Free Resist the Red Battlenaut by Robert T. Jeschonek Page A

eleven hundred hours, you'll join the Surface Warfare Group headed by Lieutenant Trane."
    Scott didn't like being singled out and treated like a rookie, but he nodded and got to his feet. "Yes, sir." As usual, he didn't have any choice in the matter.
    "See you later, Corporal." Trane said it with a wiseass edge to his voice. "And bring your A-game."
    Scott bristled but kept it to himself. "I will, sir." With that, he marched up the aisle and out of the auditorium, leaving the others to continue the meeting.
    He thought it was ridiculous to be sent off for menial duty when he had more experience with the Red Battlenauts than anyone in the room, but he did as he was told. Not that he was afraid of challenging superior officers when the situation called for it...but clearly, this wasn't such a situation.
    Better to go swab the deck or whatever he needed to do to get through the next few hours without pissing anyone off. He could have his say later at the Surface Warfare working group.
    If that plang-hole Trane would let him, that is. Meanwhile, maybe Engineering duty wouldn't be all that bad after all.
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    *****
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    Chapter 10
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    "Look what the cat just puked up!" Chief Engineer Torus Azimuth roared the words from the upper catwalk of the vast Engineering Deck. "Some kind of rancid hoozehock, it looks like! I swear, I can smell it all the way up here !"
    Scott stood on the floor below and looked up at him, thinking dark thoughts. "Corporal Solomon Scott reporting for duty, sir."
    "I know who you are!" said Azimuth. "We all do, don't we?"
    It seemed like every man and woman in Engineering was watching the scene unfold. Scott saw them leaning over the catwalks, standing on the floor, poking their heads out of nooks and accessways in between. They all wore red jumpsuits with black Diamondback emblems, and every one of them seemed to be grinning and nodding at the same time, agreeing with their Chief.
    Azimuth spread his arms wide. "You're a celebrity!" Though he was a short, squat man--a full head shorter than the two men flanking him on the catwalk--he looked and sounded intimidating. His face, with its dark, arched eyebrows, crooked nose, and beady eyes, had a satanic quality that added to the impression. Even his hair looked devilish, the shaved black bristle drawing to a sharp point in the middle of his broad forehead. "You're a real four alarm big shot, aren't you? Your fame precedes you!"
    Scott said nothing. In his years as a Marine, he'd been baited by the best. He wasn't about to let Azimuth get his goat.
    "The only one to ever see a supposed Red Battlenaut! The only one to bring back a piece of one!" Azimuth pulled a big wrench out of his overloaded tool belt and thrust it overhead. "Let's give Corporal Scott the welcome he deserves!"
    With that, Azimuth started whacking his wrench against the catwalk railing, and the rest of his crew followed suit, banging tools against the nearest metal structures or surfaces. The cavernous Engineering Deck filled with a cacophony of metal crashing against metal, clanging like an orchestra of out-of-tune broken bells.
    Scott stood patiently and waited for it to die down. He'd expected some ball-breaking, it came with the territory when stepping into a tight-knit, ultra-elite group like CORE. But he had to admit, it was starting to get old.
    When the clanging stopped, Azimuth tossed his wrench over the railing. It hit the floor less than three meters from Scott and bounced twice, landing just a few centimeters from his left boot.
    Scott glanced down at it, then calmly returned his gaze to Azimuth. The less he reacted, the sooner Azimuth would get bored with riding him.
    Probably. "So how's your grandma , Corporal?" Azimuth sneered when he said it. " Commandant grandma, I should say."
    "Commandant Chalice is just fine, sir," said Scott. "I'll tell her you asked."
    "You do that!" Azimuth raised his satanic eyebrows. "You tell her I won't give you any special treatment,