Chapter 16: Selection
Thomas thumbed through the dossiers, thirty-three is a lot of information to go through. When it boils down to it though, he just needs to pick people whose skills complement his own and have great team synergy. The major general had already left him in there and gone to check other things, said he'd be back in a half day to check on him. Thomas picked up the nearest one and thumbed through it. It was a pretty thick file, actually, all of them were pretty thick, to be honest. They didn't have any computers, after all, Alan Turing wouldn't develop the first one until the middle of the war. They might have one earlier than that though if Kincade's journal actually listed one.
The file Thomas had picked was on a Russian ex-national, some guy named Anton Nikolov. He was a talkative man with many stories and liked to laugh at them even if no one else did according to the dossier, but he got the job done. His specialties are demolitions, bomb-making, and infiltration. Those were some pretty good qualifications. His file says he took part in a covert action against Finnish forces recently, the file doesn't specify the operation or what happened, but it does mention that he obtained the Order of the Red Star and the Medal for Courage. He was also injured as a result of the operation and became blinded in his left eye, though it never lost its color for unknown reasons. Thomas took the file, he will have need of such a man, he was sure.
The next file Thomas picked up was on a woman named Francine Freau. She was well versed in infiltration and spying, but that's about it. The only bonus that could be said is that she has many underground contacts among the criminal community as well as the black market. Other than that, she was practically useless, Thomas tossed away her file into some corner of the room that will doubtlessly be forgotten just like so many other files and papers. If it was just Contacts, Thomas could doubtless make some of those on his own, though he might very well come across this Francine later.
The next file was just as useless with no redeeming qualities. Were they testing his ability to find worthy people out of a pile of junk or something? He picked up the next file, oh, this looks promising. The file was on a man named Peter Longhouse, aside from the joke name, which even Thomas had to admit was in bad taste, this file was excellent. He had several commendations from actions in World War One, though he was getting on a bit in age at thirty-six years of age, he had multiple commendations. First, there was the standard World War One Victory Medal for participating. Second, he had the Distinguished Service Cross for acts of valor when charging enemy fortifications at Versailles. Lastly, two silver stars and a bronze heart for courageous actions in saving an entire platoon from a machine gun emplacement when he charged into the trenches, though he was wounded in the process. He made a full recovery in time for the end of the war.
Thomas also liked his specializations. He was specialized in the operation of heavy and mechanical weapons, most probably artillery Thomas assumed. He was a skilled coordinator, which meant that he could accurately call for artillery strikes with a hundredth of a percent error margin. He was also well versed in flanking tactics and facing against a numerically superior force, all of which would come in handy. Thomas set Peter's dossier on top of Anton's, he just imagined the sort of havoc the two could cause, side by side.
This process went on for about an hour. He tossed more files away than he had taken, at this point he was four for ten. Not a very good start to all this, but he had to admit, the people he selected were well suited for what he had in mind, and most likely what command had in mind as well.
With a quick sigh, he prepared himself for the next folder. Just randomly grabbing one within the pile he looked at it and realized he had struck dossier gold. If this wasn't the Crème de la Crème, he didn't know what was. The file was on a woman named Elaine Schubert. She was probably the best medical candidate by far and also already a part of Operation Kingmaker. She had surgical skills, medical skills, the whole nine yards. Her greatest feat was a two-hour heart transplant, fastest in the world by four hours. With skills like that, why wouldn't he want her on his team? Thomas immediately set aside her dossier with Anton and the others. That makes five for eleven, this was going to be a long day. Thomas picked up the next folder and repeated the process.
Thomas sighed after looking through five more dossiers he closed his eyes and rubbed his temple. Sixteen dossiers and he had only picked enough for a full squad plus him. Whoever said being in charge was easy lied through their teeth. He didn't know if this was some test or if he really only had thirty-three people to choose from. He picked up the next file, he wasn't even hopeful in the slightest that it might be good. He opened it and scanned through it.
Interestingly enough, the person the file mentions has several unique skillsets that could come in handy in certain situations. Yet sadly, Thomas had no use for someone who was only unique in that sense. He was looking for true all-rounders and skill sets. Someone the could bring on any mission and he would have a use for them. Three more files, three more useless people, where did they find these people? He didn't have a need for someone skilled in jungle warfare or astrology for that matter.
Two files later and he had finally come across some pretty good. His name was Enrique Vasquez. He grew up in the poor slums of Chicago to a family of ten it seems, fell in with some bad people and was offered jail or the military. He took military and he really did take a liking to it. Thanks to his previous gang-related activities he was proficient at firearms, hand to hand combat, and he had his own specialties as well. He could hotwire any car, he could break most locks in under a minute, he was also good at modifying melee weapons to be deadlier. This was someone he could use. He took that dossier and tossed it with the other seven that he had, that made eight. Still seven short of a platoon.
He picked two more people from the rest of the dossiers, the two he had picked were commando specialists. One was a bonafide sniper and the other was a bomb defuser, she had been trained to defuse any sort of bomb as a prototype initiative. The initiative failed but she didn't. He rubbed his eyes, he was pretty tired, he didn't think picking people for an outfit could be this exhausting. He laid his head down for a few minutes and the door opened before he could take a nap. Major General Hughes walked in, Thomas stood straight immediately and saluted.
"Sit down, Thomas," Hughes said. "We've got a lot to cover, aside from the fact that you've only picked nine people, which I will admit, isn't a big deal. We have more dossiers, this was just the first batch." They both sat down at the table facing one another with the dossiers scattered across the table in a messy heap.
"Let's get down to business, we have a few things to cover before the end of the night. First, you'll be leading a Company. So you're going to need this." Hughes pulled out a box with Captain's bars in it. He handed it over to Thomas, who was a little surprised. "Second, the dossiers we gave to you today were full of a mix of average and above and beyond personnel. We wanted to test your ability to discern between useful and non-essential people. In this regard, you haven't let us down and were probably thinking it was a test all along right?" Hughes cracked a smile at him, the major general seemed to think highly of Thomas.
"Now we come to the last issue of the day, your security clearance." Hughes sighed for a moment before he continued on. "It's going to take me a good minute, but in a few days you will receive security clearance level Yankee White, it will allow you to travel most places in the facility unhindered. For now, though, you'll have to rely on these two gentlemen for an escort," Hughes gestured to the two sergeants at the door standing guard.
"With that, business for the day is concluded and we should all get some sleep. I'm looking forward to seeing who you pick tomorrow." Hughes clapped and the two guards at the door saluted before motioning to Thomas to follow them. They took him to a room at the end of the facility, it was nicely decorated and was for officer's use. A simple bed was in one corner of the room with a desk and chair across from it, the floor was carpeted and there was a brand new officer's uniform on the bed. Thomas set the uniform on the back of the chair before laying down on the bed. It was comfortable like a bed of soft clouds, he could literally sink forever in this bed and be okay with it. It wasn't long before he fell asleep, drifting off into what would become a nightmare for everyone involved.
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