The Empire’s Corps: Book 01 - The Empire's Corps by Christopher Nuttall Read Free Book Online

rare in the Marine Corps. It was yet another reason why the Senate distrusted the Corps.

    “At ease,” he said, when the door had closed behind the last Marine. “Before we start, there is an important issue we have to settle. Do any of you wish to stay behind?”

    “Respectfully suggest, sir, that you quit insulting us before I have an attack of brains to the head and realise how far we’re going from civilised lands,” Master Sergeant Young said, dryly. “Besides, where could we go if we did decide to leave?”

    Edward shrugged, although Young had a point. A Rifleman could be transferred to another Company without serious career repercussions, but it was harder for a Sergeant or a Lieutenant. They rarely transferred out without a very good reason, which suggested to the CO of their new unit that there was something deeply wrong with them, forcing them to work harder to prove that they were good officers. It was a silly issue, in Edward’s view, but old habits died hard. A really poor officer would have been reduced to the ranks or transferred somewhere where they could do no harm – or discharged, for serious offenders.

    “I heard that Melville’s Murderers are looking for a replacement Lieutenant,” Gwen put in, sharply. “If anyone wants to jump ship, now is the time.”

    “The Murderers...damn it,” Lieutenant Thomas Howell said. “What silly bastard thought that that was a good name for a unit?”

    “The Murderers themselves,” Young pointed out. “They liked the name and made it stick.”

    Edward shrugged. A Marine Company was generally named after its CO – hence Stalker’s Stalkers – and the enlisted ranks got to vote on the name. The Corps patiently endured names like Burnside’s Bastards, Severus’s Snakes and Wilkinson’s Wankers, although the last one had probably been someone’s idea of a joke that had gotten out of hand. Some units ended up with names that no one dared write down. If Melville’s Murderers wanted to call themselves murderers, no one had the right to stop them.

    “It hardly matters,” he said, seriously. “The good news, as I hope Gwen told you, is that we’ve been given a blank cheque for supplies. Thomas, I want you to go completely nuts and plan on the assumption that we’re not going to be re-supplied anytime soon. Look up the data on Avalon, find out what they cannot produce for us, and fit as much as you can on the transport ship. We’re going to have a whole transport to ourselves so have fun.”

    “Thank you, sir,” Howell said. A Marine Transport Ship was intended to transport an entire Marine Division. A single Company would rattle around in its enormous bulk. “We’re going to have it completely to ourselves?”

    “There may be a few colonists coming along,” Edward said, remembering the Professor that the Commandant had told him would be coming along. A Professor...and his family. He hadn't had time to check up on their accommodation, but they could just be put in the tubes along with the Marines. They certainly wouldn't want to spend six months cooped up on a transport ship. “Plan on the assumption that we’ll need two hundred tubes and use the rest of the ship’s bulk as you see fit.”

    “Yes, sir,” Howell said. Edward smiled. Howell was the current logistics officer for the Company, a task Edward had handled himself when he’d been a Lieutenant, and being told he could get whatever he wanted was a dream come true. The others gathered round, offering suggestions and comments, which he listened to with half an ear. Edward knew that he would have a wish list of supplies the Company desperately needed. “I’ll start planning at once.”

    Edward turned to Young. “I take it that you dealt with our miscreants?”

    “They saw the error of their ways,” Young said, with equal gravity. “The four of them will be spending their time cleaning toilets with toothbrushes until they’re shining at night.”

    “Have them