BoTH Chpt 78

==Blood on the Horizon - Chapter 78 -==
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===Cards and Grooming===
Date: November 26th, 3007Location: En route to Pierce, Federated Suns
"Four of a kind," I laid my hand down to a bunch of groans. "They're only nines, but that still beats out the rest of y'all's hands."
 
"Took you long enough to get a good hand," Mathis chuckled as I raked in the small amount of poker chips. "You've been losing the entire time."
 
"I'm better at Blackjack," I shrugged. "Grandad taught me how to count cards for that and Spades. I never quite got it to work in my head for Poker though."
 
"Good for us then," Hober stroked his now clean shaven chin. "Major, you ever think of shaving off the beard? Put on some extra weight and dress in red and you'd look like Santa."
 
"I need a bit of a trim," I glanced down at what I could see. "But I don't think I'll ever fully get rid of it. My wife might come back from the grave to haunt me if I did."
 
"It works for him," Mathis shrugged. "Most nobles'll think that he's some hick from nowhere. You'd be surprised at how many of them, even in the FedSuns think that people that look a bit different are stupid."
 
"Meh," I shrugged. "I just look super young without the beard and people don't take me seriously. Although, the mismatch of colors in my beard throws me off sometimes."
"It's the streaks of blonde," Kaylee finally spoke up. "It'd be fine if it were just the brown and red mixing. But the blonde hairs make it look like you're graying early."
 
"I blame genetics," I laughed. "Now, we going to keep playing, or what?"
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===History of Health===
Two days later…
 
Henry Hober entered the gym of the King Henry V, a towel slung over his shoulder as he checked out the equipment he'd be using. There were people at most of the stations, each with a spotter barring one.
 
"Need a spot there, Major?" He set his bag down and walked over. "I don't think I've ever seen you do legs before."
 
"Because I fucking hate leg day," Hull grunted as he hoisted the bar and began squatting with the weights. "Only reason I do it nowadays is because I finally got my knee fixed six months ago."
 
"Mind if I ask what the problem was?" Henry moved in position to spot for his CO.
 
"Bone spur on the inside of my kneecap," Hull finished the set and racked it, taking deep breaths as he continued the story. "I might not look it now, but I was a bit out of shape, and the spur had been bothering me for years but surgery wasn't necessary as long as I was in shape. Well, the more mass I put on, whether it be in muscle or fat. The more pressure I put on the inside of my knee cap."
 
"Which means that it was scraping against the joints and tendons there," Henry winced as he helped Hull through another set. "Damn, that sucks."
 
"The solution sucked too, but Doc said I wasn't allowed to skip leg day anymore," Hull finished up the squats and sat down, toweling off his face. "They had to go in and scrape the inside of my kneecap and get rid of the spur. Only had a couple of weeks of recovery, but it hurt like hell."
 
"I bet," Henry stretched before moving to add a couple of weights to the bar. "I'm glad I didn't inherit anything like that."
 
Hull moved to spot for the DropShip pilot and they worked their way through the rest of the stations before ending up in the showers. 
 
The Marksman wasn't large enough for myths or legends to have really formed around Hull besides those about his time traveling origin. And given they were a military unit, the showers were one of the few places where everyone saw everything but oddly enough the most private place as well.
 
Most of the Marksman personnel had scars or tattoos that were kept carefully hidden by clothing or uniforms when in the field, but the showers were where you could finally see people's true appearance. 
 
For someone in charge of a near regimental Mercenary Unit, Hull didn't look any different. If not for the beard, he would blend in as just another soldier in the unit. Average height, a soldier's build, but nothing to write home about. He wasn't even that outspoken, most of the time, he remained silent unless asked a question or telling a story. 
 
So that's what made the scars on his shoulders and chest all the more interesting.
 
"Hey, boss," Hober dry swallowed. "What happened there?" He gestured at his chest. 
 
"Turns out that you need to follow all of the instructions exactly the way that they're told when maintaining a Jumpship," Hull muttered. "You can do most of the maintenance by yourself, but it's not necessarily easy or safe. And well," he smiled sheepishly. "Some clothing is more fire retardant than others. I accidentally set myself on fire a time or three, and while it didn't get my hair, it left a few scars. Honestly, it was more like a really bad sunburn more than anything else. I just didn't take care of the skin all that well."
 
Hull shuddered. 
 
"I couldn't stand it when it started peeling, and you can probably figure out the rest."
 
"Fair enough," Henry shrugged, his mind going to some of the stories he'd heard during his time in the Taurian Defense Force. "I've heard of stupider things that have happened."
 
"You're telling me," Hull agreed and finished up the quick shower. "Thanks for the spot, Lieutenant. I'll see ya around."
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===Preparing for the new Comers===
Date: December 14th, 3007Location: Marksman Mercenary Compound on Pierce, Federated Suns
"We need to start working on our Org chart," Sheppard said, glancing around the table at the rest of the command staff. "Once LeAnn and her people get here we'll have enough to fill out a full regiment."
 
"Fuck," Peterson sighed. "We're going to have to figure out where she slots into our staff as well."
 
"Integration is one of the things we're going to take a look at," I agreed. "We want to preserve the culture we've built up here, and even if her people are veterans, they'll need to be trained in the way we operate."
 
"We have the equipment for them," Naomi Brown waved down a waitress for a refill of her drink. "At least for the Vics. It's the 'Mechs I'm worried about."
 
"We don't field Locusts or other bugmechs," Sheppard leaned forward. "We're working on expanding our inventory of other 'Mechs, but that's going to take time."
 
"We can hold back a battalion for training," I settled the concerns. "Keep them here training our new people until we've got the inventory to put them into the field. Now, I had some foresight on the organizational chart and had Captain Johnson and the admin people draw up a new one already."
 
I pulled a stack of papers out of my bag. 
 
"Here's the responsibilities of your new ranks as well as the pay bumps and all of the other details of the organizational chart. Now, none of this takes effect until 3008, but we can start working on the practical aspects. In the meantime, let's put the work to the side and eat. We haven't been able to have a full meeting in months, and I'd like to have some fun and some damned buffalo wings. It's time to eat!"
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Chapter 78