Alliance by Jonathan Brazee

Author:Jonathan Brazee [Brazee, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Semper Fi Press
Published: 2017-10-21T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

Hondo

Hondo ran the rake over the sand, smoothing out the footprints that had been tracked through it. It was after 2300, and the night sky was awash in stars, giving him enough light to keep working.

He heard the crunch, crunch, crunch of steps behind him but didn’t bother to look. With another five or six hours to go, he had a long night ahead of him.

“You missed some tracks,” the first sergeant’s voice reached him.

Hondo straightened his back and turned. The first sergeant was standing in the middle of the patch he’d just raked, his footprints visible in the starlight.

“Sorry, First Sergeant. I’ll get that,” he said, walking back to rake out the new prints.

He paused, then, the rake motionless beside the first sergeant’s boot. With a harrumph, the first sergeant stepped back onto the path, then headed to the SNCO’s berthing. Hondo carefully raked out the last three prints, then moved back to where he’d left off.

On the other side of the path, BK worked, raking her section smooth as well. He felt a little guilty about her being there, but she’d insisted that she wasn’t upset.

He stood still for a moment, just looking at the sky, his PA burning a hole in his pocket. He couldn’t resist. He took it out and opened Connect. In Spot Prime, there he was, a goofy smile on his face while behind him, a surprised-looking CWO5 Curnutte stared right at the camera. BK had let the Connect identifier flag both the gladiator and himself, then added, “Holo by BK Dodds.” Already, the post had garnered over a million Love Its, but one meant more than all the rest. As one of the flagged subjects, the gladiator could have had the post deleted, but instead, right at the top of the list, there was her Love It, and the comment, “Semper fi, Devil Dog. Grab what you want in life.”

He stared at the image for a moment, then put the PA back in his pocket. Close by, laughter broke out from one of the berthing boxes, Marines relaxing in the night.

In front of him was a large expanse of sand he had to rake smooth, even if it would all be for naught in the morning when Marines trampled over it again. He had a long night ahead of him and all for nothing. Well, not quite for nothing.

It was fucking worth it, he thought as a smile crept over his face.

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