Subject: Grail: "The Great Brightness" - 'While the Officers are away. . .'

47307.30 ; 0900

Jeb flashed a look at the timepiece on his wrist, then at the

Lance Corporal beside him. Stevenson nodded, and pointed over his

shoulder to the rest of the Marine detachment. All were standing against

the wall, tight grins on their faces.

At a sharp nod from Kirby, all fourteen Marines poured into the

quarters of the new recruit, Private Pamala Lee. The Marines moved with

enough stealth and the private was sleeping heavily enough that they were

able to surround her bed without stirring her. Kirby snapped the fingers

of his left hand sharply, and eight buckets of warm and cold water

were handed to those right next to Lee's sleeping form. A whispered

command, and all eight buckets, thrity-two liters in all, were emptied

onto the bed. A surprised and sputtering Private sat bolt upright, the

tight singlet that she wore was soaked to the core.

"ON YOUR FEET MARINE!" shouted Kirby at the top of his lungs.

"YOU MAY BE NEW BUT YOU ARE SLEEPING ON MY TIME NOW, MY LITTLE PRIVATE!"

As the ranks thinned enough for her to step off her now-soaken

mattress, the other Marines came to attention. Kirby moved around to the

front of the Marine group. "Alright you little beasts of burden, since we

haven't seen much of each other for around ten days, I'm sure that you

have missed seeing my smiling face each and every one of those days. To

recitify this problem, we will be marching double quick time to athletic

center number two, where your full combat gear awaits you. We will all

dress out into our gear, and then we will go for a little run, I'd say

about ten miles should do the trick."

A complaint originated somewhere in the back row, but the first

part of it escaped before it could be bitten back by the Marine who was

at fault.

Kirby shouldered his way into the back ranks and confronted the

one responsible. The Marine was tall enough that Kirby's head only came

to the man's chin. "Grueber! Did I hear you complain?"

"No Chief, you did not!"

"Now that's one hell of a thing to say to your drill instructor,

son! I can tell if you are lying to me Grueber, and that little part of

me tells me that you are full of shit! If you have a legitimate

complaint, make it!"

Grueber stood there tight-lipped for a moment, then began to

speak. "I feel that a ten mile run is not appropriate for a crew just

returning from ten days restriction to quarters."

Kirby looked at the young man for a moment, then resumed his place

at the front of the ranks. "You are absolutely right, Grueber. A ten

mile run is not right for a group of ass-kicking Marines fresh out of a

ten-day enforced period of sitting on their ass. Thank you very much,

Grueber." Kirby then pitched his voice back to its normal shouting

volume. "WE WILL NOT BE RUNNING TEN MILES TODAY. THANKS TO GRUEBER, WE

WILL BE RUNNING FIFTEEN MILES, AND FOR EVERY COMPLAINT I GET FROM NOW ON,

WE WILL RUN FIVE MORE MILES. AM I CLEAR?"

"YES CHIEF! CLEAR!" they all shouted in unison.

"GOOD!" yelled the chief. At once, all of them were led out the

door and began jogging to the recreational facility, with the new private,

Lee, jogging alongside the rest of the unit in her soaking wet singlet.

--------

NRPG: Well, thought I'd post to see what the rest of the ship (or at

least Kirby) was doing. :)