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How do you forge a man into a warrior against the New Gods?
This is one of the key questions Babylon Red seeks to explore. Outnumbered and outgunned, there is no way Team Black Watch can fight the New Gods alone. They need allies. But who dares to challenge the rulers of the world?
This alone will rule out ninety-nine percent of the population, and for good reason. Most people have signed up with one faction or another. All the team can count on are seculars and followers of minor Powers. Of those few, most just want to keep their heads down and stay out of trouble.
It is a natural instinct. The New Gods reign with an iron fist. Anyone who speaks against them will be silenced, anyone who stands against them will be cut down. Or simply disappeared. Anyone who aids their enemies will be destroyed, or forced to submit. It is easier—much, much easier—simply to hide in the shadows and avoid drawing the attention of the New Gods.
Only three kinds of people will support Team Black Watch: idealists who want to rid the world of the corrosive influence of the New Gods, dissidents who have personally suffered loss at their loss and seek revenge, and mercenaries. And the last don’t count.
It takes courage to stand against the herd. More so when wolves and lions and bears within the herd will turn on you the moment you do it. Courage is a rare virtue, even rarer in the mean streets of Babylon. In an age when the New Gods hold the world with an iron grip, those who would defy them are few, and those who would take up arms against them even fewer.
Of those who would fight the armies of the New Gods, none can match the STS.
It is impossible. The STS is the equivalent of a Tier One Special Operations unit. They can deploy anywhere in the country within four hours, using any means available to them, to execute any mission demanded of them. Their fitness levels are Olympian, their combat skills legendary.
It takes immense resources, dedication and raw talent to reach and maintain such heights. Thousands of rounds of live-fire training every week. Hundreds of hours of high-intensity training every month. The full backing of a superpower to grapple with the rulers of the world. There is no other unit like the STS, and there won’t be one like it ever again.
There’s no need for the STS now.
Motivation is critical. If someone is determined to make a stand against the New Gods, he can be forged into a warrior. If he lacks the courage to see things through to the end, no amount of training and resources can help.
That is the first criterion the STS looks for: the desire to become a sword against the dark.
Motivation alone isn’t enough, of course. That’s what training is for. To fight a long and gruelling guerilla war, the prospect needs to be trained and equipped accordingly. He must possess a high level of physical fitness and discipline. He must be equipped with the right gear for his area of operations. He must be able to work as a team, and build connections with the wider community. He must acquire tradecraft to avoid detection and destruction. Most importantly, he must learn the right strategic framework to survive a confrontation with an overwhelming enemy force. What he does not know, he needs trainers to help him learn.
Determination is only the first step. Transforming a civilian into a soldier demands a heavy investment in blood, sweat, energy, resources, and most importantly, time.
Time is the one thing the STS does not have. The armies of the New Gods are on the march. With every passing day, Armageddon beckons. The STS can turn a civilian into a soldier, but they are hard-pressed for time. Time, and money, and resources.
They have to make do with what little they have to raise a cadre. They have to find those within their communities willing to make a stand, and connect them to those who can help in other ways. And when it comes time for training, they need to deploy a combination of cutting-edge training methodologies and field-expedient improvisations.
Dry fire training is the norm, with just enough live ammo for acclimatisation. When a full-scale kill house isn’t available, glass house drills will have to do. Improvised gear and acceptable substitutes take the place of mission-critical equipment. Train a single set of movements for weapons and empty hand, accelerating learning time while learning the principles of strategy. Integration of multiple sensory stimuli to enhance learning and recall. Real-time coaching and problem solving to pinpoint and resolve areas of friction.
And above all else—go slow.
It seems counterintuitive. With the clock ticking down to the end of the world, the last thing you need is to go slow. But that is how the brain learns best. Through slow, deliberate, mindful movements, the brain develops the neural pathways critical for swift action. By eliminating wasted movements—or by preventing wasted movements from being programmed in the first place—the operator naturally becomes blazing fast. As the old saying goes, slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
This is the thrust of the second book in the Babylon Red, Monero Samurai, but themes will echo throughout the volume.
The STS are used to a much higher level of warcraft. Here, they have to struggle to try to build up those around them to the minimum standards necessary to fight the New Gods. Will that be enough? Find out in Babylon Black!
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