Tad glared at Galen as he gulped his glass of ale. Then he poured the rest of the ale from his bottle into his glass. He kept the bottle in his left hand while sipping from his glass. Galen used his left hand to drink from his glass, keeping his ale bottle gripped in his right hand. The two men glared at each other while sipping their ale. Finally, Galen released his bottle and pushed it and his empty glass to the center of the table. Tad finished his ale and pushed his glass and bottle to clink against Galen’s.
“No way. Not in a minute,” said Tad.
“That’s right. We have better things to do than fight over a woman.”
Tad looked confused. “What’s there to fight about? She’s my woman. We could fight all day, but she’ll still like me better.”
“She doesn’t like you. She kept you on the couch watching vids. That isn’t a sign of affection. She was just being polite.” Galen stood before he realized what he was doing.
Tad stood and faced Galen, poked him in the chest with his index finger as he spoke. “I don’t know much but I know what I know. You apologize and sit the hell down!”
Galen balled his left hand into a fist and brought it up under Tad’s chin. Tad staggered back two steps but didn’t fall. Galen moved toward him and prepared to punch with his right fist. Tad spun and used a backward kick to knock Galen’s left foot from under him. Galen fell and rolled onto the dance floor. Tad charged him before he could stand.
Galen rolled toward Tad and grabbed a foot, causing him to fall flat on his stomach. They both got to their feet at the same time, facing off with a meter between them. Tad attempted a roundhouse kick. Galen ducked and then kicked Tad square in the stomach. Tad fell flat on his ass, sat up with his hands behind him. Galen stepped closer and planned to kick Tad in the chest. Suddenly Galen’s arms were pinned behind him. Two Mandarin police handcuffed him and dragged him outside. Tad was also arrested and brought outside. Five Mandarin police force-marched Galen and Tad to the front gate of the Panzer Brigade compound.
“Back so soon?” asked the gate guard.
“They were fighting,” said the senior Mandarin police officer.
“With each other? No locals involved?”
“No locals. They only hurt themselves.”
“Thanks, officer. I’ll take them now.”
Two police removed the handcuffs and then shoved Galen and Tad through the pedestrian gate. The senior police officer said, “Keep them out of my town until they learn some manners.” The five Mandarin cops left.
“Give me your ID cards,” said the gate guard. He scanned them into his computer terminal then handed them back. “Now you can’t leave this compound for at least two weeks.”
“What? Just like that?” said Galen.
“Yes, just like that. You want a fair trial? Start a fight here on this compound; you’ll get one hell of a punishment for that.”
“Like what?” asked Tad.
“Like forfeiture of all pay and allowances, reduction in rank to Troop, and confinement for sixty days.”
Tad stomped off. Galen glared after him until he was out of sight and then walked to the barracks, showered, and went to bed.
“Wake up, you jackasses!” Spike was back. It was zero eight hundred hours in the morning. Spike shoved Galen out of his bunk and tipped Tad’s bunk to dump him on the cold wooden floor.
Galen sat up on the floor and blinked, still half asleep. Tad stood, rubbed his eyes.
“You idiots!” Spike swayed a little. The odor of booze, drank hours before, wafted around him “You young pups don’t know a damned thing about nothing!”
Galen stood and became fully awake.
“You two, fighting over a woman you don’t even know. What do you know about women?”
Galen said nothing and knew it was best to let Spike say his piece. The penalty for fighting on post was too severe. Besides, he didn’t want to start trouble with Spike, his remaining friend in the unit.
“I’ll tell you something. I was married before I went to the academy. That’s right, I’m divorced. I know about women. The last thing you do is fight over them.”
Tad and Galen stood and listened.
“Looks like I have to go to the ‘ville all by myself now. Great. You two damned idiots could mess up anything! You lost your pass privilege. If you looked at the bulletin board, you’d know.”
“Know what?” asked Tad.
“Go downstairs and look! You got your assignments. You two idiots are being given the Accelerated Qualification Course.”
“What?” said Galen.
“Twelve days of hell. They pick your brain and abuse your body and test your spirit. Pass and you’re promoted to Chief and sent straight out to the fleet as casualty replacements for a contract already in progress.”
“Are you going with us?”
Spike mocked Galen’s question in a falsetto voice, “Are you going with us?” Spike punched his right fist into his left palm. “I ain’t going with you because I didn’t do anything stupid to get the attention of the assignment Chief. I didn’t get in a stupid ass fight last night.”
Spike turned his back on them. Then he spun around, pointing his finger at Tad. “So how do you think the military works? Did they select the best and brightest for the dubious honor of testing out of the Platoon Leader Course? No! They said to themselves, ‘Which suckers from the Cav Troop should lose their free vacation, get abused up to Chief standards, and sent to a bloody meat grinder of a contract in progress?’ You idiots, that’s who!”
“So where will you go?” said Tad.
“Aviation, close air support.” Spiked stumbled out of the bay.
“Well Sergeant Raper, I guess we’re lucky in a way. We get promotion sooner. The course can’t be that bad. Not for us, we’re academy graduates, fully qualified for officer rank.”
“We’ll pass, no problem.”
A man dressed in field uniform stomped into the bay. He pointed and shouted, “Take that civilian crap off! Take that crap off, Sergeants. You have no pass privilege. Get into full war gear! Now!”
Galen and Tad stripped and put on their field uniforms. The loudmouth bully took their weapons and cleared them, then confiscated the ammo. He wore Captain rank on his combat coveralls and a blocked black ranger cap. Around his waist was a stripped black pistol belt. A troop entered wearing full combat gear. He carried a submachine gun at the ready and aimed it just over the heads of Tad and Galen.
The Captain stood in front of Galen. “Your equipment is filthy! No excuse for this crap!” He grabbed Galen’s rifle and shoved it into his chest, “Port arms for you from now on.”
“But—”
“But what? Shut the hell up! Shut the hell up, Sergeant!” The Captain punched Galen in the stomach. Galen dropped his rifle and grabbed the Captain, putting him into a headlock. The troop fired a round into Galen’s foot locker. The bullet ricocheted around inside the steel foot locker. Galen released the Captain.
“Good! Good, we understand each other now!” The Captain kicked Galen on the shin. “That’s right, you ass belongs to me for the next twelve days! Don’t make me void your contract, Sergeant. Don’t make me void your contract!”
The Captain directed his attention to Tad. “So you’re a funny man, got yourself a submachine gun.” He shoved the butt of the weapon into Tad’s gut. “Here, carry it by the slip ring in your left hand. That’s right.”
The Captain stared at them and watched them stand at attention for ten minutes.
“So, you want to be a Chief? Well I’m here to help you; I’m here to help you become Chiefs. I’m your tactical officer, I’m your tac officer. You can call me ‘sir’ or you can have your contract voided. You can do what I say, or you can have your contract voided. Don’t touch me again. Trooper Jenkins will kill you if you do.”