Control Point (53 page)

Helo—Helicopter.

Hooch—Living quarters. Can also be used as a verb. “You’ll hooch here.”

Hot—Under fire. Usually refers to an arrival under fire. A “hot LZ” would be landing an aircraft under fire. Also refers to a state of military readiness where personnel are prepared for immediate action.

Indig—Indigenous.

Indirect Fire—Sometimes shortened to simply “Indirect.” An attack, either magical or conventional, aimed without relying on direct line of sight to the target. This usually refers to artillery, rocket, or mortar fire, but also Pyromantic flame strikes and Aeromantic lightning attacks.

IO—Information Operations.

JAG—Judge Advocate General. The legal branch of any of the United States armed services.

KIA—Killed in Action.

Kiowa—A light reconnaissance helicopter.

Klick—A kilometer or kilometers per hour.

Latent—Any individual who possesses magical ability, detected or otherwise.

Little Bird—A small helicopter usually used to insert/extract commandos.

Logs—Logistics.

LSA—Logistical Staging Area.

LZ—Landing Zone.

MAC—Modern Army Combatives. A martial art unique to the United States Army, based on Brazilian Jiujitsu.

Manifest—The act of realizing one’s Latency and displaying magical ability. Latent people Manifest at various times in their lives—some at birth, some on their deathbed, and at all times in between. Nobody knows why it occurs when it does.

Minigun—A crew-served multibarrel machine gun with a high rate of fire, employing Gatling-style rotating barrels and an external power source.

MP—Military Police.

MWR—Morale, Welfare, and Recreation center.

NIH—National Institute of Health. Among many other services, NIH runs a Monitoring/Suppression program for those Latents who refuse to join the military but don’t want to become Selfers. Participants are monitored continuously and have virtually no privacy. Most are treated as social pariahs.

NODs—Night Observation Devices.

Normals—Selfer slang for those who are not Latent. The term is respectful. The term ‘human’ is sometimes substituted in derogatory fashion.

Novice—SOC Sorcerers still in training, before they graduate SAOLCC.

OC—Officers’ Club.

On my six—Directly behind the speaker.

Outside the Wire—Area beyond the secure perimeter of a military facility.

Probes—Short for “Prohibited.” Those Latents who Manifest in a school of prohibited magic such as Negramancy, Portamancy, Necromancy, or Sentient Elemental Conjuration.

PSYOPS—Psychological Operations.

PX—Post Exchange. A store selling a variety of goods located on a military facility.

Reading—Slang for the military practice of using Rump Latents to “read” the currents of other Latent individuals in an effort to discover their magic-using status.

Rending—Offensive use of Physiomantic magic. See Healer definition above.

ROE—Rules of Engagement. The conditions under which members of the military and law-enforcement communities are permitted to employ deadly force.

Rump Latency—A person who Manifests magical ability that is too slight to be of any real use. Such a person can only use magic to a very slight degree but can feel the magical tide in another person. Rump Latents are not commissioned as full SOC officers but make up a small percentage of the enlisted and warrant-officer support in the corps.

SAOLCC—Sorcerer’s Apprentice/Officer Leadership Combined Course. Basic training for SOC Sorcerers. This rigorous
training regimen teaches Latent soldiers the basics of magic use/control while simultaneously preparing them for their duties as officers in the US Army.

School—A particular kind of magic, usually associated with a mutable element (earth, air, fire, water, flesh, etc.). Latent individuals only Manifest in one school.

Seabee—Colloquial pronunciation of “CB”—construction battalions of the United States Navy.

Selfers—Latent individuals who elect to flee authority and use their magical abilities unsupervised. Selfers are usually tracked down and killed.

SF/SOF—Special Forces or Special Operations Forces. Used interchangeably.

SOC—Supernatural Operations Corps. Not to be confused with Special Operations Command (or SOCOM, under whose auspices the Supernatural Operations Corps falls). The SOC is the corps of the US Army responsible for all magical use. The SOC is a joint corps, which means it handles magic use for all US armed services to include the Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard (though the Army is the executive agent). The Marine Corps does not participate in the SOC and runs its own Suppression Lances.

Sorcerer—A SOC magical operator—an officer of the SOC who employs magic as his primary military specialty. The term is also used to refer to those contractors certified to use magic in support of SOC operations.

Stryker—An armored combat land vehicle.

Suppression—The act of using one’s own magical current to block that of another. This is typically a one-to-one ratio. The strength of a Suppressor’s Latency must exceed that of the individual he is seeking to Suppress.

Suppression Lance—A US Marine Corps unit that employs a Suppressing officer to block the magical abilities of the riflemen in the unit.

Tar Baby—SOC Slang for elemental automatons. See Elementalist definition above.

TOC—Tactical Operations Center.

UCMJ—Uniform Code of Military Justice.

Whispering—Terramantic magic used to control the actions of animals. This is prohibited by the US Code. SOC Terramancers are not permitted to Whisper.

WIA—Wounded in Action.

Witch—Selfer slang for a Negramancer. Male Negramancers are sometimes called Warlocks.