Theogony 1: Janissaries (5 page)

Calvin could see a number of heads nodding as the men and
women considered the slogan. It looked like most approved. “I agree,” Calvin
said, “and I think that this also sets a good precedent. While not all of the
reason, you are all still here to form a special forces Center of Excellence,
or COE. That COE is expected to come up with new ways of fighting, in places no
Terran has ever gone before. You all have specialized experience in a variety of
backgrounds that might be needed, wherever we end up and whatever we end up
doing there. As we train, I expect you to share your experience, so that we all
become better. How we do things will probably end up being how the space force
of the future ends up doing them, so
we’ve got to get them right
! You
are the finest troops on this planet, and I expect us to become the finest
troops in the galaxy. We will train hard, and we will be ready for anything,
whether that is saving our allies or killing giant frogs. We will be
victorious, because the fate of our world and our species are on the line.
Are
you with me
?”

The Special Forces troops, not normally given to displays of
emotion or drama, roared, “
YES
!”

“Gluck ab!” Calvin yelled.

“GLUCK AB!” the platoon yelled back.

“
GLUCK AB
!” the entire group chorused.

“But you don’t understand, sir. The new troops are
crazy
!”
said Master Chief O’Leary.

Calvin looked out the window of Ryan’s cabin to where the
platoon was cleaning its weapons. Ryan’s one-room cabin was located in the
Snoqualmie National Forest, several miles from the nearest road. A couple of
pre-fabricated Quonset huts had been brought in by helicopter so that the
platoon would have a place to sleep while they trained there. It wasn’t the
Hilton, but it beat sleeping on the ground in a tent. Especially once winter
started setting in. Calvin had come up to the cabin to see the finish of the
latest training evolution that the platoon had run, pitting the ground force squad
as the offensive force trying to capture the space force’s flag. Top’s ground
force had beaten Master Chief’s space force again for the third time in a row.
The frustration in Ryan’s voice was easy to understand. He wasn’t used to
losing.

“C’mon, Master Chief,” said Calvin, “I know that you
consider the SEALs to be the ‘best of the best,’ but this force is supposed to
be the best of the best of the best. These troops are some of the best troops
available on the entire planet. What do you mean, ‘they’re crazy?’”

“I mean just that, sir; these guys are crazy!” He looked to
the XO for help, but First Lieutenant Paul ‘Night’ Train didn’t say anything.
Calvin had noticed that about the XO; he never spoke much without being
directly asked for his input, but when asked, he always had an answer. He
watched everything, and Calvin didn’t think that there was
anything
that
escaped him. If someone was crazy, he would know.

Getting no help from the XO, Ryan looked next to Master
Sergeant Aaron ‘Top’ Smith, who did reply. “Well,” said Top, “I don’t know if
they’re crazy, but there are certainly quite a few unique individuals. They
definitely bring a lot of experience to the platoon in a number of new areas.”

“Unique?
Unique
? You’ve got a guy that thinks he’s a
no-kidding ninja, for crying out loud!” exclaimed Master Chief. “What do you
call him?”

“I’d call Sergeant Hattori Hanzo one of the best fighters
that I’ve ever served with,” said Top. “Sure, he does have some interesting
ideas on who he might have been in a previous life, but he moves like the wind
and is one of the most deadly people I’ve ever seen. Although he knows how to
use a shuriken and is a master with a bow, I haven’t seen any ‘ninja powers,’ or
anything like that.”

“Then there’s this John Jones guy,” offered Ryan. “He looks
exactly like a guy that went through SEAL training right before I did, but he swears
it wasn’t him. He’s the oldest looking corporal that I have ever seen in my
life.”

“Does he do his job?” asked the XO in his deep, gruff voice.

“Well, yes, he does,” replied Ryan. “Maybe too well. For
someone with no background, where did he get those skills?”

“The SEALs, actually, and then Delta,” answered the XO. “Now
he’s a Company man; he’s part of the CIA’s Special Activities Division (SAD).
If what the SEALs do is ‘black ops,’ what the SAD does is the shadow cast by
the SEALs at midnight. They do some really scary shit. I hear you’re good with
explosives, Master Chief; he’s probably better. I knew him from Delta,” the XO
finished with a small smile, as if that explained everything.

Ryan hadn’t heard that the XO was from Delta. If he was,
that meant that he was probably the same Lieutenant Train that Ryan had heard
rumors of. If even one-quarter of the rumors were true, the XO was one of the
most dangerous men alive, if not the very top of the list. Some of his exploits
were legendary. He was even rumored to have killed one of his own junior
officers rather than follow an order that he knew would get the men under him
killed. That couldn’t be true, could it? All of a sudden, looking at his smile,
Ryan didn’t know. While Ryan could appreciate the
desire
to kill one of
his own officers, as he’d had several that had
really
needed killing,
actually doing it was beyond him, despite his general aversion to authority. It
was also rumored that the XO had become an officer to ensure that his men got
the leadership that they deserved. All Ryan knew was that he was getting too
old for this shit.

“Some of the new folks must be okay,” offered Calvin,
bringing him back to reality. “What about that Korean girl? Sergeant Park…”

“Sergeant Park Ji-woo is the craziest one of the bunch!”
replied Ryan. “I got up one morning at sunrise, and she was just coming up from
the lake where she had been swimming.”

“What’s wrong with that?” inquired Calvin. “Swimming seems
normal enough.”

“She was butt-ass naked!” shrilled Ryan. “That water comes
from melted snow and is
freezing
! I don’t swim in it without a wet suit,
and I
like
cold water. She just called it ‘refreshing’ and said that her
old unit did it all the time. She swam for half an hour in that water with a
knife in her teeth the whole time she was swimming! What do you call that?”

“I’m not sure that’s crazy,” answered Calvin, “although it
is
a bit different. How about, ‘dedicated?’ Is she good at what she does?”

“Good? She’s great,” responded Ryan. “Have you ever heard
the saying, ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?’” Everyone’s heads nodded.
“Well, she must have had some major-league scorning because she is one of the
most ferocious warriors out there. She even scares
me
, sometimes.” He
considered a couple of seconds. “What did we tell the nations when we asked for
their special forces troopers? How did we advertise this?”

“The cover story was that we were starting a new special forces
center of excellence and that we wanted experienced troops that had an open
mind about special forces’ training and employment,” answered Calvin. “If
nothing else, it sounds like there are a lot of free thinkers in the platoon.”

“I think they’re crazy,” said Ryan.

Calvin sighed and looked at a vacant corner of the cabin. “You
know I hate it when you do that, right Steropes?” He didn’t know how he knew
the alien was there, he just did. “Since you’re here, what do
you
think
of the platoon?”

“If you are documenting a culture’s actions,” said the
alien, dropping his shield so that everyone could see him, “it is important to
do so unobserved. That way, the subjects that you are studying do things
naturally, and you don’t affect the process that you are studying. Just because
you know I’m here, doesn’t mean the others do.”

“Well, I know you’re here, and I hate it when you watch me
invisibly,” said Calvin. “If you’re going to follow me around, at least have
the courtesy to be visible, and I’ll just ignore you.” He waited for Steropes
to nod his giant head in acknowledgement. Calvin didn’t know if he would
actually do it, but at least it was worth a shot. “I’m curious about what you
think, as we are putting together a force that may, some day, be called upon to
save your life. What do you think of the new additions to the platoon?”

“If I had to answer that question,” Steropes answered, “I
would have to say that I think they are absolutely perfect for this mission. They
are probably the best individuals that their countries have to offer. You did
an excellent job recruiting them.”

“What about the one that thinks he’s a reborn ninja?” asked
Ryan, frustration still heavy in his voice.

“Who says he’s not?” countered Steropes. As Ryan spluttered
an answer, Steropes went invisible and left.

“Is he always like that?” asked the XO.

“Pretty much,” replied Calvin as the two senior enlisted men
nodded their heads. “I’m still not sure what game they are playing with us. I
know one thing for sure, though. They’re not telling us everything.”

What do you think they’re not telling us?” inquired Night.

“I don’t know,” answered Calvin, “and that’s what scares
me.”

As Calvin entered the room, he looked around the conference
table at the 15 officers gathered around it. Like the enlisted soldiers, the new
aviators had clustered with people they knew, people that had the same accent or
at least spoke the same language. A sense of nervous excitement infused the
room. Seeing him enter, his other new executive officer, Major Robert ‘Bullseye’
Pierce, called “Attention on deck!” and the officers all bounced up to stand at
attention.

“At ease,” Calvin said. “Please be seated.” All of the
officers sat. It was an interesting group. Only eight of the 16 officers were
Americans, with four from the Air Force and four from the navy. He recognized
one of the navy guys, Lieutenant Carl ‘Guns’ Simpson from VFA-137. Guns was in Calvin’s
old air wing and had more air-to-air kills than anyone else currently still flying,
having shot down two Chinese stealth fighters during the recent war. In
addition to the four U.S. pilots, two from each service, there were two
Canadian pilots, a German and a Brit.

The weapons systems officers were similarly diverse. In addition
to the four U.S. airmen, again, two from each service, there were two Japanese
officers, a Korean and an Australian. These officers came not only from fighter
aircraft, but one of the Japanese officers also came from an E-2 squadron,
giving them command and control expertise, as well.

“I’m glad all of you could make it here today,” started
Calvin. “Is there anyone that hasn’t signed the nondisclosure agreement?”
Looking around, he didn’t see any hands.

“Good,” he said, “because everything that you see and do
from here on is going to be classified well beyond anything you have ever been
associated with before.” He looked around the room and saw he had everyone’s
attention. “You are not here because we are starting a center of excellence to
develop better fighter tactics. That was just a cover story, although we will
maintain it while we are flying here. What we are really doing is preparing to
go on a mission to space. The U.S. government has been contacted by aliens from
another planet, and we will be flying space fighters on a mission to return the
aliens to their home planet.”

The response was underwhelming. Several of the officers
looked somewhat excited, but most of the faces were skeptical and disbelieving.
Calvin smiled, knowing from personal experience that aviators were a cynical
breed. The German officer, Luftwaffe Oberleutnant Hans Hohenstaufen, finally
broke into laughter. “Hahaha, that is a good one,” he roared. “A joke that can make
a German laugh is a great way to start a meeting!”

“I’m sorry, but that is not a joke,” replied Calvin. “You
have been selected to be members of Space Fighter Squadron One of the Terran
Space Force. Steropes?”

Steropes blinked into being at his side, and the room was
instantly silent. “Let me introduce Steropes,” Calvin said, “who is one of the
aliens that we will be escorting home. The spaceship that we will be using has
six, two-seat fighters. We will man them for the journey.”

Shock and amazement now filled the officers’ faces. If
nothing else, he certainly had their attention. Calvin continued, “I will not,
however, take anyone that does not want to go with me. If there is anyone that
wants to drop out now, please raise your hand.” No one raised their hand.
Calvin wasn’t sure that they entirely believed him yet, but
no one
wanted to back out on the chance to fly space fighters, even if they weren’t
entirely sure it was true.

“In that case,” Calvin said, “I really do want to welcome you
to Space Fighter Squadron One of the Terran Space Force. You will have hopefully
noticed that I said ‘Terran,’ not the ‘United States’ Space Force. The United
States has opened up partnership in this force to all of your countries, and
they have accepted. All of this information is classified at the highest level,
code word ‘Olympos,’ which is why you signed the nondisclosure form.”

“I’m sure that all of you will want to know where we are
going and what we’ll be doing there. I’m sorry I can’t tell you now, because I
don’t know, either. All I can tell you is that the friendly aliens, the
Psiclopes, have lost contact with their home planet. It might be a bad
transmitter, but they think that’s unlikely. What they believe has happened is
that another alien race has destroyed the transmitter and is currently looking
for our planet. Ladies and gentlemen, these are your worst nightmares. The
Drakuls are ten foot tall frogs that like to eat their food, which consists of
every living being and sometimes each other, while it’s still alive. We will
kill them, everywhere we can find them. These things are evil.”

“Now, you’re probably wondering why all of you are here, right?”
asked Calvin. He saw most of the heads nod. “The cover story that we are
starting a center of excellence is, at least in part, true. You were all
selected because you are outstanding aviators who have shown an ability to
think ‘outside the box.’ You all have specialized experience and skills in a
variety of backgrounds that might be needed, wherever we end up and whatever we
end up doing there. As we train, I expect you to share your experience, so that
we all become better. Just like the special forces unit that is training here,
how we do things now will probably end up being how the space force of the
future ends up doing them, so we need to make sure we do them right.”