by Myke Cole
The delegations had broken out informally, sitting together out of interest, familiarity, and common goals around the circular table. Harlequin sat beside Bookbinder, both in their class-A uniforms. Sarah Downer sat beside them in a cream-colored suit. She wore simple pearl studs that matched her necklace, combining with her serious expression to make her look a lot older than she was.
Britton sat beside Therese. She wore a suit as well but looked much more natural in it than Downer. Swift and Guinevere, the two promised delegates from the Houston Street Gang, sat with them. Their suits were hipper but still respectful of the official proceedings.
A small group of staffers surrounded the Mexican ambassador, Arturo Suchicital, whose cologne was so thick that Harlequin could smell it from across the wide table. Beside Suchicital sat another man, head shaved, faint scars on his scalp and ears where Physiomancy had leveled protrusions and closed up holes. His suit matched the ambassador’s, but he’d deliberately kept a small tattoo of some numbered code below his left eye, a reminder to the assembled that while he was officially part of the Mexican delegation, he spoke for the Limpiados and their masters in the Zeta cartel. Harlequin could feel his current, strong and controlled, and wondered what school he was. Bookbinder would know.
Beside Harlequin and Bookbinder sat Senator William Bainbridge. He was a clone of Walsh and Porter both: fit, older, perfectly coiffed and upright, a look of benevolent gravity etched on his face. A small plaque had been placed in front of him, the only one on the table. CHAIR, it read. MCGAUER-LINDEN ACT WORKING GROUP.
Bainbridge, Harlequin noted, was not Latent. Nor were any of his staff, a small army of lawyers, policy wonks, and analysts who took up the rest of the chamber, dwarfing the other delegations by a factor of ten.
Behind him, flat-screen monitors reeled off the video feeds from dozens of cameras stationed around the room, playing back to a global audience glued to their screens as the future of magical legislation in America was hammered out on live television.
Bainbridge wanted the session closed, but Britton insisted it be televised live and threatened to go directly to the public if that wish wasn’t granted. Bainbridge acted reluctant, but in the end had acquiesced. That’s because he knows it plays to his advantage, Harlequin thought. We may have beaten back Scylla, but that doesn’t mean that people are any less terrified of us.
One of the screens behind Bainbridge showed the ongoing rehabilitation of Lower Manhattan, and another showed the fighting in Mescalero, where the tide had begun to turn once the Limpiados had turned their attention to the battlefield closer to their border, along with a growing body of Selfers assured that this particular meeting was, finally, really going to happen.
In New York, at least, the smoke had cleared, the battle over. The Breach was still open, surrounded by so much dug-in firepower that it could be turned into a burning cauldron at a moment’s notice.
And the Selfers were still there. In public, for all to see.
Harlequin could feel the tension in the room and imagined it magnified tenfold outside it. The people of the United States could be no more comfortable if some strange army had come to encamp in their collective backyard. What would they do next?
That depended largely on the outcome of these proceedings.
Harlequin looked to Bookbinder and smiled, then across at Britton. The big man nodded back at him, smiling thinly. Their countrymen crowded around them, terrified, wielding authority they couldn’t be sure of, facing a power they didn’t understand, couldn’t control. The lawyers and policy makers, the senior military officers, all looked grave and attentive, bringing the power of the state to bear before the unblinking eye of the television cameras.
But Harlequin pierced that veil now. He saw the fear beneath. You’re not going to hurt us, are you? was the message written on each face. This must have been how Scylla saw the world.
But just because he could understand her perspective didn’t mean he shared it. He wasn’t going to hurt them. Because he was part of them. That was the thing about war, wasn’t it? In the end, someone has to be willing to overlook past wrongs, inequalities. In the end, war had to serve peace, to drive forward toward an end state that worked better for everyone.
Otherwise, what were they fighting for?
Britton didn’t trust Bainbridge and his lackeys. Harlequin didn’t either, frankly.
But that didn’t mean that they couldn’t bring about the new order that Scylla had so violently sought.
Harlequin straightened as Bainbridge brought his gavel down and the proceedings began. A room of men and women, Latent and non-Latent, soldier and civilian. Harlequin could feel the fear and tension, could see the agendas boiling below the surface.
But the conversation had started. The issue was on the table, that Latent people were still people. That genie couldn’t be put back in the bottle, no matter what happened.
He turned to listen as Bainbridge read the invocation, and he felt something stir in him that he hadn’t realized had been absent across these long days since he’d arrived in New York City.
Hope.
Appendix
Magic In The Shadow Ops Universe
The Great Reawakening brought magic back into the world, granting people extraordinary powers. Unfortunately, it didn’t also grant an instruction manual, and most of those who ‘came up Latent’ with magical abilities were unable to control them. This culminated in the Bloch Incident, where uncontrolled magic use resulted in the destruction of the Lincoln Memorial and the deaths of thirty-four people. In an effort to prevent future catastrophes, the McGauer-Linden Act created the Reawakening Commission of the US Congress, which designated five ‘authorized’ schools of magic and five ‘prohibited’ schools, otherwise known as ‘Probe’ schools. Certain practices within authorized schools were also prohibited.
Authorized (Legal) Schools
PYROMANCY
Commonly called ‘Fire Magic’, Pyromancy allows the Sorcerer to manipulate flame. Pyromancers can boost and direct existing fires, even start them with a glance. Pyromancers can cast fireballs or cause firestorms. They are primarily employed as fire support for assaults but also assist with clearing vegetation or sanitizing contaminated areas.
People talk about the cleansing properties of fire, like it’s something you’d use to clean your shower. That’s bullshit. Fire’s not a cleanser. Fire is an answer. The question is, who is going to triumph in this struggle? How will this all turn out?
– Lieutenant ‘Ash Trail’ (call sign), SOC Liaison Officer (LNO)/ Pyromantic Assault Team Leader, 1st Armored Division
HYDROMANCY
Commonly called ‘Water Magic’, Hydromancy allows the Sorcerer to manipulate water. Hydromancers can raise or lower water levels, divert the course of existing waterways, and cause moisture in the air to condense into rain. Hydromancers can create and dissolve ice, and employ ‘desiccative’ Hydromancy, which drains a target of water, fatally if necessary. Hydromancers are frequently employed in logistical support roles due to their ability to provide abundant clean water. They also serve as breachers in assault teams due to their ability to freeze and shatter doors and walls. Hydromancers clear swamps, assist troops with fording rivers, and frequently work with Aeromancers to control weather in support of maritime maneuvers.
Remember how everyone used to make fun of Aquaman? The superhero with the lamest power. Well, you just met the real-life Aquaman. You’re not fucking laughing now, are you?
– Major ‘Storm Surge’ (call sign), Executive Officer (XO) SOC ‘Breach and Clear’ Program – Tactical Procedures School
TERRAMANCY
Commonly called ‘Earth Magic’, Terramancy permits the manipulation of earth and associated flora. Terramancers are sometimes referred to as ‘Druids’. Terramancers can raise roads out of swamps, create buildings out of mounta
ins, and spur plant growth to feed an army. While Terramancy permits the Sorcerer to communicate with fauna, the practice is strictly prohibited. Terramancers are commonly employed as military engineers, assisting with the movement, feeding, and housing of troops. Combat Terramancers frequently use suddenly shifting landscapes to destroy armored columns or to turn vegetation against enemy troops using it for cover.
Gran had a favorite apple tree in the backyard. It was old when I was a kid, and dead by the time I was six. She saved a couple of dried-out seeds as a memento. Called them ‘heirlooms’. I kept them in a cigar box until I came up Latent, then I took ’em on my first tour. Good thing, too. We were cut off for two weeks, hiding out before they could extract us. I opened up the ground and built us a nice hidey-hole down there, and we lived mostly off Gran’s heirloom apples until the QRF got us out. The guys said I saved us. But it was Gran, wasn’t it, really?
– Lieutenant ‘Harvest’ (call sign), SOC Liaison Officer (LNO), 10th Special Forces Group, US Army
AEROMANCY
Commonly called ‘Air Magic’, Aeromancy allows the Sorcerer to manipulate air. Aeromancers can heat or cool air and cause it to retain or discharge moisture or to gust at terrific speeds. Aeromancers can also agitate particles of air to release electrical charges. Aeromancers can fly, though they are actually manipulating air currents to lift their bodies. They are frequently employed as forward observers and in reconnaissance roles, as well as for close air support. Aeromancers often work in conjunction with Hydromancers in weather-control operations.
The irony is that everyone thought the future of aviation was drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles. But magic turned that on its head. You got the opposite. I’m an unvehicled aerial man.
– Captain ‘Sparrow’ (call sign), SOC Liaison Officer (LNO), 1st Special Operations Wing
PHYSIOMANCY
Physiomancers are commonly known as ‘Healers’, and Physiomancy is sometimes called ‘Body Magic’. Physiomancers are able to manipulate living flesh. Under the McGauer-Linden Act, Physiomancy may only be applied to heal living things. All other uses, including wounding or deliberate alterations of the body for practical or cosmetic purposes, are strictly prohibited. Physiomancers are employed exclusively in a medical capacity.
I know it hurts. I have to get the bullet out. I can only do that by getting your body to push it up through your thigh. I have to knit the flesh and close the blood vessels as we go, make sure you don’t bleed out. That takes pretty much all of my concentration. I can’t worry about the nerves at the same time. They’re everywhere and they’re complicated as hell. You’re just going to have to suck it up. Look at me. Look at me, damn it! You’re going to live. Now just bite on this and hold the fuck on.
– Captain ‘Second Chance’ (call sign), SOC Liaison Officer (LNO), Tactical EMS Support Detachment Alpha, 1st Marine Expeditionary Unit
Prohibited, A.K.A. ‘Probe’,
Schools and Practices
NECROMANCY
Necromancy permits the manipulation of dead flesh. Most Necromancers use this power to reanimate corpses. The results of this work are commonly known as ‘zombies’ and function as magical automatons, able to perform simple tasks (such as moving and attacking) at the direction of the Sorcerer. Because zombies are structurally coherent on their own, Necromancers can focus their magic entirely on command and control functions, permitting a single Necromancer to command a vast army of the risen dead.
Hello, Carlos. You remember my wife, Maria, don’t you? You should, you killed her. That’s made us both rather upset. But, since she’s the dead one, I figured I’d let her do the honors of ripping your head off. After twenty years of marriage, I’ve learned to let her have her way.
– Witness transcript following the decapitation of drug kingpin Carlos Mendoza, Brooklyn South Task Force, NYPD
NEGRAMANCY
Negramancy is commonly known as ‘Black Magic’, or ‘Witchcraft’, and its practitioners are frequently referred to as ‘Witches’ or ‘Warlocks’, This rather dramatic nomenclature covers the simple manipulation of decay. Negramancers employ their magic to vastly accelerate the process of decomposition, causing complex structures, such as a building, an airplane, or even a human body, to break down to their component elements nearly instantly.
Feeling sick? Me, too. The difference is, I’ll feel better once I don’t have to look at your ugly face anymore.
– Supposed statement of the Warlock known as ‘Ghoulish’ prior to his murder of the Bulgarian ambassador
PORTAMANCY
Portamancy, also known as ‘Gate Magic’, is the rarest of all magical schools, with fewer than five Portamancers documented since the Great Reawakening, though more have been rumored. Portamancers are able to manipulate the fabric between dimensions, opening portals between them and permitting transit. Gate Magic can be employed to ‘summon’ living creatures from either side to the Portamancer’s defense. The gates themselves have micron-thin edges able to cut through any material instantly.
Israel does not now possess nor have we ever possessed weaponized fissile material or fully assembled nuclear weapons of any kind. The accusations that we are hiding such devices in some alternate magical dimension is the stuff of fairy stories and shows that the Iranian delegation is not serious regarding these negotiations.
– Gili Chayad, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations
SENTIENT ELEMENTAL CONJURATION
Sometimes known as ‘Elementalists’, Sorcerers in this school of magic can manipulate various forms of energy to create sentient (self-aware) elementals. Elementals serve the Sorcerer’s interests but do not require direct control, as zombies do. Elementals must be conjured from kinetically active sources, such as burning fire, sparking electricity, or blowing wind.
You want to kill me? Get it over with. I know what I did, and I’m not sorry. Would you blame a mother for killing to protect her children? Because that’s what they are. I brought them into this world, and I love them with a ferocity that only creators can have for their created.
– Alison Berger, Statement during the sentencing phase of a closed hearing
OFFENSIVE PHYSIOMANCY (PROHIBITED PRACTICE)
Physiomancers may defy the law and turn their magic to the wounding or killing of living things. Such magic is commonly called ‘Rending’ and its practitioners ‘Renders’. Rending reverses the Physiomantic application, severing blood vessels and muscle, changing bones into blades that turn against the flesh they once supported. A Rending death is inevitably painful and bloody. The public outcry against this practice is understandable.
The only thing he said to me was: ‘Your bullet is fine, but my magic’s a crime? Dead is dead, you fucking hypocrite.’ That’s all he said, I swear.
– Sworn statement from captured US Marine after rescue from the Houston Street Selfer Gang
WHISPERING (PROHIBITED PRACTICE)
While manipulation of plant life is authorized, Terramancers are forbidden to use their magic to communicate with and command fauna. Those who do so are treated as Selfers, though rumors abound of secret pardons and leniency, owing mostly to the incredible utility of Whispered wildlife as scouts, intelligence sources, and even food in desperate times.
Yes, sir, that wolf is wearing your skivvies. No, sir, I have no idea how he got them on.
– Old SOC joke ‘General Adams’s Druid’
Glossary of Military Terms, Acronyms, And Slang
This novel deals largely with the United States military. As anyone familiar with the military knows, it has a vocabulary of acronyms, slang, and equipment references large enough to constitute its own language. Some readers may be familiar with it. For those who are not, I provide the following glossary, expanded from the version that appeared in Shadow Ops: Fortress Frontier. As some of the action in Shadow Ops: Breach Zone takes
place on board a ship, I have included some basic nautical terminology as well. Many of these terms are fictional. Many are not.
11B – 11 Bravo. The Military Operational Specialty code for the infantry.
225 – Colloquial term for a 225-foot-long Seagoing Buoy Tender of the United States Coast Guard.
A-10 WARTHOG – A heavily armed fixed-wing, ground-attack aircraft.
ABRAMS – A Main Battle Tank.
ANG – Air National Guard.
AOR – Area of Responsibility.
APACHE – An attack helicopter, also known as a helicopter gunship.
APB – All Points Bulletin. A broadcast alerting law-enforcement personnel to be on the lookout for a particular individual.
APC – Armored Personnel Carrier.
ARTICLE 15 – The article in the US Code of Military Justice that provides for administrative/nonjudicial punishment of troops.
ASEAN – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations. A geopolitical/economic organization of Southeast Asian countries.
ATTD – Asset Tracking/Termination Device. A beacon/bomb that can be placed inside a person to track their movements and, if necessary, to kill them.
AWOL – Absent Without Leave.
BEAM – The width of a vessel at its widest point. Colloquially used to indicate the side of a ship.
BINDING – The act of utilizing Drawn magic in the making of a spell.
BINGO-FUEL – A term indicating that an aircraft has insufficient fuel reserves to accomplish its mission.
BLACKHAWK – A utility/transport helicopter.
