The night was quiet, those that Nathan shared a room with didn’t do anything of note. They were sleeping by the time he got there and left by the time he got up. He found his way to the meeting location through the empty streets of the city.

As he left the core of the city the buildings got shorter, there was increasing space in between then and in a lot just where free lots started popping up there was the camp of OCE and it was… surprisingly well organized, and they had more trucks than Nathan had ever seen at once, the trucks were painted in camouflage and there were variants for what looked like solids and fluid transport. As he walked towards the camp he was stopped by a guard posted on the perimeter. The guard asked if Nathan was there for business, the guard was wearing a rifle on a sling around his neck, Nathan said he was and inquired where escorts could sign up, he is directed to a tent and is let through by the guard. He saw various different types of people on his way to the administration tent, some eyed him, others went about their own business, some of them were dressed in camouflage uniforms like the guards, he found his way to the tent but was stuck in like behind what appeared to be a man in some advanced armor with camouflage coating.

He speaks to the clerk filing the paperwork.

“I’m going to need requisition forms for powder suits, iodine pills, chem showers and fallout safety manuals.”

The clerk’s eyes widened a little, he could guess what was going to happen. The man in armor sees this.

“The situation is getting worse, and if it gets hot we need to be prepared.”

With that the man in metal turns around and looks Nathan straight in the eye with a cold blue T-shaped visor.

“What brings you to these fine parts?”

“Escort work.”

“Quick question, are you augmented in any way?”

“No?”

“Why are you here then? This is going to get hot quickly, where did you learn about this anyways?”

“I have nothing else, A man named Jelel told me about it.”

“Nothing else? Are you an orphan or something?”

“I am now.”

“Ah… well… Jelel left out a bunch of information, some for security, others to make people sign up.”

“What?”

“I’ll tell you what I can '' The clerk is about to say something. “Frank, what are they going to do to me? Dismiss me? Anyways due to the war a warlord who uses slaver artifacts popped up and we are going to kill him. We are going to steal all of his stuff and then sell it. ”

Slaver artifacts? They were legal in despotic states but their trade had slowed and the makers of them report seeing ghosts or simply went missing, said despotic states also suffered random issues such as ruling families getting cursed or sick.

“I want to help.”

“With proper planning we’ll be fine, but still you shouldn’t be here.”

“I have nothing else, I want to destroy the evil in this world.”

“If you are unaugmented and you have no skills then you would be a burden.”

“Why was I given a contract then?”

“... I’m not allowed to say.”

“What?”

“If you do sign, be careful why you leave, don’t join up with heroes.”

With that the armored man walked off. Nathan asked the clerk behind the desk for a moment as he stepped out to think.

‘Bal Iendus, what should I do?’

I’ve already thought about this, ‘You ask about the seniority of mercenaries and how many missions they’ve survived.’

‘They won’t just let us walk around camp.’

‘Ask the clerk about long term job security or job training.’

‘Ah..’

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

We re-enter the tent and ask the clerk.

“Is there a group of veterans I can learn from?”

“This is about what Alexis just told you isn’t it?”

“Who?”

“The man in the armor, the atomguard.”

“...”

“There is a contingent of veterans in the merchant company, casualties tend to be low, when some folks leave of their own accord the planned route of the merchantry suddenly shifts.”

“Thank you.”

“No blood sacrifice or anything, Alexis knows something I don’t, but he is trustworthy.”

“What are atomguards anyways?”

“One of various Techlord nationalities.”

“What rating is he?”

“He’s 4th rate.”

“By the Death’s Hand…”

What was a 4th rate tech-lord doing here? His university’s president was a 5th rater and that man was a notable figure in Relnakel. Nathan presents the signed paperwork and certifies it with a little blood. It was custom to do it in front of a clerk so documents weren’t falsified with other blood.

The clerk filed the paperwork and asked Nate to wait as he got the recruiting officer.

A soldier dressed in green camouflage entered in front of the clerk, the man looked at Nate for a moment before speaking.

“I hear you’re a new sign-on, what’s your name boy?”

I immediately didn’t like this man, only I could call him something like “boy” but we must put on a good face.

He spoke “Nathan Slynette.”

“It’s Nathan Slynette SIR, I am to be addressed as sir.”

I like him less.

***

Nathan and a couple of the other irregulars sat around a fire. They had made significant progress towards Odez, soon they would be taking a route through a forest and they were taking a long break to prepare for possible bandit raids.

“You’re from Odez?”

“My family is, I wish I came before the trains stopped.”

“Better late than never, which side are they on?”

The young man family from Odez, one named Alex, sighs, “Mom’s family is from the side of the Old Guard and my Dad’s family is from the side of the Techlord.”

Someone chimes in. “And you?”

“I.. I want to help my family leave, once that is done both factions can eat each other for all I care. What about you? What are you going for?”

“Family’s dead, don’t have anything else to do.”

Others of the dozen sitting around the fire grunt in agreement.

A man comes up to them and sits with them. He is a veteran who stayed on with the folks from OCE for a while, one of his patches has a stylized atom with text around it but Nathan couldn’t make out the text in the dark.

“Heya Lads.”

Some of the others grunt or nod in acknowledgement.

“Let me give you a run down of what’s planned as it’s going to get harder from here on out. As escorts you should prepare for raids. Read the training manuals, if you don’t know how to read get someone to read it to you.”

Nathan has, many of the others haven’t, he’d help out the veteran. He asks with acted disdain. “What’s in em?”

The veteran narrowed his eyes “Stuff that’ll keep you alive.”

“Such as?”

“How to use the powder suits, how to shoot a gun, and our tactics so you don’t run about without a head.”

“I’ve heard the powder suits mentioned before, what are they?”

The veteran pauses as if to figure out what exactly to say, he smiles as he figured it out. “There are weapons in this world I am not allowed to tell you all about.”

This got the attention of the other men, one of them spoke up.

“Not even enough to tell us how to protect ourselves?”

“If these weapons spread, the world will end.”

“Why are we given equipment to protect ourselves from them then?”

The veteran relents his decoy point. “Dust, these weapons produce poisonous dust. The powder suits are meant to put a barrier between you and the dust.”

The men looked disappointed. The veteran follows up.

“Ya want to know what happened to the unauthorized users of these weapons?”

Nathan and the others nod.

The veteran stands and with a voice that holds too much joy spoke. “For their crimes of poisoning this world they were poisoned in kind. Those weapons blessed light washed over them, their blood rotted, their skin peeled and their kingdoms were overthrown.”

One of the men notices something “Wait, are we going to go up against these weapons.”

“Go up against them? No. There is almost no chance we will go up against them.” The veteran smiles at his joke. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if we have to work around them.”

“What’s this with almost no chance?”

“There was a weird incident many years ago, but a series of partnerships are going to prevent future similar incidents. Enjoy the night lads.”

With that the Veteran left.

Voices of the men spoke.

“What have I gotten myself into? If I leave now my reputation’s going to be ruined.”

“I checked before I joined, OCE is a very highly rated employer.”

“We were told it was a shell company.”

“These people didn’t come from nowhere. They have too much to have no backing”

Nathan thought about the weapons as they were likely nuclear weapons. His father told him about them, he spoke of second suns and the cultural significance it had to his father’s parents. He also spoke of their danger, the dust that normal humans would die from, as he stood up some of the other men looked like they wanted to ask him something, probably ask him to read them the manuals. But those were things to think about tomorrow, he said his good nights and went back to his tent before the others he shared it with and he rested. He dreamed of being lost in dark mist and not being able to find some of the young men who were signed on like him.