Echo of Tomorrow: Book Two (The Drake Chronicles) Read Online Free Page A
Author: Rob Buckman
my men over the years.”
“Let’s not fall into the trap of underestimating the Ayatollah and his minions.” Scott reminded them. “All this might be new to them, but I’m betting they’re fast learners. Remember the suicide bombers of old?”
It was a somber thought. Over coffee, they discussed the overall situation with the rest of the world, and Scott found out there was growing unrest. There were calls in some quarters for all of “those violent people,” meaning the newly formed army and navy, to be sent to rehabilitation at once, or put down for the good of humanity. Others wanted the World Council to stop the spread of these ideas since more and more young people were walking around in strange-looking uniforms, pretending to be soldiers and causing trouble. What worried them even more was the number of men, and some women, who managed to board the recruit shuttles. The women simply dressed as men, and only revealed who they were after the shuttle landed and they went in to be processed. The word was getting around, and the people weren’t as peaceful as the government thought.
It was inevitable that the recruiting-shuttle crews would run into problems with the “State Security”, or State-Sec police. It all started with what appeared to be a fight close to the shuttle port in what was once Berlin. It was the female scream of pain that caught the crew’s attention, so they went and investigated. Brock had always insisted half the recruiting team should be female, just to emphasize that women were equal in this society. What they found was three half-naked young women being savagely beaten by seven State-Sec goons. A rifle butt to the gut and chin soon had the others fleeing for their lives, and the team quickly transported the injured girls to the shuttle. It turned out that the three females had dressed up as men, dirtied their faces, and were attempting to get to the shuttle. The goons caught them, and that led to the ensuing beating. After that, Brock doubled the teams with orders to patrol the landing zone perimeter. That at least would give anybody a chance to get to the shuttle without interference. But State-Sec could still waylay the potential recruits before they reached the zone. Many of the would-be marines turned up bloodied, or with nasty injuries. The imams were screaming about “contamination” and apostates at Friday evening services, and promised terrible punishment for any man, let alone a woman daring to board the accursed “infidel” shuttle.
“Let them scream, we’ll get on with the job at hand,” Scott said upon hearing this. In a way, it was expected. Even recruits they rejected, having seen a little of what went on here, had taken the story back with them.
“Anything else?” he said.
“There is one item we’re worried about,” added Pete.
“Spill it.”
“You remember the scenes of all those people standing around doing nothing while their children were being taken away?”
“Yes.”
“That puzzled me. We found a few more odd items in the warship, and I have the impression that the items are some sort of emotion-damping field,” concluded Pete. That brought raised eyebrows around the table.
“I haven’t seen any report on this,” the First Sea Lord replied.
“No. You wouldn’t, because we haven’t written one, for obvious reasons,” Pete answered.
“Did you try any of these devices to see if you could duplicate this effect?” Scott said. An obvious question, but he knew Pete would have moved heaven and Earth to find out.
“Yes, but so far I can’t find that they have any effect on our people, or the aliens. But, they did seem to affect our new recruits to some degree. I guess whatever Kessler did to us made the old-timers immune to the effect.”
“What was Doc Chase’s opinion?”
“He mumbled something about our aggression quota and adrenaline.”
“Hum. Not very
“Let’s not fall into the trap of underestimating the Ayatollah and his minions.” Scott reminded them. “All this might be new to them, but I’m betting they’re fast learners. Remember the suicide bombers of old?”
It was a somber thought. Over coffee, they discussed the overall situation with the rest of the world, and Scott found out there was growing unrest. There were calls in some quarters for all of “those violent people,” meaning the newly formed army and navy, to be sent to rehabilitation at once, or put down for the good of humanity. Others wanted the World Council to stop the spread of these ideas since more and more young people were walking around in strange-looking uniforms, pretending to be soldiers and causing trouble. What worried them even more was the number of men, and some women, who managed to board the recruit shuttles. The women simply dressed as men, and only revealed who they were after the shuttle landed and they went in to be processed. The word was getting around, and the people weren’t as peaceful as the government thought.
It was inevitable that the recruiting-shuttle crews would run into problems with the “State Security”, or State-Sec police. It all started with what appeared to be a fight close to the shuttle port in what was once Berlin. It was the female scream of pain that caught the crew’s attention, so they went and investigated. Brock had always insisted half the recruiting team should be female, just to emphasize that women were equal in this society. What they found was three half-naked young women being savagely beaten by seven State-Sec goons. A rifle butt to the gut and chin soon had the others fleeing for their lives, and the team quickly transported the injured girls to the shuttle. It turned out that the three females had dressed up as men, dirtied their faces, and were attempting to get to the shuttle. The goons caught them, and that led to the ensuing beating. After that, Brock doubled the teams with orders to patrol the landing zone perimeter. That at least would give anybody a chance to get to the shuttle without interference. But State-Sec could still waylay the potential recruits before they reached the zone. Many of the would-be marines turned up bloodied, or with nasty injuries. The imams were screaming about “contamination” and apostates at Friday evening services, and promised terrible punishment for any man, let alone a woman daring to board the accursed “infidel” shuttle.
“Let them scream, we’ll get on with the job at hand,” Scott said upon hearing this. In a way, it was expected. Even recruits they rejected, having seen a little of what went on here, had taken the story back with them.
“Anything else?” he said.
“There is one item we’re worried about,” added Pete.
“Spill it.”
“You remember the scenes of all those people standing around doing nothing while their children were being taken away?”
“Yes.”
“That puzzled me. We found a few more odd items in the warship, and I have the impression that the items are some sort of emotion-damping field,” concluded Pete. That brought raised eyebrows around the table.
“I haven’t seen any report on this,” the First Sea Lord replied.
“No. You wouldn’t, because we haven’t written one, for obvious reasons,” Pete answered.
“Did you try any of these devices to see if you could duplicate this effect?” Scott said. An obvious question, but he knew Pete would have moved heaven and Earth to find out.
“Yes, but so far I can’t find that they have any effect on our people, or the aliens. But, they did seem to affect our new recruits to some degree. I guess whatever Kessler did to us made the old-timers immune to the effect.”
“What was Doc Chase’s opinion?”
“He mumbled something about our aggression quota and adrenaline.”
“Hum. Not very
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