Chapter 17 - The Praetorians The first meeting of the Praetorian Guard of Olympus.
Janice the President of Olympus started things off...
Alright everyone lets get started. Take a look around you ladies and gentlemen. Aside from myself you are all looking at the first members of the Praetorian Guard of Olympus. As you are guessing from the name your task will be to protect the most valuable members of our community and Olympus itself. Pulsar originated this idea and he, along with the rest of Olympus, knows you will all do your very best in pursuit of your mission objectives.
Paul took over from there...
I am your new Commander and I will remain so until one of you shows me that he, or she, has the stuff to do my job. I want to go back to my dojo and training grounds. I am a human but most of the people in this room are not. There are 102 people here. Our lovely President and myself are the 101st and 102nd.
Of the rest of you lot 62 are Level 1 MetaHumans. Yeah, you are stronger, faster and a damn bit tougher than any human I have ever seen. BUT only 15 of you have had military training so you other 47 have a long damn way to go.
We also have 12 Type II MetaHumans. Yeah you heard me right.
I could let them speak for themselves but this is a military outfit so I am just gonna tell ya. They all have a few things in common. They all have some reasons for not wanting to join the flashy combat teams. It is their business but to make it easy for the brain-dead out there I will tell you some of them.”
Some of our new comrades have purely defensive powers. Some just want to help in a different way and some are people who have such extreme powers that the only way they will use them is in defense.
I think everyone who signs up for the Praetorian Guard is doing a noble thing. And the reasons, well, they do not mean shit to me.
If any of you monkeys can do math you will realize there are still 26 people unaccounted for. Well I will tell you. Look around. See the boys and girls who look kinda sleepy? Every one of those jokers is a former special forces op. Stone cold killers who only quit when they are dead. Wake up. I am trying to use you as examples of something besides sacks a shit.
These jokers are going to make this force into what it must be. We are going to protect those MetaHumans and others who are vital to Olympus. From this moment on the health and safety of the Telepaths and Scanners of Olympus is our responsibility.
The original Praetorian Guard was formed by the Roman Emperor Augustus in 27 BC. Two thousand f------ years later and we still have the same bloody needs. They were formed to protect the person of the Emperor but also the city of Rome. You monkeys beginning to get the idea?
We are a combination of US Secret Service and military Special Forces. We are going to review every action we take in the field and look for ways to do it better. I'll bet you are all thinking about firepower. Ways to take down some of those Super f------ villains you keep hearing about right?
Our symbol will be a scorpion a link back to the Praetorian Guard of the past. Our weapons will reflect that symbol.
Now I got some good and I got some bad. First we do not have any damn lasers. No super science yet or any of that kind of crap. We do have some stuff working with armor and blades though. I will get back to that in a minute.
But the good news. When I raised the subject of funding with the Council I was told, by Pulsar himself and I quote, 'Buy the very best weapons, electronics, explosives, vehicles, anything you need that will make your force more effective, period. If they do not make it, build it.'
We are working on the gear and you are going to be f------ pleased.
We will organize ourselves based on our mission -- protection. The basic unit will be three troopers. Our basic doctrine will be that two warriors stay with our principle at all times. This means the third person in the unit can roam to take a more offensive role when required.
With 100 of you that means 33 squads and my second in command. Not sure which of you apes will have that honor. I'll decide which of you I like the least and see how that works out. We run a 24 hour business here monkeys. That means 3 shifts a day. 8 hours on duty. 8 hours off. 8 hours rack time. If you are not in the field or otherwise assigned you will be training.
(general chuckles)
Aside from our President here and a handful of others, most of our assignments will be part of the Olympus Intelligence service, PsiInt.
(general grumbles)
Hey, I hear ya. Listen up! Forget every joke you know about intelligence. When you have Telepaths, Mind Scanners and Invisible Men as your spooks they know their stuff. Let me put it this way. Every other intelligence service in the world spends most of it's time guessing. Then they bet people's lives on those guesses. Right?
PsiInt knows. They know where people are and what they are f------ thinking. Never has any military outfit had the kind of intelligence we have. Get used to trusting what they give you. I have yet to see them get one wrong and I am talking some messy hairy shit.
Body armor and blades. Our primary weapons are going to be what you would expect. The best automatic weapons money can buy. But considering the freaks we may have to deal with I think we are all going to be thankful for the armor that Geo is working on. Geo is a Meta. He can alter matter, any matter, into almost anything. He can turn your ass into gas and he can turn your gas into perfume. He likes to say that.
The armor is tough as nails, light as can be, awesome stuff. So far half'a inch of the stuff will stop a .50 cal slug at point blank range. The inner layer of padding is just as advanced. Geo is the man.
Blades. Again dealing with some of the people we might face we just might find that the best weapon for the job is a good long piece of steel. Geo is creating swords right now. Strongest stuff I have ever seen. Bash it full edge on to another piece of normal steel and it cuts deep. And... And! It comes away unmarked.
Alright I think that about wraps it up.
You all have your orders in those envelopes. Room assignments, training schedules and for those of you who already know which end of a gun goes bang-- duty rosters.
I cannot believe the rank they have forced upon me but I will do my best despite that. I expect nothing less from each and every one of you.
As of this moment I am Centurion Paul Adams and you are the Praetorian Guard.
Meeting Adjourned.
For Olympus we stand.
For Olympus we fight!
--Motto of the Praetorian Guard of Olympus
Paul & Janice MetaWar Chapter Eighteen MetaWar Chapter Sixteen