Le Sueza: Penthouse

Upon entering my room, I saw that there was a new message on the communications panel and moved to touch the button. The voice of a teenage girl filled the penthouse.

"Hey, Uncle Drake. We are all missing you around here. I wanted to ask you a question but I don't want to leave it on a message system. Call me when you have time. Love you."

Cleo's voice said from the panel. She was the oldest of Bobby and Asta's children and the only female. She had been the first child to ever call me her uncle. She had been the one to draw me into the family.

I undressed and slipped into the bed. I would return her call while on the way to the ranch tomorrow. I was tired as hell right now. My eyes closed and I was asleep before the lights of the room dimmed completely.

Galient Solar System: Planet Glyreh

"Sergeant Drake Daemon reporting for duty, sir," I said, with a crisp salute, as I entered the general's office. I assumed the attention position and stood waiting for his reply.

The general looked up and studied me for a minute. His eyes took in the young man standing before him before softly speaking. "You do not match your reputation, Sergeant Daemon. According to the people I have asked, you are a thousand meters tall and wear a necklace made of your victim's skulls."

"I am in disguise, sir." I joked.

The general chuckled. "Relax, and have a seat," he said, as he opened a file on his desk. "Do you know why I requested you for our outfit?"

"No, sir."

He began to read from my file. "Trachoir III: Medal for Bravery awarded for single-handedly reversing the outcome of a Spinner attack. Vega IV: Medal of Valor for holding ground in the face of overwhelming odds. Silf III: Medal of Honor, and Purple Heart for accomplishments above and beyond the call of duty. Tanameer V: Bronze Cluster for bravery. Yaniff III: Bronze Cluster for valor and Purple heart. Lis'en III: Silver Cluster for bravery..." He went on to list all of the fifteen engagements in which I had been involved. "You have survived fifteen engagements, and four promotions, in one year. Medals for bravery, valor, and honor, all with bronze and silver clusters awarded. Five Purple Hearts earned. All of this was accomplished in your first year of service. Is it true you were the only survivor on Silf?"

"No, sir, our charge survived as well."

"Son, you are exactly the kind of soldier we look for. You are the kind of soldier that puts his duty above all else. When your record was brought to my attention, I sent the request out."

"Thank you, sir. I will try and do your faith honor."

"Welcome to the Space Rangers. Report to Colonel Fandier, with the Twenty-first Battalion. He will get you tagged in and equipped. I am giving you the recon platoon."

"Yes, sir."

"Dismissed."

With a nod of his head, I left the office and moved across the base. The signs were well laid out so I could easily find my new battalion. I entered the battalion office and signed in. A blond female lieutenant guided me to the colonel's office.

"Sergeant Drake Daemon reporting for duty, sir."

"Relax and take a seat, sergeant. I assume you have already reported to the general."

"Yes, sir."

He smiled when he looked up. "You are going to find life in the Space Rangers a bit different. We are sent in to the hotspots with orders to pacify them. You won't be surprised by being shot at. You will be expecting it. This battalion recon platoon was devastated in our last engagement, and we are rebuilding it. Do you think you can whip forty-one new soldiers into shape in two weeks?"

"Sir, I will more whip them in shape. I hate writing condolence letters."

He nodded and hit a button on his communications panel. "Command Sergeant, Sergeant Daemon is here. Get him outfitted and ready for his platoon."

I was still in my dress greens when I walked into the barracks of my new platoon the next morning. I was carrying a Tanner submachine rail pistol. I had chosen it because it was a noisy bastard. I walked quietly to the center of the room, past the sleeping watch. I had loaded the pistol in my hand with noise-makers.

Grinning like a madman, I pointed the pistol up and pulled the trigger. Soldier rolled out of their bunks, screaming and diving for cover. The soldier on watch fell out of his chair and screamed like he had been mortally wounded. "The enemy will not wait until you have had good nights sleep! I want every fucking one of you soldiers in formation out front in ten seconds!" I shouted at the top of my lungs before turning to look at the soldier on fire watch. "You are to be doing pushups until I tell you otherwise."

Soldiers started to scramble for their clothes. I started to count down from ten as I walked towards the door. Several soldiers ran by me in their underwear to get outside.

I stood at the side of the door and finished my countdown. When I hit zero, I started yelling for the soldiers still coming out to start push ups.

I paced around in front of the soldiers as the majority of them did push ups on the ground. "I gave you ten seconds to get out here! You had ten seconds to run the distance I walked in seven! Out of forty of you, eight made it on time!" I then looked at the soldiers. There were only forty of them. "Where the hell is my corporal?"

None of the soldiers answered.

"I asked a question, damn it! Where the hell is my corporal?"

One of the soldiers was brave enough to speak. "He went into town, sergeant!" He said, timidly.

I pointed to the eight soldiers who had made it outside. "You eight go inside and get dressed in battle fatigues. The rest of you keep pushing. You are in charge of pushing this planet around the sun for now. We are all going to wait for the corporal to show up."

We definitely waited. The dressed soldiers were all standing at ease and the others had all collapsed from push ups, so I had them switch to jumping jacks to keep the planet moving. Then they switched to sit ups.

We had been out there almost an hour when a cab pulled up at the end of the formation area. Out of it stumbled a young man, in civilian clothes. He started to stroll up the formation pad singing softly to himself. Then he noticed all the soldiers. His eyes opened wide and I could see his skin start to pale.

"Corporal, would you be so nice as to join us for our morning exercises?" My voice was deceptively calm.

The corporal froze in his tracks and he glanced at the barracks door.

"Now!", I shouted at the top of my lungs.

The corporal started running towards the formation and stood in front of me at attention.

"Corporal, who gave you permission to leave this base?"

"I was in charge until the new sergeant arrived. I signed my own pass, sergeant."

"Was all the paperwork in order?"

"Yes, sergeant."

"Did you turn in copies with the company command?"

"Yes, sergeant."

"Who did you leave in charge in your absence?"

"PFC Limins, sergeant."

"All seems in order then. Go get in your battle fatigues and be back out here in one minute. We have five miles to run before breakfast."

"Yes, Sergeant."

I turned to the formation. "Form up!", I shouted.

The soldiers who were doing sit ups stood and breathed a sigh of relief. They had a minute to rest before the corporal was in his position for the run.

"Forward, march!", I shouted. We started forward and once we were moving I shouted, "Double time, March!"

Then I set the pace by starting a cadence.

"I got a girl her name is Sally; her cooking tastes like food from the galley.

I got a girl her name is Lace; she love to dress up all nice.

I got a girl her name is Gloria; she calls me deary and honey."

The men ran beside me as they started to feel the burn. I could see they were not accustomed to regular exercise. They had been allowed to slack off for too long. By the end of our five miles they were all puffing like an old locomotive. Then I heard most of them start to mutter as we headed for the mess hall. Most of them were still in their underwear.

Female soldiers whistled and cheered as we headed to the mess hall. The worst of the bunch was one soldier with duckling briefs.

I stood at the side of the mess hall as my men went through the line. The Command Sergeant and Colonel both came in and saw the state of my soldiers. Then they came up to me. The colonel was the one to speak. "I see you are starting quickly."

I quickly saluted before responding. "Soldiers tend to lose the fighting edge if they are allowed too much down time."

The Command Sergeant nodded. "I agree, plus it gives the female soldiers a good show. When are you going to give them a fighting demonstration?"

"Later today, I will move them out for afternoon exercises and training."

"Do you mind if we come by and watch?", the colonel asked.

"I don't mind at all, sir. If we are lucky, one of these boys will be able to kick my ass."