First Strike by Scott Moon

Author:Scott Moon [Moon, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-10-26T16:00:00+00:00

Waller arrives with the breakfast crew. “Good morning, Expeditionaries. Breakfast is served.”

We eat, try to ignore him, and fail.

“First off, I need to pass on a message from command. They’re happy about the quality of your work.”

“How do they feel about Fink losing his leg?” Vanderbilt mutters.

I shoot him a look.

“What?” he mouths.

Fink had track scholarships out the wazoo. Vanderbilt has told me several times I’d wind up in the same CPO class with Fink. He enjoyed this fantasy until the Skull tracer round took Fink’s leg and I told him I wouldn’t go to the CPO until he stopped bothering me about it.

“Good work,” Waller says, oblivious to Vanderbilt’s comment. “Really, great job.”

I concentrate on eating with the tiny field mess fork.

Waller chuckles. “I’m not just here to feed my face, but boy, am I starved. Traipsing around these trenches is hungry work.”

No one laughs. No one responds at all.

“Well, right. To business, then. Corporal Priam knows why I’m here.”

Vanderbilt, Sergeant, and Lieutenant Davidson twist from their eating positions to stare at me questioningly.

“Yes, sir. Absolutely, sir. It’s about that one thing. Very good. Excellent stuff,” I say, then spread my hands and shrug at my friends the moment Waller looks away from me.

“You all saw how slick the Assaulters worked during the bridge assault,” Waller says.

We didn’t. We were under the bridge fighting and dying.

“Too bad Oaks ‘Ok’ Ryan and Lance Jamison didn’t get to hear this rousing announcement,” Vanderbilt says.

Waller laughs awkwardly. “Ok Oaks, that’s an interesting name. Always thought it was.”

I push down on Vanderbilt's shoulder as he tries to get up. Sergeant puts aside his disposable tray and stands near us, arms crossed, eyes locked on my friend.

Waller clears his throat. “Not long ago, I informed Corporal Priam that I selected 1st Platoon for the test and evaluation team of the new Assaulter, the bigger better version of what you all witnessed in action at the bridge. We call it the N333 Intruder. Catchy, don’t you think?”

“None of us saw the Assaulters at the bridge until it was over,” Davidson says. “Why didn’t you tell me about this before my team, sir?”

“Lieutenant, relax. I can be spontaneous from time to time,” Waller says.

“I’d rather you weren’t.”

“Mind your tone, Lieutenant. I am your commanding officer and I command you to prep your team for Assaulter duty. These will have enough firepower to make storming trenches easy.”

“We’re all going to die,” Vanderbilt tells the inside of his hand, because he knows I’m going to punch him if he pisses off the captain for real.

Neither Sergeant nor Davidson dress him down. Waller pretends not to hear my friend’s insolence.

“We appreciate the opportunity,” I say, “but the Assaulters will never make it to full-scale production, sir.”

“Oh really, Corporal Priam. You heard that? May I inquire from where you obtained information on top-secret projects like the N333 Intruder? I promise you, Priam, I know people who know people, and the Assaulters are the way of the future. We’re about to change warfare.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.