Shadow Ops: Fortress Frontier-ARC (pdf conv.) (50 page)

Britton shook his hand, then took a step back, saluting.

“Thank you, sir. It’s my honor.”

Thorsson returned the salute, looking uncomfortable, then smiled. “Thanks to all of you,” he said to the other SASS refugees who stood watching the exchange. Then he stepped through the gate and into the chaos of service members, hospital workers, camera crews, civilian bystanders, and police who mobbed Georgia Avenue beyond.

Bookbinder turned back to Therese. She smiled at him, dazzling.

He rolled his shoulder experimentally. “Good as new, ma’am. Much obliged.”

“Good luck,” she said.

“If you, or any of the other . . . uh . . . SASS escapees want to try your luck in the court of public opinion,” Bookbinder said, “you can join me. I don’t know how much pull I have now, but you’ll have my support.”

“I’m staying,” Therese said, grasping Oscar Britton’s hand.

Britton squeezed her hand back, silent, choking back tears.

“I’m staying with you, too,” Stanley said. “We’ve got some ground to cover. Once we’re done, we need to go find your mother.”

Britton turned from Therese, faced his father. “You’re giving orders now?”

Stanley bit his lip. “We need to do this, Oscar.”

Britton grimaced and didn’t answer.

“Well,” Bookbinder said, cutting through the tension, “I guess this is good-bye for now. Thank you all.” He reached forward to shake Britton’s hand, but the man’s gaze was still locked on his father, and he didn’t see it.

“Good luck, sir,” Britton said absently. “Once things calm down, I’ll look in on you.”

“I’ll be fine,” Bookbinder said, not at all sure that he would be fine.

But Colonel Alan Bookbinder certainly felt fine as he turned and stepped through the gate into the crowd of men and women beyond. He breathed deeply, sucking in the muted smells of the Home Plane, thrilling to the buzzing sound of the military personnel around him. The hardest-bitten, most dedicated band of professionals he’d ever had the privilege to lead. Bookbinder reached down to his wedding band, turning it on his finger, rubbing the scratched gold surface. Just a few miles away, Julie might be watching the breaking news on TV, the kids around her, eyes wide. Maybe she’d see Bookbinder and come rushing to the scene. That would be great.

But for now, he had company enough in the throng of uniforms around him. His family, his people.

His home.

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. Readers may be familiar with some of them. For those who are not, I provide the following glossary, expanded from the original that appeared in
Shadow Ops: Control Point
. Many of these terms are fictional. Many are not.

A–10 WARTHOG — A heavily armed fixed-wing, ground-attack aircraft.

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.

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.

BINDING — The act of utilizing Drawn magic in the making of a spell.

BINGO-F UEL — A term indicating that an aircraft has insufficient fuel reserves to accomplish its mission.

BLACKHAWK — A utility/ transport helicopter.

BMER — Bound Magical Energy Repository. Also known as a “boomer,” a BMER is any object, inanimate or otherwise, into which magic is bound. BMERs normally dispense the effects of the magic bound into them.

BREVET — A field promotion, granted as an honor before retirement or under extreme circumstances when required senior personnel have been killed in action.

BUTTER-BAR — A second lieutenant in land-or air-based service, or an ensign in maritime service. The lowest-commissioned officer rank in the United States military.

CAC — Common Access Card. A government identification card used across all five branches of the US military.

CARBINE — A shortened, lighter version of the traditional assault rifle used by infantry. It is better suited for tight spaces common in urban operations.

CHINOOK — A large, double-rotor transport/ cargo helicopter. Larger than a Blackhawk.

CO — Commanding Officer.

COMMS — Communications.

COMMS-D ARK — A situation in which communications are either forbidden or impossible.

CORPSMAN — A medic in the US navy.

COVEN — Replaces a squad for organizational purposes when magic-using soldiers are concerned. A conventional squad contains four to ten soldiers led by a staff sergeant. A Coven contains four to five SOC Sorcerers, led by a captain. Training Covens are led by a warrant officer.

CSH — Combat Support Hospital. Pronounced “Cash.” A field hospital, successor to the MASH units of TV fame.

DANGER CLOSE — Indirect Fire impacting within two hundred meters of the intended target.

DFAC — Dining Facility.

DRAWING — The act of summoning raw magic in preparation for Binding it into a spell.

DRUID — Selfer slang for a Terramancer.

ELEMENTALIST — A person practicing the prohibited school of Sentient Elemental Conjuration. This is the act of imbuing Elementals with self-awareness. This is different from automatons — Elementals with no thought, who are entirely dependent on the sorcerer for command and control.

FIELD GRADE — Senior military officers who have not yet attained the rank of general or admiral.

FOB — Forward Operating Base.

FORCE RECON — The US Marine Corps special operations component. While primarily focused on deep reconnaissance, it has direct action platoons. These platoons form the basis for the US Marine Corps Special Operations Command or MARSOC.

FULL BIRD — A full colonel in the land and air services, or captain in the maritime services (O–6). The term refers to the silver eagles worn as a symbol of the rank, and distinguishes from a lieutenant colonel (or “light colonel” O–5), who is designated by a silver oak leaf.

GIMAC — Gate-Integrated Modern Army Combatives — MAC integrated with Portamancy. Also known as “gate–fu.” See MAC definition below.

GO DYNAMIC — Command given to assault a target without regard to stealth.

GO NOVA — When a magic user is overwhelmed by the current of their own magical power. This results in a painful death similar to burning. A person who has “gone nova” is sometimes referred to as a “magic sink.”

HEALER — A Physiomancer. They are sometimes also referred to as “Manglers” or “Renders” in deference to their ability to damage flesh as well as repair it. Offensive Physiomancy is prohibited under the Geneva Convention’s magical amendment. Offensive use of Physiomancy is also known as “Rending.”

HELO — Helicopter.

HOOCH — Living quarters. Can also be used as a verb. “You’ll hooch here.”

HOT — Under fire. Usually refers to an arrival under fire. A “hot LZ” would be landing an aircraft under fire. Also refers to a state of military readiness where personnel are prepared for immediate action.

INDIG — Indigenous.

INDIRECT FIRE — Sometimes shortened to simply “Indirect.” An attack, either magical or conventional, aimed without relying on direct line of sight to the target. This usually refers to artillery, rocket or mortar fire, but also Pyromantic flame strikes and Aeromantic lightning attacks.

JAG — Judge Advocate General. The legal branch of any of the United States armed services.

KIA — Killed in Action.

KIOWA — A light reconnaissance helicopter.

KLICK — A kilometer or kilometers per hour.

LATENT — Any individual who possesses magical ability, detected or otherwise.

LATENT GRENADE — An auto-suppressed or “Stifled” Latency. A person who possesses magical ability, is not a Rump Latent, but for reasons unknown, will not Manifest their powers.

LITTLE BIRD — A small helicopter usually used to insert/ extract commandos.

LOGS — Logistics.

LSA — Logistical Staging Area.

LZ — Landing Zone.

MAC — Modern Army Combatives. A martial art unique to the United States Army, based on Brazilian Jiujitsu.

MANIFEST — The act of realizing one’s Latency and displaying magical ability. Latent people Manifest at various times in their lives — some at birth, some on their deathbed, and all ranges in between. Nobody knows why it occurs when it does.

MARK 19 — A crew-served, fully automatic grenade launcher.

MINIGUN — A crew-served multibarrel machine gun with a high rate of fire, employing Gatling-style rotating barrels and an external power source.

MP — Military Police.

MRE — Meal Ready to Eat. A self-contained field ration for use where food facilities are not available.

MWR — Morale, Welfare, and Recreation center.

NCO — Noncommissioned Officer.

NIH — National Institutes of Health. Among many other services,

NIH runs a Monitoring/ Suppression program for those Latents who refuse to join the military but don’t want to become Selfers. Participants are monitored continuously and have virtually no privacy. Most are treated as social pariahs.

NODS — Night Observation Devices.

NONCOMM — A Noncommissioned Officer; sergeants in the air and land services and petty officers in the maritime services.

NON RATE — Enlisted personnel in maritime services below the rank of E–4 (E–3s are sometimes rated). A non rate achieves a “rating” when he/ she has graduated from “A–School” and can demonstrate certifiable skill in a particular field. At that point, the non rate usually becomes a petty officer.

NORMALS — Selfer slang for those who are not Latent. The term is respectful. The term “human” is sometimes substituted in derogatory fashion.

NOVICE — SOC Sorcerers still in training, before they graduate SAOLCC.

OC — Officers’ Club.

ON MY SIX — Directly behind the speaker.

OPSEC — Operations Security.

OUTSIDE THE WIRE — Area beyond the secure perimeter of a military facility.

PFC — Private First Class. A junior enlisted rank. E–3 in the United States Army and E–2 in the United States Marine Corps.

POAC — Pentagon Officers Athletic Club.

PROBES — Short for “Prohibited.” Those Latents who Manifest in a school of prohibited magic such as Negramancy, Portamancy, Necromancy, or Sentient Elemental Conjuration.

PX — Post Exchange. A store selling a variety of goods located on a military facility.

QRF — Quick Reaction Force.

R&R — Rest and Relaxation.

READING — Slang for the military practice of using Rump Latents to “read” the currents of other Latent individuals in an effort to discover their magic-using status.

RENDING — Offensive use of Physiomantic magic. See Healer definition above.

ROE — Rules of Engagement. The conditions under which members of the military and law-enforcement communities are permitted to employ deadly force.

RTO — Radio Telephone Operator. A military member who specializes in the use and maintenance of radio equipment.

RUMP LATENCY — A person who Manifests magical ability that is too slight to be of any real use. Such a person can only use magic to a very slight degree but can feel the magical tide in another person. Rump Latents are not commissioned as full SOC officers but make up a small percentage of the enlisted and warrant-officer support in the corps.

SAOLCC — Sorcerer’s Apprentice/ Officer Leadership Combined Course. Basic training for SOC Sorcerers. This rigorous training regimen teaches Latent soldiers the basics of magic use/ control while simultaneously preparing them for their duties as officers in the US Army.

SAW — Squad Automatic Weapon. A light machine gun, capable of being carried and used as a rifle but heavier and with a greater magazine capacity. It is frequently equipped with a bipod enabling it to be used in a fixed position as a crew-served, belt-fed support weapon.

SCHOOL — A particular kind of magic, usually associated with a mutable element (earth, air, fire, water, flesh, etc.). Latent individuals only Manifest in one school.

SEABEE — Colloquial pronunciation of “CB” — construction battalions of the United States Navy.

SELFERS — Latent individuals who elect to flee authority and use their magical abilities unsupervised. Selfers are usually tracked down and killed.

SF — Special Forces.

SINCGARS — Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System. A networked radio system that handles secure voice and data communications.

SITREP — Situation Report.

SOC — Supernatural Operations Corps. Not to be confused with Special Operations Command (or SOCOM, under whose auspices the Supernatural Operations Corps falls). The SOC is the corps of the US Army responsible for all magical use. The SOC is a joint corps, which means it handles magic use for all US armed services to include the Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard (though the Army is the executive agent). The Marine Corps does not participate in the SOC, and runs its own Suppression Lances.

SORCERER — A SOC magical operator — an officer of the SOC who employs magic as his primary military specialty.

STANDOFF ARMOR — A type of vehicle armor designed to protect against attacks by rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs).

STRYKER — An armored combat land vehicle.

SUPPRESSION — The act of using one’s own magical current to block that of another. This is typically a one–to–one ratio. The strength of a Suppressor’s Latency must exceed that of the individual he is seeking to Suppress.

SUPPRESSION LANCE — A US Marine Corps unit that employs a Suppressing officer to block the magical abilities of the riflemen in the unit.