CHAPTER 36

Ed Lewis had spent a lot of years in the army. There was about no way to earn all of those stripes, plus the star, and not have been in two years before Noah built the ark. It qualified him for many things and that included being a judge of expressions. That was why he was sure Lieutenant Vega was going to earn at least one commendation on this campaign. In all Ed’s career he had never seen a soldier with a permanent scowl like the one that she could keep. Ed was sure there was some kind of medal for that.

Currently, the new platoon leader, of second platoon, Delta company, was resting her rump on the reverse slope that was situated right behind the crest that her platoon was dug in on. It appeared to Ed as if she had been doing her own digging and stopped when the hole was big enough to fit her ass in. She had literally carved a chair out of the hill and was now sitting in it and cooking the entire contents of a bag of MRE’s.

Ed could not fault her choice of menu. A mixed stew was some times about the only way you could stomach a Meal Ready to Eat. That went double if you got stuck with menu number one, the dehydrated pork patty. What Ed did fault the girl for was, “Lieutenant, have you done your sector cards like S-3 asked for?”

Lolita had not bothered to look up till she heard the gruff rolling twang. The way she saw it, Sergeant Majors were the kind of bosses that gave you orders and you didn’t have to salute. Wasn’t she the officer? Shouldn’t she be giving him orders? Was it worth bothering with? It wasn’t exactly like he had ordered her to do anything. When it came right down to it, he had only asked her a question but, it was a question that, most obviously, came right from Major Conners.

Vega grunted, put aside her cooking, and then reached into her bag. She held up the sector cards for the Sergeant Major to see and then, Lolita noticed he wasn’t alone. There was a new girl with him, a new lieutenant even, so Vega asked, “who’s snow white? Did you bring any dwarves? If you didn’t, I know where we can find some.”

Ed reached down and took the cards from Vega. He sifted through them and it was about what he thought. He then told Vega, “this is Lieutenant Sayers. She’s fresh in from the world. She’s your problem for the next couple of days. Make sure she learns what she needs to know.”

Vega sat back down in her seat and grunted, “oh that’s just fucking great, Top. Like I don’t have enough to do already?”

Lewis tossed the cards back down on the ground at Vega’s feet. “Don’t appear you got too much to do Lieutenant,” he pointed at the cards, “them are the same cards Stevens did. You need to do your own.”

“What?” Vega complained, “what the fuck for? He had his shit right. I walked the lanes and checked every position.”

“They were his, not yours,” Ed nodded to the new arrival and then walked off while saying, “by thirteen hundred Lieutenant! The Major will not be kept waiting.”

The only thing Vega had to say about that was, “fuck him.”

Nichole Sayers just stood around watching and noticed that Vega got right back to her meal. Nicky also pretty much found herself ignored as well. She tried to break the ice, “mind if I do the sector cards? I got pretty good at it back at the ITTC.”

“Knock yourself out,” Vega said as she tasted her stew. Nicky just stood there after that and Vega went right to eating. After it became clear the FNG was not going anywhere, Vega decided to say, “one bit of advice. I guess that’s why they dumped you here. All that shit they showed you back at the ITTC, well sweetheart, you’re not in Kansas anymore.”

Nicky just shrugged and said, “I kind of need to know where the positions are before I can do the cards.”

“Staff Sergeant!” Lolita yelled out.

That got Nicky to wondering. She had been noticing something since she arrived. She had been told about this when she in processed at Seau-Neaut but, really didn’t believe it. Now she was watching this Vega, call out way to loud for comfort and without the aid of any electronics. Nicky just had to ask, “um, the radio’s really don’t work?”

“Naa,” Vega said between bites. “Just most of the time.”

What did that mean? Nicky was starting to wonder if she really wanted to know. Then the Platoon Sergeant, an E-6 came sliding down the embankment. Now she forgot all about the radios when she saw what this guy had on. He looked like PETA’s worst nightmare with all of the little strips of fur he had hanging off his uniform and vest. Nicky was rambling when she pointed and said, “what is… what is all that?”

Ben Taylor looked at himself and then exchanged glances with Vega. He just shrugged until Sayers asked directly. At that point Ben explained, “it’s camouflage Lieutenant, middle earth pattern.”

Vega seemed disinterested when she suggested, “we might want to find her some. I don’t want her getting greased before she does my sector cards.”

Taylor then noticed the cards on the ground and said, “Segreant Major Lewis wasn’t pleased, I take it? Look Lieutenant, I told you those cards are good and…”

“Not your fault Benny,” Vega grumbled in discontent. “He’s just making busy work, ok? He knows I’m new over here. You just got bumped up, and Major Conner is sitting over at the TOC, on his ass, trying to think up ways to make our lives even more miserable. That‘s what the army calls training, last time I checked.”

Taylor snorted out a laugh. Then he looked to the new arrival, “a real honest to god FNG. I thought they were just legends, you know, not like elves and gnomes and shit.”

Vega thought about that for a minute and then asked the new girl, “tell me this princess. How the hell did they send your ass up here? Last word I got was, we wasn’t getting any replacements till we pulled back to Way Out.”

“To what?” Nichole was starting to feel like she was going to go cross eyed. Before anybody could explain, Nicky waived the question off and said, “I have no idea. They told me to go so I went. Um, how about showing me the line?”

The sound of three pops echoed off the trees and was followed by a wooshing sizzle of a noise. Vega actually put her meal down and picked up her M-4. She then scanned the sky for the flare she knew was up there. When she spotted it and saw the red sparkles, she told Benny, “it’s one of ours. Better go check it out.”

The platoon sergeant began climbing the crest as Lolita put on her helmet and made sure she had a round chambered in her weapon. That made Nicky slide her weapon off her shoulder. She actually had to chamber a round since she never had one in the first place. Then Nicky got nervous even if her fellow Lieutenant acted like it was no big deal. The woman had not even bothered to slide on her body armor. Nicky decided to ask her about that.

Vega answered as if the question was not even important, “if one of them boom boom sticks hits you sister, that armor ain’t gonna do shit but melt to your skin.” Vega almost laughed at the expression that developed on Nicky’s face. Instead of laughing, Vega slapped the girl on the shoulder and told her, “don’t sweat it Snow White. You won’t feel it. It’ll cut you in half before you even know it.”

Nicky cringed, “seriously?”

The next sound that echoed off the trees was a lot louder than any trip flare. Vega knew the sound and she did not waste time responding. She grabbed the new girl by the sleeve and drug her into the platoon command post. The name implied more than it actually was. It was a two man hole in the ground only with some hard line phones. Vega wasted no time picking one up and spinning up the battery before yelling into it, “this is Delta Two Actual, I need Delta Six, contact red sector, one flare one claymore, over!”

Nicky had never seen a phone like the one that was now being used. She was horrified by it and, mainly, because she had no idea how to use the damn thing. How did you make a phone work without a touch screen?

There was little time to think about it as it was obvious that things were going very wrong. Vega angrily screamed into the phone, “fuck you Presley! I’ll call myself!” Vega slammed the phone back in it’s holder and then, after pressing a couple of antique looking electric boxes, she began spinning up and yelling in the phone, “Sierra golf seven five, this Delta Two, sitrep as follows!”

Taylor came sliding in next to the hole. He was staying flat but, he looked calm enough as he told the two officers, “Vega, it’s looking clear.”

“Wait one Sierra golf,” Vega put her hand over the phone, “what tripped off the mine?”

“I heard some moo’s coming from down that way, past the sixty’s range marker,” Taylor said pointing. “I think we got some more wildlife.”

Vega was not happy, “that’s not good enough Ben.” Lolita gave no one else time to talk as she had already made up her mind anyway. She pulled her hand away from the bottom of the phone and told the TOC, “think we have a biologic. Request permission to recon past the outer marker, over.”

When the answer did not come immediately, Lolita knew exactly what that answer would be. If Lieutenant Colonel Pong, who was currently the duty officer, was going to say no then it would have come right then. Since Lolita was waiting on the phone then it meant that the staff down there was coordinating with the other units to make sure nobody shot at the patrol if it happened to stray into their fields of fire. That was why Lolita started giving orders before she got hers. When it finally came they were all ready to go. She was taking one fire team out, and a special guest.

As Lolita crawled out of her hole she slid on her equipment vest but, not the armor. She also ditched her helmet and replaced it with an old fashioned soft cap. She told her special guest, “I’d suggest you do the same Snow White. How you fixed for ammo?”

Nicky gulped, “um, you want me to leave my armor?”

“Slows you down and makes too much noise,” Vega told her. “She also added, “loose the over shirt too, and hurry the hell up. This is what you came up here for, right?”

Nicky did as she was advised even if she was not so sure she liked it. She also did not have a soft cap that she could quickly get too so, she was lacking any cover at all when the six of them left the perimeter. They were deep in the woods when Vega whispered, “if somebody shoots at us, hold your fire.”

What the hell! No radios! No armor! No shirt even! Now this crazy bitch was telling Nicky not to shoot back? That made the West Pointer wonder why in the hell she was even here! Nicky was so busy wondering about it that she almost missed the hand signal from the point man. Vega had to pull Nicky to a knee and she was not so soft about it either. Only after Nicky realized why it happened did she not get angry. At that point, Nicky was too scared to be anything else.

The point man sent back more hand signals and Vega nodded in return. She then sent her own orders to the team and they began to fan out and come on line. When Vega was satisfied with where everyone was, she gave the signal to move forward. They did not go too far when a shot rang out that sent Sayers to the dirt. Everyone else was still standing.

After inspecting the scene, Vega stood all the way up and stopped right where Nicky was laying flat on the ground. Lolita cracked a smile, pulled out her knife, and then said to the FNG, “you can get up now. It was just one of them raptor cow things, with the big horns, and even bigger fucking teeth. They wander in here all the time.”

Nicky almost did not get up but, she knew that she would have to sooner or later. These guys all seemed to know what they were doing so, she showed a little trust and stood. She was breathing heavy as she said, “what exactly…. Raptor cow?”

Vega shrugged it off, “they look like what you’d get if a cow had sex with a T-Rex. They’re pretty dangerous too.” Vega nodded out past the bushes where her team was assembled, “go take a look. Oh, and you’re in luck Snow White. This ass hole is going to be your first fur coat.”