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Chapter 1, Part 4: Squad D of Company 3

Part 4

The next morning at Breakfast Roll Call, or “BRC” in Academy shorthand, Dax stood with Renshau in the balcony of the dining hall looking down at the tables. They watched Squad D of Company 3 eat breakfast. The cadets all looked alike in their gray uniforms and close cropped hair. First Classman Mica Polver, company commander of Company 3, was a compact young man Dax had met first thing this morning. Now Polver was delivering the message about the squad’s new advising officer to second classman Tagget. Tagget stood hip-shot, not paying particular attention while the rest of his squad continued to eat. After Polver left, Tagget did not say anything to the group, but sat down and made a comment to the two boys sitting beside him. All three laughed at the jest and went back to their breakfast.

Tagget had been ordered to assemble his squad in one of the meeting rooms in the basement of Quenlin Hall after breakfast. Dax waited in the building unnoticed down a side hall until the squad members had all straggled into the room. He entered the room, and they all rose to their feet and braced at attention. Tagget, was the last on his feet and the first to sit after he released them.

“Good morning ladies and gentlemen.” Dax said. “I am Commander Daxdendraig, your temporary Advising Officer. I will be your supervisor while you prepare for the Communications Relay.” Tagget muttered something under his breath to the boy beside him. “A question Mr. Tagget?” Dax snapped.

With a lazy grin Tagget replied, “No sir,” then looked away.

“Your first job is to choose your team leader,” Dax continued. He passed out slips of paper and markers to each person. “I want you to think about who would be the best person in this squad to organize and lead your team in the competition. This person should be someone who can make sure the right people get the right jobs on the team. This person will not compete as part of the team, but he or she will be responsible for organizing and training the team, making sure everyone knows their role, and getting everyone to do their best. If you are going to win the Communications Relay, the first step is to have the right leader.”

There was a snort of what might have been laughter from Tagget’s direction. “Mr. Tagget. Did you have a comment about the Communications Relay?”

“Why no sir,” he said with a grin. “But, were you aware we finished last in our company last year, and we lost four of our best people from that team?”

“I’m well aware of that Mr. Tagget. That’s why I want you all to think carefully about the best cadet to run this year’s team. Please write down two names. Take a moment, but decide now.”

The squad members looked uncertain and looked around at each other. As Dax watched, Tagget glanced nervously around the room. After each had filled out his or her slip of paper , he collected them. “All right,” Dax said. “Off to drill with you, and my compliments to the drill instructor for allowing you to join late without penalty.”

After the squad had gone, Dax sat down and quickly flipped through the papers. He was amused to see that Tagget’s name appeared on only two of the slips. One had only the name “Tagget,” while the other read “not Tagget!” along with another name. It was quickly obvious that Tri Doic Hanny was the overwhelming favorite of the squad members.

Other than Tagget, Dax did not know any of the members of the squad, so he spent the morning doing research to learn their names and general descriptions from Academy enrollment records. They were a typical mix of ages and backgrounds with most from either West Landly or East Landly.

Doic Hanny was a 12-year-old girl from East Landly. In the four years she had been at the Academy, she had moved easily through the junior ranks of Plebe, Uni, Di, to Tri, and was ready for promotion to Student Officer, Third Class, this summer. Her academics were outstanding, and her instructors comments attested to her fine mind. Physically her skills were only so so—archery scores above average, but swords, sabers, and knives only marginal. From that, Dax decided she was probably coordinated enough but lacked the fast reflexes necessary for combat.

He sought her out during the free period after lunch and before afternoon classes. As she came out of the dining hall, Dax motioned her over and said, “Tri Hanny. A moment, if you please?”

She appeared surprised and looked around to see Taggett scowling at her. “Me? Uh, yes, sir.” She was a tall, slim girl, and she moved with the natural, neat motion which reflected her years in Academy’s physical training program. Dax gestured to one of the wrought-iron benches along the walkway to the barracks, and they sat down.

Dax got straight to the point. “Your squad would like you to assemble and lead the team for the Communications Relay.”

“Me? I mean, Sir, I don’t think I would make a very good leader. I’m not really very good at a lot of the events in the Relay.”

“True, but remember you won’t be competing in any of the events. No, your squad mates were practically unanimous. They said you were the one for the job, and the fact they trust you to do it is an important qualification.”

“But, what do I know about running a team, Sir?”

“Probably the most important part is that you know your squad mates. You’ve been with most of them long enough to know who is good at what. Who will work well with whom. That sort of thing.”

“Sir, I know them well enough to know that if I start picking people for the swimming, the sailing, the running, and all that, they won’t agree.”

“What if you did it based on tryouts?” Dax asked.

“Hmm.” Her eyes got distant. “With a competition it wouldn’t look so much like I was picking favorites. But…,” she hesitated and looked at Dax, “We still don’t have anyone much better than we had last year.” After a pause, she added. “…Uh, sir.”

Dax smiled. The challenge was pulling on her. “What events could you cut your team’s time with the most with extra training or planning? That might be a way to make up some of the time difference.”

“Well, obviously the coding and decoding processes take the most time and are the most involved.” As she thought to herself she uttered an occasional “Hmm.” After a time she said, “In the 10-furlong run, the time difference between first and last place is not that great. A good coding team could easily make up for that and more besides.”

“Are there any other places where the team could make up time?”

“Rowing and sailing, for sure. We don’t train for those events that much. They are more recreation activities.”

“Hand talk and wig-wag?” Dax asked referring to the Academy’s silent signaling system.

“Right! We all learn the basics, but I’ll bet Booci and Rem would be a good team in wig-wag. They like that kind of stuff.”

“What about substitutes?” he asked. “What if your wig-wag person breaks an arm the day before the competition?”

Again her eyes grew distant as she thought. “If everyone in the Squad cross trained in every event, we’d have plenty of substitutes.” She paused. “Plus, no one would feel left out like they did last year.”

“Now you are starting to think like a team leader.”

Hanny blushed. “Thank you, Sir.” Suddenly she got quiet. “What about Tagget? He won’t like it that I’m the leader this year. He was leader last year.”

“And you finished where?” Dax paused. “Why don’t you let me break the news to Mr. Tagget? He might never be an enthusiastic member of the team, but maybe we can keep him from being a problem.”

“Sir? I appreciate the chance to do this. I’ll try my best.”

“Don’t thank me, Ms Hanny. It was your squad-mates who picked you.”

“Still, don’t you think we’d do better if you led the training like Lt. Peffelette did last year?”

Dax looked at her intently. “Now what would I know about running a team in the Communications Relay?” He allowed the corner of his mouth to turn up in the start of a smile. Hanny gave a little moue of annoyance at hearing her own words reflected back to her, but she politely excused herself, and left.