“When a new leader undertakes a challenge to run an old system, you can never expect things to be the same as before.”
Chapter 2
UNDERTAKING
“So tell me again, Andrew, why we picked this boy.”
“Because he shows a prestigious amount of leadership skills that can be put to very good use.”
“He’s only fourteen years old.”
“No difference. Just because he is young doesn’t mean he can’t do his job. Wisdom and skill always come before intelligence. Regardless, I think you will find that his intellect meets all expectations.”
“I don’t know, he still seems to be quite young. And you know how teenagers are these days.”
“Yes, I know. However, Mr. Chan seems less prone to being affected by the popular culture of today, and may not turn out like most. In fact, if he’s a loner, that’s even better. It makes a perfect commander.”
“He doesn’t seem like that. He’s very optimistic.”
“I did do some research. He has certain interests that… well, so to speak, sets him apart from the rest of the community.”
“Such as?”
“Well, he’s a fan of certain anime…”
“Stop being so shrewd. It doesn’t make this job easier. What kind of—”
“Digimon.”
“You… you’re kidding.”
“No, actually, I’m not."
“And I thought he couldn’t get any younger.”
As soon as he got home, Victor ran to his room, locked the door, put the box on his bed, and opened it.
He pulled the first thing out. It was a crisp, folded, navy blue uniform jacket. The uniform looked extremely formal, and Victor decided he wouldn’t wear it casually.
The second thing he pulled out was a small, blue box. It was covered in velvet, like a wedding ring box would. Odd, it must hold something important… I’ll open it later, he decided.
The third thing that fell out was a beige packet that obviously held some important documents. He put it next to the box, with the same plan as before.
Finally, he pulled out what looked like a thin, flat black bag. He looked into the box, saw nothing at the bottom, and decided, well, there are three things that I need to open; might as well open this one first.
So he unzipped the bag. Out fell a large, flat device that was mostly dominated by a large, LCD screen.
A tablet PC.
Immediately, Victor snatched up the PC, as if dropping it onto the bed mattress had damaged it. It was sleek, with a silver frame, and on the bottom it had the HP logo. He flipped it around, read the labels on the back, and found the model name: TC-1100.
Victor knew for a fact that this model wasn’t coming out for another few months.
He searched the machine for an on button, found it, and clicked it on. The start up screen appeared; looks like it’s been preloaded with a Windows operating system. He pulled out the stylus from the side of the tablet. The desktop appeared, and on it were two different Word documents. The first was labeled “Introduction and Guidebook – READ FIRST”. The second was labeled “Member Roster”.
He double-clicked on the first and read the document.
Victor Chan;
Welcome, and thank you for joining the United States Army Reserve Section 2.
Section 2, dubbed “Tactical Assault and Negotiations” and created by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, is directed specifically on training enlisted participants into undercover agents that specialize in brute force and stealth combat, as well as advanced negotiations.
You will be in charge of a variety of soldiers, codenamed “members”, who will carry out your orders as you see fit. You will train them to become the best that the United States has to offer. And you will be their mentor and leader.
These soldiers come in a surprisingly dizzying variety. Some are small children, who require nearly constant attention, and some will be older, more mature, and more skilled at adapting to their environment. Some will be your age, where almost anything can happen depending on their influences. But most importantly, they will all be looking to you for advice and leadership.
You will be given a large amount of resources and funding to plan and construct your own military installation, courtesy of the United States, who will also supply you with workers and resources for construction.
Your work and progress will be constantly updated and reviewed by members of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.
You are by far one of our most important employees. We appreciate you joining the United States Army Reserve Section 2 and look forward to seeing your work.
Signed,
Admiral Preston Cole,
Chief Lieutenant Andrew Remarque
Chief Lieutenant Tirus Hayes |
“This is gonna be fun,” Victor said to himself. He closed the first Word document and opened up the second. Immediately, he was faced with a table of contents, listing over a hundred names. There was a huge variety of names on the list, and some of them stuck out like a sore thumb. Such as Zurburchen; this just sounded cool for some reason. Then there was Yamamoto, which Victor could have sworn was the name of a general in World War II. He noticed how two girls shared the same name, Mallari, and supposed they were sisters.
He started from his own name, at the very top of the list, and began skimming the biographies. Quickly he found out that there were some extremely unique people. Clint Zurburchen, nicknamed Xander, has an attraction to the same sex. Takeru Yamamoto was the youngest on the list, at only eight years old; he was turning nine soon. Carly McKillip was a teacher-in-training, and apparently had a relationship with another person on the list nicknamed Darkstorm. And there was someone named Caroline, who also seemed to like a show called Digimon… something Victor enjoyed watching as well.
On the bottom of the word document was a large note that read:
As of February 10, 2003, you, Victor Chan, are now promoted to Colonel rank. Takeru Yamamoto is now promoted to Lieutenant Colonel rank. Caroline Beaney is now promoted to 1st Lieutenant rank. Clint Zurburchen is now promoted to 2nd Lieutenant rank. Cristine Mallari, Ciara Mallari, Carly McKillip, Lindsay Immers, Paul Baümer, and Addelle Ying, are hereby promoted to Sergeant rank.
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Victor read through it twice. Takeru Yamamoto, the kid, and Caroline Beaney, the Digimon fan… I’ll have to get to know the two, thought Victor.
He closed the document and was brought to the desktop. Immediately, he spotted the icon for Internet Explorer on the desktop.
Wow, he thought to himself. I would have thought the military outfitted us with better equipment. Like FireFox.
Victor put the machine off to the side, and picked up the small velvet-covered box he had tossed off earlier. He opened it, and pulled out the small, silver badge.
It was shaped like an eagle, wings spread. In one claw it held ferns, and in the other were arrows. That bird, the golden eagle, was the animal that represented America.
Victor pinned it to his white polo shirt and looked in the mirror. It was strange how such a small thing could do so much to change the way people would see him.
A Colonel in the United States Army.
Victor took off the badge and put on his new, maroon-colored uniform. The patch depicting his rank as Colonel was on his left shoulder. He pinned the badge to his shirt, and glanced in the mirror again. He looked completely different.
Victor smiled.
“This is gonna be one hell of an adventure,” he said to himself.
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