A broken alliance, p.32
A Broken Alliance, page 32
part #5 of Sentenced to War Series
The door into the space opened, and Rev eagerly looked up, but it was Corporal Akkeke who caught Rev’s eyes and motioned him over.
This berthing was for staff sergeants and sergeants first class, and junior troopers were not allowed in.
“Go see to him,” Bob said.
“If Miko comes, tell her to wait for me here.”
He went out the door, but it wasn’t just Akkeke. La’ei, Lines, and Wahid were waiting out in the corridor.
Corporal Akkeke held out his hand to La’ei, who handed him a thirty centimeter by twenty centimeter hunk of black plastic. Only it wasn’t just plastic. As he turned it around, Rev could see it was a plaque, and his throat constricted.
“Uh, Staff Sergeant Pelletier, we know that you Union Marines like plaques. And here in the Home Guard, well, that’s never caught on. You get your pin and your certificate.”
Rev reached in his pocket and fingered the Home Guard pin Major Yves had given him two hours ago. With the short notice, there wasn’t going to be a formation or a grand sendoff like the MDS soldiers received.
“But, we kinda like the idea, and . . . well, I respect—we all respect you as a warrior. No ding on Staff Sergeant Tjivyrtzlin, but we wished we had you as a squad leader. All of us would follow you anywhere. So, we had this made. Hope you like it.”
Rev fought back the tears as he took the plaque. The front side had white flecks on the black face, looking like stars in the night sky. In the middle was the Second of the Second’s seal, and under, on a silver inlay, it gave his name, the dates he was assigned, and “A Kick Ass Warror, From Your Grateful Crew.”
“You can fix the spelling of warrior. We just picked it up a few minutes ago and saw that,” La’ei said.
Rev just stared at it for a long moment before saying, “No, I think it’s perfect just as it is.”
The pin and nice words from the major, the medal he was awarded, the casual friendships he’d formed—they really paled compared to this. As a SNCO, Rev was supposed to be a leader. Due to the circumstances, he was never officially put into the position of squad leader, but right here, with four junior troopers, this was what it was about. As a leader, he was supposed to gain the respect of his subordinates.
This was the affirmation he craved, and they’d just given it to him. For once, he was at a loss for words. He just hugged the plaque and choked out a thank you.
Lines came up and shook his hand. “You’re good people, especially for a Marine.”
Which broke the ice. Rev just laughed.
Wahid came up, and to Rev’s surprise, she had tears in her eyes.
“From that first day, teaching me how to maneuver in freaking null-g, you became my mentor, Staff Sergeant. I tried to learn all I could from you, and I’m sorry you’re leaving so soon. I still have more to learn about being a warrior.”
That surprised Rev. He’d taken a liking to the big soldier, and she was a certified badass, but he had no idea she’d thought so highly of him.
La’ei gave him a firm handshake and a gruff good luck, and then it was Akkeke.
“We’ve been through a lot together, Chunk,” Rev said as they hugged. “You saved my sorry ass more than once.”
“And you saved mine.”
Nothing more needed to be said. The two of them, an unofficial team, had a bond that was impossible to form without facing combat together. Punch was his interior battle buddy, but Akkeke was his battle buddy from the real meaning of the word.
They broke their hug, then Rev took a step back and held up the plaque. “Thanks for this. Believe you me, I’ll treasure this for the rest of my life.
“Hoey-hoey!” the four shouted before they slowly made their departure.
Rev watched them for a moment before he went back into berthing and put the plaque into one of his seabags. Tomiko wasn’t there, and she still hadn’t arrived when Corporal Davis announced over the IMC that all Union IBHU Marines were to muster in the brigade auditorium.
There was another round of goodbyes, and then Bob said he’d help carry Rev’s seabags. The two made their way to the auditorium where the brigade’s IBHU Marines were gathering. They dumped Rev’s seabags on a pallet.
“Well, fair winds and following seas, as you Marines say it,” Bob said.
“Thanks. And you take care.” Rev looked back at the door. “You really don’t know where Tomiko is?”
Bob looked uncomfortable and said, “That’s really not for me to say, Rev.”
Rev wanted to ask what he meant when Major Liege called out, “Staff Sergeant Pelletier, can you come over here?”
“Wait a moment,” Rev told Bob.
He hurried over to the major.
“With Gunny Malaga KIA, you’re the senior enlisted Marine here. I want a full headcount, then a separate IBHU count. We don’t leave until you give me a thumbs-up.”
“Aye-aye, sir.”
After two years of saying “Yes, sir, no, sir,” it was comforting to get back to Marine-speak.
He turned back to Bob, but his friend was gone. Rev felt a pang of regret. That wasn’t the way to part. And what the heck had he meant when he said it wasn’t for him to say?
He shook his head, but it was with somewhat of a heavy heart that he started to carry out the major’s orders. Getting the headcount was easy. Within a couple of minutes of his arrival, the last IBHU Marine had arrived. The weapons count was a little more difficult.
Daryll, Filmore, and Park, another junior tech who Rev hadn’t met before, were having trouble matching serial numbers. There wasn’t much Rev could do as they tried to get their records straight. It wasn’t until Daryll called his counterpart with the Third Brigade that they figured out that somehow, one of their IBHUs had been delivered to the Second Brigade’s loadout and vice-versa.
Rev wasn’t sure how that could have happened, and his bullshit radar was going off, but Daryll assured him that the locks put on each case were still locked and hadn’t been opened since the IBHUs were placed inside. There was a mix-up, but the IBHUs themselves were secure.
Rev went up to the major and told him they were ready to go as soon as he gave the order.
“OK, then. Daryll and his crew will accompany our IBHUs?”
“Loading up now, sir. They’ll head off in a few minutes.”
He checked the time. “We’ve still got two hours until our shuttle, but we might as well spend that at the spaceport. Tell everyone ten minutes.”
“Aye-aye, sir.”
There was a cheer when Rev told the rest of the Marines. Not everyone had been happy with the decision to cut short their tours, but going home was going home, something that never was a bad thing.
Rev couldn’t quite get into the good mood, however. While the plaque had been a pleasant surprise, the rest of his departure had been a letdown. He just stood and watched as the rest of the Marines high-fived each other and excitedly told anyone who would listen what would be the first thing they’d do when they got back.
A hand touched his shoulder from behind, and a familiar voice asked, “You got room for one more?”
Rev spun around to see an out-of-breath Tomiko lugging a single seabag.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“Well, I think I’m going home.”
“But . . . why . . . how? You’re not an IBHU,” Rev said, totally confused.
“If I hear that one more time, Rev, you’re going to regret it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I am talking about how it took me the last five hours to get permission to cut my tour short. I’m talking about how it took me five hours to convince the command that if Randigold was leaving, and if she was my mission, that I didn’t need to be here. And more than that, while I might not be an IBHU, I am probably the closest thing to one in the entire Marine Corps. If someone wanted to get more information, like in a bad way, I would be a soft target to be snatched.
“All I got thrown in my face was that I wasn’t an IBHU, and the order to leave was only for IBHUs. I finally convinced General Platte that I was right, but then it had to go back to HQ on New Mars, and all the powers that be were still asleep.
“But someone with the balls to make a decision agreed, and voilà, I got my orders. Just signed for them twenty minutes ago.”
Rev just stared at her, at a loss for words for the second time in an hour.
“I thought I might be too late. I only packed one seabag. I had to leave the rest of my stuff.”
She looked at Rev, then frowned. “Well, say something!”
“I . . . why did you do this?”
“To get home, why else? You think I want to stay here when you’re gone?”
“But . . . Bob . . .”
“What about Bob?”
“I’ve watched you. You two seem to have gotten rather close. Like, uh . . .”
She stared at Rev uncomprehendingly for a moment before understanding hit her. She threw back her head and brayed.
“You think me and Bob . . . ?”
“Well, yeah,” Rev said, oddly feeling a little put off. “I mean, you’ve always got your heads together. And just a little while ago, I asked where you were, and he said it wasn’t his place to tell me.”
“Yeah, ’cause I told him to cover for me, but not to tell you in case they said no.”
“But . . .” he trailed off, not knowing what to say.
Rev had come to the conclusion over time that Tomiko and Bob might have become a thing, and he understood why. It wasn’t as if they’d ever made any promises to each other or even discussed their relationship, and Bob was a great guy. Rev had decided that if the two of them were in a relationship, he’d be magnanimous about it. But that was being thrown back in his face right now.
“So, you thought that me and Bob . . . ?”
“Well, yeah,” he said, sounding more than a little sullen. “What was I supposed to think?”
“You weren’t supposed to think anything. If you had a question, you could always ask.”
Which was true, he had to admit.
“Look, Bob is a great guy, and he’ll be my friend for life. But he’s not you.”
“But . . . what?” he asked as what she’d said just registered.
Tomiko dropped her seabag, stepped up to Rev, and intertwined her arm in his.
“I said, he’s not you. And, it should be pretty obvious that I kinda like you. And two years apart, well, that just wouldn’t do. So, Bob and I had to come up with a reason that would make them let me leave with you. Not you “IBHUs,” but you, Rev-you.”
Rev was feeling lightheaded, but there was a joy to it. He still didn’t know where he and Tomiko stood, exactly, but at least, even as dumb as he could sometimes be, there was potential there.
He gently took her arm and pulled it free of hers.
“What, you don’t want me to come?” she asked, suddenly sounding unsure of herself.
“Just hang on. I’ve got to tell the major that we’ve got one more pax to add to the manifest.”
Epilogue
“Platoon sergeant, front and center!” First Lieutenant Astrid Nilson ordered.
Rev stepped off from the back of the formation, marched up alongside, then made a left turn, and stopped in front of the platoon commander. He turned to face her and saluted.
She saluted back with her social arm. “I guess it’s official now, Staff Sergeant.”
“Yes, ma’am. It is. First Heavy Infantry Company.”
“Think we’re ready?”
“We have to be.”
She nodded, then in a louder voice, “Take charge of the platoon and carry out the remainder of the training day.”
“Aye-aye, ma’am. Rev saluted again, which she returned before taking a step back, conducted an about-face, and stepped off.
Rev conducted his own about-face. He stood there for a moment, looking out over Third Platoon, First Heavy Infantry Company.
His platoon.
Three squads of infantry. Eighteen IBHU Marines. Twenty non-IBHUs to include infantry, recon, raiders, combat engineers, a sniper, and a Navy corpsman. All elite, all volunteers. Well, not the IBHUs. They’d had no choice and were stuck in the new company.
Rev might never have been a squad leader, and he still regretted that. But with the new organization, not only was he IBHU #1, but he also was the second senior enlisted IBHU Marine in the Corps. That meant he was slotted in as the platoon sergeant for the Third Platoon.
My platoon.
He kept telling himself that, and the thought made him giddy.
“What do you think?”
“You’ve got to say that. You’re a part of me.”
Crap, yeah.
He cleared his throat. He’d considered having a little speech, all about the historical significance of standing up a new company, of how they were a unique and new organization that would be thrust into the war with the Manifest Destiny Sphere, of how that even with small numbers, they could have a vital impact. But the commandant had pretty much said all of that. And the D-3 bigwig. And the battalion commander. All of whom ignored the Marines and sailors standing at attention in the blazing Swansea sun.
But he couldn’t just let them go without a word. Platoon sergeants didn’t do that.
“When you hit the refreshments, keep in mind all the brass and civilians here. Try to at least act civilized. Help yourself, speak if spoken to, but other than that, you’re freakin’ ghosts. Anyone who makes a scene will answer to me.”
He paused to see if that had sunk in. Everyone’s face was rigid and emotionless, so he couldn’t tell. But these were the elites, and he didn’t really think any of them were going to goose the provincial governor’s butt.
“Third Platoon, dis-MISSED!”
“Tip of the spear!” the platoon shouted as one, took a step back, and performed an about-face before breaking up.
There was back-slapping, a few hugs, then a mass movement toward the eight large tables set up behind the viewing stands that were covered with various snacks and drinks.
A wraith gently touched his back before more coalescing into another Marine beside him.
“You think we’re ready?” Tomiko asked as they watched the Marines and civilians descend on the food like a swarm of locusts.
“Could use some more time training together, but as I just told my lieutenant, we have to be.”
It had only been a month since the IBHU Marines had been pulled from the Home Guard. In that short amount of time, the decision had been made to group all the IBHUs together, both those who’d been in the Home Guard and those who’d been in the IBHU pipeline before the moratorium had become official.
The decision to station the new company at Camp Nguyen had been a welcome surprise, but it made sense. There were already the maintenance facilities in place, and it was remote enough to keep somewhat out of the public’s eyes. Still, there had to be half a dozen other potential bases, and Rev thanked his lucky stars that his home was selected.
The last three weeks had been hectic as they took over the newly rechristened Camp Sign of Respect, a secure area tucked away from Camp Nguyen’s mainside, and hit the field in exercise after exercise.
Rev thought they needed at least three months before they would be remotely ready for combat. While some of the non-IBHU Marines had worked with them before, the bulk hadn’t. They needed more time to meld into a team. But from the looks of how the war was developing, they wouldn’t get that time.
“Speaking of her, how is your lieutenant?” Tomiko asked.
“Green. Still getting used to her IBHU.”
“She’ll come around,” Tomiko said. “With you guiding her.”
Major Liege had already given him that speech. As the newest IBHU officer, and the one with no field experience with her new arm, and with Rev being the most experienced IBHU SNCO, the major had put the two together.
“At least you’ve got Macek,” he told her.
“Who was as green as your new lieutenant is.”
She was right, of course. All new Marines, be they privates or second lieutenants, were green at some point. Somehow, almost all came through and fulfilled their potential. It was the Marine way.
“You going to see your family after liberty call?” Tomiko asked, trying to keep her voice sounding casual.
With the heavy training over the last three weeks, none of the Marines had a chance to leave the base. Training would return hot and heavy in the morning, but with the company being stood up today, they all had liberty until morning.
“Yes. They’re having a small party.”
There was a pregnant pause until Rev asked, “You coming with me?”
“Do you want me to?”
“Yes.”
“Then yes, I’d be happy to join you.”
Tomiko slipped her hand into his.
Rev had no idea what the future would bring. They were in a war, after all. But for the moment, as he tightened his grip on Tomiko’s hand, he was happy. He knew this was where he belonged.
Rev will return in AN ALLIANCE REFORGED, coming November 2021. Preorder now on Amazon.
For updates on this series, be sure to join the Facebook Group, “J.N. Chaney’s Renegade Readers.”
Cast of Characters
Second Brigade, Congress of Humanity Home Guard
Colonel Levin-Tell
Second Battalion
Lieutenant Colonel Semes
Major Djanka
Fox Company
Major Nona Yves
First Sergeant Glorious Weinstein
Corporal White
First Platoon
Second Lieutenant Aristotle Bundy
Master Sergeant Tina Barber
First Squad, First Platoon
1st Squad SFC Delila Gamay (Rigel Cluster Legion)
