Team Omega by Christopher G. Nuttall Read Free Book Online

wounded she will be the one patching you together.  Don’t get on her bad side.  I’ve seen her bring soldiers with terrible wounds back from the brink of death.”
     
    He scowled, just for a moment.  “The rate of soldiers from this outfit taking a medical discharge is far too high.  Every so often, some jerk in the Pentagon realises that we’re losing ten to twenty percent of our manpower that way and throws a fit, probably thinking that the CO tortures recruits for fun.  He has to be calmed down before he starts doing something stupid, like taking it to the press.”
     
    Jackson nodded.  Medical discharges weren't uncommon, but losing even one person from Team One’s manpower would mean that they were down by ten percent.  Most army units were much larger; perversely, they could lose more men than Team Omega and wind up looking better.  He said nothing as they reached the barracks and marched right into the centre of the room.
     
    “Take a chair,” von Shrakenberg instructed, as he bellowed for the other soldiers.  “It's time to start the most dreaded communist invention of all.  The self-criticism session.”
     
    He waited until the rest of the troop had sat down, and tapped the table to begin.  “So tell me, Lance Corporal McDonald, just what went wrong yesterday?”
     
    Jackson blinked.  He’d slept overnight in the medical ward?  “I took my eyes off the bad guy,” he said, finally.  It had been the first mistake, although in hindsight he couldn't see how he could have acted any differently.  If there had been someone outside, they could have tossed a grenade into the room before he could react and murdered all of the hostages.  “I didn't realise that he was a superhuman...”
     
    “You weren't meant to,” von Shrakenberg admitted.  His tone didn't soften.  “Let that be a lesson to you.  Every time we are involved, superhumans are also involved.  You can never be sure of what the freaks can do, ever.  Do you understand me?”
     
    “Yes, Sergeant,” Jackson said.
     
    “If that had been a real situation, you would have died there and then,” von Shrakenberg continued.  “You would have died; you would have lost the hostages...and there wouldn't have been enough of your head left for us to identify you afterwards.  It wouldn't have been the first closed-casket we’ve had to send home, and it probably wouldn't be the last.”
     
    He tapped the table again.  “The CO has been called to Langley for a briefing, so I will be handling the session,” he said, addressing the room at large.  “What did we do wrong in that session?”
     
    Jackson sat back and listened as the whole exercise was hashed out from beginning to end, with every factor studied carefully.  They’d won, but it could easily have turned into a bloody disaster—and nineteen of the holographic hostages had died in the crossfire.  It was true that no one could guarantee that a hostage rescue mission would succeed bloodlessly, yet a loss rate like that would probably lead to questions being asked in high places.  Some of his friends who had joined the Navy SEALs had noted that politicians seemed to shy away from anything remotely controversial, even if the United States came out ahead.  SEALs had killed pirates near Africa, only to be threatened with criminal charges. 
     
    “Overall, we need to work on our espionage systems,” von Shrakenberg concluded.  “We missed a number of terrorist positions because we were too reliant on what the NYPD pulled from the building’s security net before they took down all of the cameras.  It’s always a risk to use micro-technology near superhumans because their senses can be very acute, but in future we may not have a choice.”
     
    “We were a bit pushed for time,” Specialist Chris French pointed out.  As a sniper, he’d been shooting through windows and taking out all the terrorists who showed themselves before Alpha Team burst onto the tenth