Chapter 17: Charassa Marine Training Base 4

“When you face the most terrifying fears remember the crux of your future is the confrontation of your fears and learning the truth of perseverance and inexorable movement forward.”

- Merken.

“I am Col. Griffis Melo Lucas and I am in charge of training you for your mission to Skrept. I have fought many battles against the Coven. I specialize in underground warfare and I have been tasked to teach you how to survive this potentially disastrous task for which you are ill-equipped and untrained. I am a Marine and Marine training in the Collective takes twenty-five years, whereas I have only been given a month to do the almost impossible, but I will do my best. I believe one of you will join us late. Only the forces from beyond know how she will manage, specially, as I believe she is crucial to the mission. You are amateurs doing a Marine’s job. I cannot see why they couldn’t have in the Marines to do the job from start to finish.

“I’ve been told that this is a secret mission and all information is purely on a need to know basis. It is my understanding that you are all civilians and you are all from the Empire.” Lucas finished.

“Yes Sir!” Said Julia.

“I understand you are to be part of the vanguard to fetch some hostages who are people of some importance to the Collective and to the Empire from enemy territory, to be returned to the Collective. These hostages will be at extreme risk from an army led by an experienced General which will put you at extreme risk of becoming involved in an underground battle. I have been told that you will be backed up by a much larger force which will initially be some distance away and you will be on your own for awhile. There is also a risk that if you do not get yourselves off the planet it will be destroyed by planet killers. Is my understanding of the situation that you will be facing correct?” Lucas asked looking at Julia.

“Yes sir, that is all correct!” Julia said.

“None of you have fought in the military and you are currently students at University?” Lucas continued to ask.

“None of us have been part of the military except for Jason who had some experience many, many years ago in jungle warfare. He also has had some recent experience during the battle for Charassa. Most of the rest of us assisted engineering before and during the battle for Charassa.” Julia said.

Lucas looked at Jason. “You look and sound familiar, Jason, have I met you before?” Lucas asked.

Jason stood at attention and replied.

“No sir, I do not believe we have met previously. I have been told that I have a common face and many people believe they recognize me.”

“I don’t know what I can achieve in just four weeks! The one of you who is critical to the success of this mission has been seriously injured in an altercation with a security guard and is being completely reconstructed.” Lucas said.

“One of our group was shot and is currently enjoying a full reconstruction, sir, but I believe she will put in a sterling effort when she completes her rehabilitation. She is very enthusiastic. Sir, if I may have the temerity to suggest you give us an accelerated training to the best of your ability which we are all sure is formidable. We are prepared to work very hard. You can only do as much as the time constraints allow you,” answered Mandy Fritzell.

“I believe the intelligence group had you for the first two hours this morning and have taught you how to assume the Cockroach form. We will assess you first before we begin training. We will start with you fighting some of my junior Marines. We have to teach all our Marines to fight in many forms but the special forces groups will frequently fight in cockroach form. Whichever form is the biggest for you is often the best form to fight in. I believe you will begin the clandestine mission in cockroach form.

“We will move to the firing range to test your skills with weapons of both the Collective and the Coven. I will then assess your powers if you have any. Tomorrow, we will do remedial training before we move into fighting in squads of eight. There will be a mix of simulation work and fieldwork. Every morning we will start with gym work to build up your strength followed by sparring and then we will have breakfast before we move into fieldwork alternating with simulations. I expect it will take you some time as beginners to become oriented to a marine level of physical fitness,” said Lucas.

Jason looked over to see Sergei and Marsin grinning at each other, but clearly battling to hide it. Most of the others were hard-pressed not to smile.

“Now let us move to the gym where I can assess your unarmed combat skills if any.” Lucas said snidely.

***

Lucas matched up Stinger Murphy with a fit looking marine confidently walking behind him. The marine was in beetle form. They moved around each other warily, before the Marine attempted to throw Stinger. The marine looked slow and undertrained in Jason’s view. Stinger countered and held his lethal blow a quarter of an inch from the vulnerable joint between his head and thorax. Lucas looked at Stinger and nodded. “Again,” Lucas commanded as the young Marine got to his feet looking peeved. He moved very quickly towards Stinger who darted aside, grabbed him from behind, threw him on his back, and again withheld a deathblow.

Lucas looked at Stinger with what looked like reluctant respect. “You show some small talent. With a bit of work there is some potential,” said Lucas grudgingly then looked at Trackrof and paired her with a very large Marine.

“Begin!” Lucas commanded.

This Marine had learned from the last one and moved cautiously throwing a few strikes and orienting herself to spray poison. Trackrof was the same size as her opponent, but Jason knew how strong she was. Trackrof suddenly moved blindingly fast to throw the Marine on her back and turned to demonstrate she would spray her with poison. As the marine battled to stand Trackrof threw her before demonstrating a series of death strikes that she withheld a half an inch from her opponent.

“Again!”

The Marine ran forward to try and overwhelm Trackrof who jumped and somersaulted over her head, landed on her back and demonstrated a death blow as Jason had done all undertaken in a flash.

“You people have been very lucky so far, but I can see there is some potential to work with here,” said Lucas condescendingly.

He selected the biggest beetle that Jason had ever seen and called Jason over.

“Well, let us see what you’re made of. Orgoff is the Marine Junior champion who has beaten the senior champion on two of six occasions. All I want you to do is to see how long you can last against him. The longest any junior has lasted has been one minute,” said Lucas proudly.

Jason watched Orgoff carefully.

“Begin!” Lucas ordered grinning.

Orgoff immediately ran at full speed towards Jason. Jason jumped sideways then behind him and demonstrated a perfectly executed abdominal injection of poison with his two front legs and demonstrated how he would break two legs on his right side in passing crippling him, he then flipped him on his back and demonstrated a deathblow. Jason could see the surprise on Lucas’s face and on the faces of the watching Marines. Orgoff twitched his antennae in a rage. Jason grated his jaw in amusement, which inflamed him more. Jason helped Orgoff up which apparently compounded the insult.

“I do not need your help weakling!” Orgoff remarked.

“Again!”

Orgoff charged and Jason threw him. As he landed Jason flipped him. As he righted himself Jason threw him, then threw him again. Finally, Jason held Orgoff upside down above his head and demonstrated how he would slam him face down but flipped him at the last second so that he landed on his back, then Jason demonstrated a deathblow. Orgoff was clearly winded and shocked.

“Thank you I will select the next pair,” said Lucas.

Orgoff started to walk away then suddenly turned and charged Jason. Jason systematically beat Orgoff into submission, so quickly that Orgoff was in severe pain and distress by the time Lucas intervened. The watching Marines looked shocked.

“Let us continue with the bouts,” said Lucas looking surprised. “Orgoff take yourself off to see the medics. Your behavior is reprehensible, you will report to me this evening at 6:30 PM. I hope I will not see a further demonstration of bad behavior that will reflect badly both on our training and on the reputation of our marines. This group faces a dangerous mission ill-equipped and undertrained, but they have shown us up. We need to be disciplined and not give in to our moods, particularly irrational rage. You have seen three examples of masterful unarmed combat from amateurs. How are you going to cope with professionals? I expect more of all of you.”

Unfortunately for the Marines the remainder of the bouts went pretty much the way of the first three. The Marines were shocked and discomforted. Lucas was much reassured and far more confident that the material he had to work with was better than he expected.

“I’m told our booking at the range is delayed as the group attending needs more work. We will do the evaluation of your powers next and I hope by the time we are finished the range will be ready to receive us. Those of you who have a particular power indicate what it is and I will put up armor plating for you to attack. Let us say that three of you have the ability to use a cold ice strike, you will come forward and I will calibrate you against our most capable Marine.” Lucas explained.

“As I have already referred to the ice strike let me ask those of you who can do it to come forward. I know it is pretty rare, but I expect you to do your best.” Lucas requested. Six stepped forward from the combined groups including Jason. The Marine Champion came forward. Lucas asked them to fetch their own armor targets and set them up, fully expecting that they would struggle. He was very surprised to find they carried the heavy armor more easily than his Marine. “Now step back to the distance you think you can hit the armor.” Jason moved to the other end of the gym, one hundred and fifty yards from the target, whereas the others moved to thirty yards from the target. Jason heard the Marines snickering.

Lucas asked them to go one at a time. He was using his slate to score the strikes. The Marine went first and produced an ice spike that struck the armor with a resounding bang. Jason’s people produced similar spikes, though most of them looked much larger and made a louder bang than the Marine.

“Young man if you are fooling around you are in deep trouble. Now let us see what you are made of!” Lucas shouted to Jason.

Jason casually lifted his left arm and launched spike after spike at the target. His spikes embedded themselves into the armor and he produced a line of spikes that created a frame internal to the armor and then across the armor. The ice remained stuck into the armor. Jason saw the mouths of the Marines open showing their mandibles. They then turned together as if they were one and looked at him incredulously.

Lucas worked frantically on his brain.

“Now I would like to see those of you who can produce fire. Again, stand at the distance that you can do damage.” Lucas demanded.

Every single person in the combined group moved forward to collect a piece of armor to put on the frame. A small Marine walked confidently to collect his armor which he carried with some difficulty and then stood back twenty yards. Every single one of the groups moved back to thirty yards or more. Jason again moved to the back of the gym. This time there was no snickering.

The Marine demonstrated an impressive flame. At least half of Jason’s group were also able to produce balls of fire. After his demonstration the Marine looked exhausted. Jason’s group looked fresh and energized. Finally, Lucas waved at Jason to proceed.

Jason shot an intense beam of flame that burned a line like a cutting torch through the top of the armor. He then burned a series of holes into the armor. He shot a single large ball of flame that struck the armor and exploded sending boiling pieces of metal narrowly missing one of the Marines standing to the side of the target.

Lucas worked frantically on his brain.

“Can any of you do gravitational effects?” he asked.

Six of the group stepped forward and collected new pieces of armor as did Jason. No Marine stepped forward as it was a very rare skill in the Collective. Jason recalled Philippa’s extraordinary skills.

All of the six showed that they were able to slightly warp the armor. Jason did as Philippa had done, cutting the top off the armor, then making it into a flower and adding the stem telekinetically.

Lucas worked frantically on his brain.

“I would like to investigate your telekinetic skills.” Lucas stated flatly. He demonstrated a similar ball and chain attached to scales that could estimate the level of power demonstrated. “Which of you have telekinetic skills?”

Nine of the group stepped forward and then Jason joined them. A Marine stepped forward looking uncertain. “Very few people can demonstrate significant telekinetic abilities. Stand where you will,” Lucas requested far more politely than he had done previously. He left Jason to last. Each of them demonstrated they could lift more than twice the 7 pounds that the Marine managed. The device was at the opposite end of the gym from the armor stands. “Let me see what you can do?” Lucas asked Jason curiously. Jason turned and picked up a piece of armor from 200 yards away, then a second piece and then a third very quickly moved the pieces towards them and then placed them back on the stands. He then turned towards the ball and lifted it slowly up to the ceiling before slowly lowering it.

Lucas worked furiously on his brain.

“Do any of you have the ability to hop from place to place. If you can please step forward.” Lucas requested politely. Nine people from the two groups stepped forward. Jason could see Lucas was very surprised. Jason stepped forward followed by a large Marine. The Marine was capable of moving three times and distances of approximately three and a half yards at each attempt. Jason’s people could jump at least ten times, were less tired at the end of it and jumped at least twice the distance of the Marine. Jason jumped many times across the gym and then disappeared to reappear several times. He did not seem to tire and proceeded to jump in circles which was unheard of and then into the air so that he was suspended upside down walking on the solid ceiling. He did the same on the walls. He then crossed the gym somersaulting in the air. Everyone clapped.

Lucas worked even more furiously on his brain than he had previously and for longer.

“Can any of you produce lightning?” Lucas asked.

Every single person stepped forward from both groups. A Marine stepped forward to join them as they replaced damaged armor with intact armor. The exercise was repeated with Jason’s group demonstrating significantly superior power to the Marine and Jason sending lightning that exploded on contact with the armor and then blasted through the armor.

“Can any of you create an avatar that can fight alongside you? If you can step forward.” Lucas asked.

“Sir, none of us has ever seen it done nor have we tried. Could we please see if we can do it?” Julia Farinelli asked Lucas.

“Of course,” he said smirking, “why don’t you try and see if you can do it first and then I’ll call up the relevant Marine.”

Julia concentrated hard and created a fiery devil that spurted flame from its mouth. As she moved it moved and as she attacked the target so did the devil. They all tried one after the other and at least half were able to create some kind or other of creature. Jason was interested to see what he could create when his turn came. Finally, Lucas indicated with his antenna towards Jason.

Jason created a realistic looking orc with a sword then added a small realistic looking tyrannosaurus, then a platoon of Cockroaches, some boars, and a few hounds. He proceeded to attack multiple targets concurrently with each of them exhibiting psychic powers. Some produced green balls of flame, some fire that was blue, the tyrannosaurus a beam of blackness that penetrated the targets.

Lucas worked away furiously on his brain. He apparently forgot to calibrate them with a marine.

“I have seen someone spouting lightning from a sword they created, someone else created a psychic ripple that knocked down enemy soldiers. Do any of you have any other powers that you can use offensively?” Lucas asked.

Both groups looked at Jason.

“Sir, I think I can give it a go, but I am concerned that I might cause damage. Could we go outside?” Jason asked.

Lucas did not know what to expect, but he was no fool. “I think that that could be wise under the circumstances he said as he looked at the targets destroyed by Jason’s small army. The entire gym trooped outside. There was a large parade ground in the cavern. By human standards it was dimly lit, but Jason as a cockroach could see clearly. The rock walls were four hundred yards distant, and the roof looked at least twice that distance away. Jason could see a wide tunnel leading away from the parade ground. He did not want to destroy it.

“You may begin when you are ready,” Lucas said, as the group formed a semicircle behind Jason.

Jason first pulled out his Ghoul sword, showed it could produce a malicious looking green lightning and then pointed the sword at the distant rock some distance from the tunnel and uttered a war-cry. A massive gout of green flame shot from the sword and exploded into the rock. When the dust cloud cleared after several minutes, there was a deep hole that extended into the rock.

“Anything else?” Lucas asked calmly as Jason returned his sword to his transdim storage.

Jason was interested in experimenting. He calmed himself for a few seconds, concentrated deeply, grew to become a massive cockroach and his Warhammer manifested in his hands. He made a fearsome noise while he brandished the Warhammer which was flashing lightning. He then struck the ground. The ground beneath the Warhammer trembled for a second before forming a series of undulating waves that moved forward as a widening cone from where Jason had struck. Within ten yards they became waves a yard high and appeared to continue to grow as they moved towards the rock wall beneath the hole Jason had recently created. They exploded in a deafening concussion against the rock wall. The concussion rocked the ground causing the ground to shake so forcefully it forced the watchers to steady themselves. A rift at least 20 yards wide formed in the rock wall and extended back an unknown distance. The rift continued to widen upwards and reached the roof of the cavern.

Jason shot massive balls of flame from the Warhammer towards the rift. They continued to grow and then entered the rift where they exploded in some distant place leading the ground to shudder again. From the Warhammer he created a wall of flame that moved away from him and impacted explosively against the rock wall.

Jason returned to his normal size. “Sir if you have any other ideas, I would be keen to try them. I would have been reluctant to try those kinds of things in the building.”

Lucas nodded in acknowledgment and busily worked on his brain.

“Okay people we will make our way over to the firing range.” Lucas said.

They followed behind him as the Marines chatted excitedly to each other while pointing towards the rock wall.

“How did you guys do today?” Philippa asked as they sat down for dinner on the estate in Nobatia.

“There was a colonel in charge of us by the name of Lucas and he was an arrogant son of a bitch,” said Julia. “He started trying to create his insurance in case we fail in our mission. He couldn’t believe that we were a group of civilians who were going to undertake a hostage rescue mission in Coven territory without marine training and experience. We of course didn’t tell him our Cockroaches had extensive military training. He did not know how he could fit the whole of Marine training into a month. We started off with assessment where we competed in unarmed combat with his beloved marines. We surprised ourselves and wiped the floor with them. He decided to give Jason a hard time and gave him the Junior Marine unarmed combat bully to fight. Jason beat him convincingly and then he tried a sneak attack on Jason. Jason well and truly thumped him and gave him an unforgettable experience. He had to go off to medical. I think Lucas’s respect began to grow at that point. I’m going to miss the next bit for dramatic effect and go on to the later tests. We went to the shooting range and both groups did well to Jason’s surprise. I think he expected Razza’s group to do well but not us.

“Razza’s cockroaches were amazingly good, but I am pleased to say we acquitted ourselves pretty well on the combat shooting range. Jason didn’t know that the marines on the ship trained us whenever we had time and we spent at least two hours with them every morning. We didn’t realize that Jason had done sniper training and he was amazing hitting the target dead center at about a mile. Tomorrow we start off with simulations and then we begin to train to fight as squads.

“The best bit however was when we had to show our powers. We were all considerably better than the Marines with our own powers. I would have to say that we were probably twenty or thirty percent better than they were, but Lord smarty-pants over there was about ten thousand percent better. Philippa, he did that same trick that I heard you did of creating a flower from some armor. Then Lucas pulled a sneaky one on us. He asked us if we could create some sort of avatar to fight along with us. We could all do it. Then he asked if we could create any psychic weapons and create any particular psychic effects. Lord smarty-pants suggested we go outside. He pulled out that disgusting Ghoul sword and created green flame that exploded and created a tunnel in the rock.

“He then pulled a new trick, did Mr. Lord mucky-muck. He blew himself up like a balloon and became a giant cockroach and brandished his Warhammer. He created lightning from the Warhammer and then he hit it on the ground and created a shockwave that grew bigger and bigger until it hit the rock wall shattering it and creating a forty-yard wide rift in the rock. He sent fireballs through the tunnel as well. The shockwaves were so dramatic it was like standing in an earthquake. He then calmly tells the colonel that that was the reason he suggested we went outside.” Julia said and sniggered as both groups laughed. Kram hugged Jason and Zanta moved from her chair to kiss him on the cheek and pet him on the shoulder. Philippa laughed out loud, “That is my Jason!”

“I was so turned on by the whole thing, I was ready to try out his Warhammer on the spot,” said Julia. “In fact, Philippa I would propose that you and your sisters help me check out the Warhammer after dinner to make sure that it is still intact!”

“Excellent idea,” said Kram and Zanta simultaneously as Philippa grinned.

“Philippa we really appreciate you putting us up,” said Sergei.

“We have enough room to easily accommodate two hundred people. It is a pleasure to entertain you. The intelligence people did not want you to mingle with the marines. They believe that it exposes you to extra risk of security breaches. I could not see any value in staying in barracks. You don’t need the military discipline nor the experience of being located on the base.

“If you succeed you will make a difference to all of our lives. You have already made a major difference to the war effort and recently the work that you have all done has been very impressive. The fact that Razza was prepared to risk her life for Jason makes me eternally grateful to her and all of you. I have become quite fond of her since we spent a little time together after the battle on Charassa.

“Queen Parayekt is not the only one to have had oracles. We have our own genuine oracle in this house, Merken, and she predicted you were going to stay here. Who was I to argue? She is busily cooking in the kitchen, but insisted you wait for her to talk to all of you.” Philippa said smiling.

“Merken has completed an online course designed by Robert on Porquenta specifically to cater for the Collective. It takes people through the basics beginning with the simplest forms of cooking and moving progressively through very much more complex methods of cooking using more exotic equipment. We have found she and our butler, Mazzod, who is standing behind Jason have a particular talent for barbecue cooking.

“We have also discovered Mazzod is a very talented builder. Robert visited Argentina one of the countries on Earth, recently with Lauren, to inspect cattle ranches and discovered the Argentinian barbecue. We all watched how the bricks were made, the barbecue was assembled and then we saw how the meat was slow cooked. Mazzod was absolutely determined to build it exactly as he saw it. He discussed it with several people on the estate who were equally keen to build similar barbecues. They made the bricks with clay from one of the industrial companies that has developed an interest in Earth building methods, then baked them and built their barbecue. I am sure Mazzod would be delighted to demonstrate its use to all of you. It was built outside the kitchen in the open. They created coke from one of our local plants that they dried which has a woody texture and is non-toxic and began to experiment together. They acquired all the ingredients for the marinades and followed Robert’s course intently. I have to admit I was equally intrigued and watched the episodes with them. Robert is truly an entertaining man with prodigious expertise. We are very fortunate to work with him, Jason,” said Philippa fervently as Mazzod smiled very broadly, but seemed acutely embarrassed.

“My Lord, please excuse me, I need to go to the kitchen and help my mother. The food is almost ready, but she wants me to check to be absolutely sure.” Mazzod said as he scuttled out.

“Mazzod and his mother, Merken have been with our family for well over a million years,” said Philippa. “Merken, talks to everyone like we are her children despite me being a queen and my mother the supreme Queen and the Prime Minister but when Jason is here it is all my Lord this and my Lord that. For Merken and Mazzod, Jason is an Emperor on the way to becoming a God. They defer to him and respect him far more than they respect us. My mother is convinced that she respects us less as she has watched us all grow up.

“Merken is an Oracle of great repute and sees far into the future and sees it in some detail.

“When I hear about the events of today, they are important. These powers that you have Jason, despite the fact that we all tease you, shake the foundations of our beliefs. Your powers continue to grow. I am really pleased we have met each other and we will have the opportunity to test out your Warhammer tonight,” continued Philippa laughing.

“Whenever something happens, like it did today, it leads me to wonder what my original people might be like. What happened today surprised me much less than when I had my first experience of major powers on Porquenta. I believe what happened today is very important. I know a lot more about what I can do as a result of today and I’m sure that it will be useful for us when we go to rescue Razza’s family,” said Jason thoughtfully.

“Having had the experience of people masquerading as Gods it has changed my whole view of what is a God. Are Gods simply a species that has very advanced technology that looks magical to those familiar with a lesser technology. We have heard so much about the manipulations of those who encourage others to ascend for malign purposes. There are so many evil beings who pretend to be other than what they are. I no longer know what a God would be, but I suspect it would be somebody who could use their Warhammer on at least three or four dozen women in one night and exhaust them all,” said Jason gravely.

All at the table laughed then turned towards the door as Mazzod led the way with a huge tray that he put on one side of the table nearest to Jason, followed by Merken with an even larger tray that she placed at the other end of the table. Both trays were laden with steaming chunks of meat and a profusion of roasted vegetables. The food smelled delicious, Alex Kafka and Trackrof Graf licked their lips as they looked at and smelled the food.

“Merken you and Mazzod look as though you have done a wonderful job! My only concern and this is a big one, is that we are very hungry and I may want to eat at least one of those trays of food all on my own!” Jason said smiling while looking at Merken and Mazzod who were grinning broadly.

“My Lord, I can understand your concern, however, you do not need to worry yourself. Mazzod did not start off as an energetic and busy grub, but over time and as he grew up, he learned the hard way not to do things by halves. My Lord, after this meal I will invite you to inspect his work. You will find that the barbecue is four times the size of the one Robert used and we can easily accommodate all of your appetites. We knew you would all be very physically active today and every coming day. You do not need to worry about starving. If there is not enough of the barbecue, I am sure you will enjoy the desserts. We have been experimenting with French desserts.” She replied looking at Jason lovingly. “Now eat as much as you can. You’re going to be working very hard tomorrow. The colonel is going to test you physically to the limits of your endurance.