All In - Short Fiction

1. All In
by J.A. Miller
The newXO walked,orratherwanderedthroughthe camp.We knew he wasthe XO; he had that lookof
someone withwaytoomuchtraining,andabsolutelyzeroexperience.He wasfresh,like hisshinynew
LI-33 sidearmstrappedlowonhiship,like agunslinger.Some TopSarge wouldfix himof that.A low,
loose riglike thatwasboundto get hungup some crazy outcropping,orworse yet,a minercomesup
fromunderground,andsnagsit,pullingyouunder.Yeah.We all wore ourgear tight.
He seemedtooproudto ask for directions,sonone of usbotheredtopointhimtowardthe command
hole.Notreallyahole.Theydropthe thingsfromatmo, andit embedsitself rightintothe planet’stough
granite hide.Instantbunker.Well,we all knew that’swherehe neededto be,butif he’stooproudto
ask… screwhim.
All he had wasthat same greenpack theygive thematThe Mill.We call itThe Mill.Regalian
MilitaryOfficer’sSchool.We soldierstendtoshorteneverything,soitbecame The Mill.Plus,theychurn
themout like afactory,cram themwitha bunchof uselesscourses,andthensendthemtous,to either
getus killed,orgetkilledthemselves. Ourgroupwas prettysaltyby now,so we letthemdomost of the
dyingbythemselves.Anyway,thatpackhas theirofficer’strainingmanual—still onpaper,classical stuff
like thatgivesthe brass hard-ons—,asetof dresswhites—likethatwasevergoingto be useful
planetside—andwhateverelse the scrubdecidedwouldbe useful inawar.Oh, and thatstupidchess
set.
Well,some brown-nosinggruntdecidedtoshow the kidtoThe Hole.Thatwas interesting.He
got a quickideaof what we were infor.The platoonleadersall wearcamsontheirbuckets--their
helmets—anditfeedsbacktothe commandcenter.Major Ranniswas inthere,doinghisthing.We all
thoughtwe were salty,butthe Major’s bootshad seenmore planetside timethanmostof us had been

2. inthe Army.He had come up from the enlisted,gottenfieldpromotedsomanytimestheyputhimin
charge.Most of us were still alivebecause of thatone man.
So,the platoonleaderwhowasupon the monitorwasengaginga particularnasty-lookingvirus.
It had abouta hundredparasiteswithit,some miners,bullets,grenades,acid,bile wasflying
everywhere.
The Major wasin there,onthe radio,directingthe platoonleaderwhere tosendhisguys. The
XO’seyesgothuge whenthe cam caught the virusheadon, face full of teeth—anywhere fromninetyto
three hundred,dependingonthe mutation—drippingwiththatnastyjuice. Thisone wasparticularly
ugly,andthe XOgot so white.Man,it wasa treat.
The Major got the platoonleadertoflankapack of miners,andthenswitchedtoanothercam,
thisone on the sniperlead’sbucket.He toldthemtoletloose,andtheysure did.Skinnylittle bugparts
all overthe place.He had the platoonleaderignore the virusandtake downitssupport.The thingfled,
inthe face of justa fewjoeswhoprobablyonlyhada handful of grenadesanda couple of magsleft.The
Major was magic,as usual.
“So, you’re mynewXO.”The Major lookedatthe kidlike he wasexamininganew firearm.He
“hmmmd”and toldthe kidto followhimout.
“Yes,sir. LieutenantPolland,sir.”
“What didyou justsee inthere,Polland?”
The kid waseagerto showoff histraining.“Itlookedlike anEnglund’sGambit,but…”
“Yeah,but what?”The Major alwayswalkedfast,like he wasonthe wayto a fire.
“But that wouldhave requiredyoutohave the backingof an artilleryunit.Ididn’tknow youhad
anythingthatheavydownhere.”
“We don’t.”

3. “Excuse me,sir,but,why riskthe unit?There’snostrategicreasonthat virusshouldhave
retreated.”The kidhadto practicallyjogto catch up. Hisgreenpack floppedalong,loose,like his
holster.
“Tightenupyour gear, Polland,unlessyouwanttospendyourlast minuteschokingtodeath
fifteenfeetunderground.”
“Uh, yessir.” The kidclutchedat hisrattlingsidearm.
“Englund’sGambit.IneverwentthroughThe Mill,butI’m familiar.Iwasn’ttryingthattactic at
all.”
“Yes,sir. What gambitwasit,sir?”
The Major grinned.“Yougottaget ridof that chessboard.It’snot goingto do youany goodout
here.”
“Sir?” The kidlookedshocked,like he justfoundoutthere wasn’tanySantaClause.
“Stowyour stuff andstop by my tentin thirtymikes.”
Well,thirtyminuteslater,we were setupoutside the Major’shooch.Cigars,somethingthat
almostpassedforalcohol,and the cards. The kid pulledupanammocrate and sat at the table.The
Major gave him a handful of chips.
“How manychesspiecesina game,Polland?”The Majordealtfirst,twocards a piece,fiveinthe
middle of the table.
“Thirty-twosir,sixteenperplayer.”
“Ahuh.”The Major pickeduphiscards and lookedatthem.We all didthe same,andthe kidgot
the hintand lookedathis.
“Do you knowhowmanyof us are here inthisbattalionrightnow?”
“Aroundthree-hundredandfifty,sir.”
“Three-hundredandtwenty-five.”

4. The guy to the leftof the Major slida chipforwardintothe middle of the table,andthe nextguy
put histwochip blindinaswell.
The Major lookedthe XOinthe eye.“Do youknow how many of themare downhere?”He
noddedhisheadtoa giantskull nailedtoapost overthe Major’s hooch.
“Um, no sir.Intelligence issketchy.”
We all laughed.Imean,we didn’tmeantohurt the kid’sfeelings,it’sjustthatthere’sthatold
saying,armyintelligenceisanoxymoron.
“NeitherdoI.I do knowit’sa whole lotmore thanthree-hundredandtwenty-five.”
“Yes,sir.”
The Major leanedforward,lookingusall over. Thenhe turnedbackto the XO.
“Each playergetstwobishops,tworooks,eightpawns,aqueen,right?”
“Yes,sir.”
“Andif youcan corner the otherguy’skingyouwin.”
The XO lookedreallyconfused.Surelythe Majorunderstoodchess.He wasa field-grade officer,
right?
“Yes,sir.”
“Well,there ain’tnokingsaroundhere.AndIdon’thave a bishop,andIdon’t know whatthe
otherguy has,the onlythingI can do is guess.”
The XO had thislookof almostrealization.Itwascomingtohim.
“Do you knowthisgame?”The Major gesturedoverthe table.
“A little.”
“Good, you’ll gettoknowitbetter.”
One of the guysput hiscards downand slidthemtothe center.The nexttooka minute,then
slidtwochipsforward.It wentaroundthe table like that,tothe XO. He put histwo chipsin.

5. Thenthe Major smiled.He slidanice little stackof chipsin.The thingis,we neveractually
playedagainstthe Major,because we didn’tlike losing.We were all justplayingforsecond,andmaybe,
someday,gettingthe bestof the oldman.
“See,none of us knowswhatthe otherisup to. We can see thatthere isa terrain.”He pointed
to the five cards,face downin the middle of the table.“Itwill be revealedovertime.Andthe onlyway
to reallyknowwhatthe otherguyis up to,is to payfor it.”
Most of us folded,butthe XOshovedhislittlestackin.
The flopwas a couple of eights,andan offsuitking.
“The environmentcaneitherhurtyouor helpyou.”He put ina few more chips.We all folded,
but the XO stayedin.The nextcard wasan offsuitfive.
The Major limpedinwithafewmore,andwe all knew he was bleedingthe kid.“Retreatand
attack are the name of the game here.We can’t corner themagainstthe edge of the board. We take
themout throughattrition.”He letsome chipstrickle throughhisfingersontothe board.
The kid hadsome guts andcalled.The riverwasan ace.
“You have to decide earlyif youwantto play,andyou have to decide quickif youwanttocut
and run,or else youbleedout.All in.”The Majorslidhisstacks in.
The XO lookedathiscards, thenat the pile of chips.He puthiscards down.
“The bugscan be read,theyhave tells,justlikeyou.Andtheytendtodothe same thingover
and over,like achessplayerfollowinghisfavorite gambit,butthisain’tchess.”Thenthe Majordid
somethingthatnone of ushad everseenbefore.Anditmayhave savedthe kid’slife downthe road,I
don’tknow.The Major, still holdinghistwocards,turnedthemtoface the table.A three anda jack.
Nothing.
“If thishada name,it’swhatI wouldcall our battle today.Justa simple bluff.The bugsgot
scaredand folded.

6. The XO took a deepbreath.We were aboutto start anotherhandwhenthe firebugscame in.
The place eruptedwithflame.People screaming,runningaround.We gota few splashesof the stuff on
us,but pattedit outprettyquick.The firebugstake a longtime togrow,and we’dthoughtwe’dtaken
themall out.Apparentlynot.
The Hole was theirtarget,itwas obvious.The place wasa burnthusk.We all grabbedour gear
and headeddowntothe fallbackposition.The Majorwas shoutingorders,andhonestly,the kidlooked
readyfor a fight.Surprising.
We formedup,justas the virusescame in,three of them, withmore minersthanwe’dever
seeninone place before.
The Major, like a lunatic,wassmiling.“They’re learning,butnotfastenough.”
He signaledtothe platoonleaders,andwe all gotmoving.We were all in.