Paranormal Police-Book 1 - Foundations

AFP Special Reaction Group combined base

The SRG is the AFP's highly trained operationally skilled specialist policing capability.

The SRG provides the AFP with a professional, flexible and dynamic capability across three distinct operational areas. This includes assisting ACT Policing within the community, national support of the AFP's responsibilities and international support with capacity building missions and regional stability operations.

The unique skills and flexibility of the SRG enables the AFP to maximise its response to diverse operations by tailoring deployments to meet a range of operational requirements. AFP Website afp.gov.au

Pulling into the gatehouse, Alexa lowered her window and showed her identification.

“Constable Alexa Smirn to see Sergeant Ben Ito of the AFP SRG.”

The guard checked her system and said, “You’re expected. Please go to that orange building over there and you will be met.”

The gate opened and Alexa drove across to the indicated building and parked. Getting out of the car, she stood and put her duffel bag over her shoulder.

Two men came out of the building, one with Sergeant shoulder patch and the other with a Senior Constable patch. Turning to the sergeant, Alexa said, “Afternoon sir, I’m Alexa Smirn.”

“Afternoon. This is Senior Constable Jack Fischer. I’ve just been read the riot act by the Commissioner. Apparently, she supports this nonsense, so where do you want to start?”

Alexa thought for a moment and decided to try to reach some middle ground. “Would there be somewhere I can give a demonstration to help you understand some of the opportunities and issues? Maybe a hanger or something?”

Ben looked at Jack and Jack said, “General equipment hanger?”

Ben nodded and walked with Jack towards a row of buildings. Alexa fell in behind.

“So, what kinds of things are you going to tell us to do?”

Alexa took a couple of deep breaths. Diplomacy didn’t come naturally to her, but her eagle was cautioning that she needed to get Ben on-side. “Nothing, sir. I’m tasked with helping you discover if changes need to be made specifically in your area of expertise and generally across the AFP. I’ve been instructed to make sure that at least medical, equipment and careers are considered. I’ve been assigned, because, as a shifter, I’m most likely to be able to give you the information that you need to make the decisions.”

“How’d they manage to get you?”

“I was already working for the AFP when they discovered shifters exist, sir.”

Ben stopped and turned around. “OK. I’m going to apologise. I’ve been taking this out on you, but it’s not you behind this. Let’s start again, but I will warn you, mislead me and this will go bad - real quick.”

“Certainly, sir. Hi, I’m Constable Alexa Smirn from the AFP Paranormal Group.” She extended her had to him.

Ben wore a half-smile as he shook her hand and said, “Hi, I’m Sergeant Ben Ito, in charge of the SRG.”

“I’m looking forward to working with you, sir. Shall we continue?”

They arrived at the second building in the row and entered.

Alexa looked around the cavernous space, filled with random piles of equipment. There was enough room for her to shift and to soar.

“Sir, as a shifter I’m use to nudity when I change, but I can also use a sheet for modesty’s sake. Which would you prefer?”

“It’s going to be awkward any way we do this, so let’s just get it done. I’m a rip-the-band-aid-off kind of person.”

Alexa stripped, then shifted into her Wedge-tailed Eagle form.

She stretched up and opened her wings fully.

The two men were now faced with a metre tall, nearly three metre wide, eagle with razor sharp claws and a massive, sharp beak. As female wedge-tails were larger than male wedge-tails, and shifters tended to be over-sized for the species, she was larger and heavier than virtually all other wedge-tails.

After a minute, Ben found his voice. “So do you have all of the standard abilities and features of a wedge-tail?”

She nodded her head and took off. She did a lazy lap of the warehouse, and came back to land.

Alexa shifted and began to get dressed. The two men turned their back out of courtesy.

Ben asked, “Do you have any suggestions how we move forward from here?”

“I’m still completing my agent training, so that is supposed to remain my priority, but I was thinking that if we brainstorm the three areas we’ve been assigned and then we can just organically go from there? How does that sound?”

“Sounds like a plan. Did you want to start today?”

With a smile, Alexa replied, “Sounds like a plan.”

They set up in one of the planning rooms and gathered most of the available whiteboards from the surrounding rooms.

On one Alexa wrote ‘Medical’ in the centre and surrounded it with a circle. On the next she wrote ‘Equipment’ and did the same. The third had ‘Career’ and the fourth, ‘Other’.

By the end of an hour, they had fleshed out the Medical board, creating a set of inter-relating items. These were converted to action items, written up on another board and at least one person assigned to each task on the list. Jack would load these into the Investigation software and assign them. As other issues had come up, they were noted on the correct board.

Alexa would act as the liaison for issues to be referred to ACoS and ACoMP. Most of the tasks from this board would be shared between HR and Medical.

These covered changes to staff records, changes to medical records, changes to induction and changes to triage.

The most vital issue would be around triage. Just like the treating medical staff would need to know about a patient’s allergies, they would need to know if the person was a shifter, so the staff records system would need to be changed to allow for the capturing of the required information. Also changes to triage methodologies so the medics could work with the shifter’s natural healing, instead of against it. Changes to current induction training, anti-discrimination training and workplace health and safety, to cover both the special issues with shifters and guidelines around using shifter powers as part of work. One thing that Ben had picked up on was the increased risk of PTSD. With shifters living longer and their superior healing, the likelihood and frequency of them being seriously injured was probably greater than non-shifters. This would have to be studied.

Some veterinarians would also be involved to create a cross-training package so the medical staff would be more familiar with the physiology of shifters when in their animal form.

At this point Alexa laughed. When asked what was so funny, she pulled out her phone and looked up a photo of her younger brother and sister. She showed them the photo, saying, “The cheat sheet for a Tassie Devil won’t be hard, by I suspect the one for he’s sister is going to prove a bit more difficult.”

“You know these? There are extinct animals as shifters?”

“Yes, and yes. These are my twin younger siblings. I think there’s been a statistical increase in the number of ‘exotic’ shifters appearing in the last five or ten years, that is, people born fifteen to twenty years ago.”

“How does the whole animal selection thing work?”

“When someone who is going to be a shifter reaches puberty, they start getting an ‘urge’ to shift. Once they shift, they find out what animal they will be and that will stay with them for life. The animal seems to be set at conception and seems to be randomly selected from the animals in whatever local they are in. So, my mum, born in Romania is a red fox. My dad, born in Australia is a tiger quoll. Rarely, it can be an exotic. Exotics are creatures that are extinct or ones that had been thought to be mythical. So here is me with the only known Australian bunyip.”

Alexa flipped through her photos and found the one she was after.

“Um, that looks a bit like an Asian dragon?”

“Yes, but we’ve had a couple of First Nation elders confirm that this is a bunyip. It’s mainly been the lack of wings that’s caused the confusion over the years, so yes, the bunyip is a type of Asian dragon.”

“So, what’s your sister?”

“A pest. Oh, you mean what is her shift animal?”

Sam laughed. “That seems to cover most younger siblings. Yes, she looks like a velociraptor. But the arms look wrong.”

“Of the research both she and I have done, the closest match we can find is the Australovenator. Because they’ve never found a complete skeleton, it’s hard to be sure, but there are a lot of similarities. As for the velociraptor. That’s thought to be about two metres long and weigh about twenty kilograms. I’m waiting to find out how much my sis weighs, mainly so I can stir her about it. You, know, does my bum look big as a huge dinosaur? She’s about six and a half metres long and we have no idea what she weighs, but it should be about half a tonne. The way shifters work, they both should grow a bit more, coming into their final size at about 16 years old. Generally, shifters are around the maximum size for the species. So, I’m about as big as a wedge-tail eagle can get, certainly bigger than most.”

Ben said, “Thanks, Alexa. This has been a great start. When do you want to come back to continue this?”

“Can I do this via remote? At least once shifters have become public knowledge, we can use communications equipment for most of it.”

“That can work for a lot of it, but I still work better in person.”

“I can work with that. How about two days’ time for the next session, and I come out here again? We’ll use remote sessions where they fit.”

“Fine. Start at 08:00 this time? It’s a shame that we don’t have any shifters on staff here, as that would make it easier to test and work through all of these changes.”

“Well, you do. You have two I know of. One in the operational side and one in the support side.”

Ben looked at Jack and then back at Alexa. “Any reason that they haven’t come forward?”

“Yes, apparently you have a number of people working here who are… less than tolerant of ‘different’. They both have real concerns about discrimination.”

Jack sighed and said, “I think I can guess who they’re talking about.”

“Maybe or maybe not. My dad talks about the emotions behind discriminations being guilt, fear, pride, and anger.

“Guilt stops us from accepting who we are, so we often focus our guilt on someone else. Sort of ‘I may not be perfect, but I’m not as bad as ‘those’ people’. This will be especially telling in those who think they are supposed to be perfect. A lot of religious people fall into this trap, and I expect it’s the same for elite military. They get taught they’re supposed to be perfect, even though that’s impossible. When they fail, the guilt drives them to intolerance, either of themselves or others or both.

“Fear, because if we are not comfortable in our own skin, then we can feel threatened by ‘different’ and especially ‘better’.

“Pride, because those who are prideful don’t handle different. They have to tear different down or face their own inadequacy.

“Lastly, anger because, well, we all get hurt in our life. Where those hurts are still active, our tendency is to lash out. Poke the bear, get clawed.

“Oh, there is another group. Those who have been brought up in discrimination and don’t realise that they have been blinded.

“Sorry, I’ll get off my soapbox. Would you like to meet your shifters?”

Ben said, “Sure. We’ll work with them to make sure any discrimination is hit on the head immediately.”

Sam said, “Probably need to work with HR. Once the induction course is rewritten, we probably should run everyone back through it as a refresher. Truth be told, it’s time for the SRG to have a refresher, anyway.

Alexa nodded her head and said, “What building were we in originally?”

“Warehouse ‘C’.”

Can we go back there?

"Sure."

They started walking.

Alexa pulled out her phone and dialled a number.

“Hey, it’s Alexa here. Ready for the big reveal? Uh-ha. Yep. Warehouse C. See ya soon.”

She hung up and dialled a second number.

“Hello, it’s Constable Smirn here. As we discussed, you need to let Sergeant Ito know about your status. Are you free now? Thanks, Warehouse C.”

“They’ll both be here soon. I don’t think that we’d discussed the relationship between the animal and the human in a shifter. Might be good to talk about that while we wait for them to arrive. For emotional stability, the two have to integrate. That really required the shifter taking time as their animal. Before a few months ago, I hadn’t taken the time just to hang with my eagle. I was nervous, unsure, and easily panicked. After I started purposely spending time with her, this changed. So, if you have a high-strung shifter, either their animal is high-strung by nature, or they have not taken the time to integrate properly. Both are comfortable in both their skins, and you’ll recognise their animal in their personality.”

“Are there many nervous animals?”

“Possums, marsupial rats and mice, some snakes like the Coastal Taipan, but the taipan is not so much scared as high-strung. If you know someone is a taipan shifter, never sneak up on them.”

Brian Smith had entered the warehouse and was walking towards the group.

“Hey, cuz, how’s things? Sirs."

“Hey, Brian, good to see you.”

Jack looked at Brian with a puzzled expression. “Brian, you’re part of the equipment maintenance section, aren’t you?”

“Yes, sir.”

Looking between Brian and Alexa, he continued, “And you’re a shifter?”

“Yes, sir.”

Jack thought back over what Alexa had said and wondered what Brian’s were-animal was. He seemed very laid back. “What kind?”

“Koala, sir.”

That made sense. “So, what was that thing the other week between you and Murray at the canteen? I thought Koalas were laid back and calm?”

Looking embarrassed, Brian said, “Generally, we are, sir. Just don’t get between us and food. Sorry sir, he’d been niggling at me for a week, and ‘accidently’ knocked my food tray off the table, again. I normally have more control, sir, but I’ve been short of sleep that week.”

“Is this something I need to talk to him about?”

“Well, I challenged him to a sparring match over at the gymnasium afterwards and I don’t think he’s going to bother me again.”

“Wait, he’s one of the trainee tactical response people. Are you saying you beat him?”

Brian was looking more and more embarrassed. “I’m not sure how much Alexa has told you yet, but shifters are generally faster and stronger than we would be if we weren’t a shifter. Also, we get fitter, I don’t know. How do I explain this, cuz?”

“For the same amount of effort, our bodies will put on strength faster than a non-shifter. Because of all this, plus the faster healing and reflexes, we really don’t go ‘full-out’ against non-shifters unless it’s a life-or-death situation. It’s looked on a bit like clubbing baby seals.”

“Aw, cuz! Look I already felt bad about it, but he was wasting food!”

Seeing the confused look on Ben and Jack’s faces, Alexa knew she had to explain a bit more.

“In the wild, a Koala is in a sort of constant struggle to feed itself. Because gum leaves are, frankly, so hard to get anything nutritional out of, plus their body has to deal with all the toxins in them, they sleep most of the day away, just processing their food. This gives them their mellow nature. But because there is such a struggle to get enough goodness out of their food, they’re very possessive over it.”

Brian’s head swivelled towards the main door and said, “Are you expecting anyone else?”

“Yes, that will be Morin.”

Ben looked surprised and said, “Morin Baker?”

“Yes, Sergeant.”

“He’s a shifter?”

“Yes, Sergeant. Thanks for coming, Morin. We’ve just finished our first workshop to start the integration of shifters into the AFP and Sergeant Ito and Senior Constable Fischer needed to know who the current shifters are under them to help with that process.”

Jack said, “You’re in the Search & Rescue group, aren’t you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“You’re a shifter?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What kind?”

“Coastal Taipan, sir.”

“Are you venomous?”

“Only in shifted form, sir.”

“So does your being a shifter help in your job?”

“Yes, sir. My eyesight is better than non-human and my sense of smell is greatly improved. So long as we are up-wind of the people we are looking for, I will be able to pick them up and track them well before they are in sight.”

“Hearing?”

“When shifted it works differently. Generally, my hearing is worse than a standard human’s when shifted - across most frequencies, although better than a normal taipan. However, it does allow me to ‘hear’ very low frequencies and vibrations in the ground, making it very difficult for someone to sneak up on me.”

“Fascinating.” Ben shook his head and continued. “I hope I can depend on both of you to help over this transition period. There’s going to be a lot of small changes to benefit both the AFP and you, but this will work best if we cooperate.”

Brian said, “Certainly sir. Can I ask, sir, I understand why Morin is here, but what benefit can I give?”

Alexa answered, “The changes for operational units are going to take time to implement, but all of the initial changes will be in regards to HR, admin, medical, and so on. This you can help with. Once, we’ve put through the changes to the personnel systems, the next time you go to medical, you should be quickly identified as a shifter and your care should reflect that.”

Ben said, “Alexa, I don’t think you ever mentioned how being a shifter should be handled medically?”

“If it’s a small injury, it really shouldn’t, except the recovery will be simpler and quicker. Don’t put in stiches, just use closures, that sort of thing. It’s really hard for a shifter to be affected by a virus or bacteria. But the more severe the injury, the more the medic can lean on the shifter’s abilities. So, a triage level 1 would be treated the same, although if it looks like the person will die, getting other shifters to do a ‘forced change’ may save their life. Once you have stabilised them so they reach a level 2 or 3, however, so long as the patient is conscious, you can encourage them to shift and the act of shifting will stop bleeding, repair gross injuries, broken bones, and so on. They stay shifted for an hour and they should be able to shift back as a category 4 or 5. If they are unconscious, and you have two or more shifters around, again, you can do a ‘forced shift’ to bring about the same result.”

Surprised, Morin asked, “You can?”

Brian said, “You know the first shift ceremony?”

“Yeh.”

“It will work the same way on an unconscious shifter. A conscious shifter, refusing to change, would require several more powerful shifters to force a change.”

Alexa said, “Well, is everyone OK now? I need to get going.”

Ben said, “Thanks for your help.”

“See ya, cuz.”

“See you in two days, sir.”