TNL 25 – The First Command Part One
When Alyena is finally back in her palace, she wants to stay in bed for two days straight. Why did I have to ride all the way? she asks herself. I can't wait for all the muscles to loosen up again.
Nevertheless, it is not possible to rest. Her generals are eager to disgrace and disband her New Legion. She has to put a stop to that.
Since she and her escort arrived late in the afternoon, she was able to rest for at least one night before she had to confront them. Unfortunately, one night rest has done little to reduce her muscle ache. She struggles to get up and lets herself be dressed by her chambermaid. Once dressed, she rushes to her secretary to arrange the schedule for the day.
"I know we have a lot to do today, but first I have to have a meeting with the generals. Could you immediately send a message that I want to see them as soon as possible?"
"Yes, ma'am. A meeting is also planned for today, so it is not an effort to ensure that this is held as early as possible." Having arranged that, Alyena leaves the rest of her agenda to her secretary. She herself rushes to Captain Cervik's workspace.
"Cervik!" she shouts as soon as she comes through the door. "Will you arrange the death money for the guards we lost on the way to Aran?"
"But of course, your majesty," is the affirmative answer. "That was the first thing I did this morning. I'm looking through the files for replacements now."
"Great that that has been done . One less thing to worry about."
"You should leave these kinds of tasks to your subordinates, your majesty. If you want to take care of every little detail, you'll never get to make the decisions that only you can make."
"I know, Cervik, I know. But I've had to watch people cheat on my father for so long that I find it difficult to trust that everything is done right. That's why I just see if things are being done. I had some room put in my agenda for that. As long as it doesn't take a lot of time, it should work."
A little later, Alyena is on her way to her meeting room again. Just before, she had left Captain Cervik with his paperwork, after telling him that he too must be present during the meeting with the generals. After that, she managed to complete several smaller tasks before the meeting is actually held. Now she has to hurry to be on time for her own meeting.
When she enters the meeting room, the generals are already waiting. As soon as they see her, they all get up. Some a bit faster than the others. General Colling is the one who takes the longest.
"Gentlemen, thank you for being able to come so quickly," Alyena begins. "Before we start with other things, I want to talk to you about the New Legion. Captain Cervik and myself have just returned from the city of Aran. During our trip we were attacked..."
Alyena recounts what happened to her during the journey, after which she explains what she plans to do with the New Legion:
"Although some of you might be against the New Legion, and even an attack has been ordered on their new camp, I want you to deploy the legion in Aran. My idea was to replace the garrison there with the New Legion, freeing up those soldiers to reinforce the army in the north."
When she's done, she gives the generals some time to respond. General Colling looks rather uneasy as Alyena tells about the ordered attack on her legion.
"Your Majesty, the New Legion has betrayed our trust by rebelling against their commanders. Even if there might be mitigating circumstances, they are deserters."
"General Colling, I hereby conclude that the actions of the New Legion were justified. They can no longer be blamed for this uprising. From this moment on, the New Legion is under my personal command. This means, gentlemen, that all decisions regarding the New Legion will go through me. Now, will you give the New Legion its chance as a garrison of Aran, or do I need to make more changes?"
The generals are shocked by this decisiveness of their young empress. There is little they can do to counter the appointment. Therefore, they quickly decide that the New Legion will get its chance.
"Now then, I want to know the state of affairs as far as the war is concerned."
When the generals have left, Alyena is alone with Captain Cervik.
"Cervik, would you mind ensuring that the orders for the New Legion reach them as soon as possible? I don't trust that the generals will do nothing to undermine the legion."
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"Sure, ma'am, I'll take care of it. In my opinion, General Colling in particular did not seem to be satisfied with the way things were going. I think you should keep a close eye on him."
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Raidon is training with the first platoon when the messenger arrives.
"He is waiting for you at the gate, Sergeant," the guard on gate duty reports. "I think he's had a lot of trouble finding us."
"Thank you, soldier. And remember, we are in the wilderness for a reason."
Even as the soldier turns to go back to the gate, he mumbles:
"And we didn't really make an entranceway either."
Raidon can barely hold back his laughter and follows the soldier to the gate.
"Messenger Hartum, sir," the messenger reports. "These are the orders for you and your unit, sir."
He gives an envelope to Raidon.
"Thank you. Go get some food and a drink before you leave. There on the right is the canteen," Raidon replies.
"You must first open the orders, sir. It must be done in my presence so that I can report to General Colling that you have received and read the orders."
Raidon opens the letter.
"If I may be so curious, what is your mission, sir?" asks the messenger.
"According to these orders, the New Legion under my command must relieve the garrison at Aran. This is personally signed by the Empress."
Then he looks at the messenger.
"Aran is the city we escorted the Empress to, but how big is that province?"
"Isn't there a map, sir?" the messenger asks in turn. Raidon looks sheepishly into the envelope. He takes out a map, which he unfolds.
"It seems that more than half of the province of Aran consists of wilderness, it has one city, which is probably Aran, and there are also a number of villages."
"Those are pretty reasonable orders, if I may be so free, sir."
Raidon looks again at the orders.
"Wait, there's a second page."
He reads the second sheet.
"We are also required to have a unit stationed in the city at all times and also send out patrols throughout the province. Furthermore, within three months of the entry into force of these orders, we must have secured the whole province for all residents. If we do not carry out these orders properly, the Legion will be held responsible for all damages and possibly disbanded."
Raidon looks at the messenger as he continues to talk.
"These orders take effect on the 25th of the month of Maius and this time is signed by General Colling."
He frowns.
"What date is it right now? We live here quite remotely, I've lost count of the days."
"Today is the 24th of Maius, sir. The trip went a bit faster than expected. The Empress gave me an escort for the first part of the journey."
He says all this with a straight face, but while he tells the second part Raidon sees the beginning of a smile. That gives Raidon all the information he needs. The generals are already trying to make the New Legion fail.
"If you hadn't had that escort, how much time would that have cost?"
"A few days, sir."
In other words, the starting date for the orders would have gone in way before they would have even gotten the orders. Then Aran would not have had had a garrison for several days and the New Legion would be in trouble even before they had started.
"I have read and received the order, Messenger Hartum," Raidon confirms to the messenger. "You can go eat now. It must have been a long journey."
Raidon quickly goes looking for squad leader Brandon. After some searching, he finds him in a conversation with Morris.
"Exactly the two people I need," Raidon says while he walks into the building, "our orders have just come in."
Raidon hands Brandon the envelope, who reads through the orders.
"Great, it seems to me that that's about what we were promised," he says, before passing the order on to Morris. After a few moments, Morris looks up from the command.
"Hmm, it arrived just in time. Was the messenger delayed?" he asks Raidon.
He laughs.
"Not exactly. Messenger Hartum received an escort from the Empress for the first part, so he arrived a few days earlier than expected."
"Typical Colling," Morris sighs. "I know him from a long time ago, and if he doesn't agree with something, he does everything to stop it."
Brandon looks rather surprised and Raidon explains.
"The general is already trying to undermine us. Today is the 24th. If the messenger had come even a day later, we would not have had time to take over the garrison. In that case, the commander of the previous garrison might complain that we had not shown up when he had to leave. Then the general immediately had a mark against us being skilled enough."
Brandon begins to curse. "... the dirty goat fucker," he concludes.
"Interesting choice of words, but I can't disagree with it," Morris mentions dryly.
"Fortunately, the Empress knew about Colling. Now we can make sure that we move today to take over the garrison." Raidon pretends not to have heard Brandon. "The commander will probably leave early in the morning, so we better make sure we arrive there tonight."
"That's going to be a tough march," Brandon notes, "it's quite a bit of a tipple from here to Aran, we experienced that the other day."
"Who do you want to take with you?" asks Morris to Raidon.
"I was thinking about you and the first platoon. And possibly two squads of the second."
Then he looks at Brandon.
"That means that you will command the rest of the second platoon. Who can lead the squads of the second that will go with me?"
Brandon thinks for a moment.
"I think Soldier Lenn is the best. I expect that he will soon be promoted to a squad leader. But the harnesses will tell us that. By the way, what do you want to do with those three recruits? We still haven't found a priest who can help us. Also, we still haven't gotten more than those three guys."
Raidon nods. "Fine. If you can have the two squads ready in an hour, we can leave. I will make sure that the first platoon is also ready. As for the recruits, I will see if I can find a priest in Aran, as well as the extra recruits we still need."
Late in the evening they arrive at Aran. Little of the town can be seen in the dark. Only two torches at the gate are visible. Once there, Raidon reports to the guard who is standing above the gate.
"Sergeant Raidon of the New Legion. We are coming to relieve the garrison."
The guard stares at them for a moment, and then opens the gate and points them to the garrison.
"Follow this road and at the end you will see the garrison."