Vanguard Word Update

3292 Words.

For the next week Adamski had the team schooled about their enemy, the United Earth Confederate. Although Ryan was intimately familiar with their ground tactics, the lessons were a fresh reminder that the Hub was facing off against a much more powerful enemy. The Hub was a single station, developed and with money to spare, but it was still just one megastructure, and the UEC had the entire Core Worlds sector under their thumb, and their planets were the most developed in human history, there borders stretching over hundreds of sectors of space.

The Outer Reaches acted as the borderworlds of human space, comprising of mostly stations and a few planets with acceptable, but not great, atmospheric conditions. They were firmly backing the Hub revolutionists, keeping the trade routes secured by their burgeoning fleets, and although the ratio of planets between the Core Worlds and the Reaches was roughly the same, most of the colonies were not self-sufficient, save for a couple of exceptions like Concord or Elysium. None of this compared to the UEC military, a grim fact that Adamski drilled into their heads right away.

“According to last month’s evaluation reports, we face an enemy that has outnumbers us five to one,” Adamski explained. Tilu and Samiha exchanged a glance, their feather’s shaking in what might by dread. “However,” the Captain added. “Every few weeks we get reports of Confederate teams defecting or going rogue, and for every person we gain, it’s one the UEC loses. We also have our new Balokarid allies stepping up our production efforts, which will allow us to meet the UEC’s fleets with an equal amount of ships of our own.”

“How far into the UEC has the Hub pushed?” Samiha asked, the topic of warfare catching her attention.

“There have been a few sporadic skirmishes on some of the colonies, but aside from the battle in which your clan joined the fight, the lines haven’t moved. Takes a long time to travel across the sectors between the borders, which has given us some breathing room to get you Balokarids inducted, but that works both ways. The UEC are prepping for war just as much as we are, and we expect a major counterattack any day now.”

After a few more hours of study on squad cohesion from both Alliance and UEC perspectives, the Captain handed out a folder to each member of the team, explaining that these were evaluation reports over the past few months. Every topic they had trained over so far was marked down with either one of two grades: sound, or limited. There were no other explanations next to these grades, that kind of news would be reserved for the Captain or some other superior to explain. Fortunately, Ryan’s own records were mostly sound, with two exceptions. The simulation performance, and weapons knowledge. He knew he needed to improve in those areas already, but seeing his failure printed out somehow made it hit home that much harder. It was like reading his school report cards all over again.

With the lectures complete for the day, the Captain gave the teams some free time before it was back to the yard for exercise later in the afternoon. As Ryan made his way out of the building, Samiha pulled him aside.

“Corporal, you busy?”

Rather than call him monkey, she’d been referring to him by his rank since their little dinner. Ryan thought it was a massive development, he’d lost enough face with her calling him names in front of everyone.

“Nah, just heading back to the barracks, why?”

“The Captain says my shooting is… lackluster,” she explained. Was that embarrassment on her face? “You’re good with the coilguns, so I thought…”

The feathers on her head flattened, and Ryan guessed her self-consciousness wasn’t just a result of being called out by the Captain. Samiha had made it very clear she didn’t need his help, perhaps their meal had made her more amiable?”

“We can head down if you want,” he said, realising Samiha wasn’t about to voice her request. “We’ve only got a few hours, but that’s enough time to give you some pointers.”

She dipped her beak in a nod, and they turned towards the direction of the range, but stopped when their names were called out, the pair turning around to see Tilu walking over.

“Where are you two going?” she asked, looking hesitantly between the two. Perhaps she still thought he and Samiha were on bad terms, but Ryan was quick to reassure her.

“Just going down to the range for some practice,” he explained. “Samiha here’s gonna learn to shoot straight.”

He gave her a playful punch on the thigh, as that was the only part of her he could reach. If he’d done that a week ago, Samiha would have curb stomped him, but instead the alien bristled her feathers, staying as still as a statue as Tilu gestured at her.

“Really? That true, Samiha?”

“It is, yeah,” Samiha replied. “See you later, Tilu.”

“Have fun, guys.” Tilu gave them a coy smirk before walking the other way.

***

After getting the all-clear from Adamski, they returned to the firing range, grabbing a pair of rifles from the rack and finding an empty booth. The range was fairly deserted, except for the small group being talked through the coilgun platform by a Seargent, Ryan recognizing them as team two. He made sure he and Samiha were far enough away to not bother them.

“So you wanna configure your rifle or just jump straight in?” he asked, Samiha loading fresh heatsinks into her weapon. “I know you and Tilu like the PDW variant.”

“Personal defense weapon, right?” she asked. “The lighter and smaller build is similar to our own weapon’s designs, in case you’re wondering. I’ll stick with the rifle.”

“Great, just remember your effective range will be different when you’ve got a longer barrel. Why don’t you go take a couple pot shots at that target over there? I’ll watch.”

She swiped a few spare mags from the bench, strutting confidently over to the booth as she reloaded. She took aim at a paper target some fifty meters out, the weapon barking as a spray of bullets filled the air. The target flittered as a chip of its head was severed, a fine shot, if the rest of the bullets hadn’t gone way too high to have any real impact.

Samiha emptied the rest of her weapon in short bursts, scoring the occasional hit on the target, the avian’s feathers flittering as she ejected the magazine, looking at her performance with a less-than-pleased expression on her face.

“That was… well, you know,” Ryan said. “I think your biggest problem is that you’re tensing up before you even fire.”

“It’s so loud!” Samiha complained, smoke trailing from her coilgun. “our hearing is way more sensitive than yours, every bullet makes my skull shake.”

“How much more sensitive?” he inquired.

“Remember back in the rec centre when you insulted me? Yeah, heard every word.”

He stammered out a sheepish apology, wondering what else she’d picked up when he’d thought she was out of earshot. If she could hear so well, then why hadn’t she detected him when he’d intruded on her in the bathroom? Perhaps the supplements had some sort of effect on her faculties?

He didn’t want to bring it up and bugger their relations when they were just getting started, so he kept his peace, telling her to wait there as he turned around, making his way to the armoury. After a minute he returned, Samiha eyeing the device in his hands.

“What’s that thing?” she asked, blinking as he thrust it into her hands.

“Ear protectors, they’re for… well, I hope I don’t have to explain.” He mimed how to place them on, and she did so, the rubber strap connecting the two pads creating an indent in her fuzzy headdress.

“You do realise my ears are not in the same place as yours are?” she asked. “Idiot. They’re down here.”

She pointed at the spot where her head joined to her long neck, roughly where the back of a jawline would be on a human. He couldn’t see any kind of orifice, they must be hidden below her rusty coat.

“How was I supposed to know?” he asked, Samiha shaking her head as she fiddled with the ear muffs. They were too small to meet around her winding neck, so he left and came back with earplugs. After showing her how to use them, Samiha rubbed the little rubber bullets and stuffed them into her neck, confirming his suspicion that there were indeed holes buried beneath her protective feathers. It took her some effort to place them, but soon she was ready, the earplugs no longer visible to Ryan.

“Still hear me?” he asked.

“Yes!” she exclaimed, louder than was necessary. “It’s a little crude, but it works.”

“Try the gun again, test them out.”

Like he’d suspected, Samiha was less hesitant to pull the trigger this time, the earplugs working like a charm. Her aim was still off, however, and Ryan gestured for her to stop when she got through half the magazine.

“You’re still too tense,” he explained, gesturing for the weapon. She handed it over, and he braced it against his shoulder. “Don’t grip the handle so hard, just let your trigger hand rest on the plastic, only use the muscles in your finger.”

He fired a three-round burst, the paper target shredding down the middle. “Your other hand is the one that does the gripping, use it with your shoulder to control the recoil. Short bursts first, don’t go in full-auto like Rambo, work your way up to that until you’re comfortable.”

“Rambo?” Samiha asked. “Who’s that, a human warrior?”

“Sure, the greatest. I couldn’t tell if you were holding your breath or not, but you don’t need to, not for close-range targeting anyway. Exhale as you pull the trigger, that’ll keep you steady.” She clicked her beak as she watched the ceiling-mounted targets switch to replace the ruined one, it was hard to tell is she was even listening to him. “I know guns can be loud and intimidating the first time you handle one, I was pretty scared myself when I first enlisted.”

“I’m not scared,” she pouted. “I’ve held a gun before.”

“Not this kind, obviously. “So did you get all that? Samiha?”

“Yes…”

“You inhale as you shoot, okay?”

“But you said to exhale!”

“I know, just making sure you weren’t zoning me out. Try again.”

She took up her spot in the booth once more, and he could tell she was taking her time as she lined herself up, Ryan noting her trigger hand was relaxing, just as he’d told her. Her headdress twitched, and then she fired, the bullet skimming the target in a graze. Samiha muttered an alien word that probably was best left untranslated.

“Use your shoulder,” he said, walking up and bracing the stock against her arm for her. That silky coat of hers never ceased to amaze him with its texture, even the stalks were as soft as slik, the ends rounded rather than tapering into a point. “Keep both your eyes open, but focus down the sights. Inhale.”

She sucked in a breath, Ryan gently backing away as she focused. “Exhale, and fire.”

Her weapon kicked, and this time, she hit the target right in the middle, Samiha letting out a victorious ‘Krrrawt!’ as she admired her handiwork.

“I did it?” she said, more a question than a realisation.

“Hell yeah,” he answered. “Keep going.”

With her last few bullets, she severed the hanging target, watching as it drifted to the ground, the trailing cables on the ceiling whirring as they dispensed a fresh replacement. Reloading once more, she continued, still whiffing the occasional shot, but she did a lot better than her last attempt.

“Let’s get to the more personal touches,” he said, waving her over to their bench, littered with all sorts of attachments he’d picked out from the armoury. “It all comes down to preference and what you’re comfortable with, but with a bit of experimenting you can find something that suits you just right. For a PDW, you might want to go with a foregrip, or a laser to help with aim.”

“Not this again,” Samiha said, lifting one of the laser attachments with a feathery hand. “I swear if you make me put these things on the wrong way again, I’m gonna kill you.”

“Promise I won’t,” he said, stifling a chuckle. “I’ll even do it on my gun so you can watch, trust me.”

“Trust a clanless, that’ll be the day,” Samiha muttered. “But, it seems I have little choice in the matter. So is it better to have a foregrip, or not?”

“Well it depends on the person, just gotta experiment to see what fits you. Everything here uses the rail hardpoint to slide parts on and off, let me show you how, properlythis time…”

***

What followed was a few hours of Ryan running Samiha through the coilgun platform until he was satisfied she could shoot straight. She went from wasting half her mag, to landing every shot, the amount of shredded targets making a small mound of paper on the floor of the range. As her aim grew, so did her confidence wielding the platform, Samiha hardly blinking by the time she switched to her preferred PDW configuration.

She had a big grin on her beak as she finished off the final target with a burst to the head, thumbing the heatsink release, the little caps glowing red with diverted heat as they fell between her scaley legs. “I must admit,” she began. “although this weapon is as loud and brash as its creators, there’s a certain satisfaction to its kinetic power.”

“Think that’s it,” Ryan said, dusting his hands. “we go any longer and you might start getting better than me, and we can’t have that, can we?”

“I can’t tell if you’re being serious or not,” she replied. “But, you’re right, probably burned through enough bullets to supply the whole platoon twice over, let’s get out of here.”

There was a spring in her long steps as they returned their gear and departed the range, making their way down the corridors to their quarters. Soldiers and a few engineers passed them by, hardly any of them looking up at the alien, a big difference compared to the first few weeks on the base. The novelty had died down somewhat, but to Ryan, the change in Samiha’s attitude was putting her in a fresh light.

“Question,” she began, lowering the gait of her long legs so she didn’t outpace him. “Why did you say yes when I asked you for… help?”

She hesitated on that last word, clearly this whole clanless business was bothering her, despite his efforts back in the range. “Thought we already discussed this,” he said. “Back when we had dinner.”

“Don’t say it like that,” she murmured, Ryan raising an eyebrow at her. “Like it was a… what’s the human word for it? I can’t remember…”

He made to say it, but held back at the last moment. He got the feeling Samiha was just pretending to be ignorant, putting on an act to appear ignorant. It was sort of cute, in a way, this surly alien might be more than just a rude and stubborn bird.

“Relax,” he said, laughing at her. “We went someplace so we can straighten things out, nothing more to it than that, right?”

“Of course,” she agreed. “So, back to my question… why? You must know that I’d be dismissed soon enough if I didn’t improve my aim, I thought you might have wanted that, given our… history.”

“I’d be lying if I said the thought didn’t cross my mind,” he conceded. “but this program, this is the biggest opportunity for all of us to go far here in the Alliance, all we have to do is keep our heads down and do well, and we can’t do that if one of our team doesn’t know how to shoot.”

“You helped me so that I can improve your odds of success,” she noted. It didn’t come off as an insult, but an observation, Ryan nodding up at her.

“You should see where I’m coming from,” he replied. “With your Kith here, impressing her might just be your own way of becoming a Rakshal. Long as we all do good, we’ll both get what we want.”

“I guess that is a more… pragmatic approach to things,” Samiha relented, fixing him with a grin. “Your logic is a pleasant surprise, Corporal. Perhaps you and my old squad leader aren’t so similar after all.”

“Who was this former leader of yours anyway?” he asked. “Tilu mentioned him a while back, but was light on details.”

“His name was Kuron, and he was the most petty, despicable excuse of a Kith I’d ever known. Well, second most after I met you, Corporal, but unlike you, he could never relent in his ways, never treat his fellow soldier like they were Balokarid.”

“And I remind you of him? Ouch.”

“Perhaps I was too hasty to compare you two,” Samiha said. “Unlike you, he never helped me run through the finer details of shooting, or bring me to a steakhouse, not that I’d ever agree to share food with the likes of him.”

“Perhaps you should have floored him, worked on me,” Ryan suggested, Samiha chirping out a giggle.

“Ha! That’s the least he deserved. But you can’t just attack a Kith out of the blue, especially not the likes of Kuron.”

“You attacked me, though,” he pointed out. “And technically I’m your Kith.”

“W-Well, yes, but that’s… different,” she stuttered. “You are clanless, you were appointed my leader without my or Tilu’s knowledge, and you tried to have me expelled from the program. In a way you were asking for it.”

“I guess that was very un-Kith of me,” he admitted. “So this Kuron, how’d he get that kind of position if he was such an asshole?”

“Asshole?”

“A bad person,” he explained.

“He was much more than that, but he had connections, you see? He was a relative to one of the clan’s leaders, not Shaliyya, but one of the others who didn’t make it off Dur’shala. He never earned his place leading our Rakshal battlegroup, it was given to him, and I wasn’t the only one who had a problem with that, but what could we do against someone with that kind of influence?”

“Had similar problems back in my Confederate days,” he replied, Samiha eyeing him expectantly. For all her hatred of his past, she seemed unusually interested in it. “Rich kids who bought their way up the chain of command got to tell us foot soldiers where to go, what strategy to use, without ever setting foot on a battlefield themselves.”

“It’s the only way the spoiled can derive any sort of power, or sense of adventure in their lives,” Samiha grumbled. “Kuron was exactly the same, but you on the other hand, I see now you’re at least more… amiable than he ever was.”

“Amiable?” he asked, grinning up at her. “I’m just helping you out cause we’ve got another sim in a couple of days, can’t have you messing things up again.”

“Yes, of course.”

They walked the rest of the way in silence, Ryan wondering if he really was just looking out for his own skin, or if there wasn’t some measure of intrigue to his actions.