Chapter 8: Marauder

I walked off the shuttle and down the steps ignoring the whispers. I knew what they thought, I was wearing a Class C uniform during travel. I was young and had top sergeant emblems on my collar. I pulled my float across the hanger deck and stopped at the wide desk. A junior sergeant glanced up and then smiled and leaned back, “Well, what do we have here. You are out of uniform.”

He held out his hand, “ID tags.”

I smiled and tossed them across the table. He shook his head and thumbed them and then sat frozen. I leaned over the desk as the other passengers from the shuttle watched, “After I check in, you will report to me. Is that clear Junior Sergeant?”

He swallowed, “Yes Top!”

I took my ID tags back and headed for the hatch as everyone began whispering. I walked into Marauder country and walked into the battalion HQ for Stalkers. I smiled at the pretty Sergeant working at a desk, her arm was in a sling, “Which office is the Sergeant Major’s?”

She glanced up and looked me over before smiling, “On the left Top.”

I parked my float and walked to the door and knocked.

“Come!”

I walked in and a short stocky woman looked up from the report she was reading, “Yes?”

I walked to the desk, “Top Sergeant England.”

She sat back and looked me over, “You are not ten feet tall.”

I grinned as I looked around before sitting, “Sergeant Major Davis said you needed someone to help fill a company.”

She nodded and sighed, “We took a lot of hits retaking Gingerroot. You will be taking the Serpents with a green Captain. You have four Senior Sergeants and two Sergeants for platoon sergeants. We have two weeks to get them ready before we move on Tornto.”

She stood, “Come with me and we will get the official stuff out of the way.”

She led me out and across to knock and enter another office. I followed and looked at the grey haired light colonel. He sat back, “What do you have Peg?”

The sergeant major glanced back, “This is Top Sergeant England.”

He looked at me and then back to the Sergeant Major, “He is young.”

She laughed as she leaned against the desk, “did you even read the personal brief I left last night?”

He grinned and swept his hand over the desk, “It is in here somewhere.”

She shook her head, “Pendragon has been in Recon, the Scouts, the Rangers, the Swords and the Emperor’s Shields. I doubt we would be getting anything done if he had to wear his shoot me uniform.”

I grinned at that, “That is why I am wearing this.”

The colonel looked at me and shook his head, “Okay. Try to keep Captain Debous from killing my men.”

I nodded, “I will do my best sir.”

I glanced at the sergeant major and she nodded towards the hatch. We walked out and she looked at the sergeant at the desk, “Sergeant Sibley, take Top Sergeant England to the Serpents.”

She stood, “Yes Sergeant Major.”

I grabbed my float and started following her. She glanced back once, “Did you really take out a whole company that was after the emperor?”

I smiled and glanced at her, “It was not something you could not have done.”

Captain Debous was not as green as you would think, not in the Marauders. It did not take long to get the platoons working together since most were very experienced men and women. Tornto was a disputed world the Spiders had decided to just occupy. We had spent three hundred years in contact with the spiders and most of them had been in combat.

We were supposed to be on a flank with little or no enemy presences. The fleet took fire as we entered the system and everything began going wrong. The other companies were dropped on target but we were kicked out late and over a thousand kilometers away. We came under heavy fire on the way down and lost the captain and the lieutenants before we even hit the ground.