by R. J. Batla
Narrowing hallways brought us down to ten side-by-side, then eight, then five, and then finally it was just Gilmer next to me as someone led us down stairs and hallways. The whole place seemed to be made of the same gray stone – it was almost depressing.
Finally we emerged onto the bottom of an oval-shaped auditorium, with rows of wooden benches rising off of stone steps all the way around the oval. At one end, there was a wooden stage that looked like it could be removed easily, with a huge black scoreboard behind it and what looked like high-ranking Rangers on stage, judging by the number of metals on their tan shirts and the eagle logos on their shoulders.
There were no chairs this time, and we were led single file past a black rectangular podium. A Ranger stood behind it, who kept repeating, “Place your badge on the stone, wait for the white flash, then go where you’re directed to stand.”
Gilmer and I got separated as we were directed down lines drawn on the floor. Eventually all the new Rangers were lined up facing the board and stage, which had a wooden podium on the right side with an amplistone on a small stand. Once all of us were lined up and still, a man with five stars on his shoulder walked to the podium. He was a burly man, six-and-a-half feet tall, his muscles stretching his shirt and pants. Not young either – lines showed all over his weather-worn face, a big scar marred his left cheek, and buzz-cut white hair topped his head.
“Greetings, Rangers!” he said in a deep baritone.
“Ho-rah!” boomed the experienced Rangers.
“Recruits,” he said with a grin, “this marks the beginning of your training. My name is General Price Sterling. I am the commander of the combined army, over all three branches – Rangers, the Senturian Corps, and the Army. I report to the High Council, and everyone else reports to me. As you know, your Quantum powers or unique skills make you a Ranger. The Rangers you see and hear around you are not on assignment; they’re here to welcome you and escort you to your squads.
“All of your information on your powers, your background, your potential, and your personality traits that your badge has been collecting on your trip here has been fed into our information system, and based on that intel, we’ll be dividing you up into squads of five Rangers that we feel will maximize results and cohesion. Said squads will then be assigned to a platoon, who already has a function and a hierarchy that you’ll be required to learn forth with.
“When your name shows up on the board, exit to the back of the room to form your squad. The lieutenant of your platoon will meet you there, show you to your rooms, and introduce you to your training instructors. Tomorrow, and for the foreseeable future, you will be in training – one day working on your powers, one day physical fitness, fighting skills, and weapons, one day of classroom work, and then the cycle starts over, with a day off after every three cycles. Is that clear, Rangers?”
“Ho-rah!” we all answered.
The general grinned again, which made him look even more intimidating. “Excellent. Captain, if you please,” he said, gesturing toward a Ranger sitting behind I desk I hadn’t even noticed just to the right of the scoreboard with several large buttons.
The captain pressed one and the scoreboard lit up, and five names appeared. Those five individuals quickly made their way to the back. The captain pressed the button again, and so it continued. I didn’t have to wait very long – the fifth group of names popped up: Gilmer Borger, Anton Bowie, Katy Lavernia, Leona Orchard, Jayton Baird. Murmurs started when my name was read, but died down after a scowl from the general, who seemed to be staring at me as I turned and ran to the back of the hall.
Our lieutenant was not grinning. With no lips, squinty eyes, strong chin, grisly beard, and thin nose, his scowl would turn you to a puddle of mush. He stood stone faced, feet shoulder width apart, hands at the small of his back, ramrod straight. Looking around forty-five years old or so, his black hair showed a little salt, and the closer I got, I saw more in his beard. All five of us got there at the same time, and stood in a line in front of him.
“Welcome to the Rangers. You’re Squad Four, Second Platoon, Fifth Company, Point Battalion, Special Ops Brigade, Multiple Division, Corps Two.” Well that was a mouth full. “You might want to remember that. Follow me and listen up.” He turned on his heel and started walking at a brisk pace. We fell behind him, trying to keep up without running.
“I am Lieutenant Vernon Taft,” he said, without turning his head. “For the next twelve months, if you are not eating, sleeping, or on time off, you will be training. You should be assigned and report to me, but because of special circumstances, you will have another instructor. He will report back to me on your progress, as you will eventually be under my command. You are Squad Four; there are five squads in our platoon. Understood?”
“Ho-rah!”
Lieutenant Taft’s march was quick and even, a perfect cadence. We rounded corner after corner, going up and down stairs. Eventually, as we went down one long hall, the lieutenant said, “The rooms for all Corps Two are in the North Tower. Your badge has been activated, and has minimal functions right now. As you train, more and more will become available to you. A useful application is the map function, which will direct you to any destination you provide for it.”
Striding up two more flights of stairs, we found a round rotunda with a whole lot of other doors. He went to the second on the right, two-four-zero-one, and hit a maroon stone tile just to the left of the wooden door.
“Squad Four reporting in: three male, two female. Assemble,” he said, his hand still on the square.
Horrendous stone-on-stone grinding noises, loud thumps, and scrapes issued from inside, then a door handle appeared. The lieutenant opened it, instructed us to touch our badge to the maroon stone as we entered into a common room with some odd furniture around a fireplace, a small kitchen with a sink and fridge right at the front.
“Your badge is your key, your authority, and your life – don’t lose it. Women on the left, men on the right.”
We looked where he pointed to two archways – no doors, to which the girls gave dirty looks.
“You each have a bed, and one shower and restroom per side. Your training instructor should be here right now,” he said, just as the door swung wide and in stepped Royn Crowell.
Immediately the lieutenant snapped to attention and gave him a salute. We hastily followed suit. “Commander Crowell, sir. I didn’t know you were returning as an instructor, sir,” the lieutenant said.
“At ease, everyone, and lieutenant, I haven’t been an instructor since I taught your squad. I wouldn’t be here, either, if not for him,” Royn said, pointing at me. “I’m sure you’ve heard?”
“Yes, sir. But we’re proud to have him nonetheless. I’ll leave them in your capable hands, Commander. Rangers, I’ll be checking in on you. Good day.” He turned on his heel again and walked out. The sound of his steady gait echoed from the hall.
We stood there at parade rest, not really knowing what to do as Royn eyed us. “Squad Four – I will be your instructor. Jayton here will fill you in on what happened at the Awakening, but what you need to know now: cafeteria is on the sixth floor. Eat breakfast before we start training. We start at six am, first floor – that’s oh-six-hundred. We finish when we finish. If any of you are late, well, you’ll see what happens. This squad is like your family now. Help each other, support each other, work as a team. That’s my expectation. I’ll teach you to fight both as an individual, as a squad, and then as a member of the entire army. This will not be easy; I’ll let you know right now. You may hate me, but when the invasion comes—” that information garnered surprised looks from everyone but me, Gilmer, and Leona, “—you’ll thank me.” He looked at his badge. “It’s almost three o’clock. You have the rest of the day to yourselves. Report to the training grounds in the morning. I’ll see you then. Good day.”
Royn turned and left us alone in our room. And then everyone looked at me.
“Well, I guess I’ll start. Hi, I’m Jay,
and I was nearly executed.”
Chapter 9
We all sat down in one of the chairs or couches. Leona was about to sit next to me but Gilmer sat down first. Way to go, man!
I went through my whole story after the Awakening. Everyone sat at attention through the whole thing. When I finished, there was a sort of stunned silence. At least that’s how I took it.
After that, Anton Bowie was the first to speak, in a deep tone to match his size and bulk. “So, you’re either gonna save us all or kill us?” He wasn’t particularly tall, about six-one, but he was wide and muscled. He had a square face, square nose, and heavy eyebrows.
I nodded. “Pretty much, yeah.”
He chuckled. “Glad we’re on the same team then – even maniacs don’t kill their friends.” Everyone laughed. “But seriously, Jayton, we’re here for you. I don’t care what happens, I don’t care who says what, we’ll back you up. We’re family now and family sticks together. Am I right?” he said, looking at everyone until they nodded, daring them to disagree.
“Thanks, Anton,” I said, slapping him on the back. “So what’s your story?”
Attention off me, please.
“Nothing special: my parents own a feed store, so I’ve been stacking feed sacks and loading trailers most of my life.”
“That explains the muscles,” Leona said, “but where are you from?”
“I did all right...”
“Oh whatever, Anton Bowie, you’ve done more than all right!” The big guy actually blushed as Katy Lavernia gave him a stern look and told the rest of us: “We’re both from Southmayd and both went to Bayou Vista College.” Which was significantly larger than Portland. “And Anton here was top of the class in everything. But you’d never hear him tell you that.”
Anton spoke up. “Katy, stop bragging about me. I’m nothing special. Tell them about you; you’re more interesting.”
Katy sat up straighter. “I think we’ll be the judge of who is interesting, Anty.” She looked at all of us briefly. “Anton, I mean.”
Anton just rolled his eyes, and we all laughed.
Gilmer said, “Tell you what, big man, she can call you Anty, but I’ll just call you ‘sir,’ how about that?” which got everyone laughing again.
Finally we calmed down, and I asked Katy, “So what about you?”
With a smile, she said, “I’m from Southmayd and went to Bayou Vista College, like I said earlier. My family are farmers. We grow wheat, cotton, corn – you name it, we grow it. Oh, I’m twenty-four, so is Anton. We’ve more or less grown up together; Anton would always help us out during harvest if we were shorthanded. I like to ride horses, run, dance, and pretty much anything with people involved. Why are you looking at me like that?” The last question was directed at Gilmer, who had a look of concentration and confusion.
“Um…because I’ve never heard anyone talk quite so fast.”
“Ha. Sorry. I’ve always talked fast; I forgot you guys weren’t used to it,” Katy replied, very quickly. She was short, maybe five-two, petite, with a pretty, round face, long brown hair hanging in front of her shoulders, light brown eyes, and had round ears that stuck out a little bit.
“Good to meet you, Katy. Leona, what about you – what’s your story?” Gilmer asked, his eyes shifting to me slightly. I think Katy saw as she glanced quickly to me then directed her attention to Leona. I looked as well, and I think she blushed and looked down when I smiled at her, green eyes alight with energy.
“I’m from Aguadulce. Well, really, I’m from the country west of the tracks we traveled. My family has a lot of land there and we ranch on the grasslands, raising mostly cattle and horses. I went to the college there in Aguadulce, did pretty good I guess, and then was Awakened and came here.” She finished with a wide smile. I smiled back, not sure if everyone else did or not, but Leona locked eyes with me for a good minute – OK, maybe a couple seconds – before she moved her dirty blond hair behind her ear and turned to Gilmer. “What about you, Gilmer? You’re the last one.”
“I thought you’d never ask!” Gilmer said, bringing another laugh, and said in his most official sounding voice: “I went to college in Portland, but grew up with Jayton here.” He told everyone he was the mayor’s son and not to count out two Portland boys, for what that was worth.
We talked a little more, mostly about the Awakening and how everyone felt about it, but then our bags arrived, so we all got up and unpacked. We found that we all had additions to our bags – the tan tactical shirt, pants, and boots of the Rangers. Several pairs of each. It was more clothes than I’d ever owned; even Gilmer said it was high-quality stuff, running his fingers over it and mumbling something about thread counts.
There was a loud ding from somewhere out in the hall, and we heard, “Rangers, suppertime. Newbies, make sure you wear your new duds to the cafeteria.”
We all scrambled to get dressed quickly, snapped our badges onto our belts, and then headed down as a team. We let the girls lead. Strategery, my friend – we had to quality check those pants. We went from the twenty-fourth floor to the sixth floor, where a large cafeteria full of like-dressed people greeted us. We fell in line, sat together, ate our fill – pork roast and veggies – then we headed back up to the room.
When we got back, Katy and Gilmer went right to bed, saying it was a big day tomorrow or something, but I couldn’t go right to sleep yet, so I found a spot in the common room. Leona and Anton joined me and we talked more. Anton told us about the feed store, how the logistics worked, and Leona told us all about her ranch. I didn’t say much, just asked questions about their lives, of which I knew little. Anton didn’t last long, which left me alone with Leona.
We got kind of quiet, not really saying much. I couldn’t stand it any longer. “Leona, thank you for everything at the Awakening. I really appreciate it.”
She smiled that awesome smile. “You’re very welcome again. I’m glad you’re not dead and on my team! You haven’t said much about yourself. Everyone’s only talked about the Awakening – what about before?”
“Ah, there’s not much to tell,” I said as I stood up to stretch. Leona did the same, so I continued on. “My mom’s a house cleaner, my dad a farm worker, so I had to work to help get us by and also try to pay for the Awakening. I know that’s the coolest story, and I’ve never had much like you guys…”
I hung my head a little. I just now realized that I was way out of my league – everyone here would have to have some kind of funds behind them, advantages and time and luxury that I’ve never had access too. Most poor people like me joined the regular army or police force, where you were paid immediately instead of having to cough up the Awakening fee with no guarantee of a future.
Leona grabbed my arm and raised my chin with her other hand. “Jay, you listen to me: do not be ashamed of where you’re from. Be proud. It’s made you who you are and you’re stronger for it.”
“That’s what my mom says.”
Leona nodded, removing her hand from my chin. “Wise woman. Now, let’s get some sleep. Gilmer and Katy were right – it’s going to be a big day tomorrow.” She smiled again, squeezed my arm and said, “Goodnight, Jay.”
“Night, Leona,” I replied, and watched her go through her archway, where she glanced back at me and smiled again before disappearing. Then I turned and went through mine, and found Gilmer and Anton staring at me from their beds of simple wooden frames, lining three of the walls, mine on the left.
“Well?” Gilmer asked, in a very hushed whisper, as I changed my clothes and crawled into bed.
“Well what?”
“What happened?”
“Nothing happened. Why?”
Anton chuckled, rolled over, and was snoring in a second. Gilmer rolled over too, with his smirk, laughing lightly to himself.
I, however, heard the girls across the hall giggle slightly, and between trying to figure out what Gilmer and Anton were talking about and nerves about the next day, I got little sleep.
Chapter 10
The morning came fast, but I had to wake up before five AM to call my mom and tell her I was fine. What I didn’t tell her was all the trouble I’d caused, or that I was basically viewed as a walking time bomb with an executioner lurking somewhere. Mama didn’t need to know that – she worried enough as it was. She seemed OK, but didn’t want to use up my time. I told her I missed them and loved them, and hung up the telestone in our room just as five AM rolled around. I got ready with everyone else, ate quickly, and walked out onto the first-floor training grounds at a quarter till six.
It was one big open area. A grass field – it always amazed me what the Senturians could do, in this case the Reka, which included growing grass indoors – covered the entire area, maybe a half mile in diameter, covered with white lines dividing the large space into smaller areas. There were squares and circles of varying sizes marked off for training. Scattered around were racks of weapons and machines I’d never seen before.
“Well!” came a bark from behind us, all of us jumping slightly. “Glad to see you five here early.” We turned to find Royn leaning against a wall right by the door we just entered twirling a knife between his fingers. “That means we can go ahead and get this part over with. Follow me.” We walked to the center of the large circular field, and found what looked like a t-shirt stand, but instead of t-shirts, it had different square patches of varying colors. Royn swung his arm wide. “Pick your squad color or colors. These will help everyone ID you while you’re here.”
Katy immediately piped up with, “The pink one!”