Despite hours of dullness that likely led AI Krista to administer a shot of Jump, causing her to drift and lose focus multiple times, an alert abruptly startled her. The icon for Private Tichaona, one of her Marines currently with SSgt. Metz suddenly turned red with a yellow "X" covering it. This indicated that Pvt. Tichaona sustained critical injuries and became combat ineffective.
AI Krista updated her platoon status board. "Hildie, Pvt. Tichaona's armor AI, Magomed, placed him in emergency cryostasis until better medical care is available. The unfortunate Marine will remain in cryostasis until our return to Mars. There, they will transfer him to Naval Hospital Nobuyuki on Adalfarus station."
"Shit," she switched channels. “Metz, report! What fucking happened to Pvt. Tichaona? Did I not say no fucking glory hounding!”
When SSgt. Metz opens the comm channel; she can hear the strain in his voice. “Give me a minute. A little busy here, Gunny.”
“Krista, give me the basics.”
"I do not have all of the facts yet, Hildie."
"Give me what you have."
"Tichaona has several comminuted fractures in his ribs and spine. His life was hanging in the balance as emergency medical nanites struggled but were failing to keep him alive. Mere seconds before he would have died, Magomed initiated an emergency medical cryostasis."
“Shit!”
"Agreed Hildie. Your Marine is still alive, if barely."
“Alright Gunny. Tichaona nearly had a terminal case of stupid.”
“Metz, what the fuck did he do?”
“He just learned the hard fuckin’ way not to touch stuff that he doesn’t know what the fuck it does. Especially a fuckin’ red flashing button.”
“Explain.”
“Damned fuckin’ idiot pushed a slowly flashing button on what turns out to be an ancient weaponized mining drone of some kind. Someone kludged four 23 mm chemical-powered slug-throwing auto-cannons onto the damned drone. The slugs didn’t penetrate Tichaona’s armor…”
“Then how the fuck did he get hit so badly that he is frozen in emergency cryostasis? His armor is showing critical system and structural failures.” She barked at him. She observed that SSgt Metz's accompanying Marines had expended rifle ammunition.
“The drone must have had some kind of logic program or perhaps an early, ancient AI. It’s hard to tell now, as the drone is in several fucking pieces. You can probably see, several of our Marines mag-dumped 15 mm APHE into it.”
“We’ve got a bunch of young rookies with us Metz. I am not shocked they panicked and dumped a mag or two into the drone. Especially after seeing their buddy get hurt.”
She looked at the load-out in her own rifle. Full magazine of spaceship interior safe "soft" ammo. She pulled up the platoon's status. Several Marines with Metz loaded armor-piercing high-explosive ammunition. The boots must have swapped magazines.
"Metz, ensure your Marines switch back to soft ammo."
"Copy Gunny. They're a little wired now. Several have combat jitters so bad they are struggling swapping magazines. I had to remind the idiots that their armor AIs use their suit's waldos swapping magazines."
"Happens with a bunch of green boots, Metz."
"Yeah, Gunny. Idiots did it without thinking about it when they realized the soft ammo was just bouncing off the drone. Gotta admit the Revered Ancients made this thing tough. Shame we had to destroy it."
"There might be other drones, Metz."
"I see a few more in this compartment. Looks like several are missing."
"How bad is the collateral damage from our booters spraying and praying full mags?"
“We just punched a bunch of new holes in this derelict. This compartment is on the outside with doors that opened into space. Most of the errant rounds punched through the ship's hull and exploded in space."
"Fortunate the ship is not pressurized. What happened that caused the APHE magazine dumps?"
"The drone must have realized the 23 mm slugs didn’t penetrate Tichaona’s armor. After pinning him to the bulkhead it slammed a diamond-tipped mining auger through his stomach. That caused those closest to him to hose the drone with APHE.”
“Fuck.”
“You said it, Gunny. Tichaona’s armor’s AI, Magomed, deduced the path of the auger. and safely emergency scrammed the reactor. The auger nicked the mag bottle…”
“Fucking space shit!”
“Yeah, Gunny." A background beep sounds."Give me a moment.”
A few minutes passed in silence. She takes the time to update her platoon's status. Unfortunately, she did not know that her reports went to a station on the Nyasaland that, because of crew member shortages, was not in use.
“Gunny?”
“Yeah, Metz?”
“Thanks to AI Magomed’s actions, we didn’t have the remote possibility of a 15-kt nuke going off. Tichaona’s armor is now on a emergency battery power pack. Kaveh let me know that Tichaona’s armor must be hooked up to the Nyasaland’s power back on the ship.”
“Did not Tichaona’s armor AI, Magomed, have enough power?”
"Kaveh said otherwise. I confirmed. Magomed, though young and lacking experience, like the AIs in these kids' armor, understood what needed to be done. Magomed understood he didn't have enough power to keep Tichaona in emergency medical cryostasis and informed Kaveh."
“Shit.”
"Tichaona's suit's emergency battery backup didn't have enough juice to keep the poor kid frozen, turn on the 'oh shit I'm fucked' aid beacon, while keeping emergency comms open. His armor wouldn’t have had the juice to put him in emergency cryostasis and keep him there."
"Good thing Kaveh carried a few emergency battery packs."
"Yeah. Poor bastard; Tichaona will remain an armored meat popsicle until we get back to Mars."
“The squids cannot cut Tichaona out?”
"They probably could. The SAR chief said it’s safer to just leave the kid frozen in his armor."
"How did you learn that?"
Metz tries not to roll his eyes. "I asked the SAR squids before they hoisted Tichaona out of the compartment."
She looked at her platoon's status on her HUD. “Metz, I noticed Tichaona is just now being medevac’d by the SAR team and is finally enroute to the Nyasaland. Why the delay?”
“He is. It’s a fuckin’ mess in this compartment Gunny. We had to cut the mining drone in several pieces and then cut more holes in the bulkheads to clear enough space for the squids to hoist him out. Once they got Tichaona clear of the Jason’s hull, it went much faster.”
“It’s fuckin’ regrettable that we don’t have a squid corpsman or two with us.”
“Copy Gunny." He sighed. "I don’t think a squid corpsman could have done more than what the SAR teams did.”
“You are most likely correct, Metz.”
“That fuckin’ auger wiped almost all of Tichaona’s armor’s batteries. Kaveh hooked an emergency battery pack to his armor.”
“Damn. Good thing we lucked out when I sent Kaveh with you.” She quickly checks her platoon status HUD and selects Kaveh. “I see Kaveh is carrying three more emergency battery packs.”
“Yes. He also did a good job putting emergency hard patches over Tichaona’s ruptured armor. That mining auger made a huge fuckin’ hole in the kid. First time I’ve ever seen a through-and-through like that.”
“Hilde,” AI Krista breaks in, “Tichaona nearly suffered a hemicorporectomy, also known as a trans lumbar amputation.”
“Krista, he fucking what?”
“The mining auger nearly cut Tichaona in half.”
“Fuck. Why did you not say so?”
“I did.”
“Gunny,” Metz said, breaking her discussion with Krista. “I want to officially commend Kaveh and Magomed.”
“I will second it, Metz, but nothing higher than letters of commendation.”
“Copy, Gunny. I’ll complete the NAVMC 11798 reportable line of duty injury form once we return to the Nyasaland. I’ll have it on your desk for your chop as soon as I can after we return to the ship.”
“Make sure that you do. I am filling out the nine-line injury and medevac report now.”
“There’s no rescue boat; hell of a time to be missing one. The SAR squids say they could call the Yarnall’s pinnace, but by the time it got here, they’d already have Tichaona aboard the Nyasaland.”
“How are the squids medevacking my Marine? Metz, please tell me they are not dragging him back on the landing tethers.”
The landing tether pitons with their vacuum-setting epoxy are strong. However, she does not wish to test their resilience while hauling her injured Marine. She has seen tethers snap and the resulting chaos.
“Nah, Gunny,” Metz replied, trying hard not to roll his eyes at the inexperienced gunnery sergeant. “The SAR squids are strapping Tichaona to a mule. He’s going back to the Nyasaland along with the three SAR squids who were also injured by the 23 mm rounds that bounced off Tichaona’s armor.”
“Were the SAR squids hurt badly?”
“Minor abrasions, some broken bones, and a lost eyeball. Nothing major.”
I am relieved to hear the squids were not seriously harmed. Despite the historic and often acrimonious inter-service rivalry between the Marines and the Navy, when it counts, we stand together.
“Gunny, the SAR squids are estimating it’ll take about an hour or so to get Tichaona back to the ship.”
“Does the emergency battery pack have enough juice for the trip?”
“Wait one, Gunny.”
A few minutes passed before Metz replied, “I checked with the squids, Gunny, and verified with Kaveh. Emergency scramming of Tichaona’s armor’s reactor and the emergency cryostasis process took a significant chunk of what was left of his armor’s damaged emergency battery pack’s power. There’s still enough juice in the emergency battery pack to keep Tichaona a meat popsicle until they get him back to Sick Bay on the ship.”
She spends a few minutes calling in the nine-line injury and medevac report to another bored-sounding squid on the Nyasaland. As she relays the details of Tichaona’s injuries, her voice remains steady, though a hint of frustration lingers. She feels as if the squid is not getting the sense of urgency she feels they should.
"Did you copy all of that?"
"Yeah Gunny I got it. I've already called down to Sick Bay. They know we have injured enroute."
"Ensure you take good care of my Marine."
"We will Gunny."
It is not the first time she has dealt with critical injuries on a mission, but it is the first time an injury has occurred while she is in command. The monotony of the squid’s tone only adds to her annoyance. The indifferent response grates on her; she knows her Marine is in terrible shape, and the urgency feels lost in the casual exchange. She waits for the command staff to weigh in with an urgent sense that they have to be seen “doing something.”
Pausing for a second, she checks her HUD, ensuring every detail is accurate. After all, there is no room for error in combat injury reports. She imagines the squid lazily inputting data, perhaps distracted, as if this were just another day. But for her and her Marines, it is life and death.
“Gunny,” SSgt Metz calls.
“Yeah, Metz.”
“Kaveh also hot wired Tichaona to the mule’s power supply just in case the emergency battery packs shits out on the private before they get him back to the ship. I want to commend him for his quick thinking.”
“Put it in with the rest of the letters of commendation.”
“Copy Gunny.”
"I believed mules could interface with the Marine armor's power source, Metz."
“Not these mules, Gunny. These fuckin’ things are some gods-damned ancient relics that must have been rotting in a forgotten warehouse.”
“Metz, some slimy civvie probably saw an opportunity to offload unsellable surplus junk onto the military.”
“Probably right, Gunny. The SAR squids mentioned they’ve had five mules break down mid-flight between the Nyasaland and the Jason. The squids bitched that about a third of these old fuckin’ mules aren’t working.”
“Sucks for the space squids. Make sure they get my Marine, shitty mule and all, back to the Nyasaland alive.”
“Copy, Gunny. Kaveh’s on the way back to my position. The squids have Tichaona. I’ve already started the paperwork.”
“Shit, this is going to be a paperwork nightmare,” she muttered under her breath. “Metz, once I get your report, I will also fill out the NAVMAC 06405 proof of injury and request for citizenship. Then I will take both forms to the Skipper for his chop.”
“Gunny, there’s no rush,” Metz said, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice. Gods above, save me from singular, overwhelmed rookie gunnery sergeants. Ideally, the platoon should have at least another more experienced gunnery sergeant.
“The paperwork’s not going anywhere at least not until we get back to Chendiuria. Don’t forget, you’ve got to first take the 06405 to Doc, whatever his unpronounceable name is, on the Nyasaland for his signature before you get Captain Menéndez’s.”
“Thank you, Metz. Make sure I have all the facts because both Dr. Ihejirika and Captain Menéndez will ask me questions. Now that I think about it, you are coming with me to see both of them.”
“I’m sure they’ve seen injured Marines before.”
“Undoubtedly, Metz, as have you and I. An injured Marine still reflects on the Old Man.” And reflects on me as well, she thought to herself.
Ensuring nothing is happening in the compartment they are clearing, another empty, cavernous storage space, she takes a moment to review the NAVMC 06405, as she has never filled one out before. AI Krista has already gathered the salient details: pierced stomach, intestines, and severed spine. She notes that the drone’s auger shredded Tichaona's five sacral vertebrae.
If they approve Tichaona’s request and they never disapprove such requests with this amount of evidence, he will become a Martian citizen by blood. Getting injured while serving in the military is just one of many paths to Martian citizenship. She reflects that while she has earned her Mars citizenship, her little brother Hans has yet to earn his.
When she and Hans enlisted, they understood they had to serve at least 50 standard years in any branch of the Mars military to earn automatic Martian citizenship upon honorable discharge. Citizenship, she reflects, grants voting rights and full access to public services, including the maximum allowed Basic Living Allowance and other veteran-only benefits.
However, Mars residents who lack citizenship cannot vote and receive less public assistance and a lower BLA. It concerns her that most native Mars residents cannot see the value of dedicating 50 standard years to honorable military service, only to retire with what they consider insignificant benefits for the risks taken.
What is more alarming to her is the rampant indifference of most Mars residents towards voting. Most Mars residents seem content with mediocrity and their basic, reduced public assistance and BLA.
