“Hey you two, come here.”
They looked. Major Ross wore a jogging suit and running shoes and sat on a bench just inside the chain-link fence of the athletic field. The expression on his flat, ruddy face was serious. He leaned forward and waved them closer.
“I need your help, but keep this quiet.”
Tad stood looking through the fence with his face an inch from it. Galen was tall enough to see over and leaned on the fence so he could hear the Major more clearly.
Major Ross stood and came closer to them. He was shorter than Tad and looked dumpy in his athletic suit because the sleeves were a little too long. “There’s a new contract. I want you two for my operations section. Day shift,” he pointed at Galen, “and night shift,” he pointed at Tad.
Galen looked at Major Ross and said, “I need to know more about this before I can make a decision. We’re scheduled for Master Sergeant School next week.”
The Major waved his left hand as though he were annoyed by gnats. “You don’t need any school. With your backgrounds you’re both qualified to command this whole Brigade. This assignment is for Operations Sergeant Majors so I’ll get waivers and promote you before we leave. Just give me the word and it’s yours.”
Tad said, “Well, what is the deal, Sir? I mean, I’m in, I’d go serve anywhere with you but right now I don’t have enough to make a decision.”
Major Ross said, “Then listen up. Myung Jin transport is building a spaceport on Alamo. That’s about halfway up the far arm and on the edge of Mosh territory. The majority of the Panzer Brigade’s non-armored tactical units will be there providing security for about 1200 Mandarin workers. You two will be my assistants in the operations center for the whole operation.”
Galen said, “Sounds risky, with them sticking a toe in Mosh space.”
Major Ross took a deep breath. “We’ll cover them for 12 months and then we’re out of there. My guess is the Mosh will wait until the spaceport is built before they take it for themselves. We should be long gone by then, relieved by Mandarin regulars.”
“A year?” Tad asked.
“A year on the ground. You’ll spend about three months in stasis on the way there to preserve your combat skills. Then you’ll spend three months in stasis on the way back. It will only seem like one year to you. And I’ll credit you another six months off your contract for volunteering for this challenging assignment.”
Galen asked, “How does that work?”
“You get paid to be unconscious for six months and I promote you two grades immediately and on top of all that I chop six more months off your five year contract. Don’t make me smack you for being stupid. This is a sweet deal.”
Tad punched Galen on the shoulder. “We’ll take it, sir.”
“Okay. We leave in eight days. Be outside my office packed and ready to go at zero four thirty Monday morning next week.”
“Roger,” said Galen, an affirmative response to hearing and understanding an order.
The Major pulled a noteputer from his pocket and made entries on it while Tad and Galen walked away. Galen did some mental calculations and figured that at the end of this new contract he’d have just over two years left on his contract. He didn’t want to insult Tad’s math skills by mentioning it to him. The two friends walked along in silence.
Chapter Twenty One
Major Ross leaned over and stared straight into Galen’s eyes as he brought him out of stasis. “Wake up, sunshine. We have work to do.”
Galen stared back and then remembered what was going on. He felt as though he’d only taken a brief nap. “If I remember correctly, I have thirty seconds before I’m responsible for my actions. I might have to kick your ass.”
“In that case I might have to wait five minutes before I release your restraints.”
The lid of the stasis pod was open but Galen was still strapped down. There was no getting over on the Major; he thought of everything. “Are we there yet, sir?”
“You have ten minutes to get yourself on the drop boat. Full gear.” Before he left, Major Ross pressed the release button on the restraints so Galen could climb out of the pod and onto his feet.
“Welcome to the world of the living.” Tad was already dressed and reached into his equipment locker for his war gear.
Galen opened his own locker, a steel cabinet at the foot of the stasis pod. “This ought to be an easy year. Boring, I hope. What’s up with the gravity? Aren’t we in space?”
Tad clipped his pistol belt around his waist. “This ship has inertial dampers.”
“Sweet.” Galen pulled on his combat coveralls. The material seemed stiff; then he remembered it had been in the locker for three months. He reached for his combat vest and shrugged it on. He pulled on his boots and asked Tad, “Aren’t we on the opposite side of the galaxy now?”
“Yup.” Tad brushed the inside of his helmet before he put it on.
“What does Myung Jin want with a spaceport way out here?”
“Maybe they want to start trade with the Mosh.”
“Mosh don’t trade, they take. It’s against their religion to trade.”
Tad and Galen made their way to the drop ship and found Major Ross.
“You two. Sit down and watch this.”
They sat on either side of the Major. He pointed at a screen on the bulkhead opposite their seats. He pressed a button on his armrest and an informative video describing the planet Alamo started playing. There were rings, the remnants of a moon that had broken to pieces a couple billion years before. Automated terraforming machines had been working on the surface for three hundred years and it was now fit for human habitation. The gravity was point nine six, despite the planet being slightly larger than Terra itself, owing to the lower density of the materials making up the planet. The surface was 90% covered by oceans with thick mats of algae growing in them. The spaceport was being constructed on a large island. It was the largest land mass of the planet, located near the northern magnetic pole, where the median surface temperature was 18 degrees Celsius and ranged from 4 degrees to 23 degrees.
At that point of the informative video, Major Ross switched the monitor’s feed to the pilot’s view to observe the drop boat’s landing. The drop boat undocked from the jump ship. Galen buckled his seat belt as he felt the effect of the larger ship’s inertial dampeners fade. On the screen he saw the bright rings of Alamo, on edge at first looking as thin as a sheet of paper and then more substantial as the drop boat headed for the island base. The rings left the screen as the drop boat came closer to the planet. The oceans were grey with very large splotches of blue and green algae spread around, floating in a mottled pattern not too different from leopard spots. The drop boat flew low over the base first, which gave Galen a good look at the landing field and the beginnings of foundations for hundreds of buildings all along one side. The other side of the landing strip was right up against the water with a bright edge of white boulders to prevent the sea from eroding the land on that side. The drop boat turned around and came back to make a hard, short landing before taxiing to a stop near a row of temporary tin shacks. They stepped off the boat onto the surface of the landing strip.
“Welcome to Alamo,” said the Major. Galen and Tad followed him through the rows of shacks until they came to a sturdy concrete building sunk halfway into the ground. “That’s my Tactical Operations Center and that tin shack right behind you is your quarters. Stow your gear and meet me inside.”
Tad said, “Sir, that shack looks a little small for the two of us.”
“You work shifts, twelve up and twelve down. You split one shack.” The Major walked off and entered the TOC.