Extinction (34 page)

“I think that chick was one of the corpsman
at the graduation.” Davies pointed to a lean, beautiful brunette.

“Let’s find out.” Mike turned around in
his chair. “Hey Doc!”

About eight corpsman, including the
brunette, turned around to look at him. “Not you ugly mugs.” Mike waved
dismissively to the men who were looking. “You, young lady. Can you come here
for a moment please?”

The woman came over while rolling her
eyes. She apparently was used to being singled out. “Can I help you gentlemen?”

Mike pointed to Davies, who stammered
for a moment before being able to speak coherently. “I’m sorry to bother you,
but I think you were at the officer graduation ceremony last month.”

“I was. And?”

“My brother, father, and grandfather
were killed in the accident. I just wanted to say thank you for all the help
you and the other corpsman gave everyone. There was one guy with red shaggy
hair who was especially nice to my family while we were in the cafeteria.”

“I’m sorry for your losses.” He could
tell she meant it. “I think you’re talking about Dean. I’ll let him know
tomorrow that you said thanks.”

She shook both men’s hands and was about
to leave when Mike held her in place with the unfinished handshake. “Stay.
Please. My friend here just enlisted and is leaving for boot camp in the
morning. Bring some of your friends over. We can scare him with our combined boot
camp horror stories.” Mike smiled.

The woman thought for a minute before
turning to her friends and waving them over. When they arrived at the table,
she introduced them all. “Gentlemen, this is Gina, Linda, Michelle and Leanne.
Ladies, these two are...”

“I’m Mike and this is Davies.” The women
and men all shook hands in turn. “And by the way, you never gave us your name,
young lady.”

“Daria.”

Davies was brought back to the present
just in time to hear the DI give the preparatory command for the company to
start their single-file march into the mess hall. That was a close one. A
marching mistake this late into boot camp was almost a capital offense.

After they had chow, the company split
into squads to go about their training day. Davies’ squad was scheduled for the
firing range today. They had spent the last two weeks going over weapons
maintenance, weapons handling and safety, weapons familiarization, and just
about any other weapons anything you could think of. Today would be their first
day with live ammo on the line.

Davies’ father had taught both boys how
to shoot, though Davies never really had any fun with it. His father always
told him that he was a natural but he thought his dad was just being kind and
encouraging.

Davies was nervous. Today was the day he
wanted to turn it all around. Make his DI see that he could be a good soldier.
After all, if a man couldn’t shoot, he wasn’t in the Marine Corps—he was in the
Navy.

Once they were on the firing line, they
were all given tons of instructions before the ammunition was actually handed
to them. The first magazine was inserted into the weapon and the charging
handle released. With the first caseless round in place, they were given the
order to fire five rounds at their own pace, load the next magazine, and repeat
until all five magazines were dry. They only got five rounds per magazine so
they would practice their reloading drills early on and get used to what to do
when their weapon goes dry.

The first twenty-five rounds were a
free-for-all that let the DIs see who needed the most help. Some recruits would
shoot all of their rounds in less than a minute. Others took way too long to
shoot, but that was generally a better problem to have than an itchy trigger
finger. Few knew how to shoot and just needed a little guidance to become good
tactical shooters.

The firing line was alive with the
barking of rifles sending death downrange. Most of the recruits smiled from ear
to ear as they felt their first moment of being a true marine.

The DIs were plentiful today to make
sure nothing went wrong. There was at least one DI per two shooters and three
others walking the line independently, looking for safety issues.

The primary DI was walking the line,
holding his training tablet and reviewing each recruit’s scores. The tablet
could show the target from any of the firing positions so the DI could review
the score with recruits and other instructors. When the DI reached Davies, he
was not surprised with what his tablet was showing him.

Davies was lying in the prone position
with his weapon on safe and all of his magazines empty. He looked up and saw
the disappointment and anger in the DI’s face. From their current distance to
the target, he couldn’t see the bullet holes so he wasn’t sure where he had hit
or even whether he had hit it.

The DI leaned over and started in on
Davies. “Holy shit, son! You did not hit the target even once! Are you aware
that Recruit Garvis hit his target twenty-three times?! He is so blind that the
Marine Corps almost didn’t let him in! His glasses are so thick, we could find
never before discovered planets if we pointed him at the sky tonight!”

The DI began pacing a few feet back and
forth. “Everyone make your weapons safe!” Once that order was accomplished, he
barked, “Everyone, pushup position! A one, two, three...”

And the exercising began. Usually the
DIs relaxed with the yelling and punishment on the range but apparently Davies
had taken them to their limits.

As the recruits were holding in the up
position, the DI started back into Davies. “You had two weeks of weapons
training and simulation! And then you come out here and choke! Not a single
round hit your target! You were given one simple task, hit the red target! What
do you have to say for yourself?!”

“Red target, sir?”

“Yes the red target! Do you not even
know your basic colors?!”

“Sir, I believe this recruit made a
mistake, sir. This recruit was shooting at the orange target, sir.” Davies
cringed at his own admission of once again failing to follow the instructions
correctly.

“The orange target?” The DI’s voice came
down a few notches. He then tapped his tablet’s screen a couple of times. He
waved over a few of the other DIs who just gawked at the screen.

“Recover!” The DI didn’t so much yell
the instruction as just making sure he was heard. “Recruit Davies once again
failed to follow instructions. However, his failure will be our success.”

The rest of the recruits looked even
more puzzled than Davies did. The DI continued, “Recruit Davies shot the orange
targets rather than the red. The red targets are at the one hundred meter line.
The orange targets are at the one thousand meter line. With open sights,
cupcake here hit all twenty-five rounds in a twenty-centimeter circle. Most marines
can’t do that with a scoped rifle.”

All eyes turned to Davies. “So while he
did not follow instructions, he just became our primary shooter in the
pre-graduation company competition. Our company can’t lose with Davies as our
ringer.

“From now on, each of you will help
Recruit Davies on a daily basis. We cannot let him become ineligible for the
competition by receiving discipline chits or not making it through any other
course of instruction. Are we clear?” The DI was smiling broadly now.

“Sir, yes sir!” the recruits replied in
unison.

“Good, now get back on the line and
shoot the red target.” This would be the first time his company beat his
longtime rival’s company in the shooting competition. The victory beer was
going to be his this time around.

Without even being told, most of the
recruits chimed in, “Recruit Davies, red target!”

And that’s how it went for the rest of boot
camp. Every time the DI gave an order, the squad or company would repeat it for
Davies to make sure he got it. Davies wasn’t dumb by any stretch of the word; he
just hadn’t been ready or suited for military life. But with his whole company
behind him now, he was finally getting it. Even when it became obvious that his
Marine Corps switch had flipped to the On position and he was doing fine on his
own, they still did it. It had become their company
thing
.

Recruit Davies, right, face.

Recruit Davies, lights, out.

Recruit Davies, pushup position.

Recruit Davies...

And so the shooting competition came and
Davies won it for his company without any problems. Graduation followed close
behind but this time none of his family was in attendance. Davies had lied to
them about the date because he didn’t want them attending another ceremony less
than a year after Carl’s.

As Davies waded through his friends and
now fellow marines, he caught a glimpse of a familiar and friendly face. As he
walked towards Mike, he noticed another rocker on his arm. “Gunnery Sergeant
O’Connor?” Davies shook his hand and then hugged his friend.

“I just got it last week.” Mike
absentmindedly touched his new patch. “I brought someone along with me.” Mike
looked over Davies’ shoulder and nodded.

Davies turned to see who Mike was
looking at. “Daria! What are you doing here?!” Davies gave her a big hug.

“Mike told me that you hadn’t invited
your family so we came to take you to dinner.” Daria moved to Mike’s side.

Davies could tell that the two were now
a couple. Not that anything had happened the night they met before boot camp,
but Davies had promised himself he would look Daria up after he graduated. His
dad always said that the Corps took its toll on relationships the most. Davies
was feeling that firsthand.

“Sounds great. I’m ready whenever you
guys are.” Davies tried to smile.

“Before we go,” Mike started, “there is
someone you have to meet.”

Mike ushered them through the crowd
until they found the man Mike was looking for. The colonel turned and all three
saluted him.

After the colonel saluted them back, he
turned to Davies and extended his hand. “So you must be the shooter Mike was
telling me about.”

“Um, yes sir?” Davies wasn’t sure what
was going on.

Mike interjected, “Private Davies, this
is the colonel. He has done a lot in his career so I’ll just skip to the
present. He’s currently the commanding officer of the Coalition Special Forces
Training Center.”

“Mike, I don’t think I’m ready for
Special Forces. I barely made it out of boot camp.”

The colonel just laughed. “Private, for
the last five years I’ve been running a pilot program that recognizes recruits
in boot camp with special skills. Electronic warfare, advanced infantry
tactics, shooting, etcetera. And when we find these talents, we send them
through the corresponding training with our Special Forces instructors.

“We then send them back to regular
infantry units but with advanced training in their particular skill set. So
infantry units get some soldiers with extremely advanced training to enhance
their abilities. And in the process, we hope we are cultivating future special
ops guys, after you get some seasoning and field experience.

“I saw your shooting scores and I want
to send you through our advanced sniper school. You definitely don’t need the
basic and intermediate courses. So I just need to know if you’re in or not?”

“Yes sir. I’m in.” Davies was shaking
the colonel’s hand again.

“Great. Glad to have you.” The colonel started
to walk away but turned and added, “Your father was a great officer and even
better man. He’d be proud of you.” He left without waiting for a response.

Davies wanted to follow the colonel and
ask him more about what he had just said, but he thought better of it and just
turned to his friends. “Shall we go?”

Dig Site One – We Have Ways…

Two days after the capture of the alien,
the torture tube had just begun its torture cycle. Bloom and Daria had come to
the conclusion that the alien’s recent encounter with a newer version of the
device made it harder for the older one to find unused and undamaged nerve endings.
The screams had begun around two this morning and Daria had to leave.

Daria and Davies were in the
communications room a couple hundred meters from sickbay. “I hope he talks.”
Daria broke the silence. “It’s not so much that I care that he’s in pain; it’s
just that he’s so loud. It’s nerve-racking.”

“Yeah, I agree. The more we learn about
his species, I wish that I could be doing it instead of that machine. They
really were some bastards. I can’t even begin to imagine what they’ve done to
their own quadrant of space.” Davies put a hand on Daria’s shoulder to comfort
her. The screams had taken their toll on everyone.

Daria turned to look up at her friend.
She felt a pull from deep inside herself and she began to close the distance
towards Davies’ face. Davies felt it also and the two friends locked in a
passionate embrace and kissed.

After a moment, the two stopped and
Davies turned away, ashamed of himself for what he had allowed to happen. “I’m…I’m
so sorry, Daria. I would never want to hurt Mike or his memory.” A tear escaped
down his cheek and he felt her hand on his arm as she turned him around.

“You’re not hurting Mike or his memory.
I love him with all my heart and always will. We both know that death is always
standing near us, just waiting to tap us on the shoulder. Mike is gone and no
one will ever replace him or his memory.” She paused as tears ran down her
cheeks as well.

“Don’t blame yourself for even minute
for what just happened. I know that you’ve always loved me and so did Mike. He
told me once that if death tapped on his shoulder first, that he would be OK
with you and me. The only thing that stopped you and me from happening was you
were in boot camp and unavailable. Mike and I had time to get to know each
other. It doesn’t mean that I loved him any less or any more, just different.
We’re in some shit now and who knows if we’ll get out of it. Death is closer to
both of us than it ever has been before. Hell, it’s closer to the Coalition
than ever before. I just—”