“So she really took it.” Cole stated the obvious—Lilly had already brought him up to speed about Dora’s departure, a development that he had slept through.
“Yeah, she did.” Welthan answered him matter-of-factly, while removing the bush hiding the rest of their 'supplies' that they had left in front of the cave the other day. The sun had risen and the group was getting ready to depart, deeper into the dangerous territory they were in. “What, you thought she had gone back on foot?” It was a ridiculous thought...
To say the land was unwelcoming to humans would be an understatement. You could find a plain or a forest here or there, but most of the area was covered by sharp rocky protrusions. Those only got denser the deeper you ventured into the exacrystals’ territory, yet there were still far worse things present around here... those that lurked, and those who laid dormant. Lily was currently on the lookout for both...
“Well, why not? She deserted and took our stuff, further sabotaging the mission.” The tone of Cole’s voice was disapproving, judgmental... of Welthan. “I don’t think it was wise to let her go like that.” His gaze drifted to his captain’s back.
In response, Welthan stopped tending to the gear that their lives realistically depended on, and approached Cole with a look in his green eyes that he rarely had—it was a cold, piercing stare. “Is that so, Corporal Cole? Then please, be so kind and share some of your wisdom with me. Would you rather have had her shot? Would you have left the exoskeleton to rust?” Welthan let a measured hint of anger into his voice, an artificial one. The situation wasn’t worth his honest emotions. “Since you blatantly lack the skill required to properly assert control over a single unit, I bet you must be great at using two simultaneously.” He took a step closer towards the corporal, presenting him the absurd challenge.
Welthan wasn’t fond of doing this, but the situation served as a painful reminder that the people who had put their faith in him... they were gone. Dora was the only other survivor from their 'elite' squad... and she had now left him as well. Cole wasn’t even close to being her match, but having him around should have still been a net positive—that was, if he was going to behave.
Looking at their confrontation from the side, the corporal stood half-a-head taller than the captain. He had short dark-blonde hair, where Welthan sported long black curls reaching his collar and a short beard. Both of them were clad in dirty white uniforms, but where the corporal’s had a singular silver stripe interrupted by a silver four-pointed star, the captain had an uninterrupted, diagonal golden line cross his chest.
Perhaps unexpectedly, Cole’s expression changed as if a bucket of cold water just got dumped over his head—he hadn’t seen this side of the captain in the four days of serving under him, ever since that frantic night... “I apologize, but wouldn’t the—” Still, he didn’t back down.
“What, you worry we will run out of oil? Rations? That’s not for you to be concerned about. Just because you cannot fight, doesn’t mean I need your head here.” In truth, Cole wasn’t as useless as Welthan made it sound. It was only because of the mission’s roster that his skills were at the low end... and because it was easy to control other people through their weaknesses. “Do not mistake my attitude for a weakness, corporal.”
After a short moment of silence, Cole lowered his head. “I apologize for stepping out of line, I shall accept my punishment.” It was a much stronger response than he had anticipated, a lapse in judgement.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Forget it.” That easy-going 'attitude' had returned to Welthan’s demeanor as if it never went away. “I only require you to do what I say, when I say. We are not in school anymore, corporal. For your own good, do not doubt me.” While saying so, his gaze drifted somewhere else, to the nearby ridgeline... “Unsurprisingly, your exoskeleton requires recalibration after that stunt you pulled off yesterday. In this state the L2-2 block might not last till evening, so get to it.” That being said, Cole’s exoskeleton was in a better shape than Dora’s... but she would manage. When it came to her, Welthan felt no need to babysit.
With that, he considered the issue resolved and left Cole to his task.
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In the time the captain and the corporal had been busy working out their differences, Lily had been scouting out their surroundings. She did so while crouched on top of the rocky formation that they had slept under.
‘Here as well?’ She thought and decided to check the display of the small metallic box in her hand once more. ‘It may be deep... but it’s definitely there.’ Then she dragged her hand a couple degrees to the right...
The odd device she held, was a sensor that got invented decades ago to detect anomalies emitted by exacrystals. However, it’s funding was cut short as the military had no interest in dormant specimens, which dominated the spectrum. As a result, even Lily had a hard time trying to pinpoint their locations.
‘And here... That’s too risky.’ While estimating distances, her memories went back to the moment that a pillar of light shot into the sky in front of the regiment... They didn’t know the exact distance they had to keep the woman away from exacrystals, but it was better to be safe than sorry. At least while they could.
Having scanned the area as far as Lily trusted her own abilities, she decided to go back and report to the captain.
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“How does it look, specialist lieutenant?” Welthan addressed Lilly, who was moving down the steep slope with ease. Even without her exoskeleton.
“It seems everything’s continuing to calm down, captain. Their forces are returning to the pylon.” Her long hair would bounce into the air every time she jumped to a ledge below. “However, I bring disappointing news. There is a large formation on the route we sought out yesterday.” Judging by how deep a rock of its size had dug, she guessed it was a pylon impact site—likely destroyed during the war’s early years...
“Ever the pleasant morning...” Welthan muttered to himself. It’s only been their fourth since then, but each time the morning sun would show them even more troublesome revelations—a great thing that it did, but it was a bad outlook. “What about our alternatives?” He asked just as Lilly landed next to him.
“Unless we’re planning an about 14 kilometer detour south to check our luck there, the yesterday’s worst option is now our best. Though I will admit, it’s suspicious that all the exacrystals I identified in that area are so similarly polarized...” Lily found such a case atypical and so she offered that she may have misinterpreted the readings.
However, Welthan grew to trust Lilly’s reports quickly. “If you hadn’t identified any other ones, that is just how it is.” Her specialization was scouting, which is what earned her the title. To have a scout specialist of the lieutenant rank was a rarity— and she had already proved her worth these past few days. “Ah... this is frustrating.” He muttered to himself again and took out a cigarette from his cig-case that was dangerously close to running empty.
“It is...” Lilly agreed. “Based on this tendency, I estimate we will close our distance to the target by around 40 kilometers today and then...” She stopped mid-sentence and gazed at nothing in particular for a second. “In four to five days, we might be unable to avoid detection at 10 to 20 kilometers.” At first she had hoped the exacrystal density would grow linearly at worst, but this morning was proof enough that it was closer to being exponential.
“I really wish you were a pessimist.” Welthan sighed at her predictions.
Meanwhile, Cole finished fiddling with his exoskeleton and closed the flap, which made a clicking sound that caught Lilly’s attention. “Should I go get her?” She had sort of become the woman’s caretaker.
Welthan nodded and gazed eastward with the cigarette in his mouth.
Another long day lay ahead of them...