Dominant Species Read Free Page A

Darcy turned and strutted off with an exaggerated swagger and a lilt in her voice. "Like candy from a baby."
    Stitch and Merlin had already fallen into post-game analysis and they too wandered away from the table. "You watch, you smug SOB," Merlin blustered, "I'll figure out that damn cannonball trick yet. And then it'll be your ass." Stitch only laughed as his lanky frame ambled across the room.
    Ridgeway felt a presence loom on his right and turned with theatrical deliberation to acknowledge Monster's barely restrained gloat. An unrelenting smile gleamed beneath the ebony dome of Monster's cleanly-shaven head.
    "Looks like I haven't been keeping up on the scoreboard." Ridgeway muttered.
    The right side of Monster's brow arched up as he dipped his head in a slow nod. "Oh yeah, Stitch has that damn cannonball maneuver down."
    "Nice of you to share that bit of analysis."
    "Sorry Major. It's my job to know everything these marines think, see and do," Monster placed his hand over his heart as he recited the sergeant's role with feigned earnesty, "but that was ‘need to know' information and since you were putting up the money--"
    "Yeah, yeah," Ridgeway cut in, an accusing smirk spread across his face, "I didn't need to know."
    Monster's grin broadened through another several degrees of arc and a deep laugh resonated within his chest.
    Ridgeway shook his head in chagrin, caring little of either the game or the loss of ten credits. All that mattered was that his marines were healthy and, at least for the moment, enjoying a well-deserved bit of relaxation. With less than 36 hours before the rapidly decelerating transport reached it's rendezvous point, the window for meaningless diversion would evaporate all too quickly.
    Ridgeway's gaze swept mechanically across the storage bay. As he did, his mind ticked through a silent checklist of people and equipment.
    Amid the numerous containers made of high-impact thermoform, one olive drab footlocker caught his attention. The name ‘Caslin' was stenciled carefully along the container's long side. In their rushed departure, there had been no time to remove the designation.
    "We doing all right?" Ridgeway asked the question in a flat, detached voice.
    "Everyone above room temperature is just fine."
    Ridgeway blinked twice, momentarily caught off-guard by Monster's irreverent response. Caslin had been with the squad for twenty-three months of Waking Time and his death on Euripides had taken a toll on everybody. But Ridgeway just as quickly recognized the cold reality in Monster's comment.
    Killing and dying were all part of marine business and dealing with loss was a necessary skill. Caslin's frozen remains had been shipped home with his personal effects, leaving only his name on an mottled green container that had served as his mobile workplace. Ridgeway knew that the oversized footlocker would get cycled back to carry another name. They always did.
    "Armor good?"
    "Five by five," Monster reported crisply. "Weapons too."
    It came as no surprise that the sergeant had already checked on the status of their battle gear, and Ridgeway nodded in silent affirmation. The next item proved to be the surprise.
    "The Ordinance Fairy came by while we were on ice." The big man shrugged toward a flat, green container covered with orange warning labels that bore the innocuous legend "Danger:HEDM".
    Ridgeway walked to the reinforced box and opened the lid. Nestled in dense foam lay two rows of saucer-sized disks, each a little more than three inches thick. An uneasy feeling coiled in his gut as he read the designation M54 stenciled in bold black letters across each dull grey device.
    "Not much to look at." Monster snorted dismissively.
    Ridgeway shook his head and exhaled as he folded arms across his chest. "Head-em," he said with slow emphasis, "high energy-density material. You're looking at Detonex, thirty-five, maybe forty times the punch of conventional MIL-spec plastic explosive. Shaped charge like