridors or explore the maintenance areas of the ship. Lieutenant Blaze will represent your concerns if any should arise. But, as with the best practice of the service, I expect you all to behave with honor and integrity, staying busy in your designated areas.
"Finally, I ask that you work to keep your section of our ship in top shape. Your berths are to remain clean and clutter free, your common areas should be neatly arranged with everything put in its place when not in use. It goes without saying that this ship is our lifeline, our refuge from the harsh environment of space. We will ensure that it is in peak working order at all times, and never soiled by carelessness or endangered by laziness.
"Follow these simple directives and I am sure we will have a productive tour together. Again, it is my pleasure to have each of you in my Recon Platoon. You are the tip of the spear, and I insist that you remain honed for any duty for which you may be called on to perform."
The video faded, and Dean had to take a moment before turning to face his platoon. When he did, he could see the questions on their faces, and the same outrage that he himself felt, yet they were disciplined enough to wait for his lead. He knew that what he did in the next few minutes would set the tone for the platoon and for their tour onboard the Valkyrie.
"You've heard from the commander," Dean said quietly. "Now let me tell you what I expect. We are Force Recon, and dealing with hostile environments is what we do. Rarely will we see our commanding officer declare herself and her intentions so clearly. But we will not join in the games going on here, we will do exactly what we have trained for. I want you to show respect at every turn, to act with humility and discipline at all times."
Dean paused just a moment to let the anticipation of what he was going to say next build.
"But do not forget that you are Force Recon Specialists. We are the tip of the spear, and not because we keep our noses clean onboard the ships that carry us between worlds, but because we are the baddest sons a’bitches in the whole damn galaxy."
There were shouts of agreement at his declaration.
"Not every officer in EsDef understands the time you put into your specialties, or the mental and physical rigors of your training. That being said, we will honor the officers that man this boat. We will conduct ourselves with respect to the ship, its crew, and the people we fight to protect. Make no mistake platoon, no matter how hostile our vessel, our enemy is out there, in the unknown worlds we have sworn to protect. Follow the commander's rules, but find a routine that works for you. We have plenty to keep us busy. We'll start with an inventory of your battle armor, gear, and ammunition. Understood?"
"Yes, sir!" the platoon said in unison.
The group got up and slowly began leaving the briefing theater, while Dean pulled Staff Sergeant Mercer to the side.
"Is this type of greeting typical on starships?" he asked
"Not in my experience, LT. Most space jockeys tend to look down their noses at Force Recon, but I've never been restricted onboard a ship before. It seems our VA thinks we're her own private grunt squad."
"Well, that makes our job even more important. I want you to draw up a schedule for maintenance of all common areas. I wouldn't put it past the commander to do surprise inspections. So I want us doing spot checks and weekly inspections of our own. No need to give the commander a reason to dislike us if we can help it."
"Yes, sir, I concur."
"I want PT every morning, and put Butler in charge of HA supplements. The last thing we need is someone abusing their growth hormones and turning into a monster in our little cage."
"Already done, sir, but I'll make sure he knows it’s coming from you."
"Good. I want section drills after morning chow, and I'll plan platoon exercises in the afternoons. And let's get a list of movies from everyone, what they think of as classics. They can host movie night twice a week."
"Excellent idea LT, we can put together some VR tournaments as well. And, if you agree, I'd like to schedule some cross specialty training. We've got the equipment for simulations."
"I like that. Include me in the rotation whenever possible. I don't want any of us getting rusty. You'll head up close combat exercises three times a week. And despite the VA's rules, I want our people to be experts on every part of this ship. Keep it quiet, but we shouldn't be restricted from knowing everything about our home. And if we're needed to help, I want us ready."
"Yes sir, I'll see to it immediately."
Dean returned to his berth and began writing up a report outlining the orders he had just given to Staff Sergeant Mercer, but omitting the instruction to make sure the platoon knew the ship's systems and layout. He fired off the report to VA Hamilton and was just getting up from his small desk when there was a knock at the door.
"Enter," he said.
"Well, look at you, all settled in," Lieutenant Wilson said playfully. "How's life onboard the Valkyrie so far?"
"It's great," Dean said. "Much better than OTA."
"Oh, don't I know it. I thought I would go crazy at Grooms Lake. You Recon officers are lucky, I was there for three months straight. I really thought I had made a huge mistake, but the Valkyrie is much better. This baby is like a resort compared to the tiny section we were stuck in on the space base."
"That's right," Dean said, trying to sound friendly, but secretly hoping Wilson hadn't stopped by just to flirt.
Not that she wasn't attractive, or that having a physical relationship with her wouldn't be a fun distraction. But he felt like he was being watched for any behavior the vice admiral might find unbecoming of an officer. Dean wanted to be a model soldier until Hamilton got bored and turned her attention elsewhere. Then he planned to stay under her radar for as long as possible. Jumping into bed with Wilson would send the exact opposite message he was trying to project. The last thing he needed was his superior making his life miserable onboard the ship.
"Well, I didn't just come to visit," Wilson said. "I need to schedule the safety and emergency procedures with your platoon."
"Any time works for Recon," Dean said.
"Excellent," Wilson said, practically singing the word. "Oh, and once we're underway the enlisted crew usually throw a party in the Section D REC area. We even have a little home brew to share. It's a lot of fun."
"That's sounds great," Dean said, knowing he couldn't attend but not wanting to shoot down Wilson and ruin her enthusiasm. "Just let us know when and where."
"Oh, I will, Lieutenant. I will."
Dean called his platoon together and Lieutenant Wilson showed them all where their escape pods were located. There were fire extinguishers and hull breach emergency foam. Each room on the ship had an airtight hatch, and she went over the operating procedures for the heavy doors which stayed open most of the time. Finally, she gave instructions for the platoon in case of attack. The soldiers were required to gear up in full battle armor, which was rated for full vacuum, and make their way to the bridge. They would be the last line of defense for the officers if the ship was boarded, and it wasn't lost on Dean that the maintenance crew and operators were left to fend for themselves.
"And that's all," Wilson said cheerfully. "I'll make my report to the commander and we should be underway soon."
"Thank you, Lieutenant," Dean said.
If he thought the flirtatious officer had come on strong to him, she had practically thrown herself at the HA specialists. Dean gave Mercer a knowing look.
"Hence the first rule," he said.
"I have seen her type before," Mercer said. "She may not seem like a beauty queen at first but give her a month onboard the ship with mostly men. She'll have her pick of lovers and then some."
"What about you, Staff Sergeant? Ever have a shipboard romance."
"Only once, sir. Biggest mistake of my life."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Dean said, thinking of Miranda.
"Don't be," Mercer said. "I wouldn't change a thing."
Dean watched his tough-as-nails Close Combat specialist as she walked away. She was truly an enigma, but he had plenty of time to solve the mystery. He was grateful for her support even when she wasn't certain he was doing the right thing. Having a good senior NCO made his job much easier. And the last thing he needed at the moment was more problems.
Chapter 34
The Valkyrie left Earth’s orbit and moved quickly out past Mars. Dean utilized his TCU to monitor the ship's cameras, looking down at the red planet with fascination. The terraformed cloud cover was a striking pink color, and Dean saw snatches of deep blue from the oceans created by the melting ice cap. There were still dome-covered cities on Mars, but the atmosphere was breathable on the surface, if a bit thin. Dean had seen pictures before, but racing past the planet on a spaceship gave the journey a sense of realism Dean hadn't noticed before. There was no sensation of movement on board the Valkyrie, no objects really close enough to see from their REC room windows to give them a sense of motion.
It took two days to get to a suitable transition point. Dean and his platoon met in the REC room to watch the ship make the jump into warp speed. The stars, distant points of light, elongated and began to move across their field of view like clouds drifting across the sky. Not long after the ship's massive acceleration, Dean was summoned to the Operations room in the primary arm of the ship via a message on his wrist link.
"I'm needed in the Operations room. Staff Sergeant, let's finish up the combat training and then break for lunch."
"Yes, sir," Mercer said in her usual flat tone.
"Wow, I didn't know the grunts were allowed across to the cool kids’ side of the ship," Chavez said sarcastically.
"Say hello to the wizard for us," Adkins added.
"There's no place like home," Mason said in a falsetto voice that was in complete contrast to his hulking body.
"Can that chatter," Mercer said. "Next person to crack a joke will go a full round with me on the mat."
Dean smiled as he walked out of the REC room. The platoon had begun calling the primary arm of the ship Oz shortly after the commander's video introduction. She was the wizard because she never came over to the enlisted side of the ship, but stayed in her comfortable command quarters giving orders for her subordinates to carry out.
Dean made his way through the access tunnel and into the primary side of the ship. He was pleasantly surprised to see Captain Esmerelda Dante loitering near the hatch.
"Hello there," Dean said.
"Is that any way to greet a superior officer?" the dark-skinned captain said with a smirk.
"No, ma'am. My apologies, Captain," Dean said, firing off a salute.
"Are you going to the Operations room?"
"As per the commander's request," Dean admitted.
"Good, me too."
They walked down the corridor together, reminiscing about the sunshine and ocean breeze at Coronado when Major White stuck his head out the door to the Operations room. Dean knew the mousy officer was waiting for Esma, and while Dean didn't like the man using his rank to get close to her, he understood Dante's allure. She was beautiful, even the baggy fleet fatigues looked good on her. And although Dean had thought the mysterious woman was out of his league back in San Diego, he was pleased to find that she was at least friendly to him on the Valkyrie. If he wasn't so focused on staying busy with his platoon he might have spent a little more time lingering over his meals in the officers’ mess, or perhaps even gone looking for her in the Operators section of the ship.
"Captain, a word please," the major said in a whiny voice.
Dean heard the sigh Esma made under her breath before nodding.
"Of course, Major White," she said.
Dean thought there was a hint of danger in the young captain's tone. He couldn't help but hope he never heard her use the tone with him.
Inside the Operations room, most of the seats were already filled. Vice Admiral Hamilton sat at the head of an oval table. There were seats for ship communications, navigation, and fire control. The spot for the Maintenance Officer, whom Dean knew was Lieutenant Wilson, was empty. Major White dropped into his seat, as did Captain Dante as the chief personnel transport officer. Finally there was Dean's seat at the far end of the table, the other officers were not required at the meeting and their seats had been removed from the table.
Captain Ortega prowled around behind VA Hamilton like an attack dog waiting to be set loose on someone. The commander was looking at her tablet, reading through a report or some other system information before finally looking up.
"We're all here," she said. "Good. We have our first assignment, which I can share with you now that we are underway. We've been called to the Newtonian System. Our settlements on Newton Six are experiencing problems with a strange new indigenous life form. They've requested help and our Recon platoon is being sent in to investigate.
"Lieutenant Blaze. What is the state of readiness for the platoon?"
"We stand ready to deploy at any time, Commander."
"Excellent. This," she said, typing in a few controls on her tablet and bringing up a high-definition hologram of a large planet, "is Newton Six. It's a class four planet, that means it’s twice as large as Earth, which is a class two world. The surface of Newton Six is inhospitable to humans, but the main life form on the world are huge creatures called Sifters. They move slowly, sifting through the arid soil for minerals to feed on. When I say huge, I mean it. They have massive backs that are roughly the size of the British Isles. Down the center of each is a jagged back bone that looks like a mountain range. We have human colonies on four of these creatures. Their backs are covered with soil which is kicked up into the air as they walk. There is water, foliage, and animal life whose habitat is on the backs of these massive creatures."
"They're like barnacles that live on blue whales," Major White said.
"In a fashion," the VA said, "you are correct, Major. Although the humans living on Newton Six care deeply for the Sifters and work diligently to ensure that their occupation across the backs of the creatures is both humane and symbiotic. The people on Theta colony have lost contact with their sister colony across the mountainous backbone in Epsilon. Lieutenant Blaze, you'll take your platoon down and investigate."
"Any idea what might have caused the trouble in Epsilon?" Dean asked.
"As a matter of fact, there is," the vice admiral said. "There are reports of strange creatures that resemble fleas, only they're the size of cows and will attack anything. So far, these fleas have only been found once or twice, and never more than one at a time. But the colonists in Theta believe that it’s possible a swarm of these creatures could have wiped out Epsilon."
"Fleas?" Dean asked.
"We're not in Kansas anymore, Lieutenant," Captain Dante said with smirk.
"This isn't a combat operation," VA Hamilton said. "We need to get at least two of these beasts back to the Valkyrie so we can develop means to drive these creatures away from the human settlements."
"Why not just wipe them out?" the fire control officer asked. "Have Recon target them for a kinetic strike from orbit."
"Please try to keep up, Lieutenant Petrov," Hamilton said in a condescending tone. "Do I need to explain what a kinetic strike onto one of the Sifters could potentially do? Remember, the colonists are envi
ronmentalists. It's not our job to tell them how to live, it's our job to make sure they can live the way they want to."
"So we go down and capture two of these creatures, then what?" Dean asked.
"Captain Dante will remote pilot a drone recovery vehicle which will be fashioned to hold the animals. Our xenobiologists will inspect the creatures and hopefully come up with a way to drive them off which you will then implement. The colonists at Theta will take on the task of training the other colonies."
"Excuse me, Commander," Dean said, a sudden feeling of dread in his chest. "Are you saying after we capture these creatures we won't be returning to the Valkyrie?"
"You will once you've driven the horde away from Theta," the vice admiral said with absolutely no sign of empathy for the danger she was putting his platoon in.
"You do realize that these dangerous creatures could wipe us out," Dean said, struggling to control his voice.
"You are trained for this type of mission, Lieutenant."
"And will we have air support?"
Vice Admiral Hamilton sighed. "Let's all begin to use our heads, shall we? Attacking the creatures from the air is in direct violation of the colonists’ laws. In fact, Lieutenant, you are directed to only use live fire in the most dire of circumstances."
"Such as coming under attack from a horde of giant fleas?" Dean said incredulously.
"Yes," the VA said. "And in such an event please show restraint as a concession to the colonists."
"The same colonists who were almost certainly slaughtered by these creatures?" Captain Dante asked. "It seems to me that if the colonists want our help, they should give concessions for the Recon forces or simply let our drone vehicles do the work so that we don't needlessly endanger lives."
We Are The Wolf: Wolfpack Book 1 Page 18