Vorpal Blade

13

“Second Platoon, report to the Missile Room. Uniform is blacksuit.”

“What the grapp?” Hatt said, hopping to the deck.

“Sounds like our platoon is security,” Jaen said as the door to the compartment opened.

“Second, we’re on security,” Gunnery Sergeant Hocieniec said. “Get into your skins and get your asses down there.”

“Gunny, does that include us?” Jaen asked.

“Did I exclude you, Jaen?” the Gunny snapped. “You are, in fact, first plant. So get your game face on.”

“Holy maulk,” Hatt said.

“Congratulations, man,” Drago said, frowning. “Guess you drew the straw. First world, first plant. Ought to get a nice shiny medal out of that.”

“If we don’t get boiled in acid or something,” Jaen pointed out. “Grapp it. Get your skins on, people.”

“Move it, people,” Top bellowed. “We have a mission to perform!”

“Charlie, suit up,” Hocieniec said. “Alpha, ammo draw, Bravo, weapons. First is getting up and they’ll handle weapons and ammo for Alpha and Bravo.”

“Let’s get it on,” Jaen said, striding over to the suits and sliding his hand into the armpit. “Jaen.”

“Hatt.”

“Two-Gun,” Berg said with a sigh.

He stepped into his suit, feeling as if he’d just left. In fact, he’d only finished his WCT on this system six hours ago. Four hours of sleep. Grapp.

Wait…

“Gunny,” he said before he sealed up. “Permission to speak.”

“You’re not in Basic, Two-Gun,” the gunny said, shaking his head.

“Agreed, Gunny,” Berg said, swallowing. “I was just wondering. I did pass WCT, right?”

“Yes, Two-Gun, you passed WCT.”

“Can I ask my score?” Berg said.

“You can ask, but I can’t answer,” Hocieniec said, his face cracking in an unusual smile. “Top sealed the record. I don’t even know. I do know that Big-Foot asked me if I’d transfer you to his platoon. And I told him to grapp off. Good enough?”

“Yes, Gunny,” Berg said. “Thank you, Gunny.”

“Now close your grapping suit and get your game face on, Two-Gun.”

Berg ran through the diagnostics on the suit carefully, exactly as if he hadn’t used it six hours before. But everything was in the green. It took about fifteen minutes, nonetheless, by which time Drago, Crow and Sergeant Lovelace were back with the team’s weapons.

“I got it, Drago,” Berg said, opening up his suit and stepping out.

“I know how to mount a grapping Gatling, Two-Gun,” Drago said.

“I’m sure you do,” Berg responded. “But it’s my ass. Don’t you mount your own?”

“Not if I’ve got somebody else to do it,” Drago said. “But I do watch real careful.”

“I’ve got it,” Berg said, chuckling and hefting the sixty-pound gun into its slot. There were two mount latches and a traverse mechanism to attach and he slapped all of them into place rapidly.

“You have used these,” Drago said, frowning.

“The new Force Recon Operator’s Training is nine weeks long,” Berg said. “Three weeks is pure Wyvern. Mark Fours, though. I think they’re getting stuff from us and making it sort of Space Marine training. I wondered about the class on physics and astronomy. It was only an hour in the training schedule, but it seemed a little weird. By the way, does anyone know what star we’re at?”

“Maybe we all should go through it,” Drago said sourly.

“Let’s just see if we all get home,” Berg said, grinning.

He had also loaded his ammo, with help from Lance Corporal Mackey “Candle-Man” Chandler from Alpha team. The Wyvern Mark V accepted over four thousand rounds of 7.62 mm in its cavernous ammo bin. On the other hand, he could run through that in one minute of continuous fire. Berg wasn’t sure the Gatlings were the best choice for their mission, but the things certainly had authority.

“Attention on deck!” Top bellowed.

“At ease,” the CO said, striding down the missile compartment. “Ready, Charlie?”

“Ready, sir,” Jaen said, still at attention.

“Glad to hear it,” the CO said. “Full sensor sweep. I’m not going to be the only person monitoring. You can bet the Skipper is going to be watching close. Make damned sure there are no threats before you give the all clear. I wanted to send Bravo through after you, but the science team is kicking up a fit so next out is going to be geo. Keep an eye on them but mostly keep your attention outwards. If there’s a threat, it’s our job to make sure the scientists get back to the ship. Understood?”

“Understood, sir,” Jaen said.

“Two-Gun, just use the Gatling.”

“Aye-aye, sir!”

“You guys, make us proud. Semper Fi.”

“Oorah, sir!” the team chorused.

“Suit up.”

“Go live,” Jaen said as they approached the elevator. The CO and Top had followed them and now stood beside the aliglass compartment.

“Hatt, online,” Hattelstad said, arming his cannon.

“Two-Gun, online.”

“Let’s go.”