Authors: Jonathan P. Brazee
Chapter 2
5
“This is your office,” Barret told him, as they stepped into a good-sized, i
f barren room. “Of course, you can personalize it as you want when you get here. But you can see it has a pretty good view. You don’t get a private bathroom, I mean ‘head,’ but who knows?” he said with a laugh.
Water, or water reclamation and prospecting
, had been good to Barret. With PCDC off the planet, water was scarce, and those who could find it were at a premium. Barret’s company had done very well since the PCDC’s charter was revoked. Barret was offering Ryck a position as vice-president of operations. Ryck didn’t know the first thing about the water business, or any business for that matter, and he knew this was an offer based entirely on Barret’s love for his sister. Still, as Barret said, the discipline Ryck had gained as a Marine would enable him to quickly grasp the ins and outs of his job.
The day had turned out better than he’d expected. Going back to school, this time in his dress blues, had been a rush. He felt like a
flick star with all the attention. He was even moved by the Distinguished Alumni Award he’d received, much to his surprise. He’d received an extra three days of leave for meeting with his school, but frankly, he’d do it again even without the extra leave.
Barret had picked him up after lunch
and taken him out to one of his projects in the area, which proved quite interesting. The company had dug several “lead wells” around what had once been a producing well but was now dry. With modern technology, the lead wells were able to “suck,” as Barret explained in not so technical terms, the residual moisture from the area. The science was beyond him, but Barret assured him that the understanding would only take a bit of time.
During the long drive back to Williamson, Barret did most of the talking, and most of that was family-related. Barret would never fit in with a Marine platoon, and he had no idea of what Ryck had experienced, but he was a good man. Ryck felt guilty for not liking him at first. He would never be Ryck’s best buddy, but he was good for Lysa and good for the girls. For that, he deserved Ryck’s respect.
“Well, what do you think? I mean, do you like it?” he asked Ryck.
“I have to admit, it’s kinda interesting. You’ve certainly done well with it,” he said.
“You will, too. We’ll talk about salary and perks later, but be easy on me, OK? No Marine combat attacks here. I’m not the enemy!” Barret said with yet another laugh.
Barret’s sense of humor was not the most developed, and that fact alone made Ryck smile.
Chapter 26
“You ever get to Goa?” Charles asked as they looked out over the crowd.
“No,” Joshua and Ryck said in unison.
“You’ve got to get there,” Charles said.
“Grubbing amazing! Better than Vegas or Pattaya, and I’ve been to both of them. We pulled into Goa, and as soon as you get off the spaceport, there’s this line of bars with hot, and I mean hot mares . . .”
Ryck and Joshua had met up with Charles at The Park while waiting for the fireworks. He was obviously military, and he could tell both Marines were military, too. After introductions, they found out he was Navy, a petty officer second class. His ship was in the same sector as with First Division, and the talk drifted to bases in the area, then liberty ports. Ryck listened with half an ear while he watched Joshua’s and his families. Joshua’s dwarfed Ryck’s in size, but for the little kids, Kylee was making her presence felt, bossing the other little ones around into playing her games.
She’d make a good DI
, Ryck thought.
Ryck turned back to the two others. Charles was in the middle of a description of a very perverted, obscene, and frankly funny escapade he and another sailor had on Goa. Ryck found himself laughing along. Even Joshua got into the flow of it, with a few somewhat
-risqué stories of his own. Ryck knew better now, but before he enlisted, he thought the Torritites were all pretty up-tight prudes. In fact, he doubted that his family would be sitting there together with a Torritite family, sharing food and companionship, if Ryck and Joshua had not become friends. If nothing else, the Marines gave him the opportunity to have his eyes opened. If he got out of the Corps, he promised himself to stay in contact with Joshua’s family.
His eyes roamed over the crowd. There were a lot of eligible women there, and Joshua had assured him that it was a good time to be in uniform. There was a new romance-
flick that was all the rage, and the little-understood-but-noble-hero was a Marine lieutenant. Usually, the heroes, if they were military, were Navy or Legion, so this was something new, and Joshua was more than willing to take advantage of the current popularity if he could.
Joshua’s own sister, Hannah, had grown into a fine-looking young woman. She had talked with Ryck for about 30 minutes as they set up the picnic dinner. Whether that was out of politeness to her brother’s friend or something more, Ryck had no clue. He wouldn’t mind finding out more about that, though.
He shifted his gaze to his sister just as Barret leaned over and kissed her. She accepted his kiss and laid her head on his shoulder as they sat on the blanket, waiting for the show.
Joshua’s laugh brought him back to where he was. Charles had finished the sea story, and Joshua was hurriedly launching into his own. Ryck didn’t really have any of his own such escapades. He had combat stories, but those were usually only shared with those who were there, too. He could discuss regen, but that was for other gen hens. Still, the very nature of the military made him part and parcel to the stories, even if he hadn’t actually been there. If Ryck decided to get out when his enlistment ended, he would miss that. He would miss the brotherhood.
Down in front of him, there was family. Beside him was the brotherhood of the uniform. He had to make his choice.
His train of thought was interrupted when the first explosion showered the sky with color.
The show was on.
Tarawa
Chapter 2
7
“Enter!” the voice ordered.
Corporal Ryck Lysander opened the hatch, then marched in to center himself in front of SgtMaj Huertas.
“Corporal Lysander, reporting as ordered.”
“At ease, Lysdander, at ease. You know why you’re here. Your enlistment is up in seven days. It’s declare time for you. As you know, you’ve been approved for re-enlistment. It’s yours if you want it. You can stay infantry, but there have been by-name requests for you from the armory and armor. Have you made your decision?”
“Yes, sergeant major, but first, can I ask you something, if I can get personal?”
That seemed to take the sergeant major back, but after a moment, he replied, “Sure, son. What is it?”
“Well, and please accept it if I’m getting too personal, but you never married. Why?”
Ryck half expected a blast with a “None of your fucking business!”
Instead, the sergeant major looked down at his fingers as if checking the
nails for dirt, then said “I was married to the Corps, son. It wouldn’t be fair for some young honey to be waiting for me, to wonder what was happening, to sit with me while I was going through regen. Hardly seems fair to me.”
“Do you regret it?”
“Oh, I like women, you can be sure of that. And I’ve had my fun. Maybe I’ve had some regrets, but I made my choice.”
“Was it worth it, though
?” Ryck asked.
“Yes.
Absolutely. You know I’m retiring next month. But if I could I would switch places with you in a heartbeat. To be a corporal in the Marines again. Things are happening now, things are heating up. If the shit hits the fan, I would want to be at the tip of the spear, son, the tip of the spear.
“But I’m just an old fart now, regened three times, and ready to be put out to pasture. Maybe I’ll hook up with some honeywa and see what all those civvies think is so great about marriage. Maybe I’ll just whore around until they bury me. But my time has passed. Now it
’s your time. So it is up to you. What is your decision?”
“You know I went to my home planet two months ago, right? I saw my sister, her kids. I got a great job offer. I’d make more money in a year than I would in an entire career in the Corps. I could find a wife. I could have a family.”
“And so . . . ?”
“But that was not my home. My home is here. My family is here.
In the Corps. I want to re-enlist.”
Thank you for reading . If you liked it, please feel free to leave a review of the book in Amazon.
Other Books by Jonathan Brazee
Fiction
The Return of the Marines Trilogy
The Al Anbar Chronicles: First Marine Expeditionary Force--Iraq
Werewolf of Marines: Semper Lycanus
Darwin’s Quest
: The Search for the Ultimate Survivor
Non-Fiction
GLOSSARY
3/1
: Marine shorthand for Third Battalion, First Marine Regiment. 3/4 would be Third Battalion, Fourth Marine Regiment. (
Back
)
Case’s World
: A Class 2 planet in Sector 14. Two corporate proxies started a war for control of the entire planet, causing the Federation to send in the Marines to quell the fighting before turning the mission over to the FCDC (
Back
)
DOR
: Drop on Request. This is the formal term for a recruit quitting recruit training. (
Back
)
ECR
: Effective Casualty Radius. This is the radius at which a projected 50% of those within the radius would suffer from the round’s impact and detonation. (
Back
)
EMP
: Electromagnetic Pulse. A type of weapon designed to scramble or destroy electronics by emitting a pulse electromagnetic energy. (
Back
)
EVA
: Extra-vehicular Activity (
Back
)
Federation Civil Development Corps
: The FCDC is the federation’s answer to a land Army. Heavily armed and outfitted, it is not technically a military which gives the Federation more leeway in its deployment. (
Back
)
Geedunk
: Snack bar. (
Back
)
IUT
: Infantry Unit Training (
Back
)
KIA
: Killed in Action (
Back
)
LZ
: Landing Zone (
Back
)
M99
: The basic personal weapon of the Marines. It is a lightweight carbine that fires hypervelocity 4 mm darts via a magnetic charges that pull the darts down the barrel. (
Back
)
NVD
: Night vision device. (
back
)
Per Terra et Mare
: “By Land and Sea.” The motto of the Spanish
Infantería de Marina,
the oldest extant Marine Corps at the time of the formation of the Federation Marine Corps. (
Back
)
PT
: Physical Training (
Back
)
REIN
: Reinforced with additional personnel and capabilities. (
back
)
SNCO
: Staff Non-commissioned Officer (
Back
)
Tarawa
: Originally named Hollison, the planet was renamed when it became the prime training base and headquarters for the Federation Marines. (
Back
)
TDI
: Training Drill Instructor. (
Back
)
UCMJ
: The Uniform Code of Military Justice. These are the rules and regulations governing servicemen and women in the Federation armed forces. (
Back
)
VSEB
: Veterans Service Educational Benefits—payments made to approved schools for veterans who were received Honorable Discharges. (
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)