Occulturation #12.5 A.S.S.F. Receives New Orders

Werewolf-Incorporeal-Restcha (2nd day, 4th week, 3rd month)

Greesha is the captain of Angel Strike Force in the A.S.S.F. She has four members in her squad besides herself. There are 5 squads in the A.S.S.F., each contains 5 individuals, one of those 5 is a squad captain.

As captain of Angel Strike Force, she is also the head of the entirety of the A.S.S.F. herself, and she is the most senior member of the A.S.S.F.

Thus, the A.S.S.F. is made up of only 25 individuals, 5 teams of 5. That all changed on Werewolf-Incorporeal-Restcha (2nd day, 4th week, 3rd month), the day after the council meeting from the Council of the Grave. Greesha received instructions from the Council concerning a special operation that was to take place in exactly one month. To prepare for the operation, they were to recruit the most promising potential candidates to fill up spaces to 125, giving each team 25 members instead of 5.

Also, because the operation is to take place within a month, and the new recruits are to be involved, the standard procedures for recruitment which require all recruits to be detained for 25 days before they begin their training, is withdrawn. Now, recruits start their training immediately and are not detained.

The operation involves baiting a pack of werewolves into an ambush, surrounding them on all sides and taking down the pack leader. The most stunning part of the instructions, however, was the authorization of lethal force against the pack leader. For every other werewolf in the pack, lethal force is prohibited, only suppression is allowed.

But the most interesting thing was how assertive the instructions are on lethal force for the pack leader. The instructions warned Greesha that if she refused to use lethal force against the pack leader, she would be dishonorably discharged from the A.S.S.F.

As normal, the instructions did not give a reason behind the peculiar requirements and tasks. Greesha could only speculate as to why the council would give her such odd orders.

Greesha called together the other four squad captains for a meeting. She didn’t like these instructions and she wanted to talk them over with the other captains before deciding what to do. The other captains would not have received any instructions, it was Greesha’s job to tell them what to do.

Greesha was the most trusted of the A.S.S.F. by the council. The most senior members were all squad captains but Greesha had a special connection to the council. Greesha thought it must be that she shares the same ideals and perspective on morality as the Council of the Grave. She has correspondence with the representatives of the Council of the Grave. She doesn’t know who these representatives are, but she has been receiving and sending letters to them.

She always thought that the formality of physical correspondence might be unsafe. Wouldn’t computers be better? Passwords are required to peer through confidential files if you use electronics.

It’s probably just tradition that keeps the Council of the Grave in such primitive methods. The Council of the Grave is even older than the Anti-Screamer Special Forces. Whereas the Council makes decisions concerning what they will do about Screamers and situations involving Screamers, the Anti-Screamer Special Forces now carry out those decisions.

“New order, Captain?” Isuertal asks. Greesha looks up from her instructions. She had been lost in thought. The squad captains were with her in the briefing room.

Greesha takes a moment to take note of the squad captains. Most of them were members of her squad before being promoted to captain. But now she has less interaction with them than she used to and is always worried that they could have been transformed into a Screamer when she wasn’t there to protect them.

The one who spoke to her was Isuertal, a young woman who, by her looks, can’t be over 60 [20 Earth years] and looks like she must be a teenager. Despite being so young, she was quickly promoted to Captain after only one year under Greesha’s command. The reason for the promotion was a catastrophe involving Undead Strike Force, in which the whole squad was killed. Isuertal was the first person reassigned to that squad and as such she was promoted to squad captain. Undead Strike Force often has some of the harder jobs, dealing with Undead. The fact that Isuertal is still alive is nothing short of a miracle.

Then there is Chylclanth, squad captain of Shifter Strike Force. While Isuertal’s Undead Strike Force has some of the harder jobs, Chylclanth’s Shifter Strike Force almost always has the hardest jobs. Shifters are the most violent of the Screamers. It’s impossible to deal with them without casualties from innocent bystanders. Chylclanth looks to be a 120 year-old man [40 Earth years]. He joined Shifter Strike Force as a squad member about two years after Isuertal was promoted to squad captain of Undead Strike Force. Chylclanth was never a member of Greesha’s squad, so she keeps an especially close eye on him because she doesn’t know him as well as the others.

Salsan is the squad captain of Fey Strike Force. Greesha isn’t sure that “Strike Force” is the right term for the type of work that Salsan does. She joined Greesha’s Angel Strike Force three years after Isuertal was reassigned and promoted. Salsan was young when she first joined, a little over 60 years old [20 Earth years], but now she is over 90 [30 Earth years]. Greesha was always proud of how she never had to remind Salsan to not use lethal force. Greesha was also often disappointed about how Salsan didn’t seem to have the will to use suppressive force either. Without any will to fight, she was reassigned to Fey Strike Force after 2 years in Greesha’s squad. Combat is almost entirely absent in Fey Strike Force, so it was a better fit for her. Fey Strike Force specializes in espionage, surveillance, intelligence, and finding potential Screamers. This is the team that tells Greesha which people might actually be Screamers. Then Greesha decides what to do about these potential Screamers. Greesha was proud to see Salsan promoted to squad captain after 4 years as a member of Fey Strike Force.

Culpata is a disturbingly quiet old man. As squad captain of Incorporeal Strike Force, he likes to call himself a Ghost Operative. He hates it when people point out that he would technically be an Incorporeal Operative. He prefers to call his team Ghost Strike Force instead of Incorporeal Strike Force. Incorporeal is a bit of a cumbersome word. It seems Culpata has gotten sick of it over the years. His face has more wrinkles than is normal for his age, but he must be about 210 years old [70 Earth years]. Despite being so old, he is the newest squad captain. He was recruited immediately after Salsan was reassigned to Fey Strike Force. Culpata spent 10 years under Greesha’s wing before demanding to become a captain because he hated being bossed around. Greesha wanted him in the A.S.S.F., so she promoted him to squad captain of Incorporeal Strike Force because it had the easiest task.

On paper, the objective of Incorporeal Strike Force is to use lethal force to take down Screamer threats, even if the target is not 100% confirmed to be a Screamer. But in practice, there is rarely any case in which lethal force would add anything, since suppression takes them down just as quickly.  This special team is supposed to kill without implicating the A.S.S.F. in the deaths of any Screamers. It is supposed to take the morally questionable but necessary steps to keep the city safe from Screamers. But Greesha doesn’t abide morally questionable behavior, ever since she came to be captain of Angel Strike Force, anyone who uses lethal force, even from Incorporeal Strike Force, has been dishonorably discharged and court marshalled with herself as the judge. They’ve always been sentenced to imprisonment in the same hold where they keep the Screamers. They would have separate cells, certainly, but this was a way for Greesha to remind them of the line she continuously repeats, “If you kill, there is no difference between you and a Screamer.”

Luckily, Culpata is far too old to be doing any sort of dangerous work. Incorporeal Strike Force mostly just helps out with Fey Strike Force, doing whatever is asked of them.

Greesha still doesn’t fully trust her squad captains even after working with them for so long. But after seeing her instructions, she knows that she can no longer live as cautiously as she did before. She still worries that anyone in the A.S.S.F. could secretly have become a Screamer without her knowledge. Everyone except Culpata has been a squad captain for at least 20 years. Culpata has only been a squad captain for 18 years, but he was in Greesha’s personal squad for 10 years before that, so he is no less trustworthy than the others.

“Greesha, you’re staring again.” Chylclanth says.

Greesha blinks. Yes, she had been staring. It’s hard to believe that she has worked with these people for so long and still doesn’t trust them.  

Isuertal waves her hands in front of Greesha’s face. “Greesha, are you in there?”

Greesha says, “I’ve just received some orders from the Council of the Grave.”

… Greesha doesn’t continue speaking. She just stands there.

“Are you going to tell us what the orders are?” Isuertal asks. As the most senior member besides Greesha, Isuertal is really familiar with Greesha. But sometimes she is disrespectful in how she casually speaks to Greesha as a close friend rather than giving Greesha the respect of a commanding officer.

Greesha isn’t sure she can do this. Her orders are so reckless, how can she be sure they’re really from the Council of the Grave? How can she know they aren’t forgeries from Screamers? It seems so clear to her that she would be leading so many untrained citizens into a trap. There is no way to take on a full pack of werewolves, especially in the wild. What are her superiors thinking? The 125 A.S.S.F. special operatives could possibly accomplish the task, but with only a month to train them… it’s impossible. Greesha is forced to do something that she never wanted thought would be so hard to do: trust her captains and her superiors.

Greesha finally blinks and the captains all give out sighs of relief. Isuertal smiles, “I thought we had lost you for a little bit.” Greesha doesn’t smile back. Instead, Greesha masks the worry on her face with an expression of resolute firmness. “There has been a change in protocol.” She begins to say, “We will no longer detain our operatives after exposure to Screamers. Nor will any of us suffer detainment either.” Isuertal gasps, but the rest of the captains hide their shock, standing stoically before their commanding officer, Greesha. “Additionally,” Greesha continues, “We will expand our teams to each hold 25 people, instead of 5.” Greesha gulps. Sweat trickles down her arms as she tries to maintain her composure, relaying the orders from the Council of the Grave.

“We will start recruitment immediately.” Greesha says, “And we will give all of our members combat training as field operatives.” Greesha stops talking, but she doesn’t sit down or hand out a written copy of the instructions. She just stands there, staring at nothing. Isuertal is the first to react. She knows Greesha better than any of them. “There is something else… right, Greesha?” Greesha nods slowly. Isuertal says, “If you give me the instructions I could read them aloud for you.”

The rest of the captains look aghast at Isuertal’s behavior. She can’t just ask to perform the task of briefing the other captains, that’s the job of their commanding officer. However, Isuertal knows that Greesha might be literally incapable of briefing the group. The information she has already shared was bad enough, Isuertal dreads to know what would be so bad that Greesha can’t bring herself to speak it.

To everyone's surprise, Greesha nods and croaks out, “Read it. I need to start trusting you.” This unnerves Isuertal. She is sincere and willing to help Greesha brief the captains but she never thought that Greesha would allow her to encroach upon her duties as the commanding officer. Isuertal pulls on the slip of paper in greesha’s grip. It’s hard to get it out without damaging it because Greesha’s hand is a metal grappling claw. Isuertal unfolds the paper and quickly reads through the instructions. At the top of the instructions, something that Greesha had purposefully left-out when telling everyone, there are some details that make all the difference. “In one month, on Werewolf-Angel-Restcha, we’re heading out into the wilderness to take down a pack of werewolves.” We will bring all 125 members of the A.S.S.F. on the mission as combat field operatives. We have orders to kill the Werewolf pack leader, and only the pack leader. The rest of them, we will neutralize with our standard methods.” Isuertal finds herself trembling a bit. She can see why Greesha is so shaken by such orders. All of the other parts of the instructions make sense now.

“I need to trust you.” Greesha says quietly. “You will be the only people I can trust once I start recruitment. You will also be the first target of any Screamer infiltrators. We need to know each other better than we’ve ever known anyone else.” The captains just stand there, unsure of what exactly they could do to “get to know” each other better. And they don’t even conceive the notion that they need to know Greesha. She just seems unknowable, an enigma. She doesn’t seem like a person to them, she is just their commanding officer. Except Isuertal understands her a bit. Isuertal knows that Greesha has flaws. Isuertal knows that Greesha makes mistakes. Most of those “mistakes” involve babying Isuertal, but Isuertal believes they’re mistakes nonetheless.

Greesha looks like she wants to put on her gas mask. Isuertal had thought it was odd that she wasn’t wearing it. Isuertal can tell that Greesha is serious about getting to know them, as Greesha is paranoid to an unhealthy degree and normally doesn’t go without her gas mask if she can help it.

“Would you like a suggestion on how we could get to know each other better?” Isuertal asks to break the silence. Greesha nods. Isuertal smiles. She had always wanted to do this. “I think we should have a slumber par-” She interrupted by groans from the rest of the captains. Greesha doesn’t complain or make any facial movements, but Isuertal can tell just by looking into her eyes, Greesha despises the idea, which means it’s a good one.

Chylclanth snarls, “We’re not children, Isuertal. And it’s not proper for members of the opposite sex to sleep in the same room.”

Isuertal immediately takes offense. “You didn’t even let me finish. And you don’t have to worry that people might sleep with you with that face of yours.’

Chylclanth growls, “They’re battle scars!”

Culpata groans, “See what you did, Isuertal. Why’d you have to bring up his face?”

Chylclanth points to three lines running down the middle of his face and says, “I got these fighting a werewolf.”

Isuertal retorts, “That’s odd. I distinctly remember that you were visiting the Fey Strike Force office building before you were hospitalized for a month.”

Chylclanth coughs in fits of exasperation. “That was a month-long detainment from Screamer exposure. The visit to the Fey quarters was to cover my trail as I went after-”

Isuertal interrupts, “Yeah, yeah. We’ve heard it all before. But Salsan was in the office that day. She can tell if you were really on a secret mission or if you simply tripped over a cable.”

Salsan mumblings, “T-that was a year ago. W-why do we-?”

Culpata gets angry and interrupts Salsan’s whimpers, “Why are you bringing Salsan into this? Can’t you two children quarrel without involving everyone else?”

Chylclanth scoffs, “Children? I’ve fought the most dangerous Screamers. I’m more mature than any of you.”

Isuertal steams, “No way! I’ve been here longer than any of you. I’ve fought Screamers you’ve never even heard of.”

Chylclanth grins, “Then where are your scars?”

Isuertal snaps back, “Like I’d show you! I’m not going to let you see under my clothes like you did to Salsan’s secretary three years ago.”

Chylclanth goes red in the face, “I was certain she was a Shifter infiltrator!”

Salsan goes pale and says, “We don’t need to talk about her. She was acting really suspicious at the time and wasn’t following instructions correctly.”

Culpata sighs, “Salsan, this is why you need to take charge in your role. Be assertive, you’re a captain after all. Chylclanth never would have tried to do your job for you if he thought you were actually competent at it.”

Salsan turns red with fury, and takes hold of a nearby counter as she frantically takes deep breaths to contain her anger. This gives everyone else pause, as Salsan never loses her temper. It’s hard to get under her skin. Isuertal and Chylclanth catch the irony of Culpata telling Salsan to be better at her job, considering that Culpata is the worst at his job out of all of them. His whole team is essentially just an expansion of Salsan’s command. It’s like a recruit scolding their superior.

Isuertal follows Salsan’s example and calms her own breathing as well. Then she says, “As I was saying before I was interrupted, I think we should have a slumber party to get to know each other.”

Culpata says, “We need a serious idea, Isuertal.”

Isuertal stammers, “I-I wasn’t finished!”

Chylclanth mockingly says, “If children’s ideas are on the table, maybe we could play ‘Truth or Dare’, or ‘Never Have I Ever’.

Salsan has calmed herself a bit now and quietly says, “Those don’t sound like bad ideas.”

Isuertal exclaims, “What! You like those ideas but not mine? What’s wrong with a slumber party?”

Salsan speaks quietly, her face leeched of color and her voice firm but monotone without emotion. “The sharing of secrets is useful for the identification of Screamer doppelgangers and changes in personality to detect a Screamer transformation. But a slumber party does not involve the systematic sharing of secrets.”

Isuertal asks, “‘Systematic sharing of secrets’? Salsan have you ever been to a slumber party or played any of those games? A slumber party may not ‘systematically’ reveal information, but it does so naturally. There is some information that we just won’t disclose until we get to know each other a bit better. And that’s the real task, isn’t it? We need to get to know each other, not just know each other's secrets.”

Culpata says, “A slumber party is a fine idea. I might join as well, you’ll need a chaperone.” Everyone is irritated by this. It’s worse than Chylclanth and Isuertal’s jibes because Culpata isn’t purposefully mocking them, he is speaking with utter sincerity. They loathe how he literally thinks of them as children. The only person he ever gives any respect to is Greesha.

Salsan grimaces and says, “A slumber party is nice, but I think what Culpata needs is a humbler party.”

Culpata asks in genuine curiosity, “What could be more humble than a slumber party? Any less fancy and it wouldn’t be right to call it a party at all.”

Isuertal says, “Salsan’s right. This party will be humbler than you expect. If anybody had let me finish, they would have known that this slumber party will be in the woods near the cities in a particular spot that is said by locals to be haunted. There, I will share the ghost stories I’ve collected from the people that live near there.”

Chylclanth asks, “How long have you been planning this slumber party?”

Isuertal gets flustered and asks, “Planning? What do you mean? There is no way I could have planned this? I didn’t know what the orders from the Council would be? What makes you think I was already planning a slumber party?”

Chylclanth grins, “You didn’t come up with all of this on the spot. This is something you’ve been planning for a while. Culpata’s right. You are a child. How long have you been waiting for the opportunity to invite us to a slumber party?”

Isuertal says, “It doesn’t matter. And if I’ve been planning it for a while, that just makes it better. This is the only idea anyone’s had so far. Does anybody have any way to get to know each other that’s better than my slumber party?”

…

It’s quiet, until they all hear someone clear their throat behind them. They all pale when they remember that Greesha has been standing there the whole time. Everyone just stares at her. “You forgot I was here.” Greesha says.

Salsan stammers, “W-what? Forget you? W-we would never forget about y-you, Captain Greesha.”

Isuertal laughs, “Ahaha, we totally forgot you were here. Sorry, Greesha. You should really speak up more often.”

Salsan hisses through gritted teeth, “Isuertal!”

Greesha speaks quietly as she holds her gas mask in her grappling claw, “You already know each other much better than you know me.”

The captains all look a bit solemn as they know they consider the task of getting to know Greesha to be nearly impossible. However, Isuertal is smiling.

Isuertal gestures to Greesha’s gas mask and metal limbs and says, “It’ll be easier to get to know you if you take off your armor first. You’ve done such a good job of keeping your mask off. If you can keep it off for the whole slumber party, that would be great.”

Chylclanth asks, “You still think there we are going to have a slumber party?”

Isuertal responds, “That’s really up to Captain Greesha. What do you say, Greesha? Do you approve of my plan?”

Greesha slowly nods. Isuertal doesn’t even wait for her to give verbal confirmation. She shouts for glee and says, “Great, then I’ll take you to camp at Ghostlight Grove on Ghost-Incorpreal-Restcha. We will spend all of tomorrow preparing our teams to operate without our guidance and setting in order anything that requires the attention of actual captains. You won’t need to pack much, I’ve got pretty much everything covered.”

Culpata says, “I’ve never seen you this excited before, Isuertal. Forgive me for not sharing in your excitement.”

Salsan gasps and pulls Isuertal aside before whispering, “Ghostlight Grove? I’m constantly getting reports of Screamer activity there. I’ve sent agents to investigate the claims, but they’ve never come back with anything. Do you know something about that place that I don’t?”

Isuertal seems taken aback and says, “Ghostlight Grove is just where I go camping every week. I’ve never seen any Screamers there.”

Salsan frowns, “My agents have staked out that location for months at a time. They never said anything about you being there. Surely, they would have recognized you.”

Isuertal grimaces in embarrassment at what she’s about to say, “I mean. It makes sense that they wouldn’t see me or recognize me. I don’t rent cabin in the campground. I sleep out in the woods, not the proper campgrounds.”

Salsan looks a bit worried, “Is that even legal?”

Isuertal quickly justifies herself, “The old woman that runs the camp knows that I camp there. She is okay with it. If she had a problem with it, I would have been kicked out a long time ago.”

Salsan just shakes her head, “Are we taking cabins? The campowner might be okay with just you setting up camp in the woods, but are you sure she’ll be okay if you bring along four others?”

Isuertal nods her head and quickly responds, “Yes, yes. Yes, yes. I’ve talked with her about this slumber party for months. She knows all about-” Isuertal stops suddenly as she realizes what she just said.

Salsan’s mouth drops open, “Months? That’s… that’s a really long time to-”

“Did I say months?” Isuertal interrupts, “No no no. I meant, um… days?”

Salsan shakes her head, “I had no idea you had wanted to spend time with us. Why didn’t you invite us sooner?”

Isuertal looks down, “I was waiting for the best time. I was waiting for Ghost-Incorporeal-Dylishan, but the month doesn’t really matter. If we wait until the Dylishan hour of the Ghost quintuple, it will still be a quadruple alignment.”

Salsan looks a bit worried, “Why do you care about the Screamer alignment?”

Isuertal grips her hands, “The Incorporeal alignment is the best time to share scary stories. Nothing is as terrifying as the hopelessness as you are paralyzed with dread, as you hear stories about what haunts the woods you’ll be sleeping in.”

Salsan almost yells, “But you said there were no Screamers there!”

Isuertal frowns, “Of course there are no Screamers. I wouldn’t sleep there every week if there were Screamers there. The scary stories aren’t true, Salsan. But they do help with the atmosphere.”

Salsan looks at Isuertal in the eyes and says, “Isuertal, why are there so many reports of Screamer activity there? You have been there. You’ve heard the scary stories. Do you know why everyone thinks there are Screamers there?”

Isuertal smiles, “It’s actually why I wanted to bring Greesha and the captains there for so long. Even though there are no Screamers, it has a spooky atmosphere that is heightened by your fear from scary stories. It just looks like the type of place you would expect a monster to jump out at you. Especially deep in the woods.”

Salsan takes a step back, mouth wide in horror, “Chylclanth has trauma with Screamers and Greesha is already so paranoid that she can’t distinguish between human and Screamer, and you’re purposefully trying to bring them into a place that has a spooky atmosphere that convinces most civilians that there must be Screamers there?”

Isuertal beams, “Yes! Won’t that be fun?”

Salsan shakes her head, “I think that’s sick, and not in a good way. I’m going to warn Greesha and find a different idea to help us bond.”

Isuertal grabs Salsan by the shoulder, stopping her, “Salsan, you don’t know as much as you think you do. I’ve been planning this for mon-... it doesn’t matter how long I’ve been planning this for. But the point is, I know more about this than you. Do you really think that the woods would even get a reaction out of hardened captains like Chylclanth and Greesha. Just today, Greesha destroyed an Incorporeal manifestation with the force of her crashing down into it. Would dark woods even cause her to flinch? Chylclanth goes face to face with werewolves, are a few crickets in the night going to give him nightmares?”

Salsan goes pale at Isuertal’s serious tone and tries to pull herself free of Isuertal’s grip. But she isn’t strong enough. “Let go of me, Isuertal. I’ll let Greesha make the decision, but I won’t let her walk into one of your childish pranks without warning.”

Isuertal grips Salsan’s shoulder harder but stops and releases her when she sees Greesha staring at them. Greesha rarely ever seems to blink. Isuertal is certain that such a behavior can’t be good for her eyes, but she is not going to try to convince Greesha to stop her paranoid habit.

Isuertal watches Salsan whisper to Greesha. Isuertal watches Greesha’s face for any hint of emotion. But she just stoically nods as she listens to Salsan’s warning. Then Greesha speaks loud enough for everyone to hear, “I understand your concern, Salsan. But I trust Isuertal. I’ll be forced to trust her with my very life in the coming weeks. She knows that this is a serious matter and will not betray my trust. My captains would never betray me… but a Screamer might.”

Isuertal can hear the warning in Greesha’s words. If her slumber party bonding activity is actually just a prank to scare them, then Isuertal must be a Screamer. And she knows what Greesha does with Screamers. She’d be imprisoned.