chapter 5

Seargent James "old man" Johnson was grumpy. to be fair he was often grumpy, he had been in the MI for 45 years and it was starting to feel like he would be there for another 45 years. James would love another 45 years of hard fighting drag out brawls but no. he had been labeled as " to experienced" for field work! "what does that even mean to experienced". one of his privates looked over at him " you say something sarg?" James berated himself internally sure its just a stupid recruit sorting exercise but still he had men under his command and can't afford to show himself to be lazy espically with the Commonwealth playing the Opfor ( opposition force). " I said be ready jones we are out numbered two to one we got to hold this engine room as long as we can, if we can hold it for two hours then " help" arrives and we win" the words had an effect James saw the other MI marines around him stiffen just a little.one of them said " hey what about the recruits in the cargo hold maybe we can use them as a distraction" the others chuckled. " safer then giving them a gun" another added. James was about to tell them to settle down when the boarding alarm sounded and the " hull" shook. " look alive boys and girls it show time!" James barked as he and the other marines pointed their rifles at the 4 entrances to engineering. with his small team instead of trying to rush out of the Marine bearth they were simulated living in and racing the boarders to the bridge he moved the whole group the much shorter distance to the engineering section. out gunned but with time on the manties side they just had to keep their Commonwealth friends from securing the console. smoke started to fill the room as one of the privates guarding a hatch to deck 2 shouted " contact" then game really started.

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wills helmet speaker clicked on holding up his hand to stop the teams progress he waited for the traffic " Will you got three up ahead 2 facing engineering one facing you stand by" a secound later a red marker and two green markers appeared on his HUD ( heads up display) they were man sized with and though looked like they were ment to be 20 or so feet past the corner he was looking at. josh's voice came back on the radio " ok me and the boys" a soft thump could be heard on the other end" ooof sorry the people " josh stressed the word people. " just made a program should show the three tangos on your HUD red is the immediate threat facing you the two greens are facing away" will nodded even tho Josh couldn't see it. " good can you send that too the rest of the fire team also whats a tango anyway I know the term means hostile but..." will trailed off seeing the rest of his team shift in response to the hud update " i think its an old earth dance? I don't know honestly" josh said. Will could hear the shrug he couldn't see. " also friendly forces will be marked blue. we are using the ships IFF to tag any registered crew list shows a few marines I don't know if they are In the simulation or left over from an earlier exercise so be ready" Will acknowledged Josh and turned to his team motioning two recruits forward. pointing at one he said "left" then the other he said "right three... two... one.. go go go. " as the first go left his lips he spun around the corner lining up on red. the Opfor were in good cover from engineering but not from the side hall way the recruits came from. Wills burst took the enemy rear guard square in the chest his armor stopping the first to rounds.... but the other three were not " breaching" the simulation armor and removing him from the fight. left and right both went down one with a burst like red and the other with a single round to the visor. " clear said Will moving up to the door infront of engineering. " looking up at his mini map he saw five blue dots clustered around the main console with a stack of crates covering there postion. not exposing himself or his team to the opening he radioed josh for more info. "Josh see those blue dots which of the teams got lost and wound up in engineering?" "none of ours boss must of them are securing the rest of deck two hang on I'll ping the IFF ( Identify Friend/Foe) OK looks like those marines are real and in play I have a Sgt and 9 rifle men showing active. looks like 5 must be running dark incase the enemy gets into the IFF" Will shuttered if they could track his recruits as easily as he was tracking their troops then what advantages they had would vanish " can they do that?" josh chuckled " can they? sure given the time and access. will they? not anytime soon I locked out the bridge controls as soon as I was authorized It was easy with the repel boarders alarm already activated should take them at least another hour to get thru and thats if I cant slow them down." Will breathed out a sigh of relief " ok can you patch me thru to the marines so we don't get fragged walking in " sure thing Will stand by... and your connected hello Sgt. I'm josh and my associate Will is the guy with a rifle team at your door."