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Retreat, Hell - Episode 10
🕑 Added 2019-11-16 20:49:50 +0000 UTCA/N: So I've finally got settled in the new apartment! I've still got some unpacking and arranging to do, and work's been busier than I had hoped, but I managed to get this one knocked out. At 7242 words, it's a bit shorter than the last few full episodes, but it sets some stuff up for upcoming episodes, and answers a few questions about magic and elves.
I'm looking at doing a Q&A livestream sometime later in December. I don't want to get too close to the holiday, but I'll have some time off in the second half of the month that should give me plenty of flexibility for it, plus I should have everything mostly unpacked by then.
Upcoming episodes include another trip to Earth, this time for Science!, and the keshmin artificer squad's arrival. There will probably be a few time skips during that period, because I don't to get too bogged down in joint tactics development, and I want to move the story on to events after that, but there will definitely be some PT session fun, and a visit to a keshmin town (which will probably be a multi-episode adventure arc).
Now that this episode is out, I'll also be putting together some fan art and commissions I've had done to share with you guys. I'm really excited about that!
Retreat, Hell – Episode 10
This was not a good day.
Michaels surveyed the bodies laid out before him in the pavilion-turned-morgue. Three Marines, none of them older than twenty-three, and one German Shepherd.
“Are you sure we didn’t get any of the bastards?” General Zoroiwchak asked. His uniform was barely ruffled, despite having spent the night in the wrong FOB on lockdown.
“No, sir,” Lieutenant Colonel Mayhew said, shaking his head. His sleepless night reflected in the slight bags under his eyes. “There’s a blood trail that leads over the berm and into the woods, and we’ve got a dog team backed by half a platoon on it now, but no bodies so far.”
Not fast enough… Michaels resisted the urge to rub his own baggy eyes. Between the lockdown and the sweep of the base, the elves have enough of a head start… They’re probably across the river and halfway to keeblerville by now.
“How did they get in?” he asked. “The Ganlin gave us those beacons to set up around the FOB, to disrupt their invisibility.”
“They did, but they didn’t give us enough,” Mayhew shook his head. “Not for how much we’ve had to expand the perimeter.”
“Have they been shorting us?” Sergeant Major Miller asked.
Michaels suppressed a frown. Miller always struck him as being too quick to throw the blame on someone than was appropriate, especially for a regimental Sergeant Major.
“No, I don’t think so,” Mayhew shook his head. “The reports my men have given me say they’re struggling even with the supplies we’ve shared with them.” He sighed, rubbing gunk out of his eye. “And the number of beacons I’ve seen set up around their own camp indicate that they don’t have enough beacons left to cover themselves.”
“So they slipped in through the cracks?” Colonel Anders asked.
“Essentially, sir, yes,” Sergeant Major Donalds said. The broad-shouldered man resembled a bulldog. Michaels knew him by his reputation for being as tenacious and stubborn as one, but he looked just as tired as his commanding officer. “The way the goat-cat wizards explained it, the beacons’ effectiveness starts to taper off after a certain distance. At the edges, it’s almost nothing, and a skilled Keebler wizard can keep their shit stable through it.”
“So we don’t have enough overlap?”
“Worse, sir,” Donalds said. “We’ve got total gaps in coverage. Not all the beacons have been moved since initially set up, but we’ve identified some total gaps that you could drive an Abrams through, and the whole perimeter is scattered with weak areas.”
“How many got in? Are there any still inside?”
“We’re not entirely sure,” Mayhew said. “But between the reports, what little security camera coverage we had in the area, and two Go-Pros, we’re pretty certain it was a team of eight.”
“We did a thorough sweep of the base with the dogs,” Donalds said. He nodded at the slain Shepherd. “Sergeant Razer caught on to them right quick, led her team straight to the bastards. Whatever they’ve got, it don’t block a dog’s nose.”
Zoroiwchak nodded, then sighed. “Let’s let these boys lie in peace.”
Michaels gave a silent nod to the fallen Marines, paying his final respects. They weren’t his men, all of Second Battalion had been moved back to Tolkien, but they were still Marines.
“Do we have any idea what their objectives were?” Zoroiwchak asked as he stepped out of the tent, followed closely by his aide and the rest of the party.
“Not for sure, no,” Mayhew said. “Nothing has been identified as missing, and they hadn’t gotten very far into the camp before Razer led Corporal Ramirez and Corporal Goldberg right to them.”
“We swept the camp for anything they might have left behind,” Donalds said, “Even got a couple of the goat-cat wizards to come over and scan for anything they might have deployed, came up with nothing.”
“They were probably doing recon,” Michaels said.
“That’s what we figured, too,” Mayhew nodded.
“Well, now they know we’re vulnerable,” Miller said. “And it cost us three Marines and a dog, and five more injured to tell them that.”
Their conversation was interrupted by the ringing of a cellphone. Tolkien was close enough to the portal to get regular cell signal, and repeaters had been set up to provide signal inside FOB Williams, though it was still spotty in some portions of the base.
Zoroiwchak’s aide, a young lieutenant, pulled the phone out of his pocket and answered it. After a brief conversation, his eyebrows shot up, and he held the phone out. “Sir, you need to take this.”
Zoroiwchak raised an eyebrow and took the phone. “General Zoroiwchak. Sir. … Shit. Aye, sir. Yes, sir. I concur, sir. Yes, sir, we can make that happen. No sir. Will they need support? Aye, sir. I’ll have units standing by just in case. Yes, sir. We’ll get it locked down, sir.” He hung up the phone, handing it back to his aide.
“Anders, get Miramar on the horn, tell them to pull half the stockpile we raided from the elves and make it ready for immediate delivery.” He turned to Mayhew. “Send a message to the keshmin that we need more of those disruptor shitasses ASAP, and that they can have as many of the mana crystals we liberated from the elves as they need to make them. We need a solid perimeter around Williams and Tolkien with no gaps.” He turned back to his aide “Clemson, get on the horn with the MWD commanders, tell them we need a continuous patrol around both perimeters. We need every dog that can be spared sent to the front for patrols, and we need them here yesterday.”
“What happened?” Michaels asked.
He scowled. “One of the bastards slipped through to Earth.”
“Shit.”
“How bad is it?” Mayhew asked.
“He murdered a family and was camping in their house. County Sheriffs were sent to check on the family this morning, and he killed one of the deputies before getting away.”
“Shit.”
“Has it hit the media yet?” Miller asked.
“Not yet, but they’re already standing up a state-wide manhunt, and every three-letter agency between San Diego and DC is throwing their hat in the ring. It’s not going to stay quiet for long.”
“Fucking hell.”
“Yeah.” Zoroiwchak shook his head. “We need to get on top of this clusterfuck. This magic bullshit they have is one hell of an advantage. Getting some kind of augment integration with the keshmin wizards just took on a whole new priority, and so did figuring out whether or not any of us can play with magic.”
“Are the Berkley boys ready? The artificer my Marines adopted cleared medical, and we sent him Earth-side yesterday for more scans after he volunteered to share his medical data.”
“Yeah, I saw your brief on that. I’ll get on the horn with Berkley and make sure they step up the pace. When is the wizard team supposed to show up?”
“They’re selecting their artificers now. They’re supposed to arrive on Tuesday.”
“Good. Get them sorted and start training hard. This new shitstorm is going to have us on lockdown for a bit, but General Langstrom’s offensive is aggressive enough as it is. Once we’re sure our balls are covered, there’s going to be a huge demand for hell to pay.”
“No doubt, sir.”
He looked as his aide answered another call. “I’ve gotta go deal with this fuck show. Give your boys did good the other day, but there job’s not done. Make sure they’re squared and ready to rumble come Tuesday. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
“Aye, sir.”
*********
“Man, this fucking sucks…” Gomez groaned, banging the back of his head against the hesco wall he sat against.
“I know, man,” Kawalski said. “This fucking lockdown bullshit is really cutting into our profit margin.”
“Of course your chief complaint is not being able to scam other Marines out of their hard-earned pay.” Bradford rolled her eyes.
“It ain’t no scam!” he said. “It’s free enterprise!”
“Can you even spell free enterprise?”
“I don’t need to spell it if it’s making me money!”
Bradford snorted, shaking her head. I’m not going to dignify that with a response…
“I’m just sick of being on watch or on patrol,” Edison said. “What are they trying to do, hope we just stumble into some invisible bastards by chance?”
“We just had eighteen hours of liberty back on Earth,” Dubois said, rolling his eyes. “We don’t get to complain about anything.”
Edison snorted. “I’m a Marine. I can complain about everything.”
“Yeah, well, I’d like to complain about your mom,” Gomez said.
“Hey, my mother is a nice lady! She works very hard every night at Goldfingers.”
Kimber laughed. “I’m sure Kawalski was her favorite customer, then.”
“Kawalski is every stripper’s favorite customer,” Bradford said, rolling her eyes.
Rinn perked an ear at the discussion, but opted not to join the conversation. It was the most he had moved since he had flopped down against the wall.
“Seriously, though, this fucking sucks.” Davies shook his head. “How are we supposed to catch the bastards if they can turn fucking invisible?”
“Elven commandos, man.” Stephens said, staring across the cleared field on the other side of the wall into the trees beyond. “Fuckin’ elven commandos. Pulled some Legolas bullshit.”
“Did anyone know the guys who died?” Dubois asked.
“Nah,” Kimber said. “They were all from Third Battalion.”
“I think Sampson might have fucked one of them,” Kawalski said.
“You think Sampson might have fucked everyone,” Bradford gave him a side-ways glance.
“He might have!”
“Ugghh…” Bradford rolled her eyes again.
“Mnngh.” Rinn groaned. “Shsh.” He waved a hand in their direction.
Bradford laughed. “What’s the matter, Shields?” She squatted next to him and poked him in the side, looking for a ticklish spot. “Party a little too hard last night?”
Groaning, he tucked his arm in and leaned away from her, trying to protect his side. Instead, he slid along the wall until he fell over.
Bradford squatted down and poked him some more. “C’mon, Shields, how’re you gonna keep your stave going if you pass out? We don’t have anything else that can see invisible keeblers.”
He groaned, curling into a ball. “Doesn’t need me. Set to automagic.”
Bradford blinked, snorting a laugh. Is that… Is that a fucking word, now?
The distraction was her undoing. She failed to notice Rinn slipping his tail into one of the straps on her pack until the sharp tug threw off the balance of her squat and she found herself on her ass.
She blinked in surprise, then joined the rest of the squad in laughter. “You sneaky bastard!”
Rinn flicked his tail up to press the end against her mouth. “Shhhhh….” She swatted his tail away as they all laughed again.
“Heads up, here comes trouble,” Dubois said, nodding towards a Humvee barreling their way.
“It’s not time for our reliefs, yet, is it?” Davies asked.
“Nope,” said Miller.
“C’mon, shields, time to put your armor back on.” Bradford poked him in the side again.
Rinn groaned, but sat up and dragged the plate carrier over. Bradford helped him put it on, then hauled him to his feet.
“I can barely move in this thing, how can you stand to run in it?”
“Lots of PT,” Gomez said.
“And knee problems,” Kimber added.
“Yeah,” Kawalski grunted. “I figure I’ll have enough joint damage by the time I get out, I’ll be making E-Five for life.”
Further conversation was forestalled by the Humvee as it roared up and ground to a halt with a squeal of breaks. The doors swung open and Lieutenant Meyers and Staff Sergeant Rickles stepped out. A pair of MPs stepped out behind them, followed by two dogs and their handlers that had squeezed into the back.
“Second Artificer Ahyat,” Meyers said, stepping up to the squad. “You’re to come with us for questioning. Rex and Lucy will cover your sector.”
“What kind of questioning, sir?” Kawalski said, immediately on edge. The rest of the squad fell in behind Bradford, and she saw Kimber and Sampson putting themselves between Rinn and the Lieutenant.
“The technical kind,” Rickles said, giving them a small, calming wave. “He’s more valuable for his expertise than as a sentry right now.”
The squad relaxed a bit, though Kawalski still gave the MPs a suspicious eye.
“I’d still like to come along, sir,” Bradford said, stepping forward. “He falls under my command. If you’re going to be questioning him, I should be there.” She paused, then added as the thought occurred to her. “You might also need someone to translate.”
Meyers gave her a considering look, then nodded. “Very well. Pile in.”
“Aye, sir,” she nodded, then glanced over her shoulder. “Dubois, you’re in charge until I get back.”
“Aye, Sergeant.”
She caught Davies’ frown as she turned back to the Lieutenant and she and Rinn followed him to the Humvee. Technically Davies is more senior, but… If he wanted to maintain seniority, he shouldn’t have gone sickbay commando.
Bradford put the concern out of her mind as Rinn passed her his stave and climbed into the back of the Humvee after her. He groaned as he settled himself into a position that had a passing resemblance to comfortable.
She grinned and tapped him on the arm, leaning over to whisper in his ear. “Heh, they sent two dog teams to replace you, and you were mostly passed out and hungover.”
Rinn snorted, taking his stave back and curling up with it as he leaned against the bulkhead. He smirked like he was going to give her a smart remark, but the Humvee jolted, bouncing his head off the bulkhead, and he just whimpered and groaned instead.
****
“At ease, Sergeant.” The tall, lanky, Navy Lieutenant shut the door behind him. “I’m Lieutenant Bauder, Office of Naval Intelligence.” He shifted a folder and notebook to his left hand and offered a handshake as Bradford introduced herself and Rinn. “To be clear, Sergeant, Second Artificer, nobody’s in trouble, but we are in desperate need of information, technical and non-technical, and there are few people in a better position to provide that than yourself,” he nodded at Rinn.
“I will share what I can, sir,” Rinn said, standing almost at attention just to keep himself from swaying. Bradford repeated his words for Bauder’s benefit.
“Excellent,” Bauder said, dropping his folder and notebook down on the table and sitting across from Bradford and Rinn. “Let’s start with invisibility.”
Bradford glanced around the room as she and Rinn returned to their seats. They had barely been sitting for more than a minute before the Lieutenant had arrived. More an “unfinished closet” than “interrogation room” vibe, but it’s not far off…
Bauder opened the folder and flipped to a blank page in his notebook, clicking his pen a few times as he found his starting point in the papers in the folder. “We understand that they have two versions. Is this correct?”
“Yes.” Rinn nodded. Bradford continued her translation. “They have their blending, and true invisibility.”
“Can you elaborate on ‘blending?’”
“Yes.” He took a moment to collect his thoughts. His ears drooped, and Bradford could tell his movements were slower and more deliberate than usual, but he was putting on a strong front. “Blending is… a blending of their appearance with their surroundings. Light does not pass through them, but they create the appearance that it does.”
He paused to allow Bradford to translate, and she got the feeling he was using the break to piece more words together.
Bauder nodded, jotting an abbreviated version down on his notepad. “Is this effect biological? Is it their skin changing?” He added in response to Rinn’s uncertain look.
Some of our expressions translate really well… Bradford thought.
“No.” Rinn started to shake his head, then immediately thought better of it. “It is… An illusion they create, that covers anything they are wearing or holding.”
“It sounds like active camouflage, sir,” Bradford added at the end of her translation.
“Indeed,” the Lieutenant nodded. He looked back to Rinn. “What are the advantages? The limitations? How good of an illusion is it?”
“The quality of the blend can vary from one elf to the next, but they can’t perfectly recreate what is behind them, and even the best can be seen at close range by an observant watcher.” Rinn paused for another translation. “So far as we can tell, it requires more energy to maintain than an elf can sustain indefinitely, but it’s a relatively light draw on their reserves. Rapid shifts in the background, or in lighting, can also give them away.”
Bauder looked up from his notes. “Is this a…” he glanced at another sheet of notes. “An artifice that the keshmin can create?”
“No,” Rinn slowly shook his head. “We have tried, and there are experiments, but… The spell structure is incredibly refined and complex. We can create illusions, but not to nearly the same detail or precision, nor that conform so completely.”
“And what about ‘true invisibility?’” Bauder asked, jotting a note down then flipping to a fresh page.
“True Invisibility is… it’s just that. They are truly invisible. Light passes right through them.”
Bauder nodded. “Yes. We have limited data, but between the various vehicle-mounted sensors in the first battle, and security sensors we set up around FOB Williams, it seems that their invisibility covers not just the visible light spectrum, but also IR and near-UV. Do you know if their invisibility covers the full EM spectrum, or just parts of it?”
Rinn frowned, slowly cocking his head to the side. “I do not know what you speak of.”
Bradford turned to him after translating his confusion. “All light is made of what we call photons, unimaginably tiny particles that move incredibly fast.”
“That sounds like the Speck Theory of light. It proposes that light is made of individual specks, rather than waves in the ether, which is the accepted understanding.”
“Well… it’s, um, both, actually… Except there’s no ether.” Bradford smiled as his confusion deepened.
“We can discuss the peculiarities of wave-particle duality at another time.” Bauder said. “The important part is that photons have a frequency, and the colors we see, and whether we even see them, depend on that frequency. Above visible light is ultra-violet light, then X-Rays and Gamma Rays. Below visible light is infra-red, microwaves, radio waves.”
Rinn shook his head. “I am not the most scholarly keshmin, but I attended the University at Yagyhanae, one of the most highly regarded universities in the Kingdom. Nobody spoke of light as anything but what we could see.”
“I see,” Bauder said, writing in his notebook. “And what are the limitations of true invisibility?”
“Energy,” Rinn said. “It is a much more energy-intensive spell, and we have never seen them maintain it for any great length of time. Hours at most.”
Bauder nodded, writing more notes. “And can keshmin create anything similar?”
Rinn slowly shook his head. “No. The sophistication of the spell… It is much harder to glean from observation… Articulating the spell should be possible, but the design is so intricate and refined, even what fragments we have been able to capture.” He placed a hand to the side of his head. “Not that we haven’t tried. There have been experiments, using recorded fragments of the spell and attempting to fill in the blanks, but none that determined anything.” He snorted. “I remember Professor Simyahn complaining up a storm about some of them, and how they were causing resonance interference with the crystal experiments he was trying to perform.”
Bradford tilted her head after translating the last comment. “Was the experiment on mana crystals?”
“No,” Rinn said, massaging his skull just forward of the base of his ear. “It was with galena crystals. They are a very poor mana capacitor, barely even count for it, but abundant enough. Professor Simyahn wanted to see if there was a way to make more use of them.” He sighed at an unpleasant memory. “He would rave at length about mana capacitors so cheap and abundant they could replace raw mana crystals as a storage medium.” He slid his hand up to rub at the base of his right horn. “Nothing ever came of his experiments. He insisted that it was because of the invisibility experiments, that they were causing resonance in his crystal arrays, disrupting his experiments, even though no mana connection was ever identified.” He snorted again. “Simyahn was always a crazy, old coot.”
“Maybe not…” Bauder said, exchanging a glance with Bradford. Rinn cocked an ear at him.
“Your professor might have made an early crystal radio set…” Rinn turned his ear to her. “Not my area of expertise,” she laughed, holding up a hand, before glancing at Bauder. “But, sir, if he had…”
The lieutenant nodded. “Yes. This could be important. We’ll definitely look into it.” He jotted another note down, then flipped to a clean page. “For now, though, there are more questions.”
Bradford heard Rinn suppress a whine, but he sat up straight as the questions dragged on.
“Let’s talk about the elves themselves. What are their physical capabilities?”
“They are fast, and agile, and have significant strength in short bursts.”
“How fast can an elf run?”
“Faster than a keshmin in a sprint, slower over any considerable distance, unless they have magical support.”
“How fast can a keshmin run?”
“In a sprint? A hundred tails in ten, twelve seconds. Without armor.”
“And long distance?”
“Maybe seven, eight royal miles in an hour, for a few hours. A properly equipped soldier can march eight or nine royal miles in a day. Fifteen, maybe twenty with a long, forced march.”
“How long can an elf run for?”
“Without mana supplementation, only for a few minutes at speed, maybe an hour at a jog. With mana supplementation, for as long as they have mana reserves.”
“What do you mean by ‘Mana supplementation?’”
“Elves can sustain themselves and stave off exhaustion by bolstering themselves with external mana supplies.”
“Interesting… Do you know how often, or how much they need to eat? Can this replace their need to eat?”
“Elven armies are at least partly sustained by magic, and it is believed that elves can sustain themselves exclusively on mana for a time.” He sighed, continuing to massage his skull. “I don’t know the details of elven dietary habits. They only eat plants, and look down on us for eating flesh.”
Bauder snorted. “Sounds like a few humans I know…” he muttered, shaking his head. “What kind of magical abilities do they have? Do all elves have magic?”
Rinn nodded. “All known elves have magical abilities and draw mana from the ether. This was known for long before the war, when the elves were merely isolationist.”
“What about your people?”
“Only some keshmin do.” He frowned. “Estimates vary, but the generally accepted figure is between ten and fifteen percent of all keshmin can touch the ether. Only about half of those are potent enough to be useful in combat.”
“How do elven magical abilities compare to keshmin?”
Rinn sighed. “Elven magical abilities exceed keshmin abilities on the whole. Elves naturally draw more mana from the ether, enough to power noteworthy offensive and defensive spells, and they have significant natural mana reserves.”
His hand went back to rubbing his skull, between the base of his horn and his brow. “Keshmin savants can exceed most elven abilities, but even the greatest savant is limited by roughly the same ambient draw cap as any other keshmin, and can’t match an elf for power output without external mana sources.”
“You mean mana crystals?”
“Yes.”
“And where do mana crystals come from?”
“Elves and keshmin can both draw mana from the ether and condense it into crystals, producing new crystals or growing existing crystals. Elves can condense mana into crystal form at a rate at least two to three times greater than the rate of a keshmin.”
“Is this where all mana crystals come from?”
Rinn slowly shook his head. “No. Most mana crystals used by keshmin are mined. We’re not sure what causes their formation,” he added, anticipating Bauder’s next question.
“What about the elves?”
Rinn frowned, staring through the table. “Elves can use mage towers and other means to drain people of life force.” He rolled his ears and tugged at a horn. “At least, that’s what was thought to happen when such magics were used.”
Bauder raised an eyebrow. Bradford suppressed a shudder at the memory of keshmin chained to a mage tower.
“A… more modern understanding,” Rinn said, deliberately placing his hand back on the table. “Is that such magic employs a process that forces them to draw etherial mana at an accelerated rate, while also force-converting the body’s natural energy stores into mana, possibly to power the process.” He paused, his ears flicking down. “The full details are not known. Such magics were outlawed across the kingdoms centuries before they consolidated under Ganlin. We didn’t know the elves even practiced such magic until the war.”
Bradford felt a sinking feeling in her stomach as she relayed the translation, only made worse by Bauder’s next question.
“What do they use such magic for?”
“The elves use the process to turn people into living batteries to directly power artifices.” He paused, his ears flicking back to his skull. “It is also possible, in theory, to create mana crystals in this way. We have never observed it, but there is no mechanical reason why they couldn’t.”
Bradford’s stomach felt like it wanted to turn inside-out.
Bauder sat back in shock for a moment, but pressed forward. “All those crystals we captured at the elven camp…?”
Rinn nodded, his hand moving back up to slowly massage his skull. “It is suspected that a significant portion of the mana crystals used by the elves came from keshmin prisoners.”
“But, if…” Bradford’s stomach dropped through her chair as she made another realization. “They’re fucking vampires.”
Rinn flicked a confused ear at her, tilting his head to glance at her.
“They can live off mana, and they suck people dry of it.” She snarled, horror and rage battling for dominance. “They turn people into mana and eat them!”
“Yes. That is…” His ears drooped and he nodded. “We believe that is so.”
Bauder took a moment to recompose himself. He jotted several notes down, then flipped to a clean page. “Can an individual elf boost his endurance, or does that take a group or more sophisticated equipment than an individual can carry?”
“No, it is something that all elves can do.” Rinn shrugged his ears. “Our understanding is that it works in the same way that any keshmin artificer would draw on mana, but they are able to apply it to themselves in ways that we are not.” He firmly shook his head, and immediately grimaced in regret. “Ugh. Not even the worst dark artificers in legend and lore were able to sustain themselves with mana like that.”
“How much mana would a single elf go through to sustain heavy activity for a day?”
“I am not sure.”
“Best guess.”
Rinn frowned, concentrating. “The elven armies, they… They maneuver with an economy of endurance.” He rubbed the other side of his face. “They luxuriate in an abundance of mana, but they still conserve their maneuvers. I think it takes a lot of mana for them to supplement their natural endurance.”
“How long do you think a single elf could sustain himself with just what he could carry on his person? How rapidly would he be depleted?”
Bradford narrowed her eyes, the pointed questions suddenly becoming very suspicious.
“I don’t know…” Rinn carefully shook his head. “I am a shield artificer, not a physician or a naturalist.”
“One of them got through, didn’t they, sir?”
Rinn’s ears perked up, lagging for only a fraction of a second.
“I am not at liberty to answer that question, Sergeant.”
“You don’t have to say anything, sir, it’s fucking obvious just by your questions.”
“I can help.” Rinn slid his chair back and pushed himself to his feet.
“Can you pin-point an elf’s exact location?” Bauder looked up at him, his pen still poised over his notepad.
“…. No.”
“Can you track an elf from miles away?”
“No…”
“Then I’m not sure you can actually be of much help.”
Rinn sighed, sitting back down, his ears drooping.
Bauder eyed him for a moment, then set his pen down on his notepad and leaned forward. “You’ve already helped a lot. We’re lacking for intel more than anything else right now.” He sat back with a shake of his head, picking his pen up and absently twirling it in his fingers. “There’s a county-wide manhunt drawing resources from across the state. We’ve got dogs on the trail, and the county sheriffs haven’t asked for military help.”
Rinn raised his right ear, quirking it in confusion.
“Rules and laws,” Bradford said, resisting the urge to ruffle his ears. “The military is kept strictly separate from law enforcement and civil matters. Things tend to get messy when the military is also the police.”
Rinn started opening his mouth like he wanted to ask more, but closed it again when Bauder leaned forward and continued.
“Right now, we need intel more than anything. Anything you can tell us about their capabilities, vulnerabilities, equipment, armor, anything.”
“Right…” Rinn scrunched his eyes shut for a moment, refocusing himself. “Armor…”
He took a deep breath. “Elven armor is light and thin, but heavily enchanted. It is laced and embossed with gold and platinum to help hold enchantments.”
“What is it made of, mostly?”
“It is made of steel, but barely thick enough to be rigid on its own without enchantment. Most of its strength comes from those enchantments. They make it strong enough to turn or deflect any regular blade if it doesn’t find a gap.”
“Is keshmin armor the same?”
The advantages that could give us are obvious… Bradford thought.
Rinn shook his head. “Ganlin armor is rarely so enchanted. Making such armor is certainly within the capabilities of a decent artificer, but the Royal Host’s Lord Generals typically do not deem it to be worth the cost in time, materials, and mana, at least for common soldiers. We mainly rely on bolstering our arms and armor with active enchantments provided by battlefield artificers, like myself.”
“Is this something you can do for us?” Bradford asked, heading off the Lieutenant’s next question.
“Yes,” Rinn nodded. “Active shields are my specialty, but all field artificers are trained to bolster their lines and columns with active enchantments.”
“How does this active enchantment compare to the elves… fixed enchantment?”
“Favorably enough, if we have the mana to support it. Even bolstered by active artificer support, our weapons often struggle to penetrate the armor worn by elven regulars, but they have the same problem when our armor is properly reinforced.” He frowned. “Except for Gemblades.”
“Gemblades?”
“The elven elite regiments. They have even further-enchanted armor and mana gem-powered blades that can cut through even artificer-enhanced keshmin armor.”
“Combat reports noted that some elves had shields, while others did not.”
“Yes,” Rinn slowly bobbed his head. “Elves trained as mages with mana gem-powered staffs can project personal shields in addition to general shield work, and offensive spell casting.” He paused a moment, then added, “Senior elven regulars sometimes have devices that project weaker shields.”
“You’ve mentioned mana gems twice now. Is that another term for mana crystal?”
“No.” Rinn shook his head. “Mana gems are made of condensed mana, like mana crystals, but they have a much more intricate and complex structure. They’re very difficult, and somewhat dangerous to make, and very specialized.”
“How so?”
“Gemblade mana gems can’t be turned into staff mana gems, and vice-versa. They’re also tuned specifically to the creator elf, and not easily used by even other elves, let alone non-elves. We haven’t figured out how to make them, either,” he added.
“So an elf can either be a gemblade, or a wizard, not both?”
“Not that I’ve ever heard of…” He tugged at an ear. “I suppose it’s possible, but we’ve never seen it.” He released his ear, rolling them both in a shrug. “There wasn’t a whole lot known about the elves before the war, but one of the things we did know was that they held their mana gems very precious and dear, because it was an arduous and dangerous process to create them that many elves never even undertook.”
Bauder’s pocket buzzed in three short pulses, interrupting his next question before he could ask it. He pulled out his phone, swiping up on the screen to check the message. “That’s enough questions for now. You’ll have plenty more tomorrow at the lab,” he said, putting his phone back in his pocket and collecting his notes. He stood and left the room with barely a glance at either of them.
Rinn heaved a sigh of relief, sagging in on himself as the lieutenant left. Damn, he looks so miserable… Bradford glanced at her watch. At least it’s past the time we were supposed to be relieved…
***
Bradford looked over at Rinn as the Humvee turned down their “street.” It’s a five-minute ride, and he’s already asleep… She shook her head. Not that any of us are doing much better after getting racked out at 0300…
She glanced back over at him, smiling as his ear twitched in his sleep. He’s fucking adorable… She smirked as she considered startling him awake, but dismissed the idea. I don’t have the heart for it…
Leaning over, she gently tapped his shoulder instead. “Hey, Shields, we’re home.”
“Mm?” he said, lifting his head up and blearily looking around as his ears rolled, then swiveled forward and back twice before settling into a droopy version of his normal rearward sweep.
That’s the third time I’ve seen his ears do that when he wakes up… She chuckled softly. He’s got a boot-up sequence!
The Humvee jerked to a stop with a squeal of brakes. Bradford tapped the back of the driver’s seat before hopping out. “Thanks for the lift, Mac!”
“Any time, Jabs!” Corporal Mackenzie held her hand out her window for a fist-bump. “Just don’t forget that beer you owe me!”
“Next time we’re not in a warzone, I promise!” She waved at her friend and rounded the other side of the Humvee as Rinn finished his slower exit.
“Is the day over yet?” he asked as the Humvee pulled away.
“Afraid not, Shields,” Dubois said, stepping out of the squad’s tent to meet them. “Sergeant,” he nodded a greeting. “Word’s just come down from HQ, they’re mustering up the whole battalion to start putting up buildings and slapping together a training course for this ‘joint tactical development project.’” The rest of the squad started trudging out of the tent, their spirits lifted slightly to see Shields returned unharmed. “Our company’s been tasked with putting up prefabs.”
Bradford sighed as a small train of trucks rolled up. “Of course we have.”
“Alright, devil dogs!” First Sergeant Khatri shouted, standing in the bed of the first uncovered truck, looking over the cab. “Mount up! Barracks and classrooms ain’t gonna build themselves!”
“Cutting into my profits…” Kawalski muttered as he trudged past Bradford. Rinn sagged and wearily fell in behind him, climbing into the back of the truck with the Marines. She gave him a sympathetic look and climbed in beside him.
“Fucking pogue work…” Davies grumbled, trudging up well behind the rest of the squad. He grunted as he heaved himself into the truck. “We already spent six hours on watch after four hours on alert… Can’t they find someone else to do this?”
“Say again your last, Marine!” Khatri shouted, fixing Davies in his sights. “Is an honest day’s work not good enough for you!?”
“No, First Sergeant!” Davies shouted, sitting up at attention.
Khatri eyed Davies for a moment, before rounding on Bradford. “Sergeant Bradford, I find your squad’s lack of enthusiasm to be unsatisfactory! If you do not correct this issue, I’ll assign you a task that is more motivatin’! Is that understood, Sergeant Bradford?”
“Yes, First Sergeant!” Bradford snapped out in response. She resisted the urge to glare at Davies. He still doesn’t know when to keep his fucking mouth shut.
***
“Just think about it, though,” Edison said, setting down the frame he was carrying, and bracing it while Kimber walked it upright. “What would you do if you had two dicks?”
“Two dicks?” Kimber asked, giving him a look through the frame.
“Yeah, like, two whole dicks.” Edison vaguely pointed over his shoulder. “There’s no-shit a guy who was born with a genetic mutation that gave him two, whole, fully-functional dicks.”
“Two fully functioning dicks?” Sampson asked around the handful of screws he held in his mouth. He started running them into the frame with a screw gun, securing it to the previous section of wall.
“I’m telling you, the possibilities are endless!” Edison grinned.
“Are we talking side-by-side, or one over the other?” Kimber asked.
“Side-by-side,” Edison said. “The guy in the article had them one right next to the other.”
“Brah… Do they, like, both work? Or is, like, one on service, and the other off service?”
“They both work together. Dude, I’m telling you, the possibilities are endless.”
“You could put one in each hole!” Kawalski said, hauling over a sheet of drywall, holding it up while Dubois ran another screw gun.
“You could have a dedicated poop dick!” Gomez laughed, hauling over another sheet of drywall.
“Ha, can you imagine?” Kawalski said. “’Hey, no, don’t suck on that one, that’s my poop dick!’”
“Are we really having this conversation?” Bradford asked, parking a fresh wheel barrow full of joint compound next to the slowly-forming wall.
“Hey, I bet you could go be a male porn star and completely skip the gay porn stage,” Kimber said.
“Oh, fuck, yeah!” Kawalski said, stepping away from the wall and walking over to the stack of drywall to retrieve another sheet. “Instant porn-star status!”
“I guess we are…” she said, rolling her eyes as she grabbed a hawk and knife from the wheel barrow and started filling in joints. Rinn slowly pushed himself up from where he had been sitting against the wall, waiting for her return.
“You’d be a superstar, until the novelty ran out,” Dubois said, grabbing another handful of screws from the tub he was sharing with Samspon.
“Yeah, but then you could just cash out and retire,” Kimber said, grabbing another frame set with Edison.
“True,” Dubois said.
“What about you, Jabs?” Davies asked, leaning against the pallet of gypsum bags, waiting to mix another batch of joint compound. “What would you do if a guy offered to give you a double-barreled dicking?”
“I’d tell him he’d fit better in your asshole,” she said without looking up as she scooped another lump of mud onto her board.
“Ohhh snap!” Sampson said as the rest of the squad jeered at Davies.
“But, real talk, Jabs,” Kawalski said. “Would you fuck a guy with two dicks?”
She laughed, shaking her head. “I dunno, seems like double the work, and he probably still wouldn’t be able to make me happy.”
“I always leave my girl happy,” Davies smirked.
“Your hand don’t count,” Miller said, poking his head over the wall as he and Stephens screwed in the next rafter.
“Ohhh, Miller from left field!” Sampson grinned, snagging another handful of screws.
The squad ragged on Davies for his lack of a girlfriend for a moment, before Edison dragged the conversation back to the double-dicked man.
“You’re awfully obsessed with these double-dicks for a straight guy,” Sampson said, giving Edison a sly look. “You sure you’re not interested in a little sperm gurgling?”
“What? No! It’s just…” he sputtered as the rest of the squad laughed at him. “I want two dicks! What’s wrong with wanting two dicks!?”
“Hey, I’ll give you two dicks any time you want,” Kawalski said, slapping Edison on the ass as he passed by.
“Man, fuck off!”
Bradford shook her head, laughing as she finished her second sheet of drywall. She stepped over and helped Rinn finish his first as the squad continued to discuss the virtues of the double-dicked man. “Are keshmin soldiers this bad?” she asked.
“Hm?” he asked, rolling a drooped ear up to focus on her.
“Nevermind,” she said, dropping her board and knife back in the wheel barrow while she waited for more drywall and framing to go up.
“M’kay…” He muttered, leaning against the newly-erected wall.
Bradford shook her head and stepped away from the squad’s project to survey the rest of the battalion’s efforts.
A veritable city was being erected before her. Dozens of new buildings were going up. Several already had Marines hauling tables and chairs and desks and cots inside. Others were busy shoveling out gravel to make a street, and Bradford was almost certain she could already hear a Gunny somewhere yelling at Marines to keep off his grass.
Beyond the micro city, a whole new obstacle course was going up, and beyond that, bulldozers were piling up berms for what was supposed to be a new firing range. More Marines were building hesco walls to enclose the entire compound.
Are they going to have the whole battalion training here? She wondered. Why didn’t they just leave us at Williams? She shook her head, deciding it best to not try to understand the mysterious reasonings of the top brass, and turned back just in time to see Rinn draining the last of a Bang down his throat.
“Rinn, no!” She shouted, racing over to snatch at the can. “Don’t give him that! Are you crazy!” She was too late; the can was empty.
“Man, he was draggin’ ass…” Kawalski said.
“We don’t know what it could do to him!” She looked at the empty can. “Shit, this is the extra-strength kind, too!”
“Yeah, that’s all I bought,” Kawalski shrugged.
“What’s wrong?” Rinn asked. “I feel fine. It was… sweet, and tangy, and fizzy, and it made my nose tingle, but I feel fine.” His ear twitched. “In fact, I feel a lot more awake.”
Bradford eyed him up and down, then sighed, crumpling the can and tossing it to Kawalski. “Just… Keep an eye on him. We don’t want his heart to explode.”
Rinn’s ears perked up. The tip of his left ear twitched slightly. “I think you’re exaggerating. I feel really good now.”
Five minutes later…
“I CAN FEEL THE SKY!” Rinn spun in circles, arms raised above his head, while standing on a stack of drywall.
“I think I might have fucked up…” Kawalski said, staring up at him, along with the rest of the squad.
“You think?” Bradford asked.
“I have soooooooooooo much energy!!!” He stopped spinning, eyes wide, ears straight up, the left one twitching regularly. He stretched his hands out before him and shot sparks of magic from his hands. “HAHAHAHA!!!” he cackled. “I HAVE UNLIMITED POWER!!!!”
“Jesus Christ, you turned him into fucking Palpatine!”
“Um… My bad…”
Bradford sighed, rubbing a hand across her face. I thought it had already been a long day…
Comments
LacyFacey
Hahah I wonder how they're going to be able to keep him in control if he can use his magic.
It would be interesting if Caffeine produced effects other than euphoria [e.g. increased mana to magic conversion efficiency ]
Docbonzai
Hangover Rinn: "I'm too weak" Bang Rinn: "UNLIMITED POWER"
