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8 - Disdained
The sun is shining brightly over a war-weary ground composed of damaged highway bridges. A few soldiers emerged from behind the rubble southern of the bridges. They are cloaked, and are checking their supplies consisting of typical military kit and a transceiver. They set up the transceiver on a stable ground and proceed to set up a camp.
"He will coming soon." One soldier is telling another.
The other nods and stands near the camp, observing the surroundings with binoculars. He quickly takes notice of a lonely figure coming from in a minor sandstorm, and informed the other.
The figure approaches the camp. It appears he is carrying a large load of heavy material, and apparently he is ordered to take as much payload as his body is allowed to take. He is wearing backpack and towing two carts at the same time.
However, the camp didn't send any support to relieve his load. The figure slowly but stably arrives at the campsite, and the sandstorm gradually stops.
The figure is Deep, now donned with support gear which enhances his ability to transport cargo. And he is definitely unhappy about it.
"Get in there and set up the bows. The commander is waiting." A soldier from the camp orders him to take his load to a field nearby, and resumes his duty.
Deep keeps his silence while building several unfamiliar constructs, unpacked from inside his carts. Some time later another soldier signals him to go inside one of the camps.
"Welcome to the outpost." A familiar man greets Deep, although he does not leave his seat. Deep is standing before him.
"I remember you. You have been assigned one of co-operators of the volcanic site."
"Yes. Just call me Henry. Sit down." Henry glimpses across the floor inside the camp, but there is nothing to sit except a stool which he is sitting on.
Deep's face shows suspicion, and Henry signals a soldier aside to go outside and find a blanket.
"I have heard of what you have done in the site. I think having your... aid will be most convenient in settling the situation between us and the city right now."
"What do you want from me?"
"You are a source of information I cannot let loose of."
"I see. Very wise choice." Deep shows a bit of disgust while complimenting him.
"The volcanic site also has come to a decision. That you will lead in the testing of the unreleased weapon."
Henry pauses for a short while, and takes a couple of crafted wooden chess pieces from inside his pocket. They appear to be a knight and a cannon.
He holds the cannon piece before Deep and proceeds: "I assume you might have seen this."
Deep doesn't answer and watches Henry puts the knight on the floor, slightly tilted by the ground underneath.
"You don't have to answer me, I am just implying that this is not stable either." Henry then puts the cannon next to the floor, but it rolls on the floor due to tilted ground.
"What do you mean?"
"The site originally intended to punish you by putting you as the test subject of the weapon. I somehow disagreed on the idea, and came to the decision that you will be helping us on the weapon. After all, we are out of hands."
"Straightforward enough for me."
Henry takes the cannon, and then the knight piece. Putting them on his left palm, he poses his hand near to level of his eyes.
"I will not be responsible for any damage incurred by your misuse of the weapon."
"I know."
"And you are also tasked with a mission."
"Fine. Tell me."
"Reclaim at least a dozen samples of crossbows stolen by the union."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Are you surprised that I am giving you authority after what you have done?"
"Uh, yes. But just get this over with. Tell me."
"Make no mistake, I am not giving you any advantage by letting you access the weapons. It's just you are the candidate for the exercise, and it is also an insurance to me... the site."
Henry straightens the chess pieces in his palm, and takes the cannon by his fingers.
"And if you do something unexpected..."
He gently pushes the knight aside with the cannon.
"Get over here."
A soldier signals Deep to join a campfire after a day's work, a dozen of them are now sitting near the fire, under a dark night.
"Let's welcome our newest recruit, Deep. Or should I say, one of the big men that we are serving for?"
A muscular man welcomes Deep and Deep goes sitting besides him.
"Don't be so quiet. We surely want to know more about you!"
Deep sweeps across the area. Many of the soldiers residing here are also looking across the campfire, but many are curious about him.
"Hey." The man taps Deep's shoulder.
"Oh. Yes... I'll tell." Deep stretches himself slightly and sits comfortably on the ground.
"As your leader Steve said, I was 'dispatched' to the front line. Specifically the War Dogs, your team. From today I will be responsible for coordinating the fights. And I brought these crossbows you saw today."
"I see." The man interrupts his speech.
"Hm?"
"Let's cut to the chase. Because we got many recruits here I will state the rules here before we go further.
This is War Dogs, a cleanup team that takes care of what the Fighters have shortcoming-"
The man stares at Deep with a hollow gaze momentarily, but turns his sight back to the fire and continues:
"So we only have one thing exceeding others: Causality. To maintain our morale, positions don't mean everything, you must help each other as best as you can. And if you don't, both or all of them die."
He paused for a moment, Deep starts to feel nervous since he doesn't feel the other listeners to flinch.
"This has happened several times before, get used to it."
Deep slowly turns his head towards the man while the campsite is in awkward silence.
"What do you mean by 'This has happened several times before' ?"
"Hmph, I expected so from someone who lives so far away from us. But I'll explain it."
The man takes a small notebook from his pocket and reads it quickly.
"The War Dogs was established under the Fighter's command, specifically Henry. Its sole purpose was to cleanup whatever the trouble the Fighter caused during the Julian War. I expect you are ready to hear the truth, yes?"
The man acknowledges a nod from Deep, and continues.
"The fighters did not succeed in defeating Julian in one try. As such a great deal of pressure was put onto the society in military backups. The fighters are the blades, and we are the shields. We were the force on keeping the fighters in condition to try again, for the expense of civilian lives."
"What?"
"The War Dogs has therefore become a valuable commodity in generally everything involved in war. In short, we turn from dealing with enemies into dealing with war itself."
A small noise arises in between the soldiers, and quickly silences.
"I'm sure our new buddy Deep knows much about the high society, but take care of him, it's the boss's order."
"As you say-"
"Wait." The man interrupts again. "I forgot to add War Dogs isn't quite noble. It's a 'thriving gang'. You get it?"
"Yes. Not noble." As he answered he noticed some eyes hidden behind some men fade their wary gaze.
"Continue." The man slightly sits back and leaves the conversation to Deep.
"I think you may be interested about being a fighter, so let's begin with..."
Deep starts to share his experience in his career, and the others listen patiently, some also raise question that Deep answers quickly.
After a night's talk, the man concludes the night with several man extinguishing the fire and soldiers going back to their camps.
Deep wakes early as usual the next day and goes for assembly, now as a platoon leader. He leads soldiers looking slightly malnourished but alert. His impression is they are not very different from his own, but senses something unusual.
After taking orders from the muscular man, named Steve and called the commandant, he brings his men to scout for a foggy area ahead with a couple of prototype crossbows.
.
"I suggest you take care of these bows, Henry said he's out of stock." A senior soldier informs Deep when he is target practicing with several soldiers. Deep agrees, soon he see a scout hurriedly reporting back.
"A large force of several dozen mixed infantry are heading towards us, they will arrive in about ten minutes!"
"Urgh, can we move these bows now?"
"No sir, it seems the bows are designed to fix firmly on the ground."
"Damn it, the autofire hasn't been calibrated."
"Sir, we are ordered to stand our ground since this chokepoint is vital to cover weaknesses of our other sites."
"I know it." Deep turns to the bow, now partially loaded, but can only shoot in one direction.
"...Prepare your defenses. Scout, make sure none of our man stands in the line of this." Deep rides behind the bow, he looks like stuck with it on the ground and others back off.
"Fire!"
Using the fog as advantage, Deep orders a volley of arrows launched into the emerging shadows. While the forces at far seem to flinch they start to slowly expand.
"There are many of them! They will engage in no time!"
"Force them to converge at the line of the bow!"
Another volley of arrow are launched soon, slightly flinching the sides but the hostile forces are about to emerge from the mists.
Deep pulls the lever of crossbow, and bolts are shot, piercing the fog vigorously.
Far cries of pain are heard from the shadows, but the forces keep marching.
"Load!" Deep waves to the right, taking a bunch of bolts and stuffs them into the quarrel, but he has no time to load them. Arrows and magical blasts are starting to land onto the defenses. He instead jumps away from the bow and draws his sword, rushing into the front where soldiers are shielding.
(To be continued)
The sun is shining brightly over a war-weary ground composed of damaged highway bridges. A few soldiers emerged from behind the rubble southern of the bridges. They are cloaked, and are checking their supplies consisting of typical military kit and a transceiver. They set up the transceiver on a stable ground and proceed to set up a camp.
"He will coming soon." One soldier is telling another.
The other nods and stands near the camp, observing the surroundings with binoculars. He quickly takes notice of a lonely figure coming from in a minor sandstorm, and informed the other.
The figure approaches the camp. It appears he is carrying a large load of heavy material, and apparently he is ordered to take as much payload as his body is allowed to take. He is wearing backpack and towing two carts at the same time.
However, the camp didn't send any support to relieve his load. The figure slowly but stably arrives at the campsite, and the sandstorm gradually stops.
The figure is Deep, now donned with support gear which enhances his ability to transport cargo. And he is definitely unhappy about it.
"Get in there and set up the bows. The commander is waiting." A soldier from the camp orders him to take his load to a field nearby, and resumes his duty.
Deep keeps his silence while building several unfamiliar constructs, unpacked from inside his carts. Some time later another soldier signals him to go inside one of the camps.
"Welcome to the outpost." A familiar man greets Deep, although he does not leave his seat. Deep is standing before him.
"I remember you. You have been assigned one of co-operators of the volcanic site."
"Yes. Just call me Henry. Sit down." Henry glimpses across the floor inside the camp, but there is nothing to sit except a stool which he is sitting on.
Deep's face shows suspicion, and Henry signals a soldier aside to go outside and find a blanket.
"I have heard of what you have done in the site. I think having your... aid will be most convenient in settling the situation between us and the city right now."
"What do you want from me?"
"You are a source of information I cannot let loose of."
"I see. Very wise choice." Deep shows a bit of disgust while complimenting him.
"The volcanic site also has come to a decision. That you will lead in the testing of the unreleased weapon."
Henry pauses for a short while, and takes a couple of crafted wooden chess pieces from inside his pocket. They appear to be a knight and a cannon.
He holds the cannon piece before Deep and proceeds: "I assume you might have seen this."
Deep doesn't answer and watches Henry puts the knight on the floor, slightly tilted by the ground underneath.
"You don't have to answer me, I am just implying that this is not stable either." Henry then puts the cannon next to the floor, but it rolls on the floor due to tilted ground.
"What do you mean?"
"The site originally intended to punish you by putting you as the test subject of the weapon. I somehow disagreed on the idea, and came to the decision that you will be helping us on the weapon. After all, we are out of hands."
"Straightforward enough for me."
Henry takes the cannon, and then the knight piece. Putting them on his left palm, he poses his hand near to level of his eyes.
"I will not be responsible for any damage incurred by your misuse of the weapon."
"I know."
"And you are also tasked with a mission."
"Fine. Tell me."
"Reclaim at least a dozen samples of crossbows stolen by the union."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Are you surprised that I am giving you authority after what you have done?"
"Uh, yes. But just get this over with. Tell me."
"Make no mistake, I am not giving you any advantage by letting you access the weapons. It's just you are the candidate for the exercise, and it is also an insurance to me... the site."
Henry straightens the chess pieces in his palm, and takes the cannon by his fingers.
"And if you do something unexpected..."
He gently pushes the knight aside with the cannon.
"Get over here."
A soldier signals Deep to join a campfire after a day's work, a dozen of them are now sitting near the fire, under a dark night.
"Let's welcome our newest recruit, Deep. Or should I say, one of the big men that we are serving for?"
A muscular man welcomes Deep and Deep goes sitting besides him.
"Don't be so quiet. We surely want to know more about you!"
Deep sweeps across the area. Many of the soldiers residing here are also looking across the campfire, but many are curious about him.
"Hey." The man taps Deep's shoulder.
"Oh. Yes... I'll tell." Deep stretches himself slightly and sits comfortably on the ground.
"As your leader Steve said, I was 'dispatched' to the front line. Specifically the War Dogs, your team. From today I will be responsible for coordinating the fights. And I brought these crossbows you saw today."
"I see." The man interrupts his speech.
"Hm?"
"Let's cut to the chase. Because we got many recruits here I will state the rules here before we go further.
This is War Dogs, a cleanup team that takes care of what the Fighters have shortcoming-"
The man stares at Deep with a hollow gaze momentarily, but turns his sight back to the fire and continues:
"So we only have one thing exceeding others: Causality. To maintain our morale, positions don't mean everything, you must help each other as best as you can. And if you don't, both or all of them die."
He paused for a moment, Deep starts to feel nervous since he doesn't feel the other listeners to flinch.
"This has happened several times before, get used to it."
Deep slowly turns his head towards the man while the campsite is in awkward silence.
"What do you mean by 'This has happened several times before' ?"
"Hmph, I expected so from someone who lives so far away from us. But I'll explain it."
The man takes a small notebook from his pocket and reads it quickly.
"The War Dogs was established under the Fighter's command, specifically Henry. Its sole purpose was to cleanup whatever the trouble the Fighter caused during the Julian War. I expect you are ready to hear the truth, yes?"
The man acknowledges a nod from Deep, and continues.
"The fighters did not succeed in defeating Julian in one try. As such a great deal of pressure was put onto the society in military backups. The fighters are the blades, and we are the shields. We were the force on keeping the fighters in condition to try again, for the expense of civilian lives."
"What?"
"The War Dogs has therefore become a valuable commodity in generally everything involved in war. In short, we turn from dealing with enemies into dealing with war itself."
A small noise arises in between the soldiers, and quickly silences.
"I'm sure our new buddy Deep knows much about the high society, but take care of him, it's the boss's order."
"As you say-"
"Wait." The man interrupts again. "I forgot to add War Dogs isn't quite noble. It's a 'thriving gang'. You get it?"
"Yes. Not noble." As he answered he noticed some eyes hidden behind some men fade their wary gaze.
"Continue." The man slightly sits back and leaves the conversation to Deep.
"I think you may be interested about being a fighter, so let's begin with..."
Deep starts to share his experience in his career, and the others listen patiently, some also raise question that Deep answers quickly.
After a night's talk, the man concludes the night with several man extinguishing the fire and soldiers going back to their camps.
Deep wakes early as usual the next day and goes for assembly, now as a platoon leader. He leads soldiers looking slightly malnourished but alert. His impression is they are not very different from his own, but senses something unusual.
After taking orders from the muscular man, named Steve and called the commandant, he brings his men to scout for a foggy area ahead with a couple of prototype crossbows.
.
"I suggest you take care of these bows, Henry said he's out of stock." A senior soldier informs Deep when he is target practicing with several soldiers. Deep agrees, soon he see a scout hurriedly reporting back.
"A large force of several dozen mixed infantry are heading towards us, they will arrive in about ten minutes!"
"Urgh, can we move these bows now?"
"No sir, it seems the bows are designed to fix firmly on the ground."
"Damn it, the autofire hasn't been calibrated."
"Sir, we are ordered to stand our ground since this chokepoint is vital to cover weaknesses of our other sites."
"I know it." Deep turns to the bow, now partially loaded, but can only shoot in one direction.
"...Prepare your defenses. Scout, make sure none of our man stands in the line of this." Deep rides behind the bow, he looks like stuck with it on the ground and others back off.
"Fire!"
Using the fog as advantage, Deep orders a volley of arrows launched into the emerging shadows. While the forces at far seem to flinch they start to slowly expand.
"There are many of them! They will engage in no time!"
"Force them to converge at the line of the bow!"
Another volley of arrow are launched soon, slightly flinching the sides but the hostile forces are about to emerge from the mists.
Deep pulls the lever of crossbow, and bolts are shot, piercing the fog vigorously.
Far cries of pain are heard from the shadows, but the forces keep marching.
"Load!" Deep waves to the right, taking a bunch of bolts and stuffs them into the quarrel, but he has no time to load them. Arrows and magical blasts are starting to land onto the defenses. He instead jumps away from the bow and draws his sword, rushing into the front where soldiers are shielding.
(To be continued)