Ultimate Warrior (The Fight for Creation (Book Three)) (3 page)

The class came to attention and Telah left the room.

Russell went up to Sgt. Malone, “Are any of the trainers allowed to assist us in our planning?”

Malone smiled, “No.”

“Just checking, Sir.”

Russell left the room with his platoon following him and Pixie saw everyone’s expectation to have Russell mess everything up again. She thought they should give him a chance.

Russell went into the classroom and pulled up the situation board on the display and saw that the second platoon was going to defend the central area in a valley. They had not had an exercise in that area before and it was new ground for everyone. Russell used a pointer and said, “We only have one teleport, so we will teleport fifteen warriors into the enemy’s location and the rest will track their departure. We’ll then teleport in on them and take them out.”

No one said a word. After a long pause, Mitch Callaway said, “And what is going to happen to the fifteen you jump in to their ranks?”

“They’ll take out as many as they can and we’ll clean up the rest.”

Mitch leaned back in his chair, “Are you going in with them?”

Russell stared at Callaway and said, “I will be directing the others to their targets. Does anyone have suggestions?”

Pixie said, “What do you think the other platoon is going to do when we jump our warriors in?”

“They’ll be forced to teleport away and then we’ll have the advantage. Whoever uses their single teleport first will lose this exercise.”

Russell listened to everyone’s suggestions and vetoed them. Finally, he said, “I will send you your assignments.”

Callaway said, “I’ll go in with the fifteen.”

Russell looked at him and said, “Why would you volunteer for that?”

“So I can get out of this exercise quickly and watch just how big a fool you make of yourself…Sir.”

“You will go with the main body.”

Callaway shook his head and rolled his eyes. Pixie thought Callaway wasn’t a team player, Russell’s plan might work. Callaway saw her looking at him and he shook his head. Pixie saw he thought she was an idiot as well. Her anger was immediate and he waved a hand at her and left the room.

Russell came over to Pixie as the room emptied and said, “Do you see anything I’ve missed?”

Pixie looked at him and shook her head. He had already made his mind up and revisiting the suggestions was a waste of time. She walked out and saw on the tactical display that she was also assigned to the main group. The fifteen assigned to the initial jump just shook their head and planned to jump in blind.

Pixie found Callaway as he was walking toward his barracks and grabbed his arm, “What’s your problem?”

Mitch looked at her hand on his arm and then looked her in the eyes. She saw something in his expression that was hard to describe and she released his arm. “That narcissist moron is so enamored with himself that he can’t see his backside for his ego. You are the only one in that room that he would possibly listen to and you didn’t say anything. You’re just as bad as he is.”

“Just who the hell do you think you are to say that!? He doesn’t listen to anyone.”

“He would listen to you.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s set his sights on you and wouldn’t want to lose the opportunity to chalk you up as another conquest. You could have done something and you didn’t. I thought you had some intelligence. I was wrong.” He turned and started walking away.

“What makes you think you’re so smart?”

Callaway stopped and looked back at her, “I know this is a training exercise but I want you to ask yourself this question; if it were the real thing, would he still send fifteen warriors to their death?” Pixie stared at him and knew he would. Callaway looked at her and said, “And you’d just stand there and let him do it.” He shook his head and walked away.

Pixie watched him go and shouted, “I wouldn’t do it.”

She barely heard Callaway over the wind, “You just did by saying nothing.”

Pixie watched him disappear into his barracks and knew he was right. Russell had given her a chance and she had turned it down. She looked at her tablet and saw she was slated to be next to Russell during the exercise. She saw that Callaway was right. She started to go and saw Callaway walk out of the barracks and head toward the tree line. She followed him and watched until he activated his armor and disappeared. She knew where he was going. She activated her armor and teleported away. She watched Callaway from the hill overlooking the site of the next day’s exercise. He was moving around the buildings at the site and after twenty minutes he teleported away. What was he doing? She teleported back to her barracks and didn’t feel very good.

T
here was fifteen minutes remaining before the exercise started and the two groups were gathered getting ready for their roles. The fifteen warriors slotted to jump in to the enemy camp were sitting and Callaway was talking with them. Russell saw them and said, “Callaway, your position is over here.”

Pixie saw Mitch look at Russell and slowly stand. He said something to the group and they all nodded. He smiled and started walking toward the main group. Russell stared at him as he arrived and Mitch said, “Don’t you have words of encouragement for the first group, Sir?”

“It appears you already did that. Get in your position.” Mitch sauntered over to the back rank of the third squad and shook his head. The Countdown reached zero and the fifteen warriors disappeared as they teleported into the enemy’s camp. The camp immediately came under fire from two groups of warriors positioned on sides of the hills overlooking the camp. Russell saw five warriors in each group. He scanned for the other warriors in second platoon and couldn’t find them.

“Where are they? They should have teleported out of the camp by now.”

Pixie looked at Mitch and saw him slowly shake his head. Russell didn’t know what to do. He kept looking at his scanner and couldn’t locate the main body of the other platoon. Suddenly the general frequency activated and everyone heard, “First platoon, you are the designated aggressor. You will commence your attack or forfeit the exercise. Russell said, “We know they have to start the exercise within two hundred yards of the camp. We will teleport around the valley with equal spacing and find the enemy.”

Mitch said, “I am going to go and relieve our warriors pinned down by those two enemy bunkers. I need one more to assist me.”

Russell started to snarl at him until Pixie said, “I’ll take the one on the west.”

Russell looked sharply at her and saw her staring at him. “Go and do what you can. I’ve given everyone else their coordinates and we’ll be jumping in ten seconds.” The thirty three warriors disappeared and Mitch said, “I told you he would listen to you.”

“Yeah, yeah; are you ready to do this?”

Mitch nodded and said, “Yes but we’re not going to waste our teleport to do it.” Pixie did a double take and Mitch said, “I believe they have their armor set to automatically teleport if it detects a teleport field.”

“Then how do we do it?”

“We’ll go to full invisibility mode and fire our armor’s leg jets at full blast. Have your armor target your assigned bunker. Also have your armor programmed to fire your jets at the very last moment to allow you to land safely. Keep your legs under you and fire on the bunker as you fall toward it.”

“Are you serious?”

“If you’re scared, say you’re scared.”

Pixie shook her head and entered the commands. Mitch said just before they blasted off into the atmosphere, “Keep your legs locked until the jets stop firing. Ready?” Pixie nodded, “Now!” Both of them disappeared as they blasted a mile above the valley.

• • •

Russell was in a continual state of nervousness, nothing was going according to his plan. His warriors teleported around the valley and immediately started looking for the enemy platoon. They began receiving fire and may have had a chance but the enemy platoon had not used their teleport and outnumbered him. More than twenty of the second platoon were hit by training lights but all of first platoon was wiped out. The twenty survivors of the second platoon teleported into the camp to wipe out the final survivors of the first group and didn’t find any of them. Suddenly their armor began beeping as the fifteen warriors along with Pixie and Mitch came falling in on them from above. They never saw them coming and the exercise ended with just one survivor of the second platoon hiding behind one of the buildings. Col. Dorg and Sgt. Malone led all of the casualties down the hill to watch the end of the competition. The sole survivor of second platoon couldn’t even raise his head. Light from the lasers around him were a constant stream. All he could do was stay down behind the bunker.

• • •

Col. Dorg looked at Callaway and said, “Why are you waiting?”

“Because I want to make sure you weren’t kidding about the winning commander being promoted.”

Telah looked at Callaway and said, “No, I wasn’t.”

Callaway looked at Pixie and the fifteen warriors keeping the sole survivor pinned down. He shook his head and stopped firing. The sixteen others saw him drop his barrel and knew what he was doing. Pixie stopped firing and the other fifteen also lowered their blasters.

Russell yelled, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?”

The survivor heard him and looked over the bunker at the seventeen warriors staring at him and fired his shoulder cannon at them. The bright light hit the sensors on their armor indicating all of them had been hit and were out of the exercise.

Russell screamed, “You did this deliberately!”

Col. Dorg looked at Callaway and said, “Would you mind explaining what’s going on?” Mitch shook his head. “Private, I don’t want to wash you out of the warriors but I will if you don’t start telling me what’s going on.”

Pixie said, “Sir, we couldn’t allow Private Slade to be given command of a squad of warriors. He has demonstrated that he is willing to throw away the lives of warriors under his command needlessly. We couldn’t live with our conscience if we allowed that to happen.”

Russell rage was clear, “You will pay for this.”

“Shut up, Private. Send me your plan of battle.” Russell stared at her and she said, “I don’t normally ask twice.”

Russell sent the battle plan and Telah looked at it. She shook her head and said, “Sargent, how were these idiots able to win again?”

“They used their armor’s jets, Sir.”

“Show me the video.”

Telah watched the recording in her armor and then said, “Private Slade. What did you think would happen to those fifteen warriors you ordered to teleport into the enemy camp?”

Russell looked nervous but said, “I expected them to force the second platoon to teleport out.”

“Did you think any of them would survive the effort?”

“They could have, Sir.”

“If that’s the case, why are all your plans after their jump only done using those that didn’t take part in the initial jump?”

Russell opened his mouth and Telah said, “Shut up.” Telah turned to Mitch and said, “So you’re of the opinion that the commander of second platoon is better qualified to command a squad?”

“Sir, none of his warriors were put in jeopardy. They fell in the course of battle but all of them had the opportunity to survive. They weren’t sent in to just be used as targets.”

Telah turned to Dawson, “Why is it that none of you were hit when you teleported in?”

“Private Callaway gave us the coordinates of obstructions in the camp to hide behind.”

“Private Callaway, how did you know the locations of those obstructions?”

“I came out here last night and plotted them.”

Russell yelled, “You’re a cheater!”

Telah looked at Russell and said, “If I have to tell you to shut up again, you’ll be cleaning latrines for the rest of your career.” Russell shut up as all the members of the first platoon applauded. Telah looked around and said, “Where in the exercise’s instructions does it say not to scout the territory?” Everyone just stared at her. She turned to Mitch and said, “However, that was pretty gutsy. The use of the leg jets is a new one.” Telah paused and said, “Why did you do it?”

“I could not stand by and watch my teammates go into a situation where there was no possibility of survival.” Mitch paused and said, “I just couldn’t. I know it’s just an exercise but they were being told their contribution was worthless and all they were good for was to be a target. That’s not a good way to finish training, Sir.”

Telah stared at Mitch and then said, “Congratulations Private Zalen. You won the competition.”

“Sir, I can’t accept the promotion.”

“And why not?”

“Because even if he doesn’t want to admit it, I know Callaway defeated my platoon. I can’t accept something I didn’t earn, Sir.” Second platoon applauded his words.

“One warrior from each camp can be sent to Scout Training. Private Calloway, You are the one going.”

Everyone cheered until he held up his arms. The group grew silent and Telah shook her head, “Don’t tell me you’re turning this down?”

“I am, Sir.”

“Why? Your admission forms say you want to be a scout.”

“That’s true, Sir, but I’m not ready. I’m not good enough yet. This exercise proved to me that I have not mastered my armor to the level demanded by a scout.”

Telah nodded, “You’re wise to recognize that.”

Mitch said, “I haven’t, but she has.”

Pixie said, “What!”

Mitch said, “Sir, check the records. She knocked out the bunker she was attacking and had to come to assist me taking out the one I attacked. It was her blasters that took out twelve of the second platoon survivors when we jumped on top of them. She maintained control the entire jump while it was all I could do to keep my legs under me. She’s ready now. I still have work to do, Sir.”

Col. Telah said, “Will you turn it down if I offer you the position, Private?”

Pixie shook her head, “No Sir.”

“Then you’re going to Scout Training, Private.” Telah turned to Russell and said, “You are going home unless you agree to remain a private your entire career, Private Slade. I will never allow you to command anyone in this Navy.”