Ariel Part 1

This is the first chapter of a novella or possibly a novel I'm writing. I wrote this several months ago and just decided to post it. I'll be editing what's here and adding to it, but I'd love to know what you think of it so far. Any comments and suggestions are welcome.



Ariel Part 1
June 13, 2004
Aisha JaToya


Carter looked at the two teams facing off. “There going to cream your guys," he told Jillian the surprisingly young Commander of the B Team.

"Yeah I know," she said. "I made sure of that. It wouldn’t be advantageous to decimate the morale of my starting line up with Peters still out there.” She ignored his look of surprise.

Together they watched the two groups face off
against each other. Each team had ten members, the first was made up of the finest soldiers the US military had to offer. These guys were the best of the best and they were use to working as a team. Team B was made of psionics. Each member was use to working alone but they each also carried a large measure of psychic ability. This was to be the first of several face offs between the two teams.

Psionics tended to be solitary people. They needed the example Team A would set for them if they were going to survive the up coming mission. As Ariel watched brute strength clashed against brute strength, strategy
pit again strategy. Initially, it went off exactly how she’d expected it to, then half way through Team A called a time out. She saw Gil meet with
Stephens. An intense discussion ensued. When play commenced she watched
incredulously as her people slowly but steadily gained on then surpassed the
other team. Her teams superior training won out as she’d known it would had
the games not been rigged. But they had been and the opposing team should
have lost.

She stalked over to Stephens. “What the hell was that?” she all but growled
at the man. He eyed her warily then began to reply. Before he could utter so
much as a word, Gil replied from behind Ariel.

“Knock off the theatrics. I told him to play fair or not to play at all.” He
watched her spine stiffen, and expected her to stalk off in a snit as she
had earlier. He was surprised when she whirled on him and even more taken
aback when he saw the icy fury in her eyes.

Slowly Ariel walked over to the man responsible for her teams insubordination. Years of controlling her emotions held her in good stead as she kept herself from physically lashing out at him.

“I’ve conceded control of my platoon to you when we’re on the field, she told him in a low voice so cold he could see the snowflakes emerging from her mouth with each word. “But Unless you declare an activity to be official, If you ever countermand my orders again all cooperation between AS and your team will be forfeited.”

She turned to Stephens and in a louder no less controlled voice ordered. “Get Beta Team together for a meeting in my office in 15 I’ll see you there in 10.”

Chin up and with one last glare in Gil’s direction she headed up to the house.

When she was gone Carter moved up to Gil’s side. The two men stood in silence until Ariel entered the house. Gil was the first to break the silence.

“Shit.” He said to his long time friend.

“Yeah, you stepped all in it that time.”

"Who the hell would have thought she’d get her back up over this?”

“Come on. You knew she’d be pissed when you changed her orders. You just figured you’d be able to charm or intimidate her out of it."

Gil rubbed the back of his neck. That’s exactly what he’d thought. She’d given in on so many things since the two teams had started collaborating he’d figured she’d be a push over on this too. He’d figured it was a game he could play. What could he do to get her back up? She just looked so darn cute when she got all stiff and prideful. But she hadn’t looked cute just now. She’d looked angry and if he was honest with himself she had reason to be. He definitely should have gone to her and spoken to her when he saw Beta Team was deliberately fumbling the trials. He’d let her cool off then he’d go and make his apologies. He could admit when he made a mistake.

Inside the house Ariel was still steaming. She sat behind the desk in her office and worked on focusing that anger. In the time she had before Stephens knocked on her door she pulled up his file and reviewed it. She of course knew everything that was in there but there were a few key points she focused on now. When he entered her office and took a seat, at her invitation, she just looked at him. She allowed the silence to stretch before speaking.

“When I selected you for Beta Team I knew that you would more than likely have some resistance to taking orders from a woman.” She paused and wasn’t surprised when he remained silent. “After meeting you I’d decided that you’d be able to handle any... discomfort you felt and do the job the way it needed to be
done. I’m no longer certain of that." She paused a moment before continuing. "Do you feel the need to be reassigned?”

Stephens started a little at her question. He’d expected her to give him his new orders at best or ask for his resignation at worst. He hadn’t expected to be given a choice. Not from the furious woman who’d stalked off the training grounds roughly 10 minutes ago or from the woman who’d just granted him access to her office with banked fury still showing clearly in her eyes.

“No ma'am. I made an error in judgment today that won’t happen again, ma’am."

"Fine, we’re going to run down the rules of our collaboration with Agent Kane to make sure you know what you’re dealing with.

"I’ve given Commander Kane full authority over Beta Team during the actual field work. He feels his team better equipped to take point on this. I’ve left that decision up to him. This is his investigation. Likewise any training sessions and drills he orders that pertain to this investigation.

"This authority does not expand to unofficial activities. Nor does it include games and or sparring matches created to see which team is better. If so ordered you may show him any and all maneuvers you’ve been trained in
up to and including Level A classifieds. All psi level trainings are to be used on my command or at your discretion in mortal situations only.

"Despite the fact that I have give Commander Kane full authority over official activities it should go without saying that I can and will override and or terminate his authority if I feel it necessary. On such an occasion the appropriate codes will be instated."

Ariel kept her gaze on Stephens as she ticked off all the pertinent information. She waited for his nod acknowledging the last bit before continuing.

“I’ll tell you what I’ll tell the rest of the team when they get here. I chose the best I have to be a part of Beta Team. I chose you to lead the team b/c you are, in my opinion, the best of the best. That opinion has not as of yet changed. I expect you to se that it doesn’t." There was a knock at her door and she held his gaze a moment more before calling, "Come in."


Just noticed the POV change. Since it’s there, feel free to let me know whether it’s better in the first or third person. I’ll change it accordingly in a few days.


The rest of the team entered my office. The nine of them dressed in fatigues much as Team A had been, the only difference was the black band they each wore around their right bicep.

Much as I had with Stephens I waited for them to file in and allowed the silence to stretch. Unlike most people I didn’t have to worry that they’d know what I was thinking. I’d learned to block mental probes before I’d learned to ride my first tricycle. I’d learned to recognize probes before then and they knew that I’d consider it a hostile act if they made the attempt. None of them did.

Of the ten commandos standing in front of me, two were women. I’d had to fight hard to get them on the team. I’m not much of a women’s libber but I wanted my team to have only the best and these two were as qualified as half the team and more so than the other half. Since the public relations wouldn’t have been an issue in this case my “superiors” hadn’t wanted to include the women. I’d convinced them otherwise.

Still sitting I addressed the group as a whole. First I went over some of what I’d discussed with Stephens, excluding the offer to be reassigned and any other comments relating to his performance. Once they were clear on where things stood with Team A and their Commander, I recapped what our purpose here was.

“We’re here because you’re all used to working on your own little projects. At most you’ve been partnered up but you’ve never been asked to work as part of a team before. Much less as part of a team with non-psionics. Your job right now is to watch Alpha Squad and see how they work together. They’re the best at what they do, we’re the best at what we do,” I said, eyeing them to see if they were taking this all in. I shouldn’t have bothered. Their faces were as impassive as any I’d ever observed before. That was as it should be.

“Each one of you will eventually be partnered up with a member of the other team. First, however, you’re going to have to figure out how to work as a part of this team. You’re going to have to stop relying solely on yourself and start relying on and backing each other. I gave you guys orders not to use any of your psi abilities.” I stood up and paced the length of the room before returning to stand behind my chair and looking into the faces of my selected crew. “First because the last thing we needed was for Alpha Squad to be leary of us. We’ve collaborated with their officials but this is the first time we’ve run training exercises with them. Being humiliated by you guys was not what the situation called for. That was the first reason. The second was that you guys are out of practice when it comes to hand to hand and strategic combat. You were the ones getting creamed before Kane stepped in. You’re so use to being able to sneak up on an opponent or take them out from a distance that you haven’t had to use your hand to hand skills. But the people we’re going up against have the same abilities as you do and less compunction about using them Peters has organized a team of his own and with the abilities they have if we don’t get our act together neither we or our government stand a chance.

“That is why we’re here ladies and gentlemen.” I looked at them in silence a few moments more. Throughout my tirade they’d maintained impassivity. They’d looked straight ahead and they’d remained at attention. All of them were soldiers. They’d all gone through basic training, but they’d been recruited first and foremost for their psionic abilities. Everything ranging from telekinesis to psychokenesis to telepathy and more. Not all of them had the same abilities. In fact none of them had the same exact abilities, which is why they needed to learn to work together. Peters’ men would know a great deal about blocking and interfering with the abilities of other psionics. Peters, after all, had been the head of the psionic project that had recruited the people in front of me.

I dismissed them and sat back down behind my desk thinking about what was at stake.