Have you met Brian?
.jpg)
"What" he is has always been the focus of how he is seen.
"What" he is is a classified military weapon that doesn't exist.
************************************************
The excerpt below is from pages 133-137 of "Portrait of an Unlikely Affair" by Em Brooks.
Brian walked to the briefing with Tom and Ross, as they had come to Brian’s office to escort him to the meeting. Brian listened to the two of them chat as they walked down the hall to the conference room, several doors down from Brian’s office. As Brian was going to be attending the briefing in his official capacity as Oscar Company, he had exchanged the nametape on his uniform to his numerical name and brought out the lightweight olive-green balaclava with the breathable mesh material at his face. At least he didn’t have to do this every day like he had to before, as he was over 18 now, so most days he blended in with everyone else as Major Ridley. No one in passing knew he was the Hell Hound.
They entered the room, and all eyes
immediately went to Brian. While Tom and Ross were relaxed around him and acted
as though he was no different from anyone else, the looks on the faces of the
others showed the room wasn’t relaxed with Brian’s presence. Tom sat down at
the head of the table and announced, “This is Major 249 of Oscar Company. He
will be included in all further briefings regarding the Sovereign.”
The room was heavy with discomfort as Tom
motioned for Brian to sit on his right, as Ross took a seat behind them. Brian’s
eyes took them all in. Little did these people know, they’d all passed him in
the hallway every day he had been here so far. Tom started the briefing by
asking for the resolution of a prior issue. From there, Brian listened to the
many updates and presentations on the various operations they had going. He
knew the solution to all of the concerns everyone was voicing. It was him. He
needed to get back out into the field and finish what he started. His eyes went
to each of the officers and analysts in the room. Not one of them looked at
him, not one of them acknowledged him. As the others did their best problem
solving, he scribbled his own solution down on the blank pages in front of him.
He noticed his dad glance at him and the paper before him. Brian always wrote
in the dead language that only the Hell Hounds knew. It was habit. He then paused in his writing
then wrote in English, “Send
me out to the field. I will end it.” He passed the notepad to
his dad.
Tom looked at the note, read the English
part of it, then turned the note pad over to show he was not going to consider
Brian’s solution as another officer was asking a question.
Brian now sat silent. A brief thought
about Avonlea suddenly entered Brian’s mind. His thoughts pulled his attention
off the meeting for a moment as he wondered how Avonlea’s tour of the town
went. An image of her face crossed through his mind, and he wanted to smile,
but didn’t because he was now puzzled. Why was he thinking about her? He
focused back on the meeting again as they spoke about Princess Tatia’s husband,
Zebulon, who was being groomed to take over from Emperor Ceylon. They couldn’t
figure Zebulon out and were talking about their theories about him. Brian’s
last dealings with the Sovereign was at Atlas Valley, eight years ago, but his
head was suddenly filled with the recollection of hearing conversations about
Zebulon’s recent arrival at the time. He recalled that Zebulon was around the
same age as the Hell Hounds, which made him a few years older than Brian, and that
Zebulon wasn’t Sovereign. Those loyal to Xarcoff were rather upset over those
two facts. The Loyalist guards were talking quite freely about Zebulon,
especially how they hoped their beloved colonel would kill the poser outsider,
whom they considered weak. Back in the present, Brian glanced at his dad and
took the notepad back. He flipped it back over and jotted down, “Do they know that Zebulon is American yet?” He pushed the pad back to Tom.
Tom didn’t even look at the pad and pushed
it back to Brian, but Brian pushed it back. Tom frowned and was ready to brush
off Brian’s note again until he actually read it. When he did, he narrowed his
eyes. He frowned then cleared his throat, causing everyone to stop talking. “Hold
up,” he interrupted their theories. “Is there any intel regarding Zebulon’s
nationality?”
Everyone started flipping through papers.
“No sir. According to the laws, he would have to be a chosen one -- a son of
one of the Sovereign generals, groomed to be the princess’s husband since birth.”
Tom then looked at Brian. “Major, would
you mind enlightening us?”
Brian sat forward. “Eight years ago, I had
the opportunity to overhear the Jukasha Loyalists discussing business. They had
no idea that I could understand them, so they were speaking freely. They were
upset that Zebulon was a teenaged American that they happened upon while they
were in the United States, trying to find the locations of our bases.” In his
mind, he could see the situation replay as if it were a video. “They were not
happy that he was chosen by the Emperor to be brainwashed and reprogrammed to
become the future Emperor when they all felt that position belonged to Xarcoff,
even though his sister was dead. What irked them even more was that the
advisors were sure that he was connected with the Firm. That he was a dependent.
They felt that Xarcoff should do away with Zebulon.”
The room was silent. Tom prompted, narrowing
his eyes. “Why are we just hearing about this now, Major?”
“There was something that Colonel
Jorgenson said that jogged my memory,” he replied. “I have been told to expect this
kind with missing memories.”
“I want a report right now,” Tom ordered
of Brian then looked at everyone else. “Once I get that report, I’m going to
have answers. This is a new direction we hadn’t considered.”
“With all due respect, General Ridley,” an
old goat of a brigadier general spoke up. “It has been eight years. Why hasn’t
the major spoke of this before? How reliable can this information be? I’m
finding this story to be a bit unbelievable.”
Brian could tell the difference between
the officers and analysts who knew what he was, versus the ones who did not.
The ones who knew averted their eyes and shifted uncomfortably. The ones who
didn’t were nodding confidently at the general’s questions.
Tom nodded with understanding. “General
Franklin, I understand your doubts and your questions. You have every right to
be skeptical, and I do admit it sounds unlikely. However, I know the major’s
history and know that if he says it happened, it happened. You see, the major
is the sole survivor of Atlas Valley. Because of the injuries he sustained
during that time, he has never been able to recall fully what occurred and
memories have been returning to him in bits and pieces. I also know that he has
an eidetic memory so when the memories are recovered, it is like playing a
recording from the archives. We have been prodding at him and his memory for
the last eight years to gain the full story and we have recovered about a third
of what happened. So any time he can recall something, it fills in another
piece of the puzzle.”
At the mention of Atlas Valley, General
Franklin’s eyes widened, and he looked at Brian. New or not, all officers in
the Firm were well aware of what they called ‘the Atlas Valley Massacre.’ “I
understand now.” The others had taken
the opportunity to cast a glance at Brian as well, quickly looking away when he
looked back. Brian got the instant feeling that they all expected him to come
unglued and start wielding a battle-axe at them. The reaction was one that he
was all too familiar with – but today it seemed tiring. The last few days with
Avonlea had made him realize that there was a different way that people could
react to him – A way he had never been treated before. She treated him as if he were a person. Not a
tool. Not a weapon. Not a monster. Not someone to fear. She didn’t question his
sanity or look at him as if he may snap and kill her. She wasn’t frightened of
him. She just genuinely wanted to help get him well. He realized now that if he
were well, the Firm would have to clear him to get back out in the field.
Comments
Post a Comment