Free The Infinity Brigade #1 Stone Cold by Andrew Beery Page B

me. It was an uncomfortable stare but I endured it.
    “Sure as shooting son, whether you go Commission or non-commissioned… Officer or Enlisted… you will, upon occasion, find yourself under the command of people less capable than yourself. You will need to learn the fine art of guiding while not being in control. Learn it well and you will do well. Fail to learn it and I don’t care how gifted you are… you will be crucified as sure as our Lord and Savior was. Am I clear?”
    “Yes Senior Drill Sergeant!”
    Drill Sergeant Harris sighed and walked over to a briefing board. “I told you there were several things we needed to discuss. This next bit will be unpleasant. We are going to Mars.”
    ***
    When I got back to the billets I discovered there was a betting pool going. It seemed there was three to one odds that I would walk back in with my Ensign butter-bar rank restored. When they saw the three chevrons of my sergeant’s armband there was some groaning. I imagined some bank accounts had just been depleted.
    I walked up to Gretchen, came to attention and saluted her. She looked properly confused and then her eyes lit up as she realized what was happening. She didn’t seem to know what to do and did not return my salute. Somewhat awkwardly I smiled.
    “Permission to hug the Ensign,” I requested.
    “Permission granted,” she answered breathlessly.
    Gretchen was the type of Gal I might have gone after back in the days when I had time to do such mundane things as date. In point of fact, I was hoping at some later point in time she and I might find the time to explore options. The bottom line was I was very happy that she was getting a chance to try on the Officer bar. She deserved the chance. Marines where unique in this day and age in that all officers had to have spent some time in the enlisted ranks. This had not always been true and it still wasn’t true for most of the armed services.
    I handed Ensign Highmark her Acting Rank armband and called the platoon to order. Once again I saluted. This time, I was joined by twenty eight additional salutes. This time she returned the salute.
    “Ensign, if I could have a moment of your time. I have some additional orders that I received from the Senior Drill.”
    She nodded and motioned for Corporal Johnston to join us. We moved our conversation into the break room. When we were all seated on the metal benches that surrounded the weight training machines that were the only amenities in our break room, I began to share what the Senior Drill had shared with me.
    “Tomorrow a Bowman-class starship will be entering lunar orbit. It has its own Marine contingent which according to the Senior Drill we will not be interacting with. We will board the ship and remain confined to the shuttle bay for the duration. Our destination is Mars where we will begin a two week training exercise.”
    “Any discussion as to what the training exercise will entail?” Ensign Highmark asked.
    “Negative Ma’am. The Senior Drill did indicate that he will hold a pre-boarding briefing at 0400. He expects our entire platoon to be at the briefing room on time.”
    Gretchen tapped her wrist. A subdermal display lit up showing the current time as 20:35. She tapped her wrist a few more times and set a wakeup alarm for 0330 hours. I had already set mine for 0325.
    “I guess we should let the troops know we are heading out in the morning,” Gretchen said. “I want everybody to have their gear stowed and ready to go before lights out tonight.”
    ***
    The Bowman-class ship we boarded was the GCP Puller , a fitting name for a ship intending to carry Marines. Lieutenant General Lewis Burwell Puller was the most decorated United States Marine ever to live. To my way of thinking he personified what it meant to be a Marine. I must admit to having a man-crush on him ever since I read a quote attributed to him while I was in the second grade. It’s a quote that I feared would set the tone for my