Walker Brigade - Book of Incidents

"Aye, Chief." Nine voices shouted out in unison.

"Alright, you all have the rest of the day off. Enjoy. Dismissed." The squad bay was clear within seconds except for Becky and me.

"Well, what do you want to do, Chief?" Becky asked me with a sly smile on her lips.

"Not what you're thinking, I'm sure," I replied dryly. "Let's go to the NCO club and get a drink. I need one. You?"

"Sure, why not," she replied, falling into step with me. We wandered over to the NCO club, not saying much. Occasional comments on the weather and some of the new buildings going up around the spaceport. Entering the club, we found an empty booth at the back and sat down. A civilian waiter came over for our drink orders then left to fetch them.

"Chief, do you know why we even want this hunk of rock?" Becky asked with a comical smirk on her face.

"No, can't really say that I do. Although from the scuttlebutt, there seems to be a lot of precious metals in them thar hills," I said, hooking my thumb over my shoulder toward the mountains.

"What kind of metals? Gold? Silver? Iridium?"

"Iridium, cobalt, gamma459 with imbedded u235, also diamonds and garnets used mostly these days in industrial environments. I also hear there was quite a bit of platinum found on the northern continent." Becky's eyes were squinted down to slits as she tried to assess whether I was telling her the truth.

"Nothing spectacular, we could leave this rock with no problem. There are plenty of others with those metals in them." She was still looking at me with curiosity.

"Ok," I looked around to see who was close, then in hushed tones said, "There have been rumors about some x454 being found up on that plateau to the east of here." Her eyes got big as saucers at the mention of x454.

"Damn, x454. Who would have thunk it? Geez, with that stuff we could traverse the entire galaxy, even jump to another galaxy." She was right, x454 was the ultimate hyper-drive fuel. It would enable a ship of the line to jump across the galaxy in seconds. With that fuel, distant galaxies were now in reach.

"Enough about that, it's supposed to be 'Eyes Only', clear?"

"Clear Chief," she took a long swig of her drink. In the silence that followed, she just stared into my eyes while I got lost in her dark pools of shadow and light. I shook my head to clear it, took a drink and looked around the room. There were a few of our squad mates scattered around the room, having an afternoon drink.

There was a commotion at the entrance to the club. Twisting around to look, I saw a squad of Colonial Marines barging their way into the club. Colonial Marines are a different breed: egotistical, surly and rude. True, they did things with less and they were resourceful and brave. Their training did leave something to be desired, but they were all gung-ho.

All twelve swaggered up to the bar behind their top sergeant who pounded on the bar while shouting. "Bartender set them up for all my men, put it on my tab." He laughed as he brought his hand down one last time. His men laughed and hooted at his bravado. Marines didn't have a tab at a Stellar Army NCO club. The bartender just stood there looking at the Sergeant as if he was an alien.

"I told you to set them up, dumbass!" the sergeant roared.

"Not until I see some credits on the bar, jarhead," the bartender roared back.

"Who you calling a jarhead, dickhead?" That was a very stupid question to ask an employee in a Stellar Army NCO club.

"You pinhead, now, let's see some credits or get the fuck out of here," the bartender said. Slowly, so as not to draw attention to themselves about twenty Troopers had moved up behind the Marines as the Sergeant and bartender had exchanged words.

"Why, you foulmouthed little twerp, I ought to take you..." He never finished.

"Attention on deck," I yelled in my loudest voice as I stood and walked over to the Marine sergeant. Everyone in the room except the club staff snapped to attention. No one looked around. No one said a word.

"Sergeant," He looked at me and started to relax, "you're at attention sergeant," I yelled again. He snapped to.

"Now, I know you boys want to have fun, but being belligerent and cussing at the staff is not a very healthy start to your leave. Now, you put your credit chits on the bar, and they will be happy to serve you whatever you want, or whatever you can afford. Is that clear, Marine?" I was standing in front of him staring him right in the eye. His jaw was working overtime, clenching and unclenching, as his eyes surveyed the room full of Stellar Army Troops. The blaze in his eyes went out as he shook his head.

"Right Chief, sorry for any inconvenience we caused. You heard the man, credit chits on the bar. Then we drink to the Army and their hospitality," the sergeant roared to his men.

"Troops, as you were," I said to the troopers. They quickly broke up and moved off to their seats.

"Thanks." I extended my hand to the sergeant, "I appreciate your co-operation Sergeant..." I left off there, he didn't have a nametag on his uniform, none of us did.

"Jacobs. Sergeant Jacobs," he said taking my hand, "Chief..." Now it was my turn.

"Jones, Chief Jones. Glad to make your acquaintance, Jacobs. Why don't you come on over and have a drink with my second and me, on us?" I said with a smile.

"Uh, okay, thanks," he said, then to his Corporal. "Nate, take care of them while I have a sociable drink with the Chief."

"Ok, Sarge," the corporal replied, and turned back to the bar to order his drink. Jacobs followed me back to our booth. His eyes lit up when he saw Becky sitting there.

"Sergeant Jacobs, Second Latham. Latham, Sergeant Jacobs." I croaked the introductions as I slid into the booth next to Becky. I was sociable, yes, but I wasn't about to let this jarhead sit next to my girl.

"Nice to meet you, Second Latham, the first name's Sam, by the way," he said, sliding into the booth across from Becky.

"Nice to meet you too, Sam. Call me Becky," she said, reaching her hand across the table to Sam. Sam took it and gently shook it, not wanting to let go even as Becky tried to pull it back.

"Ouch. What the fuck!" Sam yelped, pulling his hand back quickly. "Sorry, I guess I was out of line. My apologies Second Latham." He bowed his head in defeat.

"No, harm, Sam," Becky said sweetly as she placed her hand back in her lap. I would have to find out later what she had done to him.

"So, what part of the line have you come off of?" I asked to fill the silence.

"Oh-nine-oh true from the starport," he said, shaking his head as he looked at Becky.

"We were just up there the other day, stopping that breakout that occurred." I was looking to see his reaction to that bit of news.

"Yeah, well, did you stop the ugly buggers?" He just looked right back at me.

"Sure did, blew them right back to hell." Becky chimed in before I could say anything.

"How many?" Sam asked. His eyes were on my face, but he was talking to Becky.

"Twelve in the center, plus another thirty-eight, that would be fifty altogether. Why? How many broke through?" Becky asked in her sweet little girl voice. I just stared back at Sam.

"The push," he shook his head turning to Becky, "started with over a thousand of them lobsters. First, their heavy weapons opened up. Then they came screaming out of the hills, a thousand strong. We cut down half of them before they hit our lines. Once they ran over us, this little group, about fifty, broke off and headed for the base here. The rest turned to keep us from following. They fought like maniacs. It took us another forty minutes to slap them down. By the time we finished we heard that you guys had smashed the breakaway group." He stopped, shaking his head.

They had done a pretty good job against a thousand M'roby. The Marines didn't have heavy plasma weapons or particle beams, just good ol' HE artillery and rockets. Their basic weapons were gauss guns, similar to our rail guns but throwing steel slugs at a much slower rate than our aluminum slugthrowers.

"How many men did you lose?" Becky asked in a compassionate voice that only a female could use and get away with.

"My squad, we lost one. Good man, we'll miss him. Out of the whole battalion, we lost over twenty." His head was hanging down staring at the table as he remembered the loss he had come here to forget. Becky reached out and took his hand, holding it gently as he fought to get his emotions under control. For the longest time, we just sat mourning the dead, each of us taking a small sip from our drinks in remembrance of fallen comrades.

"Shit, I came here to forget." Sam shook his head to clear it of the memories we had stirred.

"I'm sorry, Sam." Becky patted his hand with her's as she grabbed her drink and hoisted above the table.

"To those, we have lost, may they live forever in our memories. To the brave souls that have become part of our past, and to those in the future that will honor them with their bravery. We salute you." She threw back her drink in one swallow. Sam and I followed suit, slamming our glasses down on the table.

"Thank you, Second, Chief," Sam whispered to us as he rose. "I should get back to my men. I'll try and keep them in line." I stood and offered him my hand.

"Just try and keep the damage to club property to a minimum, alright?" I joked as he shook my hand.

"Sure will, Chief." He smiled back, then turned and walked back to his men.

"Sounds like they're overmatched up there on the line, why don't they have power weapons? At least vehicle mounted ones?" Becky asked.

"There is a reason for everything Second. They do it the way they do to save credits. The Colonial Marines field ten times our numbers, and power weapons cost big credits. For the price of what our squad costs, the Marines can field a battalion. Plus, they don't have to train them in the use and care of power weapons. It's that simple." Becky was shaking her head.

"But, we could have handled ten times the number of hostiles," she stated flatly.

"Yes we could, but to replace the Marine battalions, we would need twenty times our squad. How many squads do we have here, Becky?" I asked just to see if she knew.

"Ten, I think. Yes, ten," she answered correctly. She was a smart girl.

"Could these ten squads hold the ground the Marines are currently holding for us?" Another of my little quizzes to see if she could answer correctly.

"Of course not Chief, we wouldn't be able to do much with just ten squads." She was looking at me wanting to know where I was headed.

"Well, for the price of our ten squads, the Alliance can field ten battalions of Colonial Marines. Throw in our ten squads and you have a force that could capture a whole world, which is what we are trying to do. Well, not capture as much as kick the M'roby off." She was nodding her head in agreement.

3.7.0093/5

* * * Max Jones

I woke with my head pounding out a thunderous tune. My eyes hurt even before I opened them, and my teeth itched. Don't ask. I slowly opened my eyes and I was looking at Becky. Her mouth was open, jaw slack, as she drooled on the pillow under her head, a very attractive sight indeed. I closed my eyes as lights started to flash in my head, driving pain deep into my brain. I must have drunk more than I should have. I tried reviewing the night before in my mind and only got to a point a little after Jacobs had left our table. I do remember some of our squad coming over and buying Becky and me some drinks. After that, it all gets somewhat hazy.

I rolled on to my back, which was a mistake, causing the room to spin and wobble. I was in worse shape than I thought. I heard Becky moan as she too rolled onto her back.

"Oh, fuck," she whispered. It sounded like she was shouting at the top of her lungs, but I knew she was trying to be as quiet as possible.

"You said it, sister. What the fuck did we drink last night? Oh, god." My head felt like it was going to explode. At least I wasn't sick to my stomach.

"Shit, I think we drank everything in the bar. Crap. Errrp. Excuse me." Becky was just as bad off as I was.

Well, I would eventually have to open my eyes no matter what. Slitting them, I stared at the ceiling. The room had stopped spinning. Moaning deep in my throat, I sat up slowly.

"Computer, time?" I croaked my throat raw and dry.

"The time is oh-nine-hundred hours standard."

"Shit!" I yelled as I plopped back down on the bed. Becky groaned as the bed shook.

"Crap, my head feels like it's going to explode, Max!"

"I have some feel better pills in the cabinet over there." I motioned to the far wall.

"Well, get them for me, I can't open my eyes, it hurts."

The act of sitting up again made my teeth feel like each one was going to explode out of my jaw. Holding my head in my hands, I stood up and walked to the cabinet. I took the pills out and poured some water into a glass on the desk. My head almost shattered from the sound the water made hitting the bottom of the glass.

"Damn," I whispered, taking a pill and gulping down the water. I poured another glass for Becky and handed her a pill. She was sitting up moaning. She took the pill and threw it into her mouth, grabbed the water from me and swallowed it down. I sat down next to Becky and wrapped my arm around her shoulders, gently laying my head against hers. We sat that way for a long time, waiting for the pills to kick in.

Five minutes and I was back to my old self again. So was Becky. She turned her head and kissed my ear.

"That feels so good. My headache is gone, the fog is gone, fucking miracle pills." Becky whispered in my ear as she wrapped her arms around me.

I just sat there feeling no pain, smiling at the day now that I was back to normal. We both sat there waiting for what we knew was coming. There is a price to be paid for taking a feel better pill. We both knew we would need to quench an unbearable thirst.

I got up, took the pitcher to the bathroom, and filled it to the brim with cool, clear water. Then I filled both glasses on the desk, set the pitcher down and handed a glass to Becky. Taking mine, I hoisted it in salute and drank it down. Becky did the same. As I was placing my glass down, it hit me, that feeling you get, like dying of thirst. I looked at Becky and I could see it had hit her too. I refilled the glasses and we both gulped down the water. Again and again, until we were so full of water that swallowing another drop became painful. We both lay on the bed with our stomachs bloated with water, moaning in pain. This was the price we paid; in another hour we would be fine. Our bodies, to re-hydrate our fluid-starved tissues will have absorbed the water. Such are the powers of the feel better pill.

An hour later, we were showering and then it was off to the chow hall. After eating, we reported to Battalion Command Center for the briefing on the operation planned for two days from now. There were three hundred officers and non-coms in attendance appeared it was going to be a big operation. The Vice-Chief of Operation for the Pegasus Sector in the Delta Quadrant climbed to the podium. The noise was deafening as 300 troops shot to attention.

"As you were!" Boomed over the PA system and the noise doubled as everyone took their seats again. The lights dimmed and the VCO started his briefing. Six hours later, as the lights came up slowly, a collective sigh went through the auditorium. A lot of stuff to absorb in six hours, luckily we had two days to go over every aspect of the operation and what part we would play.

"Who the fuck thought this shit up?" quipped Becky as we headed out of the Operations Center.

"Later." She shook her head as we walked back to our squad bay. Akers fell in beside us. She was shaking her head and muttering to herself the whole way back. Couldn't quite make out what she was saying, but it didn't sound good.

The rest of the squad was waiting for us. They all looked expectantly at us as we joined them by the walkers. Akers started to join her team, but I grabbed her arm stopping her.

"We," I indicated her, Becky and I, "should talk about this first."

"Aye, Chief." She snapped standing beside Becky.

"Alright, listen up!" My voice echoed around the bay. "We start operations assimilation tomorrow at 0900 hours. Until then, you are free to do what you want. Go to the club, have a few drinks. We will not be able to tell you anything until 0900 hours tomorrow. I'm sorry but that's the way it is!" A collective moan went through the squad.

"Dismissed!" Becky shouted. The squad broke up and turned, leaving the squad bay to Becky, Akers and myself. I led them into the squad conference room and closed the door. We all made a drink then sat down at the conference table. Tapping on the keys in front of me, brought the video displays up. A few more taps and I had the operational orders displayed.

Sitting back, I took a gulp of my drink as I read the orders pertinent to my squad.

"Chief, what is this crap?" Ackers asked, pointing to the screen in front of her. "This part here section 12 subsection A, 'All personnel in group one alpha will be required to have maximum load capacity of necessary power and ammo.' We always do this, why is it part of the orders?"

She looked up at me with expectant eyes.

"I haven't the slightest idea, Akers. I do know we're in that group. Probably some clerk covering his ass." I switched the displays to the tactical layout of the operation. It showed our group was to zip up the flank of the M'roby as a far superior force moved up in front of the main M'roby force one hundred klicks to the east of the starport.

We would cut up their flank to the north of them until we were about fifty klicks to the east of their known location. Then turning south, we would move to just behind them where we would fan out and come at them from behind. In theory, it should work unless of course, we were to run into an M'roby patrol or outpost that was there to guard against what we were planning to do.

Of course, the main force was going to be moving up to the front of the M'roby lines to the east at the same time, so their attention should be on the huge force of men positioning in front of them. Our group was to come up behind them, with the women troopers out front, and drive them into the waiting wall of annihilation.

"Do they honestly think this will work? What if we run into a patrol or some force that is going to try and outflank the primary force?" Akers was asking no one in particular.

"And look who's in charge of us," she said with a smirk on her face that told both Becky and me everything, the greenest second lieutenant in the platoon, Johnson.

"Well, I guess they think we won't see any action that he needs to be part of," I replied. "At least I hope we won't really need his input for this operation."

The next four hours we spent going over the plan, getting every detail and possible glitch worked out. By the time we were finished, it was time to hit the club for a drink, some dinner and then to bed. Becky didn't even try to crawl into bed with me; she just went into her room and shut the door.

I followed suit entering my room. Switching on my desk comp, I went over the POA one more time. Then I opened my private orders waiting in my mailbox.

BEGINTRANS 1A1255B4510C8899CCIL9901298KIEW3395548VVWJ0909

Date: 3.7.0093/6

To: Maximillian Q. Jones Jr., Chief Warrant Officer - 64ARB/3MD/ICorp

From: DevSecCom Joint Strike Force HQ, Pacifica

Subject: Plan Alpha/Omega 123-455/M

Pursuant to and in conjunction with Article 456.5, you are hereby required to read and then destroy these orders.

Item:

You and your squad are ordered and directed to capture equipment as described in your AAR dated 3.5.0093/4. Such equipment will be captured intact if at all possible.