(Sigma Mercenaries Chronicles, Story 0002: Training The Trainers)
Not a huge amount to say in this foreword, today.
When you look at the mainline stories of the Sigma Series, a lot happens in a day, but as with real life, there is far more than meets the eye. If I went full-bore on the day-to-day affairs in the Sigma stories, I could easily do 100,000 words a chapter (a day) and still not cover it all. When writing an open-world random-plot story like Sigma, I as the author have to cherry-pick the most relevant and entertaining aspects to write about, but by no means is that the be-all-end-all of what happens.
Story 0002 is the classic example. Where the mainline pushes the plot forward, this story covers a subplot that shows up in bits and pieces in the mainline, and is detailed in length here. This is all about training and standards, how Sigma forms itself up into the mercenary unit that captures hearts and headlines throughout known Existence. Everyone starts somewhere, and this story chronicles the first set of major start-and-stop points.
Most of the action in this story will revolve around Sigma One (Erich Hess) and the Secret Service team, as he pushes them to learn new things and as they push him to improve in physical and mental pursuits. The cadging will be under the table in both directions; Hess won't outright state it, but he's working toward a multifunction group with his Secret Service, and the Secret Service won't directly say that they are trying to whip the American 'big guy' into some semblance of shape, by hook, crook, or magic.
Look forward to the end chapter of the series (Chapter 9, what should be day 20 of the Campaign); with Hess' continual 'indirect training' efforts on his Secret Service detail, they will wise up to his methods and run him through the wringer for it. There will be hijinks and messiness and other assorted wrong things and an alternate definition of the word 'pineapple' will be involved in that last run, but it's all in good spirit. I will pub one short chapter for this story for every even-day primary story chapter, so this will take a little while to execute.
You have the gist of it. Now onto the gratuitous warnings section!
NOTICE: All warnings for the Sigma 0001 story applies here. If you're reading this story, you should already have covered chapters 1 to 4 in Sigma 0001 REVISED.
(Sigma Mercenaries Chronicles, Story 0002: Training The Trainers)
(Chapter 1: Trigger Discipline)
(21 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0600 Hours Local Time)
(Target Range, Basement Level 1, Administration Building, Base Boarhound)
(Day 4 of Campaign)
Immediately after Hess stepped through the lighted doorway into the range, the industrial overhead lighting began snapping on with audible clicking noises. Unconventionally, at first glance there was no shooting stalls or target caddies, which was both a bit unusual to Hess and somewhat expected all the same. Supposedly, the Star League had pioneered Holographic and Nanotechnology simulations by way of the METARgraphic (1) technologies — Material-Energy Transitional Adaptive Rebuild Holographic systems — which allowed for reduced training expenditures and increased scenario variability up to any amount of realism that the trainees wanted.
Once Hess stood to the red line in the shooting range area, he set down the Anti-Grav Storage Case With Weapon Rails that he had prepared for the morning's weapon review. The case in question was loaded full with weapons, magazines, and ammo, but had an external carry weight of ten pounds courtesy of the integral antigravity systems that chopped down the actual weight by 95 percent. Such 'low power / high efficiency' Antigrav made it far easier to carry equipment long term and long distance, and in this case allowed Erich to carry a dozen various firearms, accessories, and appropriate munitions with roughly the same exposed weight as his customized AR-15.
"All right, Virtue, what's the process here?" Hess asked simply after he had a good look at the METARgraphic gun range.
"Control systems are on the back wall of the range area. Are you simply running a weapon function and control test series, or effects on target?"
"Both, actually," Erich explained as he approached the control panel. "Okay, this is fairly easy, and voice controlled. I like that." Sigma One took a few moments to scroll through the list of commands and familiarize himself with the control protocol for the range system. "Think I got it now. Range Control, deploy shooter line bench tables with entry gaps."
Hess watched as the METARgraphic system began building the bench tables from the ground up using nanomachinery. As machined, the table was nothing special, just a nondescript matte gray bench that straddled the red line. From command to ready table was only about 10 seconds. With the benches readied, Sigma One picked up the gun case and dropped it on the table, then flopped it open. "Range Control, deploy four paper target stands with B-27 standard silhouette targets, 10, 20, 30, and 50 yard ranges."
Inside the case, Hess extracted his first test rifle: a full-auto M4 carbine in the standard 5.56mm chambering. The former Militiaman (resigned as of midnight) also extracted a battle pack of M855A1 ammo for it (240 rounds), four magazines, and a striploader to facilitate fast loading of stripper clips. He attached the loader to the business end of the first magazine, inserted a stripper clip of 10 rounds, and used the loader to ram the rounds down into the magazine. Drop aside the empty clip, put a fresh clip of 10 in place, ram them home. After the third clip of rounds, he was left holding a full magazine at an expenditure of roughly ten seconds.
The targets were left waiting for him for about a minute while he loaded magazines and adjusted the M4. Enough time, though, and he was set up and ready for the first part of the test. He started with the 10-yard target, two rounds semi-auto to verify sights, then he went to full auto and did two-round and three-round bursts to get a proper feel for it. On his last ten rounds, Erich cut loose with the full auto to punch holes in the simulated paper target.
Hess ejected the magazine and stepped to the right a few yards to line up on the next target. A new magazine was in place and he slapped the bolt paddle to release the BCG (2) and chamber a new round. This time, he started with the short bursts, and worked his way up to longer bursts when firing at the 20-meter target. By the time he was done, a five-round burst put some good rounds into the chest cavity of the paper target.
On the third series, Hess moved a little more deliberately, and this time did a speed reload drill to get his weapon back in battery and ready to fire. At the 30-yard target, Erich cinched the weapon in tight and cut loose with full auto, and in the process managed to put some 22 rounds into the paper and 18 of those on the actual silhouette — a result he wasn't expecting, but was surprisingly pleased with given this was his second time in life behind a full-auto trigger.
The fourth target received the same treatment as the third, fast reload, fast on target, but this time Hess slowed down the fire rate to pairs and trios again, and kept that consistent until his bolt locked open on an empty magazine. At fifty yards, thirty rounds produced 26 hits in short-burst fire, which was a most satisfactory result for the new mercenary commander: it validated that the US Army and the Multimage Touman were not bullshitting on the efficacy of the M4 platform.
"Range Control, replace paper target simulates with human form simulates, generic, four male, four female," Hess ordered as he reclaimed his magazines. "Set ranges and positions randomized from 25 to 100 yards for new targets."
The simulates built themselves up in seconds, faster than the paper target stands, which told Hess that the system had been warming up when he entered. He took his time doing magazine loading while eyeing the target simulates, which were pasty-gray human forms in the two genders, with nothing particularly specific about them (more along the lines of a department store mannequin than anything else).
"Virtue, these targets are set up to do proper damage effects when hit, correct?"
"Negative. These are simple simulates, with the rough effect of shooting a department store mannequin." Hess grimaced but said nothing about the overlap of thoughts between himself and the AI. "If you want to review damage effects, you will need to use human analog simulates." The eight targets reformed themselves from the inside out into the human analog simulates, which were more along the lines of flesh-colored rather than the pasty gray of the human form simulates.
"Time to look at the terminal ballistics in action," Hess said as he loaded up the third magazine.
-x-x-x-
(21 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0620 Hours Local Time)
(Hess' Quarters, Administration Building 4th Floor, Base Boarhound, Terra 232)
(Day 4 of Campaign)
Toni adjusted the sling on her rifle to compensate for her slightly enhanced bust. Since she used a physical modification amulet on herself, she had not worn the M4, and only now realized that she was keeping it tight to begin with — probably too tight. Still, the 3-point sling had plenty of slack to work with, and now she had cause to learn how to use it beyond her old schoolyard education on rifles.
Before she headed for the door, Toni stopped and stretched out as much as she could, since she knew she was in for a rough morning. She had spent hours before on the rifle, but she doubted Erich would be anywhere near as forgiving as old Mechwarrior Ralphie had been back in her school days. A couple stretches to the left, a couple stretches to the right, and she was ready to head down for her first training session. A thumb to the door plate and it slid open —
"Waha!" Toni shouted as the door came open to a surprise, a familiar lady that had been extracted from the train.
"Yeep! Oh, perfect!" the lady said. "Just the person I need to talk to."
"You? Me?" Toni asked in shock. She could hardly forget the lady in front of her, as she had been the exercise guru on the train that Clarence had found hanging upside down while wearing only jogging pants and a smile. Toni had first seen her on the far side of her M4's suppressor, as she and Hess had forced her to surrender when she tried creeping on the unit as they passed her sleeper bedroom. "What?"
"I wanted to talk to you about the boss," the lady said. "Can you spare a minute, or do you need to go somewhere?"
"He'll be training me on rifle and pistol shortly," Toni admitted. "Come here," Toni waved her into the quarters and closed the door behind them. "What's on your mind?"
The Lady considered something, then decided for the direct approach. "The boss' physical health. The dude is massive, and that's not going to help him through this job."
"Okay, you have my attention," Toni said. "Start talking."
"I've seen this kind of guy before more than once. Lets himself go, puts it all in the job, kills himself with some manner of malady caused by his mass. Given Sigma One's size, I'd bet 65 on stroke, 35 on heart attack, at this time," the physical buff said.
"Okay, I was thinking the same, and trying to work on a way to cut his weight down gradually. What are you thinking?" Toni asked sincerely.
"I'll help train the troops, but I am going to do personal training on Hess to whip him into shape," she said. "Dude just signed on the plan, and most everyone in the building believes in it. Would not do well for him to crap out before the finish line."
"You win, but one word of caution. He doesn't move fast for anything, it's not in his mindset. Don't hammer on him, or he'll fold," Toni said as a caution.
"Got it," she said with clear understanding.
"Time to introduce yourself to the Boss. What's your name?" Toni asked.
"Sidonia," the lady answered.
"Follow me, and be prepared to prove yourself to the big guy." Toni thumbed the door open again, though this time there was nobody on the far side of it. "I am forming up a security detail for the Boss. What is likely to happen, I'll volunteer you for part of the detail, and we can work our way into a physical training routine gradually. He's already doing morning workouts, but he may need some professional help."
"Hess? Definitely needs professional help," Sigma Two (Clint Jamison) said as he formed up behind the two ladies. "Oh, you mean physical training professional help? He's slow as molasses in that department, but he is trying and he is slowly working towards a manageable goal."
"Which is?" Sidonia asked.
"300 pounds with street clothes on," Clint said.
"I think I can get him running lower. There's a gym in B1, full equipment. I think he needs a daily morning workout routine," Sidonia said. "Same with you, missy, if you're going to be his SPO… or confidant."
"Good point," Toni groused.
"You gunning for the big guy?" Clint asked as they passed down the stairs onto the first floor. "Good luck. A few tried at work, it didn't go anywhere."
"I think I have a captive audience, just don't tell him that," Toni said as they trudged down the stairs to B1. "Which way to the shooting range?"
"Dunno," Sidonia said.
"No clue," Clint said, looking around for some kind of sign about it. "Virtue?"
"Dead ahead, left at the next corridor, second door on the right," the AI entity instructed them.
"Ah, si comprende," Clint said as he led off.
The march to the shooting range was fairly quick, but it was not a march to the range alone: the three troopers were joined by four technicians moving gear in toward the range, some kind of assembly similar to the storage units from the trains. They stopped to get earplugs from the dispenser bin on the wall outside the range, and why became evident fast enough: before the door opened, the sound of automatic weapons fire was easily audible through the reinforced blast door.
"Plugs in," Clint tossed each of the ladies a pair, then pulled his own electronic earmuffs forward.
Once the ladies had their hearing protection in, Toni thumbed the door open just as Hess cut loose with another burst of automatic fire from whatever weapon he was using. The change in light pattern in the room caused him to look toward the new entrants, whom he waved over toward the benches.
"What's the toy, boss?" Clint asked as he approached. "Oh, Gewehr 36. Not bad."
"Not that good, either. Recoil is a bit heavier than the M4A4, and the German Army troops don't particularly like it due to barrel warping. I wanted to see if it was worth maybe getting a HBAR version, but probably not. We can get the same results or better from a different rifle without getting a heavy barrel."
"Notice you have a SCAR on the table. Done that yet?" Clint asked.
"Just got off it five minutes ago. I'd hit it," Hess admitted. "Toni, milady gymnast, welcome."
"Sidonia, sir. I'm here to volunteer for the training position in your security detail," she said.
"Asking the wrong person," Erich said, then jerked his thumb at Toni. "She's the lady in command of the SPO. I just work here."
"Uh-huh," Clint said in clear disbelief.
"You're in," Toni said with a smile, feigning that the decision had not already been made.
"Welcome," Hess said, holding the M4 out to Sidonia. "Mags and rounds are on that bench. Load four, make ready and hold. I want to see where your rifle work falls. Clint, since you popped a boner at the mention of the SCAR, grab it and a battle pack, take it down to the far table and throw some lead downrange. Range Command, set targets seven and eight to B-27 silhouette targets, range 50 and 100 meters. Toni, same thing as Sidonia: load four, make ready and hold."
"On it, sir!" Toni answered immediately.
Hess took the time to pull apart and wipe clean the G36 he had been working on, just a simple cleaning job since he didn't really have the time to do a full clean. Once that was accomplished, he locked the German assault rifle (3) into the rails on the outside of his storage box and pulled the next weapon he intended to test — the Remington ACR, which saw limited use in Afghanistan 2012.
"You're doing that the hard way?" Toni asked as Sidonia loaded her magazines one round at a time.
"Is there a different way?" the 'trainer' asked.
"Try this," Toni handed her a clip guide. "Clip this critter on the back of the magazine, like this," Toni attached the guide to the back of her magazine. "Slide a stick of rounds into the guide, brace the magazine on something hard, and push down with your thumb." In one motion, Toni loaded ten rounds into the first STANAG (4) magazine.
"Easier trick for you," Hess said from behind Toni. He picked up a magazine, a guide clip, and a stripper clip, then assembled them. "Save your thumbs. Use a table." Hess put the top round in the stack against the edge of the bench and pushed the magazine forward until all the rounds were loaded in. He pulled the empty stripper clip, put a new one on, and repeated the process. "Just don't do this to a table with a good finish, you'll damage the table."
"Got it, sir," Sidonia answered.
"Where does he get these tricks?" Sidonia asked.
"I wish I knew half the weird stuff this guy knows," Toni admitted. She watched the boss out of the corner of her eye, though he was using a different device to load the stripper clips.
With the bench trick, all three had magazines loaded at roughly the same time that Clint had the SCAR loaded and in action.
"Okay, we'll start with you, Toni. Number six human analog target, should be out at 125 yards, easy shot for an M4 with suppressor."
Toni drew the bolt back on her weapon to chamber, took aim, and loosed four rounds into what she thought was the right target. "Did I get it?"
"Wrong target, but you did hit," Hess said. "Looks like two chest and one shoulder hit. Range Control, repair target five." After a few moments, the hits disappeared. "To the right and a little farther off is the number six target. Try again?"
"And here I was liking the look of that number five target," Toni said before she snapped off a pair of three-round bursts at the designated target. "Any questions?"
"Not at all," Hess said after he counted off five separate blood streaks on the target analog. "Sidonia, number four target."
For the Trainer, the process was the same. Arm weapon, take aim, cut loose. Only, she didn't stop there; Sidonia did a burst of six on the fourth target, a pair of three-rounders on the third target, and another six-round on the fourth. "That third target is kinda creepy. So I drilled it a few times, just to be sure."
"So I noticed," Hess said tightly. "Second target is getting a bit close for comfort. Both of you hammer it with a short burst." The two ladies took quick aim at the 30m human analog target, and both were able to easily put fist-size groups into the chest. "Disarm and lock your bolts open." Erich looked to Clint, who was fumbling with magazines. "Clint! Stand down for target inspection!"
"Roger!" Clint shouted back. His weapon was quickly disarmed and locked open for the duration.
Hess crossed the line and waved the two ladies forward to join him. A short walk to the first target, and even without the blood trails he could easily tell the shots were nasty-lethal. "Cored her heart and part of her lungs out. Good shooting."
"How effective are these going to be for real?" Sidonia asked.
"Come here," Hess waved the two around to the back of the 30m target analog. "This is a very close approximation of real-world damage, since these analogs are set up to mimic human body effects," Hess poked part of the analog's undamaged area, which gave way to his poking like a human body would.
Sidonia gaped at the shredded back the analog had incurred from the nine rounds it received. "Serious?"
"The M4 has some interesting ballistics when using the older ammunition. At the muzzle, you're firing a 22-caliber icepick. Past 200 meters at the most, you're firing a 22-caliber icepick. Between twenty meters and 180 meters, the bullet strikes flesh, tumbles and shears inside the target, causing fragmentation that spalls outward throughout the body. Hence, this wide and somewhat random pie-plate-sized chunk torn out of this tango's back. We could set up ten targets, shoot them roughly the same, and get ten different damage patterns due to the rather unpredictable and vicious 5.56 ballistics."
"Oh wow," Sidonia gaped. "No wonder the Magi favor this weapon. A couple rounds inside the golden zone, that guy ain't getting back up. Or girl in this case."
"Next target," Hess waved them towards the #4 target, which was a further 50 meters past the number three target analog. "Okay, this was a little more organized than I expected, and good shooting. Six rounds, five body shots, one upper leg shot. If not already dead by the time he hits the ground, he'd bleed out fast enough. Only thing remaining to happen is to close up the grouping and you're golden."
"Hey! I was firing offhand, not braced. I can only do so much, big guy," Sidonia retorted his criticism.
"True. Next," they continued on to the 120m target number five. "Okay, this one is a bit more ragged, with only nine of twelve hits. Long bursts are helluva fun, but the longer you hold the bang switch, the less likely you're going to be putting rounds on target."
"Bang Switch? Never heard that term, it's kinda cute," Toni said.
"I don't claim it, I picked it up from the Claiborne County SWAT operators." Hess waved them to the last target. "Okay, Toni's handiwork. Very good grouping, all chest and torso. Looks like you've got the hang of it already."
"I hope so, I used a suppressed M4A4 in my school firearms classes," Toni admitted.
"Now, since you have the basics down, we start pushing the limits." Hess waved them back towards the front. "Shooting at simulates and analogs is a good start, but if you want to train for the expected threat, we have to start conducting ourselves like we are dealing with real-world problems."
-x-x-x-
(21 March, Magi Year 14408 / Year SL 8838, 0715 Hours Local Time)
(Hess' Quarters, Administration Building 4th Floor, Base Boarhound, Terra 232)
(Day 4 of Campaign)
"Holy shit!" Toni gaped after she entered the quarters. "That was intense! My arms are killing me!"
"I'm not far behind," Sidonia whined. "I do lifts, pushups, but those drills, where did he learn that?"
"I don't know, but if he learned those tricks in America, Gods help us if we have to go muzzle-to-muzzle against them," Toni answered as she entered the bathroom. "Come on, Sidonia, this shower stall has two shower stations. Might as well use them both, save time."
"You sure you can handle that? Some people freak out about communal showers," Sidonia said.
"Does it sound like I'm freaking out?" Toni asked.
Before she reached for the shower door, the quarters main door opened. "Just in time," Hess said as he entered with three duffel bags over his shoulders, two to the right and one to the left.
"Something up, sir?" Sidonia asked.
"Here," Hess handed each one of them a duffel bag. "Shower supplies, uniforms for each of you, I guessed on sizes so you may have to pick up different bras, and protein drinks in the end pockets."
"Protein drinks — wait! Recovery for the drills?" Toni asked.
"Exactly," Hess said as he took a quick drink out of his water reservoir. "Twenty minutes going to be enough for you two to shower?"
"Sure, why?" Toni asked.
"You asked me a question the first night we were here. I think I may have an idea on how to answer that question by the time you are done," Erich answered cryptically.
"Okay then," Toni answered in confusion. "C'mon, Sidonia, faster we get done, faster we get to the mystery."
"Yeah, definitely," the Trainer answered.
-x-
Hess entered the gun range again, and again this time he was the only person in the room (Clint had retired to cuddle his new SCAR assault rifle and take a shower, though Hess guessed not necessarily as separate actions). The ScrapNet Interface Point had been installed and confirmed working 30 minutes ago, which allowed Hess to run the two ladies through the paces with more advanced drilling, as well as allowed him to acquire their new uniforms while they cleaned their guns in the next room over (a room dedicated to cleaning and maintenance of guns).
He figured for now he would leave them with the M4 platform — numerically it was not as reliable as the Remington ACR, H&K 416, or the FN SCAR, but it was common and it worked well. His first call was to grab a suppressor for Sidonia — silent and violent, he figured. Second, he grabbed each a brace of magazines and appropriate munitions, as well as a proper MagLULA stripper clip loader like what he used. That settled the rifles for the time being.
On pistols, Hess figured now was the appropriate time to make this call official. For decades prior to his being born, the world had been in the midst of a cold war, commonly known as the 'Caliber Wars' that raged between those who swore by one pistol caliber over the next. Hess had his opinion on the caliber war, but more to the point, he had a full army to consider, not just himself. In the final analysis, it came down to a question of how much he was willing to sacrifice for accommodation versus lethality. 9mm pistols were the widest usable of all calibers, but 45 ACP punched the most significant holes in targets at the cost of being less usable for some persons. Thankfully, someone had tried bridging the gap in the past, which led to an interesting and often-discounted alternative: the .40 S&W. Roughly the same controllability of the 9mm, significantly larger hole in the target for those days that a mere mortal didn't always put their rounds in the sniper's triangle or the spinal corridor. Two Springfield XD Tactical pistols in .40, two Surefire TLR-1HL Tactical Lights, three extra magazines each, and munitions were added to the order.
Knives were easy to pick out — Gerber Prodigy survival knife, Gerber Multi-tool, Smith & Wesson SW3B Bayonet, and that was completed. Ontario Knife manufactured the official M4 / M16 bayonets for the US military, but Hess figured his Smith & Wesson Bayonet did the job well enough, and knife-fighting was not something an AR-15 or M4 was intended for to begin with.
The last part of his gear grab for the ladies was, oddly enough, the one they would need for the rest. He settled on a Condor Gunner Plate Carrier quickly enough, a pair of Level IV-rated armor plates for each (one front, one back), a Tuff 8-in-line Magazine Pouch (M4 magazines), a Tuff 5-in-line magazine pouch (double-stack pistol mags), and a Blackhawk Hydration pouch for their back panel. The last thing he grabbed for the two were OD Green pistol belts, necessary for the knife, bayonet, and pistol (which all had regular pistol belt loops, not MOLLE pouches). As a start, Hess figured that much would be a challenge for Toni and Sidonia to wear for an extended length of time without his conditioning for heavy gear sets, so he figured that was enough for now.
The kits fit nicely into duffel bags, and again Hess was on his way up the stairs to his quarters to deliver gear and this time to take a shower before his administrative work began in earnest today.
-x-
"Cleaned up, dried off, ready for the day," Toni said.
"By the by, what does the day consist of for you?" the trainer asked as she tightened down her belt.
"I just follow the boss around, help him with administrative stuff, I guess. Past couple days, I've been in on the setup stuff for the Protectorate," the Phoenix guessed.
"So, we're somewhere between secretaries and security?" Sidonia asked as she adjusted her sport bra for the day ahead. Hess had surprisingly guessed their sizes right, which neither lady expected offhand.
"Yeah, more or less," Toni said. "A lot of this is establish-as-we-move-forward kinda stuff."
"Okay, that's good," Sidonia said. "I'll do what I can for the secretary work, but I'll probably lean on you a lot for it. I'm a gym trainer, not an admin assistant."
"And I was a mathematician college student before I hit the Train," Toni admitted. "We have a lot to learn."
"Ready to hit it?" Sidonia asked after she pulled her shirt down and tucked it in.
"With a sledgehammer," Toni replied with a smile.
Sidonia was first through the door, followed quickly by Toni, and both stopped just past the door to the shower room. "Okay, what's in the bag?" the trainer asked.
"Little bit of a challenge for you two," Hess said before he hefted his own duffel bag with the day's uniform. "Take your time, and think logically when doing the initial setup."
"Okay then," Toni said as she approached the table and the two duffels.
"I guess this one is mine, you already have a silencer for your rifle," Sidonia said as she closed up on the bag with the suppressor.
"Yeah, probably," Toni said as the door to the shower closed. "So, what's in the bag?"
A good yank on the zipper and they had their answer. "Pistol kit, XD Tactical .40 S&W, three spare magazines, eight magazines for M4s, and what are these?" the trainer hefted one of the hard curved objects out of the bag. "Wait — Strike Face, Medium Plate?"
"Armor plates," Toni gaped. "MOLLE pouches — and the bottom is a plate carrier?" Toni was the first to dig it out of the bottom.
"Are you kidding me? The plates alone weigh more than my school backpack, never mind the carrier, the pouches, the magazines, the — the — what the hell is this?" Sidonia waved around a pouch of some kind with a an olive tube attached to it.
"Water pouch," Toni answered. "Okay, who the hell is supposed to be the trainer here? Him or us?"
"I'm beginning to think we're getting played in some fashion," Sidonia said. On a whim, she ventured over to where Hess kept his non-armor tactical vest and lifted it off the hangar. Her reaction was swift and almost comical as the weight of the vest dragged her face-first into the side of a rifle rack. "Eep! This thing is HEAVY! No way I could wear this!"
"I could have warned you about that," Toni said with a smile. "He said it weighs 70 pounds fully loaded."
"More than half my weight," the trainer admitted. "Okay, I take that back. We're not getting played, we're being challenged. And I don't intend to lose to the big guy!" She stormed back to the table. "Okay, how do you assemble these things? I want this ready before he gets out of the shower."
"Virtue?" Toni asked, never having dealt with MOLLE gear on her own before.
-x-
"It goes exactly as you expected, Sigma One," Virtue reported while Hess showered.
"Good. If they expect to keep up with me in a mobile gun battle or train clearing scenario, they're going to need the conditioning. It's one thing to walk or run circles around a building, it is a totally different thing to walk circles around that building wearing 60 or 80 pounds of gear."
"Do I inform them of your objective?" Virtue asked.
"No, I think I will leave this as an open-ended challenge, see if either of them begin to understand the picture," Hess said with a smile. "We continue as normal, though I expect they will give me grief for this no later than lunchtime."
Author's Chapter Afterword:
This is a small side-story project that came to mind for me. It will showcase Hess walking through the motions of training his Secret Service group to keep up with him mentally, in lethality and in unusual tasks. This is not so much anything against the Secret Service ladies; on the contrary, at least two are equal in intelligence and one is above him (you'll see the rest of the Secret Service troops in chapter 5 of the mainline story). The catch is, Hess is hyper-conditioned in understanding and analyzing things, which makes him a fast learner, a natural at picking up new processes, and mentally agile to a degree that frightened his Information Tech co-workers on his homeworld. Also, for being a large guy and rather badly out of shape, Erich is extremely well conditioned in bearing large loads for extended periods of time, which is another thing the Secret Service troops have to get used to in following him. In some of the coming campaigns, a magazine bandoleer and a rifle is not the minimum expected equipment, the minimum required equipment is far higher.
Don't worry, though, the Secret Service troops will get their vengeance at the end of the series. I've already got that one planned out, and they will be mentally and physically hammering on the boss in 'thanks' for the 'training' he is passing out. :)
I intend to run a chapter of this story every other campaign day, so the next chapter will run parallel to story 0001 chapter 07 (Campaign day 6).
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No gripes so far for this story. If you've got complaints, I want to hear them.
Footnotes:
(1): Material-Energy Transitional Adaptive Rebuild Holographic systems. Using a combination of nanotechnology, high-energy encapsulation and transmission, and holographic projection systems, these holographic fields allow for any manner of simulation to be entered into the material matrix and executed for full physical and visual realism. These can be as basic as a simple holographic full-realism shooting range, to a completely lifelike training simulation of a hostage crisis in an office building, and any combination in between. The only effective limitation is the footprint of the training field; vertical scalability is easily applicable up to 10 times the horizontal scalability.
(2): Bolt Carrier Group
(3): This is the proper use of the term Assault Rifle. By dictionary and legal definition, an assault rifle is any rifle that fires an intermediate cartridge, is smaller than a nominal battle rifle or light machine gun, and is select fire (semiautomatic, burst, full automatic, or some combination thereof). The political term Assault Weapon is a fabricated name that refers to any weapon that contains military-style features and may or may not scare politicians into attempting to ban them for little or no purpose. The actual proper term for an Assault Weapon is Sporting Rifle, Marksman's Rifle, or Civilian Rifle, since such weapons DO NOT fit the actual legal qualification of an automatic weapon.
(4): STANdardization AGreement. These Agreements amongst NATO groups were used to create standard equipment and practices to easier facilitate cooperation between the various NATO armies. That said, the STANAG magazine protocol was never officially adopted — the STANAG for the magazines was Draft STANAG 4179, which was never ratified by all the member states. Hence, the German G36 rifle uses magazines that are not interchangeable with other NATO parties, just as one example. That said, most of the NATO weapons do use 4179-compliant magazines, but are not technically obligated to.
Included Works:
—Sigma Mercenaries mainline story and location
—IRL Weapons: Any of the weapons demonstrated so far are IRL, except for the M4A4 which is a Magi upgrade to the M4 platform.
—IRL Armor: The Condor Plate Carrier and Level IV plates are a legitimate and civilian-legal armor solution.
—IRL MOLLE Pouches: Any of the shown pouches are available on the retail market, though some of them are rare (the TUFF 8-in-line and 5-in-line are not commonly used outside of some narrow circles).