6 weeks later, Tuesday. 12:00 Cafeteria

“School in the summer is the fucking worst.” Andern was a broken man.

“Could be worse, we could be in boot.” John said nonchalantly.

“Yeah, technically most of us wrap up our degrees the spring of our junior years.” Jessica added.

“Man up you big baby. Everyone is in the same boat.” Thomas laughed as he had some soup.

“I don’t get how you’re having soup in the summer.” John drifted the conversation off topic once again. “Anyways, with our changed structure that isn’t exactly true anymore about finishing so soon.”

Thomas had no answer other than that’s what looked good for the day. The group kept talking about what they were going to do this weekend. The Fourth of July was next Sunday, which meant they had a three-day weekend coming up. Starting the Tuesday of that week the cadets would spend three weeks of training and participate in four wargames. It was effectively a second bootcamp.

The hour they had for lunch finished far too quickly for their tastes. They split off and headed to their respective classes. They’d all be in lectures until 17:00, they’d have to run back to the cafeteria and eat quickly then they’d be in a two-hour PE session that day.

The classes the freshman cadets took in the summer term were primarily based on their focus. All of John’s classes were focus on commanding a ship or division within a ship. Unlike most of the other classes he has taken they’ve been fairly interesting. That sentiment was generally shared across all of the cadets. Except for Andern but that was less an issue of content and more an issue of when the class was occurring.

20:30 Lounge

“John, I don’t know how you look like you aren’t even tired.” Jessica said.

“Despite the appearance I hurt all over. I ran that 5k way too damned fast at the end.” John was sitting on the couch with his feet on the coffee table.

Alice stepped over his leg and sat down on the couch and leaned on him. “I hurt all over.”

John laughed quietly. Alice punched him lightly for having his mind in the gutter.

“What’s everyone’s plans for the weekend?” Nathan asked.

“I think all of us girls are going to lunch and the spa all day Saturday.” Theresa said as she sat next to Kevin.

“So, what are we doing then?” Kevin asked.

“I’m being a boring pill this weekend. I have four papers to write.” John shook his head.

“So that’s going to take you what, twenty minutes?” Andern said sarcastically.

“Command papers? Each one is going to take a solid four hours each minimum. I saw your syllabus; operations term papers have nothing on command. Only medical seems worse but that’s because of all the nurse and doctor shit they gotta do.”

“So, John’s being boring this week. Andern, axe throwing?” Thomas asked.

“I’m down for that.” Kevin answered.

“Yeah, I’m up for that.” Andern

“Now I’m jealous of you asshats.” John was now feeling like Andern. “Well, I’m gonna take a shower and get to bed early. I’m exhausted.”

John kissed Alice and then waived to the group and headed up to his dorm.

“He’s not wrong, command has a crazy amount of work they have to do.” Alice said. “My brother Terry was telling me all about it, they use this year and next year to weed out the cadets that can’t cut it.”

“I can confirm that command classes are bullshit. I am spending all day in the library Sunday working on my papers too.” Kristin confirmed Alice’s statement.

“I’m still not feeling sorry for him.” Andern said as he started laughing.

Saturday. 13:00 Gio’s Slice of Pie

“Afternoon Terry, was surprised you messaged me.” John walked into the popular pizzeria.

“Hey bud. The Indomnitable is due for a refit. So, we piloted her back to the Pacific Orbital Shipyards. Not really on leave but had some free time. Next week I’m moving to the CNS Invincible.”

“Hell of a ship. Those Zeus class dreadnaughts are beefy ships.”

“You’re telling me. We’re also picking up another two hundred ships to add to our battle group. Mostly frigates and corvettes adding to our screen.”

“Makes sense, losing one of those ships would be costly in more ways than one.” John sat down in the booth across from Terry. “So, what’s on your mind?”

“This convo is between you and me. I’m curious what you think of a future with Alice.” Terry leaned forward and said this quietly.

“So, this isn’t a poorly run stealth op concocted by your dad?” John called the waiter over and ordered a beer.

“Good lord no. This is me being the protective older brother.”

“It’s all good, I would’ve answered either way.” John thanked the waitress when she delivered his beer. “Mmmm, beer. Anyways it was around Christmas when I thought things started to get really serious between the two of us. The good kind of serious mind you. But now honestly I can’t see living life without her at my side.”

Terry smiled. “Markie said the two of you weren’t going to waste any time. He said the two of you were a perfect match.”

“He’s a wiseass and hates being ordered around, but he’s observant as hell, isn’t he?”

“That he is.”

The pizza arrived and they paused this conversation while they ate. Terry got a call from his commanding officer about some reports that needed to be updated. He had to head back to his hotel to take care of the reports.

Just before Terry would walk away. “Terry, I’m going to ask your sister to marry me before the new semester starts.”

“Serious?”

John nodded his head. “Didn’t know when the right time to ask the question, but I think we’ve been ready for that next step for a while.”

Terry shook his hand. “Wish I could chat longer, but I suspect she’s going to say yes. Assuming she does, welcome to the family brother.”

The two men smiled and parted ways. John headed back to the dorms to finish up his papers. He worked on them until dinner. He was the only one still on campus when dinner was served. Some other cadets in their class that were also in the command focus had some questions for him about the homework that was due on Monday. He helped them out then retreated to his room and worked until around midnight when he decided to call it a day.

4th of July. 23:00 Academy Grounds

The group of friends were relaxing outside watching the fireworks show. The previous week had flown by. They also received some unwanted news regarding the summer training session.

“John, you love fireworks, will watch them forever, but not actually shoot them off. Am I getting all that right?” Kevin asked.

“Dude, buying fireworks is about as dumb as gambling it away at a casino. Makes no sense to me.” John was laying down on a blanket with Alice on the hill.

“But they are fun to shoot off.” Theresa.

“Not worth the risk either. Every year hundreds of people loose fingers, hands, start fires. It’s stupid. But the pretty colors are nice.”

“I don’t get you at all.” Thomas laughed. “You have no problem throwing money at certain things, but at others it’s like your allergic to spending money.”

“Yeah but look at what I spend it on. Most of the time I have something to show for it. And it’s typically something that can appreciate in value.”

“Honey, you can try and justify your asinine spending all you want, but it doesn’t make it right.” Alice rolled over and kissed him on the cheek then rolled back onto her back.

“So, they moved our midterms to when we get back from training and cancelled our day off tomorrow.” Nathan said.

“Yeah, for reasons? Sooner the training camp is done the better though.” John shrugged.

“I think there’s going to be two or three enlisted classes going on there while we do some training there. Not sure how that is going to work though.” Terry was a little confused at that part.

“I doubt we’ll interact or even be near them. That place is fucking huge.” John was getting up. The fireworks show was over. “Well, I think it’s time to head back and get some sleep. We get on the buses at 09:00 and then they take us to the base where we get flown there on some cargo planes. First class service is not going to happen.”

“Yeah, losing that day off was a kick in the nuts.” Kevin was picking up their stuff.

“Well, all we can do is complain and moan about it.” Andern said.

“Good thing you are excellent at that.” John smirked as he spat that out.

The group was walking back to the dorms and talking about the upcoming wargames and classes on site. No one was happy with the loss of a day off or a ride on a cargo plane. But there was nothing they really could do besides complain about it.

Monday. 14:30 Naval Station Great Lakes, Officer Training Rooms 3C

“Good afternoon platoon 3, I am Second Lieutenant Max Oswell. I’ll be your CO for wargames here.” Max clicked the button in his hand and the screen pulled up the syllabus and daily expectations. “Cadets are expected to be up by 06:00, cleaned and at breakfast by 06:30. At 07:00 we will be drilling you until 12:00. You’ll have an hour for chow, then you’re in class until 17:00. Post chow is an evening run and PE followed by lights out.”

John was not the only one in their platoon that thought ‘Fuck me, it’s boot camp all over again.’

“We will be doing this for the next week. Next Tuesday we will begin training for the first wargame.” Max continued. “We have high expectations for this platoon give your perfect record thus far. We’ll see if you can keep this up. Oh, and there won’t be any surprise stealth or power suits allowed at these games.”

“Funsucker.” John said under his breath. Kevin, Alice and Andern were desperately trying hard to not laugh.

“Sergeant Penn will guide you to your barracks. In fifteen you lot are going to hit the yard for some calisthenics. Dismissed.”

The platoon followed the sergeant to their barracks. It was similar in setup to the one they had at Yeager station.

“What the fuck, just because I use those suits two times, they remove my ability to use them?” John shook his head as he was walking towards the men’s sleeping quarters.

“I mean, you don’t really need them to be a bloody nightmare out there.” Thomas laughed as he slapped his shoulder.

“Cadets Lief, Vernon, King and Ekre follow me.” Lieutenant Oswell hollered over the platoon.

The four cadet officers hurried out of the room and stood at attention. They stood at rest after the lieutenant returned their salute.

“Lief, you’re the student CO once more. What’s your command structure like?”

“Patrice will be the second in command. Kristin and Terry will be platoon lieutenants. No change from Armstrong station, it worked up there, no sense in making any changes now.”

“Understood. After dinner the four of you will be meeting with me briefly before you head back out with your squad for PE. We have some things to discuss.”

“Aye aye.” John said, then saluted. The other three saluted too. They walked back in the room

“What the hell was that about?” Patrice asked.

“For platoons that weren’t performing well they wanted to see if the cadet officers would give them an honest assessment. For us though, the assessment was whether or not any leaders weren’t working. Clearly that isn’t the case here.” John said.

“Then why does he want to talk to us after chow?” Kristin was confused.

“He wants set squads, not the flexible way we’ve handled it throughout, right?” Terry asked.

Patrice and John looked at each other and they kind of shrugged. “Most likely, but that rigid dogma makes the platoon more difficult to react to different situations. But we won’t know for sure until the meeting.”

17:05 Cafeteria

“I just want to tell everyone that I hate life.” Andern sat down, he hurt all over.

“I’m with you.” Theresa didn’t look much better than Andern.

“Could be worse.” Nathan said. “But not by much.”

The group sat down and started eating. There was a lot of complaining about the PE. John was chuckling about that. It was only the first partial day, they had seven full days of physical exertion and classroom training before anything fun would happen.

Just before 18:00 John got the other cadet leaders’ attention and they headed to the lieutenant’s office together.

“Ah good to see you. At ease. I’m sending you a list of gear that your teams can select to use in all the wargames.”

“Sir, would it not make sense to kit out based after we know what to expect from each game.”

“It would, but that’s not what we’re doing. The four of you are going to choose the gear loadouts for the platoon and that’s what you’ll have for all four games.”

“We can choose whatever the cadets can carry? No limits to the number of weapons they can carry?” John asked.

“If you can carry it, you can have it. Exceptions will be made for ghillie suits or wetsuits. Those are mission dependent and will be provided for you. I want this list by tomorrow afternoon. Your dismissed, head to the yard and catch up to your squad.”

The four saluted and headed out to their platoon. John was smiling.

20:35 Barracks

“Let’s chat about gear, then get the platoon brought in.” John said.

“Based on your question back there, you’re wanting to get the max amount of gear we can carry. Then only bring what we need to the games right?” Kristin asked.

“Clever, will they buy it?” Patrice wasn’t convinced.

“We just need to prove how much gear everyone can carry.” Terry answered.

“Beyond the fifty-pound kit we already carry.” John stood up. “Fall in.”

John got the platoon to quiet down and get together. He explained the situation to the platoon. They then went one by one through everyone with some weights and figured out how much weight everyone could carry above and beyond their normal kit, then walk fifty paces. With that the leaders went back and figured out how much everything they wanted weighed.

“Jesus, that is a ton of gear.” Kristin said.

“We don’t have enough ammo.” Kevin and several others joined the leaders.

“Let’s dial back the amount of sidearms. I don’t see any good reason to have multiple pistols per person or obscene amounts of pistol ammo. We can also limit sidearms to four extra mags. How much weight does that free up?”

Patrice showed Terry his estimate. Terry nodded. “Eighty pounds. Four extra ammo boxes for the heavies.”

“Can we drop the extra armor plates, or swap the heavier ones in and remove the lighter ones? That’d save what, ten pounds a person?” Alice asked.

“I like that, that’s almost four hundred pounds more rifle ammo. Two to three magazine per person.” Kristin was supportive of Alice’s suggestion.

“No, it’s more, because the heavy teams aren’t going to have that, so that’s a solid three or four magazines per rifle squad. Sniper squad’s backup gun is a submachine gun.” John said.

The platoon continued working on their loadout for another ninety minutes. John was liking where they were at. He called an end to the meeting and said they’d use the thirty minutes before dinner the next day to finalize their requisition order.

Tuesday. 16:45 Second Lt. Oswell’s Office

“And everyone can carry the weight listed here?” Oswell smiled, no other platoon had done this before.

“You should have videos of the forty of us carrying the weight for fifty steps as is required. And not all of that gear needs to be brought to each wargame per the regs.” John smiled as he said that.

“Interesting loophole you cadets found. Consider it signed off. Your dismissed, head to the cafeteria and get dinner.”

“Thank you, sir!” John and the others saluted and exited his office.

Captain Neil Marcus walked into his office moments after the cadets left. “Interesting one, isn’t he?”

“Former agent in Intelligence, right? It’s as if he knew every single reg and rule and how to bend or break them.”

“Former director Aspern told me about him. He reads something once and he remembers it in its entirety. Almost too smart of his own good.”

“Ten other platoons are here. Not a single one did that, hell I can’t think of a single platoon that’s ever done this Captain.”

“None have. Ever. And they say the only ones that should be in command are the kids of the well connected. Max, he’s going to be in command of a frigate within two years of graduating.”

“I’ll take that bet. Your pick of a ten to twelve-year-old scotch?”

The captain laughed and took the bet. He had an inkling that this platoon would be perfect this year.

6 Days later. 08:00 Officer Training Room 4B

There was a large table in the center with miniatures setup to display the base they were attack. The platoon was devising a plan of attack. They drew lots and were the attacker for this game. They’d be the defender for the next one later that week.

“They are going to know we’re coming from that direction though.” Thomas astutely said.

“No, it will work, they can’t hold off all of us.” Patrice insisted on the plan.

“We’d take too many casualties. That’d be the best way to defend the base.” John was getting frustrated.

The group kept on talking and things weren’t progressing. John kept on looking for different lines of attack. Tensions were flaring. No progress had been made after an hour of discussion and arguing.

“Ok, everyone quiet. We’re cocking this up by continuing to go down this path. Let’s go back to boot camp games. Remember the last one. We split into two squads and attacked them from two spots, right? So, what spots give us clear lines of attack with some cover here.” John was pointing at the base.

“DMRs and Snipers up here on the hill can see the south half and west quarter of the base.” Kristin used a laser pointer to highlight those areas.

“Heavies out front here.” Patrice pointed a place that the heavy weapons squad could suppress the cadets at the gate.

“Can have a couple rifle squads here and here.” Jessica pointed.

“Ok, so we have eight DMRs and snipers. Another eight heavies, two six-man squads here and here. That leaves me with the four other sneaky boys. There’s another five-man squad that we can have over here. If we can get into place undetected, we should be able to decimate them.”

“Where’s the recon squad going to enter John?” Patrice asked.

“Million-dollar question. Glad I opted to cut some weight to bring a bolt cutter at least.” John sighed. He was looking at the base. “Maybe here? I’m not sure if that’s the best place though”

“No, go over here.” Nathan pointed. “Wall is shorter here and should be way easier to get into position.”

“Good catch. Overwatch squad can cover you from there too.” Terry said.

The squad spent another hour working on their plan. Then they worked on some back up plans. An hour later their plan was locked in.

“Ok folks, awesome work. Chows in twenty. After that let’s go to the armory and check out our kits, then we practice in the afternoon. Let’s try not to give away too much of our strategy until we’re sure they aren’t watching us.

The afternoon was exhausting, but the practice was excellent. Everyone’s accuracy was excellent. The squads moved together well. Communication between everyone was acceptable. No squad got in the cone of fire of another’s. John’s recon squad wasn’t seen by anyone. Their spirits were high, almost too high. John had to temper that a bit to prevent them from getting too cocky. Everyone was excited, and tomorrow the games would begin.