Chapter 2: Recruitment

From Hermaphrodite: Major Tenerife was tasked with gathering more ‘humans’ to conduct trials on and to ask for volunteers amongst the ship’s population to test if Genet’s changes were a one-off fluke for her alone or if her improvements would be common amongst all Providians. Lieutenant Genet was promoted to Captain and ordered to work with Tank Zaffra to build a platoon of successfully altered ‘super soldiers’ from the human and Providian recruits.

Lieutenant Margraine was brought before a military tribunal and charged with ‘behaviour unbecoming an officer’. She was stripped of her military rank and limited to her lab and other areas civilian Providians could access. In another place or time, she may have been jailed or even executed for her crimes, but being a Breeder guaranteed her survival. She, of course, blamed Tank and Genet for her downfall, refusing to acknowledge that her actions alone had exposed Lieutenant Genet and, indeed, the whole ship to the effects of Major Tenerife’s mutagen chemicals. The side effects of which were still unknown. Her relationship with Genet didn’t survive the scandal.

Providian starship orbiting Earth.

Newly commissioned officer, Lieutenant Tank Zaffra, walked beside his commanding officer, Captain Genet, toward General Zaha’s briefing room. Tank smiled as he listened to the calm, relaxed, in-control officer, remembering how arrogant and wilful she had been when they first met. When first encountering the humans, Tank Zaffra and Angelina Jolie, Genet believed herself superior not only to them but to everyone else. During her early encounters with Tank and Angelina, Genet had been smugly arrogant and condescending, with her temper barely controlled—six months of training with Tank had knocked that out of her.

Genet came to realise that Tank was subordinate to her in rank only. He was more intelligent, faster, stronger, and better at unarmed combat than she, and although Genet was a better marksman, Tank was swiftly closing even that gap.

General Zaha had sent Tank through an accelerated officer training regime, and although many of the officer corps protested and complained about having a ‘devolved human Providian’ amongst them, Tank almost immediately quelled any objections when he beat those ‘superior Providians’ at every discipline.

Tank excelled at the war games they’d practised. On the first exercise that Tank and his teammates attempted, infiltrating an enemy camp undetected and placing explosives to destroy it, Tank’s teammates refused to follow his suggestions. So, slipping away from them, Tank completed the task as they still lay outside the ‘enemy camp’, arguing about how to proceed. Running past their position, Tank called, “Time to beat feet, boys. This area is about to get hot!”

Of course, his teammates refused to acknowledge him, and when the enemy’s fuel dump ‘exploded’ (firecrackers went off), they were found by the enemy soldiers sweeping from the camp looking for the infiltrators who had ‘blown up’ their fuel supplies. From that first experience, and after the senior officers had roundly ridiculed Tank’s squad mates, Tank became the squad’s unofficial leader.

Upon completing this first stage of training, each officer was assigned to a squad of eleven soldiers, including a sergeant. Then, over the ensuing six months, Tank turned unwilling, disbelieving squad mates into a cohesive, viable expeditionary force. At the end of officer training, Tank’s team remained undefeated. Whether attacking or defending a base, Tank’s squad emerged victorious. However, despite pressure from General Zaha and others from the military’s upper echelon, Tank remained steadfast in his belief in and support of Genet’s leadership and refused to be promoted above her.

His and Genet’s earlier treatments with the mutagen gas in the regeneration chambers gave them insights that helped the other volunteers cope with the changes to their bodies. Fraternisation between squad mates was frowned on, but Tank and Genet knew that a massively increased libido was a side effect of the gas and turned a blind eye to the after-lights-out activities the other soldiers indulged in.

Tenerife’s mutagen chemicals were almost uniformly effective in transforming the Providian volunteers’ bodies and physiology. Consistent improvements of twenty per cent or more in reflexes, speed, and strength were commonly achieved. However, about one in one hundred volunteers suffered a severe allergic reaction. Those poor souls’ bodies experienced a hyper-reaction to the drugs that caused them to mutate disproportionally. The volunteers who sustained this overreaction were swiftly executed before they turned into monsters or, worse, infected others with their mutation. The failures were not hidden or denied at Tank’s and Tenerife’s insistence.

Despite this, there was no shortage of volunteers, especially from within the military. Tank’s summary dismissal of the Providian Army’s four best fighters had been recorded and broadcast on the military channel, and it seemed that virtually all military personnel wanted a chance to join Tank as a ‘super soldier’. Plus, many women joined the volunteers when Genet’s enhancements were demonstrated by her easily accounting for the five next-best fighters in a staged exhibition.

Of course, it has to be remembered that Providians can present as male or female depending on their current self-image, so it would be more accurate to say, ‘many Providians who present as what humans would call women joined the volunteers’.

Stepping into General Zaha’s briefing room, Tank and Genet came to attention and saluted. “At ease,” Zaha said. “Major Tenerife says it’s time to test the genetic improvements against a real enemy. What say you, Captain?”

“I believe the first and third squads are ready to face an enemy, General,” Genet replied. “Second and fourth need another round of Lieutenant Zaffra’s men handing them their combined asses to drill their final lessons into place.”

“We’ve discovered an Aridian base in Northern Ireland,” the general stated. “Colonel Tangran has the briefing details. Plan an attack against this base and bring it to me. Dismissed.”

Genet saluted and turned to leave. However, Tank stood his ground.

“Problem, lieutenant?” Zaha snapped.

“You don’t send a team of rookies against The All Blacks first up, General,” Tank answered.

The All Blacks are the winningest team in any sport on planet Earth. With a win/loss ratio of eight and two, the New Zealand All Blacks Rugby Union team wins four times as many games as they lose. Considering that The All Blacks are a national team, they face the best of the best from every other country they play against and win an unprecedented eight out of every ten games. To compare, The Chicago Bulls basketball team had a seven and four win/loss ratio during Michael Jordan’s era.

“Meaning?” General Zaha growled.

“Meaning, the Aridians have beaten you and forced you to flee for 60,000 years. Let’s go up against an opposition we can easily defeat while we work the kinks out of our strategy and not be pantsed by any enemy that has defeated us consistently.”

General Zaha didn’t fully understand Tank’s references to things like ‘pantsed’, but he understood the sentiment. “What do you suggest?” He asked.

“Planet Earth is beset with terrorists,” Tank explained. “They’re a scourge that needs eradicating, but no government has the balls to try to eliminate the infestation lest they inadvertently trigger an end-of-world war. I suggest we raid a couple of terrorist camps and then announce we’re a radical new independent anti-terrorist organisation. That means the various world governments can unanimously decry us and truthfully deny they’re involved.”

“Explain why,” Zaha demanded.

“First, it lets us test our tactics and cohesion against an enemy we should defeat comprehensively, even if we fuck up. Second, the types of radical fundamentalist groups we go up against will need to be eliminated if you wish to unite this world against the Aridians.”

“Makes sense,” General Zaha admitted. “Captain Genet?”

Genet, who had been furiously listening and thinking as Tank discussed tactics with the general, slowly said, “We warn the Aridians we’re here if we go up against them first. We use backward-engineered technology stolen from the Aridian ships we defeated in combat to almost instantaneously speak with transporters that are light-years away. Therefore, they (the Aridians) will summon help as soon as they realise who is attacking them.

“Then, instead of fighting a few thousand Aridian Slavers on their bases here on Earth, we’re fighting their armada. A fight we cannot win and will force us to flee into uncharted space to evade. I believe that Lieutenant Zaffra’s summation is correct, and until we’re assured of a swift victory against the Aridian’s communication base, we should avoid announcing our presence.”

“Lieutenant Zaffra, how do you think we should proceed?” The general inquired.

“Most of the terrorist groups on Earth spring from Muslim radicalism,” Tank responded. “However, there are plenty of Christian Fundamentalist splinter groups spread around the world, and especially within America. I believe we start by eliminating some of those before we turn our attention to the Middle East.”

“Why begin with Christian Fundamentalist groups?” Zaha asked.

Tank explained, “The Middle East will immediately blame America if we attack Muslim camps first. They will stridently claim that our group is a CIA front and urge all Islamic nations to oppose us. Conversely, if we start by cleaning out terrorist groups such as the KKK and Westboro Baptist Church, we immediately eliminate the radical Muslim’s accusations that America is behind the attacks.”

“Captain Genet, your thoughts?”

“We should tap into Earth’s satellite technology, find several Fundamentalist Christian terrorist camps and eliminate them. Then, once the furore dies, we repeat that with disparate Muslim terrorist camps spread around the globe. If we simultaneously attack many camps in diverse regions, no one can blame any single government.

“That will give my troops the experience needed to infiltrate and destroy the Aridian’s communication base. A successful conclusion to that attack will severely hamper the Aridian’s ability to request help, and it will be too late when their appeal reaches Aridia because, by the time Aridia responds, we will have a firm foothold on Earth and have begun recruiting the soldiers we’ll need to defend Earth and defeat the Aridian armada.”

“Major Tenerife has identified many humans with the same genetic make-up as myself and Ms Jolie,” Tank added. “If we use our attacks on the terrorist camps as cover, then we can take those people, and their disappearance will be blamed on the attacks.”

“You’re now advocating we kidnap the people we want as we did with you and Ms Jolie?” Zaha queried.

“The more I think about it, the less I like leaving people behind who know of our existence because we’ve approached them and they refused to help.”

“You were diametrically opposed to kidnapping humans, lieutenant. Why the change?”

“Major Tenerife tells me that we can bring people on board, show and explain to them what we want, and if they refuse, he can wipe their memories of ever being taken. That seems the fairest and safest option. We get our volunteers, and those who do not wish to participate, go home safe and sound without knowing what happened.”

“Okay,” General Zaha agreed. “Report to Colonel Tangran and select your first target. I expect to see a fully formulated plan on my desk by 1200 tomorrow.”

Genet and Tank saluted crisply and marched out. Tank was still unsure of his way around the ship and was happy to follow his captain. Eventually, Captain Genet led Tank to a row of senior officer offices. The front desk was unmanned, so she knocked on Colonel Tangran’s door and waited to be told to enter.

The door opened, and a half-undressed woman scurried out to sit at the front desk. Embarrassed, she refused to make eye contact and hurriedly fixed her clothing before sitting down.

“Been there, done that,” Genet whispered, feeling sorry for the young woman. “Don’t have the T-shirt, but do have the scars.”

“Enter,” Colonel Tangran barked from the office.

Tank and Genet stepped inside, came to attention and saluted. Tangran didn’t return the salute and handed Genet a folder. “Those are the details and satellite images of the Aridian camp near Limerick City in Ireland,” he stated. “Plan an attack on the base and return it to me. If it meets my approval, we will take it to General Zaha.”

“There’s been a change of orders, Colonel,” Genet replied. “Our goal now is to eliminate some terrorist camps in the USA.”

“I know of no changes, Captain,” Tangran spat. “You have your orders. Go about planning the attack.”

“The orders have changed, Colonel,” Genet firmly but respectfully insisted. “Perhaps if you check your email?”

“You expect me to simply believe you?” Tangran growled.

“No, Sir,” Genet said calmly, refusing to let the colonel upset her. “I expect you to confirm an officer’s statement and act on it if she is correct.”

Tangran pushed the intercom button, “Tantin, get General Zaha on the phone,” he demanded of the young woman on the front desk.

“General Zaha, line one,” Tantin said a few seconds later.

“Morning, General Zaha,” Tangran obsequiously said. “Captain Genet is insistent that you’ve made changes to the plan to attack the Aridian base? I was not informed of any changes.”

General Zaha’s response was so loud that Tank and Genet could hear it. “Maybe if you spent less time forcing yourself upon your secretary, you’d have time to check your email,” Zaha bellowed down the line. “I swear, Tangran, if I receive one more complaint, I’ll can your ass all the way back to private!”

“Yes, Sir. Understood, Sir,” Tangran replied in the same oily tone as before. He hung up and quickly opened his email. Seeing the message from General Zaha, he opened and perused it. “Why target bases in America?” Tangran asked.

Genet began to answer, but Tank overrode her. He did not like the colonel and suspected something was off with the officer. “If General Zaha hasn’t seen fit to inform you why, then I don’t think it’s our place to. Perhaps this is a ‘need to know’ situation?”

As Tank hoped, Tangran reacted angrily to that. Tangran ranted, saying that he alone was in charge of operations on Earth and nothing could be done without his express permission. Then he demanded to know about the new plan.

Secretly amused by Tank’s less-than-subtle attempt to rile their colonel, Genet reiterated Tank’s response. Then she added, “We need a list of radical Christian terrorist bases across North America and satellite imagery of the same so we can plan our raids.”

Grumbling deprecations, Tangran used the intercom to summon Tantin. He gave her a series of instructions and sent her on her way. In an act of pettiness, Tangran kept Genet and Tank standing at attention. Tantin returned with a bulky folder a few minutes later. Tangran took it and thought of opening it, but mumbling to himself, he handed it to Genet and dismissed them.

“Lunch?” Genet suggested. “We can have a look at the camps and photos and choose a target as we eat.”

“I’m meeting Angelina,” Tank replied. “But there’s no reason you can’t join us.” Tank knew Genet and the gorgeous Hollywood star Angelina Jolie were friends and lovers. He didn’t know if Angelina had allowed Genet to penetrate her yet, or if Angelina was still using her ‘new’ cock to penetrate Genet. A yet unrequited love triangle was developing between Angelina, Genet, and Tank, with Tank as its centre. Angelina and Genet had been lovers since Angelina had woken from her first mutagen gas forced sleep not long after being brought aboard the starship. Tank had unwittingly witnessed Angelina’s first use of her genetically engineered cock and balls when Tenerife had allowed Tank to confirm Angelina was on the ship with him.

Anan, the researcher assigned to help Tank integrate his new sexual equipment and monitor his body’s reactions to Tenerife’s mutagen chemicals, met them as they walked toward the cafeteria.

“Lieutenant Zaffra,” she said formally, even though her eyes sparkled mirthfully. “I have your latest test results. Max Vo2, up from 70 ml/kg/min to 85. Heart rate down from 52 per minute to 35. Weight up from 95 kg to 125 but body fat percentage steady at <3 per cent. Strength up another five per cent, which is remarkable given you were already twenty per cent stronger than when we first tested you. And finally, your stamina is up, too, I estimate by close to ten per cent. Your speed and reaction times are unchanged, but that may be because you’re so fast that even our high-resolution cameras struggle to capture your movements.”

“I’m sure you didn’t leave your lair just to tell me that, Ms Anan,” Tank teased. “What is your real purpose?”

“I don’t think you’ve maxed out your improvements, Tank,” Anan replied. “We need to stress your body almost to its breaking point to see if your physiology will alter to cope with the extra strain on it.”

“And if it doesn’t?” Tank asked.

“Then we’ll know we’ve reached the limits of your improved physique.”

“No danger of overstressing my heart or something similar?” Tank queried.

“There’s always some chance of that,” Anan admitted. “But we scan your entire body the nights you are in the regeneration chambers, and no abnormalities have been found. Plus, the chamber would have repaired them even if there were problems. As long as you still have brain activity, our regen chambers can mend anything. In fact, we could put only your brain inside the chamber, and as long as your brain still has electrical activity, the chamber will grow you an entirely new body.”

“How do you propose to stress my body to breaking point?” Tank asked. “We tried the treadmill that last time, and I maxed its speed out before mine. I wasn’t in oxygen debt even at its highest inclination and speed, so how will you achieve your goal?”

“I can imagine several quite pleasurable ways,” Anan teased throatily. “However, as I keep telling you, if we’re to do that again, you need to sleep imagining breasts so I have something soft and squishy to hold onto as I fuck you.”

“Breasts on someone as obviously masculine as me would look ridiculous,” Tank pointed out.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Genet joined in the teasing. “Brooke Ence, as Penthesilea in the movie Wonder Woman, looked masculine and as hot as hell. You could be the same. Besides, you could create a more feminine body for a few days so I can enjoy fucking you, and then you can return to how you currently look.”

“A feminine body covered with manly hair? I shudder even thinking about it,” Tank said, shivering to prove his statement.

Genet grinned, remembering how her lieutenant looked in the changerooms. With Aridians being hermaphrodites, all change and shower facilities are shared. Genet had covertly admired Tank’s tall, muscular, broad-chested, long-legged body every time they changed together and thought that Tank’s hairiness significantly added to his masculine appeal.

‘Strange,’ Genet mused. ‘Normally, I’m only attracted to feminine presenting people, but the thought of having Tank between my thighs, pounding into my cunt has me wetter than a Providian water rat.’ “Well,” Genet drawled. “If you only shave your body hair off so that Anan doesn’t find your hairiness off-putting, then you can present as feminine and return to masculine-presenting a few days later.”

“I thought you were supposed to be on my side, Captain,” Tank joked. “Besides, isn’t fraternisation between military personnel was frowned on?”

“I’m not/she’s not military,” Genet and Anan said together.

“She’s not what?” Angelina asked as they joined her at her table.

“Military,” Genet explained as she sat and studied the gorgeous Hollywood A-lister. Genet had been watching the news services and was surprised that Angelina’s absence hadn’t been widely reported. Angelina’s publicist had released a two-sentence statement saying that Angelina had taken a break from her usual duties to attend to a personal matter, and they would appreciate it if the press would respect her privacy during this time. More surprisingly, at least so far, the paparazzi have been honouring that request.

‘Beyond stunningly beautiful,’ Genet thought as her dick threatened to stiffen in her tight trousers. Angelina was beautiful before entering the Providian regeneration chambers, and the chambers had only added to her feminine allure. The treatments that Angelina received had taken years off her looks. With her body returned to the glory it was before surgery to remove possibly cancerous breasts and with her wide blue eyes sparkling with youthful vigour, Angelina stood proudly as The Goddess she’d always been in the eyes of her adoring fans.

Tenerife’s mutagen drugs had added a hefty, nearly twelve-inch cock and squash ball-sized testes to her svelte frame. Angelina wasn’t ashamed of her new appendage but preferred to present as feminine, so she kept it carefully tucked away along her perineum inside a pair of control briefs. Regular martial arts training with Tank and Genet added muscles to her slender figure, which somehow only added to her feminine allure.

Angelina was a ‘breeder’, meaning she could impregnate another or carry a child herself. However, Tenerife had hidden that from his superiors, and Angelina was attending Officer Training School, doing the full version of the abridged course Tank had travelled through. She already had a reputation as a dangerous unarmed combat opponent and had topped her sniper class. Angelina learned quickly and soaked up tactics like a sponge. Because of this, General Zaha had earmarked her to lead a squadron as soon as her training was complete.

Angelina acknowledged Genet and Anan as they sat, but her eyes remained on Tank. He fascinated and awed her, and Angelina hadn’t been so flummoxed and bamboozled by a man since she fell madly in love with Billy Bob Thornton on the set of the movie Pushing Tin. She wanted the handsome sixty-year-old Tank even more than she’d desired Brad Pitt when they’d first met. However, Angelina was shy about acting on her desires because she was afraid of Tank rejecting her because of what swung between her legs.

Lately, Angelina’s fantasies had centred on using her magnificent new appendage to roger Tank into submission. Those dreams confused her and were another reason she avoided becoming intimate with him. Angelina watched longingly as Tank casually and comfortably interacted with other male and female presenting Providians, imagining he was having regular sex with any number of them. If Angelina had known that Tank was reluctant to approach her for the same reason she was reticent, their unrequited desire for each other would have found expression.

The foursome shared lunch and then Anan left to return to her lab. Putting their heads together, Angelina, Genet and Tank looked through the folder Tantin had created for them. They discussed the various splinter groups and which camp would be the easiest to infiltrate and destroy. The trio wanted an easy in-and-out mission that could be executed out of the sight of the various US law enforcement agencies.

They realised that the NSA and FBI, at least, probably kept an eye on these sites using satellite and drone technology, so Genet left to check with Colonel Tangran. Tangran assured her the satellites would be no problem because they could easily jam them for the battle’s duration. Drones, however, were impossible to stop without shooting them down, and the soldiers on the ground would have to keep an eye out and hope they weren’t discovered.

The trio settled on an Aryan Supremacy training base in a wilderness area near the Tennessee/North Carolina border. The satellite imagery showed a one-hundred-hectare fenced and gated camp stocked with military equipment and armaments that a South American Warlord would be pleased to own.

The Providian cyber division hacked into the US military’s spy satellite network, and Tank, Genet and Angelina examined the footage to confirm the images from the still photographs.

“Here,” Angelina said, pointing to a heavily vegetated fissure leading to the surrounding fence. “If we use the fissure for cover and go in after dark, it looks like it’s less than a fifteen-minute walk to the ammunition and fuel dumps. They’ve stupidly put the two dumps close to each other, and the accommodation barracks are way over the other side, away from the dumps. Look,” she added. “Only two guards are circling each dump. Once we eliminate them, we can place the explosives and then set up here,” she pointed to another spot.

“Their men will come running out when the dumps explode, straight into our line of fire. We can take down most of them before they realise they’re under attack. Then we high-tail it back to the fissure, follow it to our hover craft, and get out of there. I reckon we can take the whole camp out in less than an hour with none the wiser as to who attacked them.”

The trio spent another two hours refining their plan and trying to imagine every possibility for errors and mistakes and how to respond if any of them happened. They discussed what to do with any of their injured or dead soldiers, knowing the soldier’s bodies couldn’t be left behind lest the US military and law enforcement discover they weren’t human.

They were finally satisfied their plan was as foolproof as possible and took it to Colonel Tangran. Tangran tried to pick holes in it and kept insisting they should attack the Aridian Slaver base in Ireland. However, Tangran conceded the plan should work and took it and the three officers to General Zaha.

During the meeting with General Zaha, Tangran unsuccessfully tried to convince the general that they should attack the Aridians. Ignoring him, the general worked through Genet, Tank’s and Angelina’s plan. He reached the end and conceded they’d covered all contingencies. “Choose your team, Captain,” Zaha told Genet. “I expect you’ll want to lead it yourself and bring Tank and Ms Jolie with you as your 2ICs?”

“Lieutenant Zaffra, for sure,” Genet agreed. “But Angelina will sit this one out. She can join missions after completing her training.”

“Agreed,” General Zaha stated. “It is partly her plan, though, so include her when training for this operation and put her on overwatch from the hover craft.” Zaha grinned before adding, “Ms Jolie has kicked both your asses in the sniper classes and is currently within the top five shots in our army.”

“Who’d have thought that pretending to shoot a sniper rifle in Mr and Mrs Smith meant I’d be a crack shot for real?” Angelina joked.

“How long before you’re ready to execute?” Zaha asked.

Genet and Tank exchanged glances before Genet replied, “One week. We could go in forty-eight hours, but there’s no rush, so why not ensure we’re as prepared as we can be?”

“Tangran, set up the simulation floor to match Captain Genet’s chosen camp and get this happening. Dismissed, all of you.”

The four officers saluted and exited the room. Tangran then stormed off without a word. Angelina watched him go. “Why is he so hot for that Aridian base?” She mused. “It’s almost like he wants us to fail. Captain, I suggest you pay particular attention to the simulation because I wouldn’t put it past him to sabotage our preparations by making it different to the real camp.”

“Colonel Tangran’s a good officer,” Genet argued. “He wouldn’t do that.”

“He’s also in the faction opposed to using Lieutenant Jolie and myself instead of killing us and harvesting our DNA,” Tank observed. “Rumour has it that he’s shacked up with Margraine (the disgraced former lieutenant), and that woman bears us no goodwill.”

“I will keep a close watch on the simulator, but you’re wrong about Colonel Tangran,” Genet said before turning on her heel and marching toward the officer barracks. She needed to choose her sergeant, and they needed to select their team. Most would come from Tank’s men but she would include some from the other squads to ensure as many as possible got experience in fighting a war. Genet was intensely aware that no Providian had been in a battle since they fled Proxima Centauri b, some five hundred years ago.

Anan intercepted Tank and Angelina on their way to the dojo. “Angelina,” she said. “I need you for some regulation tests. Tank, you may as well come, too. Our engineers have created a suit that should enable me to test your body’s limits.”

“Aren’t you done torturing me, woman?” Tank pretended to growl.

“Never,” Ana riposted. “I believe that your improvements have merely stalled, and there’s lots more to come, yet.”

Tank and Angelina changed into their Gis before joining Anan in her testing lab. The lab had a functional gym capable of testing a person’s endurance, speed, reaction time, and strength. As Anan worked Angelina through the various tests, Tank warmed up using the apparatus Angelina wasn’t. He was amazed when Anan announced Angelina’s Max. VO2 was 75 ml/kg/min, well above elite for a human female.