Weapons Training

Sergeant Xian had all the recruits stand in a line and then wheeled out a boxy-looking maglev cart. He opened one side of it and said, "Each recruit will be issued one RG-467 Rail rifle and one SP-957 expandable electro-spear." He took one of the rifles off the cart and showed how to detach the electro-spear off the side. He clicked a button and the spear expanded out to its full two-meter length. Clicking the button once again it condensed back to the same length as the rifle and clipped to the side. Each recruit will be issued eight fifty round magazines. You are allowed to miss the target exactly four times. A kill shot should be registered on at least 75% of your shots. Those who fail this portion of the training will be decommissioned. It is impossible for a human being at the third level of the foundation stage to miss the target more than once unless they are trying to miss."

He took the rifle and called out, "Targets!" Downrange from the recruits were several moving targets that moved between concrete blocks. The Targets were only visible for a moment before getting to cover. Sergeant Xian put the rifle to his shoulder and started to fire shot after shot. The only sound made by the rifle was the sound of the round breaking the sound barrier. Sergeant Xian quickly changed the magazine eight times as he fired until he dropped the last one on the ground and said, "That is how you will use the RG-467." The score readout on the board as 400 kill shots. "Team Leader Long, you're up first."

Long Shen walked up and took his own rifle off the cart and placed the magazines into his belt the same way Sergeant Xian had and then walked to the firing line. He looked at the Sergeant who nodded to him. He took a breath and then called out, "Targets!" Despite how easy Sergeant Xian had made it look, he realized that the targets were moving so fast that he needed to fire the rifle at exactly the right moment to be able to hit the target let alone get a kill shot. He squeezed the trigger and his first-round hit the target. He sighed internally it was no different from his VRMMO experience with a similar weapon. He emptied his magazines one after another with complete confidence.

Sergeant Xian walked up and asked, "Have you fired a rail rifle before, Long?"

Long Shen shook his head, "Negative, Drill Sergeant."

"Outstanding shooting Team Leader Long, next up recruit Fatfuck." Sergeant Xian shouted out. He looked at Long Shen and said, "Shoulder your rifle, you'll keep that with you from now on. Magazines will be issued during live-fire drills and combat missions." Just then Long Shen's score posted up. 400 kill shots.

Each recruit came up one after another most only managed to get between 80 and 90% kill shots aside from Long Shen, everyone had at least one miss. Sergeant Xian sent the data to Lieutenant Dan who could only shake his head in awe. Lieutenant Dan quickly forwarded the information to Captain Pepperwood. He let out his breath and smiled, "I just hope 47 doesn't let me down."

Over the next week, their training plan gradually changed from solid body conditioning to more weapons and tactical training. By the end of the second week, every member of squad 48 was in the 90% range with kill shots, a camp record for a single squad. Thanks to the pressure of trying to keep up with Long Shen every member of squad 48 managed to break through to the fourth level. Sergeant Xian brought the squad to the battlegrounds where they met up with squad 47 and Lieutenant Dan who waited for them all to gather before announcing, "Today we are going to be having a battle against Bravo platoon under the command of Lieutenant Kwan. Captain Pepperwood will be acting as the observer. This will be a simulated battle through VR Simulation. Those of you who are familiar with the VR environment you'll find this quite a different experience. There is no pain tolerance, and you will only have your own physical ability as if you were physically in the simulation. In this simulation, you are going to be fighting to kill. Victory condition for this battle will be the total annihilation of the enemy force. Team Leaders will be filling the role of Corporal in this battle, if you lose your Sergeant, they will have command of the squad. If I am taken out, Sergeant Xian will be second in command followed by Sergeant Tang and then Team Leader Long followed by Team Leader Cheng. Team Leaders, you'll each assign a recruit as your backup."

Sergeant Xian and Sergeant Tang each led their squads into a VR simulator room. Inside were the long cylindrical VR tubes that looked vaguely like tanning beds. Each recruit locked into a separate VR tube that booted up and placed them in a virtual troop carrier. As they logged in one by one they each made a fist and got used to the VR environment. A couple of the VR gamers were shocked at how lifelike it felt. "There's no latency and all of our senses are normal. If I didn't know I was in a VR tube, I might think this was real." Long Shen causally commented.

Sergeant Xian logged in shortly after and then called out, "Ok dipshits, this is going to be a live-fire exercise make sure you watch your ammo count. We have no medic, that means watch the man beside you. If they need help, you patch them up. Fatal injuries will cause an immediate logout so wounded soldiers will still be visible. Any enemy soldier that is visible is a target to kill. Lieutenant Dan will be giving orders to the squad leaders, the rest of you get your orders from me and Long. Long, if you have to take over for me, assign a backup. We are going to be simulating a landing, the red team will be holding a defensive position and we will be assaulting it. Each squad is in a separate troop carrier. The Lieutenant is on 47's carrier. Once we make our landing the Lieutenant will give us orders. Until that time we'll set up a perimeter and secure the landing."

A few moments later the lights in the carrier turned red and the gate started to open. Sergeant Xian motioned for the squad to deploy. Each member of the squad spread out and formed a circle around the troop carrier until it lifted off. Sergeant Xian then motioned for the squad to advance. The circle dissolved into a wide semi-circle as the squad advanced. As they approached the red team's defensive position they could see fire being exchanged between squad 47 and the defenders. Sergeant Xian signaled for Long Shen to take his team around in a flanking maneuver.

As they saw the first group of enemy soldiers, Long Shen motioned to open fire. Taking the defenders by surprise it was a complete massacre. At the same time, Sergeant Xian's voice came over his com, "Lieutenant is down, I have command, Corporal Long you have command of the squad. Bring them around the back and secure the bunker."

Long Shen brought his squad around to the backside of the bunker and found that it had been abandoned. He frowned and contacted Sergeant Xian, "Bunker is clear, hostiles are mobile."

"We're taking fire, close in close in!" Sergeant Xian's voice suddenly cut off.

A moment later Sergeant Tang came over the com, "Xian is down, I'm taking command enemy force is on the right flank, 47 is pinned down, Long bring 48 up from the rear and get us.."

Long Shen saw that the command channel automatically switched over to him, "I have command, Fatty Lai you've got 48. 47 is pinned down, let's move up to the high ground and catch them between us. Cheng, what's your situation?"

"We're caught in a crossfire at the bottom of the hill, they have a single squad left, we are down to half our squad. We are low on ammo." Cheng whispered back breathing heavily.

Long signaled to Fatty Lai who nodded. Squad 48 moved quickly up the hill and found themselves looking down at half the enemy squad who had dug out foxholes looking down on squad 47. Long Shen made the signal to open fire. The enemy squad never saw squad 48 as they were all killed in the first shot. Long Shen spoke over the com, "Cheng, we took out the hostiles above you, can you get the ones below you?"

A moment later Cheng's squad started to fire below them. A few seconds later everything went black and a message appeared, "Victory - Blue."

The VR cylinders automatically opened and everyone climbed out. Sergeant Xian had a wide grin on his face. "Congratulations Charley Platoon, Team Leader Long and Team Leader Cheng were outstanding. Squad 47 still has a few recruits that need to break through to the fourth level, but other than that, good work." Captain Pepperwood walked into the room and addressed the squad, "Lieutenant Dan and Lieutenant Kwan have to do a review of the battle with the Sergeants. Bravo platoon is doing punishment laps, Charley Platoon will be allowed free training time. You can use the simulator, cultivate or weapons training. Team Leaders will make the call for their squad."

Cheng Han saluted and said, "Squad 47 would like cultivation time, Sir."

Long Shen thought about his squad and then said, "Squad 48 will use the simulator, Sir."

Captain Pepperwood grinned and said, "I approve of both of your choices. Team Leaders, take your men to their training. Dismissed." He returned their salutes crisply.

Squad 48 returned to the VR simulator and this time as Team Leader Long Shen was allowed to pick a scenario and set the victory condition. He looked through the list of choices and found one that was very intriguing. A battle against computer-simulated Demonic forces. He loaded it into the system and started the program. A few moments later the squad found themselves in a fortified bunker. Long Shen grinned and said, "Ok, our battle is against the Demonic forces this time. Our victory condition is to survive an all-out assault. The enemy forces will attack for six hours straight or until the last man falls. If they breach the bunker, switch to your spears. Fatty you and Hoa are on the 50." Long Shen pointed to the large automatic railgun. "We only have ten crates of ammo for it, so wait until you have a good cluster. The rest of you, get on your rifles. One-shot, one kill." Everyone got into position and waited.

They had all grown up hearing about the war but none of them had ever seen the Demonic aside from representations in entertainment. So far the Earth had been spared from the realities of the war with soldiers from Earth being sent to other planets to fight. The wounded soldiers that returned never spoke of what it was like. When squad 48 saw what the demons looked like they all froze up at first. Even Long Shen couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had to shake himself free and get everyone focused, "Fatty, target the large swarm in the middle. The rest of you, fire at the closest target."

A few moments later everyone was firing nonstop. Fatty called out, "Reload!" Everyone looked incredibly stressed as the horde came like an endless tide. The demons came in many different forms most of them looked like large minotaurs carrying huge swords. Behind that were archers that had the body of a snake and the torso of a woman. The arrows they fired managed to break through the solid concrete bunker. Behind the archers were an army of pig-like troops with axes and shields. The most fearsome of the Demonic troops were giant trolls as tall as skyscrapers that were holding massive wooden clubs that looked like trees that had been ripped out of the ground. Thankfully there were only five of them.

Long Shen looked at the incoming forces and said, "Fatty take out those trolls. Aim for their eyes. The rest of you, target the archers first." The Demonic army was slowly closing in on the bunker as the first of the trolls fell into its own army killing hundreds.

A few of the squad called out, "I'm out of ammo!"

Long Shen started to sweat, they were running out of ammo and the first hour wasn't even up. The second of the trolls fell and again hundreds of the Demons were crushed underneath. Fatty called out, "Reload!"

Hoa yelled, "Eight more cans!"

The third Troll fell crushing a large portion of the army only two trolls were left but the minotaurs had started to hack at the bunker walls. Inside they could tell that the massive Demonic soldiers would be inside with them. "Everyone out of ammo, get your spears, protect Fatty and the 50, anyone with shots remaining, make sure you are targeting the archers." Long Shen pulled his trigger and realized he was out of ammo as well. He pulled his spear and went to the gun slot and started to stab at the minotaurs keeping them away from the 50.

The final two trolls fell allowing Fatty to start tearing into the archers and the pigs. The rest of the squad used their spears to push back the minotaurs that got close to the wall. "Reload!" Fatty called out once again as Long Shen ruthlessly stabbed at the eyes and faces of the minotaurs trying to slash at them. No one in the squad had any idea how much time remained, they just endlessly stabbed with their spears, occasionally a member of the squad would scream and be disconnected. Eventually Fatty cried out, "Reload!"

Hoa called out, "We're out!"

The bunker door started to deform as huge clangs sounded behind it. Long Shen called out, "Everyone defends the door, Sparta formation!" The remaining eight members of the squad stood in a line at the end of the hallway that led to the door. The hallway was only wide enough for four of them to stand side by side, so the other four stood behind them. The door collapsed inward and the pig-like soldiers with shield and ax roared into the bunker. Long Shen stood in the front line stabbing out with his spear, the others at his side tried to match his pace. The dead bodies of the pig-like soldiers started to act as a wall keeping them at the perfect distance to take damage from the spears.

The bunker wall started to give way as the huge minotaurs slashed their way inside. As the wall gave way and the minotaurs started to dig their way inside everything went black. Everyone was confused for a moment and then a message appeared, "Victory - Angelic Army."

The VR cylinders opened and everyone looked confused. The squad all looked at each other and checked the time. Long Shen laughed, "Six hours. My blood, my body, my soul, long live the squad!"

The rest of the squad started to chant with him. Long Shen called out, "Squad 48, slow jog to the mess hall." The squad started to jog to the mess hall chanting as they went. The squads from Bravo company looked at them like they were seeing a battle-hardened force of veteran soldiers.

Captain Pepperwood saw Squad 48 leaving the VR sim and decided to call up the program they completed. He stood up from his chair knocking it over. He sprinted over to where the command staff for his company had set up the after battle review. He burst into the room and called up the replay from Squad 48's simulation. Everyone was confused at first until they saw which simulation was loading in. Sergeant Xian shook his head and mumbled, "Rookies. They picked the unwinnable scenario for their first try."

Lieutenant Dan frowned, "Xian, we might have lost the squad. Nothing kills morale like being forced to fight a battle that can't be won."

Captain Pepperwood said nothing and just let the simulation play. Lieutenant Dan looked shocked as Fatty was ordered to attack the Trolls. Sergeant Tang spoke out, "That's crazy, everyone knows you can't target the Trolls, they just regenerate."

Lieutenant Kwan started to laugh, "Holy shit, that's fucking brilliant. He targeted the eyes." They watched as the mountainous trolls dropped into the masses of the Demonic Army crushing hundreds. Every order given by Long Shen went against what a veteran commander would choose based on knowledge of the demons, but the results spoke for themselves. Everyone in the room lost track of the time as they watched a single squad hold off an entire horde of Demons for the full six hours.

In the end, everyone in the room looked at each other in disbelief. "They won. Holy shit. They fucking beat the unwinnable scenario. That's a program meant for special forces training to get the men prepared for suicide missions. That Long... He's..." Lieutenant Kwan looked at Captain Pepperwood who turned to Lieutenant Dan.

Captain Pepperwood spoke up at last, "I am sending this to HQ. Sergeant Xian, your squad passes. I am recommending you be transferred to the front with your squad. I want them to get a couple of real combat missions under them before we send Long to CO school. HQ has the final say of course. What do you think, Li?"

Lieutenant Dan thought for a moment and then said, "Captain, I would like to request you to make that request for my entire platoon."

Captain Pepperwood shook his head, "You still have too many men in 47 that aren't up to the fourth level. If you can get 90% of them to that level by Friday, I'll put in the request. We'll swap out a couple of Kwan's best for the ones who need more time."