Stars in the Sand Read Free Page A

the rear compartment. Nelyubov was sitting at the back, browsing through a datapad, while five others were sitting on couches, holding their rifles, and failing to conceal their fear. He looked at rank insignia; two of them outranked him, but there were no Petty Officers in the bunch, no NCOs.
     “ Lieutenant Orlova just told me you were on board,” Nelyubov said, looking up from his datapad. “Perhaps you could assist our strike team in getting ready for action.” Frowning, he continued, “I presume you are planning to go on the missi on yourself.”
     “ I am, sir.”
     Nodding, he said, “Very well. I will leave you to assess your own capabilities.”
     The youngest, a freckled red-head with ‘Cantrell’ stenciled on her uniform over her left breast, looked up at him, saying, “We’ve all had basic training, Corporal.”
     “ Which covered the use of ship-safe pistols and rifles, maintenance and some time on a firing range, yes?”
     “ You think they’ll put up a fight?” one of the senior crewmen, Heitz, said in a mild accent.
     “ Best to assume they will. That way we are pleasantly surprised if they don’t, rather than taken by surprise if they do.” He looked around the group, trying not to shake his head. They didn’t have the bearing of troopers, were not even a pale imitation of the unit that should be launching this attack.
     “ The first key is to use cover. Take advantage of anything you have, and don’t leave yourself out in the open. Now, your weapons are designed to minimize recoil, but in zero-gravity that isn’t going to mean a damn thing. One shot and you’ll be thrown all over the damn place. Get used to the idea, and make sure you don’t fire your weapon unless you have secured your position.”
     Shaking her head, her hair tossing lightly from side to side, Cantrell said, “We know this, Corporal.”
     With a smile, he replied, “I’m sure you did well enough in your basic training, Spaceman, but I’m also sure that my basic training was twelve times longer than yours. Now, I had to make do with Sergeants rather than Chief Petty Officers, but take it from me, they’re not twelve times dumber.” Cooper became aware that Nelyubov was watching him out of the cover of his eye; he wondered whether he was meeting with approval. Or whether he should care, given that his probable future in the fleet was almost over.
     “ I’ve fought in these environments before. Anyone want to tell me what the most important thing is?”
     “ Hitting the target,” a tough-faced shuttle technician called Grogan said.
     “ Why?”
     “ Huh?”
     “ Why is it important to hit your target?”
     Cantrell replied with a sneer, “Because you want to kill the enemy?”
     “ Wrong. You need to hit your target, Spaceman, because hitting almost anything else is likely to break something important, and at best that means that maintenance technicians like you get to spend hours tidying up the mess. Worst case, we all end up swimming home.”
     “ I thought the guns were low-powered?” Grogan said, glancing down at her rifle.
     “ They are, but that just means you probably won’t cause a hull breach.”
     “ Probably?” Grogan said, her eyes widening.
     With a grin, Cooper continued, “That doesn’t mean that you can’t damage something critical. Quite the reverse – Murphy’s Law is alive and well when it comes to boarding action s . You will always destroy the one thing that you can’t do without.”
     “ What are you trying to say?” Cantrell said. “Don’t shoot?”
     “ Only if you are damn sure that you are going to hit what you are aiming at. At least I don’t think that you will be going up against anyone with armor on this battle. It’s unlikely that the transport would be carrying combat troopers – but don’t underestimate your opposition.”
     “ Good advice at any time, Corporal,” Nelyubov added from the rear.
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