Chapter 18

Santiago had everybody dirtside for exercises in Armor. I was not part of those exercises. For a change I was not happy about that. Lucky me, I was several klicks away with some eggheads and top brass. There were a couple of others in Armor as well. Master Gunnery Sergeants Yeboah and Adamek were suited up as well. My battlecomp identified them.

As soon as Santiago told me what I would be doing I promptly returned my battlecomp back to its regulation state except for the governor and the negative feedback system. I'm not sure what they would do if they found out what I could do to their battlecomp system but it would not be good. They were sure to be monitoring everything I did very closely.

I dropped with Whisky but was told to report to a different grid.

"Pvt. Sweeney, I'm Dr. Vibbard and this is Dr. Ming. You are here today so we can investigate your seemingly remarkable ability in your Class V Assault Armor. MGySgts. Yeboah and Adamek are our experts in Class V.

"What we are most interested is how you are able to function without the 'governor' system as it is colloquially known," said the youngish very pale blonde woman in a white overcoat. Her partner was dressed the same but was a somewhat short older man with graying hair. There were other techs nearby with tables set up and with computers.

One of the techs spoke up, "His 201 protocol is currently disabled and it appears that the negative feedback routine has been disabled as well."

"Can you duplicate it?" Asked Dr. Ming.

"Yes Sir. If you disable 201 then you can disable 5c. With those off the stabilizers still run but don't override any of the other routines. He should be flopping around on the ground," the tech said getting excited.

"Pvt. Sweeney, it says here that your governor has been off for twenty three years?"

"I believe so," I said.

"I can't believe that this didn't come to our attention until now. How did you first think to turn it off?"

"It was a long time ago. It just seemed to be holding me back," I said. It was a long time ago and I'm sure there was a bit of carelessness and overconfidence involved but that wouldn't add anything so I left it out.

"I'm not going to tell you why that was a very dumb thing to do and whoever let you turn it off was grossly negligent of their duties as I bet you are aware of that and it's in the past.

"What we would like from you today are some demonstrations. You will follow MGySgt Yeboah and do your best to keep up and perform the maneuvers he does."

"I understand."

"MGySgt. You may begin," she said.

With that Yeboah turned and skipped away. I followed. Knowing what a good operator at skipping can do I limited myself to that, otherwise I would have to wait for him to complete his. The first skip I underestimated. Then the next I overshot him. After that I think he pushed himself. Of course I didn't know if it was a he or she at that point. I did get the measure of his skill though and matched it. He was good, among the best I'd seen. Among the skips there were evasive maneuvers, stops, flips, and jumps.

Back at the start with the brass and eggheads I waited for the next. Part of me wanted to hold back. If they got too interested I might find myself with them for a very long time. They would have my records though and would be able to tell if I sandbagged. If all they wanted was for me to play follow the leader it should be okay.

The two doctors along with the brass were around the computers. There was a holo of us displayed.

MGySgt Yeboah took off his helmet and motioned me to do the same.

"Those were some outstanding maneuvers Private," she said.

"Thank you Master Gunny."

"I didn't hold back but I got the impression you were. I'm guessing you're the one from the Nine Seven who can centimeter at your six with a hundred meter skip. The rumor is running rampant."

"I am."

"So how do you do it? Adamek and I have our governors set a lower than what is regulation as part of our duties and have been a part of many experiments testing the lower limits of them. But I can tell you without a doubt I would never turn it off. I got just about every joint in my legs hyperextended once during a test and don't want to experience that again."

"I don't know. Somehow it reads my neural impulses and its actions match what my body does. Since I can't willfully hyperextend my joints the Armor doesn't either. That's what happens. The how and why I don't know."

"What happens when you turn the governor on? Or the 5c back on?" Adamek asked. He was older looking than Yeboah, but Yeboah's dark skin made it harder to place her for me.

"I'm limited and not a whole lot better than any A1. I don't like it. Feels like if you were to turn yours up, I imagine."

They both nodded at that.

"Pvt. Sweeney, now if you would skip at your best distance out a couple klicks and then back," Dr. Vibbard asked. She was polite at least I thought. I didn't feel like a circus sideshow or a lab rat -- yet.

So I skipped out a way and then back. When I returned all of them were gathered around the computers. They all looked up at me at the same time. It was a little unnerving.

"Pvt. Sweeney, I have a report here that you can run? Would you care to demonstrate that for us?"

"Okay. That's a bit more tricky"

"Tricky?"

"I don't do it very often," I said mentally kicking myself for saying anything.

"I see. Do you feel comfortable giving us a demonstration?"

"Yes."

"Then proceed when you are ready."

With a mental sigh I took off. I got up to my comfortable max at around 350 kph. I slowed some, did a wide turn and ran back. I started to slow well ahead and was skipping when I got back. The heat sinks on my armor were out radiating heat and they were all staring at me.

"One final thing Pvt. Sweeney, would you leap? Your best?"

"With assisters or without?"

"With please."

"Okay."

I bent down low with my fingertips touching the ground, set the battlecomp to assist, and then jumped. I was high enough that I used the leap assisters to slow me down landing. They aren't intended for that use as they generally don't send Marines high enough they need them on the landings. But whoever designed that part of the Armor's systems did an outstanding job and they worked perfectly as usual.

That time they were looking at the holos when I got back. I only landed a couple meters from when I started. I thought that was pretty good.

The Master Gunny's looked at me and the others as they stared at me.

"Private, let's see that centimetering if you don't mind. All this is interesting but not exactly useful against Lizards," MGySgt. Adamek said putting on his helmet. Yeboah did the same.

They came prepared and had stationary and moving targets. We spent some time shooting. They were genuinely interested in what I could do. Our time was cut short though as Yeboah informed us that we needed to report back.

"Pvt. Sweeney we need to run some tests now. You'll need to come with us back to the skunk works," Dr. Vibbard said.

With that she climbed into a utility vehicle. Another was loaded up with the equipment and the other eggheads. The Master Gunny's stepped up with feet on the running board, grabbed hand holds and motioned me to do the same.

We arrived at a gate. There were guards there, squids. They were armed but not armored up. They opened the gate and we drove in. The vehicles went into a large garage that opened for them. As we went inside I noticed there were no windows and according to the battlecomp the walls were some sort of plascrete.

"Yeboah and Adamek will show you where to disengage," Dr. Vibbard said.

I followed them to a miniature Armor bay. There were seven other suits there. Two more Class V, one Class Vc, and two Class VIs. But there were bays for a dozen more.

Out of my Armor Yeboah tossed me some skinners. They were plain so worked for me having no rank insignia. I kind of wanted to know what kind of tests they wanted to run but I didn't say anything. The less I said the better I thought as I was getting one of my bad feelings.

They led me an elevator. It opened for them and they ushered me inside.

"You are going to see some fairly high classified stuff. I don't know if they've explained it to you," Yeboah said.

"No."

"I didn't think so. I'm not sure who we would tell that would impact anything but it is classified none-the-less. So you probably should keep what you see to yourself unless somebody tells you different."

"I understand," I said as we exited the elevator into a hallway.

They led me to a door. Inside were the two Doctors along with several other eggheads. The room had lots of stuff I did not recognize the use for, other than a tank and an autodoc bed.

I'm not going to bore you with all the crap they made me do. They had me back in my armor at one point with a diagnostic harness riding piggyback on the battlecomp.

In the end they knew more about me but still didn't know why I could use the Armor the way I did. Evidently my reaction times, measured in all the ways they knew how, from simple to discrimination, were almost immeasurable. An augmented person (mostly Marines but Fleet pilots as well) had roughly a fifth the reaction time as a fast normal human. They had thought that that was as fast as they could push the human body. That made me a freak of nature because mine were again as fast.

They also determined that my neural impulse to move a part of my body moved both my body and the Armor at the same time. There was no lag or delay. That, they said, should not be possible. It was also what had them the most excited.

I was told that I would be back the next day for further tests. While I wasn't sure it was a waste of time it was sure to bore me as this day had. Evidently eggheads don't eat regularly because they cut me loose at twenty hundred hours, hungry and without a ride.

Getting back on the Demios was a bit of a pain. There were no pilots to get me. Most apparently were off duty and off ship for the night. I cooled my heels while Santiago figured it out. Eventually he found a pilot.

"Demios one-one in for retrieval," came Commander Slovak's voice.

"Pvt. Sweeney ready for retrieval Sir."

"ETA 30 tics."

"Acknowledged. 30 tics on your mark."

"Mark," he said. The squids insisted on keeping with the official protocol for all recalls. It made sense. There were enough rocks that needed the routine and the regimen to keep from fucking something up.

Of course he didn't come screaming in. I doubt the Generals wanted their home times interrupted with sonic booms. When my boots hit the deck he left at a leisurely pace.

"Welcome aboard Private."

"Thank you Sir. It's a bit of a surprise to see you I admit."

"I used to drive one of these things when I was a wet-behind-the-ears Lieutenant, Sweeney."

"You mean you weren't born a Commander Sir?"

"No. But I am fairly sure that Marines aren't born but are assembled out of spare parts, duct tape, and baling wire."

"Baling wire? I thought I was old but you just dated yourself Sir."

He just laughed. I doubt very many people, except those on newer colonies, even knew what baling wire was. Hell the only reason I did was I like to read the ancient classics. Navy officers were on average seven years older than Marines of similar rank. They did not have the attrition rates and it could be argued Marines learned by doing. Most of their time was spent in the big show and not rehearsing for it.

I was pretty sure I was older than Slovak even if I looked younger. It was a surprise though that the ship's XO would come get me, a lifer private, even if he liked me.

"So are you human?" Amy asked me.

"They didn't say."

"I'd say barely," she said with a smirk on her face. I was in her office reporting.

"Whatever I am you seem to like it."

"I always wanted a dog when I was a little girl. Maybe you can be my pet."

"I'm not housebroke. I have a really bad habit of humping legs and whatever else I can find."

"Perfect. I need a pet that likes to hump things!"

"Evil woman," I said and left before she got me worked up even more.

"Pvt. Sweeney reporting as ordered Sir," I said knocking on hatch of Santiago's office.

"Come in Sweeney," he said still reading something on his display.

I waited for him to finish, noting he had a new picture on his desk. The kids looked a little older than the last ones. It was probably only taken a few days ago I guessed. Santiago and his wife were holding and standing with four kids. She was pretty and the kids looked cute. My guess it was taken near their house. It looked like base housing for the Field Officers.

"Sweeney, there is a good chance the eggheads are going to try and kidnap you. You are way too interesting to them not to try. I'm not sure there is anything I can do about it but you..." he said trailing off.

"I understand."

"Good. Armor up and report to the one-one. You get to do it again."

"Aye Aye Sir."

It wasn't hard to make the eggheads uncomfortable. I think that pretty much everybody is a little wary of Marines now, for obvious reasons. Psych conditioning and therapies are mostly effective at adjusting behaviors and responses. Those therapies are not perfect of course and they are not generally done on active duty Marines, unless a Marine is heading for a section eight. Most give credit for the remarkable relative mental health of Marines to three things. One, Marines are volunteers, excepting lifers of course. Two, the sexes are integrated and relationships are not discouraged generally. Human contact and affection go a long way to healing a broken psyche. Three, we are not fighting other humans. Killing a monster does not weigh on a person's conscience generally. Lizards fall neatly into the 'monster' category.

The eggheads had to know on some level that I was not a volunteer and that I was a lifer for a reason. My change in attitude most likely reminded them I think.

Yesterday MGySgts. Yeboah and Adamek were not around much except when necessary or when something interesting was going on. By midmorning they were both present all the time. It would have been pretty stupid to threaten anybody.

So I started with quiet sighs of impatience. Moved to groans of frustration and then to surly looks.

After a couple of hostile stares at the back of a couple of people that I 'tried' to hide I spent more time just sitting waiting. The Master Gunny's were not interested in talking and left me in a locked exam room. They shared the standard anti-lifer bias which I was counting on. When I was needed for something the Gunnys escorted me to the techs and stood by until they were done and took me back.

I was back on the Demios by chow time.

As part of the exercises and training Santiago had going I at least could talk to Amy. Our private channel was still in place for whatever reason. I suspect Santiago forgot about it.

"Thad."

"Yeah?"

"How many children do you want?"

"Huh?"

"How many children do you want? You know ... Me pregnant. You getting me that way. I have a baby. We do it again. How many children do you want?"

"Eight," I said trying to shock her because her question had shocked me.

"Eight? Hmm. Eight is good. I've got four siblings and I wouldn't want any less than five kids like my family."

I don't remember much of the exercises. Amy spent the rest of the day asking me about names, how many boys versus girls, how far apart in ages, where I wanted to live, and pretty much everything else any young woman would want to talk about with her husband or the man she has chosen.

It was a very pleasant fantasy and I could not find it in me to discourage her. I wanted her to have everything she was talking about even if it was not me that she had them with. It hurt and felt good at the same time.

We left the Yerda system a week after Fleet started their assault on the Gerta system. All the time leading up to us leaving was spent in exercise and simulations. The boots needed to adjust to the new way of doing things.

Amy and I got to meet in the parks a few more times before enlisted were ship bound. It might seem like we were taking a big risk but it was not that bad. There are many parks and gardens on the base. Control monitored pretty much everything except the parks, gardens, restrooms, and personal quarters and offices. The only people that spent much time in the little gardens were the recruits who maintained them. They were easy to avoid and had known schedules. If any recruits saw us they would be so scared at having seen two people fucking in a park that they would not dream of telling anybody.

Shipbound, we only got to share the occasional hug or kiss with so much activity going on prepping for Gerta.

Gerta 3 was older than Ristlan 5 was. It had been ten years since we, the humans, lost the system. I was there. Every planet we lost I had been at when we lost it. The first ones were Tico 4 twenty nine years ago and then Hosta 3 twenty years ago. Gerta 3 was the only other somewhat developed colony but still considered 'outlying' or new. The other three were young colonies and all fell in the last eight years with the most recent being Lantham 4 only four years ago. The urge to spread across the galaxy was still there in humans, it was that we were not so crowded anymore so fewer people picked up and moved and colonies took longer to develop.

You'll notice that I only named seven colonies. The other two were not members. One was a non-member Christian Theocracy and the other an Islamic State, neither of which could or even wanted to join the RAS. There were no plans to take those back and they had no allies to speak of, just a few nuts hiding out in RAS worlds but they were worthless. Neither planet was of any strategic importance for location or resources. The Assembly was probably happy that the Lizards had removed them, as they had been a constant source of trouble. I'd heard that the Fleet was planning on dropping some planet killers on them to deal with the Lizards.

The eggheads weren't sure why the pace of invasions slowed but we were not looking a gift horse in the mouth. We were sure though that there would be no more lost. The new orbital and system defense platforms were rapidly being deployed to all the members of the RAS no matter how small. Those idiots who did not join were on their own and would ultimately end up as Lizard chow.

We knew about the Lizards before we lost Tico. Before that it was a handful of outposts and mining operations. The government tried diplomacy at first. Excitement was high at our first real contact with another sentient species. It didn't work. Humans were simply not ready to meet such a threat.

I'm not sure what the Navy did different this time but things went smoother.

Fifteen raiders were in orbit around Gerta 3. I found myself feeling a little nostalgic. I was there when we lost the planet and then the system. It was a memory I could do without. They all were. Losing a planet is an ugly thing. Evacuating all the civilians took time and was like herding cats. When the Lizards touched down it was pure chaos. Marines found themselves torn between wanting to protect the civilians and following orders which were always purely offensive and had us smashing Lizards. Marines did not aid in evacuations. We were there to fight and kill. The Navy coordinated with the Planetary Army and government. Both had strict orders to stay out of our way. It was easy for the Navy to do; the Army was generally a pain in the ass.

I had no idea if my family was part of the mass exodus at the time or if they made it.

We were back though and everybody was confident that we would be leaving on our own terms. Our Regiment had the honor of being the first Marines on the ground. Santiago made a big deal of being the first of the first by dropping a few tics before anybody else. It was a nice touch I thought and the Regiment ate it up. Santiago was a good officer and knew that he needed to balance morale and 'esprit de corps' with sound leadership and technical knowledge.

The Lizards wasted little time and were soon rushing towards us in swarms. We rolled right over them using the same tactics that had proven so effective on 'The Grinder.'

The rest of the invasion force was on the ground right after and the battle for Gerta 3 began.

Whisky was on bug duty. Even with the new tactics hives still needed to be wiped out. I was out front while Amy and the rest of the brass were with the rest of Whisky.

We had not seen much new on Gerta 3 yet. So far no one nickname had stuck. Fourteen days in the MEF was using our tactics. Then nineteen days after that the entire invasion force was also. It was not a cakewalk though. The less capable officers were having trouble adapting. We lost some of our officers that way, at least temporarily, to other regiments. So far they had not done any headhunting from Whisky, but other companies in the regiment had lost some officers and some senior NCOs. They were assigned to the units that were not doing as well.

Sure it helped if even the privates understood what was going on but it was not necessary. As long as the officers and NCOs did, the enlisted ranks would catch on by doing as they were told.

Gerta 3 was my home once-upon-a-time. There was little left that I could recognize. Much of the infrastructure was taken over by the skinks and gators. Lizards were nothing if not industrious.

"I think this used to be a park I played in as a kid," I said to Amy on our private channel.

Santiago had not reinstated that channel. I created one though and Santiago was none the wiser. Why he did not set it up again I don't know, but I had a few guesses. Amy generally did not need my counsel like before so that was probably most of it, I hoped. Any enlisted could contact their commanding officer privately and the other way around, but those contacts were official and recorded. What Santiago had given us was special and rare before. I had never had one for any length of time before Amy. I assumed other field officers had them but they didn't tell the enlisted about such things.