Children of Steel (56 page)

I looked around the room, "How much do you
think they'll charge me for this?"

"Oh probably only ten or twenty thou, and
that'll include the fine too I bet."

"At least I hadn't thought to go into the
bedroom and destroy my new gear."

"Speaking of bed," she grabbed my arm and
started dragging me, "you look like the living dead, and I've had
all the excitement I can handle."

We went to bed then and I slept the clock
around. When I woke up, Mist was still there. I thanked her for
helping, gave her a hug and got up and left.

I headed down to the personnel office and
found a black bear who wasn't too busy to help me.

"What do you need?" He asked as I sat down at
his desk.

"An assignment," and I passed him my ident
tag.

He stuck it in his desk terminal and started
to look over the particulars, "Where's your ship now?" He
asked.

"Dry-dock on Earth I think. I don't expect to
see it again."

"With the present situation, that's a safe
bet." He looked at the cast on my wrist, "What are you looking
for?"

"Combat," I stared through him and at the
wall behind. He looked away.

"Well let's see, I have several combat flying
spots open."

"No!" I said a little too loud, "Ground
forces."

He stopped and looked at me again, "You know
that a straight fighting job will hurt your pay situation. You sure
about this?"

"Yes, I want to get my hands dirty.
Real
dirty."

"I see," he said slowly and stared right back
at me, I didn't flinch or blink. Eventually he turned back to his
screen and started paging through a few things. "You willing to
volunteer for extremely hazardous duty?" he asked without looking
up.

"Of course."

"Well how's this sound then, we've got one of
those frigates in port. She's shipping out as soon as she's fully
staffed. You barely qualify on combat experience for the ranks, but
they need one more backup pilot." He looked up at me then and
actually smiled, "Special ops, I personally guarantee you'll get to
slaughter all you want."

I smiled back at him, "Where do I sign?"

He handed me my orders a minute later, I was
to report in two hours. So I went back to my room, packed my bag
and went to find Mist.

"What's up Raj?" she asked eyeing my gear bag
on the floor.

"I'm shipping out, I got a new
assignment."

"What ship?"

I showed her my copy of the orders, "If you
get back to the Astra, give everybody my regards okay?"

"Sure," she looked a little uncomfortable,
"Just one thing Raj okay?"

"What?" I asked warily.

"Don't get yourself killed on purpose, all
right? You've got too many friends who'd miss you."

"I promise," I said. "Give my regards to
Marcus and the others all right? I've got to go now or I'll be
late."

"Sure. Bye Raj," she gave me a kiss, "Good
luck, you'll need it."

I turned and headed down the Hall. I hit the
Buzzer on Dave's room as I went by, but there wasn’t any answer. He
must have been out, so I wrote a short note and left.

I made it to the Falcon in thirty minutes. I
still had an hour left, but I just wanted to get on with it. I did
stop for a minute and removed the cast from my wrist, the Doc's had
told me to leave it on until tonight, but I didn't want anyone
asking questions. The bandages on the ribs didn't show so I left
them.

"Warrant second Raj Rakir requests permission
to come aboard." I saluted the Wolf at the hatch. I recognized him
as one of the WSO's from the crew.

He returned my salute, "Permission granted."
Then as I passed inside he turned to me, "So Raj, they got you to
join this little madhouse too, huh?"

I stopped and turned to him, "I
volunteered."

He looked at me a little strangely then, "You
don't sound so good. What happened?"

"I'd rather not talk about it okay?"

"Sure no prob, listen though okay? It's a
different ship now, we got sixty troops on board and it's a bit
tight. They're the tough guys too, so don't cop an attitude, or
you'll end up in serious trouble. Understand?"

"Yeah sure, when do we leave?" I asked
turning towards the Captain's cabin.

"As soon as you report in I guess," he said
closing the hatch. "Now that we've got number sixty we're
ready!"

I headed forward to the Captain's cabin then
and knocked on the door setting down my gear bag.

"Enter!"

I stepped inside and saluted Captain Avera,
"Warrant second Rakir reporting for duty sir!"

"At ease Mr. Rakir." He looked at his watch,
"Glad to see you didn't drag your feet and got here early, now I'll
be able to keep ahead of schedule." He looked back at me then.
"Listen I gave your file a quick glance and I think I know why
you're here. I'm sorry about what happened, but I think you'll find
more than enough opportunities to avenge yourself, Okay?"

"Yes sir, that's what I'm hoping for
sir."

"Good, that's what I wanted to hear. This
isn't going to be a joy ride and I want serious fighters. You're in
billet 17, welcome aboard."

"Thank you sir," I saluted and left.

I found my quarter's pretty quickly, I was
sharing a room with three other's. Fortunately things were set up
so only two of us were to be sleeping at any given time, being on
opposite shifts. We each had separate bunks too; they folded into
the wall when they weren't in use of course. I put my things in my
locker, and went off in search of the ground forces Commander.

The one nice thing I had noticed so far was
that almost all of the troops were leopards. I thought I had seen
some Jaguars too, but wasn't sure. I found the ground force’s
Commander in his quarters; he had a room to himself like the
Captain and the Exec, and reported in.

"At ease soldier, have a seat."

I took the proffered seat, and relaxed. He
was a Jag, pretty good sized one too.

"Any questions?" he asked looking at his desk
terminal, probably reading my file.

"What's the species makeup of our force
sir?"

"Forty Leopards, Six Jaguars and fourteen
Tigers. Why, do you have any problem with that?"

"No sir, I was just curious."

"Fine. I see by your record that you do have
some combat experience. Not as much as I'd like, but coupled with
your performance there and the fact that we need a backup pilot,
it'll do."

"Yes sir."

"Our basic fighting group is the same six man
team you were trained with in advanced. I'm going to assign you to
the number three slot in one, if you show me you can perform I'll
move you into number two. Casualties are going to be a fact of life
here, so if you perform well, you'll find quick advancement. Any
other questions?"

"Just what shift I'm on sir."

"Second, I suggest you get some sack time and
let that wrist heal. You'll need it soon enough, dismissed!"

I stood up and saluted, he obviously wasn't
anyone I'd be able to fool on anything.

I headed back to my bunk, and sacked out for
the next eight hours till I was due to report. By the time I had
arrived at the ‘gym’ or hold area, we were well under way. I got
several challenges on the way to the mess and then the hold, but I
just ignored them. I still had an empty hole inside me, and I
really didn't care what anybody else thought.

The organization of Falcon block was fairly
simple. Each squad was made up of two three man half-squad's. A
squad was commanded by either a non-com, a warrant or an officer.
Five squads made up a platoon, with one officer and a senior
non-com in charge. Two platoons made up a block. The officer in
charge of 1st platoon, (and the first squad in it), was the officer
in charge of the block, in this case our commander who was a
captain in rank. Of course on board he was referred to as
'Commander' as there is only one Captain onboard any ship.

The head of the 2nd platoon was a lieutenant,
I was in the second squad in the first half-squad under the senior
NCO in that platoon. While I technically outranked him as a
Warrant, I was comfortable with the situation. The corporal who was
in charge of the other half of the squad looked like he had a big
chip on his shoulder, so I just ignored him.

So we had two officers in our block, three
warrants not counting myself, and five NCO's. Everybody fought in
this organization, and depending on the action we would either act
as six man squads, or three man half-squads. The half-squad was
perfect for hit and runs of course, about what a sixty man block
without any artillery support was normally good for.

We spent most of our first normal duty period
doing drills and inspection. About ten of the people in the platoon
had served together before this, the rest of us were new to this
group. That left a lot of fitting in to be done, so a certain
amount of drill was inevitable. I kind of liked the mindlessness of
the whole thing though, it kept me from thinking blacker
thoughts.

The part I didn't care for, at least anymore,
was the establishment of the unofficial pecking order. I wasn't out
to impress anybody anymore; I really didn't care if the women
wanted to be with me or not either. I was more than satisfied to
keep to myself.

Of course this wasn't to be. When we broke up
for our other duties a lot of the younger troops kept bugging me.
Even though they had more combat time than I did, most of them were
my age or younger. The older hands I noticed steered well clear of
me, they knew something was up. I just ignored the whole thing,
performing my duties and not saying anything unless I was required
too.

After about a week the harassment started to
make an impression on me. I guess my lack of response was giving
people the wrong idea, and rather than leave me alone I was being
bothered constantly. So the next day after drill I grabbed the
corporal in my squad, who was one of my bigger pains, and told him
if he didn't leave me alone I'd kick him
and
his half-squad
all over the room.

He figured that the three of them were
obviously more than a match, and took me up on the challenge. I was
only surprised when the Lieutenant directed the senior NCO to clear
a space and started taking bets. At least I was allowed to put down
two grand on myself, some habits die hard.

So I waited for them to come at me, the rules
were basically the same I had fought under in all those nameless
bars before. I waited till they got themselves sorted out; I even
let them take the first swing. I let the anger that their
harassment had been stoking out full force then. I went through the
first guy so fast the other two didn't even get a chance to attack
me from behind. I threw his unconscious body at the corporal, and
while he untangled himself from that I broke the other one's leg
and left him on the floor.

I took my time with the corporal, I could see
he was worried but I had to give him credit, he never showed any
fear. He did turn out to be better than the other two, but he was
still way out of his class and I let him know it. The fight lasted
maybe three minutes total, and two of those were just my beating on
him. Once I'd had enough and knocked him out I just turned and
looked around at everybody watching. I had barely even worked up a
sweat, the eight hours a day of exercising that I had been doing
since I left Woodstock had paid off.

"Enough of the amateurs," I could feel the
blood singing in my veins, I wanted a
fight!
"Who's the
platoon Champion?"

One of the Tigers got up and sauntered out
into the center of the floor. The others had been carried off it by
now.

"Think you can?" he asked smiling at me.

I looked him over; he was a big one, bigger
than Marcus. But not that much. I turned to the Lieutenant, "Put
all my winnings on
me!
" I growled, then I turned back,
bowed, and attacked.

It was a good fight; he was big enough that I
could let him have everything I had. It lasted maybe twenty minutes
and we were both covered with blood by the time it was over. What
finally ended it was the same trick I had used three years ago back
at that first bar Herza had taken me to. He was feeling cocky as he
had just broken my arm, so when I faked, he came in and I laid him
out with the spinning hook to the head.

The silence was deafening, I staggered over
to the Lieutenant and got my winnings. Then I keeled over
myself.

I came to in the Sick Bay next to the former
champ. We were both bandaged up pretty good, he had a broken fibula
from blocking one of my leg shots, and we both had a few broken
ribs, plus a lot of cuts.

"I guess you could, huh?" He said smiling at
me. The nurse was bandaging his head.

"As one of my mentors once taught me,
'Attitude is everything'," I checked the temporary cast on my arm.
"You should never have broken my arm," I smiled for the first time
since coming onboard. "It just made me angry."

"I guess!" He actually laughed.

I was surprised, I was always in a bad mood
after a loss.

"No hard feelings?" he asked still
smiling.

"Of course not, hell I won!"

"This time. I don't plan on falling for that
gambit next time." he laughed, "Haven't been beaten by a leopard in
a long time though!"

"I don't plan on a rematch," I told him
bluntly, "I really have no desire to be the local champ, I just
wanted everybody to realize I'm not somebody to be screwing around
with!"

"Oh, I'm sure they got the message loud and
clear. But I still want a rematch, just so I know whether or not
you got lucky."

"We'll see." I thought a second, "You know I
could use a better sparing partner. Most of the troops just aren't
up to my standards, and I don't think I have to worry about hurting
you too much."