Read Online Steel World by B. V. Larson - Free Book Online Page A

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    Kivi, like almost everyone in Legion Varus, had a colorful past. She’d been rejected by the name-brand legions just as I had—but for entirely different reasons. I’d heard rumors about her operating questionable websites and services on the public grid during her college years…some people said they were illegal scams. Whatever the case, she was a very expressive and extroverted girl.
    What can I say? I’m young, male and as much of an opportunist as the next guy. We made love, despite the fact that I was bone-tired.
     
    * * *
     
    I learned the next day that Kivi had been right about the general mood of the unit. They were secretly pleased by my actions.
    “Dude,” Carlos said to me before I was even dressed, “that fucker iced me first . Not even second, but first . He had twenty targets, but he picked me out to shoot in the back.”
    “Are you really surprised?”
    “Yeah, right. Ha-ha, funny guy. Anyway, I'm so very, very glad you took him out. The old man deserved it. You shouldn’t feel bad for a second.”
    “Don't worry,” I told him. “I enjoyed it.”
    He stared at me for a second, then said, “Remind me not to get on your shit list, okay?”
    “You're already there,” I told him with a grim smile.
    We headed back to training and learned that we’d taken a drastic leap forward. We were no longer going to work as independent squads of recruits. For the remaining weeks of in-flight training, we were to be incorporated into our active duty combat units. We trained every day with light troop regulars as well as weaponeers, techs, bios and veterans.
    We still held the rank of recruit, however. That could not be changed until we’d gone through at least one campaign. After that, we’d automatically be promoted to full-fledged light troops. If we were lucky, we’d be assigned to a heavy troop unit and be issued armor. Further promotions, however, would be based upon performance and aptitude as  noted by our officers in the field.
    Varus had a typical legion structure. At the top was a tribune, who was in overall command. The legion was divided into ten cohorts, each of which consisted of six units of roughly one hundred troops. Every cohort was commanded by a primus, while each hundred-man unit in the cohort had a centurion in charge. The cohorts were lightly or heavily equipped. The less experienced troops were always put into the light cohorts.
    Our unit was led by Centurion Graves, with two adjuncts serving under him. Each adjunct commanded a group of three squads. The squads were commanded by veterans.
    The specialists were next in rank, and we had a lot of those around. Specialists came in several varieties. Each squad had at least two weaponeers, two bios for medical work, and two techs who operated drones and serviced all our complex hardware. Other cohorts were made up largely of heavy troops, people who’d earned the right to wear full armor and shielding in combat.
    At the very bottom of the pile were the recruits like me. We wore light armor and carried snap-rifles. We were distinctly unimportant and were offhandedly kicked around by everyone else in the unit.
    I’d been assigned to Adjunct Leeson’s combat group permanently. In the reshuffle before we reached the target world, Veteran Harris was placed under Leeson as well.  The rest of the group, about forty men and women, were made up of various flavors of specialists, light troops and recruits. This was a real fighting unit, not just an assembly of raw recruits doing exercises. The prospect of going into real combat with aliens was thrilling and daunting at the same time.
    Several other familiar faces followed me into Leeson’s group, the most notable of which were Kivi, Carlos and Natasha. They looked as scared as I was, but they were doing their best to fake confidence.
    The experienced light troops were very different from my gaggle of recruits. They didn’t think I was cool. They thought I was shit, and they let me