Point of Documentation: Marshall, Phoenix 11

Marshall was no stranger to the oddities that could come from man. In his tour of service, of which is technically not over but he was probably on a indefinite vacation from, he had met some of the ground forces that could be deployed from the Castle. They always were such an odd bunch that treated the vehicles that they rode or drove in as a command structure more important than the greater structure at large. Even to the point that if the commander of the vehicle didn’t agree on a plan presented by the person above him, the crew would typically follow his order and not the one he was given. That type of trust and camaraderie was strong and intrinsically stubborn. Yet, this was a point that Marshall and Cadence could prod at to turn an entire crew to what they needed.

The thought lingered on Marshall as he watched the commander step out of the vehicle through his hatch. He was a bearded man that looked more like a ship captain than an armored vehicle commander. Marshall wondered to himself if the man often got his beard caught in the machinery of his charge. The fact that he was the commander was almost plain as day from the fact that he was the only crewman with a hat on. Why this signaled anything to Marshall to denote command status was unknown. It was soon reinforced as he began telling the other crew to stay in the vehicle and keep an eye out.

The man crossed a third of the distance and stood there. So too did Cadence, mimicking his stopping point of a few dozen meters away. Once she had come to a stop, the commander spoke. “I’m Lieutenant Fielding, the third recon commander of Bogushevsk, a settlement near here. What is your business on our claimed soil?” The man was to the point, not minced words, and seemed to carry himself with authority. Marshall had no doubt that the authority was anything but gifted.

Cadence spoke up after clearing her throat. “I’m Cadence, an Engineer of the Mule-class armored mech. We were on a contract mission and were coming to trade items for items.” She paused, but added in “We had nothing to do with the Voidling here, sir. We came upon a man being eaten and didn’t have the means to fight it off.”

The commander, Fielding, nodded at this. His visage seemed to scrunch up as she spoke the last part, as if he had the question on the tip of his tongue and was beaten to it. However, a relaxed look took over his face as she mentioned not being involved. “Good. I hope you don’t mind then if we report you to the settlement? They will need to hear my report of this incident.”

“No sir, not at all.” Came the immediate reply from Cadence. Marshall wondered where this polite and curt version of Cadence was hiding as she continued forwards with her words. “But I do need to request, sir, if you’d be able to give us a ride to the settlement. We have no means of transportation, and we could end up ambushed like the traveler over there by a Voidling wandering the area.”

This made the commander pause and look her over. His eyes then shifted to Marshall. The look in them made Marshall reflexively stiffen up in an attentive pose as if he was being scrutinized by a commanding officer. Well, he technically was, but not his commanding officer. Something seemed to click for the man as he looked to Marshall and gave a gesture towards him. “What about that one? He doesn’t look like a trader or contract worker. Those are fine and well made fatigues, and that pistol on his hip looks like more than a simple pistol.”

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If Marshall could get even more at attention, he would have at this point. He was told to let her do all the talking, but was she able to come up with a good enough bluff for this? Cadence, from the corner of his vision, gave a small and jagged smile. Oh, Marshall did not like that look.

“Yes sir, that is not the same kind of contract worker that we are. He’s hired help for added protection. That’s one of the Knights Templar from the Wall-City of Kyiv. So secretive are they that I didn’t even know he had a plasma pistol on him. You know, one of their identifiable weapons.” The venom in her voice when she mentioned not knowing something was so palpable that Marshall was sure the commander would have even noticed it. “So he’s more or less a decoration piece. Please ignore him.”

The commander raised an eye-brow in obvious appraisal of Marshall instead of direct suspicion. “He stands like one too.” came the off-comment by the man. He took a few steps forwards towards Marshall until he was within striking distance. Instead of any aggressive movement, Fielding simply stopped. “Name?”

Marshall gave out a low and unsure “Marshall, sir?”

The man’s face split into a grin from under his beard and he stuck out a hand. Marshall took it and they shook. “Good to meet one of the infamous Knights Templar. Welcome aboard my vehicle.”

Marshall blinked a few times, then finally realized what the man had meant. Just like that, they were on board the cramp vehicle and hauling back towards civilization.

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They rolled up to the gates in under ten minutes from leaving. After calling in the body and reporting what had happened, whoever was on the other end basically demanded their return for a full debrief. Fielding looked a bit miffed at this, but came back anyway.

One the trip Marshall had learned that the crew was all accustomed to the vehicle minus the gunner. They seemed less friendly than the captain towards Marshall and Cadence, but never were openly against heading back or them being there. A thanking of the fates was in order, as what Marshall had guessed was right: sway the commander, silence the crew.

After being waved through, Marshall and Cadence departed into what could only be described as a ramshackle city of small size. The walls were twice the height of a man, but made of sheet metal and held up by wooden stakes. The most formidable part of the walls around this place were the sentries and their guns, not the walls themselves. Well, the vehicles coming and going helped that. Also the tank parked at the entrance to the town behind some earthen works and Hesco-barriers.

After entering into the town itself, Cadence started dragging Marshall towards one of the alleys a block from the entrance. Marshall protested at this for a moment, but just went along with the crazy engineer. She drug him down one alley, then another. She seemed to know where she was going but this look that rested on her face made Marshall worry.

It was only after he was dragged across a street by her and down another alley did he see what the look of annoyance was on her face: they were being tailed. A man of large height and heavy build with a bearded woman of small, stocky height trailed after them. They had guns on them, but the large meat hook that hung off the larger man’s belt worried him so much more.