Sergeant (The United Federation Marine Corps Book 2) by Jonathan P. Brazee Read Free Book Online Page B

the platoon before continuing, “ Before I show you this, though . . .”
    MacPruit suddenly spun, dropping down almost to the sawdust before springing up at Ryck. Ryck fired the eGun, but he was aiming at where the other sergeant’s chest had been a moment before. The charge went right over MacPruit’s head as the instructor crashed into Ryck, taking him down. Almost immediately, Ryck was stretched out, held captive by MacPruit, his right arm stretched out over his head and slightly behind him.
    “ . . . I should remind you never to give your enemy a warning. Hit him, and hit him hard.”
    MacPruit leaned back, stretching Ryck out further. Ryck tried to resist the pressure, to muscle through it, but the pain on his arm was too great. As much as he hated to do it, he tapped out with his left hand.
    “Another thing. Iffen you ever get into combat with someone, neutralize him. See, this is hurtin’ Sergeant Lysander’s arm. See him trying to tap out, his hand flappin’ like a beached salmon? But iffen I let him go now, he can still turn on me and do me damage. So I got to make sure he can’t do nothing anymore.”
    He pulled back even further, and the pain made Ryck scream out. Something in his elbow popped, and MacPruit finally let up.
    “See? Come in low, and never give an inch,” he said as he got to his feet. “Let’s pair up. I’ve got knives here in this box. Sorry, no eGuns, but we don’ need them for this.”
    Ryck was still down in the sawdust, his arm on fire. He struggled to sit up.
    “You ready to try it again?” MacPruit asked innocently. “I can be your partner.”
    “You mother grubber,” Ryck hissed. “You broke my fucking arm!”
    “Break it? Nah, I would’ve felt that. Maybe just sprained. Nothing a day or two in regen won’t fix up, right? No harm, no foul,” MacPruit said quietly.
    “Doc, can you come over here?” he called out to the corpsman. “Looks like Sergeant Lysander hurt himself.”
    The corpsman did a quick check of Ryck’s arm. MacPruit had been right. It was a sprain, and it would take two days of regen to heal it.
    “Payback’s a bitch,” MacPruit said to Ryck as he was led off to sickbay. “Am I right?”

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Chapter 4
    Ryck snuck another glance a Major Laurent standing across from him. The legionnaire barely fit inside the Stork, the top of his combat suit grazing the bird’s overhead. It was not without a twinge of envy that he took in the legionnaire in his Rigaudeau-3s , the Legion’s version of the Marine PICS. Ryck was proud of being a Marine, but still, every comparison between the two combat suits seemed to favor the Rigaudeau-3s as the better piece of gear.
    It may have been a better piece of gear, but it did not marry well with a feet-in-the-wind Stork. Normally, when deploying in a PICS, Marines were lifted by an MV63-C, the Stork variant without a cargo bay. The PICS were slotted into cradle hoists which could quickly get two squads of PICS Marines onto the ground and into the fight. However, the Legion suit didn’t have the coupling, so in order to accommodate Major Laurent, they were in an MV63-D, the latest model of the “normal” Stork. The web seats on which a Marine would normally sit were neither big enough nor strong enough for combat suits, so the seats were folded up and the pax [8] were all standing. With only the exit ramp as an egress, it would be more difficult and time-consuming to get the one embarked squad of Marines offloaded and the Delta on its way.
    “What do you think of our friend, there ?” SSgt Hecs asked him over the direct comms.
    “I don’t know. He seems OK, but his rank is screwing with me. ‘Major Laurent,’ but he’s really an SNCO, a sergeant major?” Ryck answered back.
    “Yeah, and they call their gunnies ‘ adjudant .’ I don’t mean that. I mean how are you with this guy following us, watching what we do?”
    “I’m not copacetic with it, Staff Sergeant, to be honest. I still