Esprit De Corps

[thedrifter]

Esprit De Corps

William S. Frisbee



Enemy voices rattled off something over the ship's intercom. Private First Class Lee leaned back, and wished he could wipe the sweat from his forehead. He wished he had taken the prison sentence. He wished he hadn't tried to hack into the Marine Corp's Military Intelligence network.

Who cared about military hackers Lee thought? Where was the glory in that? It was like a job, except much more dangerous. Back in the civilian world he had been a semi-well known, but excellent hacker, who most people respected as a professional but not a friend. Here he was just a Private First Class, the bottom of the totem pole. The one thing that hadn?t changed when he had joined the Corps was that he still didn?t fit in with other people. Lee had always been a lone wolf and he had resigned himself to that, now he was just a lone wolf in the Marines. A civilian waiting to take off his uniform.

Lee didn't care what the enemy voices were saying since they were only automated voices and the rest of the crew was already dead. A StarFleet AGPA team was in control. The AGPA, 'Assault Group-Prize Acquisition' team was an elite StarFleet team, organized for stealing enemy ships, but they were Fleet and Lee was a Marine.

It was strange for Lee to be on a Jatha Freighter that had been carrying supplies to a battle station less than two days ago. Now it wasn't a Jatha freighter, it was a Trojan Horse, and the Jatha battle station was going to let it into the walls.

Sergeant Adams stepped up in front of Lee with a smile plastered on his handsome but hard face. He was every bit the Marine, slim, muscular and tough. Very tough.

"Scared Private?" the Sergeant asked, his voice a rumble.

"No Sergeant," Lee said trying to sound bored. The Sergeant laughed.

"You got it easy Lee. Heck, we lose you and the whole mission is a waste."

"Yes Sergeant," Lee replied knowing that when he went to work, every Jatha on the station would be trying to kill him. It made his knees begin to shake just thinking about it.

"If you die before me Prive, I'm gonna court martial your ass for disobeying a direct order," Sergeant Adams said looking like he was serious.

"Aye Sergeant," Lee said. His neck felt stiff and he wanted to massage it, he also had to pee.

The Sergeant nodded satisfied with himself and moved on to Lance Corporal Hunt. Well, Lee thought, the peeing part he could handle, and he let go. His suit handled all biological functions so all a Marine had to do was fight.

The Sergeant's suit wasn't nearly as big as Lee's, and that wasn't because the Sergeant was smaller. In fact Lee had the biggest, bulkiest suit in the Platoon.

The others wore what looked like black wet suits with armored plates covering the ribs, arms and legs. Their helmets were more like cycle helmets, in comparison Lee wasn't physically bigger than his fellow Marines, his armor just stuck out more. Each plate of his armor was at least seven centimeters thicker than everyone else's and his helmet was huge. Everyone's armor was powered and augmented the wearer's strength but Lee's suit was a combat hacker's suit designed to penetrate an enemy data net in a very brutal violent way, it had combat modems, electronic tool kits and AI computers. A command board was across his back in place of a backpack, which nobody wore. One simple command and it would unfold in front of him ready for use. His frequency sub rifle was almost an afterthought.

He stood there with the other Marines like a big headed bug and wished, not for the first time, that he hadn't had such a big ego and tried to hack a military data net.

"Calaka Fro. Ninchai," the intercom said. Lee wished the AGPA crew wold silence it.

"Standby for docking," Lieutenant Vickers, the Marine Raider Commander said.

Lee's knees started shaking. He had thought that the hacker units in the Corps protected data nets and tracked enemy spies. He probably should have realized what they had in store from him when they sent him to Infantry Commando School after boot camp. After ICS they had sent him to Combat Hacker school and Lee had learned what little he didn't already know about the software side of hacking. He also learned how to 'create' a terminal for hacking into a system, which he hadn't needed to know as a civilian hacker.

A thunderous clang rattled the hull and Lee jumped.

"Docking complete," the Lieutenant said. "Standby for airlock pressurization."

"Remember Hunt," the Sergeant said to the Marine next to Lee. "He better die before you."

"Aye Sergeant," Hunt said bringing his freaker rifle up quickly and slapping it into his other hand. "Semper Fi!" he yelled.

"Do or die," Sergeant Adams growled back.

"OOooorah!" Hunt said. The Sergeant smiled and slammed his visor shut.

"Alright people," the Staff Sergeant said. "Remember how they bombed Matlock and fifty thousand civilians. Remember your fellow Marines who have fallen in battle. Remember your honor and fail none of them."

"Standby," the Lieutenant said and everybody braced themselves reminding Lee of racers about to start. "Airlock opening NOW!"

The airlock slid open and twenty-seven Marines screamed their battle cries and charged through the opening. They had rehearsed it hundreds of times, and there was no crowded mass at the doorway, only a mass of warrior pouring out to wreck hell and havoc on the enemy.

Sempers

Roger