SpecOps (Expeditionary Force Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

zPhones for everyone, and night vision gear.
The food, of course, all came from Earth.
    When I arrived at the large cargo hold we used for
training, it was 1250 hours, and both Adams and Williams were already suited up
in armor, with only their faceplates open. In the military, if you weren't
early, you were late, so of course Williams and his SEAL team had gotten there
half an hour early. Along with Adams was Giraud, the French paratrooper leader
was checking Williams' suit and explaining its features. On the other side of
the cargo hold, Adams was going through exercises; bending over, easily jumping
to touch the ceiling that was ten meters high, and spinning her unloaded
Kristang rifle like it was a baton and she was a drum majorette. Generally, she
was showing off, I figured she was doing it to intimidate Williams, and from
the look on his face, it may have been working.
     
    Adams and Giraud showed Williams how the armor suit
worked, and he went through a series of familiarization exercises. He was good,
damn good, he caught on much faster than I had back when I put on a suit for
the first time. When Adams and Giraud were satisfied that Williams knew enough
not to hurt himself, it was time for the show. There was a large circle painted
on the floor, Adams announced that the object of the game was like sumo
wrestling, whoever knocked their opponent out of the circle won the match. They
took positions opposite each other, toes touching the painted circle, and
Giraud announced "Begin!"
    Williams, knowing Adams had more experience with
powered armor, crouched slightly, then launched himself forward. He wasn't
going to attempt any advanced hand to hand combat, he was going to rely on the
suit's speed, power and mass to knock Adams out of the circle.
    Adams had a different idea. She stood in place, but as
soon as Williams moved forward, a door in the bulkhead behind Adams slammed
open, and a combot launched itself across the hold. The combot's feet never
touched the floor, it flew through the air in the blink of an eye, crashing
into Williams, knocking him to go skidding across deck. He struggled against
the combot, but the Kristang powered armor was no match for the superior
technology of a Thuranin combot. Standing in place and controlling the combot through
gestures, Adams had the combot gently but firmly pick Williams up like a rag
doll and held him against the far bulkhead.
    "Enough!" Giraud declared, and Adams
gestured for the combot to release Williams.
    Williams popped his faceplate open, looked at Adams,
and bowed. "Well played, Sergeant. You did warn me to expect the
unexpected out here."
    "Everything is unexpected out here," I said.
"Do you have any questions, Lieutenant?"
    To his credit, Williams wasn't insulted, he wasn't
angry, he had an enormous grin. Getting familiar with powered armor, and
combots, was going to be a bigger challenge than he thought. And special forces
people absolutely love challenges. "No questions at all,
Colonel," he said to me. To his team, he added, "People, this is
going to be fun, so pay attention."
     
    I stayed in the training hold for an hour, taking the
opportunity to gain time in a powered suit myself, it had been weeks since I'd
used one. Fortunately, it quickly became familiar again, and I followed along
with the SEAL team as Adams and Giraud put them through a series of exercises.
It was good, I told myself, for the SEALs to see their commander knew what he
was doing. The truth is, I was showing off, and I didn't care who knew it.
Adams caught my eye a couple times, like when I jumped, touched the ceiling,
did a backflip on the way down, and landed perfectly on my feet. That wasn't
all skill, the suit's sensors detected the floor, and would have pulled me
upright to land safely if I hadn't managed to do it on my own. After an hour of
fun, I had to get out of the suit and leave, because my duty shift on the
bridge started in two hours, and I wanted to grab a snack before