“Team Massa. Team Leader: Lieutenant Michael Massa. Comp Tech: Manuel Sukiama. Engineer: Nicole Howard. Pilot: Josten Ram. Blood Lords: Line Sergeant Arje Budak, Corporal Feng fu Nordbrandt, Private Rashid Whitlock.
“Team Graff. Team Leader: Triari Sergeant Ebenezer Graff, Line Sergeant Buu Kiem Topak, Sergeant Gonzalo Kamsing, Corporal Slodoban Toralva, Corporal Genrich Khologdori, Private Lambis Pepynakt, Private Viktor Williams.”
He looked up from the teams and nodded in understanding. Everyone had already formed bonds based on their training with peers. Now they were expected to get used to these relative strangers. The groups had gotten accustomed to wearing their individual uniforms and the mixture seemed… odd. Geo, surrounded by Blood Lords, seemed especially out of place. Linda was looking from Geo up to Herzer. The latter looks would have been deadly if eyes shot fire, and her face was fixed in a frown.
“You need to get used to these teams,” Herzer said. “In general, during the mission, this is how you’ll be performing your individual tasks. The Blood Lords who are with you are there to keep you alive. By the same token, the techs are there to make sure the mission actually gets accomplished and to handle shipboard systems. This is the group you’re going to be moving, fighting and living with. Everyone has a purpose and you’re going to have to learn to work with each other and trust each other to do the job. Otherwise, we might as well pack it up and go home. So figure on spending most of your training and free time with your teams. That’s all I’ve got. I’d suggest you guys get acquainted.”
He walked back to his place and sat down as Courtney came over and perched on the end of the table.
“Hello, Councilwoman,” Courtney said, holding out her hand to Megan. “I’m Courtney Boehlke. I’m going to be the computer tech on your team.”
“And I’m Evan Mayerle,” Evan said with a grin, holding out his own hand. “Pleased to meet you. Who’s the big lug sitting next to you?”
Megan grinned and solemnly shook their hands in turn.
“I don’t know who he is,” Megan said, thumping Herzer on the arm. “He followed me home, though, so I think I have to keep him.”
“Here comes trouble,” Layne Crismon whispered from behind Herzer, who looked up to see Linda striding over with a furious expression on her face.
“Herzer, I have a bone to pick with you,” Linda said, leaning over the table so far it looked as if she was going to spit in his face.
“Let’s take it into the corner,” Herzer said, gesturing to the far side of the dining hall.
When he’d gotten out of earshot of the teams, he stopped and pivoted to face her.
“It’s about Geo?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I was supposed to be with him the whole time!” Linda spat. “You promised me that! And his ship…”
“Doesn’t have a computer tech,” Herzer said, nodding. “So you think you should switch with one of the Blood Lords?”
“Yes!” Linda snapped.
“And double up our short engineers,” Herzer pointed out. “On a ship that could be taken out by New Destiny if we get very unlucky?”
“What do you mean?” Linda said, pausing.
“It’s possible that one or more teams may get wiped out on insertion,” Herzer pointed out with glacial calm. “Or at a later time. Hell, we may all get wiped out. But I’m mostly worried about insertion; we don’t have any control over the shuttles until we get to the ship. So I’d like you to take a look over at Geo’s team.”
“What am I supposed to see?” Linda said after a few moments.
“Cruz is one of the few people I handpicked for this mission,” Herzer said, gesturing at the team leader, who was listening to the old physicist and nodding his head. “That’s because he’s a stone-cold killer who uses his head. He actively enjoys bringing destruction to the enemy and he’s very good at it. Ferdous Dhanapal was part of Class One at the Blood Lord Academy. He’s never going to get any higher than Triari because he’s dumb as a brick about everything except killing and doing the mission. He’s the guy that ‘fight until you die or drop’ was written for. Gyozo Nasrin has won the silver eagle twice, once in Raven’s Mill and the second time in Balmoran. Again, a cold hard killer with not an ounce of quit in him. He’s one of the volunteers because if it has a ‘high risk of loss of life’ it means it has a high risk of getting it stuck in and he loves getting in a brawl. Shall I continue?”
“You put all the best fighters around him,” Linda said, nodding.
“I’d, frankly, thought about reloading with more on my shuttle,” Herzer said, shrugging. “But next to Megan and myself, yeah, I think Geo’s the one to guard. He understands all the theory, and the engineering, of the ships. That’s going to be important, unless I’m much mistaken. So, which Blood Lord do you want to bump?”
“None,” Linda admitted, sighing. “Objection withdrawn.”
“Next time assume I have a reason for what I do,” Herzer said. “That’s always the best way to go with orders. Yeah, you can question. But after you obey. Now, go get to know your team. They’re going to be what keeps you alive. If you live.”
“Thanks for being so positive,” Linda said, shaking her head. But she headed back to her team.
“That was positive,” Herzer said, sighing.
Chapter Nineteen
“Fuck,” Herzer muttered as he drifted past Van Buskirk.
Bus tugged lightly on his line to pivot and hit Herzer, hard, on his ankle as he passed.
Herzer got to the end of his own line and was jerked back, drifting more or less helplessly in the middle of the clear lake. The water at this depth was bitterly cold and he kept in mind that he only had about another fifteen minutes of air. So he gave the line another tug and began reeling in to the far wall.
Bus was gliding past on a parabolic arc at the end of his tether. Herzer considered that for a moment, then carefully removed one of the hand magnets. He tied a quick knot in a spare safety line and flicked the magnet towards Van Buskirk’s back.
The magnet, unfortunately, missed. But he thought it was a viable technique.
He reeled himself in, retrieved the line and worked his way over to the ladder up to the support building.
The large building was actually a floating dock over the old quarry. It had an open bottom and under it was a large mock-up of portions of the ship where the team was supposed to train for microgravity conditions, including combat. So far, Herzer was pretty sure they weren’t going to be able to fight worth a damn. He knew he sure as hell couldn’t get a feel for it. The only fighter they had that seemed to have a clue was Van Buskirk. Fighting in microgravity was entirely different from normal fighting and nothing that Herzer had tried in the hour-long test had worked. Bus had gotten three strikes in on him, on the other hand.
When he reached the surface he let one of the support crew help him get his armor and helmet off. The armor was standard lorica, carefully padded to prevent wear and laid over the suit and helmet base. The “helmet” was actually a solid piece that lay across the shoulders and dipped down on the front and back to the middle of the chest and just above the shoulder blades. The original design had included a bubble helmet but Herzer had insisted on a metal helmet similar to a barbute with only a heavily constructed clear eye-slit on the front. Goggles could be dropped over the eyeslit when the user was in the bright sunlight of space. Underneath the user wore a fitted cloth cap that buckled under the chin and to which the communicator interface and water tube could be attached.