Golden Dawn approached the small camp. Camp Bullis. It was in the middle of nowhere and from the air she could see only a half dozen buildings. It was, somehow, apart of Mareland Joint Base to the north. There was a lot of security for such a small base, including two checkpoints to enter.

She cruised into the small flight deck. There was another Pegasus at the gate checking in. She waited at the designated line to not cross. It was a ways back. Normally they didn’t have a line to wait behind, you just rolled up behind whoever was in front.

The Pegasus was let in. Golden Dawn had to wait another minute before the guard was ready for her and waved her forward. It felt like they were purposely making her wait as they ran her ID. She was let in and walked down the fenced in line to the second check point. It was less secure with only a desk as the guard station. It didn’t have any type of gate to push through, it was open.

“Orders,” The guard said.

Golden Dawn presented him with her orders. He was a Chief Warrant Officer Fourth Class. It was odd to have a warrant officer at a security station. No name tag was present.

“Do you think this is funny?” He asked her.

Golden Dawn was confused. “No Sir.”

“Decent forgery, but of course, you thought that this was for any rank. Specialists are not cleared for the program. Now get before I slap cuffs on you!”

“I am going to kill him!” Gold Dawn growled. “My Lieutenant set me up since he couldn’t transfer me!”

She turned to storm off but was rudely grabbed by the tale.

“Relax Chief, she was invited by me,” A Pegasus said.

“Yes Sir.”

Golden Dawn was released and surprised to find that the warrant officer hadn’t moved. It was Pegasus with silver wings on his collars. A full winged colonel. He wasn’t wearing a name tag either.

“Golden Dawn, I thought my records had a mistake. You are a specialist?” He asked her.

“Yes Sir. I graduated from Basic Training as a specialist.”

“What about Combat School?”

Golden Dawn was confused. “Everyponagus graduated as a specialist.”

“And they started as what, privates?”

“Yes Sir, I was the only specialist. Heavy Weapons was a mix of ranks, but I was not the only specialist there.”

“Have you gotten a mark on your record?”

“No Sir. But I have been kicked around several units because of was claimed to not be a good fit.”

The Colonel gave a single chuckle. “You should have graduated from Combat School at least as a corporal. That oversight is now fixed. Only Sergeants and above are allowed in this school. Follow me.”

Golden Dawn followed after him. “Wait Sir, does that mean I am a corporal?”

“No, it means you are a Sergeant,” He casually replied.

“Thank you Sir!”

Golden Dawn shut up, not wanting to push it with more questions. Accept the promotion with dignity and find out more later. The wrong question could screw things up. Let things settle so that, in this case, the rank was not revoked.

She was led into the largest building, Building 1. It was a chow hall, to start. They passed through a doorway with no doors and were quickly at a three way crossway. A narrow hallway was the branch off.

The Colonel pointed at the branch off. “Grab a bed and write your name on the KP Sheet. You share KP. Orientation is 2000.”

“Yes Sir,” Golden Dawn saluted.

“At ease,” He replied. “No need to salute around here, so long as you respect your superiors. Useless gesture and waste of time.”

The Colonel walked away and Golden Dawn walked up to the chart to write her name on it. She took a morning slot. She continued down the hallway and found herself in a barracks. Single beds filed down the walls. The narrow part was holding the bathroom and showers.

Three quarters of the beds were taken up already. Golden Dawn randomly picked one and tossed her bag onto the bed to unpack.

“A Specialist?” The mare next to her said sitting up. “With a fancy bar. How about that. Gunmetal.”

Golden Dawn bumped her hoof. She was aptly named since she her coat was blued steel like they used for their guns. Her mane was as mess, but a pretty ivory color that stood out well. Gunmetal’s jaw was holding a short, small dowel. It didn’t seem to effect her speech but she was fiddling with it.

“First Barrack, but what place?” Gunmetal asked.

“How did you know that?” Golden Dawn asked.

“Duh, your Basic Training ribbon has the stripe.”

“Right,” Golden Dawn chuckled.

Golden Dawn sat down on her bed. “I’m Golden Dawn. All of our Barrack fit in the top 60. We took First and Fourth, and I placed at 15.”

“Combat School?”

“First,” Golden Dawn replied.

“Why don’t you have that ribbon?”

“A ribbon for Combat School?”

“Only for the top ten, like the top ten at Basic.”

“Fuckers,” Golden Dawn cursed. “One of my previous Lieutenants must have conveniently forgotten to give it to me.”

“Previous?”

“I have been kicked around Three Battalions in Two different regiments and am on my fourth platoon. That included a transfer back to Nellie.”

“Since graduating Combat School?” Gunmetal asked shocked.

Golden Dawn nodded. “My Major informed me that my current Lieutenant wanted to transfer me again, but she shot it down since it was another invalid reason.”

“So we got a pinball,” A stallion said joining their conversation.

He had first lieutenant bars on and sat down on the end on her bed.

“Why are they pinballing you?” He asked.

“I guess they are afraid and feel threatened. I already have Officer School lined up for me in several months.”

“Doing it right,” He smile at her with a wink. “But you are getting nowhere, and learning nothing. Am I right?”

“You can always learn something,” Golden Dawn replied. “But they are not making it easy. If I was...”

“Back in Basic?” He asked, cutting her off.

“Yeah,” Golden Dawn replied, a bit embarrassed. She was too far out from Basic to wanting to go back. She knew her cheeks were a little pink. “Well more with my friends. All five of us topped the 50 in Basic. Together we could handle it all. This pinballing wouldn’t be a problem if they were with me.”

“You obviously made a splash,” Gunmetal stated. “But what unit?”

“Currently, Fourth Division, Second Brigade, Eighth Regiment, Sixth Battalion First company Third Platoon. The 256 Featherweights. We are light troopers. I was also put through heavy weapons training and EOD training. That was not something I wanted.”

“You are missing those ribbons as well,” He pointed out.

“Damn,” Gunmetal replied. “Obscure Unit. My Battalion has had at least a dozen come here in the last two years. That is what we know because of timing. Nothing is ever spoken about it. Definitely more have come. There are two others with me.”

Gunmetal pointed them out. “And those four are together, those three and those two are with him. They are silently building up companies and battalions with this training, but only three others here are solo like you. And I bet the last few beds will all be taken by pegasi in the same group as well.”

“I’m Volcanic Strike. Striker. Rank means nothing here. We are all equal. Good chance they’re preparing you to head back to your friends and be a dynamic group. Spread?”

It took Golden Dawn a few seconds to understand what he wanted by ‘spread.’ “I’m went to Combat School, light trooper. We had one heading to Officer School, then to be a combat medic, a Cloudship officer, another went to ACS and another recon.”

Gunmetal was chuckling. “Heavy Weapons trained Light Trooper is funny.”

“It is,” Striker said. “But that is a real power team. They want that back. As much as they can.”

“It would be nice if they stopped booting me around just because I am scheduled to go to officer school.”

“Yo!” Striker called out. “We got a pinball. Fresh boot, fancy ribbons, and is already set up to go from stripes to bars. We got to make sure she walks out of here fully ready to learn it right and able to handle them. Some well deserved self esteem after they tore it down.”

“Hell yeah!” A First Sergeant yelled.

“We got this, together!” A Sergeant agreed.

“Its time to be awesome, again,” Striker smiled.

Three others came in together, all wearing the same unit patch.

“I really am alone,” Golden Dawn sighed.

“Ignore patches,” Gunmetal said kicking her bed to grab her attention. “Ignore rank. All equal. All in this together.”

“And I am here for a reason,” Golden Dawn smiled.

“Exactly!” Striker said playfully punching her in the shoulder.

“Ow!”

“Sorry,” Strike stumbled. “I forgot, I’m not with my pals. You make me feel like I’m with them. Although, none of them are mares.”

“Thanks,” Golden Dawn chuckled as she rubbed her shoulder.

Gunmetal grinned. “Us three, this is the power team for EWW.”

“Fuck yeah!” Golden Dawn growled in victory.

“What KP you got?” Gunmetal asked.

“I’m the morning type,” Golden Dawn smiled. “Well, I hate mornings. But for duty, bright and early. Get things done.”

Golden Dawn bumped Gunmetal’s hoof. “You know how to do it! KP buddies.”

“Triad,” Striker smiled. “I’m just as smart you two.”

“On food, they should have dinner ready,” Gunmetal said. “I am hungry after the flight.”

They walked out to the mess hall. Dinner was a bit behind, but not by much. All of the cooks were their classmates. They all were pitching in at their chosen times and none of them were cooks; but they had good, easy recipes to work with and the recipes were chosen ahead of time by somepegasus at the base.

Then it was off to orientation. They all were waiting on the Colonel by 2000.

“Welcome,” The Colonel greeted them. He was a perfect two minutes late. “Before we begin, Golden Dawn, see me after. I have your new patches and everything to catch you up after the oversight.”

“Now, this training segment is on weapons and equipment used prior to the rise of the Enclave, in the great war. Yes, its usually called the war, we say pre-war, seal up, and others. But the official name is the Equaggan War. The war between Ponies, Equines, and Zebras, Quaggas.”

“Both sides used different weapons, and copied each other at times. As you can see here, this is the EM1, Equestrian Military Rifle 1. This is the earliest model. You can see the sling mounts and the bolt handle to manually load each round from the internal magazine. And this is the T bolt trigger.”

“The M1S1 is the first variant to be designed for use on a battle saddle. This is the basics. Most of these were recycled later in the war to make better models. The bigger focus is the enchanted weapons and things like this.”

The Colonel rubbed his hoof on a rifle stock. It was in pristine condition.

“This is the Type 38 Rifle, usually just called the Zebra Rifle. Their main rifle starting mid war. It fires in a burst for accuracy, rather than full auto. And it also is enchanted to ignite the target. It gave the Equestrian Earth Ponies in power armor a lot of problems.”

“But these three are just the very start. There will be ones we only have models of, or pictures and some just have descriptions. Artillery pieces like this Equestrian 80mm gun are not something we have, just models”

Striker raised his hoof.

“Yes?”

“I am not saying this isn’t important, but do we know how often we will be seeing these below?”

“That is unknown,” The Colonel replied. “However, I believe the heavier equipment will be few and far between. We do want to recover, for safety reasons, any pieces we can. They proved they should not be trusted with these.”

“There will be a lot of hoof on experience in the course. You will learn the ins and outs of many of these weapons. It won’t be easy to learn all of these. A month to cover this war is too short. And there are many civilian models to cover as well.”

“Breakfast is 0700, 0800 classroom. 1100 break for lunch which is at 1200. 1300 till 1700 will be classroom ending with dinner at 1800. That is sufficient for you to cook and clean, as well as having the time to study printed materials if you need to catch up or look over anything.”

“Oh,” The Colonel smiled. “There will be some range time to really learn some of these rifles. Dismissed.”

Golden Dawn met the Colonel at the front of the room as the others filed out.

“Sergeant, here is all you need to update your uniforms and here is your Combat School ribbon with you 1 ribbon device, the Heavy Weapons ribbon and the EOD ribbon. And for good measure, here is the order they should be put in.”

“Thank you Sir,” Golden Cloud smiled. “I look forward to learning all of this.”

Golden Dawn walked back to their quarters. Striker and Gunmetal were waiting for her.

“Well, I have my ribbons,” Golden Dawn smiled. “And I get to head back with new stripes. I have to figure out how to sew, but new stripes.”

“I can help you with the sewing,” Gunmetal chuckled. “But what do you guys think about this class?”

“A lot sounds useless,” Strike shrugged. “But it has some really strong benefits. Even if most of it is useless, its not a bad thing to learn. Reclaiming the land will reveal these things.”

“I look forward to learning to strip and work all of them,” Gunmetal smiled. “I’m marked supply, but I usually can be found in the local armory working on guns. We get to shoot some of those too! Golden Dawn, I am going to need your help with that. Make sure I shoot straight.”

“Add me to that list,” Striker chuckled. “I am very rusty. Way to much time with my head wrapped up in wiring of the AC unit project on base.”

Golden Dawn looked around the room.

“Hey!” Golden Dawn called out. “Who here has earned crossed rifles?”

Six hooves were raised. Half were in the same unit, the others were solo.

“So, the pegaponies learning these weapons are not combatants?”

“I guess so,” One shrugged. “We didn’t think about that.”

“Interesting,” Striker said. “I guess the seven of you will have to make sure we hit our targets.”

The room laughed.

“What is this Pegapony thing?”

“Sorry,” Golden Dawn chuckled. She went into explaining Shadow.

They got a good laugh and then they went back to mingling. The soldiers were branching out, not staying in their units to talk. They were not doing it for networking, but to become friends. It was a refreshing change from the typical socializing inside of your battalion.

Golden Dawn slid out her Basic Training picture book.

“Shadow Flare connected our friendship to these books. Sure, we wrote stuff to each other, but he is carrying his on deployment, even below. Now I have to carry mine. I couldn’t leave it back at the base. Jackass.”

“They definitely want you guys together,” Striker said as they perused the pictures. “Sure, you are not in Filly Fooler Squad slicing through the clouds, but you five here, and scattered in this one, its clear your bond and skill.”

Gunmetal tapped a picture of Golden Dawn and Shadow fighting in the combat section with her dowel, “Good picture of you two.”

“What exactly is that?” Golden Dawn asked.

Gunmetal chuckled. “I’m oral. Our house was on the third floor, but they had flowers by the street. They smelled good and were nice to suck on a bit. I started having one in my mouth like the dowel. When they were out of season, I had to switch to toothpicks. But those were not strong enough to handle the stress of Basic. And without something, my lip stays a bit open from the habit, enough to piss of my Barrack Master. So they gave me this wood rod. I’ve had it now almost five years.”

“Got to do what you got to do,” Golden Dawn shrugged.

“Who is this one?” Striker pointed.

“That,” Golden Dawn blushed. “Is Cardinal Spitfire. A really good shot of her.”

“A really good shot,” Striker said scratching his head. “That doesn’t look at all like her other photos.”

“I know,” Golden Dawn chuckled. “Rare to catch her in a really good mood during that time. She wasn’t hating Shadow, She wasn’t tired, She wasn’t under any major stress. And I think that photo was taken in the early morning and she had showered. So she wasn’t gross quite yet.”

“But, I get the pleasure of getting to know you,” Strike smiled. “And you Gunmetal. Not photos.”

“Yo!” A Pegasus called. “No lights out were given, but its 2200. Anypegasus object?”

“Make it 15,” Golden Dawn replied. “2200 from here on out.”

They scrambled to get to bed. It was closer to 2230 by the time the lights actually went out.

Golden Dawn was the first in the kitchen but the others were not far behind. There were a total of 4 on morning duty. They didn’t need anymore. The breakfast meals were fast to make and they were able to get up earlier if they needed to. Lunch was the worst since it was class, lunch, class. No room for error.

“I’m Vengeful Blade,” Their fourth breakfast buddy said introducing himself.

“That is an aggressive name,” Gunmetal stated.

“Call me Blade. And its cause I’m a third.”

His grin had a touch of mania. “My birth parents never saw me. I was taken away immediately and given to my family. They were kind enough to name me something meaningful for my life. Numbers, everything is square. Reality, I am a thorn in the Enclave’s side. I should not exist.”

“And yet you are here in uniform,” Striker stated. He statement was looking for an answer.

“Will you guys get on working,” Golden Dawn grunted as she put the 50 pound bag of oats into the oversized pot.

“Right,” Gunmetal said as she grabbed a knife and prepared to slice fruit.

They could talk while they worked.

“I’m in the Enclave because my parent are,” Blade explained. “Except I went combat. One is an peace officer, the other a doctor. But they both are under the military branch. It wasn’t expected of me, but it was just normal to me. I’m still an only child. They tried, but failed. Even with medical help.”

“I haven’t seen anypony else with your unit patch,” Golden Dawn stated. It was meant to be a question, but the steam had decided she was done talking.

“I’m solo, like you,” Blade replied. “Only three of the combat soldiers are in the same unit. Interesting statistics. I probably got picked because my mother is in the spotlight right now. Deployed to the Northern Farming District caring for pegasi who are experiencing some health issues with the mess going on up there. Rad meds can only be distributed so long. But I said too much.”

“And you are going to say more,” Golden Dawn stated firmly. “My good friend, Shadow Flare, comes from that district.”

“Later, in a quieter setting,” Blade replied. “The others are filing in.”

“I’m two out from the oats being fully cooked,” Golden Dawn informed them as she stirred the pot.

“Fresh whole fruit is out,” Striker said. “Utensils and bowls are ready.”

“Fruit is chopped and slice,” Gunmetal added. “Nuts, sugar and syrup are out as well.

“The sinks are ready to wash everything,” Blade stated.

It was self serve, allowing the KP crew to eat at the same time. They had a table in the back for them.

“I think our triad just became tetrad,” Striker smiled.

“Welcome to the power team of this training,” Golden Dawn smiled.

“Sounds good,” Blade replied. “Lets tear it up.”

“Still need a full name,” Gunmetal reminded them. “But we have some time.”

When they arrived at the classroom the board at the front directed them to another building and to go as a unit. It was the firing range. They lined up behind the red line in the floor. They all knew it was the safety line and range protocol. The Colonel and the Chief Warrant Officer who had checked them in were waiting for them.

“The CWO4 and I were having a discussion last night after orientation,” The Colonel stated after a while.

“You want to see if we can work the weapons without training,” Golden Dawn stated.

Both of them nodded. Golden Dawn had spoken up, so she stepped over the safety line. She looked at the others, but they obviously hadn’t come up with the answer.

“EM1,” CWO4 said patting the rifle on the table.

Golden Dawn took a second to look it over up close. A sling was attached, original by the looks of it. The manual bolt had a long handle on it’s right side. The trigger was a T Bolt on the left, perpendicular to the rifle.

Golden Dawn slung the rifle over her neck and put tension on the rifle with the sling so it locked into her shoulder neatly. Her wings were kept tucked in tight so they were not in the way. She let the rifle lower so she could load the rifle. Five rounds were stacked on a metal strip. The strip went in a slot and then the rounds were easy to push into the internal magazine.

Golden Dawn put the tension back as she raised the rifle. As she looked down the sights, the T bolt wasn’t too far away. It was right there for her mouth to use. She realized that she was using her foreleg to run along the rifle to keep it steady. But the rifle was already locked into her shoulder and the sling’s tension was doing most of the work.

Golden Dawn curled her hoof around the bottom and touched the T bolt on the other side. She pushed on it and the rifle fired. It kicked a lot more than she was expecting. But they were large rounds she had inserted.

She almost relaxed the rifle and brought her whole leg back to use her hoof to rotate the bolt. But she also noticed the bolt was right there at her leg. Golden Dawn smiled and used the upper part of her arm to pull the bolt up and back, ejecting the case. Her hoof was by her ear to do it, but it was smoother and faster than struggling to work it with her hoof. It was easy to reverse it to close the bolt and then she fired less than a second later.

The last three were choppy on purpose. She was exhibiting how to work the action easily while not taking her eyes off the target. She relaxed the tension but kept the rifle pointed up and ready. Another stripper clip of ammo was slid across the table to her.

Golden Dawn pulled back up on her rear hooves for a second as she used her left hoof to load the gun. Then it was back in a strong stance to do it all again. She put aside form and put the rounds down range immediately, with purpose.

CWO4 hit the button to bring the target forward. It was a basic 15 inch circle target set 100 yards out. The shots were all over, but in the circle.

“Good shot pattern,” The Colonel stated.

“That is a piss poor patter,” Golden Dawn said annoyed.

He had insulted her by thinking, for a combat soldier, it was a good pattern. She should not be praised for that.

“Ammo and target,” Golden Dawn ordered.

They slid her more ammo and a fresh target was sent down range. Golden Dawn reset and quickly put down all five shots. She called back the target and all five shots were withing an inch and a half diameter circle. But they were down and to the right. The sight needed adjusting but it required tools.

“Ammo,” Golden Dawn called as she sent the target back down range.

She manually corrected the sights and took her shots. When the target came back all five were in the dead center. You couldn’t count the fifth since it doubled up in the center of the hole.

“Impressive,” CWO4 stated. “We have never seen that technique. It isn’t in any pictures or manuals.”

Golden Dawn shrugged. “It might be an early model, but it is instinctual. Why else is the T bolt there as the trigger?”

“For the bit,” The Colonel said pulling out a rod connected to a string. “It is meant to be attached to pull the trigger with your mouth. A better technique than grabbing it how it is right now with your teeth.”

Golden Dawn depressed the magazine floor plate so the bolt could slide forward. The T bolt trigger worked the other way as well.

Golden Dawn shrugged. “The bit doesn’t allow you to have the best sight picture. Still a good way to work the trigger, but mine is better.”

“We have never seen the bolt being rotated like that either,” CWO4 added.

“No surprise,” Golden Dawn smiled. “That was an experiment when I noticed how close they were.”

“That technique would explain the longevity of the EM1’s deployment,” CWO4 stated to the Colonel.

An M1S1 was placed on the table. Golden Dawn shook her head as she traded out. This one wasn’t mounted on a saddle. Golden Dawn had to take a minute to adjust the sling before she was able to get the right tension.

It was semiautomatic with a 15 round detachable box magazine. It was a lot smaller of a caliber round with less power. Golden Dawn loaded the rifle and put all 15 down range at a quick pace. When the target came back, it was a good pattern for the distance. 100 yards was pushing it for such a small caliber. The sights needed realignment as well.

She traded out for the Type 38. It took a minute to figure it out. The gun didn’t lock the magazine in place until she opened the bolt. The bolt wouldn’t close when she tried to push it forward. Golden Dawn shrugged and pulled the rifle into alignment.

TAT TAT TAT! TAT TAT TAT! TAT TAT TAT! TAT TAT TAT! TAT TAT TAT! TAT TAT TAT!TAT TAT TAT! TAT TAT TAT! TAT TAT TAT! TAT TAT TAT! TAT TAT TAT! TAT TAT TAT! TAT TAT TAT! TAT TAT TAT! TAT TAT TAT!

Golden Dawn lowered the rifle. The bolt was open, ready for another magazine.

“It fires from an open bolt position,” Golden Dawn stated. “Interesting design. The battle saddles are really lazy.”

They both were shocked, but the Colonel recovered first. “Are you saying you would deploy with one of these over the battle saddle?”

“Maybe,” Golden Dawn smiled. “All of these are impressive. I would not use the Type 38. I don’t like the burst set up. You got anything else?”

CWO4 walked away and opened a door. He spent another minute opening the vault door behind it. He came out with another gun a minute later.

“The Applesnack Submachine Gun,” He said laying on the table. “Affectionately called the Snack Gun, it was a very late design, just beginning to be fielded.”

Golden Dawn picked up the heavy gun. It’s weight surprised her. Like the Type 38, it fired from an open bolt position. Despite the weight, it was highly maneuverable because it was short. Golden Dawn let loose. She let off and fired in several round burst to reclaim accuracy.

“This, this is a weapon,” She grinned.

At 100 Yards the accuracy was horrible.

“You can see its limited in it’s range,” The Colonel pointed out.

“Yeah, but so is the combat range of the GPER 55-6,” Golden Dawn shrugged. “There isn’t much of a combat difference for a Light Trooper like me. Yeah, I cant knock an apple off a pony’s head at 600 yards, but that takes some time to adjust and line up the shot. You can’t do that in combat. 100 Yards at most.”

Golden Dawn sat the rifle down and stepped back behind the line.

“I would not mind being deployed with the Applesnack Submachine Gun,” Golden Dawn stated.

“Well,” The Colonel stumbled. “At least there is one natural. Hope may not be lost”

CWO4 nodded.

They quietly filed out, back to the classroom. They were going to start properly with the EM1. A full take down and how it worked. Firing it was only a tad bit beneficial for Golden Dawn. And even then, she only understood a little about the rifle as a whole.

They were each given their own EM1 to have in front of them as the Colonel began to work them through everything. Golden Dawn was casually taking it all apart as she listened. After a while, a loud snap overpowered the room.

“Are you paying attention?” The Colonel asked the class.

“No Sir,” Somepegasus answered. “I was focusing on stripping and learning the rifle. I understand it all and I just finished putting it back together. Sorry for the noise.”

“Anypegasus else?”

Golden Dawn raised her hoof. All that was left for her rifle was to put the bolt into the rifle. Several others had as well.

“Great, every combat soldier,” The Colonel grumbled. “And only the combat soldiers.”

CWO4 started to laugh. “It has been way to long since combat soldiers were in this class. Its been mostly mechanics. Last one was back two years ago, a Sergeant Thunder Clap. Still, these rifles are simple. The semiautomatic and automatic rifles and weapons won’t be this easy.”

“I didn’t expect them to be,” The Pegasus replied. “But these are so simple. I see how the rest of our weapons advanced from these. Even the magic ones.”

“Lets leave breaking down the rifles for after we have gone over them,” The Colonel stated. “Their primary purpose right now is so that you can have them in your hooves as I go over everything. A physical way to gain it’s understanding as you listen to me.”

“Yes Sir,” They all replied.

It wasn’t much longer until they had to break for lunch. They headed to the Mess Hall.

“That rifle work was impressive,” Gunmetal said as they filed out. “How did you know? What trick was that?”

“No trick,” Golden Dawn smiled. “Nopony else was smart enough to see what they were up to. It was just logic. They have been ignoring combat soldiers. And then nopony else wanted to even think about trying.”

“But you worked them like a master,” Striker stated.

“They are not had to master,” Golden Dawn smiled as they sat down at a table. “It was easy once you put the balance into the sling properly.

Most of the others had filed into the mess hall where they could sit and talk openly. It was not meant to stress those on KP.

“Not hard to master?” Gunmetal said. “Maybe for the EM1, but the Type 38 and the Applesnack? Both are automatic rifles.”

“They were not that bad,” Golden Dawn shrugged. “They were better designed, making for easier use. They are easier to learn than the battle saddle, more accurate and faster. But with our wings, it starts to work to our disadvantage. Especially with the evolution of our combat armor. I love the Applesnack.”

“But Blade, did you rip yours apart all the way?” Golden Dawn asked. “I didn’t see from where I was sitting.”

“Down to the very last screw and tiniest spring. Mine was in good condition. It was easy to put it back together. The trigger mechanism was the toughest section, but no problem.”

Gunmetal tapped the table with her rod. “I am not sure if it is an advantage or not being friends with you.”

“Advantage,” Golden Dawn and Blade said together.

Next Chapter: Chapter 57 - Second Harvest Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 12 Minutes