The King thought for a long moment and then said, “Well, my love, if he doesn’t find his match, maybe it will find him.”
The Queen smiled and reached over and took his hand. “Love will find a way.”
“I hope it’s soon. My sense of danger is growing.”
“As is mine, my Love; as is mine.”
Brez was asleep when his com vibrated then sounded an alarm that brought him straight out of bed. He hit a button on the wall to put his house on standby and then punched the red button on his com and twisted it left for two seconds and then right. A silver screen appeared in front of him and he stepped through it. As soon as he emerged from the silver screen a voice announced, “Brez, Red Warrior Captain, Third Battalion, Delta Company.” Brez ignored the voice and ran across the huge facility to the place his company sized group was assigned.
One of his warriors ran up beside him and asked, “What’s up, Captain?”
“I don’t know but this is not a drill. The central teleporter is warming up and that means fighting.”
The warrior smiled a huge grin and sprinted ahead to tell the rest of the team. Brez was an Adjement and only stood four feet tall. He had joined the military when he graduated from the Advanced Mechanics Institute on Sten’s Planet and had worked his way up through the ranks to Captain in command of one of the ten companies that comprised a battalion. He looked around and saw that nine other companies were gathering so it looked like the entire battalion was forming up. He looked at his company and saw that most of the platoons had arrived and were standing in ranks talking to their fellow warriors. Each company had ten platoons made up of four squads with six two man warriors assigned to each squad. The warriors were trained to operate in tandem with the basic unit being two armored warriors. Their armor’s software was capable of handling organizations of two, four, eight, sixteen, thirty two, or all the way up to ten divisions in hostile fighting environments. Brez noticed that all of his ten platoon’s personnel were present except for his teammate Juck. He hit his com and Juck appeared in a hospital bed.
“Sorry, Sir,” the small Cainth said. “I’ve contracted an illness and I’m unable to answer the call.” Brez could see the anguish on Juck’s face and knew that missing this call up was worse than the illness.
“You’ll be here next time, Warrior. Semper Fi.”
“Semper Fi, Captain.”
Brez hit his com and said, “One replacement.”
Immediately a huge Glod stepped out of a silver screen in front of his team, looked into the ranks, and moved to the place in front where Juck was supposed to be. He shook hands with his team mates and began introducing himself to the other twosomes. He had a huge smile on his face looking forward to the coming action.
Brez punched his com notifying Battalion Command that all of his platoons were present and accounted for. Brez then looked at the other five thousand warriors in the huge building and thought about the structure of his battalion. He thought it funny that the ancient names regiment, battalion, and division were still used along with terms like company, platoon, and squads. He learned in his military history class that the terms were still used to honor those that had fought on Ross in the war that formed the Stars Realm. The Star Realm’s warriors were known as Naval Marines to honor the Red Warrior’s most famous Commander, General Richard Wiseman who commanded the First Division, Naval Marines in the war against the Alliance and Algeans. Now only the absolute best warriors were invited to join the Wiseman Division. A place in their ranks had to be earned and membership was something every Red Warrior aspired to attain. An announcement brought his thoughts back to the present. The warriors were called Red Warriors because of the bright red color of their armor and protective screens.
“All Red Warriors, suit up in ten seconds.”
This was something Brez never tired of seeing. All five thousand warriors stood at attention and brought their right arms into a salute and two seconds later they grabbed the two outside fingers of their saluting hand. All the warriors were immediately surrounded by a rose colored field and their appearance was undergoing a rapid metamorphosis. Their fighting armor was being teleported around them and every piece of it knew exactly where it should go. In less than ten seconds, every warrior in the building was standing in their full armor.
The Battalion Commander ordered, “At Rest.” Every warrior put their hands behind their back and stood with their legs at shoulder width. The Colonel commanding the battalion looked at his warriors, “I am downloading your assignments for the upcoming action. I have included everything that we have learned about the situation and want to make sure that all of you know that saving lives is the Prime Order. I remind you of your oath at the Quilleron Temple and trust you to use good judgment in using your weapons.”
Brez along with every warrior in the building immediately remembered when they had graduated from their training and had been assigned their armor. The entire graduating class was then teleported to Glod where hundreds of thousands of Stars Realm citizens were waiting for them to arrive. The new Red Warriors marched down the Quilleron Path in slow cadence while their commander recited the ceremonial words that all new Warriors were told.
“You are marching down the path where the Stars Realm’s first chosen Queen walked more than twelve hundred years ago. Warriors, Halt!” The procession stopped and they heard, “It was at this spot that our new Queen’s right to rule was challenged by a group of Glod Warriors. Her Husband and champion, Thomas Anglo Gardner, faced five Glod Martial Arts Champions with nothing but his bare hands and defeated four of them that attacked him together. As he approached the fifth warrior, our first Queen stopped him and ended the killing. Thomas Gardner then threw the two Glod Long Swords he was holding into the pillars on each side of the entrance to the Quilleron Temple where they remain to this day. The Fifth Glod Champion, Ron-Dar, who later became a great leader of the Glod, was made to decide whether or not the new Queen would rule his people; he chose the New Queen. That choice is what led to the founding of our Stars Realm. On that day, Danielle said that a Warrior’s destiny is to make the universe a better place for their people to live. A Warrior’s duty is to defend those that can’t defend themselves. Today is the day you will profess your determination to follow that choice. You are being given unimaginable power to weld and with that great power comes great responsibility. Each of you will go to each sword and grip it with your hands and silently swear your life, loyalty, and strength to protect the Stars Realm and all others that cannot defend themselves; you will then pass through the entry and verbally swear your oath; you will then be accepted into the Ranks of the Realm’s Naval Marines as a Red Warrior and be one of the most respected members of our military. Do not touch the swords unless you mean what you promise. Forward, March.”
The ranks moved forward and stopped in front of the entrance to the huge temple. The thousands of citizens gathered to witness the event all bowed and remained silent as each new warrior approached the two swords embedded in the pillars and took the grips in their hands for a moment. After they had gripped each sword they stepped through the entry and bowed to make their oath. They then returned to the ranks of their fellow graduates. After the last new warrior had said his oath and returned to the ranks, the Commander turned and said to the gathered multitude, “Citizens, I present to you our newest group of Red Warriors.”