He was halfway to his destination when a familiar figure came toward him, jogging. “Hey, Cap’n!” he called out. “They got you up and scramblin’ too, huh?”
The captain stopped and gave him a friendly punch to the biceps. “Good to see you, Harry. Any idea what’s happening?”
Harry scoffed. “Man, if they ain’t tellin’ the cap’ns, what makes you think they be tellin’ the sergeants?” Then he stopped and squinted. “‘Scuse me askin’, Cap’n, but maybe I oughta ask you-and if it ain’t my business just say so-but is there somethin’ goin’ on I oughta know about? I didn’t know you was into hangin’ out behind the supply depot late at night.”
Phule leaned closer and lowered his voice. “There’s a new top-secret operation starting up,” he said. He put his hand on the supply sergeant’s elbow. “In fact, it’s a good thing I ran into you here. We need a man with a good head on his shoulders, and I think you’re right for it. Can you keep this completely to yourself?”
“Top-secret?” echoed Chocolate Harry. He looked over his shoulder, then nodded. “You know I can keep things quiet, Cap’n,” he rasped. “What’s the poop?”
Phule looked around with an exaggerated air of conspiracy. “You know that Beeker and I were away from the base, talking to the Zenobian leaders,” he said. “Well, the Zenobians have got a lot of advanced military gear the Alliance hadn’t known about before, and we were trying to get an agreement to try it out just like the stun rays, you know.”
“Cool,” said Harry, nodding eagerly. The Zenobian stun rays had made a big impression on him. And, as supply sergeant, he’d be the first to get his hands on any new goodies coming to the company. “What kind of stuff are we getting?”