Free The Better Part of Valor by Tanya Huff Page B

your suit…”
    “Thanks, my receiver’s fine.” He blocked the reaching hand with the back of his forearm. “You Marines are a literal lot, aren’t you?”
    Heer snickered. “You have no idea.”
    “Play poker?”
    “Does a
gruinitan
go better with red sauce?”
    “I’m guessing…yes?”
    Torin had been surprised to see Ryder come through the hatch, HE suit draped over his arm. He’d brought the basics, borrowed tanks, and now, as she watched the air-lock door close behind him, she wondered why he’d come.
    Probably bored.
    She knew more than one Marine back on OutSector who ran the simulation chamber just for the hell of it. Given what Marines did for a living, she always thought the di’Taykan way of filling spare time made a lot more sense.
    “Hey, Staff, will Ryder be going through again or does Squad Two get a different objective?”
    Nivry’s question snapped her back to the here and now. “Squad Two,” she told them, “gets a wounded comrade to carry out.”
    “Who?”
    “You’ll know when they know.”
    Every eye in the squad turned toward August Guimond who was watching the action in the chamber like it was an adventure vid he’d heard good things about. None of the other Marines matched his size. Only Craig Ryder came close, and he wouldn’t be there to carry the body.
    After a moment, the pressure of half a dozen pairs of eyes drew his attention from the simulation. “What?”
    “It won’t necessarily be Private Guimond,” Torin pointed out.
    When those same eyes turned to her, she smiled.
    Werst’s upper lip came off his teeth. “Crap. Crap.
Serley
crap.”
    No one disagreed.

F OUR
    *S taff Sergeant Kerr, report to my office immediately.*
    Torin tongued in an acknowledgment adding aloud for the pickup in her jaw, “We’re in the midst of our last simulation, Captain, twenty minutes to endgame.”
    Captain Rose would have told her to take the twenty minutes. But then, in the same circumstances, Captain Rose would have been monitoring the simulation with her—after having run it once himself.
    *Immediately, Staff Sergeant Kerr.*
    “Yes, sir.”
    Squad Two had come up against enemy fire, and they were pinned down. Squad One was working their way through adjacent corridors trying to relieve them. Nothing in the briefing suggested the alien ship had to be empty. Granted, any aliens on board could be as cuddly as the H’san but a “hail fellow sentients, well met” kind of first contact didn’t need to be practiced. Craig Ryder was currently flat on the deck—when the shooting started, Werst had dropped him down out of the target zone by simply kicking his feet out from under him and letting him fall. Torin made a mental note to commend Werst for his initiative.
    Fuk; if they have to promote a Krai, why don’t they promote Werst?
    She punched in the simulation’s override code, throwing open all channels as the lights in the training module came up. “Sorry, people, you were kicking simulated ass but the captain’s called me away from the board. Get the gear stowed, then you can stand down. When I get back, we’ll take a lookat the vids; see if we can up our survival rate. Mr. Ryder, thank you for your participation; you’re welcome to stay.”
    “Anything for the Marine Corps, Staff Sergeant.”
    Although she couldn’t see his face through the reflections on the curve of the helmet, Torin could hear the charmingly supercilious smile in his voice as he pushed himself into a sitting position.
    “But,” he continued, “I’d better get back to my ship; I have a busy night planned.”
    “Fine.” What made him think she cared what kind of a night he had planned?
Asshole.
“You’re on your own, people.”
    “Good luck, Staff.”
    That had to be Guimond; from anyone else, it would have sounded like sucking up.
    Wondering just what exactly Captain Travik had up his butt this time, she headed for the other end of the Marine attachment at a quick walk.
    It hadn’t sounded