John Ringo - East of the Sun, West of the Moon

Herzer waited until the meal was done to announce the teams.

Chow had improved dramatically after a few blistering messages to the War Department. Cooks had been brought in “for the duration” as had a much better quality of food. Tonight’s dinner had been standing-rib roast with buttered potatoes and broccoli. Dessert was a layer cake. Not chocolate, unfortunately.

When people were working on the cake and coffee he stood up and waved his arms for attention.

“Okay,” he said, clearing his throat. “As you might have noticed from the training schedule, we do not have training scheduled tonight.”

He grinned as there was a cheer. For the last three weeks training had continued into the night, mostly on navigation around the complicated ship.

“The reason is that we’re about to start microgravity training and it’s time to break up into assault teams. Team leaders come up front,” he said, waving to the area in front of his table. “And as I call off your name, form on your team leaders, please.” He picked up an envelope and opened it, clearing his throat again.

“Team Herrick,” he said, looking up, “that would be me.” He waited for the chuckles to die down and then looked back at the paper. “Mission Commander: Councilwoman Megan Travante. Icarus CO: Commander Herzer Herrick. Comp Tech: Courtney Boehlke. Engineer: Evan Mayerle. Pilot: Joie Dessant. Blood Lords: Sergeant Layne Crismon and Corporal Yetta Barchick.”

Herzer waited until the group had assembled by his table and then looked back at the paper.

“Team Van Buskirk: Captain Arthur Van Buskirk, Icarus XO. Comp Tech: Jacklyn Pledger. Engineer: Linda Donohue. Pilot: Michelle Lopez. Blood Lords: Triari Sergeant Callius Doclu, Corporal Lief Mota, Private Ignacy de Freitas.

“Team Van Krief. Team Leader: Lieutenant Amosis Van Krief. Comp Tech: Richard Ward. Engineer: Paul Satyat. Pilot: Kristina York. Blood Lords: Line Sergeant Doo-Tae Rubenstein, Sergeant Eaton Yamada, Private Silvano Bijan.

“Team Cruz. Team Leader: Lieutenant Brice Cruz. Comp Tech: None.” They were short one computer technician and the teams were based on only having five engineers when six shuttles were expected. “Engineer: Geo Keating. Pilot: Irvin Sanchez. Blood Lords: Triari Sergeant Ferdous Dhanapal, Line Sergeant Gyozo Nasrin, Corporal Manos Berghaus, Private Gustave Sesheshet.

“Team Massa. Team Leader: Lieutenant Michael Massa. Comp Tech: Manuel Sukiama. Engineer: Nicole Howard. Pilot: Josten Ram. Blood Lords: Line Sergeant Arje Budak, Corporal Feng fu Nordbrandt, Private Rashid Whitlock.

“Team Graff. Team Leader: Triari Sergeant Ebenezer Graff, Line Sergeant Buu Kiem Topak, Sergeant Gonzalo Kamsing, Corporal Slodoban Toralva, Corporal Genrich Khologdori, Private Lambis Pepynakt, Private Viktor Williams.”

He looked up from the teams and nodded in understanding. Everyone had already formed bonds based on their training with peers. Now they were expected to get used to these relative strangers. The groups had gotten accustomed to wearing their individual uniforms and the mixture seemed… odd. Geo, surrounded by Blood Lords, seemed especially out of place. Linda was looking from Geo up to Herzer. The latter looks would have been deadly if eyes shot fire, and her face was fixed in a frown.

“You need to get used to these teams,” Herzer said. “In general, during the mission, this is how you’ll be performing your individual tasks. The Blood Lords who are with you are there to keep you alive. By the same token, the techs are there to make sure the mission actually gets accomplished and to handle shipboard systems. This is the group you’re going to be moving, fighting and living with. Everyone has a purpose and you’re going to have to learn to work with each other and trust each other to do the job. Otherwise, we might as well pack it up and go home. So figure on spending most of your training and free time with your teams. That’s all I’ve got. I’d suggest you guys get acquainted.”

He walked back to his place and sat down as Courtney came over and perched on the end of the table.

“Hello, Councilwoman,” Courtney said, holding out her hand to Megan. “I’m Courtney Boehlke. I’m going to be the computer tech on your team.”

“And I’m Evan Mayerle,” Evan said with a grin, holding out his own hand. “Pleased to meet you. Who’s the big lug sitting next to you?”

Megan grinned and solemnly shook their hands in turn.

“I don’t know who he is,” Megan said, thumping Herzer on the arm. “He followed me home, though, so I think I have to keep him.”

“Here comes trouble,” Layne Crismon whispered from behind Herzer, who looked up to see Linda striding over with a furious expression on her face.

“Herzer, I have a bone to pick with you,” Linda said, leaning over the table so far it looked as if she was going to spit in his face.

“Let’s take it into the corner,” Herzer said, gesturing to the far side of the dining hall.

When he’d gotten out of earshot of the teams, he stopped and pivoted to face her.

“It’s about Geo?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I was supposed to be with him the whole time!” Linda spat. “You promised me that! And his ship…”

“Doesn’t have a computer tech,” Herzer said, nodding. “So you think you should switch with one of the Blood Lords?”

“Yes!” Linda snapped.

“And double up our short engineers,” Herzer pointed out. “On a ship that could be taken out by New Destiny if we get very unlucky?”

“What do you mean?” Linda said, pausing.

“It’s possible that one or more teams may get wiped out on insertion,” Herzer pointed out with glacial calm. “Or at a later time. Hell, we may all get wiped out. But I’m mostly worried about insertion; we don’t have any control over the shuttles until we get to the ship. So I’d like you to take a look over at Geo’s team.”

“What am I supposed to see?” Linda said after a few moments.

“Cruz is one of the few people I handpicked for this mission,” Herzer said, gesturing at the team leader, who was listening to the old physicist and nodding his head. “That’s because he’s a stone-cold killer who uses his head. He actively enjoys bringing destruction to the enemy and he’s very good at it. Ferdous Dhanapal was part of Class One at the Blood Lord Academy. He’s never going to get any higher than Triari because he’s dumb as a brick about everything except killing and doing the mission. He’s the guy that ‘fight until you die or drop’ was written for. Gyozo Nasrin has won the silver eagle twice, once in Raven’s Mill and the second time in Balmoran. Again, a cold hard killer with not an ounce of quit in him. He’s one of the volunteers because if it has a ‘high risk of loss of life’ it means it has a high risk of getting it stuck in and he loves getting in a brawl. Shall I continue?”

“You put all the best fighters around him,” Linda said, nodding.

“I’d, frankly, thought about reloading with more on my shuttle,” Herzer said, shrugging. “But next to Megan and myself, yeah, I think Geo’s the one to guard. He understands all the theory, and the engineering, of the ships. That’s going to be important, unless I’m much mistaken. So, which Blood Lord do you want to bump?”

“None,” Linda admitted, sighing. “Objection withdrawn.”

“Next time assume I have a reason for what I do,” Herzer said. “That’s always the best way to go with orders. Yeah, you can question. But after you obey. Now, go get to know your team. They’re going to be what keeps you alive. If you live.”

“Thanks for being so positive,” Linda said, shaking her head. But she headed back to her team.