Disgraced
Copyright© 2025 by Ogreface
Chapter 18: Recognition
When the ranger squad got back to the sports field, with five minutes to spare, they joined two platoons of marines who were drawn up across the field from the review stand. Then the base marine band came marching onto the field and took up the spot in front of the first platoon while Rogers marched the rangers to the back of the second platoon.
Dane was at the back of the rangers. The same three officers Dane met earlier, the battalion commander, the XO, and Major Gallagher, as well as a very senior officer was on the review stand. As Dane got close, he realized the senior officer was standing in front, saluting each group as they marched past him.
Dane assumed the senior officer was the Commandant of the Imperial Marine Corps, a general, but then he noticed something. There were at least four body protectors surrounding the review stand. Dane knew about them, one of them always followed his sire around. He has been informed that those who failed marine ranger training for whatever reason, often got recruited by the IPS, the Imperial Protection Service, to become elite body protectors. They were a group of shadowy individuals whose sole task was to protect the upper levels of the nobility. A duke will always have at least two of them nearby. The emperor has a bunch of them surrounding him when he was not in the imperial palace.
“The emperor!” one of the other ranger suddenly hissed. When it was their turn, the rangers did a textbook ‘eyes-right’ before following the two platoons where they were forming up in the middle of the field while facing the review stand and the spectators.
Once they were stationary, the XO of the Second Battalion formally introduced a few VIPs. He only introduced those with ranks of Viscount and higher and started with the higher ranks. The only names Dane recognized were the two dukes who interviewed him. Then the XO stayed quiet for a few seconds.
“This is the first time I ever had the honor of introducing the next person.” The XO said. “We have large parades like this at least once a year. This is the first time we are honored to have him join us. Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Jason Pleiades, Emperor!” He turned and saluted the emperor before stepping sideways and out of the way. The entire audience had stood up and was bowing as all the marines saluted.
“I should make more of an effort to attend these parades in the future,” the emperor said. “I am impressed with what I have seen and heard today, as well as reports I have received concerning the dedication to duty of the Pleiades armed forces, the Imperial Navy as well as the Imperial Marine Corps. Since I am here, and since I seem to have the undivided attention of everybody here, I have a few announcements and rewards to hand out.
“In light of the rewards I am about to hand out, I feel an explanation is in order. We as an empire, are not at war, and I sincerely hope that stays so, but we have enemies that warrant us being armed and ready to defend our people and our way of life. The most dangerous and common sign of these enemies I am talking about, are the numerous incidents of deep space piracy. What is also bothering me is that the incidents of piracy is increasing, and the dastardly acts of the pirates towards their prisoners are getting worse.
“We are a fairly unique kind of empire. I agree, that sounds weird since this is the only empire around. We didn’t originate here in the Pleiades cluster, we are from Earth, a single planet orbiting a single G-type star some four-hundred and twenty light-years from here. We need only to go explore the New Horizon colony ship museum attached to the Pleiades Prime Habitat, to get a glimpse into our origins. Earth had a number of empires over the millennia, and from the history books, those empires were neither successful nor a benefit for their populations.
“What makes us unusual is that while we do not have a democracy, an experiment in government that failed again and again, because the people saw any autocracy as evil. When our ancestors arrived here, over a millennium ago, they decided to try a new model of government. We call it a benevolent empire. Planetary systems, continents, and provinces are ruled by hereditary noblemen, people who have proved to be just and fair. One fact about our benevolent empire is that no nobleman, ruler, can rule if he is not benevolent. A ruler does not even have to commit a crime to be deposed, he just needs to show signs of being mentally unsuitable to rule in order to lose his noble title. To ensure that all noblemen are just and honorable, we have the imperial council, the twelve most senior dukes who not only keep the other dukes, viscounts, and barons in line, they also keep me in line. I, Brian Cosgrove, Emperor of Pleiades, rule for the benefit of my people.
“Now an announcement that brings me great pleasure in making. The empire is expanding. At this time, we have twenty solar systems, at least eighteen of which have either planets suitable to live on, or have planets that would become suitable for life in the near future. The Kuiper system has been reached via jump gate about a hundred years ago, but we didn’t need the resources in that system. Well, we finally decided, about ten years ago, to start colonizing that system. For the first five years the system and the planet has been surveyed extensively. Unfortunately, the air on the single rocky planet is not quite suitable for breathing yet. There is ample water, and the soil seems suitable for growing plants in.
“Today, I created a new title, that of Duke of Kuiper, and assigned the new medallion to the newest duke in the empire. I know Duke Vance of the Kuiper system is present here this afternoon, but this parade is not about him, this parade is about the men before you, new marines, marines with new skills, imperial marines.” Then he stepped back as the crowd and the marines started making loud noises and clapping hands as the XO stepped forward to the microphone again.
“Parents, spectators, the first platoon facing you on your left, is the class of marine recruits that completed their initial boot camp class, their basic marine training.” The XO said. “They are now marines, every one of them. Each of them now has the rank of Imperial Marine Private. It is our hope that none of them keep that designation for very long, because in a week’s time, they will start the next phase of their training, Specialist Training Phase One.” On cue the spectators clapped hands again.
“Next to the platoon of new marine privates is the class of marine privates that just completed their Specialist Training Phase One.” The XO continues when the clapping had died down. “Specialist training is exactly what the name says, more specialized than boot camp. These men in front of you are now fully qualified marines. They now have the rank of Private First Class. Their instructors got to know them a lot better since they did boot camp. As a result, some of them have been marked to attend Specialist Training Phase Two, to become new instructors, or to become new officers. A few have even been marked for possible future training to become Marine Rangers, the elite specialists who performed that spectacular parachute jump here this afternoon. Both platoons can proudly call themselves imperial marines. Congratulations, marines!” The clapping sounded a bit longer before the people settled down again.
“We are not quite done yet,” the XO continued. “It is the first time we are going to honor the last and smallest group in this manner. There is a reason for that. That much smaller group of marines on your right, are all Imperial Marine Rangers. Twelve of them finished their Ranger specialization training today. The other six are their instructors. Rangers are the smallest group of specialist in the marine corps. Because of the nature of their jobs, they are often operating in small groups, in pairs, or on their own. When a marine performs his normal duties, he does it as part of a military unit, a section, squad, platoon, or company. When a ranger performs his duties, he might be alone. For that reason, the Imperial Marine High Command has decided to award each Ranger a specialist badge. It is a badge of honor but also a badge recognizable by others who then will realize that the ranger need not get permission from his platoon leader if he wants to requisition ammo or rations, or information. Will the twelve new Rangers step forward now.”
“Galan, hang back,” Rogers whispered as the twelve new rangers fell out and marched towards the podium. “He will call you in a moment.”
“This all seems over the top, but there is a reason for it,” the XO said over the intercom system. “One of the new Rangers is not standing with the others now. It has been decided to say a bit more about the thirteenth new ranger. Sometimes the commander of a training facility recognize an exceptional trainee. The commander has the ability to push that trainee for extra training, to see how the trainee performs. Exceptional performance often leads to quicker advancement.
“One such exceptional performer was a new marine recruit who did his basic training and specialist training on Cornell. His commander pushed him into advanced training exercises done by the rangers. Normally this marine should have been selected for officers’ training but because of unusual events in his past, he became a part of the Fifth Imperial Marine Battalion, with the rank of corporal. That already is unusual but valid for an exceptional trainee.
“One of the first tasks this new marine corporal had to perform was to help his fellow marines in liberating the new and still under construction Kuiper space station from a heavily armed pirate gang. We will not discuss the specifics of events, but I will mention that this corporal performed beyond the expectations for a new marine corporal. The report on that one event states that, through his actions, he saved many his own fellow marines from being killed by the pirates. After that event, it was determined that the pirates managed to escape, and in the process took a number of females hostages. I apologize in advance if I upset some people, but pirates captures females for two reasons. Rape and breeding. They need the females to start new pirate settlements and colonies.
“This corporal, because of his leadership skills, was then tasked to go rescue the captured females. Because of the unusually high number of injuries and casualties, his commander decided to do something totally valid but also unusual. He made what is known as a battlefield promotion, by appointing this new corporal to the rank of sergeant. This reduced force of marines located and invaded the pirate base, which was inside the Kuiper system. Three time, since this new sergeant entered the Kuiper system, he was instrumental in overwhelming his opponents, rescue eighteen captured females, and eliminating the pirate base. He was obviously not alone, he had a platoon of marines under a lieutenant with him, but all of them agrees; he was the example to follow, the one whose leadership skills resulted in the destruction of the pirate base with only two marines being wounded in the fighting, him being one of the wounded.
“Those of you who are still awake might have noticed I mentioned a first and a third time our hero performed exceptionally. It is not a mistake. There was a second time, but the marine high command decided not to publish the details of the second event. The sergeant’s rank, as is the case with most battlefield promotions are not always permanent. He was also not a ranger when these events took place.
“Will the thirteenth new ranger join his fellow rangers, please,” the XO said.
“Galan, go!” Rogers said.
“I give you Sergeant Dane Galan, Imperial Marine Ranger Instructor,” the XO announced as Dane double-times to the end of the line of new rangers in front of the review stand.
As Dane fell in next to the other rangers, the emperor stepped off the review stand, with another colonel joining him. The two walked to the end of the line where the emperor shook hands with the ranger and handed him a badge. Dane was suddenly nervous again, knowing he was about to shake hands with the emperor. To his amusement the thought that suddenly popped into his mind was to wonder what Lance or William would think if they knew about him shaking hands with the emperor.
“While the emperor is handing out the newest batch of ranger badges, I will reveal more of the display we saw earlier. These thirteen rangers, and the other five instructors, were in a marine shuttle orbiting the planet and getting ready for their final test before becoming rangers. I know, the program promised us a shuttle entering the atmosphere, but that never happened. Instead of the ion trail of a shuttle, we witnessed the smoke trails and beacons of eighteen rangers dropping in from space.
They were wearing full space suits since at that altitude there were no atmosphere to breath. The flickering white lights we saw earlier, followed by the white shooting stars was for the show, for us to see them as they jumped out of the shuttle at an altitude of over sixty kilometers. Their parachutes opened at two kilometers after which they had to land within a certain distance from the target. They had to do this to qualify as rangers, not for our entertainment.”
“It is an honor to shake your hand, sergeant,” the emperor said as he took Dane’s hand and handed him a badge. Then the emperor and the colonel stepped aside as the emperor started clapping his hands, followed by everybody else.
“Will Sergeant Galan stay where he is for a moment as the other rangers return to their position,” the XO said over the intercom. The other twelve did a right turn and double-times back to where the instructors were waiting. As they ran off, Dane quickly put his ranger badge back where it belonged, to empty his hands. Then the emperor and the colonel stepped back to stand in front of Dane.
“I mentioned three instances where Sergeant Galan performed exceptional under unusual circumstances.” The XO announced. “We will now address those instances. Every armed force in the history of mankind had some form or action to honor the soldiers who performed above what was required of them.
“One of the awards we had from the beginning, is the Wounded Warrior award. This award or medal, is awarded to any member of the armed services who, during the performances of his duties, become wounded or killed as a result of enemy action. Sergeant Galan, while attacking a force of pirates, was wounded. This wound was not severe enough to stop the sergeant from eliminating the four pirates facing him. He continued fighting. Compared to some wounds his fellow marines suffered from during the initial event, Sergeant Galan’s wound might be seen as a minor wound, but it was a dangerous wound, and he will have the scar for the rest of his life.”
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