Chapter 3: In Awe

Ken Kener, the Triple Strong was the first who had his rack inspection ready. He was always first in things like that. Ken somehow managed to have his boots shined, his footlocker squared exactly to specifications and his bunk looked like the image in the recruit handbook.

Faragon, was on the opposite spectrum and struggled with these things.

Ken grinned and even found time to help the Drach before their instructor called them all into attention.

Their drill instructor was a Botnaar. Roy wasn’t sure where he had picked this up, but Botnaar were often called the Petharians of the Milky Way galaxy, and while they belonged to the toughest sentient warrior species, they supposedly always felt inferior to real Petharians. That this wasn’t the case with Staff Sergeant Leven. Roy doubted there was anything or anyone Leven felt inferior to.

It was now a good ten days since Roy had arrived at Camp Mattis. Everything was intense and demanding and required everything he could give. There was not an ounce of energy left when he finally hit the rack. There was never enough sleep when the day began with the glaring lights and obnoxiously loud drill instructors, but truth to be told and deep down he actually enjoyed it. The same seemed to hold true for the new friends he had made. While he got along with almost everyone, the four individuals he had med for the first time back on Sol Hub also ended up in the same unit, which was the 71st Recruit Training Battalion, Bravo Company, 2nd platoon.

These first days right after receiving and their assignment to their actual companies and platoons started not with the expected drills, but with classroom classes where they were introduced to the history of the Union, the Union Armed Forces and the Union Marines in particular. They were told about the chain of command, taught to identify rank insignia. They were taught how to organize their gear and footlockers, how to build a proper bunk, how to stand in attention, and how to maintain proper grooming.

Unlike the Union Navy or other branches, the so-called Basic Physical requirements for the Union Marines were much stricter. It allowed for much less diversity. Only Union species within BaPhy1 and BaPhy2 meeting certain additional physical requirements were admitted, this was also called the Marine BaPhY. Those physical requirements excluded a number of Union member societies, but was not do discriminate against others but had to do with a host of logistical and technical reasons. Despite the more stringent and restrictive BaPhy attributes, still, almost eighty percent of all Union member species met Marine BaPhy and that meant a Terran Human at the low end of Baphy1 could end up in the same unit as a Petharian at the extreme other end of BaPhy II.

In those initial classes on Union marine history, Roy had learned that there has been different ideas and approaches to deal with these extremes. One such idea was segregation. To create separate units for each type, this was immediately dismissed, mainly because segregation was breeding ground for elitism, discrimination, and inter-branch discord.

Another one was to further limit admission based on physical attributes. This too was not considered any further.

Over the decades and centuries, a perhaps complicated but quite organic developed method percolated to the top and became codified in rules and regulations.

Everyone was taken to the very physical and mental limits of body and mind, but never beyond.

Despite some popular notions and ideas. No one was broken and then rebuild. The Marine Corps did not want anyone who could be broken by anything, on the contrary, it wanted unbreakable, individuals able and willing to give every last iota to achieve the objective.

The philosophy was simple, there were no humans, no Petharians or any of the many beings meeting the basic requirements, there were only Union Marines.

Uncle Sam sometimes said. “Marines are not born, Marines are made. He had also said, “Marine Uniforms come in all sizes, but still would not fit everyone.”

Now less than two weeks into his journey, he began to understand what that meant.

Their platoon’s drill instructor Staff Sergeant Leven was a living example to that. Aye he was a Botnaar, but Roy never really noticed, Leven was their DI and nothing less.”

Leven had them in attention standing right before their footlockers and bunks.

It was technically only the sixth day, he did that, but it already felt like routine. The DI would inspect bunks and footlockers, and if he was to find the smallest of wrinkles, the slightest item not exactly squared away he would toss the mattress and everything on the ground, empty the content of the footlocker onto the floor and demand it to be corrected. This demand for correction always went alongside some form of physical challenge, like a hundred sit-ups for a humanoid or an exercise equally challenging to a Petharian, Botnaar, Saurien, or whatever species the recruit might be. However, Leven only did this when he indeed found something that did not meet his and this Union Marine Corps standards. While the smallest crevice and wrinkle resulted in a well-rehearsed, by the book tantrum, a perfect bunk or foot locker earned a grunt, not an open acknowledgment, but an approving grunt never the less.

Thanks to Ken’s efforts, Staff Sergeant Leven passed Faragon’s bunk with a grunt. He was less pleased with the Drach’s efforts regarding the foot-locker and sure enough, Leven emptied the top drawer of Faragon’s locker all over the gleaming clean floor. “Fan-head, after you squared away your footlocker you will detail clean the hall.”

It was a tradition as old as the corps itself, Drill Instructors applied nicknames to recruits and because of his elaborate fan-shaped membrane connected head spikes on each side of his elongated head, Faragon was called Fan-Head. Faragon, so Roy knew was not really offended and was certain many Drachs before him received the very same or a similar nickname.

Detail cleaning meant Faragon had to use a small hand rag and apply a cleaning agent to the quarter-mile-long hall connecting the dorms of all six platoons of Bravo company.

The DI then inspected Ken’s locker and bunk and grunted. “Curly, next time you help, your friend starts with the footlocker. It takes less time to fix a bunk.”

Because there was not a single hair anywhere on the body of the Triple Strong, Leven gave Ken the nickname Curly.

While Leven had no objections to Mike’s footlocker, he pointed out a sloppy tugged cover blanket and sent the big mattress and covers of the Tyrannous to the floor. “Spike-Face, fix your bunk and then you too will detail clean the hall, starting at the other end.”

Roy was pretty sure his footlocker was okay, but he too had been in a hurry to get his bunk straightened and feared for the worst.

“Greenie, you are to report to the Captain on the double!”

Roy knew the platoons were organized under a platoon commander, and the platoons, in turn, were attached to a company with a company commander. Now in the field, platoons were often led by a Luitenant and companies by a Captain, but this was a training battalion. They all learned about the chain of command in the first weeks’ classes and in one of them a Captain was mentioned somewhere, but he had no idea where he had to go or why.

“Yes, Sir. This recruit will report to the Captain.”

Leven actually sighed. “I said on the double, recruit. Out the door, all the way to the end of Bravo Company training grounds. Admin Building and follow the signs to Captain Perrigo’s office.”

Roy followed the directions of the Staff Sergeant with very mixed feelings. He could not think of anything that would warrant to be called on the carpet by a Captain no less.

As he reached the building described by the drill instructor, he noticed two Marine corporals in full dress blue standing guard at each side of the entrance. Both held the parade version of SITKU carabines, fully functional of course but with high polished dark wood panels, chrome detail, and a real mono blade bayonet.

Both Marines looked as if they had seen a real ghost, despite their attempts to look at their best marine stoic stone chiseled expression.

Just as he approached a third marine, an officer also in dress blue and Luitennant bars had stepped out of the door and glared at him. “Good grief, recruit turn as fast as you can, and run to wherever you came from.”

Roy was not sure if he should obey or ask more questions. He decided that this was an officer and he was not even a real marine yet, to forgo the questions and obey.

He had already turned when he heard a familiar deep voice. “Delay that order, Mr. Masters, and come inside please.”

He turned and there in the door stood Admiral Stahl. The young marine lieutenant, of human stock, had turned almost as pale as a genuine Kermac.

Stahl said. “Luitenant, I requested that recruit come and be present, why do you feel it necessary to counter this request?”

“Ah, Sir ... Admiral Stahl, Sir. I did not know. I...”

“I like a written explanation on my desk by tomorrow.”

Stahl waved Roy. “Come on in Son, I hate to interrupt boot camp but you do have an appointment remember?”

Roy blurted out. “The Wurgus?”

Stahl nodded. “Yes, the Wurgus. Now get your behind before your Captain so he can do his part to make this an official thing. I am Navy, not Marines after all.”

One of the corporals guarding the entrance dared to speak. “You, are always Marine first Sir, In my opinion. Sorry for speaking, Sir.”

“I think I like you aboard the Devi, Corporal. Make the transfer request.”

The Admiral of the Fleet walked along with the white-coated scientist as they entered an elevator car. The spacious, well-lit elevator car carried them both at great speed downwards.

After he had left Britannica, planet he had not returned to Annapolis tower but made a side tour to Ceres and Piazzi Town.

Ceres, the largest object within the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter had been colonized and utilized long before Union membership. While Piazzi Town, at the bottom of Naga Ocean was the capitol, Dawn City with its mother festivals had become the biggest and most popular settlement.

Piazzi Town had two parts. There was the surface settlement, not far from Ahuna Mons, a large cryovolcano. The surface settlement also included a Class C spaceport mainly for intersystem traffic. From the surface part of the Piazzi Town, a bank of large high-speed elevators connected to the second part of the town, which was on the bottom of a mud/brine ocean known as the Naga Ocean. It had originally been established to research Ceres own life forms, but quickly grew partially to extract valuable minerals out of the mud-brine and partially to commercially grow and harvest the Ceres Tube Worms, which were popular food items to several Union member species.

However, neither the extracted minerals nor the Tube worms were the reason McElligott had come to this asteroid.

The elevator ride took almost 20 minutes despite its speed, giving attest to the depth that had been reached.

The town had grown and was also home to several research facilities. One such facility was operated by Lieberman-BioTech. Lieberman was conducting highly classified research for NAVINT and the Fleet. Earth or now better known as Terra was one of the very few societies in the known universe that kept researching and developing biological and chemical weapons. Only a few societies known ever went that direction in the first place, and those who did abandon any such research with the dawn of directed energy weapons.

Not so Earthers, of course. Earthers never abandoned any weapon technology and were able to weaponize the most innocent or peaceful process and idea.

McElligott almost grinned as he sat on the seat row that extended out of the smooth metal walls to provide comfort while descending.

Over at Pallas, the second-largest asteroid within the sol system and not all the far from Ceres, centered around Willhelm Stadt, old pre-Astro Chem giants such as Bayer, Hoechst and BASF started producing Dioxins, Furans, Polychlorinated biphenyls, and other highly toxic chemicals. The early ISAH engines relied on PCB’s as the most efficient way of cooling certain components and the demand for these coolants became immense. Other Chem giants followed and of course, research never stopped. The infamous Agent Orange was also reinvented and improved on Pallas and used as a main chemical weapon and very successfully against the Piostla.

Admiral McElligott remembered well how Agent Orange II was used in diffuser and sprayer bombs delivered by Translocator cannons inside the living ships of the Piostla with truly horrifyingly effective results. To this day, Pallas was the primary Chemical Weapon research center of the Union Military.

McElligott made a mental note to call General Beilstein, who was the lead officer of the Joint Armed Forces Chem Development program to get up to date on what they cooked and brewed up on Pallas.

On Mars, Human Terrans worked on the ATLAS program, the Alternative TransLocator weApon Systems project. In McElligott’s opinion one of the most important of them all. He was a strong opponent of the current weapon philosophy.

Ever since Stahl came back with these almost magical weapon system known as Translocator cannons, all other weapon systems were more or less ignored or abandoned. With the exception of the Loki torpedo, which as insiders knew utilized a clever version of the ParaDim shield technology which was part of the old Seenian technology that came with the Devastator.

The Old Highlander knew about the extraordinary steps taken to secure those secrets and so far no Union enemy was able to get their hands on it. In his eyes, however, it was only a matter of time, someone or something managed to break through all the safeguards and duplicate that tech. In his eyes, it was foolish to put all eggs into one techno basket so to speak. The universe was a big place and chances were great that the Union would meet a potential adversary who had similar weapons or shields that were opaque to the Translocator effect.

He had to admit and agreed with the fact that modern Translocator technology was far different from the one Stahl came back with, but it still worked on the same principle.