more than that eventually.”
“Of course, sir.” He said as he put his hand down. Then I looked at the woman, a skinny thing, she wasn't a solder.
"What's your story?"
"Sorry, sir, Private Hyla Richardson. I'm a nurse."
"She wants to be a field medic." Gordon interjected.
"I don't have any doctors here." I said.
"What she needs is the combat training. We have had her skills as a nurse reviewed by our people. She has high marks. She could be useful in the field." I remained silent, “Is there a problem?”
"You were in Somerville. And then you were taken from the prison at the The Matton Brothers Mining & Gravel Co-op." I said.
I watched her eyes grow big. When she realized who I was her stature shrank even more.
"Oh my…um, sir, I'm sorry." She said.
"Care to explain that one sir, since you seem to know her?" Gordon said.
"On my away mission she was rescued by my team - left for dead by one of their commanders. After a bit of trading back and forth as prisoners we finally kept her after we took their secret base. I've not seen her since she was taken under our custody. Read your briefing since you had to have had one before coming out here. This was that person. So the Union is accepting Coalition rebels into the military now?"
"A few offered their services to the Union in exchange for amnesty for their ties to the Coalition."
"See me in my office, Gordon." I said, followed by calling Bates which he knew was meant for him to follow me.
"Mister Keys, please remain here with Miss Richardson." Gordon said.
We went into my tent out of the way of prying eyes. I turned on a dime to face Gordon. "Captain do you realize how dangerous that could be? For them, and for us?"
"Understood sir, but they have the advantage of the enemy."
"They're grunts at best, one is not even a solder. How the hell do you expect me to trust them? Have you any idea what you might have here?"
"The General thinks it’s worth the risk."
“This is trouble waiting to happen. I don’t care what he says I’m running things here! My company trust me to keep them safe and make them ready.”
“Sir, this might be a good opportunity to know they enemy, as it were.” Bates said.
“Can’t argue with that.” Gordon said.”
“How do you know they’re not bugged? Coalition people have all kinds of artificial parts that could be relaying information to the enemy. You do know what really spurred this camp, don’t you?”
“The attack in New York from Coalition loyalists. Trust me I know they destroyed any sense that this "war" with them was over. But they've undergone voluntary inspirations. The Arcovians did their best, Major Knight. Your friend Kevin Barone oversaw it all. The likelihood they are bugged is slim. And if you ask me, those loyalists wouldn't need their help to take us out if they could get past New York security."
"So the General wants us to integrate them into our company?” Bates said.
“Captain, we need everyone we can get. General Wortham wants to go into the Coalition ship we captured by February, hopefully the UN will let us in.”
“Hold it. What’s going on outside?” Bates turned to the door.
The sounds of fighting were coming through the door. I immediately stormed out of the tent to see Vincent taking three of my men on as another grabbed Hyla by the arm. She didn’t have the strength to thend them off so I took the greenhorn from behind went for their throat and executed a judo taking them to take them to the ground. It was satisfying and shook the cobwebs from my head.
The greenhorn remained frozen on the ground. When I stood, everyone was looking at me. The men attacking Vincent had stopped, through the soldier kept his guard up.
My troupe was confused and angry.
“This was unacceptable behavior!” I said, walking toward Vincent. The three men backed off and my grunts went back in formation, “Anyone makes another unprovoked attack on these people and you will see why I was really put in charge. Understand?” They were silent, "These three will be joining our squad. Two of them are former Coalition as you have discovered but seek to answer for their transgressions by working with the Union. Mister Keys is former USSF, and Richardson is going to be a field medic for us."
"I don't trust them sir!" One soldier said. Others grunted their unanimous feeling.
“I don’t blame you. But history has shown us that, at times, people are brought under the umbrella of bads things for circumstance we don't understand. If Keys and Richardson want our trust, they know they have to earn it. But let their actions now speak for them, not their past."
Everyone looked to one another, their silence answered for them.
"We also finally have our mission. Last month we captured a Coalition airship named the Somerled. We are going to aim to penetrate it by February. We are going in on their turf and we have to be ready for anything. Maybe we were blessed to have these two with us. They know something of the enemy and that could be advantageous. Now get yourselves together. We're going to do some conditioning since you have the capacity to start fights."
I turned to Gordon, Keys, and Richardson, "We start in ten."
"Major!" Gordon said, "I have two more things for you."
"I swear Gordon -" Then he handed me two manila envelopes. One had my name on it, the mailing address for the office we were now receiving mail too. The return address was from the Josephine Hospital in Washington, DC.
The other envelope was blank on the outside, "Your eyes only I was told. From GeneralWortham. He said it was urgent."
I looked over the blank envelope, then back to him before I took both envelopes into my tent. I looked at the one from the hospital but threw it onto my bed unopened. I tore the second one open. I pulled out a smaller booklet from it. Classified was stamped across the front of the booklet over a Union Armed Forces seal and a circular emblem with the bald eagle of the United States.
In bold black letters about halfway down its face were three words:
THE GATE KEEPER INITIATIVE.
###
About the Author
Other Stories by Jeff Zweig:
Tug of War
My Name is Jerry Richardson II
Uprooting Demons
The 13 Collective: Bound by Fate and the Universe
The End Begins: A Saint and Sinner
Anthologies
Project Nine: A Road of Fate
Novels
The End Begins: The Nine
Upcoming Projects:
The End Begins: The Rise of the GateKeepers (novel)
Connect with Jeff:
Twitter: jzweigii
His Blog: Stories of the Sleepless Mind
Facebook:Username: jzweigii
Goodreads: Jeff Zweig II
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