Chapter 1: A Jade Warrior On Base

April 18, 1994

Life in Misera had settled down nicely after the civil war.

The Gangin did not run amuck. A lot of the Gangin didn’t leave the reservations since that had been their home since birth. Others left as soon as they could find a job and a place to live. It was nice that they could work without having to apply for permits first, and then be monitored by government observers.

There weren’t any great demonstrations against the Gangin leaving the reservations. Most people in Misera were happy to have someone to hire for menial labor. Those hiring them found it was nice that they didn’t have to deal with the government paperwork.

The Gangin recognized the low paying jobs for what they were, stepping stones to better paying jobs. They were moving up in the world. Gangin were opening businesses of their own. Some of those businesses were flourishing.

The economic situation in Misera was improving. Existing roads were getting repaired, new roads were getting built, and essential services were improving. Jobs making those things happen were plentiful, and unemployment was low. Other industries were booming. Life was good.

The fears that the representative of Jade Force in the president’s office would turn into a tyrant, were proving false. Pen Aleksy watched and listened and hardly ever said a word. He seldom interfered with any of the day to day business of running the country, except when a law was getting broken. Then he interfered, usually with a terminal result for the law breaker.

The country had held elections. Significantly enough, there were at least two, and often more, candidates running for each position up for election. No one was surprised when most of the previous members of the Senate who had been up for re-election, were tossed out of office. The rhetoric coming out of the Senate changed tone almost overnight.

A few candidates for office discovered that election fraud was severely punished by Jade Force. Their remains, with the wooden stake still stuck through their bodies, were on view outside the city for anyone interested in such a gruesome sight. The consequence of the brutal nature of Jade Force’s justice, was a very honest election. All in all, the people were happy with the result.

From the perspective of the public, Jade Force was a pretty big unknown. It was a well accepted maxim that one did not bother a Jade Warrior. Assaulting a Jade Warrior was dealt with instantly, and with fatal result. At the same time, it was widely recognized that a Jade Warrior would not interfere with matters involving private citizens except when a law was being broken. More than one robber, mugger, and rapist had discovered that committing a crime when a Jade Warrior was in the area was a sure-fire way of committing suicide.

The public would have been outraged except that Jade Force published videos of the events as recorded by a video camera embedded in the helmet of the Jade Warrior involved in the incident. In each incident, there was a second voice granting permission for the kill. It was rather hard to twist the video of a clear cut crime in progress into something else, although there were those who tried.

When Jade Warriors walked down the street, people gave them a wide berth. There was a tinge of fear on the part of the public which was understandable. The public was used to those with power, abusing the assumed privileges that came with power. It was hard to understand that Jade Warriors didn’t see any privileges accompanying power.

Jade Force had signed a contract with the government of Misera to improve the military, much to the chagrin of those at the top of the military. Among the terms of the contract, was the condition that Jade Warriors outranked generals and admirals. Their authority was limited only in that they could not order any member of the military to act against a civilian.

Part of the contract was that every civilian, male and female, serve two years upon reaching the age of eighteen or graduating high school, which ever came later. There were the normal exceptions for individuals mentally or physically incapable of being a soldier, although they were given the option of joining, anyway.

One young man, paralyzed from the neck down, had insisted on serving despite the objections of his doctors and parents. The military had accepted him with a Jade Warrior taking direct control over his training and daily duties. It was a major news story when the young man took on the position of intelligence analyst. He read reports flashed on a screen, and flagged those that he thought were significant by biting down on a switch. He was happy, the military was satisfied, and the public was impressed. Jade Force accepted it as normal.

Mandatory military service was not greeted with much enthusiasm by the people of Misera. It was particularly unpopular amongst the rich and powerful who thought that, at the least, their child should be an officer. Unfortunately, no one served their mandatory military service as an officer. Everyone began as a raw recruit.

The rich and powerful, along with their children, learned very quickly that as far as Jade Force was concerned, a contract was a contract. Jade Force enforced contracts to the fullest extent allowed. This even included blowing a hole in the side of a house, marching in, tying up the errant child, and marching out with the captive held over the shoulder without even a hint of an apology. Thus it was that the sons and daughters of the rich and powerful found themselves in boot camp, standing beside the sons and daughters of the poorest in the country. It was a bit of a culture shock.

Training in the new military was vastly different than what had been the practice in the past. There was still a boot camp, but it was extremely demanding. An individual didn’t graduate boot camp until they passed the physical, and had acquired an essential skill that was needed by the military. It took some people a year to get out of boot camp. Excuses might be offered, but none were accepted. Reasons were given, but were dismissed as irrelevant.

One of the skills that was deemed essential, and was suitable for graduating boot camp, was proficiency in using a weapon. However, it wasn’t a required skill. It had been recognized that not everyone should be issued a weapon. There were mental health issues that often came into play regarding that issue. Some just did not have the hand/eye skills. There were others who were pacifists and had strong objections to using a weapon. Still, a significant portion of those serving their mandatory service, chose to learn how to shoot.

Motivating them to learn new things, were the number of new ranks at the level of private. There was a Private Zeroth Class all of the way through Private Fifth Class. Promotion was based on what essential skills a private had acquired. Pity the Private Zeroth Class since everyone dumped on them.

Many had predicted that these changes would reduce the readiness of the army. To the amazement of those same people, it was soon obvious that readiness of the army was improving. A lot of young men and women rose to the challenges of harder areas of the services. There was active competition to become a paratrooper or a ranger.

The Gangin entered the mandatory service with enthusiasm. They saw this as a chance to show the country that Gangin were still warriors, despite years of isolation on reservations. A lot of them entered with the intention of a career in the military. They were highly motivated to succeed.

Standing in the center of the road leading into the base, Private Gafner and Private Kropf were on guard duty at a seldom used entrance to the base. It was a nice day, neither too hot or too cold. The sun was shining, and the two young men were enjoying their duty. No one had come by in the past hour and they stood there chatting about life in the military.

It wasn’t that they were ignoring their duties of guarding the gate. Each man would look around at the surroundings to check out what was happening in the immediate area. They were quite aware of what was happening. Private Gafner glanced down the street and saw a jeep turn the corner. His eyes focused on the green flag with a castle in the center.

He stiffened and swore, “Oh shit! A jeep with Jade Warriors is coming.”

No one had ever informed them what to do if a Jade Warrior showed up at the gate. Normal procedure for high ranking officers, such as a general, had them met at the gate by another high ranking officer. Everything about getting them into the base was usually cleared ahead of time. One thing that they did know, was that a Jade Warrior outranked a general.

Private Kropf stood at attention without making a comment. Private Gafner decided that was a smart thing to do and joined him. They stood there at attention in the middle of the road into the base. The only way to enter the base would be to drive right over them.

The jeep with three Jade Warriors came to a stop in front of the gate. Two Jade Warriors were in the front facing forwards and one was in the back facing backwards. The Jade Warrior seated in the passenger seat got out of the jeep. After a short exchange, the jeep drove on after a white truck passed it.

Private Gafner and Private Kropf remained standing at attention. They stood ramrod straight, shoulders back, chests out, arms to the sides, facing forward, and with with eyes focused straight ahead. It was a textbook perfect ‘attention’ stance.

Sword Miquel stopped in front of the two soldiers. They both snapped off a salute. He looked down at the name on the uniform of one of the men and then asked, “Private Gafner, what color was the truck that just turned the corner?”

“I don’t know, Sir!”

“Private Kropf, what was the color of the truck?”

“I don’t know, Sir!”

“Are you two on guard duty?”

“Yes, Sir,” both men answered.

“Would either of you care to tell me why you don’t know what color the truck was?”

“We’re at attention, Sir!” Private Gafner said.

“Why are you at attention?”

“You’re here, Sir.”

A hundred men could have climbed over the fence ten steps down the road and both men would have been oblivious to it. They were lucky he was a Sword and not a Shield. A Shield would have gone ballistic. He was just disgusted.

“So you think impersonating a fence post because I’m here is more important than guarding this base?” Sword Miquel said.

“No, Sir! Yes, Sir! I don’t know, Sir!” stammered Private Gafner not sure how to answer the question but thinking that he had to try.

“Drop that stupid salute, and look around! You’re on guard duty, gentlemen.”

The two men dropped the salute, but remained in a rigid posture. They quickly looked left and right, before looking straight ahead. Sword Miquel shook his head in dismay.

“Private Kropf. Stand over to the side there. I want to see your head moving from side to side like you are watching a tennis match. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir!”

“Well, do it.”

Sword Miquel then delivered a five minute lecture to Private Gafner on how a guard is supposed to do his duty. It was a scathing speech which brought the young man near to tears. It covered such things as how there were no superior officers, until they showed proper ID. They weren’t to stand at attention or salute, until the identity as a superior officer had been fully established. Any officer who refused to produce an ID was to be shot as a spy. It covered the fact that the guard at the gate was the first line of defense, and that if the guard fell without warning others, that his friends would die.

He then went over to Private Kropf and repeated the same speech word for word. At least Private Kropf had listened to the speech previously and knew what to expect. He stood there wilting under the harsh words of the Jade Warrior.

Sword Miquel stepped back and said, “Now, guard the gate!”

“Yes, Sir!”

The two men moved to their assigned positions. They were obviously much more alert to their surroundings.

“I want to enter the base,” Sword Miquel said.

“I need to see your ID, Sir,” Private Kropf said with a nervous break in his voice.

Sword Miquel pulled out a plastic card. It was green with a black castle on it. It had his picture and his name. He held it up for the Private Kropf to examine.

“You can go in, Sir!”

“Thank you.”

Sword Miquel entered the base. The two soldiers slumped and took a deep breath.

“I thought he was going to kill us.”

“You and me both.”

“I can hear you, gentlemen.”

“Shit!”

Sword Miquel walked down the road as if he owned it. He was alert to everything happening around him. Every person, every vehicle, and every building was examined and watched. He was continually looking for threats of any kind. It was simply a result of his training.

Everyone he passed stopped what they were doing to watch him pass. Everyone knew what a Jade Warrior looked like, but almost none of them had ever experienced one up close and personal. Those who had, knew the difference between a soldier and a warrior, having seen it first hand.