Big Things Come in Small Packages

Captain Jonathan Daniels leaned back against the husk of the destroyed vehicle and took a quick swing of water from his canteen. The twisted metal seemed as a skeleton of some monstrous beast that had been gutted long ago and left to sit alone in the wooded hills. The massive vehicle had been an equipment transport during the Unification War where it met its end in some distant battlefield. It had since been moved to the Alliance's Advanced Warfare Training Grounds to be used as an objective for training missions. It was an unnerving presence if one had too much time to think about it.

Something Captain Daniels had in gross quantities.

If there was an example of an officer who ran things by the book, Daniels would've been a prime candidate. Captain Daniels was dressed in a pristine battle uniform. The folds of the fabric were perfectly crisp and his combat boots even had an unnatural shine in the soft dawn glow. His load-bearing harness had every item in its place as suggested by the Alliance training manuals.

Captain Daniels sighed as he surveyed the small command post he and his company had established near the vehicle husk serving as the target objective in the training exercise. The company radio station was camouflaged near the front of the massive vehicle husk. The company's first sergeant and Daniels' executive officer, First Lieutenant Drayer, issued various orders to the patrolling platoons. A gun crew had dug in nearby, barely visible in their fighting position.

Lieutenant Drayer nodded to the master sergeant and turned to report to Captain Daniels. He saluted smartly and waited for he Captain to return the salute before responding. Captain Daniels demanded a strict code of conduct in his unit, on and off the field.

"Lieutenant, proceed."

Lieutenant Drayer responded as he continued to stand at attention, "Sir, no word from second and third platoons concerning the entrance trail of the bogey. First Platoon has not yet responded to our radio requests."

Captain Daniels ran his tongue along the bottom of his teeth and voiced his displeasure through an audible sigh. He could never get soldiers who knew their ass from their helmet, much less who understood proper communications procedures.

"...and where was first platoon's last reported position?"

"...ummm...approximately three klicks from our position, sir."

Daniels' face fell into a something of quiet annoyance. No matter the circumstances his NCOs never failed to prove their uselessness when it was most important that they perform. Daniels stood from his position and looked sternly at the lieutenant.

"Where is Second Platoon?"

The lieutenant's face tightened and he spoke hesitantly, "Sir...I...it's on the company map."

Daniels' eyes rolled visibly and he motioned for the lieutenant to show him to the map. The lieutenant snapped a nervous salute and strode quickly to the map laid out near the company radio. Three soldiers carefully monitored the radio equipment while the lieutenant looked over the map carefully.

Drayer pointed out the three platoon symbols on the map as Daniels observed.

"First Platoon's last position was reported here."

Drayer motioned to the farthest platoon symbol from their present position.

"Second and Third Platoons have been patrolling through here and here."

The lieutenant motioned to two wide ovals surrounding the platoon symbols. Daniels nodded as he observed the map. All three platoons were placed strategically on the points of a triangle with the company headquarters in the center. The silence of First Platoon meant that the northern point had been potentially compromised.

"Lieutenant, instruct Second Platoon to move to and build a defensive cover in this area."

Daniels motion to a point halfway between their position, the company headquarters, and the last known position of First Platoon.

"...and move Third Platoon to our position to take defensive measures."

The lieutenant nodded and walked to the radio equipment. The soldiers began to transmit and received the new information and Daniels smiled tiredly. He shouldn't have to think of everything for his command. For once he wished that a batch of soldiers would come under his command that would actually read the ruttin' training manuals.

Daniels took the opportunity to inspect the camp in great depth. They were situated in a small opening in the forested hills. The twenty men and women that composed the company headquarters were carefully situated in a defensive line around the entire vehicle husk. Three machine gun crews were dug in, and rifle fireteams were positioned to eliminate threats fixed by the gun crews. It was a very fine defensive line, if Daniels had anything to say about it.

As he made his way to the other side of the vehicle husk, he began to mull over the day's events. His company had been tapped as part of a series of brigade-wide training sessions. He wasn't entirely sure what he was defending the objective, the vehicle husk, from but initial orders from the battalion headquarters indicated "Small Unit Defensive Capabilities Assessment"

Daniels knew the upper echelons of the Alliance military had been getting more and more anxious about the size of the armed forces since the end of the Unification War. Too much emphasis on divisions and corps or some nonsense like that. They'd been running "small unit" assessments nearly constantly for the entire last year. Daniels knew enough about military-speak to know that the truth of the matter was some politician had decided to go on a crusade to "streamline" the military, and Parliament had ordered the four-stars to start looking into the possibilities.

It was all go se if you asked Daniels. Since the end of the Unification War, the Parliament had nearly bent over backwards trying to convince the Rim that everything was going to be better now. That they should trust the very government that nearly bankrupted itself bombing their planets to hell and back.

As far as Daniels was concerned, the Rim was always going to be a backwater hellhole where terrorists and anarchists set up camp. Big armies meant big defeats to those who threatened the Alliance and a firm demonstration for those unpatriotic enough to be sitting on the fence about the Alliance. And Daniels had every intention of being one of those officers leading the charge.

Until then, mused Daniels, it was a matter of putting up with the terms of service. It wouldn't be until he was in command of his own brigade that he would make those political connections to put his ideas into motion.

It came down to making good impressions, and thus far, Daniels' company was not performing. One platoon was unaccounted for, and the company had yet to identify the opposing force in the training exercise. There had been no established time limit for the completion of the exercise and Daniels was beginning to seriously wonder if the entire thing was simply a test of his patience.

The sound of gunfire racketed through the air, inducing Daniels to turn towards the north. Commotion from the radios snapped Daniels from his musing and he returned to the radio apparatus quickly. Lieutenant Drayer and the was frantically issuing orders and looking over the map as Daniels stepped behind him.

"Lieutenant, SITREP."

Lieutenant Drayer answered without lifting his head from the map, irritating Daniels to no end as he struggled to answer the captain's request for a situation report and issue orders simultaneously.

"Sir! Second platoon reported engagement with OPFOR."

Daniels raised his eyebrows in interest, overriding his desire to chastise the lieutenant for not following proper etiquette in the field. Engagement with the opposing force was the first interesting news he had heard since they had begun the operation.

"And? What have they reported?"

"Sir, they are reporting significant casualties already inflicted, OPFOR appears to have less than one squad's total manpower."

Daniels hair began to stand on end. According to the Lieutenant's map, the enemy force was less than a kilometer from their current location. His voice had an uncharacteristic tremble as he struggled to keep his frustration under control.

"Lieutenant, would you like to explain to me why my platoon is having trouble engaging a single enemy force less than six people deep?"

The lieutenant struggled to answer appropriately.

"They say they were ambushed. Land mines and grenades.."

The echos of gunfire began to die off and Daniels felt himself relax slightly. At the very least he could chalk up this blunder to poor platoon management. He would have to make sure that improper training was not listed as a contributing factor.

"Second Platoon? Do you copy? I repeat, do you copy?"

Daniels frowned as he heard the radio operator's voice repeat the same line twice. A strange silence descended over the soldiers gathered around the radio and their eyes fell on Daniels as the radio operator continued to try raising the now silent platoon.

"Lieutenant, where is third platoon."

There was a hesitancy in Drayer's voice, and Daniels felt his pulse leap in rate even before the man answered him.

"Third platoon did not check in..."

"And requests for check in?"

The lieutenant shook his head. Daniels struggled to keep himself from shouting his frustration into the lieutenant's face. How did two platoons disappear from the radio without a single gunshot being fired and another fail to win an engagement they were larger than by nearly five times?

The soldiers around Daniels were beginning to stare as they waited for his orders. Daniels didn't know what to tell them. Something was very wrong. Second platoon must have reported incorrectly...

"Fighting positions, everyone!"

Daniels crouched behind one of the sandbag walls established by the company for defensive purposes and drew his pistol. Like the other soldiers, he was issued a standard assault rifle, but Daniels honestly had trouble remembering when he last put a round through the weapon. Commanders didn't fight. Or at least they weren't supposed to.

The lieutenant and radio crew abandoned the electronic equipment and spread along the defensive lines. The gun crews racked their bolts and scanned their fire lines for enemy contacts. A deathly silence fell over the headquarters, broken only by a soft white silence from the radio.

Minutes passed like hours. The only sound Daniels could hear was the heartbeat pounding in his ears along with his shallow breathing. Wind rustled softly through the trees and one of the machine gun crews finally had enough of the silence. Daniels jolted as the crew began to spray through the tree line. The riflemen around them began to follow, blasting into the green wall with little regard to where the simulated bullets landed. Daniels reached over his cover and began firing round after round from his pistol.

The drone of gun fire was deafening as imaginary bullets flew tore through the forest around them. Daniels heaved for air as the shockwaves began to die away slowly. His ears rung in the approaching silence as he continued to huddle behind his cover. He instinctively rubbed his ears in a failed attempt to stop the ringing. He could swear there were multiple ringing sounds in his ear.

In fact, they sounded a great deal like the "kill" sound the sensors would give off...

Daniels scrambled to his feet and looked at his base in horror. Every soldier was sitting down, having removed their helmets to signify they had been "hit." Before he could speak he heard a soft foot fall behind him. He whipped around to attack the unknown source of sound, but the soft pffft of four shots from a silenced pistol ended his attack before it began. Daniels threw his helmet to the ground in disgust and sat down as his attacker came into full view.

The soldier was a tall man, covered in black fabric. No inch of skin was showing on his person, and he had no identifying marks on his uniform. No name. No Alliance emblems. No rank insignia. He moved carefully into the camp, crouching low and moving fluidly from one area of cover to the next as he surveyed the base camp. Daniels could hear the heavy footsteps of other soldiers moving through the camp as it became obvious there were no dangers present. Two more black-clad soldiers emerged into Daniels' field of view. He was stunned but listened quietly as they began to speak in muffled, but audiable voices. He could not, however, distinguish which voice belonged to which soldier.

A male voice sounded first, "Nomad, area clear."

A female voice spoke in quick succession, "Objective is clean."

Daniels could see the man that shot him nod and respond quietly, apparently to an unseen soldier, "Haze, objective achieved."

Several minutes passed and the soldiers did not move. Wind rustled through tree branches as soldiers around them began to whisper quietly out of boredom. Suddenly all three soldiers turned away from Daniels and began to walk back into the forest. Daniels frowned as he watched them leave as quietly as they had come but quickly turned his attention to the crackling of the company radio.

"Simulation ended. Simulation ended."

The groans and grunts of the soldiers around the area filled the air in a strange chorus as the disappointment of the day's activity began to flow freely from the soldiers' lips. Lieutenant Drayer made his way back to the radio and began to speak into the microphone as Daniels continued to go over the events in his head.

"Captain? Captain!"

Drayer's voice snapped Daniels out of his trance and Daniels frowned as he turned and walked to the company radio.

"What is it, lieutenant?"

"Colonel Crozier is on the line sir..."

Daniels could feel his heart freeze as he took the radio from Drayer's hand. Silence passed through the ranks in a shockwave, only to be replaced with murmurs from the soldiers around Daniels. Daniels inhaled deeply and brought the microphone to his lips and placed the earpiece carefully in the ear canal.

"Captain Daniels to Headquarters, over. Yes Colonel, I...No, it did not happen that way, sir. No sir, we were absolutely prepared for an attack..."

Only fools jump in...

The drone of the engines burning hard barely made a sound inside the vehicle. The nine recruits were seated in a narrow room on seats that were bolted into the walls. Red lights bathed everything in a strange crimson glow. A door on the forward end of the vehicle opened with a loud bang and Captain Tazami stepped through the open passage. Like the other recruits, he was dressed from head to toe in black equipment. Ammunition and other tactical items covered a thick vest and an assault rifle hung loosely against his chest. The bulge of a large parachute was visible on his back. His head was covered in a thick, skin-tight material. A pair of opaque goggles were held tightly against this fabric and a respirator covered his mouth.

The recruits turned their heads to look at Tazami's arrival. A sense of anxiousness permeated the group as Tazami began to talk. His voice was muffled by his respirator, but the recruits could hear him perfectly through personal radios in each soldier's ear.

"Well, gentlemen and ladies, this is the sixth month of your training. Now its time to put your skills to practical use."

Some of the recruits nodded at his statement. The last two months had been spent in weapons, demolitions, and electronics training. They could disassemble and reassemble the rifle on their chest upside down and blindfolded. They could construct improvised explosives from dirt and could sabotage an Alliance patrol boat's electrical system with tweezers and electrician's gloves.

Tazami gripped the webbing that covered the ceiling as a sudden jerk on the vehicle nearly sent him into the forward wall. The recruits' bodies also jerked, but the shoulder straps holding them in place kept them firmly against the wall. The voice of the navigator sounded over the vehicle's loudspeakers.

"Entering atmo in 90. Deployment in 300."

Tazami continued as soon as the navigator's voice stopped.

"Naturally, your skills would be useless without practical application. During the War, we would have sent you into Browncoat territory to gather information. Not really a luxury we have anymore."

Something in Tazami's voice suggested he wished the war had continued, but no one said anything on the issue.

"Entering atmo, brace for re-entry."

Tazami reached up with his other hand as the ship began jerking violently.

"So, this is the next best thing. Simulated warfare."

Tazami was referring to their rifles. They were not carrying live rounds, but rather blanks. Their rifles were equipped with laser designators, and their uniforms were covered in a microsensors that would detect when a simulated round had 'hit' them.

"Deployment in 200."

The forward doorway opened again and out stepped another soldier, dressed in a pilot's pressure suit. He was the loadmaster. He grabbed the webbing carefully and walked past Tazami to the aft wall. He removed a clip from the wall and tethered himself against the wall. Tazami waited until the loadmaster flashed a thumbs-up sign before continuing.

"So, I want to say before we begin that I have been very impressed with your progress, but this isn't just training anymore. Remember that every hit you take, is a hit you would've taken in the field. Keep that in mind, dohn luh mah?"

"Yes sir!"

Tazami nodded. Before he could speak again, the navigator's voice came over the loudspeaker and the aft wall began to move.

"Deployment in 150, check pressure seals."

The recruits all unbuckled the straps and stood carefully. Each pressed against their respirator to check for a positive seal and grabbed the webbing above them as the wind whipped violently around them. The ramp that had served as the aft wall of the vehicle was now completely open. The recruits could see the curve of the planet and the cloud wall some several thousand meters below them. The loadmaster's pressure suit rippled in the wind as he too grabbed the webbing and held up his hand to indicate the recruits should not jump.

"Now, remember to open drogues as soon as you clear the dropship. We pull at 1,500 meters. Gather at objective PHOENIX."

"Yes sir!"

Tazami nodded. They had made enormous progress indeed. Now it was time to see what they could do. A light bulb above the open door suddenly switched from red to green and the navigator's voice sounded a final time.

"30,000 meters. Cleared to deploy!"

The loadmaster nodded and motioned for the recruits to jump. Without another word, the recruits jumped out of the dropship one after another. The tip of their drogues was barely visible as they disappeared into the thin air quickly. A single recruit's voice sounded over the radio and Tazami recognized it immediately as Lieutenant Koltai's.

"Rung tse fwo tzoo bao yo wuo Muhn!"

Tazami shook his head as he barked over the radio.

"Gorram it, Koltai, what part of radio silence is difficult for you to understand?"

"Nothing sir!"

Koltai's body disappeared from view as Tazami stood at the threshold and looked at the nearly invisible bodies falling rapidly towards the surface. He turned to face the loadmaster and shook his head again as he too leaped from the edge of the vehicle.

"Recruits..."

Harbinger

Kotai ignored the tickling from the tree branch as he watched the valley carefully. His painted face and camoflague fatigues were accented by the rays of light scattered through the branches in his cover. The desert valley was covered in scrub and long grasses. Even through his binoculars, Koltai saw nothing but a wall of various textures and shapes. A sea of unique features that masked the unique.

He pressed on the black strip covering the throat microphone attached to his neck and spoke quietly.

"Nomad. No contact."

A male voice returned on the speaker lodged carefully in his ear.

"Foxbat. No contact."

A female voice sounded after a few seconds of silence.

"Banzai. Nothing."

Koltai grimaced. They probably couldn't find their target if it was painted bright orange. There was just too much foilage to see anything. Koltai carefully unfolded a crisp map from his breast pocket and looked over the various marks and symbols scribbled on its surface. His index finger hovered over a cross symbol on the map with the numerical designation "57-63." The precise grid on the map identified by the numbers was marked with a crosshatch pattern.

"Affirmative...Foxbat, overwatch, five-seven-six-three."

Brief radio codes were tantamount. The enemy had radio direction detectors. Too much speech and their precise location would be as plain as if they had walked down a road wearing bright orange and shouting at the top of their lungs.

"Wilco, Nomad."

Koltai scanned to the other side of the map.

"Banzai, overwatch, four-six-six-two."

Koltai frowned as white silence remained unbroken. Koltai brought his binoculars down from his eyes and glanced to the map. Banzai had been in the north long enough. They needed to watch the south end of the valley.

"Banzai, talkback."

The request for a response went unanswered. An inkling of fear began to trickle down his spine as he pressed the throat microphone again.

"Banzai...talkback."

Koltai exhaled slowly.

"Banzai, respond."

Nearly a minute of static silence passed in the appearance of an hour. Koltai rubbed his face as his eyes flew to Banzai's last position in the distance.

"Foxbat, eyes on Bonzai?"

Foxbat responded with the slightest of vocal breaks, "No joy, Nomad."

Koltai bit the inside of his lip. He had to assume Banzai was dead. He looked at the map. All the contingency plans scribbled on the paper seemed useless. He needed three people. No one was supposed to be dead. Koltai scrambled mentally to adjust his plan.

"Nomad, orders?"

Koltai opened his mouth to answer, but no sound came. Each time he began to say something, a doubt erupted, tearing through what confidence remained in his head.

"Nomad, talkback?"

"A...Affirmative, Foxbat. Overwatch, five-seven-five-four...uh..."

Koltai kept his microphone pressed even as his mouth closed slowly. The world around him was closing. The bushes gripped the sky and tangled together around him. He couldn't move. He couldn't breath.

"...no....uh...five-seven-four...three..."

Koltai released his grip on the microphone and Foxbat's voice immediately screamed over the radio.

"RED DOG! RED DOG!...gahhh!"

Koltai's blood froze and he felt a ripple through his skin. They had been compromised. Positions, radio frequencies...the whole damn shindig.

He stood quickly, the branches scratching against his face and shirt loudly as he struggled to dive out of his cover. He landed on his stomach and grunted as he began to pick himself up.

"...too slow, Nomad."

Before Koltai could face the voice, his ribs exploded in pain. He tried to shout, but the pain riveted through his lungs and he merely collapsed back to the ground. He reached over to the site of the pain and felt thick liquid in his finger tips. Koltai brought his hand to eyes to look over the red liquid. Two more flashes of pain struck his back and he felt the wind knocked out of him.

Finally, Koltai inhaled deeply and shouted a response.

"Gorram it, Tazami, I'm out! Fuuuck..."

He heard Tazami chuckle slightly and Koltai rubbed the red paint off of his fingers onto the baked desert ground. Tazami turned the safety on the paint gun to "SAFE" and strode to Koltai, who had managed to get to one knee. Koltai's back had two bright red paint blots and his skin would have two very distinct bruises. From what Tazami understood, Koltai had been lucky to walk away with just *three* bruises.

They waited for nearly half an hour before the other recruits and soldiers in the training exercise arrived. Two soldiers were dressed like Tazami. They wore combat fatigues and load-bearing vests. Both were carrying paint guns like Tazami's. The other soldier was dressed in a ghillie suit and carried a large optical scope.

The recruits followed the soldiers and had a variety of red paint splotches covering their fatigues. Sergeant Miranda Drake, or "Banzai," had been shot along her entire left side. She was limping slightly from the thigh bruises. Corporal Jonathan Gethman, or "Foxbat," fared no better. His back was covered int he same blotches as Lieutenant Koltai's, but at a much greater volume.

The three recruits sat together, but did not speak as Tazami gathered the other soldiers for debriefing. Tazami could tell that each one blamed themselves and each other for their failure.

"Charlie Team, how do you think you fared?"

There was no response from the recruits.

"Sergeant Drake, what do you think of Lieutenant Koltai's leadership?"

Drake hesitated to answer. Tazami could tell she wanted to say something almost immediately as he had finished the question.

"Sergeant Drake, is there a problem?"

"No sir. I...Lieutenant Koltai did not have a good contingency plan."

"And...?"

"...we...he spread us out...we couldn't watch our flanks. We were sitting ducks."

Koltai did not respond. He listened to Drake's assessment, but his eyes bored a hole into the dirt at his feet. Tazami's face did not fluctuate as he watched Koltai. He needed to learn this lesson, even if it was a painful one. They all did.

"And you, First Sergeant?"

Gethman shook his head, "No sir, I got nothin' to add."

Tazami nodded slowly and rubbed his chin.

"Lieutenant Koltai, are you aware of how long the other teams were able to stay alive?"

Koltai did not respond, but Tazami did not pursue the question. Instead, he looked to the soldier in the ghillie suit.

"Master Sergeant Xian, how long did Alpha Team last?"

"About forty-five minutes."

The three recruits looked up almost simultaneously. Koltai's face twitched slightly in disbelief. They had been in the field for almost two and a half hours.

"And Bravo?"

"About an hour...maybe a little more."

The recruits began to absorb the information. Drake and Gethman seemed to shrink slightly in stature.

"Lieutenant, why did you split your team?"

Koltai struggled to keep the sudden rush of self-confidence from overriding his judgment. He answered quietly.

"I...we could keep more eyes on the area if we were on a triangle..."

Tazami nodded. He could tell that Koltai did not realize that their plan was nearly the perfect response to the situation.

"Private Xian, why did you have trouble finding the recruits?"

The instructor nodded and stepped forward to explain.

"They were spread too far for me to spot in one hide. When I did find one, the others weren't compromised. The other teams clustered, so they were easy to spot. And when one was taken down, the other recruits would look to the remaining recruits instinctively, betraying their positions as well."

Tazami nodded and began to speak again.

"Lieutenant Koltai, it is true that you did not properly plan for the worst case scenario, I believe that you have learned your lesson concerning this..." Tazami motioned to the sergeant and the corporal but did not wait for Koltai to respond before continuing.

"The Xi Detachment cannot use traditional military tactics, as you are no doubt aware. Basic special forces doctrine dictates that each individual soldier must often act as their own contained unit, especially against overwhelming odds. Leaders must utilize this knowledge when planning combat."

Drake and Gethman nodded slowly as the information sunk in.

"Now, concerning snipers, we will be convening at the end of this debriefing to discuss counter-sniper tactics, but you should know that you were expected to fail this exercise.

The recruits frowned at this knowledge, but stayd silent as Tazami continued.

"The recruit teams were ordered not only to spot the sniper within the kill zone, but the sniper had prior knowledge of your approach. In truth, the only way to beat a sniper, without being a sniper yourself, is to break their ability to use information against you. If they know where you are supposed to be, they can plan an appropriate ambush."

The recruits nodded, their spirits noticeably better than before though no one was in the mode to celebrate. Tazami extended his hand to the recruits in a rare gesture of satisfaction, "Congratulations, recruits."

All three stood and shook Tazami's hand, each with something of disbelief on their faces.

"Now, Sergeant Drake and Corporal Gethman, you are dismissed. Lieutenant Koltai, I want to continue this debriefing."

Gethman and Drake both shook Koltai's hand firmly. Tazami could tell from their looks that they were trying to communicate something of an apology to the lieutenant. Koltai smiled weakly to both of them before turning to face Tazami. The captain nodded to the soldiers who followed the recruits back to their camp. Tazami turned away from the lieutenant to look over the valley.

"Lieutenant, I've been watching your progress in the Xi Detachment. You are an excellent soldier, Koltai..."

It took nearly every ounce of Koltai's mental capacity to keep his jaw from falling to the ground, but the lieutenant waited for Tazami to continue.

"..you are, however, a lackluster officer. You don't inspire confidence in your soldiers, lieutenant. We need that in officers to keep people alive and missions on course. Do you understand?"

Koltai nodded slowly. He knew the next step in the process. He would be sent back to the main camp where he would be discharged from the Xi Detachment and sent back to Personnel Command for reassignment. He extended hs hand as a courteous gesture to the captain, but Tazami did not take his hand. The captain crossed his arms and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Lieutenant, you really should learn to wait until I've finished my statements before assuming things. You are the type of soldier who doesn't belong in the regular enlisted corps. You are too intelligent, but you doubt yourself entirely too much. Nor are you particularly political either, making you highly unsuitable to our officer corps."

Koltai grimaced, but let the captain continue unabated.

"Koltai, I want you to look into the Surveillance, Observation, and Urban Operations Section. I think you will find it uniquely suited to people like you."

Koltai nodded slowly, "...am I dismissed, sir?"

Tazami nodded. Arex turned to walk away and began to stride as Tazami spoke a final time, "Some advice, Koltai...have those bruises looked at before you return to the camp. They're going to hurt like a son-of-a-bitch in the morning."

Koltai chuckled as he walked off to the camp, Captain Tazami in close tow behind him.

Warning: Contents May Be Under Pressure

Koltai grunted loudly as the shovel dug a shallow cut into the impacted dirt. Pain shot through his haphazardly bandaged hands from bleeding sores but he ignored it the best he could. He had trouble focusing directly on the bank, but at this point, he was digging solely through muscle memory. His bare back baked in the hot sun while the arms of the fatigue shirt tied around his waist slapped softly against his thighs. He looked over the work of the two recruits' next to him, using what cognitive skills remained at this point to determine if they were still digging somewhat correctly. As section leader, he was responsible for the man and woman to his sides. Or as much responsibility as anyone could claim at this point.

This was the eighth trench the recruits had dug in four days. Four days with two hours of sleep total, and it was beginning to show. No one spoke. Only the deep breathing of the recruits mixed with the striking of shovels against dirt. The work had slowed to a near crawl as each recruit struggled to keep the rhythm of their shoveling constant against the calls in each of their minds to quit. Soldiers paced the ground above the recruits' trench as overwatch, but otherwise remained quiet and observant. The dirt under the dirt under the recruits' feet was colored in sporadic patches of crimson where the blood from open blisters and shallow wounds had collected, coagulated, and dried.

The klank of a shovel head striking a rock generated zero interest in the recruits until they heard the soft footsteps of a recruit walking away from the trench. Every recruit stopped in place to watch her walk towards Captain Tazami.

Tazami was seated on a lawn chair overlooking the recruit's work efforts, reading a book. Next to him was a single post with a large bell affixed to it. Without a word, the recruit stepped to the bell, grabbed the leather strap tied to the clapper, and rang it once. A feeling of sadness washed over the recruits as Tazami waved her off of the field without removing his gaze from the book's page. She did not turn to face the other recruits as she turned her body and walked away from the trenches, never to return.

Tazami finally looked up and watched her leave for a brief moment before closing his book. He stood from his chair and ambled over to the current trench. The other recruits stood numbly as Tazami spoke.

"Another huen dahn....it's a shame, I thought she had it in her."

None of the recruits responded to Tazami. All knew by this point that he was merely testing them. Trying to get under their skin. Tazami smiled at the recruits' silence and watched as they struggled to restart their rhythm. One recruit was having a particularly troublesome time. He seemed to be having trouble lifting the shovel he had buried deep within the dirt.

"Tian di wu yohn, Henderson, pick up that shovel or so help me, you will be building another ruttin' trench by your lonesome, am I understood?"

Henderson nodded slowly and struggled to lift the shovel's head out of the dirt. The dirt was heavy and Henderson strained for a few seconds before the shovel gave way in a cascade of dirt and rocks. Tazami returned his attention to the rest of the recruits as Henderson looked mournfully at the size of the dirt mound that had collected at his feet.

"Fourteen of you are left. Gorram surprise, if you ask me. Sergeant Tilman, have you ever seen this few recruits pass this point?"

One of the soldiers overlooking the recruits responded quickly, "No sir!"

Truth of the matter was the group's drop-out rate was right at average. The two week psychological training regiment, referred to as "The Gauntlet," was a constant barrage of attacks on the recruits' spirits as the performed tedious physical tasks under the most bizarre of conditions. They had to learn to reach within for inner strength, and this was merely one more step in the process.

Lieutenant Koltai grunted heavily as another load of dirt was tossed by his shovel out of the deepening trench. The noise caught Tazami's attention and he walked over to the lieutenant's position.

"Having trouble, Koltai?"

Koltai did not break his rhythm as he responded. He did not even look up to Tazami's position to acknowledge the statement.

"No sir."

Tazami pressed his lips together as he watched Koltai's section for a few more seconds before continuing with his barrage. He focused his attention on the female recruit to Koltai's left.

"You section of wall is pathetic, Drake. You think this go se will protect a single gorram bullet, much less a full assault? Pick up the pace or...."

"Captain Tazami, I think that is enough." Tazami's eyebrows twitched slightly as Koltai cut him off.

"Koltai, exactly what the hell was that?"

The recruits around him stopped working in shock. Slowly the whole line stopped to watch the confrontation. Tazami did not look away from Koltai as the man turned and plunged the shovel in a tired, but defiant stroke.

"Captain Tazami, I am the section leader, if you have a problem with my subordinates, you will address them to me first."

Tazami stared back at Koltai. There was dead silence between the two until Tazami spoke again.

"Are you questioning my method, Koltai?"

Koltai's face did not change as he responded.

"No sir."

"Explain yourself, lieutenant."

Koltai inhaled and spoke slowly. The effort of speech was clearly on the border of his remaining energy.

"...sir, you said it yourself. Always respect the chain of command. That includes yourself."

Koltai finished his statement without a hint of smugness. By all accounts, Koltai was barely aware that anyone, much less the entire recruit corps was staring at him. Tazami remained silent for several seconds, staring back at Koltai's unfocused gaze. He turned in place and walked to the other end of the trench.

"Lieutenant Taka..."

The female recruit turned her head to face Tazami with the same semi-blank stare as Koltai.

"Lieutenant Koltai appears to think that I violated the chain of command by addressing Sergeant Drake directly. Do you agree with the Lieutenant?"

Taka glanced at Koltai quickly before answering with a wavering voice, "Yes, sir."

Tazami nodded without changing his expression. He turned to the next section leader at the end of the trench.

"And you, Lieutenant Robinson?"

Robinson inhaled deeply and spoke with as much confidence as he could muster, "No sir."

"Why not?"

Robinson opened his mouth to answer, but closed it again as no words entered his mind.

A grin broke on Tazami's face as he stepped back to Koltai's position. Koltai continued to maintain his posture as Tazami looked back and forth between Taka and Koltai.

"Lieutenants Taka and Koltai, you will take your sections back to camp for medical treatment and two hours rest."

Koltai and Taka both blinked for a few seconds as the information was absorbed.

"Now, Lieutenants."

Smiles broke out between the lieutenants and their subordinates, though no one had the energy to express anything except quiet joy. The klinks of shovels being plunged softly into the ground sounded as the two sections slowly climbed from the trenches and ambled slowly away.

Tazami watched the two sections leave before turning back to Robinson's section, who were staring daggers not at the leaving recruits, but at Lieutenant Robinson.

"Lieutenant Robinson. Apparently we need to have a discussion about the term 'brown-noser'... "

Careful, These Things are Sharp

Captain Tazami motioned to the soldiers carrying the two boxes to begin passing out their contents. The soldiers complied and began to walk down the three rows of recruits, handing each of them a machete in a thick sheath. The recruits looked at each other and at Tazami with increasing confusion. A few chuckles and comments passed down the ranks as some of the recruits took the machetes out of their sheaths and began looking them over.

"Are we hunting people...or gorram demons?"

Several of the recruits snickered at the anonymous comment. Tazami rolled his eyes and held up his hand.

"All right, shut the hell up, all of you..."

The voices simmered down, and the recruits returned their attention to Tazami's position in the front of their position. Tazami took one of the machetes from the box as the soldiers returned to his position and replaced the boxes. He rolled the heavy blade in his hands with incredible ease.

"Seeing as how most of the luh suh has survived the first two weeks here in Hell better than I expected, clearly I'm not doing my job correctly..."

The recruits cringed in varying degrees at the thought. Everyone of them had thoughts of Koltai's experience in vary degrees. Tazami smiled slightly at the recruits' collective disturbance. They had spent the last two weeks doing various physical drills to weed out the least promising of the group. Only three had washed out so far. Tazami wasn't surprised.

"Nevertheless...it's time you started weapons training..."

Tazami flicked his wrist and the machete in his hand flipped around the back of his hand. He caught it with the blade facing backwards and ran his finger over the sharp edge absently.

"Recruits, meet your new best friend. For those of you with kuh ai looks of stupidity, this is a kukri."

Tazami tossed the blade to his left hand and back as if the machete was a juggling pin.

"From now until you leave this dirt patch, this blade will never leave your side. You will sleep with it, bathe with it, and love it for all it can do for you."

A varitey of chuckles and stifled laughs echoed from the recruits' positions and Tazami frowned.

"Tian di wu yohn...you've got an instrument that can decapitate a man in one blow, and the ruttin' lot of you act like a bunch of horny schoolgirls reading a gorram porn magazine..."

The laughter died away, though the mental image Tazami provided for the men in the audience resulted in a number of retained smiles. In the back row, of course.

"Now, attach the holster to the back of your belt as mine is..."

Tazami turned to show the proper orientation of the holster. The block of recruits followed his example and began attaching the sheath to their belts with varying degrees of initial success. The two soldiers by Tazami's side left his side and entered the lines of recruits to assist them with attaching the sheath. After several minutes, the recruits had their sheaths attached correctly and the soldiers returned to the front of the group. Tazami returned his kukri to its holster and motioned for the soldier to his left to hold up the empty holster in his hand.

"You will see two straps here that hold the kukri in place," barked Tazami as he pointed to the two straps on the aloft holster, "and each must be closed to keep the blade in position. Tazami then motioned to the top strap.

"This strap keeps the blade from moving in horizontal position...unstrap it now."

The chorus of unsnapped sheath straps rang out in the group.

"Your blade is now free to exit the sheath by pulling directly parallel to the sheath. Understood?"

"Yes sir!"

Tazami nodded at their acknowledgment and unstrapped his kukri as well. He placed his right hand on the handle and spoke as he illustrated the first practice strike for the recruits.

"Now, on my command you will draw your kukri to a ready position like this."

Tazami quickly drew the blade from it's holster and stopped the fluid motion to make a 45-degree angle with his shoulder.

"This is your ready position! Every strike you perform with the kukri should return to this position. From the ready position you can strike..."

Tazami swung the blade quickly in a short cut aimed at an imaginary man's chest.

"and you can defend..."

Tazami swung the blade again in a much more complicated series of movements that the recruits would understand later to be a parry and counter-strike.

"Now, to the ready!"

The recruits jerked quickly on their kukris and a dozen groans erupted as several knives did not even leave the sheaths. The recruits that did get their kukris out moved in jerky, uncoordinated motion.

Tazami sighed heavily and audibly.

It was going to be a very long day.

Training Day

The trainer walked down the bare dirt strip, his eyes caged on an invisible post far in the distance. Each recruit stood at rigid attention, their bodies and eyes unmoving as the shakedown continued.

The trainer stopped and turned quickly to face the entire line of recruits, looking them over in a ritualized testing. He was a tall man with short black hair and had a solid build. He was dressed in a black, form-fitting shirt and dusty combat fatigues. The pants were bloused into black, broken-in combat boots. A single pistol was strapped to a thigh holster. His words were laced with contempt.

"Gentlemen and ladies, welcome to Hell. I am Captain Ushira Tazami."

None of the recruits responded. No words or expressions were passed. Only silence. The trainer continued unabated.

"On my command, you will drop to a prone position and return to a standing position, am I understood?"

"Yes Sir!" chanted the recruits in unison.

"Down!"

The entire line of recruits dropped to the ground and two dozen thumps sounded as each soldier dropped to the ground and scrambled back to rigid attention.

"This is not the Army. Down!"

More thumps, still in perfect unison, sounded.

"This is not the Navy. Down! This is not the Marine Corp or even the gorram Special Forces. Down!"

The trainer began to pace again, calling for the soldiers to drop periodically as he continued his introduction speech.

"You are here because you think you have what it takes to join Xi. Down! When you graduate from this camp, you will be the tips of the spears. Down! Down! Down! But until that point, you are feh wu. Down!"

The line of recruits continued to drop and return to attention almost in complete synchronization.

"From this moment you are no longer under AAF appearance regulations."

The trainer caught several signs of confusion in the recruits. He pointed to a single one. A tall, man with a thin, but muscular, build who was standing a bit too rigidly for his own good.

"You, your rank and name, now."

The recruit saluted immediately and kept his eyes trained forward while he barked a response, "Da Yeh, Second Lieutenant Arex Koltai!"

The trainer rolled his eyes and motioned for the soldier to meet him. Koltai walked forward in a straight line and turned in a perfect right angle to his right. He marched to Tazami's footsteps and halted, giving a sharp salute.

Tazami did not return Koltai's salute. Tazami drew his pistol and in one fluid motion brought it to Koltai's face and pulled the trigger. The lieutenant's face flashed in horror and he blinked as the click of the pistol's hammer striking an empty chamber rang out in the dead silence. The other recruits struggled to maintain their composure.

Tazami lowered the pistol and let the silence continue for several seconds. He finally spoke, nearly shouting in displeasure at Koltai.

"I just tried to fucking kill you, Koltai. Do you always respond to gunfire by standing at gorram attention? Do you think that your enemy is going to hesitate? If your little march back there doesn't give away your status as nien mohn that stupid buzz cut is going to give it away clear as a Browncoat in a Parliament session."

The trainer turned away from the nearly-trembling Koltai to face the line of recruits.

"That goes for all of you! Wake up, you kuh wu washouts, this ain't the military you joined. We don't act like dipshits with sticks wedged firmly in our asses."

Tazami turned back to Koltai and looked him over.

"You got balls, kid. Now you need to unlearn all the ri shao gou shi bing they drilled into you at Basic. Now get back in line."

Koltai nodded slowly and hesitated as he started a quick jog back to his position in line. The recruits were noticeably less rigid in their stances as Tazami looked them over.

"As I said before, gentlemen and ladies, welcome to Hell."