IAW US290.38C: YOU ARE HEREBY ORDERED TO REPORT TO THE BASE COMMANDER OF THE NEAREST MILITARY INSTALLATION FOR YOUR NEXT DUTY ASSIGNMENT. YOU ARE TO REPORT NLT 0900 06-26-00. FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THESE ORDERS WILL RESULT IN PROSECUTION TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF MILITARY REGULATIONS.

I read again. I just could not believe this. I've out of the service for six years now. Why were they calling me back to serve? There was no wars going on, no emergency situations, nothing that I knew of that would need for me to be recalled. But orders are orders. Fortunately, I was between jobs at the moment so this seemed to be a lucky break for me. The only problem I saw was that I was out of the closet now. Oh well, don't ask don't tell, I suppose.

The nearest military base, Craig NAS, was three hours away, so I was up at 6 a.m. and on the road. I had packed a small bag with a change of clothes and had my binder loaded with the necessary documents, I really didn't think that this would amount to much. The three hours on the road I wondered what was really going on.

I pulled up to the gate at Craig NAS. The MP at the gate looked at me disgutedly but pointed me to the building across from the gate. I think that if it wasn't for the orders I had, he would have ordered me off the base. I guess showing up with long hair, beard and wearing a t-shirt and jeans wasn't exactly the right way to report for duty, oh well.

I went into the Admin building. I presented my orders to the chief at the reception desk. After looking verifing my id, the chief directed me to the base commander's office. At the commander's office, again I presented my orders and id to the commander's secretary. I was asked to take a seat and wait to be called. I was really beginning to feel out of place with everyone else clean shaven, short hair and in uniform. I was about to ask to be rescheduled when the commander's secretary told me to go in. I didn't look military but I decided I should at least behave in proper military fashion. I knocked once on the door and waited to be acknowledged. When I was acknowledged, I opened the door and marched to the commander's desk, stopping the required three steps in front of it. I came to attention.

"Sgt. Westfalien reports as ordered, Sir!" I announced as I saluted the commander.

"At ease, Sgt." the commander ordered, "You're not in the service, yet."

"Sir, permission to speak freely?" I asked.

"Granted, son." the commander responded.

"Why was I recalled? Can you tell me anything about this duty assignment?" I asked.

"Well, what I can tell you is that you fit the profile necessary for the duty assignment. As for what the duty assignment is I do not know except that it's a multi-force unit." Answered the commander, "But before you ask, no, I do not know what the profile is."

"I suppose I should get myself back into military shape to be resworn. If you could have someone show me where the barber shop is I can get started." I said.

"Actually, you don't have time for that." the commander said, "Now that you've reported in, you're to be shipped out to your next duty station. Transportation is waiting and cleared for departure."

"You mean right now?" I asked in a shocked voice.

"Yes. My instructions were to have you taken to the transport once you reported in." The commander answered, "You've reported in and now the ensign waiting outside will take you to the transport. You are dismissed, Sgt."

Sensing that I wouldn't get any further with the commander, I saluted and left his office. Outside the office, the ensign greeted me. We walked out of the building. The ensign allowed me to grab my bag from my car before we drove to the airstrip. We arrived at the airstrip in a few minutes. The ensign dropped me next to a small, black jet. The door to jet opened and a voice said for me to get in. I started to climb in when I began to have second thoughts. Suddenly, someone grabs me and I hear a hiss. That's the last thing I remember.

Next thing I recall is the plane I'm on landing. I am really worried now. I get orders to report for duty and when I report, I get shanghaied. And now here I am on a plane that has landed somewhere I don't know. Maybe I've watched too many X-files but all this smacks too much of secret government stuff. What going to happen next I wonder.

The plane comes to a stop and the door opens. Grabbing my stuff, I look out the door. Wherever this is, it's in the mountains. My speculations are cut short by someone calling my name. I notice the man in a black jumpsuit standing next to a Humvee.

"Sgt. Westfallen?" The man inquired.

"That's West-fal-lean" I answered stressing the last syllable, "My granfather changed it to make sound more regal."

"Ah, I see." the man replied, "May I welcome you to New Thebes base."

"New Thebes? Are we in Greece?" I asked.

"Actually you're still in the US." answered the man, "The base's name is in honor of the new unit stationed here."

"What's the new unit?" I asked.

"Your new unit. That's why you're here." he answered.

"Can you tell me what's going on? Why all the cloak and dagger?" I asked.

"All of your questions will be answered in orientation." he said, "If you would get in, I'll take you there now."

Finally, I get to find out what's going. I climb into the Humvee. We drive off the landing strip and past several buildings. It seems really odd, this is a military base so I should be seeing someone walking around here. Not only is there no people but there are no vehicles. As I look at the buildings, I notice that they look to have been build in the fifties. We stop in front of a building marked 'Orientation', this building looks modern and is very much larger than the others. The man tells me that they are expecting inside. I grab my stuff and go into the building. Inside is a long hallway with a door at the other end. Odd, no reception area and again no people in sight. I walk down the hall to the door and open it. Inside the door is a small office, the man sitting at the desk looks up as I enter the room.

"Ah, Sgt. Westfalien." says the man pronouncing my name properly, "Welcome to New Thebes."

"Thank you, Captain." I reply noting his captian's bars.

"Now, if you would sit down." said the captain, "I need for you to read through these forms, sign and date where indicated, showing that you have read, understand and will comply with them. When you have finished that, I can let you into the orientation room."

"Captain, can you at least give me an idea of what kind of assignment this is?" I ask.

"That's on a need to know basis and until you fill out those forms, you don't." He said, "Besides, I don't know myself. While you are filling those out, I let the Major know you are here."

"Major?" I asked.

"Your new commander. The forms." He answered.

I got the hint. The first few were the typical forms for enlistment into the service, about the only odd thing was that the branch of service was absent. The set of forms covered the security clearance and consequences, which seemed very extreme, of voilating the regulations. The last set was very weird. They covered a lot of areas: medical, waivers for required medical procedures in the line of duty; job history, the types of jobs and for how long; family, next of kin and how close you were; friends, how many and how close; schools, degrees and if still attending; financial, bank accounts, loans and credit cards; housing, whether you owned or rented a place; and what had to be a direct violation of the law sexual preference. At first, I was going to refuse to fill out out that last form but I decided that if they wanted me they would get me as am, one proud and out gay man. I handed the forms back to the captain. As he got up to escort me to the orientation room, the phone rang. The captain answered the phone.

"What do you mean there's no more flights due in?" I overheard the captain saying, "Damn. They got the dates screwed up. The Major's not going to like this. I know it's not your fault. Might as well call it a day."

The captain hung up the phone.

"There's been a problem I need to let the Major know about and then I'll find out what he wants done with you." he told me as he picked up the phone again.

"Ah, Major. There is problem." The captain said into the phone, "It seems that we only have two arrivals. The dates on the other orders got screwed up. It'll be tomorrow at the earliest before the new orders can be posted. Yes, I understand. Sir? What about the arrivals? Pvt. Walker's already in the orientation room and Sgt. Westfalien is with me right now. I see. Alright. I'll take him there now."

Hanging up the phone, "I'm to take you to the orientation room." Said the captain, "The Major's going to go ahead with the orientation anyway."

"Fine by me." I replied.

Grabbing my stuff, I followed the captain through the other door in his office. We walked down another hallway. I looked through the opened doors as we passed. There were medical exam rooms, classrooms and other offices. We passed several rooms and came to a large security door. The captain pulled out a magnetic keycard and swiped it through the electronic lock. He opened the door and motioned me through it.

"Wait! Don't let him close..." A voice called out when I stepped into the room, "the door." The voice continued dejectedly when the door clicked shut.

"What!?" I said looking around.

I saw that I was in an auditorium. I spotted another man on the other side of the room. He was dressed in an orange jumpsuit. It took me a moment to realize that it was a prison uniform.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked him.

"We're locked in. There's no knob on this side and I haven't found any other way out." He said, "I'm Jason Walker, by the way."

"Ryan Westfalien." I replied as I shook his hand, "Why lock us in? If this is an orientation for a duty assignment, why confine us?"

"At first, I thought it was just for me." Jason answered, "They pulled me out of Leavenworth for this assignment. But now that you're here, I'm not sure."

"If you don't mind but what did you do?" I asked.

"I don't mind." He said, "Lets see, there was assault, rape, and conduct unbecoming for a NCO."

"Did you really do all that?" I asked in a morbid fascination.

"Well, maybe the last is true." He replied, "But I never assaulted nor rape the Lt. He liked to be tied up while getting fucked."

"You're gay?" I asked rheotorically, "How did you get charged with assault and rape then?"

"The bastard forgot to tell me his brother wa staying with him. So, when I had the Lt. all tied up and was banging his ass, his brother caught us. To protect his job and his reputation, the Lt. claimed I knocked him out and had my way with him."

"And with him all tied up like that, they believed him. Right?" I guessed.

"Right. An open and shut case. They had two men claiming one thing versus just me saying something else, and one those men was an officier. So much for innocent before proven guilty. I got railroaded to keep all quiet." Said Jason.

"Well there's one thing we have in common." I told him.

"What's that." He asked.

"We're both gay." I said.

Jason looked at me in a different light then. He looked me up and down while I did the same to him. I'm 5'9" at 160 lbs. with blonde hair and green eyes. My body was trim and tight, good definition but no real bulk, with a light sprinkling of body hair in the right places. Jason's 5'10" at 170 lbs with brown hair and eyes. He was a little more muscular than I was and had less body hair than I did. I guess he liked what he saw, I know I did. We were staring deeply into each other's eyes as a preliminary to more inimate relations when a voice broke the spell.

"Gentlemen. If you would take a seat, we can proceed with the orientation." Said the voice.

Looking around the room showed that we were still alone. When I looked at Jason, he just shrugged. We decided to play along. When we grabbed a seat, the voice spoke again.

"Gentlemen, you have been choosen for this assignment because you possess the necessary requirements to make this unit fully viable." The voice stated, "First off, are either of you familiar with the Sacred Band?"

We both answered no.

"The Sacred Band was a group of ancient Greek warriors from Thebes. They were said to be fierce, loyal, and they suffered only one defeat." The voice explained, "The goal of assembling this unit is to recreate the Sacred Band for the modern era. Our Sacred Band will handle situations that regular military or diplomatic resources are inadequte."

"Oh, one other thing. The ancient Sacred Band was homosexual." The voice continued, "Our Sacred Band will also be so."

That was a shock. The military actually creating a gay unit? I looked at Jason and saw that he was equally shocked and intrigued.

"Yes." The voice said again, "The fact that the two of you are homosexuals is one of the reasons that you were selected for this unit. But that is not the only reason. If you would watch the screen, you will see what awaits you when you are inducted into the unit."

We watched the screen. We were shown the filmed footage of 'Project Herakles.' The man wearing the labcoat in the film stated that the Project was an attempt to create a super soldier. This super soldier would be much bigger, stronger and more capable than the average soldier. A small unit of these super soldiers would be formed to handle situations where a large group of men would be detremental factor. With their greater strength and abilities, the super soldiers could easily handle things that an entire battlion could not. The lab guy, as I called him, introduce the volunteer for the Project.

The volunteer was about 5'11" and about 175-180 lbs. He looked to be in his early forties with his salt-and-pepper hair. He had good fit body, a typical marnine's body. He had a fair amount of body hair. Plus, he had a decent size package in the boxers he wore.

The lab guy explained that the procedure involved the use of two recently developed techniques. Both had shown promise of enhancing the body but unfortunately not to the degree that they had hoped. This was the first test of using both techniques on a human subject.

The volunteer was strapped to a table to prevent him from harming himself or disrupting the procedure. The camera switched to an overhaed view as the volunteer had a tube inserted into each of his arms. At the lab guy's instruction, a milky white fluid flowed through one tube and a bluish fluid flowed in the other.

For a few minutes, nothing seemed to be happening. Then suddenly, the volunteer began to have muscle spasms. With each spasm, his muscles grew larger and larger. He began moaning, either in pain or pleasure it was hard to tell. His eyes opened wide and with a jerk of his now mightly muscles arms, he broke free of the restrains. As he jumped up from the table, the camera was knocked over. Nothing could be seen but the sound of cloth ripping followed by slurping sounds definely let the imagination run wild. The film ended with the lab guy saying that the Project should be shelved because of the radical and immoral personality changes that it caused.

"Was that for real?" Jason asked.

"Good morphing technique." I replied, "I wish it was real though. I would mind having some big muscles."

"Good. That's exactly what you going to get." Said a very deep voice off to our left. •