“What?” Carl shouted, although just a second before Ellis did the same.
Anderholt nodded. “Yep, all six of these men were ‘killed’ in action, although that’s just the official story. In reality, each of them was given a certain amount of telepathic-blocking abilities as well as a special ‘gift,’ if you will. Tommy’s here is to withstand mind attacks.
“Wish I could show it to ya, but I don’t think you could see it,” Tommy said with a sideways grin, one that showed everyone there that he was a perpetual joker — how else could laugh lines become so deep on one so young?
“Sergeant Sammy Williams here and Corporal Bobbie Baker are the same,” Anderholt said, moving down the line to the next two men. Williams was a young black man, clean-shaven and about as clean-cut as you could get. Bobbie Baker, on the other hand, had that mischievous look in his eye that told Ellis right away that he’d be trouble. His hair was cut short and his large ears were prominent, but it was that shit-eater grin that seemed to set him apart. Ellis made a note to bust his balls a bit.
“That’s three,” Charlie said, “what’d the others do?”
“First Lieutenant Robbie Biscaye here has undergone chemical treatments to make his skin tougher than yours, literally three times tougher.”
“Like a rhino,” Robbie smiled, his spiky blonde hair sticking up. He had a hard-chiseled face and those far-off James Dean eyes, a pair the ladies probably couldn’t resist if they knew he was still alive, which Ellis highly doubted. Nope, it was a good bet none of these six — and possibly the other thirteen — had seen a real woman in years, or at least since shipping off to Vietnam… probably ten years ago now. How the hell do they look so young?
“Sergeant Paul Carson is up next,” Anderholt said, breaking Ellis’s thought, “and he’s got one of the most unique gifts — the ability to block all telepathy, not just for himself, but anyone within a 10-foot radius of him.”
“Now that will come in handy down in Dulce,” Carl said.
“Whoa, wait a minute,” Charlie said, crossing his arms. “I thought you said they all could do that.”
Anderholt shook his head. “Yes and no. Paul here’s the only one that can do it all the time, even when he’s sleeping. The others, well… let’s just say that if you stay within 10 feet of ‘em you’ll be safe about 80 % of the time, how’s that?”
Charlie frowned, but held his tongue under the general’s intense gaze.
“And the last one?” Ellis asked, already growing impatient with these new ‘super soldiers,’ although he did see the value they had even despite that last remark by the general.
“This is Turnicot Dupree,” the General said, “and his special gift is one most soldiers in the future will have, and that’s bionics. Show ‘em, Turn.”
The soldier named Turnicot nodded and then reached down and started to unbuckle his belt.
“Whoa, there,” Ronnie laughed, “I don’t know if I need to see no bionics.”
“Can it,” the General replied, and a moment later Turn had his pants undone and then dropped them to his feet.
“Damn!” Charlie said while beside him Eddie whistled. Before them were two sleek, metal legs, titanium it looked like, although both men suspected it was something much stronger, and perhaps unknown.
“Graphene is what they’re made out of,” Turn said as everyone marveled at his ‘legs,’ “one hundred times stronger than steel and a fraction of the weight.”
“Those puppies will still be there long after Turn there is gone,” Anderholt said.
“Yeah, but will you have any puppies here when you’re gone?” Tommy said with a laugh and a slap on the back of Bobbie beside him.
Turn frowned, but instead of saying anything just started to lift up his blue and green plaid boxer shorts.
“Well I’ll be!” Charlie laughed as the metal legs began to give way to dark, black skin.
“I’d take them up further, but I don’t want to show any of you boys up on the puppy-making department,” Turn said, a sideways look directed Tommy’s way. It was a comment that had every man in the room laughing, and even Anderholt cracked a smile.
“And the rest of the men?” Ellis said after the commotion had died down ad Turn had pulled up his pants again.
“The best of the best,” Anderholt said as the six ‘super soldiers’ stepped back into the line and the other thirteen stepped forward. “Each was taken out of active duty while in Vietnam and each has been training with special forces and the new Delta Force since then.”
“Those are my men!” Aaron shouted, a second before Charlie was about to do the same.
“But they’re our tactics,” the general said with a gruff look, “and now you’ll have a chance to try out your leadership skills with those tactics.”
Aaron shrugged at that, and then the introductions began.
“From left to right here we’ve got Captain Frank Burchak, Sergeant Andy Byrd, Sergeant Billy Brigham, Captain Walter Leathers, Lieutenant Colonel Emil Wiseman, Major Jake Zates, Second Lieutenant David Tish, Major Fred Sayer, Corporal Johnny Williams, Sergeant Lewie Yates, Major John Bingham, Captain Moses Cochrane, and Sergeant Jerry Carol.”
The thirteen men stepped back and the nineteen stood there again.
“So you’re twenty-nine men, and I’m the thirtieth,” General Anderholt said, “this is our team.”
The men looked around at one another and nodded. This was their team.
8 — The Grays
The days went by, the men training together, getting to know one another… and learning to put up with one another. They were a disparate group, that was for sure, but a good mix from all the armed forces. And they reflected all the areas of the country as well.
There were the Ivy-League-educated boys, the commanders mainly, though that wasn’t really accurate either. While it was true most of the men that’d be flying were from the upper-crust of society, others like Fred Sayer and Chargin’ Charlie were not.
Most of the men were poor, or had at least grown up that way. Even though they had money now, most hardly ever used it. They’d give up private lives upon joining the most special of special forces, and few regretted it. Most of the men were white, most from the South. Of the four black men on the team, Sammy and Moses were from the North while Turn was from Mississippi and Johnny was from Georgia. Johnny was just on the reserve team, the one with super soldier Paul Carson and Carl as commander, at least on paper. It was clear to the men after that first week of training together that there were a lot of eventualities, a lot of backup plans, and a lot of second-guessing. But not nearly as much as there was briefings, at least four a day, all so the men could learn what had been hidden from so many of them for so long, the incredible news that aliens not only existed, but were among them, operating by government treaty, and now running amok doing what they willed, something that’d been going on for four years and with consequences unknown and hardly guessed at either, so terrible they seemed.
It was yet another of those briefings, this on a Friday before a weekend that looked to be full of work. The men’s morale had never been much lower.
“There are actually several types of Gray,” Stan said, continuing on with the now more than hour-long lecture, “it’s just that the Zeta Reticuli Grays are the most common, and who we generally refer to when we say the ‘Gray.’”
Stan paused and looked out, making sure he had everyone’s attention before continuing. He did.
“They’re from the Zeta Reticulan star system — the Bernard star — neighboring the Orion area. Zeta Reticuli is nothing more than a dim point of light to us if we’re standing outside in an empty area and looking up… though you’d have to be in the southern hemisphere to see it, approximately equidistant between the constellation Orion and the Celestial South Pole.”