Nikitin elbowed Jack in the ribs. “That’s a little different,” he whispered.
The colonel continued, “The invaders have struck a terrible blow to our people. Our cities are burnt. Our civilization is destroyed. What was is no more. Yet for all their strength, the enemy has made a grave oversight… They allowed us to survive. They destroyed our cities, and yet our spirit rages on, unvanquished and undying.”
He motioned to someone in the first row. “You. Tell me why you’re here tonight.”
“To kill the bastards. I’m ready to die for the cause.”
“I see,” the colonel said. “Who else feels this way?”
Hands floated up around the room and voices murmured in agreement.
He shook his head. “Noble, but we cannot allow ourselves to think like this. It is the mindset of a victim. The victim is content to spit in his enemy’s face before he dies. We must not be victims. Instead, we will become weapons. I ask you, is a weapon prepared to die? No. A weapon is a machine. It is cold, calculating and efficient. A weapon survives so that it may kill again tomorrow. That is its purpose.
“I know you are filled with anger and hatred, and you are willing to sacrifice your lives, but this must not be so. For the sake of our people, our mission must be greater than this. We must preserve ourselves… survive beyond the struggle, and not only destroy the enemy, but dominate them. We must drive them from our world, and show them the price of their arrogance.
“Now, it is true that we face an enemy of staggering power. The force which these invaders have brought against us is without precedent in the history of our world, yet they are not omnipotent. They can be defeated and killed. Can anyone tell me what strengths we possess?”
Galili’s question met silence, and he smiled. “How about this? We have knowledge. This is our world, and we know her terrain, her weather, the hidden secrets of the land itself. That is a strength. Our enemy is large and rooted in place, while we are fluid and agile. When they believe they’ve found us in numbers, we will disperse and regroup. That is a strength. Our enemy is loud and obtuse, but we are quiet, subtle and cunning. That too is a strength.”
The room was full of nodding heads.
“So you see, we have many strengths which the enemy cannot steal from us. Strengths which they cannot neutralize. We must exploit each strength to its fullest, and use them to destroy the enemy wherever he stands. Our victory then is not only attainable; it is inevitable.
“Harbor no doubts about this fact… we will be victorious. In our hearts and in our minds, we must look always toward victory, and we must seize every opportunity to strive closer to it.
“Are there any questions?”
A man somewhere in the middle of the room raised his hand, and Colonel Galili motioned to him. “When do we get to kill some damn spacemen?” he asked.
“Soon enough. You will train here for the next month, and then receive your assignments. Everyone with previous military experience will be fast tracked.”
The question and answer session went on for another twenty minutes, covering topics from weapons and organization to what was known about the invaders, which didn’t amount to much. When the activity began to quiet down, Jack had his own hand in the air.
Colonel Galili pointed to him. “Will we engage civilian targets?” Jack asked.
The colonel had to stop and think. It wasn’t a question he had a prepared answer for. “I’m not sure there even are civilians among them, to be honest. We have only seen their termination squads thus far. I see that you’re with emergency response. Would it bother you if we did?”
When Jack spoke, it was like the words came from someone else’s mouth. “No, sir.”
“Good. We cannot afford to show the enemy more compassion than he has shown us.” There were still hands in the air, but the colonel waved them off. “That’s enough for one night. The sergeant outside will show you all to a warm meal and a bunk, and we’ll pick up in the morning. That is all.”
The exhausted recruits stood up from the benches and slowly shuffled out the door, Jack and his team trailing at the back of the crowd. The air outside was cool and crisp, and there was a gentle wind blowing. He was glad to be outdoors again.
A Carbon Corporation sergeant stood off to the side, waving the recruits on toward the mess hall, every centimeter of him an example of Carbon’s commitment to technological warfare. He wore a suit of their standard charcoal-black armor, made from an impact-resistant polymer that was the source of Carbon’s vast wealth, as well as a bulky helmet covered in optics and air filters. Slung over his shoulder was a Blade Firearms XM-5 assault rifle decked out with all the options. Even banged up and covered in a layer of dust, his equipment was the envy of armies the world over.
As Jack approached, the sergeant unexpectedly stepped up and stopped him with a quick shove to the chest. His other hand reached back to his rifle, ready to bring the weapon forward. “Where do you think you’re going, Corpsman?” he asked. The helmet modulated his voice and made it sound inhuman and mechanical. “I’m detaining you under suspicion of sedition.”
Jack was too tired for this shit. He shook his head and readied a string of expletives, but before he could unload them, he noticed something strange: the nametag beside the double-crescent Carbon Corporation logo said Hernandez.
“What the… Charlie?”
The sergeant popped his helmet’s latch and levered the face-mask up, revealing Charlie Hernandez’ mischievous smirk inside. “Bro, you shoulda seen the look on your face.”
“You son of a bitch,” Jack said, and before he knew it, his arms were wrapped tight around his little brother. He couldn’t remember ever hugging Charlie. Not by choice, at least. He guessed that was a sign of just how much the world had changed.
They pulled away after a few seconds, and Charlie gave him a friendly punch to the shoulder. “How the fuck did you survive, Jack?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. We crashed in China…”
“Don’t be modest,” Nikitin said. “Your big brother saved our cans back there. Landed a half-destroyed leviathan smack dab in the middle of the invasion.”
“China? No joke,” Charlie said. “Man, I haven’t heard anything good coming out of the east.”
“Nothing good to say,” Jack said. “It’s hell over there. How about you?”
“Long story,” Charlie said. His hands became animated as he spoke. “We were hip deep in the shit fifty klicks outside of Cairo when it started. We had some insurgents pinned down, and then the damnedest thing happened. Four hundred guys in a firefight stopped shooting and just looked up at the sky, like someone hit pause.
“Next thing you know, the fight didn’t seem so important anymore. We called a cease fire, and ended up trading war stories with ‘em all night.”
“And you came back here?”
“Yeah. Aliens are thick as locusts to the South, so… well, we advanced to the rear and didn’t stop until we hit the Dead Sea. Probably just dumb luck, but soldiers from all over hell were already here, and Al Saif just sorta happened.”
Charlie looked the group up and down. “Anyway, we’ve got plenty of time to catch up, but you guys look like crap. Let’s get you a warm meal and some bunks, eh?”
Charlie was right. They looked like crap, and they felt twice as nice. Together, they went to the mess hall laughing, and Jack’s team ate the first warm meal they’d seen in months.
Chapter 22:
Red Carpet
“They said ‘aboard new vessel’? Whaddya think that means?”
Sal had tapped into the orbital traffic system, and she was watching her monitor for any kind of strange activity. She didn’t bother to look away as she answered him. “I’ll tell you what I’ve been telling my father for the past three weeks, Kaz. I don’t fucking know.”