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

the sled’s geographic display.  There was essentially no interface between Ryck’s eyes and the water, but water, even crystal clear water, still had visibility limitations.  Ryck could imagine slamming up against some undersea spire at 50 KPH.  There was a collision/failure rescue function on each sled, but still, that was something he didn’t want to experience.  Their course into the beach had been carefully selected so there were no obstacles, but fuck-ups happen.
    The underwater leg was about 30 minutes long, and despite himself, Ryck got a little bored.  There wasn’t much to see other than those Marines on either side of him, and the sensation of speed was not the same as on the surface.  He was glad when his command display showed Fox Company hitting the beach.  Less than a minute later, Ryck’s rank was rising in the water, the bottom sensors taking over.  As he broke the surface of the water, Ryck steered the sled up on the beach and beside two other empty sleds.
    Driving, if that was the word, the sled while trying to maintain control of the battlespace was more difficult than he’d thought it would be.  But as he rolled off the sled and onto the sand, things started clicking into place.  The Fox Marines had already pushed up over a 100 meters into the sawgrass.  Beyond them, Ryck could see the aggressor force beating a hasty retreat.  This assault had been carefully choreographed, and the aggressors were nothing more than something on which to focus his Marines’ attention.
    As a commander, Ryck tried to determine what would have happened had this been an actual assault.  He didn’t like what he saw.  They had landed over a broad expanse of beach with a gentle, even slope.  It looked like the old films he’d seen of the landing on Omaha Beach during WWII on Earth.    The sleds were fun, but they could not transport a PICS Marine or heavier weapons.  With modern weapons facing them, the carnage on the beach would have been heavy.  A crew-served energy gun would scythe right through them.  No, for such an assault to have a chance, the Navy would have to be providing supporting fire, both from space and from atmospheric craft.
    Ryck started going through other possibilities in his mind when a siren blared from the bleachers at the far north end of the beach.  The exercise was over.  Faux cheers ran through the battalion’s Marines as they celebrated their “win.”
    “Commanders, gather your Marines and get them marching to the assembly area.  Then join me at the bleachers,” he passed on the command circuit.
    3/7 was hosting the battalion for a field day complete with steaks, some sort of sausage that was a local favorite, beer, and the prerequisite battleball game.  This was their turf, so it was up to them to put up the food and drink.
    Tarawa was the “home” to the Marine Corps, and it had more than its share of great training ranges, both on the planet and in the system.  What it did not have was much in the way of an ocean.  Kratchuri, home to the Third Marine Division, was almost two-thirds water, so when it came time for 2/3 to learn how to use the aquasleds, it made sense to send the battalion to the planet.  There were closer planets with oceans, but this also allowed for a pollination of ideas between the two new assault battalions.
    A healthy rivalry was growing between the two battalions, but if their first four days on the planet were any indication, there was also a bond of brotherhood growing.  The “Fuzos” and the “Black Devils” were bonding over their shared status.  And with 10 December coming up in a week, the battalion would be guests at the “Black Devil’s” patron birthday celebration.  2/3’s own patron, the Portuguese Corpo de Fuzileiros, might be “senior” to the Royal Netherland’s Korps Mariniers —1618 to the Korps Mariniers’ 1665 Old Reckoning founding—but both battalions considered their adopted lineage to be among the