The camp of the 3rd legion of the army of Eter was in chaos. It had been three weeks since the march began for the bulk of the 3rd legion, seven weeks since the advance group had left to begin reclaiming the northern border. A scout had found multiple bodies of deceased soldiers from the advance group.
A general halt had been called and defensive positions established until more information was known. Word had trickled in slowly after that as survivors began to make it to camp. The advance group had been composed of three hundred and fifty elite soldiers of different abilities and led by a recently unretired and famous heavy infantry squad leader, Timme. They had engaged the enemy forces in small skirmishes over the course of the last three weeks.
Establishing base camp in a long and deep valley, they had been surrounded during the night and attacked. There were only eleven survivors so far with a grim outlook for more. I did not know the particular details, everything I knew was from contradicting information spreading through rumors. The only thing I knew for sure was that this war just got a lot scarier. Doubts were beginning to creep through my head with every piece of information trickling in.
I had not heard anything about my father. That was expected with his role as an infiltrator, he would not surface until his mission was complete. I hoped he was still alive, he was said to be deep in enemy territory so he may have not gotten caught up in the attack. He was a famous infiltrator and my role model. If anyone could survive deep behind enemy lines, it was him.
Trying to keep a sense of normalcy and prevent widespread panic, the commanders had all units train and perform drills. I had been officially attached to squad six to my delight, and we were currently running through physical training. As part of the Eter army, every member of the army below the rank of captain had to participate in daily physical training. This varied based on an individuals role but usually consisted of running, sprinting, lifting weights and weapons training.
As a wildcard, I could pick what focus I wanted for my physical training but I usually gravitated towards speed and stamina. I had always enjoyed running in the forests near my home and added sprint training as a complement. For weapons training I practiced with my bow and studied trap making.
After physical training every squad would meet to get the plan from the squad leader, who in turn met with other squad leaders to hear from their captain. Each captain oversaw eight squads of various types, usually six infantry, one stryker and one support and reported to a colonel. There were only five colonels in the rebuilt 3rd army who all reported to one general.
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I had met the new general once during the march, a man from the capital city of Etes, named Rale. Rale had been a lieutenant colonel with the 2nd army until the previous generals death. Rale was a quiet man with an intense gaze who preferred to voice his displeasure with silence rather than shouting.
“Everyone is dead, that's what it seems like anyway, we are not being told much in detail”. Cass started our squad meeting by getting what everyone wanted to hear out of the way. “We will stay here in the defensive position until we can get a sense of the area and send scouts out to find the remnants of the 3rd army's camp, or the enemy camp, and that's all I know right now.”
“Before you ask, Sylar, I don’t know if he's alive or dead”. He gave me a look of pity that stole the question right out of my mouth. I expected as much but it still hurt to hear. “I'm sure no news is good news Sylar, he's one of the best scouts in the army, it's his job for no one to know where he is.” Lyse spoke up for the first time.
We were all scared and trying not to show it. Cass was the oldest at twenty but prior to the attack he had never even left his village. We were kids playing in an adult world.
“Squad leader Cass, report to captain Elko’s tent immediately”. Someone I didn’t know shouted as they quickly walked down the line of tents.
Cass got up from the rock he was sitting on and left to follow him. While we waited for Cass to return we began to clean our gear for the day to bring it all up to the army standard, a task we did nightly, mostly as a form of busy work to keep our minds from wandering. Cooking and camp set up was the province of the camp followers who functioned as support staff during lean times such as this.
With so many dead or missing, the 3rd legion was horribly undermanned. We tried not to think about how vulnerable we were. There were only one thousand six hundred surviving members of the 3rd legion, all currently in and around the camp. We had scouts spread out for a few miles in every direction and messengers had been sent back to Etes. I did not know what messages they carried but I assumed it was a plea for reinforcements.
Cass returned after about half an hour and it was obvious he was troubled. He took his seat and took his time before speaking, dreading what he was going to say, we sat in silence and let it fester. “We are being sent out on a scouting mission, general Rale believes we need more information before command can formulate a plan. All stryker squads remaining will be sent out at staggered intervals with pre assigned routes to find the enemy.”
We sat in stunned silence, there were eleven stryker squads remaining with the army, five of us freshly graduated. “We will be heading east through the forest and turning north to try to circle around Grove from the backside to look for any information we can find” he said, giving us a grim look.