Mission: Young People

Mission 2: Young People

Preface:

If anyone says that the pen is mightier than the sword, they've obviously never faced automatic weapons.

—Douglas MacArthur

"I was assigned to the Special Reconnaissance Regiment of the Fast Knife Synthetic Brigade, where I serve as a medic in Seventh Squad of the Vanguard Combat Platoon."

Besides Doctor Maguire, there were eleven other members of Seventh Squad in the military vehicle.

He held his logbook, pen and paper swaying gently with the vehicle as it crossed hills and muddy roads. He had imagined countless scenes of an expeditionary force marching to the front, but this nameless army led by Gunsmith was nothing like he'd expected. They were far too young.

The squad leader of Seventh Squad was a twenty-eight-year-old veteran, a seasoned old hand. He shared his name with film director Hitchcock. Originally, he'd been selected from the Panda Warband in District 32, Guangling Zhixi, to join an elite strike force—a one-in-a-thousand soldier.

The other young soldiers were just as impressive. The veteran driver leading the way had once worked in a communications hub for the Department of Transportation. Thanks to his special skill in deciphering encrypted messages, he'd joined the Fast Knife unit with Gunsmith and had already served as an adviser to three regimental headquarters. As for combat experience, the youngsters here were a generation younger than Maguire—seventeen- and eighteen-year-old kids—yet every one of them had fought at least forty battles.

If this were a game, Maguire's head would have nothing more than a single French fry above it. Any one of the soldiers in the troop compartment, on the other hand, would surely have three or four campaign medals among their personal effects.

The vehicle drove smoothly and fast, racing through the woods, crossing streams and shallows, charging into overgrown fields,