Dusts of Avalon - Beastwithin.org

III. A E Sreason that was somewhat unclear to Daleworth — perhaps Plaerman just hadfound some extra fuel coupons nearing expiration from his wallet and neededto balance the budget, or something. Daleworth's unit, the ˢ Platoon of the ʰSpace Marine Company of Mannerheim practically lived in the shule most ofthe time; tenically, the cra was supposed to be randomly assigned to themand only used for transportation, but the platoon had grown very fond of theshule that had never let them down. In addition to the soldiers, the shulecracarried four Fang all-terrain vehicles, two Talons, a mindbogglingly huge loadof ammo and replacement weapons, and two howitzers — though the howitzerswere never needed, no one had artillery training, and rumour had it that therewasn't even any ammo for them. Daleworth had once discussed with CaptainBluebrook about plans to drop the howitzers from air on top of some Plannerscum, but admiedly she had been a lile bit drunk at the time. e bad thingwas, the idea seemed plausible with sober head too.Some of the old faces greeted her outside the cra. Mostly old… where wasthe other rookie?“SQUAD, FALL IN! Lieutenant, ma'am!” Staff Sergeant Ja H. Haman boomedand saluted, his squad arranged in perfect ranks behind him. “Beta Squad is readyto go! Alpha and Gamma already aboard as per orders, ma'am!” e sergeant'smiddle initial stood for Hammer, making him one of the few marines in the companywho just blatantly and obviously didn't need a niname.Currently, the next officer down from Daleworth was the Moonhawk pilot,nd Lieutenant Rainer Ford — another slightly sorry replacement, as the Moonhawkswere supposed to be piloted by experienced Navy pilots and not randomjiery rookie Marine career officers who took a crash course, whi was oenexactly as effective as it sounded. Yet, he didn't have any real clout in the unitwhen Haman was obviously beer in tou with the operations, and Ford wasfine with that. Haman had been promoted to Staff Sergeant way earlier thanmost, and was obviously poised to soar up the ranks with just his assault rifleand a gigantic pile of metallic carcasses of Planner robots in his feet, not intendingto bother with mundane trivialities like enrolling into the Academy — havingbeen there, Daleworth knew there wasn't that mu to learn in the Academythat the good sergeant already knew. He was already practically taking care ofmany running maers in the platoon, and while there was no official recognitionfor that yet, Daleworth more or less considered him her second-in-command fortime being.“ank you. At ease!” Daleworth shouted. “Private Newkins, show Dr. Grovepatha seat in the Moonhawk and make sure he knows how to handle the baggagein the cra. e regulars should load up the scientific gear that is in the Talon, andaer that, prepare for takeoff. Private First Class Kurt Newkins is a new guy —predictably enough — and will be manning some of the big guns while Tankerman