Mike was checking his supplies in their common room when Heather burst through the door. Startled, he spun around and dropped into a combat stance, as a pair of knives appeared in his hands. Recognizing his teammate, he rose from his crouch and frowned. He was about to berate her for barging in like a lunatic, when she held up a folded map.
With a wide smile on her face, she said, “Our friend’s contact came through. We have the route they’re going to take into the wilds.”
Reaching out to take the map, Mike shouted over his shoulder, “Hey Jerry, get your ass in here!”
Coming out of his room, Jerry looked at the happy rogue and archer. “What’s got you both so excited?”
Mike was looking over the map, while Heather was smiling like a maniac. Raising his head Mike said, “We’ve got the route. Now all we need to do is choose where to set the trap.”
Scratching the back of his neck, Jerry said, “We still need a plan for separating him from his protectors. I think you two might be underestimating the difficulty a bit. There are going to be a lot of things we have to get right before we get paid.”
Heather waved a dismissive hand, and said, “The fixer already thought of all that. He’s given us the route, and how the teams are going to be deployed. There will be five 5-man teams, along with one 5-man command team.”
Mike spoke up as he was reading the map, and flipping through some hand written pages. “Everything is here. How the hell did he get this? We’ve got a basic rundown on every recruit and trainer, along with the deployment schedule. He even provided a recommendation of where we should hit them,” he said in a voice filled with wonder while he looked through what Heather had given him.
Heather looked proud, and placed her hands on her hips. She said, “Who cares where he got it. He’s probably got a contact in the training facility, or maybe Gate 15 army command. Either way, it doesn’t really matter. He’s even hinted at a possible mage being available for scrying. If we can get real-time tracking, we’ll know exactly when to strike.”
Mike frowned as he noticed something, and Jerry immediately asked, “What’s wrong? You see a problem.”
Staying silent, Mike seemed to be trying to decide whether or not there was an issue. He eventually looked up and asked Heather, “Can you take out a skilled mage along with a northern warrior before they put up their defenses?”
Scratching her chin in thought, she asked, “How good is the mage?”
Mike replied, “It says here that he was Centerpoint trained, but has been working as researcher for like 70 years. He’s probably around level 50, so he might have dual pillars.”
Heather said, “That Lord Salvatore or whatever? We’re sure he’s going to be there?”
Mike nodded and said, “I can take out their team leader, and Jerry can take out their archer while he casts his illusion, but this will only work if you can take out the mage and the bodyguard simultaneously.”
The group stood in silence as they thought through the problem. After a minute, Jerry said, “Tell me about the archer.”
Mike checked the dossier, and smiled. “Never mind. Heather, you only have to worry about the mage. Jerry can take out the bodyguard. We can deal with the archer and the little lord after their protection is dead. The archer isn’t even level 10.”
Heather laughed, and said, “Seriously? Then yeah, no problem. I can snipe him without him even seeing me. My ‘disruptive shot’ shouldn’t have a problem getting through his essence shield. But we’ll have to be coordinated. I guess that’s why the fixer reminded me to bring communication crystals for everybody.”
Jerry said, “I’ve got some. I even know how to tune them for direct communication. They won’t sense us talking. But we’ll have to silence the connection to our tracking mage when they get close. Salvatore might sense it if we leave it open.” Turning to look at Heather, he asked, “Are you sure you want the mage? The illusion will be up, so I can take care of him easily.”
Heather took a moment to think, then replied, “All right. If you’re confident in taking out the mage, then I can take care of the bodyguard. Mike can handle their team leader. We just need to time it correctly.”
Mike nodded with determination. “Sounds like we have a plan. After they're dead, we strip them and dump them near the closest spawn point. Whatever is there will clean up after us, and we’ll be in the wind.”
Folding the map, he sent it into his personal space, and said, “Get your gear together, we head out tonight. Our target will be there in three days, and I want us to be waiting for him. Remember to pack some gear that won’t identify you, along with some masks. Who knows who will be watching. Hopefully, no one other than our friend’s mage will be scrying the area, but we shouldn’t take the risk.”
Heather and Jerry nodded in agreement, then split off to finish packing. Mike stared down at the table, looking over his gear. This was a big pay-day, and he needed it to go perfectly. Yet, in the back of his mind, Mike couldn’t help but worry. How the hell did the fixer get all this information? Did he arrange for the target to have a weakened team? How much did he spend to get a mage from the tower involved? And, if the hit was so easy, why did it pay so much? The amount of money the fixer was spending on this assassination was ridiculous.
Clapping his hands to break out of his nervousness, Mike started putting his gear into his personal space. He wasn’t going to find any answers, so it was best not to think about it.
-----
Nero’s final day of training went quickly, and the butterflies in his gut got worse with every passing hour. He kept thinking, “This time tomorrow, I’ll be out in a forest filled with monsters.”
Throwing himself into his training didn’t help as much as he hoped it would. Nevertheless, Nero did his best to push his worries to the back of his mind, and focus on improving as much as possible. After all, each day of training equated to weeks of effort back in his old world, and he knew that he would be a fool not to take advantage of every moment.
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But all good things eventually come to an end, and Nero found himself standing at attention with the rest of the recruits, waiting for Captain Angleton to address them.
There, in front of the two lines of recruits, The Captain looked like the prototypical soldier, the one from which all other soldiers were based off of. He was massive. His tight blue linen shirt was struggling to contain his shoulders. Nero didn’t know if they had irons, or if it was because of some spell, but the captain even had crisp creases running vertically along his pant’s legs. The man stood at parade rest, and looked over his trainees like a judge about to render a verdict.
“Some of you haven’t been here a full week. But while you were here, you worked hard enough to make up for it. I’m proud of every one of you. You are among the best that Dorchester has to offer,” he said.
The captain started pacing along the front of the lines, while his strong voice made sure everyone heard what he had to say. “Tomorrow, we deploy for the East wilds. You will each serve under the trainer who was in charge of your squad. They will be your sergeant, and you will follow their orders. Many of you have been hunters for years, but that does not mean you have nothing more to learn. This will be our unit’s first foray into harms way, and I want every one of you to survive and grow from the experience. Everyone who completes our first excursion will be known as an ‘Elite Hunter’ upon our return.” He paused, then turned to face them with his hands on his hips.
He looked over the eager recruits and said, “One year of service. That’s what you promised when you agreed to sign on. And if you survive, forever after you will be an ‘Elite’,” His voice was solid, as though it was a promise.
Nero felt the recruit’s emotions flash with pride and enthusiasm, but he didn’t really understand what the big deal was. Dismissing it as unimportant, he returned his attention to the captain.
“We will be deployed for 3 weeks this time. Each squad will have objectives which have already been scouted. When we return, we’re back to training. Another week, then we’re back into the thick of it. The constant stress will push you to your limits, and you will grow stronger for it. By the time your year is up, you will have earned your title.
“After you're dismissed, you will have dinner with your team. During your meal, be sure to talk about what’s to come. Your sergeant will brief you. The 4 elites deployed with you will be your family. In time, you will come to rely on them. The bonds formed during stress are stronger than any formed while at peace. Prepare well, because this is just the beginning,” he finished, then took his place at the front again.
Pausing, he looked over the recruits, then gave a nod of acknowledgment. Captain Angelton shouted, “Dismissed!” Then turned and walked away.
Nero did his best to stifle his burgeoning chuckle. The entire little speech was so cliché that he wanted to shout ‘Gnome’s Rule’ or something else to mock the proceedings. Luckily, he was able to hold himself back, and instead walked over to join his team-mates who were gathering around Sergeant Wesker.
As he walked up, he heard the sergeant speaking. “For now, you’ll just have to listen carefully. Your links won’t work outside the walls, and we aren’t going to be relying on a portable hub. The goal of the elites is to be completely self-sufficient. Everything is going to be hard-copy,” he said.
From his personal space, Nero watched him pull out several brown folders. The fact that they weren’t manila was annoying. He took his folder, and opened it to see a folded map, along with several pages full of reports and conclusions.
While they were all standing in a circle, the sergeant said, “During our meal, I’ll give you a brief overview of our objectives. After which, we will head to the armory and the equipment depot. Once we get our gear, we’ll break for the night. Enjoy your shower, it’s the last one you’ll have for a while. Then spend some time reviewing your deployment packet. Your personal responsibilities will be listed, along with our team objectives. Memorize them. Internalize them. They will explain who you will be for the foreseeable future. Now let’s go eat.”
Nero joined his squad as they headed for the dining hall. While he stored his deployment packet in his personal space, everyone else kept looking at theirs while they walked. It made the walk to the dining hall rather quiet.
Looking around, Nero saw that almost everyone was reading while they walked. The other teams were all heading to the dining hall in silence. Annoyed at the teacher’s pets, Nero shattered the studious atmosphere by loudly asking, “Hey Sarge, you do know I get to keep all the essence crystals from the kills I get, right?”
Heads snapped up from all around Nero. Everyone stared at him and the sergeant, waiting to hear the answer. Noticing the attention, Nero smiled widely while Sergeant Wesker grimaced.
“I’ve been apprised of the deal you made with the general. But you’ll be responsible for carrying them if you want to keep them,” he said through gritted teeth.
Mutters and questions started up among the groups walking beside them. Nero was happy with the wrench he threw into everyone’s day. It probably wasn’t nice, but it WAS funny.
Nick looked up from his deployment packet and said, “Nero, do you even know how to harvest essence crystals?”
Nero shrugged and said, “I read about it. It didn’t seem very hard. You just have to condense the residual essence lingering in whatever you just killed. Beasts and monsters are the best, but you can even get them from animals sometimes.”
Nick chuckled in amusement, but didn’t say anything else. He returned to his reading with a smile on his face.
Nero felt like he was missing something, but didn’t push it. There were too many people around to hear if Nick started lecturing him. Nero would rather wait to be proven an idiot in private.
Eventually, they got their food and were seated at their usual table. This time, Sergeant Wesker joined them by sitting next to Cathleen. Nero was sure it was because the man didn’t want to sit next to him. Even though he felt mildly insulted, he managed to let it go.
During the meal, the sergeant talked about what they’d face. None of it really surprised Nero. They were going to head into a massive forest, then break into groups. Each squad would have different places they needed to go and check out. Some of their objectives were to clean out areas of the forest, others were to ‘eliminate spawn points’. They would also be confirming the scouting reports. Everywhere they went, they had to document what they found. Nero’s mind started to wander when the sergeant started talking about the multiple variants of the monsters they would be facing. Since the man kept saying that ‘more details were in the deployment packet’, Nero didn’t know why the man bothered talking about it now.
Nero’s attention was caught again when Cathleen asked about their sleeping schedule. The sergeant said that the plan for the night’s watch could be found in the deployment packet. He then started describing what he had written.
Annoyed, Nero couldn’t help but interrupt. “Look, if all the information is in the packet, then why don’t we just talk about something else. We’re all going to read the packet. This entire conversation is getting ridiculous. How about we talk about the things we need to know that AREN’T in the deployment packet.”
Nick chuckled and said, “Nero has a point. Is there anything that we should be aware of that isn’t addressed in our information packets?”
Grumbling, Sergeant Wesker muttered, “What the hell did I do to deserve this assignment?”
Addressing the table, he said, “The point of the deployment packets is for you to have reference material covering everything I’m discussing right now. It is not meant to be a replacement for a briefing.”
Despite the fact that Cathleen, Rose, and Nick all nodded in understanding, Nero said, “That’s because people tend not to listen. And if we aren’t going to listen, why don’t we just read the packet. You don’t have to talk to people ignoring you, and we don’t have to pretend to listen. Is there really nothing you can tell us that isn’t in the packet?”
Staring hard at Nero, the sergeant said, “No. Everything you need to know is in the packet. How about you just eat your meal in silence.”
Nero scooped up some more vegetables and took a big bite while smiling at the sergeant. Satisfied that he had won that round, Nero gave the man his petty victory and kept his mouth shut.
The entire table spent the rest of the meal in silence, while the other tables filled with squads went over their deployment plans. The entire time, Nick would occasionally chuckle while the sergeant kept stabbing his food in impotent fury.