Freya walked into the muster room, gulping down the odd, thick, blue tea that she got from breakfast. She tossed the cup in the recycling bin and found her place in formation. Toast nodded to her as she walked up. She nodded back. She looked back at the door as Mon and Dusty walked in. Mon gave her a warm smile and Dusty smirked at her. She gave him the finger, making him laugh.

Netty came running in at the last minute, just ahead of Sergeant Torres and Leni. She gave Freya a wave before she found her place in formation. Freya smiled back. The last two nights have been a lot of fun. Two nights ago Mon talked everyone into using the rec building to play an old fashioned Mech war game. Freya found it to be a lot of fun. She could see why so many people were obsessed over Mechs.

Last night had found them at odds. The rest of the divisions had come back from the fourth mission and Mon and Dusty wanted to go drinking at Chivia’s, but she had been a little gun shy about going back. Instead she talked the others into a quick trip to another world through the travel terminal. It had been Dog of all people who suggested they go see a Zero G Jai Alai tournament at some space station.

Freya learned that Jai Alai was a game where players had this weird banana-shaped, hand-held scoop that they used to both catch and throw a ball. Freya had no idea what was going on at all or how the game was played, but the others were really into it. Everyone but Netty had their favourite teams that they were cheering for. Freya just watched and cheered when everyone in the crowd cheered, and booed when everyone around her booed.

Mon was insanely into the game. He bought her his favorite sports team’s green tee-shirt. It had the number 8 on the back because Mon used to play and that was his number. She found it very cute. Dog was a big fan of the yellow team which was the green team's arch rival. Both teams had really stupid names and Freya couldn’t be bothered to learn their names. Between many beers, Mon and Dog argued and fought over whose team was better. In the end neither team won. The purple shirt guys won, which Freya found really funny.

“Platoon atten...chen!” Sergeant Leni called out. The platoon snapped to attention.

“At ease. I hope everyone had a good night last night because today’s the day. I got our marching orders this morning, so I’ll go over our initial plan in the briefing room. The mission is not timed. For those of you who don’t know what this means, it means that we keep going until all objectives are done. The mission objective is simple. We take out all major, organized resistance on the entire planet. That includes military assets and bases. On top of that we must take seventeen major cities on the planet. Best results, we’re done in two weeks. Worst case, it takes us several months.” Sergeant Torres told them.

“I’ll go over what our first mission is once we are done here. The mission starts at 0900, so I want us ready to go at 0830. Planning for command staff is right after muster. Magic, I want you there to plan a landing. That’s all I have. Leni?” Sergeant Torres asked, turning to the second in command of the platoon.

“We got this. This will be just like we planned. We go down. We do our jobs then we come home. I don’t want to see anyone screwing around or taking chances to look good for the feeds. We will impress people who will be watching more with our professionalism than any so-called hero-style plays. We are Marines and we are nothing without each other. Oorah!” Sergeant Leni called out. The platoon returned her battle cry loudly. Even Sergeant Torres cried out.

“If that’s it?” Sergeant Torres said, after Leni was done. Freya noted that he skipped Corporal Wilson. She wondered why. She looked at Corporal Wilson and saw that he had a neutral expression on his face. She guessed that he had nothing to add.

“If you will, Sergeant Leni.” He said standing at attention once more.

“Platoon atten...chen!” Sergeant Leni called out. The Platoon snapped to attention. “Dismissed!”

Freya followed Toast as she left the room. He stopped in the briefing room to talk to Ed so she went on ahead to the holo table to look at the map. From what she could see, it looked like their next mission involved a city. The city was pretty big and spread out a few miles. The city was surrounded to the north by what looked like a marsh and a river to the south. The river emptied out into a harbor on the east side of the city. The west side of the city tapered down to a small point, that was sandwiched by the river and the marshland.

“Gather round.” Sergeant Torres said, as he briskly walked into the conference room. “Gunny wants our company to take these three bridges.”

Torres pointed to three bridges that crossed the river to the south of the city near the bay. “We have the middle bridge, here.” He said pointing at the largest and most forward bridge. The bridge started at the bulge of the landmass as the river curved around it. To Freya it looked like the most direct route into the city from the south.

“Second platoon has the bridge near the bay and Third platoon has the one here to the west. Fourth Platoon will be back here as a reserve unit. Gunny will be with them as well. The mission is for us to hold the bridges long enough for Fourth Company to finish their attack here and then make their way over our bridges.” He told them.

“Expect to hold out for at least six to twelve hours before the tanks make it to your positions. First and Second Companies will be with them. Plan on Second Company to take over your positions. We will advance with the Fourth. The rest of the division will be hitting this base here. The hope is that that an attack on the base here will draw troops away from the city, allowing us to take the city with minimum resistance.” He told them, pointing out the base to the west.

“Magic, I need you to find me a really good place to deploy your ship. It needs to be very close to all three bridges, but not in a place that could compromise it. Before you ask, let her do it on her own, Toast. I need you to plan a scouting mission in the city. Split your squad in two and I want patrol routes to send for approval from Gunny. We can’t allow them to suspect that our real target is the city.” Sergeant Torres explained.

Freya nodded to the Sergeant and sat down near her usual place. She pulled out her tablet and started to look at the map. At first she looked at landing behind the bridges, but there were a lot of residential areas around the bridges. She worried about someone calling the ship's location in. She looked at where Fourth Platoon was going to be then shook her head. It was an ok place to put her ship, but she thought she could get closer to the bridges. Then she looked at the bay and smiled. If she came in from the ocean side and flew in under the water she could maybe sneak right up to the bridges following the river. She had never used her ship like a submarine before, but she had practiced landing in environments that had near liquid atmospheres.

She checked on what the intelligence report had on the city’s scanning abilities and read that it recommended that if she came in under the ocean she had to first start at least fifteen miles out from the city. Then she had to stay at sea state two or under during the invasion to avoid being detected. Sea state was how much disturbance in the ocean a craft made while under the water, like a wake left after a ship. It also involved heat being displaced from her ship and that worried her the most. Her ship would be hot because of the atmospheric drag on entry. She did the math and bit her lip. To achieve a sea state that would allow her to fly undetected, she would have to start nearly twenty miles out and fly under a hundred miles an hour.

She checked the temperatures north and south of the city in the ocean and frowned. If she came in from the south she could go a bit faster because there was an underwater current that she could ride in. Still, the fastest she could arrive near the bridges, according to her math, was nearly ten minutes after her platoon had already landed.

“I’ll let Sergeant Torres decide.” She thought to herself, as she mapped out a landing spot in the river just west of the second bridge. It was exactly in the middle of the three bridges. Then she mapped out a landing spot near Fourth Platoon’s position. She sent both options to Sergeant Torres.

Sergeant Torres broke off talking with his command staff and turned to Freya. “Magic, I like the amphibious landing, but ten minutes is a long time.” He said looking at her.

“Best I can do, Sergeant. If I come from the north, I have to travel past the city and the west is pretty close to that base that the rest of the division is attacking. It’s either straight down or come in from the east. I can get you a faster flight path from the east, but we will be picked up on their sensors. If we are going to do that might as well just come straight down.” Freya explained her reasoning to him.

“Wait one. Let me check with Gunny. Let’s see what she says.” Sergeant Torres replied. He turned away for a few seconds, then turned back to her. “Amphibious track it is. We will just have to make sure no one dies until you get to us.” He told her before he turned back to his command staff.

Freya stayed, since no one kicked her out, and listened to how they were going to set up their defense. Sergeant Torres let them debate where to set up their defense. Most everyone wanted to defend the side of the bridge that began on the city side. Their main conflict seemed to be where to put the fallback positions. It was a three-mile bridge with a hump near the city side to let bigger ships through.

They debated where on the hump they wanted the first fallback position to be. Sergeant Leni ended the debate when Ed and Tater wouldn’t change their minds. She put the first fallback position just behind the hump, which made Ed happy. Freya found both arguments good, but agreed with Ed and Leni. It was a long bridge and, if they had to fall back once more, then it would be a long run to the next position.

Sergeant Torres finally called an end to the planning session roughly two minutes before the rest of the platoon was scheduled to appear. Toast sat down next to her and gave her a brief look before the rest of the squad sat down. She smiled at his ‘I give up’ expression.

“Ok, this is what we’re going to do. We are going to drop first and second squads right at the city side of the bridge. You guys are to set up our primary defence of the bridge. One and Done will set up on either side of the bridge while the rest of the squads will set up the barriers and auto turrets. Tater’s squad is dropping right here on the hump of the bridge to set up a fall back position.” He told them.

“Toast’s squad will drop with them, but your job will be mining the bridge in case of us losing it. The last thing we need is a break out. Ed’s squad will drop here, in between the foot of the bridge and the hump, to set up two more fall back positions and Sixth Squad will drop at the foot to set up a guard position to protect our rear. Magic will drop way out here and come from under the water to this position, where she will deploy her ship under the water. Just a friendly warning it will take her ten minutes to get into position, so don’t die” He told them.

“Not another water respawn point.” Ostrich moaned.

“Keep your trap shut, Ostrich!” Sergeant Leni warned. “Be glad we have a respawn point.”

“Magic, make sure to set the respawn pods to let the entire company respawn. Actually, make sure to set First, Second, and Sixth Companies to respawn on your ship. It will tax your Batk fluid, but we will deal with it. Worst case, we call for a resupply drop.” Sergeant Torres told her.

“Yes, Sergeant.” Freya replied.

“Ok, One you’re up. Let's hear how you want your squad to set up the defensive points.” Sergeant Torres said, moving aside while One stood up.

One went over how she wanted both her and Done’s squad to set up the defense and who would bring what with them on the drop. Done stood up to clarify a few points, but Freya thought One did a very good job explaining how they were going to set up their defences. Tater went next and used the map to show where he wanted the defences placed. He told his squad that, once they were done, they were to head back to help out with the city-side defences.

Ed was next. He, like Tater, explained how he wanted the defences placed. He also told his squad they were going to join on the city-side of the bridge to help defend. Toast stood up, but waved Tike up also so that she could point out where she wanted the explosives placed. She went over what explosives she was bringing and where she wanted the explosives placed to bring down the hump and most of the bridge going towards the city side. Finally Wilson stood up and he talked about how his squad was going to set up a defensive position at the foot of the bridge.

“Magic, you’re up.” Sergeant Torres told her, once Wilson sat down. Shocked, Freya stood up. She had not expected to talk in front of the entire platoon. She walked stiffly to the map and moved it to show her flight path.

“I, ah, am going to come down from this position here then enter the sea. It’ll take me at least ten minutes to get into position to deploy. So, ah, don’t die until I do. Oh, yeah. I’ll be deploying here. It’s just west of the bridge so, ah, you can either swim or walk back to the fight.” Freya said, trying not to let her stage fright show.

“What she means is that you can swim to the city or the other side depending on where the fighting is taking place. I’ll place waypoints to show what side I want you to come up on.” Sergeant Torres said, standing back up as Freya walked back to her seat. She felt like her knees were going to give out at any second. Toast gave her a smile and she smiled back glad that it was over.

“People, this is just the start. Once this city is ours, we will go to our next objective. Parts of Third and Fourth Division will drop on the city to relieve us, once we’re done. We will move on to the next objective and the next and next until the planet is ours. All eyes are on us. Our platoon has beat out several First Division platoons and everyone wants to see if it was a fluke or if we can repeat our success. I for one want to show everyone that First Platoon , Third Company is exactly what we look like. The best damn platoon in Second Division and maybe even better than some in the First. Those of you who need to visit a store, do so now. The rest of you, get ready. We drop in fifteen minutes. Get it done, people.” Sergeant Torres said, looking around at the platoon.

“You did good there.” Toast said, as the platoon broke up.

“I hate public speaking.” Freya said, standing up with him.

“This isn’t public speaking. This is just you talking to your buddies. All you did was tell them what you’re going to be doing while they do all the grunt work.” Toast said, smiling. “I know it seems weird but, honestly, next time just pretend that a friend asked you to explain what is going on. Just pick two or three people you see and pretend that you are just talking to them. That’s what I do.” Toast said with a warm smile.

“I have to do that again?” Freya said, shakily.

“Yeah, I or Sergeant Torres has been doing it for you, but it's past time you started doing your job.” Toast said, chuckling.

“I’m not command staff.” Freya said, shaking her head.

“No, you’re the platoon’s pilot. That’s a command staff position. It doesn't matter what your rank is. A pilot is always command staff. Not that I’ve been in many platoons with a pilot, but it is what it is.” Toast told her, shrugging his shoulders. “Torres has been letting you off because you’re new, but it’s time to step up and do your job. Yes, Corporal?”

Freya sighed and nodded. “Yes, Corporal.” She said, as she realized that this was the first time that Toast had really pulled rank on her. He was usually pulling rank on Tike when she talked back to him.

“Good. Make sure you’ve got everything and I’ll meet you in front of the lobby.” He told her.