Timothy Morris
March 2011
March 2011
Academy (Pilot) - Chapter 2
Names and Faces
Thursday, September 1st, 2016 – 1249 Local Time
Freshmen Initiation Day
United Federation Army Officer’s Academy, Carbon Province
“Oh frick! I completely forgot to salute that officer!” Cadet Leigh thought just as she stepped through the second set of glass push-doors into Abrams dorm’s main lobby. She immediately doubled back, thudding into the doors. The girl at the main desk looked awkwardly at her.
“He was a Captain, he’s probably mad…” As Leigh popped back outside, she raised her right hand to salute the dark haired captain as he walked away.
“Sir… Uh…” Leigh dropped her hand and pulled away the Velcro tab she had been clenching from out of her right hand and into her left. She again raised her right hand to her temple, this time able to flatten her hand properly, and saluted. “S-sir…”
The captain failed to even notice Leigh and continued to walk away, taking a drink from a bright green soda bottle as he strolled off. Leigh exhaled and immediately dashed back through the dorm doors.
The girl at the main desk continued to watch Leigh as she removed her patrol cap and pulled off her second Velcro tab. “Are you just now checking in?”
Leigh fumbled with her tabs and hat as she attempted to shove the patrol cap into her pocket. “Yeah, my dog went missing this morning. I found him though. It just took a few hours.”
“Well you’re seriously late, aren’t you freshmen cadets supposed to have some sort of meeting at one?” The girl, dressed in a summer tank-top and shorts, pulled over a clipboard in front of her.
“I know.” Leigh began sticking her Velcro tabs into the right places on the front of her Khaki ACU.
The desk girl flipped through the papers on the clipboard. “What’s your name?”
“Bridget Leigh”
The girl continued to flip and scan. “Bridget… OK, here you are.” She turned the clipboard towards Bridget and held out a pen. “Sign here…”
Bridget abruptly grabbed the pen and signed under her name. “Thanks…”
“My name’s Anna, I’m the main RA for this building, I’m not a Cadet so I’m available at the posted hours. Your room is on the second floor.” Anna pointed towards the elevator and stairwell as she held out a set of keys to Bridget.
“Not a Cadet?” Bridget looked confused as she reached out and was handed her dorm key.
“Well, a percentage of this school is non-military. And most of us get the RA jobs because cadets, especially upper level cadets, rarely have time to take on the task.”
“Well, a percentage of this school is non-military. And most of us get the RA jobs because cadets, especially upper level cadets, rarely have time to take on the task.”
“You can get your degree here?”
“Of course, we just pay more because we’re not commissioned. There’s about two hundred of us.”
Bridget checked her cell phone for the time. “Thanks, I have to go.” Not having time to wait for the elevator, she then quickly jogged towards the stairs.
“Hey, hang on.” Anna called out from behind the desk.
Bridget stopped at the stairwell door and faced the desk. “Yes?”
“UF Army is upside-down.” Anna pointed.
Bridget looked down and saw that she had put her Velcro army tab on upside-down. She quickly tore it off and corrected it; she then proceeded to dash up the steps towards the third floor.
By the time Bridget began working her way across campus to the freshman meeting; CPT Houston had long arrived and stood before the three story steel and glass “Brass Hutch.” Freshmen of all sizes gathered around the building dressed in their olive drab or khaki ACUs.
“… As most of you know, because I’m in charge of this academy I act as a battalion commander for all of you. Only I get to have a lot more fun, right?”
The cadets laughed a bit and the colonel smiled form ear to ear. The colonel had a booming and commanding voice, yet soothing and fatherly. His black beret and clean 4-color woodland patterned uniform were complemented by his stiff proper posture.
“We have a class of seventy-two freshmen cadets this year, one of the largest we’ve ever had.” The colonel continued to pace back and forth on the platform.
“It would be unfair of me to say that I expect nothing but perfection from every one of you. I don’t. We don’t. What we do expect is for you to learn, to grow; for you to make mistakes here and learn from them. I’m sure you’ve all heard the saying ‘the more blood in training the less blood in combat’?” The colonel looked out at his audience for feedback. Most of the cadets nodded.
“Well, not that we ignore safety, but that’s much the philosophy we operate by here. That includes your studies. You’re not just here to learn how to fight; we place no priority between combat training and your degrees.”
The colonel looked out towards the cadets.
“Well, I think I’ve gone on long enough. Again, I’m Colonel Clark and if you have any questions during the rest of the day, after we’re done here, feel free to approach myself or any of the other NCOs or officers.” The colonel turned towards the group of staff members that Houston
A sergeant responded aloud, “We’re from the government and we’re here to help.”
The group snickered and some of the cadets laughed. COL Clark continued, “Take that at what it’s worth. I believe it’s squad assignment time, who’s starting?”
A sergeant holding a binder stepped forward, “I am, sir.”
The colonel hopped down from the statue platform. “Alright, if you could all direct your attention towards First Sergeant Smith.”
FSG Smith took control. “Alright, I’m going to call some names. There’s nine cadets to a squad and two squads to an advisor. So when you hear your name called come up here and form a line. Alpha squad’s first. And please don’t talk, I’m only gonna say your name once.”
A Lieutenant holding a megaphone made his way over to FSG Smith and quietly handed it to him. “Pete, hang on, use this.”
FSG Smith, “Oh, we got one of these? Thank you, sir.” He held the megaphone up to his mouth. “Did everyone hear what I said?”
A collective “Hooah” echoed back from the cadets.
“OK, Alpha Squad form over here. You are, cadets: Blakely, Koza, Reid, Barr, Penn, Neubermann, Solenskey, Park, Brax… All of you up here.” FSG Smith pointed in front of him as the cadets made their way out of the crowd.
As FSG Smith continued to list off squad assignments Houston Houston United Federation Army Academy
Bridget dashed her way around campus eventually making her way to the Brass Hutch and into the back of the crowd of cadets. Before she could catch her breath she realized that she had forgotten to put her patrol cap back on while she was outside. She quickly pulled it out of her pocket and jammed it onto her head.
“You alright?” A short dark haired girl in a Khaki uniform tilted her head over towards Bridget.
“Yeah…” Bridget breathed heavily, stood up and looked at the girl whose tag read “Browning”.
“Could you be quiet he’s in the middle of calling a squad…” An annoyed cadet gave both of them a stern look.
The first sergeant’s voice continued to boom over the megaphone, “…Hikari, Lee, Hanks, Browning, Ackerman, Myers…”
“Could you be quiet he’s in the middle of calling a squad…” An annoyed cadet gave both of them a stern look.
The first sergeant’s voice continued to boom over the megaphone, “…Hikari, Lee, Hanks, Browning, Ackerman, Myers…”
“That’s me, bye…” The short girl whispered to Bridget as she moved to cut to the front of the crowd.
Bridget watched as the FSG Smith moved over and away from the gathering squad to make room for another.
FSG Smith continued, “Foxtrot, form up over here. You are: McCoy, Lenin, Straub, Fizer, Dombrowski, Walther, Weston, Blackshear, Bankston.”
The boy who had told Bridget to be quiet stepped forward. The crowd of cadets had greatly thinned out and she began to become nervous.
“…Golf Squad: Guerra, Tillman, Tisdale, Patari, Nagase, Crenshaw, Creighton, Sauer, Bailey…”
“Did I miss my name?” Bridget watched as half the remaining cadets stepped forward.
A young Lieutenant approached them, “Hi, I’m Lieutenant Bright and both Golf and Hotel Squads are mine so the rest of you can come with…”
FSG Smith interrupted, “Wait, sir. I count ten cadets left; you should only have nine more.”
“Crap.” Bridget figured she was the odd man out.
The first sergeant continued to quickly rattle off names without the megaphone, “The only ones who should be left are: Coomer, McClain, Pierce, Sutherland, Southwick, Huckabee, Peterson, Hakah and Wingfield.”
Bridget raised her hand timidly.
“Oh so you’re it?” Smith stepped forward and flipped to the beginning of his list as the other cadets followed LT Bright away and towards the Brass Hutch. He looked at Bridget’s name tab. “I believed I called a Cadet Leigh.”
“Leigh, like sleigh.” Bridget corrected him on the pronunciation.
“Oh, well that would explain that then…”
CPT Houston approached from the side and was at first unnoticed by Bridget. “Echo Squad was one short, I believe Cadet Lee here is one of mine.”
Bridget snapped to attention and raised her hand to salute.
“That would be Leigh, sir. Like L-A-Y.” FSG Smith smirked and saluted.
Bridget and the sergeant dropped their salutes.
When they entered the building, Houston
“This whole building’s much bigger than it looks.” Houston
Bridget followed Houston
“That’s OK, Cadet. If you’ll see to your left and right are a bunch of different rooms all labeled for the squad who’s assigned to them…” Houston
Bridget looked around at the high ceiling and walls marked with aging paint. “Yeah.”
Bridget looked around at the high ceiling and walls marked with aging paint. “Yeah.”
“Well, consider those normal exits. They pop out on various sides of the hill. One goes down towards the firing range, the others go elsewhere. If you ever hear someone referring to ‘the Vault,’ that’s this place. The Brass Hutch is above us, because that’s where all the top brass meet. Get it?” Houston
“Makes sense.”
“Makes sense.”
“Oh and you might want to be aware that there’s security cameras everywhere down here.” Houston
“Must have been expensive.” Bridget thought to herself as she followed Houston
“…and cadet.”
“Yes, sir?”
“You can remove your hat now.” Although Houston
Bridget, embarrassed, immediately pulled off her hat.
Houston Houston
Bridget, embarrassed, immediately pulled off her hat.
The armory wasn’t that large and was cluttered with empty pistol and rifle racks as well as large grey weapons boxes equipped with electronic locks. Cadet Browning sat on top of one of these and waved sympathetically to Bridget.
Bridged nodded and took the packet.
“Do you have a pen?”
“Yeah.” Bridget pulled out a pen from the pen holder under the right sleeve of her uniform.[1]
Bridget took a seat on top of a nearby weapons box and began reading the packet. Houston
“Sir, I had to add my driver’s license number. I just wrote it on there, that’s what you wanted, right?” A male cadet with straight black hair asked as he handed CPT Houston his packet.
“Yup, I see you fixed your height too, that’s perfect, Cadet Ji-Hwan.” Houston
Another cadet handed him his packet, “I hope you don’t mind, but I decided to change my gender, ethnicity and height to the color orange.” The cadet smirked.
“In that case, I hope you don’t mind then if I change your last name from ‘Hanks’ to ‘Princess’.” Houston
“Sounds great sir, I’ll order my name tabs right away.” Hanks smiled and some of the cadets laughed a bit.
“Sounds great sir, I’ll order my name tabs right away.” Hanks smiled and some of the cadets laughed a bit.
“I like it in here, it’s very intimate.” Hanks spoke up again joking.
Browning shook her head and handed CPT Houston her packet.
The cadet had zoned out and was staring off into space. “What? Oh, sir. Yes sir.” He handed his packet to CPT Houston.
“Did you have a long drive today? Where are you from, Cadet Myers?” Houston
Myers’ accent was subtle, but there. “Montgomery
Myers perked up, “Really? They were our rival school. For marching band, not JROTC.”
“In the band?”
“Yes sir, played trumpet, sir.”
“How about that? Are you going to play for the band here?”
“How about that? Are you going to play for the band here?”
“I’ve though about it. I’m not sure if I want to do it.”
“Well if you decide you want to, let me know. I’ll get you in touch with the band director. It’s time consuming, if you don’t want to do it, I won’t blame you.”
“OK, thank you, sir.”
Browning turned to CDT Myers, “I had you pegged for a band person.”
Myers looked half-offended, “What does that mean?”
Bridget had finished looking over the packet and held it out to CPT Houston as he moved his way towards the doorway. “Everything was fine, sir.”
The cadets nodded and responded, “Hooah.”
In a short time the cadets were spread about the room conversing. CDT Browning sat in the same place and observed the others. She looked over to Bridget who stood off to the side looking overwhelmed. “Oh… She must be my other roommate… She’s tall…” Browning waved Bridget over. “Hey Leigh.”
Bridget walked over nervously. “Everyone seems to have met each other already.”
Browning smiled, “Well, that’s because odds were that your roommates were going to be in your squad. So yeah, most of us have met one another.”
Bridget sighed. “Oh… I was late; I don’t know who my roommates are…”
Browning pressed her, “What room?”
“Abrams, 202.”
“Yay.” Browning threw her hands up pseudo-enthusiastically but sincerely none the less. “You’re one of my roommates.”
“OK, cool… Uh, who’s the other one?”
Browning scooted over and tapped a spot on the weapons box she was sitting on. “Here have a seat.”
Bridget sat down. “I’m Bridget by the way.”
“I’m Gemma, with a G. And that girl there,” Gemma pointed to a blond girl who was flirting with another cadet, “she’s our other roommate.”
The conversation the girl was having could be overheard by Gemma and Bridget.
The cadet she was talking to asked, “Well what’s your name.”
“Hikari.” She taunted.
“I can read that. I mean your first name.”
“I can read that. I mean your first name.”
“Aurora
“That’s a pretty name…”
Gemma continued, “The guy hitting on her is Ackerman. His name is Max, I’m sure he’ll let you know that…”
Bridget smiled and nodded.
Gemma pointed to CDT Hanks who interrupted Max and Aurora’s conversation, “Hanks there, is his roommate. His name is Ryan or Matt or something like that… I don’t remember…”
Hanks goofed with the two cadets, “Don’t I have a pretty name too?”
Max quipped back, “Yeah Ryan, the best.”
Hanks joked more, “You don’t mean that. Come on, man. You’re killing our bro-mance before it even gets off the ground. Give love a chance!”
Max shrugged.
Gemma directed Bridget’s attention across the room to a cadet in the corner texting on his mobile phone. “That one’s Ramirez, he’s their number three. He hasn’t said much.”
Bridget looked over to the remaining three cadets who stood in a group. “So are these guys roommates then?”
Gemma nodded, “Yup. The dark one’s Lance, the Hanguk one is Ji-Hwan but most of us have been calling him Ryu.”
“Is that his first name?”
“Yeah. The last one there is Myers.” Gemma spoke loudly, interrupting their conversation. “Hey, Meyers?”
Myers stopped for a second and turned nervously. “Ye-yeah?”
“What was your first name again?”
“Zack.”
“And Lance, what was your last name?”
Lance pointed to his name tab, “Macintosh.”
Gemma pointed back to where Ramirez sat. “And his first name?”
Ryu answered, “Jacob, Jake… We’ve all just been calling him Ramirez.”
Gemma smiled, “OK, thanks.”
The three cadets resumed their conversation.
Gemma turned back to Bridget, “See, now you know everybody.”
Bridget shrugged, “Sure…”
Out in the parking lot in front of the Brass Hutch stood Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and Echo Squads in a big group chattering about. They were waiting for their advisors to return to them, Houston and the other Captain had driven off with intent on quickly returning with gear for the cadets.
Myers stood silently off to the side, looking out at the horizon and the hilly green mountains to the west. “I’ve got to remember that I feel further away from home then I actually am…” He tuned out the clamor around him and took in the serenity of the sight.
A flight of A-10 Thunderbolts appeared over the mountains in formation. Myers watched as they gracefully peeled off one by one, dipping low near the tree line and then rapidly climbing back up to a higher altitude. “I’ve seen that drill before back home. I didn’t know they had A-10s stationed here as well.” The faint wail of the A-10s jet engines whistled in the distance.
Bridget approached Myers curiously. “What-cha lookin’ at?”
Myers shook himself from his daze and pointed towards the distant jets. “A-tens.”
Bridget’s eyes lit up. “Those are Warthogs? Cool!” She squinted as she tried to look into the distance. “How can you tell?”
“I can hear them, they have some stationed near where I live.”
Gemma had walked up behind Myers and Bridget then joined the conversation. “They sound like they’re crashing.”
Myers shrugged. “It’s the new engines, they sound kinda funny but they’re more powerful and reliable.”
“They still sound like they’re crashing.” Gemma was not impressed.
The group of cadets watched as a Humvee pulled into the lot followed by a large pickup truck and a jet black Ford Mustang. The three vehicles backed up in front of the group of cadets who kept their distance. One by one the vehicles shut off; their drivers opened their doors and two of them stepped out. FSG Smith slammed the driver door of his pickup shut and casually walked over to the back of the bed. “We come bearing gifts.” Smith joked as he unlatched the door to the truck’s bed which was full of rucksacks labeled with duck tape.
A blond female captain stepped out of the Humvee and jogged over to the cadets. “Apologies, we got delayed at the motor pool.”
The cadets saluted her. Bridget, noticing the Captain’s accent, leaned to Gemma and Myers. “Is she Venedes?”
Gemma shrugged. “I guess?”
“Her camo’s Spetsnaz pattern, I’d assume so.” Myers took note of her distinct blue foreign camouflage uniform.
“Her camo’s Spetsnaz pattern, I’d assume so.” Myers took note of her distinct blue foreign camouflage uniform.
The captain opened up the back of the Humvee which was stuffed with more rucksacks. “Delta, we loaded your gear last so listen for your name.” She grabbed a bag and pulled it towards her. “Hale…” A girl stepped forward and the captain handed her the stuffed rucksack which the girl struggled to balance.
FST Smith grabbed a pack out of the bed of the pickup truck and did likewise. “Bravo over here. That’s Opperman…” He placed the bag on the ground as another cadet stepped forward and leaned for it.
“WILCO” Houston
Charlie squad approached his open door to see who was inside. A young Yamato looking girl crowded the doorway and leaned her head inside. “You know, you’re not supposed to text and drive, sir.” She jested.
“So do I, cadet.” Houston
Cadet Toyama blushed and some of the other cadets giggled. She scooted away from the doorway and smiled. “Yes, sir…”
The cadet proceeded with his question. “Yeah uh… sir… Not that I’m complaining but… Uh… Why are there only three of us guys in Charlie Squad? I mean, there’s six girls out of the nine of us… The other squads have a lot less.”
Birnbaum examined the helmet and straightened his patrol cap. “Oh, OK…”
“Besides, a guy your age should be excited about such good fortune, right?” Houston
The cadets scattered and Houston
Myers stood in the bed of the pickup, handing FSG Smith the last of the rucksacks.
“Thanks for the help cadet.”
Myers nodded and handed FSG Smith the last bag.
The sergeant handed it back to him. “This one’s yours, Myers.”
Myers jumped down off of the back of the truck and took the rucksack from FSG Smith. “Thank you, Sergeant.”
The cadets sat scattered about on the sidewalk near the parking lot in front of the Brass Hutch. They had received their rucksacks, helmets and plastic bags filled with Velcro patches and name tabs specific to each cadet.
Gemma dumped her plastic bag out onto the warm beige sidewalk where she was seated. She held up a shield shaped patch with a large green “E” in the middle, underneath the shield was printed the word “Honor.” She turned around, looked at the other cadets around her and saw that each squad had their own distinct shape, color and word. Bravo’s members had circle shaped patches with a blue “B” in the middle; these had the word “Respect” printed below them. Charlie’s patch was star shaped with a yellow “C” in the middle; their word was “Duty”. Delta’s was diamond shaped with a grey “D” and the word “Integrity”.
“Wow, they really went all out.” Gemma commented on the level of detail and personalization each cadet’s bags contained.
“We have standard pattern?” Bridget pointed out and questioned.
“Multi-cam,” Ryu answered. “UF Army standard.” He searched about his ruck as well.
“Are all the squads different?” Bridget looked around, it was clear that each squad had different patterned combat uniforms.
“Wouldn’t that have been much simpler and easier to deal with?” Gemma looked up to Houston
“Well, not really. The old uniforms didn’t have Velcro so we had to iron on the patches, which would inevitably start to peel off and look like garbage.”
Gemma looked at the pile of national flag, academy, squad and name patches before here. “Yeah. I really wouldn’t feel like ironing all these on.”
Captain Portrova spoke before the group one last time. “Do not forget, you are to meet at the firing range at zero-nine hundred hours tomorrow morning. Inside your rucksacks is a packet explaining the rules of engagement for tomorrow’s exercise. Read them! Or it will cost your squad dearly tomorrow. Not to mention that you will be strongly disciplined if you fail to follow the rules.”
FSG Smith interjected. “We’re serious here people. We spend weeks preparing these training exercise for you guys, it cost time, money and sweat. So unless you want me chasing behind you in my pickup truck at five AM yelling at you to run faster around the campus every morning for the next two weeks, take this shit seriously.”
CPT Portrova continued. “None of you have had PT until you have done it with Sergeant Smith.”
CPT Houston shook his head and pointed to FSG Smith, some of the cadets chuckled a bit. “I can tell all of you probably want us to cut you loose for the rest of the day so just a few final things.” Houston
FSG Smith added, “And one more thing, if you want to wear knee pads, balaclavas or anything like that, feel free.”
Hanks raised his hand and spoke, “What about squad leaders? When are we going to know who’s been chosen?”
CPT Portrova answered, “Colonel Clark will be posting the names of each squad’s leader at the Brass Hutch sometime today, it’s all randomized so even we don’t know who’s it’s going to be.”
CPT Portrova nodded. “OK, everyone understand about tomorrow?”
A collective “Hooah” echoed back from the cadets.”
“Alright then, get out of here. You’re all dismissed.” Portorva waved her hand.
FSG Smith saluted and the cadets stood up sporadically and did the same. The two captains returned the salute.
Cadet Toyama rushed over to where Echo squad stood in a group gathering their things. “Hey you guys are Echo Squad right?” She could easily tell by the patches they all now wore. “You should come eat with us, we have the same advisor.”
The Mess Hall by no means matched its name. Carved into the side of a hill, the large glass windows overlooked an out door balcony with additional tables and chairs spread about the grey false wood deck. From the balcony, off in the distance whispered the ocean which could be seen glistening as the sun shined brightly from the hillside. Inside the Mess Hall the ceiling stood tall, large blades spun slowly from massive ceiling fans that hung from above. Silver air ducts ventilated the open room and the quite hum of the air conditioning was drowned out by eight squads of boisterous cadets whose voices echoed off the brightly lit walls.
“Thank God for air conditioning.” Hanks bumped into Myers as he sat down next to him at one of the room’s long tables.
“I second that.” Max raised his fork from across the table in agreement.
“It’s freezing in here.” Gemma shivered as she cut at the grilled chicken breast on her plate.
“We’re really lucky, has anyone ever been to Carbon State
Bridget piped up. “Yeah, my high school did a tour.”
“Then you know what I mean.” CDT Birnbaum shook his head. “It’s a moist sauna in there, really dark too.”
Bridget nodded. “That and the food was awful.”
Hanks added in. “Ick. I’d have trouble dealing with that.”
“I’m sure you’d get used to it.” Gemma shrugged.
“Na-aw, no way. You shouldn’t be sweating while you’re eating.” Max argued.
“Chicken cutlet with a side helping of swamp-ass? No thank you.” Hanks jested. Most of the cadets laughed.
CDT Toyama leaned past Max who sat in-between her and CDT Birnbaum. “OK, wait wait wait, let me try and remember your names.” She pointed accordingly, “You are… Max, Bri-get, G-Gem-ma?”
“Yeah you got it.” Gemma nodded in approval.
“You missed one.” Gemma pointed to Myers who sat directly to her left.
“Oh! I did.” Toyama
Myers stopped pushing the food around his plate, turned his head towards CDT Toyama but continued to look downward. “Zack.” He said in a low voice.
“What? I didn’t hear you.” Toyama
Myers shook himself a bit and put down his fork. He spoke louder. “Zack, my first name’s Zack.”
“Zack! Now I remember.” Toyama
Myers shook his head. “Yeah I’m fine.” He spoke unconvincingly. “I’m just not very hungry.”
Max anxiously started up. “My turn, my turn.”
CDT Birnbaum spoke over him. “You’ve only met three of us.”
“Well I can remember the three.” Max pointed to his far left. “Jackson
“Montgomery
Max nodded, “OK, Monty. Hey, what was the name of the only other guy in your squad?”
Monty answered. “Jan.”
“Jan?” Hanks laughed lightly. “That’s unfortunate.” He looked over to where Jan was sitting, he was surrounded by the other members of Charlie Squad. “Yeah but the jokes on us it seems.
“He preferred to be called Miller.” Monty added in. “With all the girls in our squad and all.”
“Fair enough.” Hanks agreed.
Max turned to smiling CDT Toyama. “And you’re Kai.”
Kai nodded. “Mm-hmm.”
“Oh so you remember her name.” Monty joked, “I see how it is.”
“I can give you two good reasons why he remembered her name.” Hanks crudely teased.
Gemma put her hand on her head in disapproval but couldn’t help but smile. Bridget giggled, Monty laughed, Jackson
“I don’t get it. Why’s that?” Kai turned her head to the others for a clue.
The cadets continued to laugh. Ryu struggled to keep his drink in his mouth. Bridget and Jackson handed him napkins.
“The answers are right in front of you.” Hanks antagonized her further.
Kai looked down at her tray, then looked down even further. She immediately snapped her head up and was now blushing but half-smiling. She then quickly kicked at Hanks from under the table. “Jerk!”
Kai’s tan combat boot slammed into Myers’ shin and the whole table shook. He looked up at Kai. “Ow!”
The cadets now laughed even harder.
Kai put her hand over her mouth but was now laughing. “Oh no! I’m sorry.”
“Took one for the team there.” Hanks slapped Myers on the shoulder.
Kai playfully punched Hanks in the chest. “You’re not funny.” She was clearly laughing.
“I said they were two big reasons – I mean good reasons. How could you think such a thing?” Hanks backed up and spread his hands shrugging.
Kai leaned further across the table and hit Hanks even harder. “I’m going to be gunning for you tomorrow.” Kai pointed at Hanks.
“Oh really now?” Hanks continued laughing at her expense.
Ryu spoke from across the table. “Yeah, word is that every squad is pitted against each other for this exercise.”
Max turned to Ryu. “Yeah, do you know what we’re using, MILES Gear, paint ball, air-soft?”
“Not really sure.” Ryu didn’t know.
Bridget lit up. “Simunition? Oh. I’ve shot that. That stuff really hurts!”
“I’ve seen it before.” Gemma added. “Yikes.”
Myers rubbed his shin; the pain was gradually going away. He peered back across the table at Kai who was looking at him sympathetically.
“Are you sure you’re OK?” She whispered.
Myers nodded to her and tried to smile. He then sat back up and slid his seat away from the table. Just as he did this he bumped into a group of passing cadets behind him.
“Watch what you’re doing dumbass!” The cadet from Alpha Squad scowled at Myers.
“Sorry, I didn’t see you there.” Myers turned around and watched as the three Alpha Squad members stared him down. He could tell who they were by the square red patches they now wore, “Courage” being their word.
“You got a problem, kid?” The cadet examined Myers’ name tab and patches.
“Kid? Who does this asshole think he is?” Myers rolled his eyes, turned away from the Alpha members and slid his chair forward into the table.
The cadet and the other two Alpha members closed in further. “I’m not done with you.”
Myers pretended to ignore him.
Hanks stepped in. “Hey guys, we got off to a bad start here. Look, let me introduce us. I’m Hanks, this here’s Myers, who I’m sure didn’t mean to bump into you guys...”
“Shut up, I’m not talking to you.” He shut Hanks down and continued at Myers. “Turn around and face me, pussy. I want an apology.”
“He said he was sorry.” Max intervened from across the table.
“I want another one.” The cadet got in closer to Myers.
“Kick his ass, Kyle.” A short scrawny looking cadet standing adjacent to the main bully continued to provoke the situation.
Myers continued to pretend to ignore him.
Gemma whispered to Myers. “Just give it to him.”
Myers didn’t budge.
Kyle was fed-up with waiting and grabbed the drink out of the third Alpha cadet’s hand. He then began to pour it out on top of Myers.
Myers abruptly stood up as the cup of juice was dumped all over him. He stood face to face with Kyle who stood only a little taller than him. He curved his lip and stared him down.
“You want to go, right here?” Kyle continued to provoke Myers who silently glared back at him.
Myers felt his leg begin to tremble. The nervous shuttering slowly worked its way up to his hand. Myers could feel his clenched fists weaken. He had no reason to be afraid of Kyle, but found himself shaking where he stood. Myers turned away, violently grabbed his rucksack and headed for the door, pushing the Alpha members away as he stormed by. “Screw this, leave me the hell alone.”
They shoved him back. “Wuss!”
“Hey!” Bridget spoke up. “Three on one is hardly a fair fight.”
“I don’t see any of you offering to help.” The scrawny cadet quipped.
Hanks, Ryu and Max stood up.
“Don’t try us.” Ryu, angrily barked from across the table where he stood.
“Not even going to waste our time. We’ll just wreck your day tomorrow. You posers won’t last the first night.” Kyle gathered the other Alphas and began walking away.
Hanks, Ryu and Max slowly sat down; watching Kyle and the others carefully as they arrogantly strutted away.
“What a bunch of creeps.” Bridget was still fuming.
Max commented, “They try and start that shit in the field tomorrow I’m going to smash one of their faces in with the back of my rifle.”
“I think they were just trying to intimidate us.” Gemma tried to see though the situation. “I wouldn’t worry too much about them.”
Bridget looked over to Gemma, unsure.
“They’re still assholes though…” Gemma went back to eating.
The group quietly finished their meal. The mood was now soured.
FSG Smith was in front of the group and had been leading the presentation. “Any last second questions about tomorrow?”
A Captain dressed in army digital universal camouflage spoke up. “We’re driving your deuce-and-a-half’s right?”
Colonel Clark answered from the front corner of the room. “Yes. There’s no sense in taking the sensors off of our trucks and putting them onto yours.”
The gruff Captain’s drabbed out rectangular patch marked with a katana signaled that he was from the Army’s 2nd Stryker Brigade. He was at the academy with a small company of Stryker troops to assist in the training exercise. The captain’s entire brigade had access to the Academy’s state-of-the-art training facilities over the course of the summer and assisting in the freshmen’s training exercise was a way of saying thank you. “Just making sure, sir, because our trucks weren’t ready.”
The meeting adjourned and Houston
“Do you remember our first year as advisors?” CPT Potrova smiled.
“That was the first year they started majorly expanding the program.” Houston
“Yeah, and if the ECR hadn’t been in the middle of a civil war, one of their officers would probably have my job.”
“Do you remember the Republican guy you replaced, Major Toyama?”
“The defector? Well, the one the socialists expatriated? He was married to that nurse from Ridge City
“I heard he moved back to Ridge.”
“I’m pretty sure he did. Remember his kids? The boy and a girl, twins?”
“His children were about fourteen or fifteen at the time, right?”
“Wow, really? You sure?”
“Positive.”
“Where do you think the brother is?”
“I don’t know, I thought that after the hell they saw their government put their father though, neither of them would want to go anywhere near the military.”
“One would think…” The two grew silent as they thought. CPT Portorva took a breath and resumed. “She told me not to tell you, but Dasha still sometimes asks about you.”
Kristina put her hand on Houston
“Well, I don’t care either way. Even if she were to want me back, I want nothing to do with her.” Houston
“It’s been two years, George. I just think it’s time you forgive her.”
“Oh I forgive her. But I’m just not exactly ready to let her back into my life.”
“OK, I understand. I won’t ask you again. She’s still back in the home country, if she comes to visit me I’ll let you know.”
Kristina took a step back. “OK, OK. I won’t tell you. But I’m sure she’ll find you anyway. She’s ex-secret police after all…”
COL Clark stepped out of his office, he had overheard a bit of the conversation. “What’s the matter Captain? Haven’t picked up all your pieces yet?” He jested to Houston
The Colonel smiled. “As the saying goes: ‘All is fair in love and war.’”
The Colonel laughed. “I see, Captain.” He then pointed to an ammunition belt that was across his chest. “Both of you, join me at the range. We’ll get in some shooting while we have the time. Besides, I want some competition.” He began walking towards the door.
Kristina looked at the engraved 1873 Colt Single Action Army revolver slung to COL Clark’s side. “You always out shoot us with that thing.” Kristina and Houston followed behind the Colonel.
“How about semi-automatics only this time, sir?” Houston
“Don’t count on it, Captain.”
[1] The pen holder is actually a standard feature built into every Army Combat Uniform. This feature is seldom used and often considered useless in combat situations, most soldiers preferring to attach pens to notebooks and notepads for when important information must be written down.
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