3 months later
Boot camp was what I could define only as the event that my life had been building up to. It was tough, dirty, sweaty, and downright tiring. But once you've run 5 miles, run through the endurance course (2 miles over and through all kinds of terrain) 6 times (twice in each form), and then run 5 more miles, you get to know your body's true limits. And you also get to find out just how bad a hot, sweaty tiger-morph smells after doing all that. Some of the green recruits almost puked when I walked by on the way to the shower. Fortunately, that was only once, for an endurance test. None of the full humans, and only one of the Tigereans could actually pull that. Most of the were critters could though. Odd thing about our endurance. Probably explains why the armed forces loves us so much. But I digress.
My normal routine was 5 mile jog in the morning, a shower, classes for the rest of the day or a day time field exercise, and then dinner and a course in the night hours, followed by sleep. Sometimes the schedule changes and we were given most of the day off to rest or to prepare for a night maneuver. I was halfway through the advanced training, and had just finished learning the best way to hold a non-modifed weaponry in my hybrid form, not a easy thing. Most weapons, unless modified, simply do not fit our paw-like hands.
We were also taught meditation, and how to best bring out whatever abilities we had, along with control of both our forms and our abilities. I had to be very careful in that course, but I did learn how to bring out the Über-form with ease, and without losing my mind or drifting off like I had done in the past. I also discovered that the reason that I could talk in hybrid and full form was because I retained my vocal chords. This had the base doctors stumped for a while, until they had my shift slowly in the hospital. We discovered that I could control my degree of shift, a rare ability. Just for laughs, I made myself into a furry, and got the expected laugh from the base doctors.
The last three weeks went rather quickly. I graduated out of training, packed up as much as I could put on the bike, sent the rest to my relative's house, and drove down to pack up and ship everything to El Paso. The drive down was filled with thoughts on what I was, and what I could do if not held back by my own mind. The abilities I had quite frankly scared the hell out of me. When I arrived at my half brother's house, he actually greeted me warmly. This was odd. I explained that a box was about to arrive, and that I was going to take the car and drive it to El Paso. He stated that might be difficult, as the car had been sold a while ago. This saddened me, and I finally ended up crating up my stuff and shipping it to Fort Bliss, my new home. I then wished him well, and drove off after he handed me a envelope that he had said a stranger dropped off for me a month and a half ago. Strange. I never told Jacob about him, but He seemed to know quite a bit about me. I opened the envelope at a gas station on the outskirts of town, and found a money order for $10,000 and a note:
Tigerpaw,I'm writing this in anticipation. The Old Man has recalled me to base in order to make your welcoming a bit easier on you. I've also included your payment for your last job. It kind off got lost in the shuffle. I'll be expecting you by the first of next month, if Knide had anything to do with your graduation date. Hope you treated him better then I did.
'Uncle' Jacob
Hmm.. 'Uncle' eh? I'll have to give him a hard time about that, I thought. I found a bank on the way and put most of the money in. With a full tank of gas, my possessions in route, and two weeks to kill, I decided to cruise on down to Texas. The way was pretty easy, and I made it to the fort with a week to spare. I was in for a surprise when I got there. My possessions had been returned to the freight companys' office, so I would need to get a truck to put it somewhere. I was also in need of a place to put it. I decided to check in at the base to see if I could arrange my housing at least. The base administration gave me a number to call, as my commander was not in the office. I found a phone, and called. A deep baritone voice answered the phone.
"George here."
"Corporal Hunt reporting for duty, sir."
"Ah, yes, Mr. Hunt. a bit early, aren't we?"
"Yes sir, but I wanted to get my housing situated and my belongings
unpacked. They are in a freight companies office."
"Certainly. I'll send Jacob over there to bring you over. Wait there." I
heard a click, and the line went dead. a minute or two passed, and I saw the
semi-familiar form of Jacob in his wolf-morph form enter the office. He was
wearing a standard issue green outfit. I went outside with him, and we got in
a car and drove into the base proper. We were stopped at the guard shack, and I
handed him my ID card From Fort McCoy. Jacob handed him a strange looking card,
and replied to the gaurd's curious glance. "He's new here. I'll make sure he gets
proper ID today." The guard then waved us through, and we drove a bit.
We ended up near the back of the base, by, of all things, a trash dump. We got out, and the smell immediately assaulted me. "It's a bit ripe today. You'll get used to it. You might want to wear these until we get inside. He opened his paw, which held a set of nose plugs. "No, I'll be fine in a minute. I've smelled worse then this." Jacob laughed as we entered a small office. "I heard about that. You were the only green recruit to pull that off without collasping or quitting halfway through. It's a brutal exdurance exam. The rest were re-taking it for their 5 year re-quals. Simply incredible. Of course, the fact that you put half the new recruits off their dinners made it pretty damm funny." His tail and ears were twiching in a way that only told that he found the incident quite funny.
We stopped in front of a door with a badge reader on it. Jacob spoke up. "This is the only place you will need this badge. We don't use 'em. Too easy to steal, or forge." The badge reader beeped, the door clanked as the lock released, and then dinged ad the door slid open, and we got in. "Pretty nice, eh?" Jacob remarked as we stepped in. There was another occupant in the elevator. "Oh, Hi George. Were you on your way up?" "Yes, I was coming up to meet you two. Heard a lot of things from Jacob about you, Corporal. And I heard a few good things from Sargent Knide too. I'm Colonel Ethan, but every one here calls me George or The Old Man. Most people are called by a handle down here. Jacob here also goes by Shadow, or Darkwolf." The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened, and We stepped out to a corridor. We walked to a office, and I saw people and creatures of all shapes, sizes, and species. I even saw a pair of Tigereans. George saw this and commented. "We have four of them, five half-breeds including you, and a small zoo of were creatures. We also have some normal humans with extraordinary talents." We came to his office, and I sat down and we went over the rules, which did not take very long.
"We are rather informal down here, and also rather relaxed. But on missions, we are totally professional. We do not talk about what goes on down here. Understood? Good. The reason you got a rather lukewarm response from the folks upstairs is because I don't report to them. I report to the President directly. My group handles stuff too sensitive for any other group to easily take care off. You may have heard of the assignation of the president of Columbia. That was our job, although the media pinned the blame on the drug lords, which was exactly how it was supposed to happen. We are the last resort on a mission. We are the few, the proud. We are the what gets sent in if the Marines can't handle it. We are the Omega squad. We are divided up into two teams of five, Omega Red and Omega Blue. The other ten are used for recruitment duties, backup to both teams, and behind the lines support. You'll meet your team members in about 20 minutes, along with the rest of the group. You will be assigned duties for your time when you are not on a mission. The missions, when they occur, supersede those duties."
I was impressed. We spent a couple more minutes talking, and then we went into the briefing room.