Many of them looked surprised but nobody moved.
“You heard me. This is your chance to leave. If you stay, then the only reason you get out of your responsibility is if you flunk out because you aren’t good enough for this Regiment. So, I say again. If you don’t want to be here, or you don’t think you are up to the task. Leave now!”
One of the men in the front rank stepped out and walked away. He was shortly followed by several more until dozens were breaking rank. He was finally left with just half of the group that had been assembled. Parker leaned in close and whispered to him.
“Sure that was wise?”
“They were never gonna be up to the task. We just weeded out the first bunch of slackers, losers, and lowlifes,” he replied quietly.
Parker stood back so that he could go on addressing the crowd.
“The Inter-Allied needs personnel, but it doesn’t need just anyone. We require high standards. Those who stay and go through our training process stand a chance of becoming a member of our elite family. Those who fail or are not accepted will be sent back to the ships you came from and appointed other work. It won’t be easy. Training will not be fun. The job is not safe or well paid. In fact, it isn’t really paid anything anymore. We do this because we know we must, and we have a duty to all those aboard the ships of this fleet. If you think you can be one of us, stay, and give it your all. I wish you every luck and leave you in the capable hands of Sergeant Parker.”
He then turned and left. Silva followed him.
“Think that was harsh enough?” Taylor asked him.
“Not a chance, but Parker will weed out the rest.”
“Indeed she will, but I fear that will leave no one left at all.”
“Then we will find more. There are plenty more people in the fleet. I won’t lower the standard of our unit for any reason. We have to accept green marines and that’s life, but it doesn’t mean we have to accept shit marines.”
Taylor went onwards and left Silva with them. He shook his head. He had spent years building the Inter-Allied Regiment. It had evolved over time as he had brought remnants of other units into the fold, but they had always been well-trained and experienced troops. Now he did not have that luxury. He knew he had to bring in new blood, or risk being whittled down to nothing at all.
* * *
Kelly took a deep breath of the fresh winter air. He flexed his arm in the Reitech suit and appreciated the power it gave after the weakness he had felt so many times facing the alien forces. The suit kept most of his body warm, but he could feel the icy breeze on his cheeks. A very light snow was falling now, and he could tell they were in for a hard winter.
The prospect was strange for a man of the Moon, and yet a few short years in the south of Germany had taught him a lot. Just as he always did, he had studied in every spare moment and knew his surroundings well, but he was still not accustomed to the cold. Seasons passed on the Moon without physical change in their climate controlled environments.
“How did they ever live like this?” Reynolds asked.
Kelly looked across to see the Captain was shivering. They had taken up positions on a crest. It was a good viewpoint of the valley that was a flight path to the city far to the south.
“Will this work?”
“As much as we can hope for,” Kelly replied.
“How long do we wait?”
“There have been several low flyovers of this valley in the last day. We wait as long as we have to.”
Kelly looked along the crest at the two-dozen fighters he had with him. Becker lay to his right, but he still wore his tankers gear as he had done before.
“This better work, Kelly,” he said.
“It’ll work, don’t you worry.”
They saw a flash up ahead, the signal for them to prepare for the enemy to pass into sight.
“This is it!” Kelly shouted.
They could hear the engines of the ship approach but could not yet see it. He looked across to Berlin. She was sitting in the seat of the anti-aircraft gun mount they had fitted into the back of Kelly’s truck, and then almost buried in a hull down position and covered with foliage.
“Ready! Ready!” he yelled.
The ship roared into view. At the ground clinging altitude, Kelly knew they only had a few moments of opportunity.
“Now!”
The quad gun on the truck bed lit up the valley. It rocked so much the camouflage foliage shook off, and the light glinted on the surface of the settling snow. Tracer fire raced through the sky and led the target of the craft accurately. It was struck by two-dozen shots, and as an explosion ignited, it bellowed smoke. It then banked and plunged into the forest half a klick away. The troops cried and cheered, and Becker looked to Kelly with a smile.
“Not bad, not bad at all. You may prove useful yet, old man!”
Kelly got up from his position and pointed towards the crash site.
“Go!” he ordered.
They rushed towards the position at a rapid pace. The power and speed the Reitech suits provided still surprised Kelly, but he welcomed their abilities. He closed on the burning wreck quickly and found one of the wounded crew crawling towards him as he rushed over an embankment. Without hesitation, he fired three shots that went through the creature’s chest. He carried on before it had even hit the ground.
A dozen of Kelly’s troops reached his side, and they watched as two more of the survivors climbed out of the wreck. Every one of them opened fire and butchered the creatures with joy. Finally, the gunfire stopped as they stopped moving. Kelly approached the vessel, pulled a grenade from his armour, and tossed it inside. As it blew, Becker reached them and was out of breath.
“You did it. You really did it.”
Becker looked surprised that they had taken down an enemy without armour, and that brought a smile to Kelly’s face.
“Many ways to fight a war, Captain. Now we fight the only way we can. In the barren wilderness, the dark of night, and the isolated quarters of the land. This is our war now. We pick and choose the place, and we set the pace. Welcome to the Resistance.”
* * *
A day had passed since Parker had been given her lot of potential recruits. Taylor strolled on down to see how they were doing, but when he arrived, he found just her and nine of them left. They were working on a pull up bar, and most of them were giving up as he entered. He could see Parker shaking her head in disappointment.
"Is this the kind of effort you'll put in when you’re faced by an enemy that wants to tear your head off?" she screamed.
Parker noticed Taylor's presence and strolled over to greet him.
"This all that's left?"
"Yep, and they don't even come close to being good enough. If this was basic, they'd have flunked out by now."
"We just can't be as picky as we once were."
"But there has to be better than this," she said, pointing to them.
Except for one woman, they had all given up and were panting heavily. Half of them had sat down, and several others were keeled over. Taylor stepped up before them.
"To be a marine is not to be a prisoner. You do attempt to impress us. You do your duty to the best of your ability because you know you must, not because someone is watching!"
He looked to the one woman still on the pull up bar. She was straining to do just one more and was close to exhaustion. She was slight, with died jet-black hair and tattoos running the lengths of her arms. Taylor pointed to her.