Reminiscences: Cormac

"Come on guys," whined the young 'specialist'.
"You're always saying I should listen and learn so teach me something!" It had been a long two days of hiking through the Amazonian jungle and the eagerness that had at first been endearing to the more experienced soldiers had become a source of constant irritation.

Unit 231 was tasked with counter-insurgency duties and they were currently on active duty. A Tir embassy had been attacked by local guerillas who objected to the supplying of arms to the local dictator and a message was to be sent. The unit was manned by career soldiers who had volunteered and gone through the incredible hardships necessary to achieve membership in this elite group. They had no illusions about their work but carried it out for the love of their country and pride in the team.

Their week in Amazonia had taken its toll though: one of the team had fallen ill shortly after arrival necessitating a temporary addition to the tight-nit group. Then the two day slog through mud and slime, preyed on by mosquitoes and ants with a liking for human flesh. Several were injured after an encounter with a school of piranhas while fording a river. Nobody had the inclination to talk, let alone tell a story.

As the silence got oppressive George, who Jamsey had said earlier was "this far away from getting his fucking head kicked in." drew a breath, Cormac interrupted.

"Ok, I'll tell you a story but if you don't shut up after that, so help me..." his voice trailed off leaving the thought unspoken. George nodded silently and listened ready to glean whatever new knowledge he could from the team's scout.

"Now this is going back a few years to when I was your age and had just finished my 'ops' training." he paused vision turning inward. His face becoming blank as he ordered his thoughts.

"The way I see it, there are two distinct types of 'drug lords'. On one hand you have the organised, almost corporate types who see the substances as a means to an end." Seeing a slightly confused look steal over Georges face he grinned, "Power."

"On the other hand, you have the crazies living in back woods getting kicks out of the guns, money and limited notoriety.

In the never ending and seemingly futile 'war against drugs'." There are a few snorts as Cormac uses the catch phrase of a very tired advertising campaign." The latter seem to be used by central command as a way of training us before encountering the former. It makes sense really. Blood the troops against disorganised yobs with more money than sense. When you are sure they have what it takes send them in against the big boys."

"This particular 'op' was against a crazy and was being used to test a relatively new team. To be honest we really shouldn't have been there. About half of us were very young and none of us had worked together before." Seeing George confused again Cormac explained further.

"You are working with a tried and experienced team. For every untested member statistics say that the chances of dying are doubled. On this team, everyone was new, not a good situation. We'd trained of course but it is never the same." Cormac sat still for a while once again getting caught up in his reverie, a distant look stealing over his face.

"As I said, we were young and the team was new, but some anniversary was approaching and a suit, in a small room in good old Dublin, was exercising an over developed sense of irony."

"So there we were, out in the middle of county Cavan observing a roaring party in a small mansion, waiting for the right moment. We figured there were maybe 30 people in the house. There seemed to be a large amount of various illicit substances being sampled by the guests. There were people sleeping on couches, shagging in private and public places and lots of dancing. I remember a few of the lads taking bets on who would lay a particular woman till they were told to shut up by the Captain."

"Whoever's party it was had not completely neglected security, there had been a number of guards spread around the mansion. They were amateurs though, the combination of hail outside and near naked women inside had lured almost all of them from their posts. We, on the other hand, were stuck out in the elements waiting for people to start burning out so we could make our move."

"So there we were, waiting and waiting and waiting. Because of some smart-arsed comment I had made earlier Captain Courageous," Cormac grins mischievously. "Calling him that used to piss him off something bad, anyway he had me out watching the driveway. What a prick, it may be cold and wet but the others had been watching semi-naked women cavort around and there I was with nothing to do but watch a closed gate."

"I remember spending the first hour or so trying to develop the ability to become incorporeal spontaneously, the hail kept breaking my concentration though. After that I tried to compose a paper, I was going to call it 'The merits of seeking shelter. A statistical study' had all kinds of numbers ready for it too."

"Finally I got called to the front. I crawled the distance just in case and received my final instructions."

"I tell you, there are definite advantages to having special skills and in this case I was give a separate primary goal. I was to join shock team 'B' and once inside break away and get to an office where some records were supposedly kept. I would secure the room and wait for backup."

"I remember feeling nervous but absolutely full of energy as I worked my way over to team 'B'. When I arrived the team leader was looking peeved about something. Took me a while, I was too keyed up to be tactical, then I realised that the party was still in full swing. We were going in early."

Cormac paused, looking at the young soldier before him. "What?" he snapped in a slightly peeved voice.

"I don't get that." George replied oblivious to the tone "You're a mage right?"

Cormac nodded.

"Well what were you doing being sent in by yourself? Shouldn't you have been on a hill somewhere?"

"Think about it, " Cormac replied with a sigh of exasperation "you look or act like a mage and you're a target.

Besides, " he continued after a pause. "I'm really good in close."

"Anyway, " Cormac said restarting his narrative. "The team were loading gel rounds to try and keep non-combatant casualties down. I'd been given permission to start with lethal force as I was going to be exposed, but decided to be flashy and pulled out my Hurley. This isn't actually as stupid as it sounds though. Hurleys have been used as a weapon by our ancestors for over a thousand years and are made to be used while running. If you swing right, using mostly your wrist it doesn't affect your balance at all. Damned fast too."

"The call came out '5 minutes' and I went into my combat trance. I tell you it's the most amazing thing. Imagine your sense of touch extended in a big circle around your body, and you could sense the intent of anyone you 'touched'. Thing saved me more times than I can remember."

"So there I was doing my 'at one with the universe' thing and praying fervently to Morrigan for success. It's amazing how religious a person gets on a mission. Some of the guys around me were praying to St Paddy and some just sat there, deep in silent prayer."

Cormac paused again, his mind having drifted off on a tangent once more. "You know I was on cross training in the UCAS once, and this guy was asking me how a unit could be Catholic and Pagan at the same time. It got me thinking about our history y'know? I reckon the Tir has pretty much always been victim to that kind of dichotomy. Just look at our national religious symbol the Celtic cross. That's a combination of the Catholic cross with a pagan circle. God, no wonder we have an identity crisis. Mind you, rather than do something about it we just blame the English." Cormac chucked ruefully. "Of course you mention that to my mum and she'll look at you funny then make you drink that shite she calls tea."

"Anyway, as I was saying, the call came out and we did our final preparations. 'Team-B close.' the man instructed. We started moving in, the lads closed ranks around me."

"I guess the training took over or something. In spite of the fact that I was 45 seconds from going solo, I was the mage and you protect your mage."

'Support team knock.' I remember flinching in a big way as a crash of glass shattering was quickly followed by the sustained crump of sequenced stunners detonating."

"'Insertion teams go!'"

"We hit the door running and it slowed us not a bit. The lads peeled off me nicely and I was away. I hit that combat adrenalin high almost immediately and felt like I was flying."

"I sprinted through these weird convoluted corridors, occasionally meeting people on the way. My brief was really simple. Find a specific room, secure the room, lethal force authorised. Of course I was being a smart arse and dealing out concussions and broken bones instead."

"There was one time there though where I went around a corner and something told me to duck. Always a good idea to listen to instincts like that, I did and I still have my head. This prick was waiting with a sword ready and took a swing as I turned. Bastard missed me but still chopped my Hurley in half."

"I guess he didn't expect a mage though, one powerbolt later and he was slumped against the wall. I got a bit more serious about the whole thing after that and used my long knives instead. More blood, but less danger to me."

"By this time I had no real idea where I was, just kept following the directions Jimmy, the team's shaman, had supplied. Apparently I should be able to do that astral walking shit myself. Nobody can really explain to me why I can't. To be honest with you I'm kind of glad I can't. I feel like if I was to succeed all the extra energy would run out of my body and I'd lose the gift."

"I guess it only took about 10 minutes to make it to that room. Seemed like forever though."

"I reached the door and burst into the room, ready to do unto any defenders. There were only two people there, a man and a woman. The man was slumped in a leather chair behind an oak desk, a thin cable ran from his temple to a console set into the desk. His companion on the other hand was pointing an Assault Rifle at me. I think that was the first time I realised how scary those things are. Fortunately for me the training kicked in and without thinking I hurled my knives at her, before they had reached her I was charging in for the kill. You can imagine my surprise when she dodged both knives and shot me. It bloody hurt too. The impact knocked me backwards and I felt the way too familiar sense of vertigo before slamming to the floor with that sickening thud that lets you know you've broken something."

"So there I was bleeding to death all over this beautiful carpet and for some idiotic reason I decided that this was a good time to make some devastatingly witty comment, too many movies I guess. To be honest I was hoping that it would delay her from turning me into Swiss cheese. 'Ow' was apparently not heroic enough 'cause she just snorted in disdain and started to aim. Fortunately my backup felt my pain."

"In truly disgusting style I was suddenly showered with blood and grey pulpy stuff as well as some bone fragments. At about the same time there was the sound of glass breaking and a thump as something landed on my legs. Before attempting to get up, after all I was covered, I drew the ambient energies of the room into my wounded shoulder. Mass equals energy and all that, and within seconds the hole was closed leaving me with a working arm and a slight case of dizziness. Clambering to my feet I looked out at the hill across from the shattered window, knowing I was watched."

"'I'd better not catch anything.' I growled at the space, turning away at the answering chuckle."

"Feeling a slightly belated need to be prudent I removed the man's cable from his data-jack. Now I know you have probably watched some movies and stuff of people getting hit by dump shock, but they generally neglect to show you how damned funny it is. I mean there's this sap 'cruising the data channels' or whatever catch phrase they are using and suddenly he spasms. If you can picture it, this guy dressed in the height of Milano fashion suddenly flailing his arms about and arching his back till you think it'll break then falling off his plush leather chair, I think you'll get my point."

"I kicked him a couple of times to make sure he stayed down, did I mention I _hate_ dealers? Then I turned the desk over and brought my Assault Rifle to bear on the door."

"Apparently everyone else did admirably though as within about another 10 minutes I was relieved. I made my way outside to where an LAV was waiting for us and we were very quickly back to base. The whole team got promoted to full operational status, but the bit that really made me feel I was an accepted member was when one of the senior operants passed me by and said 'Fair play to ye, boy.' High praise indeed."

There was a pause as George quietly absorbed the story, as he drew a breath to question something Cormac forestalled him.

"Now remember your part of the deal."

"Cormac," the Captain called softly, "time to move out."

With barely a whisper, Cormac rose and faded from sight. The team paused counting off the 2 minute lead their scout was allowed then started to move out.

George, still unsure of what, if anything, he had been supposed to learn from the story allowed himself to be quickly lulled into the familiar pace of their march. This slight lapse in concentration cost him dearly as he didn't realise for a full second that the movement to his right was not caused by an errant gust of wind. He drew breath to warn the others of the ambush only to feel the violation of several bullets penetrating his body. The sound of gunfire filled the air.