Chapter 39
Specialist Justin Williams marched quietly through the trees, following the same path the rest of 3rd platoon, and the rest of the company followed. A few hundred meters ahead, the tanks cut the path, 3 abreast of each other. The first day had been fairly short, with only a few hours of marching, the element only reaching the outskirts of Columbus before finding a suitable camping location.
Today would be the first full day of marching, and there had been rumors that they would continue to march late into the night, trying to make up for lost time from the day before. Justin briefly wished he could be making the journey in his Mecha, which he’d been assigned after he reported his class upgrade to SSG Davis, his platoon Sergeant.
Due to limited supplies and needing to conserve as much as possible, all but two of the exo-mecha suits had been parked in transportation mode on the beds of supply trucks. Of the two that were operational, one was Lieutenant Soto’s, which she’d upgraded significantly, and so long as most of the other suits remained powered off, her’s could operate indefinitely without a resupply, so long as it stayed within a half-mile radius of the others. Justin personally wondered if it had more to do with what had happened at the airport and the XO’s lower-than-average level, but ultimately it was an issue far beyond his pay grade.
The other pilots would take turns rotating through their mecha, making sure each was in working order, and helping to guard the infantry column as it marched endlessly onward through the forests and deserted towns of Georgia in mid-fall. Justin’s rotation would fall on the morning of the fourth day, which he wouldn’t complain about. If the rumors were true, and the element kept marching through the night, the tomorrow afternoon shift would suck the worst. And of course military doctrine taught him that that would be the time the enemy was most likely to try an ambush if they had any forces in the area aware of what was going on.
For now, Justin focused on following the soldier in front of him, keeping 6+ meters of empty space between them.
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SFC Jennet Ming followed the last soldier of 1st Platoon, leading her 2nd Platoon soldiers along the path. Due, no doubt, to the extended time she’d spent in the system shop, Jennet felt fresh and ready to get back into the action.
Yesterday’s ceremony was a bit eye-opening. She couldn’t say with certainty, but she felt that the American forces placed a much higher value on the lives of individual soldiers than she really understood. Normally, in the PLA, if she’d been in the same situation as the captain, she would have had a private meeting with her superiors, and they would have either reprimanded her or congratulated her depending on the exact nature of what was accomplished.
If 1000 soldiers died, that was either the cost of greatness or the failure of the weak. Certainly, the soldiers' families would be notified, likely in a way that made the death seem a heroic sacrifice and a necessary cost, but the government wouldn’t necessarily publicly acknowledge the facts. Things might have been different before the Pacific Unification War, but the losses her country had suffered, especially early on against the US, had led to even greater restrictions on information than had existed previously.
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Even Jennet only knew about how lax things had been before the war because her family’s business had been majorly affected by the losses. Now, most citizens, even the very wealthy and possibly politically connected simply had no choice but to accept whatever they were told. It was another interesting contrast for her. And in spite of all the potential demoralization, the American units seemed more united than ever, willing to follow the same leaders into hell a second time, even knowing the risks.
As she briefly considered her own chances at survival, she was reminded of her decision to look into SPC Wallace’s background. She’d lost her chance to review any official documentation after leaving the base. Perhaps she’d simply have to engage in more old-fashioned methods, like actually talking to the soldier. With her mind made up, she had one of her squad sergeants take over for her, before falling back until she saw SSG Davis leading 3rd Platoon.
“Sergeant, do you mind if I have a bit of a conversation with one of your men? Specialist Justin was one of the two selected initial mecha pilot trainees, and I’m interested in discussing tactics with him, in case he ends up working with the new pilot from my Platoon.”
“I don’t mind if he doesn’t. I would prefer it if you took the specialist back to your platoon for the discussion though. I’d like to keep my soldiers alert and aware, just in case.” The Staff Sergeant replied.
“I’ll do that, Thanks,” Jennet responded. With that, she fell back further, keeping an eye out for the specialist's face, which she vaguely remembered from their conversation on martial arts about a week ago.
“Specialist Wallace, If you don’t mind, I’d like a chance to talk to you back up with my Platoon. We need to talk tactics with you and my mecha pilot replacement,” she announced when Justin walked up.
“Roger Sarn’t. That's probably a good idea since we wont get much of a chance to practice in gear. I’ll follow you.” The Specialist replied.
Jennet led the way, going from the marching pace of the soldiers around her to a quick double time, one mostly made possible during a long march like this because of her increased attributes. Justin followed along without too much effort, and she wondered what his strength score had been at level 1.
As they reached the middle of her platoon, she slowed to the normal pace, glancing around for her newly trained replacement. She would need to keep up the guise of actually discussing strategy if she didn’t want to draw too much attention.
As she turned to look behind her, she caught a glimpse of something large with black fur moving rapidly through the forest towards them. Before she could call a warning, the huge creature burst out of the tree line and bowled into the line of infantry about 20 meters back.
The thing seemed to be a massively oversized black bear with a massive and proportionally sized squirrel tail attached. The thing also seemed to have stone formations growing out of its front shoulders and neck. The monstrous beastly creature stood on its hind legs and proceeded to roar angrily as soldiers rushed to get out of the way or find a good vantage point to lay down suppressive fire.
The only problem was that an animal like that likely couldn’t comprehend the ideas behind suppressive fire. As small arms fire along with the odd spell or ability launched out, the bear shook itself and charged toward Jennet.