Lieutenant Colonel (The United Federation Marine Corps Book 6) Read Online Free PDF Page A

them—was essentially the same Poseidon Aquasled the civilians used for fun.  Gone were the eye-blindingly bright color schemes, and each sled had been modified with universal weapons mounts and comms, but the sleds were essentially the same rich man’s toys that most people could only rent for an hour or two while on vacation.  Now, each Marine in the battalion had his own sled.  Ryck still hated the Armadillos, but who could hate these?
    Despite the aquatic origins of the Marines, from the very first Roman Adiutrix Legions and up through the US and other Marines in the 22 nd Century, once mankind left the bounds of Earth, the aquatic nature of various marine corps fell by the wayside.  Marines still fought with the Navy, but space-to-shore replaced ocean-going ship-to-shore operations.   The Navy and Marines were great in space and on land—on an ocean, not so much.
    But planets had varying degrees of ocean-going presences.  After the debacle on Dallamay, where a fleet of fishermen had confounded the FCDC, strategists started re-examining this.  The mortified FCDC had to buy a fleet of Sefina coastal cutters from the Brotherhood as a stop-gap measure to meet the capability requirement.
    Opponents argued that the Navy could have blasted all the fishing boats out of the water with ease.  But the FCDC was trying to break an illegal strike, not destroy an industry.  Ryck had no love lost for the FCDC, but it had hardly been their fault that they had no capability to stop, board, and arrest large numbers of people who were aboard aquatic vessels.
    That had been almost 20 years ago, and meanwhile, the Navy and Marine think-tanks slowly argued and compromised on how to best address this capability shortfall.  The Navy had come up with their new Osprey, a mid-sized armed transport that could land, float, and take off from water.  It was not particularly maneuverable, but it served the purpose against a lightly or unarmed opponent.
    The Marines came up with the commercial aquasled, and not knowing just what to do with them, they were dumped on the two new assault battalions.  Ryck had his doubts as to their efficacy against an entrenched, well-armed opponent, but the pure fun factor was a welcome change from the grind of the last three months.  Morale was as high as it had been since Ryck took command.
    Ryck’s issue face shield gave a 30-second warning for reaching PL Tuna.  The fact that the current SOP had Marines in their skins and bones was an added plus.  That was one less thing for the Marines to learn in order to employ the aquasleds.  It could be even more foolproof with all the sleds slaved to a single AI, but for this exercise, each sled was controlled by its rider.  Marines did not like to give up control as a rule, and this was a training exercise where they were supposed to gain the skills needed to use the sleds.
    When they reached the phase line, each rank of aquasleds disappeared under the water in unison—pretty much in unison, that is.  Ryck was in the third rank, and as his display lit up with the command, he hit the submerge button, and the sled dove beneath the waves.  One moment, he was skimming along the surface, the wind in his hair.  The next moment, he was zipping along underwater, a bubble of air surrounding him.
    Ryck had snorkeled before, but that was nothing compared to this.  The bubble of air, which was Poseidon’s proprietary technology, gave him crystal clear vision, and he could pick out three or maybe four sleds in each direction before the rest got lost in the murk. Çağlar was just off to his port side, and the sergeant gave Ryck a thumbs up, a huge smile on his face.
    The speed underwater was just as impressive at 50 KPH.  Several shadows of fish scooted out of the way in panic from the unfamiliar shapes zipping by.  Kratchuri 3 was not a fishing world, but as part of the terraforming process, fish had been introduced as a matter of course.
    Ryck kept his eyes on