Mesopotamia - The Redeemer Read Free Page A

today, he was not interested in losing even a
single soldier.
    Truth, commander of the Uruk
region, was unanimously chosen by the Gnostic regional heads of
Damascus, Istanbul and Jerusalem to prepare his forces for their
destined moment of truth: the most important battle in the history
of Gnosticism; the battle for the sole sake of which Gnosticism was
reestablished. He reconnected the audio-visual device to his ear
and returned to monitoring the activity of the aircraft on the
control center's display.
    Flash was directly in charge of
commanding the attack team as well as supervising the defense team
commanded by Shadow. Flash's clenched jaws flinched slightly in
response to the stress of controlling the pursuing aircraft.
    Flash was the complete opposite of
Shadow, his young subordinate with black curly hair, thick brows
and flat nose atop a thick mustache and dark stubble. Shadow was
tall and broad, his stomach threatening to burst out of his
too-small shirt as if in defiance of all the physical training the
Gnostics had undergone. Although Shadow did not stand out like
Flash or Smoke, Truth was extremely fond of him because he was
blessed with boundless loyalty and a pleasant temperament.
    Flash and Shadow were charged with
the task of marking the virtual hits on the ships that played the
role of the fleeing enemy. Smoke, the youngest and most promising
of all the cadets, commanded the escaping vessels. His quick
thinking and coordination prowess dwarfed the other warriors’
skills in comparison. But like most of the other warriors, Smoke's
yearning for death was suppressed only by his intense desire to
serve the Gnosis under Truth's command. In spite of his strict
Gnostic upbringing, he found it difficult to contain his excitement
in anticipation of the opportunity to make Truth proud, though he
attempted to hide the light tremor in his voice as he spoke over
the network.
    “Smoke is ready!” he responded to
Truth's inquiry.
    Truth's hand brushed the blue spots
that were tattooed on his face. On their displays, the pilots saw
how he dispatched them one by one. “Go!”
    Smoke's excitement escalated in
response to his speed while maintaining total concentration. He
quickly leapt out of the spiral formation, gathered speed in the
loop and crossed over again through the Power Structure, almost
colliding with Shadow. Smoke maneuvered masterfully and would have
never actually hit Shadow, but Shadow, whose dexterity was somewhat
clumsy, was startled and almost lost control of his ship. Flash
instructed his team to deploy in star formation facing outward on
the defensive against Smoke and his team. Smoke's team scattered in
all directions with Flash's team close at their heels. Together
with a few of his pilots, Flash made off in pursuit of Smoke, who
had been left exposed. This was precisely what Smoke had intended.
He lured a substantial portion of the attacking forces behind him,
leaving the offensive on Shadow, who was left exposed to the rest
of Smoke's team.
    Smoke's secret was that he had
trained himself not to think. During the initial stages of his
training, his rivals could still anticipate his simple moves and
therefore successfully thwart them. Due to his ability to never
plan his next move, however, he succeeded in navigating an escape
plan so random and erratic that no one, not even the ambitious
Flash, could predict his actions and get within his range.
    Despite Smoke's young age, Truth
had already been eyeing him as a potential heir to the position of
Father of the Ship in Uruk, and even the eventual possibly of the
position of commander in chief of the Gnostic forces. In fact,
Truth suspected that Smoke may someday be every Gnostic's dream,
the "Redeemer”, an emissary of the light-bearing serpent. His eyes
were black and bright. His aquiline nose and his long straight
black hair was a testament to his ancestry from the Southern
Arabian Peninsula. He stood out in his symmetrical beauty and his
movements