Zero Drift - Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Sergeant Veraine handed her a small notebook before formation. It fit in her thigh pocket perfectly, which was good because she had no time to return it to her bunk or review the material it contained. Sierra Squad was moving out, off the range.

"Fall in!"

By now it was second nature to assume her outlier position one person behind Monitor Kentaro. Even with their full kits on their backs, the formation was the same.

"Right Face." This was new. The range was to the left and had been the direction they moved every morning, afternoon, and night. The shuttle field was to the right, but no shuttle had landed.

"Forward, march."

She stepped off. Doing otherwise would break the pattern of movement now ingrained within her. Being the odd person in the fireteam, she took half-steps until she reached the end of the second string, then fell in behind them.

"Route step, march!" The command gave them permission to break step, ignore the cadence of footfalls from formal marching. Nara stayed in step. Everyone else did as well.

They crossed the field, entered the thick brush and found themselves on a worn path of rocky sand and gravel. The crunch of their feet was the only sound. Nara thought it was too loud.

She thought about the miss. Her sight picture had been perfect. Her breathing was right. If the round had drifted that much, there must be another explanation for it. Every detail was replayed in her mind as she marched.

"Squad, halt. We'll take five. Hydrate."

The command to drink was not ignored. They had been marching for over an hour. Any sounds from the field or firing range were well behind them now.

"Where are we going?" Rusk asked the fireteam.

Monitor Kentaro stepped up. "Another training camp. You've proven you can shoot. Now you'll learn how to patrol. Shooting was the easy part."

He wasn't wrong. It took them most of the day to march to the next camp. Nara noticed the scent of water first. It danced in the air with a feeling of increased humidity after their last rest. The rocky soil softened to be more sandy, making their calves burn as they trudged along. Finally, they crested a small rise and saw the camp laid out between them and a blue sea.

"Quick step, march!" They regained their measured cadence and tightened up formation.

"Mark time, march!" They stopped their forward motion, but continued to march in place. Nara moved forward, paralleling Kentaro and Vesk to resume her third-row spot.

"Squad, halt. Left face." They stopped then pivoted together. Sergeant Veraine was standing before them.

"This is patrol camp. We are here to make each fireteam an effective patrolling agent. Ninety percent of our time on this moon will be patrolling. It may be easy to think this is nothing, meaningless instruction. It isn't. Pay attention."

She paused, looking across the squad. "Monitors, bunk assignments, chow, then special instruction. Tholren, find me after you eat. Dismissed."

Shadows felt heavier in her tent and Sera avoided eye contact. She ate a ration pack, then needed to deal with the weight in her stomach as she walked to Sergeant Veraine's tent. The sergeant was sitting outside on a comfortable looking field chair.

"Recruit Tholren, reporting as ordered, Sergeant."

Veraine's cold eyes scanned her up and down. They lingered on her thigh pocket.

"Did you review that book or just tuck it away?"

"I stowed it for the march, Sergeant. I haven't had time to study it yet."

"Get it out, and stand a rest for goodness sake. You won't learn what you need if you're at attention all the time."

Her tone was gruff, but the words were almost friendly. Nara retrieved the small notebook. It was titled "On the Firing Line", and had a MEC logo on the cover.

"That is your new religion, recruit. It will walk you through proper firing technique for prone, sitting, and standing positions. It will instruct you how to hold your weapon, how to adjust in different environments. I want you to study it. Memorize it, but most importantly you need to practice it."

But I scored perfectly in qualifying.

"You have a natural feel for shooting, that's evident from your qualifying scores," The Sergeant continued. "But your form is wrong. It's why you missed the shot from the ridge. Form is more than a feeling. Proper form gives you a base to stabilize the weapon. Proper form makes you the weapon. We'll be spending three weeks at this camp, practicing patrolling techniques. You and I will spend every day and night rebuilding your shooting foundation."

Veraine held her gaze. "Questions, recruit? Now's the time to ask."

Nara wanted to make the shot she missed. More than anything she had felt since leaving home. But her rotation with Sierra Squad was only two weeks long. One week was finished already.

"My rotation," she began.

"It's changed. You'll stay here, with Sierra Squad for a second rotation."

Recycled? Everything's a test.

Veraine seemed to read her. "You are not washing out of special assessment, if that's your concern. You're a natural shot out to 800 meters. Your reaction time is damned near perfect on the Field Firing Range. You have the fundamentals to perform overwatch. MEC needs that. Such skill is rare. I've been tasked with seeing if you can develop into one such person."

This wasn't about a qualification mark. She had shot Expert. This was more. MEC wanted it, but she sensed it had something to do with the Integration. But she wasn't even designated by the system yet.

"Read the first two chapters. Ask me questions if you have them, then assume the prone firing position as it's described in the book. Begin."

It was after lights out before Veraine let her go, though the tidally locked moon kept the camp lit with reflected light from the planet. Her coverall was filthy from lying in the loose dirt and sand. Every minute of the practice felt unnatural. But she had finally produced the form Veraine was looking for. Sleep in a bunk would be her reward.

---

The form felt wrong on day two. It felt wrong on day three. It felt wrong on day seven. It felt wrong every time Veraine told her to practice, which was anytime the squad took a break from a practice patrol.

She learned the fieldcraft by failing it first. On day three the thermal blanket squares masked her IR signature but the chameleon coating had locked on the wrong terrain palette. Sera spotted her in seven seconds. Camouflage was more than hanging thermal blanket squares off her coverall and web gear to break up her IR signature, more than adjusting the chameleon coating of her gear to mottled patterns and colors of the surrounding terrain. It was a calibration she now ran every time she stopped, the way she had once re-checked her survey grid for drift. Patrolling was a mindset she needed to adopt. The Integration would only flag and sometimes ID what a person consciously spotted. A lot of their practice was attempting to spot Fireteam Baker while patrolling. The rest of their time was spent avoiding being spotted.

"Why do you move when we stop?" Veraine asked her during one patrol.

"Sergeant?"

"You try to find a high point. Why?"

"Better fields of view for observation, Sergeant."

"Good. From now on, while on patrol when we stop, I expect you to find not just a high-spot, but a proper shooting spot. Think about the terrain, our path of advance, what cover and concealment is available. Then take an appropriate shooting position. When we resume our patrol, you'll explain your decisions to me. Move."

She moved. After that, the firing positions still felt wrong, but being in the proper spot to assist and protect her team made it feel less wrong.

Day and night did not mean much to them on Varex. The variation in available light was minimal. But patrolling when your body thought it was time to sleep added a stress to them all. Nara concentrated, feeling reenergized after any break where she took an overwatch position.

"Who watches your back when you're watching ours?" Sera asked on day nine. No one envied her special sessions every night with the Sergeant, which gained her some sympathy, not that she wanted it. They asked easier questions on patrol breaks. That was the acceptance she could read.

"I guess I do. If I pick a spot someone can sneak up on me at, I failed."

Sera shook her head. "When you graduate, you'll get a spotter as a partner. They'll have your back. Scout-snipers always go out in pairs."

Sniper. That's no occupation for a lady, Nara!

Knowing how her mother would react almost made it a reward worth earning.

Can I kill in cold blood?

That was a question to ponder. In her next overwatch post, she thought about it. Depending on the rules of engagement, if a hostile was threatening her fireteam or imperiled her team's mission, she thought she could pull the trigger. Scanning the terrain through her scope, she thought some more. A target popping up two hundred meters out, with a visible weapon would need to be a nearly instant shot. At six hundred meters, she'd have a little more time. Beyond a thousand, it would feel like days of time. She could call that contact in and get instructions.

But what if the instructions are to fire?

She filed her thinking, not ignoring it, but not ready to call it resolved. Until she faced the choice, she didn't need to answer the question.

Three clicks on her headset. Time to form up. She scanned the back trail once more, then rose from her seated firing position and rejoined the team. They had six more klicks to cover on this patrol.

---

On day fifteen the form did not feel wrong.

Fireteam Able had stopped at a widening of a road snaking between the shoreline and a rocky cliff. A perfect spot for an ambush, if you could achieve surprise. The sinuous turns of the rough gravel road would make it easy enough to approach from the front or the rear.

But only if Nara wasn't in her perch. As soon as a rest was called, she was searching for a path up the side of hill. It wasn't easy, but a tiny path carved by rainfall or something else gave just enough purchase for her to scramble ten meters above the road and then conceal herself within a small field of larger rocks and boulders.

She focused on settling her breath, then scanned the road ahead, then behind.

Motion. It was not enough to use the overlay for identification or targeting, but she saw it. Her scope provided enough proof. Someone had not noticed a broken chameleon block on a helmet. The dull gray square was obvious at 10x power in her scope.

"Bogey, two klicks ahead, spotted on a sand dune between the road and the sea," she reported.

Once she was certain of her target, the overlay confirmed: [Human, Male, No Threat].

No threat to her. It was the way all the MEC forces appeared in the overlay. She knew to interpret the threat to their mission.

"Report force ahead, Tholren." It was Veraine's voice.

She scanned the dune, seeing other shapes that might be men, or might be natural formations. Only the one had a solid gray square visible. She counted, then checked her field of view once more.

"One confirmed. Four possible. Terrain on the shore-side of the road is obscured from this position." She leaned forward, craning her neck to look around the small arm of the hill obscuring her view. She could not see where she wanted.

"Stay on task."

She clicked twice for affirmative.

That was when she realized her position and posture felt right. She looked at her hands and feet. She was a solid firing platform for her rifle. The adjustments from the book were applied without thought.

She gave a small grunt, barely audible, then returned to scanning the way forward.

"Tholren, do you have a path to advance up there?" This was Monitor Kentaro.

She took her time, surveying the sloped hillside. The cliff down was abrupt, but the area she was on was a shallower slope, dotted with boulders and shrubs.

"Affirmative. I can move forward parallel to the road at least two hundred meters. No clear visibility beyond that point."

"Move and observe, Tholren."

Two clicks on the channel. She rose easily, not standing fully and stepped off. The loose, thin soil giving scant purchase to plants was firm enough for her. She placed her feet, then scanned for opposition, then stepped forward again. She made no sound as she progressed slowly. Five steps. Ten. She made it twenty-five meters and stopped. A slow, deliberate scan of her surroundings, then she moved once more.

She moved to a crawl at the arm thrusting out toward the sea, inching over the ridge line and continuing lower until she knew it was safe to rise.

"Two squads in ambush position," she reported softly. "Force on the dune is a pinning force. Main body concealed to left of road. Half the force is just below my elevation."

The 'enemy' patrol was in a good spot. The cliff transformed into a steep, but manageable, slope with boulders and ravines providing perfect firing positions for an enemy caught by the fireteam on the dune. SOP was to assault toward the attackers. This group would open fire on undefended backs.

"Mark the field and squirt a picture," Veraine ordered.

Nara activated the passive sensors in her helmet, tagging each soldier she could see, and activated the transmit button. Active sensors would have alerted the opposing force. For now, they didn't know they were under observation.

Rather than wait for orders, Nara slid into a better firing position, prone this time. She would be less observable if anyone there scanned the ridge, but she would also be slightly slower if she had to bug-out. Her form was book-perfect as she snugged the stock of her rifle into her shoulder and looked through her optics.

Based on average size, she estimated she was thirteen hundred meters from her targets. She'd use a ranging shot if they went live, but didn't want to risk some passive sensor detecting her laser until they were engaged.

The ambush was quiet, settled, waiting.

So was Nara.

"Weapons tight," she heard over her comm channel. "All recruits, ensure training rounds only."

She thumbed her laser selector to low power, ranging mode. In an exercise, it would score hits, not hurt nominal friendly units. She had only loaded training rounds in her caseless ammo magazine, but still checked the load before clicking twice that she was ready and weapons status was confirmed.

"Tholren, hold fire until you see who is issuing orders. Then take them out. We're preparing to assault the dune contingent from the flank."

On a designated team the order would have arrived as intent first, words after. Hers arrived as words alone. No shared overlays, no realtime tactical updates.

She waited. She imagined a survey grid spread out before her. Every position was catalogued and every potential approach to her was noted. Using only her laser in this exercise might let her hit a lot of them before they knew where she was. No drift with a laser. With the low power requirements of training, she would not drain the charge on her rifle and not have to worry about range degradation or scattering. She scanned her targets once more. It felt like cheating, but MEC made the rules. Any laser hit was as effective as a combat shot, even if it was minimal power.

One person moved, motioning to another. That's a Monitor, telling a recruit to get down. She marked the position on her mental survey grid and returned to scanning the field.

"Weapons free. Commence assault."

Nara checked her position. After Sera's question, she had made it a practice to check her six-o'clock frequently. If she could sneak behind someone, someone could sneak behind her. Nothing.

Eyes forward. She could see the tension in the ambushing force as the soft crack of training round firing reached her. The gray square exposed on the dune was gone. The monitor below her was crouching now, getting ready to move. No one else gave any indication of who was issuing orders. She sighted in on the Monitor.

Her breathing cycle was natural, fully ingrained. She squeezed the trigger between heartbeats. The laser tagged the monitor, setting off his hit alarm, she was certain, but she cared more about the range reading. 1,347 meters.

She shifted targets. Settle, breathe, squeeze. The next person in the line dropped, pounding the ground with their fist. Next. The fireteam was moving now, trying to spot her location. They were looking much too low and close to themselves.

In less than half a minute, a fireteam of the ambushing force was out of action. It was now three fireteams on one. Her team was still the underdog. She shifted targets. One person was standing, hidden from the road, but not from Nara.

Settle, breathe, squeeze. The person stood, hands on their hips, looking up the hill. They realized where she was. She shifted. The enemy was finally moving to gain cover from her, which meant their ambush was broken even if they didn't know it yet. A few of them pointed rifles in her direction, but at a much lower elevation.

Eventually, Veraine's voice filled the area broadcast. "All recruits, cease fire. Weapons safe. Assemble on the road for debrief."

Nara waited. Not because she doubted the orders, but because she knew better than to move on assumption when a minute's observation would tell her what she needed. Only when the monitor she started with was moving along his squad deactivating the hit-alarm blaring their simulated deaths to them did she safe her weapon and rise to a crouch.

Playing soldier, Nara?

Her mother would not approve, but she was happy with the job she had done.

A click in her ear. "Good job, Tholren. That is what overwatch can provide. Well done."

Her mother's voice was silent.

Her path down to the road would take her through the squad she had just eliminated. She wondered what they would think. It wouldn't matter. She did her job, effectively.

Being over a klick away gave them plenty of time to spot her. She felt their eyes on her even as they too moved toward the road. One person kept checking her position. She saw a small shake of his head when she was nearly four hundred meters out. She angled toward him, able to choose a path that would bring them closer together. She wanted to understand the head shake.

At fifty meters, it was her turn to be surprised. Arv Teralune paused his descent to wait for her.

"I wasn't wrong about you, Nara Tholren. Nice job."

Nara nodded, then jerked her head toward the road. Together, they continued their descent.

Which matters more, Veraine's approval or Arv's?

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