The Phoenix Fallacy Book I: Janus

by Jon Sourbeer,

  Colonel Keats was the tall, slim woman with black hair and green eyes Janus had seen at Cerberus. She walked with the ease of flowing water, her long black hair cascading down her back. She had a strong, but gently rounded jaw. She seemed to radiate both serenity and strength, her friendly smile brightening the room. Her bright green eyes, however, seemed even more intense than Janus remembered, like she was a coiled spring, waiting quietly until the perfect moment to explode in a flurry.

  Colonel Hawkes, on the other hand, was none of these things. The colonel was short, stocky, and stomped around like he was constantly crushing insects beneath his feet. He wore a scowl that made an angry Wouris seem carefree and pleasant. He carried numerous scars across his face and neck, just below a fierce cut of hair. He looked like he could crush a skull in his bare hands, his muscles rippling whenever he moved.

  Wouris spoke to Keats first, “Good morning, Colonel.”

  Keats chuckled, “Good morning, Sergeant. Keeping the cadets on their toes?”

  “You betcha’, but I’m expecting you to get their brains working properly.” Wouris smiled and turned to Hawkes, “And you, Colonel, better watch out. I’m expecting to get them back in one piece. If someone’s going to kill these cadets, it’ll be me.”

  Hawkes returned the smile with an ugly grin, “Of course, Sergeant. I’ll try.”

  Wouris addressed the cadets, “All right, sit down, shut up and maybe you’ll learn something. I’ll return at 1400.”

  “Colonel Keats, Colonel Hawkes,” she saluted and marched out of the room at a sharp pace.

  Col. Keats addressed the cadets while they sat in the raised seats. She spoke softly, but with command in her voice that bade all the cadets listen to her, “Greetings to all of you. I am Col. Keats, and this is Col. Hawkes. As you know, we will be training you in the basics of tactics and strategies. However, we will also test some of your physical training, to help you understand your strengths and limitations when executing battlefield tactics.

  “I will be responsible for your training in the overall ODIN strategies, as well as discussing the structure of the Corporations in depth. For your tactics training, both Col. Hawkes and I will train you. We will cover everything from how best to fight using your terrain to teaching you how to communicate silently, with anything from your hands to your environment. Col. Hawkes will be responsible for putting you through physical tests. We will alternate between tactics and strategy lessons every day. Eventually we will work with Major Northcott, to incorporate your weapons training.

  “Lights!” She shouted suddenly, and the room darkened, the lights going dim and shades coming down over the windows, “Projection on!”

  The translucent disk began to glow, filling the room in a pale bath of green light. The strange device rose upward, revealing many identical, thin plates, all stacked on top of one another. The device pulsed, as if alive, and hundreds of tiny motes of light appeared, hovering within their prison.

  “For those of you who don’t know, this is a Multidimensional Projector. It projects a holographic image inside the cylindrical crystal plates. Around here it is affectionately known as the ‘muddy’, m-u-d-i, for its tendency to map out mission plans and strategies in a way that make them appear far worse than they usually turn out,” she smiled.

  “Map Valhalla,” she said, her smile disappearing. A tiny Valhalla appeared, suspended, inside the translucent glass. Janus leaned forward in his chair. The miniature Valhalla was exact down to the tiniest detail, from the huge engines keeping the city aloft, to the four docking bays, all the way to the very top spire of the floating fortress-city, where the command and nerve center of the entire base resided. As the map rotated slowly, mimicking the movement of the city itself, Janus could see one of the bay doors was open, and tiny Adepts worked diligently inside while transports and fighters flew in and out of the bay.

  Janus brought his attention back to Keats as she explained, “We use these to show anything from previous ODIN encounters to current battlefield intelligence. Muddies are extremely useful for examining any situation that might present itself to you without the limitations of a two-dimensional screen.

  “Enhance location.” The model of Valhalla expanded and closed in on one side of the city. The view passed through the wall and showed an image of the cadets listening to Col. Keats, while Col. Hawkes paced beside them. Janus found the experience somewhat surreal. Col. Keats noticed Col. Hawkes pacing in the picture and looked up at him.

  “Is there something you would like to add, Colonel Hawkes?”

  Hawkes scowl returned, and he stomped back in front of the cadets, “Yes, there is, Colonel.”

  Keats had the hint of a smile on her face as she motioned for him to take the lead. She waved a hand for the lights and the MuDi retracted back into the floor. Hawkes watched her for a moment and then refocused his angry gaze on the new cadets. “I expect absolute discipline from all of you, all of the time. If you choose not to follow our orders exactly, someone will die. I won’t stand for it.” His face turned a shade of purple.

  “Today I get a chance to see what you’re made of,” he cracked his knuckles menacingly, a twisted smile on his face, “and teach you why you should listen. You will be expected to defend yourselves. Bring me down if you can.” The chairs retracted towards the walls and the cadets scrambled out of them. Janus caught a glimpse of Keats sliding gracefully from the room and was sure he heard Hawkes sigh as they ineptly lined up.

  Celes piped up, “Sir, how are you going to determine the order of who fights first? Will you not get tired?”

  Hawkes grinned. “Order? There isn’t any order. It’s all of you versus me! When I say ‘Go’, you fight!”

  “But sir-”

  “Ready Set Go!” Hawkes grabbed the closest cadet, who happened to be Ramirez, and threw him over his shoulder. He had two more cadets down before the rest finally sprung into action.

  Chapter 15: Weapons

  When Wouris joined them at last, it was at Keats’ behest and well before 1400 hours. No cadet was without a bruise, cut, or broken limb. It had been a massacre. Wouris had quickly revised her earlier plans to have the cadets run and instead decided everyone should report to the Medical Branch. Apparently, Janus noted, Hawkes liked to point out important “lessons” by selecting a cadet at random from the melee and demonstrating particularly painful maneuvers upon them.

  Out of all of them, Lyn suffered the least. She possessed outstanding flexibility that had both kept her out of harm’s way and prevented serious injury when she had been “volunteered” to demonstrate. Ramirez had fared the worst. His size quickly made him the favorite target of Col. Hawkes. Unfortunately for Ramirez, it meant that he “learned” the most in Hawkes’ lessons. Janus, Marcus, and Celes had all survived in slightly better shape than the rest. Janus was doing well until Hawkes managed to catch him on the wrist and spin him hard onto his shoulder and back. The following dislocation and subsequent relocation had left him feeling slightly nauseous. Before tossing him onto a group of cadets, Hawkes had shouted down Janus’ ear, “Come on, boy, back into action! You’re doing well!” Janus was fairly certain at that moment that he had discovered one part of the origin of the word ‘blueback’ for the cadets.

  Marcus, sporting a swollen eye and bruised chest, led the three of them as they followed Wouris. Celes hopped on her right foot, using Janus’ good shoulder for support.

  When they reached the Medical Wing, Major Yalla, the head of ODIN’s Medical Branch, dutifully cared for the young cadets. A thin man with a gentle disposition and greying hair, Yalla had served as a soldier and medic for many years, but his time was past. Now starting to stoop with age, he no longer served in any military capacity, but was still highly valued for his wisdom and knowledge from years of bravely saving lives on the battlefield.

  For the first time Janus had an opportunity to watch Nanytes in action. But Yalla distributed the blue Electrogel with the eye of a miser. Filling an injector with
the tiniest of doses, Yalla targeted Janus’ shoulder and sent the blue goo directly into his arm. Janus could barely see the Electrogel, so small was the dose, and was disappointed to realize he could see nothing of the Nanytes themselves. A warm sensation and strange tingling filtered into his shoulder. He decided he would have to ask the Valhalla’s daedulus system more about the strange devices.

  “Two weeks, limited rations,” Yalla said.

  Janus nodded. That was the penalty to cadets for a Nanyte injection. Later, after becoming a full-fledged Adept, the cost would be more severe. But he would also be paid at that time, by an amount of Immutium held for him by ODIN until he chose to spend it or leave ODIN. For now, his rations were his wages.

  Those fortunate enough to have injuries that would heal fully and quickly enough without Nanytes avoided them. Marcus’ eye was taken care of nicely without much additional aid, and Celes received an injection and a “fast cast” that allowed her to perform well on her foot and still allow it to rapidly heal. Ramirez was told that he would have to stay overnight – he would be on limited rations for a while.

  Wouris soon had them marching towards weapons training. Janus was surprised when Wouris turned and addressed them with a grim look on her face.

  “Alright, listen up. You are about to meet Major Northcott. While performing your weapons training, obey Major Northcott’s every command – he doesn’t put up with much. This is for good reason, you will be training with some of the most dangerous weapons available to us. You’ll be outside, on one of the landing platforms. This is to prevent excess damage to the city should anything go wrong. This isn’t a game, so be careful, we don’t like having to replace you.”

  Weapons’ training was held outside the bay marked with the ‘chariot’ rune ‘R’ and an ‘M’ shaped rune:

  Or “Chariot of Voyages”, the main launch platform for all ODIN missions. Longboats waited in silent rows, suspended high above them, while a mechanics worked on a few of the craft on the ground. Walking by one at eye level, Janus suddenly realized how big they were, and how powerful their engines must be: each was nearly as tall as he was. But when the bay door opened to the outside, all thoughts about the longboats vanished.

  It was just the second time that Janus had gone outside the base, and although his eyes still hurt, he was adapting quickly to the bright sunlight. Janus drew in his breath as he stepped out. He remembered the ocean from the edge of Cerberus, but now that he saw it up close, it was very strange, and more intoxicating. Hovering along the coast, Janus took a deep breath of salty air, listening to the calls of wheeling seabirds. In the distance, over crashing waves, sheer cliffs rose higher and higher, a clash between earth and water.

  He lined up with the other cadets in front of a very irritable Major Northcott. It took Janus a moment to realize he was the ODIN ambassador he had first seen at Cerberus, recalling the same dark, black hair flecked with grey, bushy silver mustache, and skin the color of deep mocha. Behind Northcott was a tripod and two large metallic cases.

  “You!” He pointed a finger at a cadet in the back, a lanky boy with brownish-blond hair, “Name!” Northcott’s accent was thick and strange to Janus.

  “Roderick, sir!”

  “Roderick? Get over there! Move!” He made a motion towards the tripod set up behind him.

  “Sir, yes, sir!” Roderick rushed out of line, nearly tripping as he scurried over to the tripod.

  “Bluebacks!” Northcott muttered. “Alright, cadets. You’re here to learn how to use weapons, whether they are yours, the man’s next to you, or the enemy’s. I’m Major Northcott. If I give you an order you will obey it instantly, or you may end up getting your head blown off. If you are not fortunate enough to blow your head off, then I will be happy to do it for you! Out here, my word is law, and you would do well to remember it. Do I make myself clear?”

  Janus was unshaken by the bluster, but a few others looked less sure, the encounter with Hawkes still fresh in their mind.

  Despite many hesitations, every cadet responded clearly, “Yes, sir!”

  “Good,” Northcott didn’t seem to register the nervous looks at all. “This,” he said while opening the case on his left, “is a Zeus rifle.”

  He hefted up the huge weapon. The rugged Zeus looked like a single beam of black steel sculpted and molded into a weapon. Thick, solid, and rectangular in shape from stock to tip, the Zeus possessed no thin, definitive barrel. The pistol-grip and trigger were huge, made for the large hand of S.T. armor, and the stock of the gun was longer than usual - maybe a half-meter out - to accommodate lack of flexibility of the suits.

  “Over one and a half meters long and capable of carrying 4,000 rounds in single clip, this EMG, or electromagnetic rail-gun, is one of the single finest, most devastating weapons around. First mass produced by Hydra Corporation during the Outskirts Rebellion, the Zeus is hands-down the best infantry weapon available.’

  ‘It is semiautomatic, firing 16mm hollow rounds that can penetrate anything except a plate of Immutium. Unfortunately for you, you will not be using this weapon in battle. The batteries and capacitors required to power it make it unbelievably heavy, and the recoil will likely send you flying. Your lighter, more maneuverable armor simply can’t handle it. Use this weapon and you will be in pain. In battle, you will be using the less powerful, but nonetheless highly accurate and effective, electro-thermal Skadi rifle.”

  He put down the Zeus, and reached into the case, pulling out a compact, dull-metallic grey rifle. Its shape from the barrel to the stock suggested a triangle with rounded ends, and it shifted colors as he held it.

  “The Skadi is a fine weapon, valuable for Adepts because of its weight, size, and ability to match the active camouflage of your armor. But it is still vastly inferior to a Zeus rifle’s power, capacity, and accuracy.’

  ‘And unfortunately for you, the Zeus is the standard issue Security Trooper weapon,” Northcott dropped the Skadi back into the case and lifted up the Zeus. “It is incredibly accurate. Deviation is less than a millimeter per kilometer traveled.’

  ‘To make things worse, its unique ammo design and massive capacity makes it virtually free of reloading, jamming, or even maintenance.” He pulled out the clip of ammunition to show what appeared to be stacked, pointed metal cups.

  “In fact, the only good news about this weapon is that you will rarely find an automatic version of it, because of the incredibly heavy power requirements,” Northcott growled.

  “Roderick, I will mount this weapon, and deploy several targets into the air. I want you to destroy them as quickly as possible. Understand?”

  “Yes, sir!”

  Mounting the Zeus on the tripod, Northcott stepped over to the second case, opening it and pulling out a long, tubular launcher. Resting the launcher on his shoulder, he turned and asked, “Ready?”

  Roderick looked down to check the weapon and Northcott immediately pulled the trigger on the launcher, firing a long silver shape high into the air. Propelled by a rocket, it flew rapidly away from the city, and in quick succession, Northcott added four more behind it. In a flash, the silvery shapes burst open, leaving their rockets behind and morphing into spinning discs that flitted upward and away from the city.

  Roderick whipped the turret around and began to shoot wildly at the speedily vanishing discs. Janus whispered to Celes, “He’s almost as bad as a Trooper – maybe worse.”

  Celes gave him a scolding look, but the edges of her lips curled slightly.

  The five discs were completely unharmed as they became tiny specks in the sky, and they slowed, reaching the top of an extreme arc. High above the group, the discs were momentarily frozen, suspended for a brief moment from their fall, before beginning their long descent to the ground. But before they had fallen an inch, all five suddenly veered, twisting in mid-air and making a beeline straight back at Roderick and Northcott. As they moved closer, they gained speed and flew rapidly from side to side. Tiny fans pushed the silver discs on
their weaving path to their target. Roderick fired gallantly at the whirling discs, vainly trying to knock but one from the sky.

  Major Northcott watched for a few more moments and then screamed into Roderick’s ear, “What are you doing? You think that type of shooting will work? I’m glad you’re not in the field, you’d probably hit me! Aim, boy, aim! These things won’t go down if you hit everything around them!”

  Beads of sweat formed on Roderick’s brow, as Northcott continued screaming. A palpable whirring noise filled the air, and the discs accelerated faster towards the platform. Janus felt his whole being become acutely aware of the five discs hurtling towards the group, and they seemed to slow ever so slightly. He took a step back, and realized that the other cadets had done the same; Northcott was shouting again, “Shoot, boy!”

  Northcott yelled to the cadets, “This is a prime example of what you will likely face from corporate security troopers - absolutely pathetic. Move boy!” Roderick scurried out of the way as Northcott forcibly grabbed the turret, “This is what happens when you have a skilled hand, and why you should respect the power of this weapon.” He whipped the turret onto the first disc and it exploded in a flash of silver. Within moments three other discs were nothing but smoking remains as they fell from view over the edge of the platform. The fifth and final disc disintegrated completely as Northcott fired his final shot. Northcott turned away from the destruction without hesitation to look at the students. His voice was hard as he spoke, “Do not underestimate the power of the weapons I show you.”

  Janus no longer thought Northcott was so full of bluster.

  Chapter 16: The Beacon of Need