Zero Drift - Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Camden's recycle was a paperwork item. Its impact on her was the second surprise of the morning. The third was finding her name on the roster of the squad she had killed the day before.

Everything's a test.

Camden failing was a genuine surprise. She thought she had done enough to help keep his head in the game. She'd grown to like the fidgety young man. She hoped he would excel in a regular squad. She compartmentalized her feelings. She could examine them later.

Sierra Squad was not happy to see her go, but everyone knew her rotation with them was up. Veraine wished her well. Sera gave her a hug and a whispered, "Maybe we'll get assigned together after graduation." Nara thought she'd like that.

She was to report to Staff Sergeant Muir. He was responsible for a full four-fireteam squad, twenty-four riflemen was approaching platoon size. Platoons were what graduated from basic.

"Recruit Tholren, reporting as ordered, Staff Sergeant," she said after knocking on the door of the head of the new squad. She had spent a single night in her old bunk with Sierra Squad. She'd been warned not to unpack.

The dark-skinned man wearing starched coveralls with chevron tabs on his shoulders looked up from his desk. He had shocking blue eyes and significant gray-white highlights in his close-cropped hair. No shaved head tradition in this unit. He looked her up and down. The look was the kind senior NCOs perfected over years, assessment delivered as appraisal, with no doubt left that she was being weighed.

"Ah, our infamous sniper from Sierra Squad. You didn't make any friends here the other day down on Varex, recruit."

"I did my job, Staff Sergeant, to the same level of quality you can expect me to operate at here."

"I'll hold you to that, recruit."

He tapped his handheld. "You'll be on Fireteam Oboe. You'll know Monitor Cutter. He finished with the special assessment folks and was assigned to us last rotation as we consolidate squads. Go find him for bunk assignment. Dismissed."

She found Whiskey Squad, Fireteam Oboe's berthing area by the expedient method of reading the neat labels stenciled above the doorways opening onto the training floor. Based on the harried look of two other recruits, she was not the only newcomer in the squad.

"Monitor Cutter, Recruit Tholren reporting as ordered."

Cutter looked her over, noticing something, but she wasn't certain what. "Good to see you again, Nara. Take bunk thirteen." His head jerked in the direction of the room. "You'll be with Ressa Kallin, Darin Vosk, and Zarev Marr. We'll muster and review assignments at 1000, so you've got until then to get settled."

Nara nodded and cleared out. Her locker was numbered, so she immediately began stowing her gear.

"Look," a mocking woman's voice said from bunk eleven. "It's our new teammate who likes shooting people in the back."

Two others stuck their heads out to see her. One was a teenager, still sporting pimples and a shaved head like hers. No dark stubble and light, almost white eyebrows. His brown eyes, at least, were friendly. The other was dark-skinned, with smooth skin, white teeth and thick lips. His smile was infectious.

"Don't let Ressa raz you," the dark-skinned man said. "I'm Vosk, Darin."

"Nara," she replied automatically.

"I'm Zarev," the pimple-faced kid said. "Looks like we're the misfits sent to flesh out this fireteam."

Ressa dropped from her top bunk to join the conversation. "Not all misfits. Some of us were doing just fine until smarty-pants here shot us in the back and got the rear-guard fireteam split up."

Nara shrugged. "It was my job to make sure you didn't ambush my former fireteam. It wasn't personal."

The blonde-haired woman was taller than Nara. She leaned in, looking down at Nara with her dark eyes. She stared, as if waiting for Nara to blink.

"Such a petulant child."

It would be her mother's assessment of Ressa. Nara had heard the same comment frequently growing up.

Ressa blinked. "Okay, Nara, I guess it's better you covering us than you shooting us." She extended her hand.

Nara shook it. "How's Cutter?" she asked to change the topic.

"Don't know yet," Darin said. "This fireteam is new. Ressa and Zarev were in the squad last rotation. This set is shaken up and expanded."

"Cutter seems alright," Ressa added. "I heard he was on some special training before rotating in with us."

Nara kept her mouth shut.

"Yeah," Zarev added. "I heard he was on a fireteam that triggered a Flux Rift, lucky bastards."

"Lucky?" Nara had never considered a rift to be lucky.

"Sure. Survive a rift, get some points and maybe a designation," Zarev said. "I knew some kids in school that went into a rift, survived, and got attribute bumps as well as points to allocate. It's a fast track to designation."

"If you survive," Ressa replied. "Scuttlebutt is they didn't all make it out."

Nara wondered if Camden had been with him, then closed that compartment in her mind.

"MEC brass aren't going to talk about that. Probably write it up as a training accident."

All three nodded, as if they had knowledge rather than speculation. Nara filed it. One data point, not a trend or actionable yet.

"We've got until 1000 to get settled. I'd better get my kit put away."

The others watched, then went to their own lockers and sorted their gear. Nara knew Cutter. A locker inspection was not out of the question.

At 1000, he called Fireteam Oboe to the training room. Two other fireteams were in the far corners. One of them was Arv's.

"Gather around," Cutter said as they approached.

"Take a knee, if you want."

Cutter had not raised his voice since the muster began. The recruits adjusted their posture without his calling them on it. His movements were economical, not flashy, the kind of professional baseline she had read in Veraine without ever being told what to call it. For Cutter, Nara filed it as approachable.

"You all know we're a new fireteam in the squad, along with Fireteam George. In the field, a platoon is typically five fireteams, so thirty personnel with a small staff all under a lieutenant. We don't get quite that large in training. With only a few rotations left, you all need to get a feel for larger teams coordinating. That's what we're here for. Questions?"

He looked at each recruit in turn. No one asked anything.

"Good. Our fireteam has special tasking. As you know, Tholren is a sniper. She'll need a spotter and back-watch. That's you, Kallin." He passed, looking at Ressa until she acknowledged with a nod. "Good. Vosk and Marr, you'll be heavy riflemen. You'll act as an assault element for the team. We'll have one other person attached on most missions, either a medic or a hammer."

Nara raised her hand. Cutter nodded to her. "What's a hammer?"

Ressa snorted.

"A hammer is someone specializing in entry tactics. They may use a breaching charge or just brute force an entry. In the field, it's usually a high-Frame individual who had advantages a normal rifleman won't have."

He looked at them all once more.

"We'll spend the rest of the day working through ship or station-borne assault formations. Nara, there aren't many sniper opportunities on a station or ship, so you and Ressa will be a second assault element. Any questions?"

"No, Monitor," they said in unison.

"Then let's get to work. We've got three days up here to become a unit, then three more down on Varex. After that, you'll learn how to integrate into a larger force."

---

They were a unit. This time, by someone else's measure too. Six days of hard training together proved that to them as well as Staff Sergeant Muir. They had beaten other fireteams through a combination of rapid station assault led by Vosk and Marr and overwatch by Nara with Ressa at her back. Cutter praised with a nod and chastised with a frown, but was all nods by the fifth day of training.

Six days total, then a day of rest. Varex wasn't much of an R&R location, but down-time was still welcome. Their camp was near the shore, so the fireteam spent some time together swimming in the cold, blue waters of the moon before field stripping their weapons and preparing their gear for the coming exercises. The next evolution would be at an operational site. Training was progressing to live field experience.

"Fireteam Oboe, fall in!" The command was unexpected, but they hurried to comply, forming two ranks of two outside Monitor Cutter's tent. A trooper, not a recruit, was standing with Cutter, his single chevron was barely noticeable, but the electronic pack on his back was obvious. He also had a strange-shaped tab on his left shoulder. It was two intersecting eight-pointed stars with a circle superimposed on the intersection. She had not seen anything similar during training.

"This is Trooper Dray. He is assigned to us for our upcoming exercise. He's a Technician, and will provide augmented field sensor intel for the op. He outranks you all, but is not in your chain of command. Act accordingly. He'll be in our spare tent. Dismissed."

The trooper nodded, then walked to the fireteam. "Call me Maseko, or Mase."

Nara liked him right away. He was focused and carried himself with an ease that screamed competence to her. She felt he would be a good addition to the team. They all introduced themselves and helped him get settled.

The next visitor was Arv, but he was here to see Cutter, not check up on her. Nara watched him from in front of her tent. The shoulder badge she had noticed on the first day was now obvious. Two chevrons with a circular pip below them, the badge of a Monitor. Seeing him, she wondered how a ranked member of MEC ended up on Vassal-7 as a survey guard.

Arv glanced her way when he finished, nodded, and then walked away. She thought about following him, but resisted the urge. She'd learn what she needed to know as soon as Monitor Cutter decided she did have a need to know.

Morning formation was that time.

"Fallout, then gather around," Cutter said after the morning administrative announcements were completed.

"We're joining Fireteam George today. We'll get a mission brief on site. We head to the shuttle field in thirty minutes, so get your gear and saddle up."

Nara was the first ready to go, which seemed to surprise Mase. "You must keep your kit packed and ready," he said as he joined her at their normal assembly point.

"I pack fast. Besides, keeping everything in position all the time makes me ready on short notice. Cutter can be exacting about that during locker inspections."

"I don't miss those surprises. The nicest thing about graduation is there's seldom a surprise inspection. We put them on the notice board and weekly training plan. Other days, do as you please with your gear."

Nara considered that. Having a place for everything, and keeping everything in its place made logical operational sense to her. On survey work, where things went had mattered as much as which things you brought. She kept that habit.

Everyone was ready before the departure time. Cutter jogged them down the road to the shuttle field, where Arv's Fireteam George was assembled.

Cutter stood next to Arv, who surveyed the two fireteams. He addressed the group without preamble, clearly in charge of both teams.

"Attention to orders. Fireteams George and Oboe of Whiskey Squad will provide perimeter patrol and overwatch for Meridian Mining survey team on Varex as they survey and extract core samples at Point Elroy on the Varex Island designated Hotel-Echo-Zero-Three. They will work in conjunction with the remainder of Whiskey Squad to establish a perimeter of no less than three klicks around the survey operation. Opposition forces may be patrolling on the island and there have been reported signs of non-Meridian activity."

Nara thought back to her own survey experience. This was a mineral survey most likely, active drilling, not just passive observation.

"Concept of operations," Arv continued. "Establish an observation post on Hill 267 in the op area. Patrol two klicks out of OP and four klicks north between the two shorelines. Maintain overwatch and patrol activities until relieved or recalled."

No predetermined exercise end time. That meant bivouacking on site. They had slept rough a few times during training, but never more than one sleep period. Night didn't really apply as a descriptor on Varex.

"Oboe will establish the OP. George will patrol, with augment from Oboe. Monitors will rotate between OP and patrol. Comms will be on fireteam channels for the different elements, common group channel will be Whiskey Squad channel twelve. Back-up comms will be standard hand signals if outside verbal range."

They had practiced comms discipline and multi-unit coordination for the past few days. It was second nature now. Nara had fixed a channel selector to the hand guard of her rifle to allow easy changes without significant movement. It had been in Veraine's little book, which still resided in her thigh pocket. It felt natural now.

"Ammo issue will occur on exit from the shuttle. All rounds will be accounted for prior to recall. Weapons tight until ordered otherwise. Ranging power only on pulse lasers. Questions?"

One hand went up. Someone from Fireteam George. Arv nodded to them.

"How long will the op last, Monitor?"

"Until we're relieved or recalled, like the order said." Arv's tone was a mix of amusement and resignation. There was history with that recruit. Nara recognized the read in Arv's tone.

The shuttle arrival prevented any further questions, not that anyone raised a hand or cleared their throats to speak.

It was another test.

---

The test was the patrol, not the OP.

The combat insertion and dust-off by the shuttle was routine. Fireteam Oboe's hurried scramble for Hill 267 was just a rapid patrol through the brush. Ressa took point, tracing a pathway around the flank of the hill then climbing higher. Nara was behind her, trailing four meters with her rifle at the ready. They had practiced this.

Mase followed. Cutter was trailing Mase with Darin and Zarev bringing up the rear. The climb was difficult, but nothing worse than they had done before. Just below the military crest, Ressa paused. The fireteam circled, checking all approaches. Nara ascended to the peak, reviewing lines of sight and potential approaches to their perch.

"Get shelter-halves rigged for some additional cover," Cutter ordered, pointing to some rocks and scrub-like trees that could give them concealment from above. "Nara, start making a range card."

It was one of the things Veraine had her practice. She sat in a proper shooting position and began noting approaches, then determining their distance with her laser. It would help her adjust easily when targets were at different ranges.

Mase set his electronic pack up under a shelter-half stretched between two almost-trees and a large upright rock. His first task was deploying micro-drones for a quick scan.

"Marr," Cutter said over the fireteam circuit. "How far from the summit for a bivouac area?"

"Ten to twelve meters. It's not on the ascent path."

"Good. Stake it and set a shelter. Find an alternate bivy sight on the ascent line, lower down the hill."

That would become a sentry post. No one was supposed to sneak up on the observation post. Zarev and Darin would likely live there for the deployment.

"OP, this is George. Status?" It was Arv's voice on the group channel.

Cutter replied. "OP setup in progress."

"George commencing patrol, working on zero-two-zero radial from OP. Moving to the shoreline. Out."

Nara looked down the 020 bearing from the OP, spotted movement, then looked at them through her scope and overlay. [Human, Female, No Threat]

"I've got them visually," she reported to Cutter. The comm channel clicked twice in acknowledgment.

Mase brought a small display up to Nara's position and handed it to her. "Drone view," he said. She looked at the screen. A false-color view of the terrain with contour lines was shown. The white dots of the patrol were visible, moving toward the shoreline. A cluster of additional dots was due south of them, with IR plumes rising from equipment. Nara nodded. It would be useful, but she preferred her own eyes.

"Call out if you spot anything," Mase said.

She nodded then got back to building her own range card and identifying objects in the terrain so she would know if something was out of place. Her survey-grid instincts worked well on this task.

Every hour Fireteam George checked in with their bearing to the OP and rough distance. Either Nara or the drones verified their position. After each check-in, Ressa relieved Nara long enough for her to move lower on the hill, stretch, and hydrate.

"This will be a long watch for you, Nara," Cutter said. "We don't have another long-shot to spell you."

"Anyone on the team can man the post, especially with the drone coverage. If we have a problem, I'll be there, but I don't have to be up every hour on watch."

Cutter nodded. "I'll relieve you after six hours. You and Ressa get a break, then come back and relieve me six later. I'll call if something comes up."

It was a good plan. It worked for four rotations, a full standard day on Varex watching a patrol move around the island.

Fireteam George had just left the survey site after checking in with the team drilling there. Nara was taking the watch, tracking their azimuth when something made her take a second look to the south. Nothing was visible, but she thought she saw something.

"George, OP, freeze."

It was one command that would not be questioned. The patrol stopped all movement. Nara looked through her sight, slowly sweeping the ground. Grey-green grass tufts in rocky red soil. Occasional shrubs with thin needle-like leaves shaded from yellow to green then silver-gray. Movement.

"George, OP. We have movement bearing 178 from OP. OP holds your patrol at 187. Recommend falling back toward defensive perimeter."

Two clicks of acknowledgment.

Cutter arrived at the OP. "What do you have?"

Nara gave him a concise report. He looked down the bearing with the small spotting scope set next to her firing position. "I don't see anything."

"They're cautious. Watch the tree next to that tilting boulder. At the base. Something is hiding there."

"Mase, drone recon," Cutter ordered.

Mase was on the team circuit, listening. He vectored a mini drone to the south.

"Two thousand meters, no contact," he reported.

"Twenty-five hundred. No contact."

"Three thousand. No…drone is down. Hostile fire. Location marked."

Hitting a moving drone with a laser was not a trivial shot.

"George, OP. Hostile act. Bogies took out a mini-drone," Cutter reported.

"Swarm moving," Mase said. "I'll circle from 800 meters out, at various altitudes. If they shoot again, we'll get precise location."

Nara watched the display, noting the green dots of the drones, the white dots of the friendly personnel moving slowly to the north, closer to the survey site, and the red pulsing beacon where the first drone was shot down. Then the display dissolved into static.

"Jammers," Mase reported.

"Comms still intact?" Cutter asked. The static on the channel was the only reply. If he had not been next to Nara, she wouldn't have heard him. He looked at her, then moved his hand. Flat, palm toward her, all fingers together, then a flat-palmed fist, then opened again.

Ranging shots authorized.

Nara settled in. Her optics were clear. She knew the tree at least one hostile was operating next to. She lined up her rifle, toggled the laser to range power, then squeezed the trigger.

3,219 meters. It was well beyond the effective range of her weapon. A full power pulse laser might reach that far, but would do little damage with beam dispersion from the atmosphere. It might hurt. It would not kill.

"Thirty-two, nineteen," she reported. Cutter knew effective ranges as well as she did.

"Range the patrol," Cutter ordered.

Nara did. "Twenty-five, seventeen to the closest visible member. Looks like they are heading for that small ridge, 107."

Cutter nodded. He pulled a laminated map of the area from his thigh pocket, opened it, and marked with a grease pen. Nara noticed the tightness around his eyes.

"Keep an eye on the patrol and the bogey, if you can. I'll be back."

He slipped from the OP and down the hill. Soon, Nara heard the almost-silent whir of a drone taking off. She didn't know what good it would do without a controlling signal, but figured Mase and Cutter knew something she didn't.

She resumed her observations.

She was meticulous. Her first real target moved enough to confirm he was a man in a combat rig, different than the standard MEC outfit. The helmet was tighter to his head, slightly bullet-shaped, with a tapered neck guard. A thin, rectangular pack was on his back.

Power, she realized. He was the laser shooter that had downed the drone.

It took nearly an hour for her to be certain of the rest of the force. Another laser shooter, two with larger bore projectile weapons, almost like grenade launchers, but she couldn't be certain. One appeared with a standard rifle, just like MEC carried, and one had an electronic pack similar to Mase's gear.

Nara assumed the last was the source of jamming.

When Cutter returned, Arv was with him. Nara kept her surprise to herself and reported.

"Range?" Arv asked.

"Still outside effective. Closest is twenty-two oh-four. Furthest, the guy with the jammer, is Twenty-two ninety-one."

"Did you spot George?" Arv asked.

She nodded. "Ridge 107. Range fourteen zero-seven last time I checked."

Cutter frowned, and it wasn't at her performance. "Based on the description, they aren't MEC. Could be Blackline Corp forces." They were backing the tenuous 'Garch claim on Varex.

Arv shook his head. "They prefer caseless rifles, just like us." He paused, moved to the spotting scope and scanned the area the hostiles were hiding in.

"We're authorized to fire in self-protection or to protect the survey crew. George is effectively six-hundred meters south of the survey site. If the hostiles get within two hundred meters of Ridge 107, they are within striking distance of our civilians."

Cutter nodded at the recitation of facts. Nara knew he was working through their rules of engagement and remained quiet.

"Do we have location data on the rest of Whiskey?" Cutter asked.

Arv shook his head. "They were sweeping north, on last report."

Away from the hostiles.

The two monitors huddled at the map next to the spotting scope, ignoring Nara as she kept an eye on the opposition.

"This north spur of Ridge 107 is the best place to observe their most likely line of advance. This boulder field is when they'll be most exposed. It's also right at eight hundred meters from the survey site. They don't have any better comms gear than we do, I checked on my way back here. They're also not inclined to leave the site. They are reaching their target depth and don't want to close the bore if they don't have to."

"Is that why the oppo-force is holding off? Maybe they want the sample results."

Arv shrugged. "Doesn't really matter. We can't call for help or verification as long as we're being jammed. The shuttle won't return without positive comms of mission end. If Whiskey doesn't come back south, we've got no backup. Our mission remains, protect the survey site and team. That's what we'll do."

"We just made a check in before they were spotted. We've got at least eight hours before control realizes something is up."

"Correct. It could all be over before then. I'll go back to the ridge with George. Send your two spares to the survey site. No, you go with the two assault troops and be ready to force the site crew to fall back if this all goes to hell."

Arv looked at Nara. "Recruit Tholren, can you maintain overwatch with the tech and one backup?"

"Affirmative, Monitor." She did not move her eye from her scope.

"Recruit," Arv said in a tight voice. "If they close to within fifteen hundred meters of your position, weapons free on my authority. If you fire, we'll fire as well. Understood?"

"Affirmative, Monitor."

Her commitment turned real in that moment.

Playing soldier in earnest now, Nara?

Her mother would never understand.

---