"The Cold War is over, Sir, I strongly suggest you get used to it," Russian Air Force Captain Yasmin Taisumov said calmly, looking at her counterpart, U.S. Air Force Captain Steven Dwyer. The tall, dark-skinned, muscular serviceman looked good in his uniform and looked like he meant business. As a fellow military officer, Captain Yasmin Taisumov could certainly appreciate that. Too bad Dwyer's demeanor was hostile...
U.S. Air Force Captain Steven Dwyer had been eyeing the detachment of Russian soldiers since they first arrived at the U.S. military base in Colorado Springs for an unprecedented joint military exercise. While a lot of American military personnel didn't trust the pride of Mother Russia as far as they could throw them, they had showed the Russians every courtesy. Dwyer, though, had been the exception.
"Be that as it may, Ma'am, I'd really appreciate it if your men kept to their barracks and other assigned areas for the duration of this exercise, please and thank you," Captain Dwyer replied, in a tone that was polite, but one hundred percent firm. Captain Taisumov looked at Dwyer, seeing right through the paranoid American mindset that so many of the Yankees had when dealing with the sons and daughters of Mother Russia.
"Understood, sir, oh, and it's Captain, not ma'am," Captain Yasmin Taisumov replied, without blinking, and Captain Steven Dwyer nodded without saying anything else. With that, Captain Yasmin Taisumov turned on her heel, exchanging a smile with the Russian detachment as she did so. Along with Sergeant Viktor Gurov and Corporal Mikhail Kozak, she was in charge of the detachment of Russian soldiers sent to the U.S. Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
"These Americans are really paranoid, and have no idea how exposed they truly are, seriously, if we wanted to know their secrets, we wouldn't even need spies, they post state secrets on the Internet and claim it's just good journalism in the name of democracy," Sergeant Gurov said, laughing merrily. Upon hearing that, the other officers laughed as well.
Captain Yasmin Taisumov nodded, and allowed herself a smile. Tall and thin, with dark brown hair and steely blue eyes, Sergeant Gurov was a career military man who'd been a good friend of hers for over a decade. Still, he didn't know the American mindset half as much as he thought he did. Back in the day, Yasmin lived in America for a time, and got to know her people really well.
As the Russian officers made their way to their assigned barracks, Captain Yasmin Taisumov took a look around the Colorado Springs military base. There were U.S. military men and women walking around, going about their duties. Everything one would expect at a military base. Engineers, techs, medics, chefs, repairmen, and the like. The Americans spared no expense when it comes to their military.
Fifteen years ago, a brouhaha erupted in Russian politics when the Russian government assigned a Chechen-born diplomat, Khassan Taisumov, to the prestigious position of Consulate General at the Russian Diplomatic Mission in the City of Atlanta, Georgia. In those days, with scores of Russian soldiers having lost their lives in conflict against the Chechen people, this was a risquΓ© move on the part of the Russian government.
Khassan Taisumov wasn't just any Chechen politician, he was the proud son of Imam Umar Taisumov of Grozny, Chechnya, and a man hated by his own people for advocating the cause of Russian-Chechen unification. An observant Muslim man, Khassan nevertheless counted many friends among the Russian Orthodox leadership.
Born in the City of Grozny, Chechnya, and educated at Moscow State University and later at Boston University in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, Khassan Taisumov considered himself the modern Chechen par excellence. Khassan firmly believed that there was room for both Christianity and Islam in Russia proper, and that people from both faiths had more in common than they realized. The man was made for a career in the diplomatic corps.
Khassan Taisumov further earned the enmity of traditional Chechen Muslims when he fell in love with a woman from another faith, without making her convert to Islam. Khassan married a Russian Orthodox Christian woman, a schoolteacher known as Valentina Markelov. The couple raised their only daughter, Yasmin Taisumov in the United States of America and in Russia, teaching her to respect both Christian and Islamic religious traditions.
After practically spending half her life in America, Yasmin Taisumov returned to Russia, and began practicing Islam. At the same time, she reconnected with her Chechen roots, and spent a few years living in the City of Grozny, surrounded by her father's people. Upon returning to Moscow, Yasmin decided to join the Russian Air Force. With her father's contacts and her family pedigree, enlisting proved easier for Yasmin than it would have been for an average Chechen Muslim woman.