Chapter 1: A Company in Distress

July 21, 1989

It was a common misconception on the part of the outside world that General Wynn was the commander of Jade Force. His title was Commandant of the Jade Academy, a position that gave him control over just about everything that happened in the Jade Academy. However, a Jade Warrior, upon graduating the Academy; was no longer in the Jade Academy, despite still living on its grounds. General Wynn was not their commander, just one of many former teachers.

There was no overall commander of Jade Force. Most people would consider this to be a major problem area that should be rectified sooner, rather than later. This was Jade Force, though, and no one saw the lack of an overall commander to be any kind of issue. Command was always settled using ratings of skills that fit the situation.

Life as a Jade Warrior was one of continued expansion and improvement of one’s skills. That meant actually using them. On a daily basis, this meant that Hearth kept the Jade Force in full operational status, Shield kept guard, Cart delivered supplies, and the Pens used their ability with words for the benefit of Jade Force. Swords were always training, in preparation for the next contract.

When it came time to put a solid effort into solving an especially tricky problem that didn’t seem to fit in any of the areas for which ratings were measured, there was no one who could lead the effort. Groups made of individuals who seemed the most capable in those areas worked together to solve the problem. It was often a little messy while individuals struggled to identify what would work and what wouldn’t work.

In most organizations, throwing together a number of people to solve a problem would create more problems. Mostly, they would be of a political nature, in which people positioned and postured to take control over the group. This would be particularly true for individuals who are physically active, striving for excellence, and given to applying their full effort to any activity. For most organizations, more often than not, the problem would never be solved. The good talented people would be too busy with infighting.

For Jade Force, there was one underlying philosophy that ruled behavior: ‘War is a matter of life and death.’ The best warrior was a live warrior, not a leader or a follower. That philosophy gave a clarity to group endeavors, and cut through politics better than any threat of firing by a ‘boss.’ What usually occurred was that one person slowly emerged from the group as having the best set of skills to ‘take charge’ during such situations.

One area which all cadres studied extensively, was that of intelligence analysis. Intelligence analysis is the art of sifting through reams of incomplete, inaccurate, and misleading data and information, to extract knowledge about what is actually happening. Any philosopher will agree that truth is a very slippery topic. A particular curve drawn on sand will look like a ‘6’ to an observer on one side and like a ‘9’ to an observer on the other side. The context of other shapes drawn in the sand can resolve the ambiguity, if they are present. The art of intelligence analysis, is finding that other information that provides a context, by which ambiguity can be minimized or eliminated.

For Shields, analysis was focused on assessing physical threats to the Jade Force. Was anyone attempting to attack the compound? Was anyone spying on them? Were there security leaks? Was the rhetoric coming from some politician based on fact or fiction? They studied individuals trying to ascertain motivations and how they went about pursuing their goals.

For Hearths, analysis was focused on availability, and threats to access, regarding supplies. Was some group actively engaged in price fixing? How would weather affect the price of wheat? Would war between two countries affect the availability of oil? Was a threat of war being raised for the purpose of driving up prices? Was some group selling off assets at a low price that might be of use? Were medical studies accurate or tainted by political considerations? They studied markets, technology, products, and medicine.

For Carts, analysis was focused on threats to transportation. Were there new laws or instabilities that might prevent free flow of goods across an area? Was piracy a threat? Were there air spaces that were now restricted or had a restriction been lifted? Were new vehicles available that would better fit their needs? Was an existing product line going out of business? They studied routes, stability, technology, and products to identify short-term and long-term trends that affected their ability to move things from one place to another.

For Pens, analysis was focused on threats of a legal or political nature. Was there some politician who was campaigning on a platform that went against the best interests of Jade Force? Were new laws being passed that would impact them? What political maneuverings were occurring, which could lead to instability? Of course, during the first few years of Jade Force, the pens were off to law school, so they didn’t have much time to spend on analysis.

For Swords, analysis was focused on how well a potential enemy was prepared against anything Jade force might try. What were the strengths and weakness of each country? Who or what would make the best targets? What other military, paramilitary, or criminal organizations were there? How would this or that group react to an attack?

It was often the case that the different cadres would examine the same data, but for different purposes. Always data was evaluated based on the source from which it originated, intent of the individuals releasing the data, and the consistency of data with regard to other data. Doubts concerning the authenticity or accuracy of the data by one cadre would filter to the other cadres. There was a continual adjustment and readjustment of their understanding of the threats and opportunities originating from outside.

One of the biggest problems faced by Jade Force was the fact that it didn’t have a cadre set up for the specific purpose of collecting intelligence data. They did receive copies of newspapers, magazines, and journals from around the world. It was amazing just how much one could discover from such public sources. Little snippets about a defense company being awarded a contract often gave deep insights into what a government was doing and how it was positioning its military for the future.

Using only three hundred Jade Warriors, going through the tons of available data was difficult, if not impossible. Cadets were often tasked with extracting data from the newspapers as part of their lessons in intelligence gathering and analysis. It was a daunting task trying to wade through so much information.

One saving grace was that the Nguyen family had contacts in most parts of the world. They helped gather some intelligence and provided helpful analyses based on more than what was publicly available. That information was forwarded to Jade Force via General Wynn. Unfortunately, after a dozen years of putting their lives together, many of the Nguyen contacts were more concerned about getting their children through colleges and preparing for retirement.

At the moment, the problem of information gathering and analysis wasn’t critical. No one was particularly taking any interest in Jade Force, so there weren’t any threats of a substantive nature. The episode with the Inra government had essentially put some safeguards into place that any threats from that source were more or less powerless. The first contract had had a spectacular outcome. It had subsequently generated some interest in Jade Force, but more along the lines of speculating if Jade would make a good tool for use, rather than if it represented a threat.

Although it wasn’t a critical problem, it was a significant problem. One reason was that it impacted the ability of Jade Force to contract for work. It was not enough, just to know that an opportunity was available. It was also necessary to know that it was actually an opportunity, rather than a disaster in disguise. Several opportunities had to be bypassed, just because there wasn’t enough information available to assess the risks involved.

The closest anyone in Jade Force came to being a full time analyst was Sword Lina. She was an interesting individual amongst a number of unusual personalities. She proved that desire and hard work can overcome great obstacles. It all started when she broke her back in training, during her seventh year. It was serious injury, that left her paralyzed below the waist. One could reasonably expect that she would have moved over to Hearth, where she could serve in a logistics position of some sort, but she wanted to be in Sword.

Through sheer force of will, she managed to achieve expert ratings in rifle, pistol, and knife. She almost drowned when she pushed herself off the platform during the free fall shooting test, but emerged from the water sputtering and managed to swim to the side of the pool dragging her wheelchair with her. She also received expert ratings in the less physically demanding areas of strategy, tactics, intelligence analysis, and meteorology. She had a dozen master ratings including such areas as survival skills, tracking, and camouflage.

The biggest hurdle for her becoming Sword was getting an adequate rating in the wilderness obstacle course. It wasn’t the standard obstacle course with laid out obstacles like rope ladder, walls to scale, tunnels to pass through or ropes to swing on, but a twenty mile trek through the most inhospitable jungle imaginable. There were wild animals, snakes, streams to cross, cliffs to climb, quicksand, and numerous other dangers that had to be overcome. Most cadets finished the course in two days. It took her eight days, but she managed to crawl out of the jungle in one piece. She earned an acceptable rating, and became a Sword.

One would think that a number of people would be cheering her on, but it was her alone against the course. It was true that she was followed a little more closely than most cadets, but no one helped her. These were warriors, and she had to be able to stand on her own (even if she couldn’t stand). That’s not to say that there wasn’t a hint of respect in how people greeted her. Her close friends were pleased for her.

Once she qualified for Sword, she continued to train to acquire additional areas of expertise that would be useful in a battlefield environment. She was of the opinion that she could contribute more in an urban setting, than in a wilderness environment. As a result of her desire to actually participate in an urban war, she tended to search out those kinds of situations.

It was a strange confluence in which she, and Hearth Asif, identified a potential contract at the same time. She was looking for something that had to do with urban problems, while Hearth Asif was upset that his contact on a purchasing contract for advanced electronic surveillance equipment had been kidnapped. A little investigation showed that this was actually a big-time operation in which a number of businessmen from a variety of industries were kidnapped and held for ransom.

After a detailed investigation, she and Hearth Asif convinced enough people that this would be a worthy mission. It was relatively low risk, with a high payoff ... perhaps the highest payoff they’d made so far. The biggest hurdle was getting a customer to pay for it. That was going to require a direct sales call. The logical choice to make the pitch was Sword Lina and Hearth Asif. Unfortunately, that required traveling to Amra where the affected businesses were located.

Sword Lina rolled into the conference room wearing a tan outfit cut in the style of a woman’s business suit. It was made of Kevlar, but without the normal thick padding of the normal Jade armor. It would stop a bullet from penetrating, but the bullet would still do a lot of impact damage. The outfit was a compromise between the armor and business attire.

She was not comfortable, and tried hard not to show her nervousness. The lack of real armor was bad enough, but the fact that she couldn’t bring her sword, pistol, and rifle with her, made her feel exceptionally vulnerable. She had been able to bring her knife with her on the plane from Inra. She had stopped at a sporting goods shop and purchased a number of throwing knives. It took every bit of her will not to pull one out to have it at hand when entering the room.

Already seated around the conference table were four Amra businessmen: Ben Klun representing a beef company, Harold Jinas representing a leather company, George Shanley the owner of an oil company, and Jim Bodham the owner of an electronics firm. All four of the firms they represented, had executives currently being held for ransom. The total amount requested came to twenty million with the oil company and electronics firm getting held up for the majority of that.

Shield Wong and Hearth Asif followed her into the room. Shield Wong was there as protection for Hearth Asif and Sword Lina. It wasn’t that Sword Lina couldn’t defend herself, but it was expected that her attention would be on the meeting rather than on security. Someone had to watch her back while she was engaged in warfare of a different kind. Hearth Asif was there to sweeten the deal with some side contracts.

While rolling to a slow stop, she said, “Greetings, Gentleman. I’m Sword Lina of Jade Force. I’m pleased that you chose to meet with us, today. I’m hoping that we can help you with your problems.”

“I’m George Shanley of Shanley Oil. Your call intrigued me. Let me be blunt. Why does a mercenary outfit want to get into hostage rescue?”

George Shanley was a big guy. Based on his dark tan and weather beaten face, it was obvious that he wasn’t a desk jockey and ran his business from the field. He was in the production side of the oil business – buying or leasing the land, drilling for oil, and pumping it out of the ground. It was good money when he was able to find oil. Lately, he had found a lot of oil.

“I’m Ben Klum. George and I go back a long ways. We tend to see things the same way. I’ve got the same question.”

Ben Klum was a tall slender version of George. He was in the processing side of the beef business, buying cattle from feed lots, butchering, and shipping the beef around the country. People liked their beef and the money was good. His brother-in-law had been kidnapped while negotiating the purchase of cattle in Teal.

“I’m Harold Jinas. Who are two men who came in with you? I was only expecting you.”

Harold Jinas was built like Ben, but was pale skinned. He ran his business from behind a desk, worrying about numbers. He had a lot of numbers to worry about. Animal rights groups were protesting the use of leather in clothes and that had been bad for business. He had sent a man to Teal to see about moving some of his operation there to reduce production costs. The kidnapping had left him in a tight spot and he wasn’t happy.