After the initial fortnight, the training became more specialized with much more intense lessons on weapons, breaking them down, cleaning and re-assembling them, plus basic maintenance. They were introduced to other weapons such as light machine guns, grenade launchers, mortars, anti-tank weapons of various types, and drone operations. They did more route marches, cross country maneuvers, and even simulated combat with the instructors firing over their heads.

At the end of six weeks, he had gotten to know some of his fellow maggots quite well, although he hadn’t tried too hard to fit in as none of the others in his squad were going into the Specials. He hadn’t stood out amongst the other trainees at either end of the spectrum, but that wasn’t really that important as he was wanted for his magic, although no one actually mentioned his magic for the whole six weeks. Plus, he was careful not to use it for anything in case he got into trouble for cheating. He was not really surprised, however, when a couple of weeks short of completing training when a strange sergeant turned up and ordered him to grab his gear.

“I’m Sergeant Duncan. You’re being transferred.”

The Sergeant was a serious-looking fellow in his late twenties who was almost certainly a  career regular. You could tell the difference between the reservists and the regulars if you watched them carefully.

Andrew nodded. “Righ now?”

The Sergeant nodded, so he emptied his locker as quickly as he could while the Sergeant stood and watched and then followed the surprisingly patient Sergeant to another part of the training grounds where he was shown into an almost identical barracks where there were four other men already lounging around. Several of the empty bunks also looked to be occupied, but the occupants were missing.

“This is Andrew Harris. He’s done six weeks like you guys. Get yourself settled, and we’ll get to work in the morning.”

“John Lancaster.” A fair-haired guy said, offering his hand.

“Darryl Ciccone.” Darryl was a swarthy chap with dark hair.

“Paul Nguyen” Paul had obvious Asian ancestry at some point in the past.

“Anders Van Hooten.” Who was a tall, blond beanpole.

“So, you can do a bit of magic, too, eh?” Nguyen asked.

Andrew tried to decide how to play this. He thought he was pretty powerful, compared to things he had heard, but he decided against big-noting himself straight off, just in case he ‘wasn’t that much more powerful than these guys. Then he realized they were shielding, just like he was. He backed off his shield about half.

“Shit!” Paul said.

“Man, you’re pretty strong!” John offered.

The others cut their shields, and they showed good strong magical glows. They were all a bit weaker than what he was showing, and he was only showing about half his strength. Damn! Unless, of course, one of them was hiding his glow a little, like Andrew was. Hmmm. He didn’t sense that any of them were hiding their strength, which was interesting. He wondered how powerful the lady Captain from the train was.