18 Dossier Selection 2

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.