Disclaimer: All characters, names, settings etc belong to their respective copyright holders, only much of the convoluted plot, Night Wolf and a few other things are of my own creation (but inspired from many things under copyright, which aren't mine).
Chapter 14 – All things change
The Brigadier spent much of the rest of the week signing off on various requests, many from Birmingham to assist with Harry Potter's training.
Birmingham seemed to feel some great debt that he had to repay to Mr Potter…Lethbridge Stewart could understand…but he felt more angry towards Dumbledore for stopping Birmingham from delivering the information of the prophecy to Mr Potter…and the damn Ministry for Magic for binding Birmingham's knowledge of it so he couldn't directly enlist any assistance to contact the young man himself.
As a result it was the Brigadier's 'turn' to go and meet the new 'recruits', these were people who were constantly being brought in from the Royal Marines, the RAF, the Navy, and various other professions such as architects, engineers, scientists…etc.
The Gibson Desert facility operated its own program, bringing people in for the Australian armed forces, however once briefed on Night Wolf they were sent over to Night Wolf Command for more detailed briefing…Lethbridge Stewart was in discussion with Professor Preston who oversaw operations at the Gibson Desert facility to introduce a larger sorcery division…but with Voldemort's war heating, it was thought by the commanders of all three Night Wolf bases that for now it was best to have their assets in different baskets.
As far as the meeting of new recruits, it was some what unusual that the commander of the base would meet them. But Night Wolf was a training, research and development command, and the current teams were broken up going through new training programs or working together with the other two facilities to create security squads both for the ships and as alternate sites of deployment.
Also, the Brigadier thought to himself, it was good to get out and stretch the legs.
The meeting would take place outside of Night Wolf, at one of the UNIT Night Wolf training grounds, a short distance away, but it did involve leaving Night Wolf and driving out to old farmhouse, which sat in the middle of a largely empty, but cut off from most civilisation.
There were 4 Land Rovers waiting which meant 20 new recruits, they were given maps and had obviously made their way there.
It was a simple group building exercise for the teams that were joining Night Wolf, they had all come from various forces and when they were in their Land Rovers there was usually one person from each of the armed forces…
UNIT didn't eradicate that from their record, they were working within Night Wolf and UNIT while still remaining part of the British (or Australian for that matter) armed forces, another complicated strategy courtesy of Professor Moore and the others at Geneva.
Walking past the land rovers he ran a hand over the bonnet of one of them, it was cold, they had been there for some time it was comparably a rather light day and the ambient temperature would only affect it so much.
As Lethbridge Stewart closed in on the farm house he reached into his pocket pushing the small button which would activate the jamming device, it was a 'conventional' jamming device which would jam all conventional monitoring devices which the teams would no doubt have with them.
As he knocked on the door it was wrenched open by a Lieutenant holding what looked like…a weapon made of paper.
He allowed himself to smile, they had been given no weapons but there was enough equipment within the farm house to…construct something given enough time and lateral thinking.
The lieutenant snapped to attention, but didn't drop, nor did her move it away from where he was aiming it.
"Lieutenant." Lethbridge Stewart said in a level tone.
"General, Sir." He said firmly. Lethbridge Stewart paused to look not at the young man but at the weapon, it appeared to be a crude crossbow.
"Very imaginative Lieutenant. I am sure you will find your next post interesting…"
"Sir?"
"Night Wolf Lieutenant, or did you believe I was just some random stranger wondering the moors?" Lethbridge Stewart asked in an amused tone.
"Yes sir…I mean no sir…"
Lethbridge Stewart smiled.
"Good."
General Lethbridge Stewart briefed them for a couple of minutes as to the 'entrance' of Night Wolf.
The entrance and location of Night Wolf command differed drastically.
The primary entrance point was actually some distance away inside a farming area, it was also where many of Night Wolf's vehicles were located.
The farm was a working cover, it was where much of Night Wolf Command's fresh produce was grown, it also provided an area for UNIT's ground vehicles to depart and enter from.
Lethbridge Stewart explained to the new recruits where they were and what to expect during this initial introduction period, as they arrived at the main Night Wolf area.
He dropped them in the medical lab for a thorough check and work up prior to them actually beginning work with Night Wolf proper.
Walking back to his office he passed the Xeno-Biology department, Birmingham had the door open as he was walking out.
Lethbridge Stewart paused looking in, Harry Potter was in there, with Liz Gibson…and he had wings…black leathery wings.
Birmingham closed the door turning to Lethbridge Stewart who raised an eyebrow at him.
"Have fun with the troops Brigadier?"
"We should review what we give them to play with."
"They're getting smarter, always a good thing." He smirked satisfactorily to himself.
"Was that Mr Potter?" Lethbridge Stewart asked as he continued back towards his office.
"Yes."
Lethbridge Stewart simply nodded as he pushed open the door to his offices and took a sheath of paper from his desk.
"This is the schedule that has been worked up for Mr Potter…are you sure he can handle it Birmingham?" Lethbridge Stewart asked as Birmingham flipped through the pages.
"I believe so, he's had…a time of it Brigadier. Now that we're a little less in the dark with regards to Mr Potter…" Birmingham sighed massaging his temples.
"It's only going to get worse Brigadier, and Harry and this prophecy…"
"Yes…" He nodded, Lethbridge Stewart had intended to make a call to Ancelyn, for…well Harry Potter was as much a warrior as anyone within Night Wolf and he had faced more…more horrors than many of the new 'recruits' that were currently within Night Wolf Command.
"I'll give this to Harry tomorrow to start his…"
"Training. Yes Birmingham…make sure he doesn't burn out."
"There's no chance of that Brigadier…" Birmingham said with a grin. "I think he's taking it all with good humour."
"And just the smallest amount of sarcasm." Lethbridge Stewart muttered as Birmingham nodded and walked out.