The Infinity Brigade #1 Stone Cold Read online

  I had a feeling my day had just gotten a whole lot worse. Sadly the Ensign was not done.

  “Yes, you are the stuff of legend Sergeant Stone.”

  He leaned into my face. I can only assume he picked this up from the Alpha Platoon Drill Sergeants because he didn’t strike me as imaginative enough to have come up with it on his own.

  “Know this Stone,” he spat. “Your leash here is a very short one. If you fart in the wrong place… or at the wrong time… I will have you in manacles, locked in the deepest, darkest hole I can find. AM I CLEAR?”

  “Crystal clear Ensign,” I responded crisply. “If I may be permitted to ask Sir; what is my role as your embedded Beta advisor?”

  Ensign Anderson smiled. On some people a smile is a good thing. Ensign Anderson was not one of those people.

  “Your role is simplicity itself. You are to stand as far away from me as possible and be absolutely quite. I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to hear you. I want to be able to pretend that you are not here. And Sergeant, I’m not very good at pretending so it would behoove you to do everything in your power to not remind me that I have been cursed with your presence.”

  ***

  The ‘two on two’ exercise began after all four platoons arrived at their preassigned starting points. The New Parris Island staff had chosen, by some arcane means that defied reasoned thought, to hold the exercise at Tharsis Montes.

  We were essentially going to be playing a massive version of ‘King of the Mountain’. Tharsis Montes was a very unusual collection of three nearly equally spaced shield volcanoes located just west of Valles Marineris. They were smaller than Olympus Mons which was a little further northwest. That said, they were still roughly fifteen kilometers high each. What made these particular volcanos unusual was that they appeared in a near perfect line. The center one, Pavonis Mons was just as far from either of its neighbors, about four hundred kilometers.

  Alpha and Beta platoons would take control of the southern-most peak, Arsia Mons while our adversaries. Delta and Echo Platoons would take control of the northern-most peak, Ascraeus Mons.

  Our objective was simple in theory but difficult in practice. We were to retain control of our piece of the planet while being the first to plant our flag at a specific set of geo-coordinates located in the center of Pavonis’ caldera or lava dome. The only thing in our way were two platoons of highly motivated Marine wannabes.

  For this exercise the Drill Sergeants would lead the first of what promised to be many assaults. Part of this was due to the magnitude of this endeavor. Our closest objective was over four hundred kilometers away. Our secondary object, the enemy’s camp, was more than twice that. When you start dealing with distances this great there is a lot of room for novice soldiers to get themselves into trouble.

  This was the first time I met the Drill Cadre assigned to Alpha Platoon. In fairness, they seemed every bit as intimidating as our Drills. The biggest difference was they treated me with a much higher degree of respect than Acting Ensign Anderson. I’m not sure if this was because they were hoping to lead through example and get the Ensign to loosen up and use me for the asset I was; or if it was just role playing because I was the ‘embedded’ expert on all things Beta.

  Senior Drill Sergeant Montgomery met with the Ensign and NCOs of Alpha Platoon and laid out the action plan for the morning’s activities. Ensign Anderson had invited me to leave, as my presence would not be required, but the Senior Drill overruled him. My guess was this did not win me any points in the Ensign’s ‘I love this guy’ book. That said, I did my best to remain unobtrusive and yet helpful. I was mindful of what my Senior Drill had said to me about needing to work with people who, though senior, were less capable than I was. That certainly reflected my current assessment of the situation with Ensign Anderson.

  “Our objectives are two fold and so we are going to be working with Beta Platoon to meet both those objectives. First we are going to send a team to infiltrate the enemy’s home base. As it turns out Beta platoon has developed quite a reputation for accomplishing this type of activity… and has agreed to lend us their expertise in such matters.” Senior Drill Sergeant Montgomery turned, and I kid you not… he literally waved at me with a broad grin on his face. So much for me trying to fly under the radar.

  “Our primary objective,” he continued, “is to plant our flag at coordinates 0.5.0, 247.1.0… right smack in the middle of the Pavonis Mons caldera. Obviously our adversaries are going to be doing their damnedest to stop us from accomplishing either task.”

  He stopped to look at each of us… taking our measure in the way only a trained Drill Sergeant can. “This means we have three tasks to accomplish and limited resources with which to accomplish them.”

  Ensign Anderson raised his hand. I turned to look in his direction… curious as to what he might want to ask. Montgomery nodded for him to speak.

  “Excuse me Senior Drill. But we have two objectives… what is this third task?”

  I groaned on the inside. How had this recruit ever been picked to be the Ensign? I could live with the fact that he just didn’t seem to like me but that fact that he seemed to be as sharp as a month-old razor baffled my mind.

  The Senior Drill must have seen the astonishment in my gaze. Sergeant Cochran had managed to keep his eyes down but I knew he was as taken back by the Ensign’s question as I was.

  “Sergeant Stone,” Senior Drill Sergeant Montgomery said with an amused smile on his face, “would you care to enlighten our befuddled Ensign as to what three tasks need doing?”

  I was seriously tempted to answer ‘No’ but I knew that playing dumb was not one of my core competencies. Besides, I had little expectation that the Alpha’s Senior Drill would allow me to get away with it. I did what I could to help the Ensign save face.

  “Senior Drill, what I’m sure the Ensign is attempting to confirm is that you expect us to send contingents to each of the assault objects as well as retain a sniper team at our base camp in order to defend our AO from enemy infiltrators.”

  “Yessss,” the Senior Drill said with a knowing drawl. “I’m sure that’s what he meant. And yes you are absolutely correct. Why do you suppose, Sergeant, the Ensign would want to leave snipers behind? Surely snipers would be very useful in either of the assault teams.”

  “Well, Sergeant, if the Ensign is thinking the way I am, he would recognize that he could defend the high ground near our Area of Operations with fewer troops if he leaves behind a few good snipers. Numbers will likely be more valuable in the field than in defending our AO.”

  “So you believe this is what the Ensign is thinking?”

  “Well obviously Drill Sergeant I can’t speak for the Ensign but I’m sure he’s a smart man and this seems like a smart play… to me at least Drill Sergeant.

  Montgomery nodded. “It seems like a smart play to me too. Excellent idea Ensign Anderson. Who did you have in mind to lead the defense forces?”

  Anderson looked at me. I could see in his eyes that he was not amused by what had just happened. I couldn’t blame him. I had tried to smooth things over as best I could but there is only so much damage control you can do when a person insists on making a fool of themselves.

  “Sergeant… I mean, Drill Sergeant… Senior Drill Sergeant… I think…” Anderson began.

  “Hold it… don’t say another word,” Senior Drill Sergeant Montgomery said. He held his hand to his head as if he were holding an envelope in it. “You were thinking a sergeant should be left in charge… Am I right?”

  Anderson nodded.

  “Which Sergeant would that be?” Montgomery prompted.

  Both Sergeant Cochran and I saw where this train-wreck was going and it was not a pretty sight. The saddest part was neither of us believed the Ensign would arrive at the correct solution on his own.

  Anderson seemed to realize he was in trouble but in the way of a field mouse seeing the hawk swoop in… he was powerless to do anything about it. “I think
Sergeant Cochran would make an excellent choice.”

  “Interesting,” Senior Drill Sergeant Montgomery said. “We have two major offensive objectives and the leader your men most trust you would keep back here out of the conflict. Does that really make sense?”

  Ensign Anderson, realizing he had made a mistake, tried to recover. “But in this instance Sergeant Stone might be the better choice.”

  “That might be the case except we have already established that Sergeant Stone has particular infiltration skills that we will need at our secondary objective. No I’m afraid selecting one of the Sergeants would be out of the question,” Senior Drill Montgomery said with a theatrically exaggerated sigh.

  “You want ME to stay behind?”

  “And deprive our brave troops of your inspired leadership? Of course not! Sergeants can either of you suggest a possible course of action that might make better sense?”

  Sergeant Cochran looked at me and I nodded. Together we said two words.

  “Brevet Corporal”

  “Outstanding!” Montgomery cheered. “Would you care to explain the concept to the Ensign?”

  I clamped my lips shut. I wouldn’t give a piss for my chances of ever having a viable working relationship with the Ensign. I wasn’t about to do anything that might make it worse. Thankfully Sergeant Cochran stepped up to the plate.

  “A Brevet promotion is allowed under GCP promotion guideline GC94.001-c. It states that a member of any of the armed forces may be promoted on a temporary basis by a person of higher rank for the duration of a particular action. Said promotion does not become permanent; nor does it result in a change of pay; nor may it equal or exceed the rank of the promoting officer.”

  “It further goes on to specify,” Senior Drill Sergeant Montgomery continued, “that said promotion should be no higher than required for the action to be undertaken.”

  Chapter 13: Boot Camp – North Spot…

  I was right about Ensign Anderson. He was not going to be a member of my fan club anytime soon. With that thought in mind, I was glad to be able to get out of his general vicinity as soon as I could.

  The Drill Sergeants from both Alpha and Beta platoons divided us up into three groups. As I predicted, the smallest of the groups was the one staying back at our base camp. I was glad to see Corporal Jesus Ramirez leading the Beta squad. He was a good man. Ensign Anderson gave the brevet promotion to Private Dimmit. Sergeant Cochran tried in vain to talk him into giving it to someone… anyone… else but the Ensign’s bruised and battered ego would have none of it. The cost of this fateful decision would haunt us for several days.

  My team included JJ Hammond and Private Hansen. I had been worried that Ensign Highmark might detail Hansen for camp duty but we had been granted permission to take one sniper with us. Hansen was our man.

  We got lucky with regard to our draw from the Alpha platoon. Sergeant Cochran had pissed Ensign Anderson off enough that the Ensign had been eager to assign the Sergeant to our team to get him out of his sight. I was glad to have the man with us. Our other Alpha team member was a gal named Judy Jansen. Apparently everybody called her JJ as well. We were going to have to work out how to differentiate her from Hammond.

  She was not an especially good shot but she was small and could move fast. Even in Stark suits which should have equalized things out somewhat she was a good thirty percent faster than the rest of us at just about anything. One of her more interesting hobbies was pickpocketing people. She would always hand back what she had purloined from her victims… as she explained, the fun was in the taking not the keeping. Besides, the Marines didn’t take kindly to thieves. The very fact that she could pull the ammo clip out of your weapon during the course of a conversation and then hand it back to you a few minutes later… without you ever being aware that it had been taken, spoke volumes about her skills. That, combined with the fact that she was drop-dead gorgeous meant that she was in a word… dangerous. I would not be playing cards with her anytime soon. She would steal my heart and then my wallet… probably in that order.

  Tommy Cochran inched up to my position. We were on our bellies on the northwest side of Ascraeus Mons which us Martians always called the North Spot… the name was a holdover from the late twentieth century when Earth probes has first visited the planet. Dust storms covered this section of the planet and the only thing visible were three ‘spots’ lined up like ducks in a row. Ascraeus was the northern most ‘spot’.

  I reached out an armored glove and tapped the top of his helmet to get him to look where I was pointing with my other hand.

  “What’s our play AG?” Tommy said.

  “Well Sarge, I’m thinking to take advantage of some local knowledge our Delta/Echo friends might not be privy to.”

  “Knowledge is a powerful thing,” Tommy agreed with a grin that I could see through the faceplate of his Mark Two Stark. “So I see you pointing but I’ll be honest… I don’t see what you’re point at.”

  “Exactly,” I agreed. “There are a couple of lava tubes that open up on the northwest side of this rock. I’m pointing at one of the openings now. It’s absolutely flush with the surface so it can’t be seen unless you are right up on top of it.”

  “So you’re thinking of moving through those lava tubes?”

  “That will keep us off of their active scans,” I acknowledged.

  “Won’t they get suspicious when nobody shows up for the party?”

  I nodded. Tommy had a point. The Delta/Echo camp had not been shy about using active scanners. Even with our camo net ruse we would be hard pressed to approach their camp. Apparently my reputation preceded me.

  “I was thinking Jay might be able to help.” Jay was the new nickname we gave Judy Jansen. It was shorter to say than JJ just as she was shorter in stature than Hammond. “We dress her in a camo net and have her sneak about this side of the Mons and plant a series of those remote pingers we packed.”

  “I think I know where you are going with this,” Cochran said to me. “We periodically flash those pingers like we are advancing on the hill and they think there is a force approaching.”

  “If we space them right we can even simulate movement. They will be so focused on an enemy that isn’t there, they’ll never be watching for the enemy crawling under them.”

  We called Jay over and explained what we wanted her to do. JJ offered to go with her to carry the twenty pingers we wanted planted. She snorted and said he just wanted to ogle her posterior. It should be noted that JJ did not deny the accusation. That said she headed out on her own. It was amazing to watch her work. She ran almost on all fours as she moved from point to point… freezing absolutely still every few seconds. The camo net hardy moved in the nearly non-existent Martian atmosphere that inhabited this altitude on Mars.

  In fifteen minutes she had all twenty pingers planted… several within five hundred yards of the summit. Her natural ability plus the Stark suit’s mechanical muscles and the relatively weak Martian gravity allowed her to cover nearly twelve kilometers in that time span. I seriously doubted I could have covered half that distance had I been the one attempting to plant our decoys. In case I forgot to mention it, I was duly impressed.

  “Good to go Boss,” Jay said to Sergeant Cochran as she made her way back to our position.

  I shook my head. Tommy saw me and grinned. “I seriously have no idea how she manages to move like that but I could watch her all day,” he said.

  “That’s because you’re a lecherous pervert with only one thing on your mind,” Jay said with a wink. It’s worth noting that Tommy did not contradict her, either.

  I moved the group towards the skylight entrance of the nearest lava tube. I opened a secure channel to the entire team.

  “Jay, I want you to stay near the opening but under camo cover. You are probably the best at evading detection. Your job will be to use the pingers to confuse their sentries. If you need to move a few of them around to keep things interesting go ahead but remember you’ll
be out here on your own. Your second responsibility will be to let us know if our friends from the Delta/Echo platoons decide to camp out and roast hotdogs or something near our skylight. If they do, we will make it a point to find a different egress should we need one.”

  “The plan is a simple one. We are going to follow the lava tubes. When my Suit’s AI tells me we are near the lip of the caldera we’ll exit one of the vents. Our objective will be to locate and count their sentries and, once we have done that, to take them out with sniper fire as fast as we can.”

  I turned to Sergeant Cochran. “Tommy, I’d like you and Private Hansen to bring up the rear. I’ll take point with JJ right behind me. You two are the best shots in our little raiding party. If we run into opposition I may need you to pull our butts out of the fire.”

  I could tell from her body posture, even while in a Stark suit, that Private Jansen was not happy with her assignment. I knew I could simply order her to do her job but a person, soldier or not, that believed in what they were doing was always going to be more effective. I turned back to face her directly.

  “Jay, you are in, by-far, the most difficult position. I’m asking you to draw the enemy’s attention and focus. I need you to be the biggest pain-in-the-ass you can be without getting taken out. Can you do that? Can you be a pain-in-the-ass for me?”

  At this point Sergeant Cochran was overcome by what I like to call ‘voluntary Tourette’s syndrome’. Unable to suppress himself, he felt it necessary to add his two cents to the conversation.

  “I can vouch for her AG. When it comes to being a pain-in-the-ass there are few people more gifted then our Judy Jansen… Just say’n.”

  Jay looked at both Sergeant Cochran and myself. She had a smirk on her face that I would learn over time meant trouble. Unfortunately I was just getting to known the lady and I had no idea what I was getting myself into.