UCAC Ch. 03

I write 3 chapters at a time simply because with my ADHD, it strikes the perfect balance.

I got all the boring stuff out of the way so now it's time to get to the real action. Chapter 4, 5 & 6 will be the craziest things I've uploaded to this website...

I hope you all enjoy. Tell me which character you like the most, which character you don't, where you think the story will go... Please Comment!!!!

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I knew I had fucked up from the time I stepped out of General Aquil's office. All I could do was wonder what the hell I got myself into. As the next day arrived it became even more overwhelming. I had to keep a pretty serious secret from my team and quite frankly, it was eating up my insides. This is what I got for telling what I felt was a lie but was instead the truth. This is the turn of fate I had, to actually be assisted on my quest to feel alive. What if feeling alive meant a certain odd sensation only for a few seconds before my death? What if I go on this journey of self discovery only to find a certain demise? Was all of this worth it? After all, I was going through this turmoil over heartbreak and nothing more...

It was about five thirty in the morning, no different from any other day. Grunts woke up early to race to the gym in a show of crude machoism. Others ran to showers to freshen up for the day while others waited for the mess hall to open.

Some soldiers could sleep in today which they took full advantage of. However I never understood how anyone could sleep in when we're trained to get up at four thirty every morning. It simply seemed lazy to me. I was down in the archive, trying to find information on the Americas. I came across a book, one titled, The United States: A modern day Babylon. Upon reading, I realized this was some cultest book that specified nothing important about the Americas. It only talked about how the diversity of people led to it's downfall.

I was looking for Climate, geology, topography, wildlife, inhabitants and whether or not it'd be a big adjustment for when I go. Truthfully, I was worried and I may had shot myself in the foot with this one. Honestly, I had no idea there was a UCAC in the America's. It was a big surprise... It definitely explained why Dr. Aheem was so overworked. It made me wonder if his progress was further with that region or was it further over here. Surely the Wingers across the pond had to be designed with the same level of skill as we had.

I wanted to find the ancient bird species that flew across the skies of the United States. It would give me a general idea of what the wingers might look like. However, finding such resources would be tough. I inevitably was drawn back the modern Babylon book. It stated clearly that in the eastern United States, human populations dwindled due to the high count of anti-personnel mechs. These mechs were vicious, animalistic in nature and notoriously hard to take down. Of course, I've never faced one. Those were New World problems and quite frankly, I don't remember much about living in the Americas. I just remember I was raised between the Sonoran Desert and the Utah Badlands, the Swamps of the South, the Central Plains and the Caribbean. We moved around so much, I learned never to cling onto anything... including memories. Reading some of these tales, I had the sneaking suspicion that I'd have to face off with one of these machines. It was something I was not enthused about... at all.

Still though, there was nothing on American Ornithology. This archive had to have something. If America was this badass, it had to have equally badass birds at one point in it's history. Knowing Doctor Aheem, those Wingers he designed will be ferocious little somethings.

"What are you doing?" Someone asked. Startled, I turned, surprised to see Liam.

"Oh, reading." I sighed.

"Reading what?" He said sitting next to me.

"I want to know more about the place I came from. All I gotta say is I see why my parents left." I laughed.

"What is it like?"

"It's um...huge... spans half the whole continent! One corner is marsh, swamp and coastal wetlands while to the west is desert, and canyon. In the center of these lands are rolling hills of grassland that go on for hundreds of thousands of miles. To the northeast are dense conifer forests and the Ruins of Giant Cities that lined the coast. To the North West you have rolling mountains called the Great Spine that Reach a temperate rainforest that goes even beyond the arctic circle. Truly, it's a vast place." I explained.

"Would you ever want to go back?"

"There's nothing there for me. Plus, based on this book, it is considerably more dangerous than all of Scandinavia could ever be. In fact, I don't think there is a place more dangerous than the Americas." I said back. I didn't really want to answer his question. Dancing around questions was pretty much all I ever did at this point in my life...

"Well, I come down here all the time...never saw you here before." Liam said, getting to his feet.

"Well, there's a first for everything." I said, quick to take advantage of this opportunity, "Help me find an American Ornithology book." He reached in his bag, handing me an Audubon Society field guide for American birds. On the front was some type of buzzard, similar to our common buzzard but with a rusty colored tail. The book seemed very old.

"It's funny how this was the book I was reading the other day when we talked." The boy chuckled. It made me laugh a bit as well. Flipping open straight towards the raptors, I saw they had quite a bit of diversity in falcons. Not only did they have typical falcons, but another family of falcons known as Caracaras. They looked very kite-like in flight but had huge beaks and long legs for falcons. The true falcons were pretty...strange. They had peregrine falcons which was no surprise considering how widespread the bird was but also had a strange falcon which looked akin to a laggar falcon but with a more subdued plumage. It was called the prairie falcon. It looked about the same size as a peregrine falcon but the proportions were definitely more hierofalcon-like. It had a long tail and narrow wings that came to a taper rather than a point.

They also had merlins, which again didn't surprise me considering merlins were very widespread raptors. They had the tiniest species of kestrel I've ever seen. It was about the size of a collared dove and very vibrantly colored. However the falcon which caught my eye was the one named the aplomado falcon. It was gorgeous, being about the size of a small peregrine, it's proportions were different from any falcon I've seen.

In relation to its body size, the tail was very long. The same could be said for the wings which also were long. It almost looked like a hobby but was much larger. The wing tips were rather blunt, coming to a broad taper compared to a hobby and the secondaries were rather elongated. It had two very long legs for a true falcon, covered in ruddy feathers. The rest of the bird was striking, having black and white bars covering the entire body. It had the typical helmet and mustache of a falcon, making it easy to identify. However, it had orange streaks running from it's cheek to it's nape as well as a bright orange patch under it's throat down to it's breast. Ultimately, it was the most striking falcon I've ever seen.

I wondered how it flew. Based on the wings, I bet it didn't like to dive much. It probably was a low altitude ambush and pursuit hunter, using those wings to power after prey. It was large enough to have impressive speed but had a body built for agility. This probably was a small bird, or insect predator.

Flipping through the pages, I came across the buteos. They called them hawks rather than buzzards which was strange because buteos are not considered true hawks...accipiters were. They had, red-tailed hawks, red-shouldered hawks, broad-winged hawks, zone-tailed hawks, ferruginous hawks, rough-legged hawks,white-tailed hawks, swainson's hawks, and some other buteo like-hawks. These hawks ranged from small to large, the rough-legged hawk being the largest as well as the most widespread. In Eurasia, we called it the rough-legged buzzard. The hawk on the cover of the book was a red-tail, the most common in the Americas.

These hawks had more variety than ours, from the wing shape to flight characteristics. The red-shouldered hawk was one that stood out to me. It wasn't too remarkable, only having a long tail, relatively narrow wings and very delicate build. It was one of the smaller hawks of the Americas. The swainson's hawk was another delicate hawk with long broad, pointed wings and a shorter tail. Its profile was vaguely-falcon like compared to other hawks, having a short tail and narrower wings than other hawks.

Continuing to flip through, I found the kites. Now these kites were vastly different from the kites we had in Eurasia. You'd be hard pressed discerning them from falcons. There were three that looked similar to falcons: the Mississippi kite, the white-tailed kite and the swallow-tailed kite. All were delicate, having long narrow wings that came to a point, long tails and elegant bodies. The kites we had here were very buteo-like, having long, broad wings and tails. They just lacked the sleekness of the kites from the New World.

Then came the accipiters, the true hawks. Like in Scandinavia, there were three species. There was the sharp-shinned hawk, the cooper's hawk and the northern goshawk. The sharp-shin and the cooper's were nearly identical but the cooper's could get fairly large. The sharp-shin was about the same size as a Eurasian sparrowhawk. This definitely had to be a team, considering how the team functioned here in Scandinavia.

There also were more hawk-like raptors but they weren't worth mentioning. Well...maybe the bay-wing hawk. It was a very, very buteo-like raptor well known for it's ability to cooperatively hunt in groups. It made me wonder did Dr. Aheem build a team of this magnitude. If so, I'd be damn impressed.

I closed the book, going to study it later. I didn't notice that Liam had a book devoted simply to New World raptors as he sat in a nook across the archive.

"Hey!" I said, walking over to him. He looked up at me, unsure what this would be about.

"Yeah?" He responded.

"This book has all the raptors from the New World?" I asked.

"Yeah, old and new." He said back.

"What do you mean?"

"It has the raptors from before the Great Fall and the ones after. There's a huge difference too! There are these giant silver caracaras that hunt in groups, giant vultures the same size of the Roc Class, giant ground dwelling raptors as fast as cheetahs, and giant sea-going raptors that never land...only to breed." He explained.

"Wait...what stretch?"

"The Patagonia stretch, not the Murica stretch." He clarified.

"Oooooh!" I said, astounded. He closed the book, looking on very seriously.

"I have a question..." He began. I sat on the nook next to him.

"Sure." I began.

"Has it...always been a struggle for you? I mean I'm struggling bad!" He sighed.

"Not really. I never really had anyone to oppose me until I got to this place. Since you're young and not established, it's best you keep it to yourself." I recommended.

"I don't want to keep it to myself. That is the story of my whole life. I came out to my parents, they said being gay was wrong and violated the natural order. They said people would look at me like a disgrace and that I'd bring shame to this family. So, I spent a long time hiding who I was, putting up this facade to appease my parents but it just didn't work as well for me as it did them. I was growing frustrated, bitter, reclusive...until this place happened. I was sixteen at the time and desperately wanted to leave. My parents were not happy but I had so much frustration pent up inside of me, it rekindled into anguish. I told them how I felt as well as a few spiteful things just to get under their skin and it worked. I was disowned and had no choice but to go into the UCAC. I never spoke to them again.." He sighed.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that. The thing is, you gotta think about your well being during your military career. The people in this base are ruffians and bigots from every back alley and boondock in Eurasia. I've seen what they do to people like us...gang up on us, tell us we're not natural, try to hurt us... They won't rest until they get a satisfactory result out of the torment. The thing is, they don't know what they want out of it. It's simply is male insecurities acting out on ignorance...a very dangerous combination! Do you want to wish that upon yourself?" I said.

"No but..."

"I'm telling you, don't blow it for yourself. I can't protect you from the persecution of an entire base. We're truly on our own, kid." I interrupted. He sighed, truly frustrated.

"It's just this alone feeling, like I'm the only person in the world like this." He sighed.

"You're not...many of the bigots who ridicule you in the daytime will have the wildest sex with you at night. Trust me I know...I've been there. It's just something about being open about it they don't like. If I had a choice, I'd be free of the social stigma too. But I must say this," I began, "You don't know what it feels like to be alone! Try having your parents, a ship crew, a Captain...everyone on a giant ocean voyager die when you're just nine years old, having to vy for survival in a foreign land for ten years, having to do things that make you feel less of a man simply to stay alive. I've been to those lows, truly have no one...while you, sitting here because your parents had a temper tantrum and temporarily cut you out from the trust fund, feel alone. I can assure you this...no matter how fucked up your day is, how much turmoil you have inside, something made you smile... Something temporarily pulled you away from what's bugging you. The thing is, when you spend time alone when you have certain issues, it gives your mind time to fester. Have you not heard of the saying an idle mind is the devil's playground?"

"I've heard of the saying." He said.

"Well, if I were you, I'd stop sulking in my frustrations and find a reason to be happy, no matter how minute. Any type of if, and or but is an excuse..." I said, sternly.

"But..."

"AH!!" I interrupted.

"But!"

"Nope!" I continued to interrupt.

"I just wanted to talk about Everette." He laughed.

"What about him?"

"I don't know...like...is he...gay or something?" I asked.

"Everette is a bit of a dumbass. He'll do anything someone who looks important or acts a certain way tells him. He may not be gay but he's definitely try-sexual... He just has that face. If you wanna have a wild fuck with the boy, you most certainly can." I laughed.

"I don't want to have sex with him. I just want to get to know him, be something with him..." Liam said.

"Child, I'd recommend you steer clear of love. You've yet to experience how beautiful this place can be, the highs it can take you. Everyone here goes through lows, it's part of the experience. But love...it'll fuck all that up either for you or someone else. You seem like a fairly straight-forward dude who doesn't like to hide anything...an honest youngman. Those are the type of young men that get hurt, stomped on and left crawling to finish last. I'm not trying to scare you. I'm just saying experience the highs and lows of this place, let it take you to new heights and make you grow before considering love..." I said.

"How long did it take you to grow...?" He asked.

"It took seven long years...I was so so stuck on my past, not even able to trust the one person who broke their back trying to help me keep my head on my shoulders and blew it. You're a very smart dude...how old are you? Eighteen, Nineteen?" I asked.

"Twenty." He said.

"Well, you're fairly mature compared to me when I was that age. I think you'll grow into something far grander than I'll ever be." I chuckled.

"Eh, don't say that. It's like everyone here can see how phenomenal you are...but you can't. And you're twenty four... How will..."

"The thing is, every six months is like a new chapter of your life...every birthday, you're an entirely different person than you was before. In this world, you change so fast, learn so many new things... It can overload ya which has happened in the past to some weak links. But to me, that is the most beautiful thing about this place... of course I can only tell you this stuff. It's up to you to heed." I interrupted.

"I promise you I will!" He laughed.

"Do people even know you're a prince?" I asked.

"No. I think it'd skew people's perception of me... I want people to like me for me." He said.

"Ah, so you don't want your title to dictate people's perception of you?"

"Yeah... It won't be fair." He giggled.

"Do you see the connection there? You don't care about people seeing you as gay not knowing the detrimental consequences but do care about these people seeing you as a prince which wouldn't be to your detriment... at all." I laughed.

"I never thought about it that way but all things considered, I'm still technically disowned. My family wants nothing to do with me. My name is simply a title." He smiled.

"Trust me...you're the one who hasn't come around yet. Your parents would probably do any and everything to get you back home and to continue being their little prince." I said.

"Yeah, but I don't want that! I don't want to be who they want me to be! I want to be whatever fate has in store for me...good or bad."

"You don't do that," I corrected, "You make the best decisions possible and hope fate shows you favor. You never make poor decisions in hope that fate takes you somewhere. That's so backwards, kid!"

"Am I that wrong?" He laughed.

"Yes! Only I'm allowed to be that stupid! I'm the one who can simply vanish without anyone caring." I joked.

"Indeed you are." A snide voice said. It was Jarvis. His very presence placed tight knots in my stomach. Liam too shared these sentiments. Where I showed restraint, keeping a straight face, Liam scowled at the man.

"Why are you here?" I asked, not wanting to engage a conversation with Jarvis.

"I'm just looking for a few good reads..." He said snatching the book from my hands. Liam began to boil in his skin with Jarvis's actions.

"I was reading that..." I sighed.

"Audubon Society..." He said, throwing the book at me, "We need to talk... never got the chance to have a decent conversation."

"And who's fault is that?" I asked, laughing. He shrugged, smiling.

"Let's face it. We're both shitty people..." He said, walking away. He was right.We've both hurt people, had little regard for others and got our way by all means. The thing was though, his treachery left every single person hung high and dry during the last mission yet he managed to walk away from it without a trace...a true snake. He shook me up badly before and I realized I was like a miniature version of him, just only more boisterous. Who wanted to be that way? The Italy mission was simply that life changing.

Not to mention, I did not trust Jarvis at all. I could tell this was some sick game to get close to me for some reason. He probably heard that I was offered a promotion and got threatened. If this was the case, I had to be on my toes. Jarvis was someone I didn't want to tangle with. I truly feared him.

Both Liam and I watched as he left the archive.

"Why do you take his shit?" Liam asked.

"Some things are better to avoid and be silent over.." I sighed, picking the book up off the floor.

"Don't tell me you're scared of him..." Liam asked. I looked at the boy.

"Hell yeah, I'm scared of him. You saw what he could do in Italy..." I said plainly.