Legion Of The Damned - 06 - For Those Who Fell by William C. Dietz Page B

wanted to see whether his newest officer would stand and stutter, try to deflect the question, or tackle the subject head-on. The cavalry officer looked Kobbi in the eye. “It really pissed me off, sir. It still does.”
    Kobbi laughed and punched the younger officer in the shoulder. It hurt, but Santana did his best to pretend that it didn’t. “Good! So, think about that the next time you order some poor sonofabitch to go die for you. Officers, even good officers, make mistakes. Besides, even though that passel of idiots broke you, somebody else promoted you back to first lieutenant again. The Legion isn’t perfect, but it’s been my experience that things level out over the long run, assuming that you live long enough to enjoy it. See that quad?”
    Wilker was so huge that he blotted out most of the sky. It would have been impossible not to see him. Santana nodded. “Sir, yes sir.”
    â€œWe’re getting ready to replace his right front ‘up’ actuator. The only problem is that the shafts for the forward frigging ‘up’ actuators are two inches longer than the shafts for the rear frigging ‘up’ actuators, and while we don’t have any forward frigging actuator shafts, we have plenty of rear frigging actuator shafts. All because some supply bozo screwed up. Do you follow me?”
    â€œSir, yes sir.”
    â€œGood. So, if you were in charge here, what would you do?”
    In spite of the fact that such matters were normally handled by the battalion maintenance officer and the techs who worked for him or her, Santanatook pride in knowingeverything he could about the cyborgs under his command and answered without hesitation. “I would mount a second actuator bracket two inches down from the first, thereby allowing us to use a rear actuator shaft up front. In fact, based on the supply situation that you describe, I would have additional brackets welded to all of my quads, thereby facilitating maintenance under combat conditions.”
    Kobbi pretended to look amazed. “Well, I’ll be damned! A ring knocker who not only knows a thing or two about maintenance but understands the relationship between maintenance and combat. Sergeant Bolas! Meet Lieutenant Santana. The loot offered to weld that bracket for you, and even though I know you love welding brackets, I thought you might enjoy seeing an officer perform some useful work for once.”
    The comment was loud enough so everyone could hear it, and the crowd laughed. It was another test, and a rather public one, although Kobbi had seen the advance copy of Santana’s P-1 and had seen the welding endorsement that was listed under the subhead “Technical Skills.”
    It took the better part of twenty minutes for Santana to carry out a weld that any competent tech would have completed in half the time, and the result was somewhat crude, but it didn’t matter. The metal had just started to cool when the word started to spread: “The new loot knows his shit—so don’t try to push anything past him.”
    Kobbi had sources, lots of them, and by the time night fell, and he retreated to the privacy of his tent, the buzz regarding Santana had already circled back to him. The officer poured three fingers of amber liquid into a dirty glass and paused to remember the crusty NCO who had believed in him before he had come to believe in himself. A really obnoxious old bastard who had bullied him into submitting an application for officer training school, then made use of twenty years’ worth of contacts to make sure that it wentthrough. Kobbi raised his drink. “To Top Santana, the best first sergeant the Legion ever had, and my first real friend. He’s a fine young man, Top—and you have every reason to be proud.”
    A sudden breeze came up, stirred the tent flap, and sent a breath of cool air into the tent. Kobbi downed the whiskey, killed the light, and went to