TNL 41 – Research & Navy Part Three
Once back at the naval base, Raidon and his men can enter the harbor unhindered. During the mooring they are immediately met by Duncan and two soldiers.
"Welcome back, Captain," Duncan welcomes them. "This place is truly amazing! It's going to take years before we've discovered everything we have here."
"I know, Duncan. I know."
Raidon is tired from the crossing. This time around the weather was not that great, because halfway through the crossing a real autumn storm arose, and he has therefore been seasick for half of the trip. That's why he doesn't feel like talking to the enthusiastic Duncan at the moment, but he knows he can't just avoid his obligations.
Raidon turns to the soldiers behind him.
"Go and take the recruits to the barracks and arrange a place for them to sleep. Duncan and I still have a few things to discuss."
As soon as everyone is out of earshot, Raidon starts.
"Duncan, how about joining the legion? Unofficially, you're already our engineer, but as you know, that's always just a temporary position for someone who doesn't belong to the legion."
"I know captain, and I've been thinking about it. At first, I didn't think it was important to join. But now that I have been able to look at the naval base, I can see that this is way better than being a clerk. In addition, I could finally poke around in that library."
"Great. Then we will soon be able to handle the oath and everything. I will arrange your transfer from the army. reports will have to be sent to the generals again soon."
Just before Raidon turns the corner, he turns around for a moment.
"I just don't know if we have a harness in your size. Maybe I should see if we have smaller harnesses. Is there such a thing as a dwarf soldier?"
He can't resist teasing Duncan with his small stature.
After a good night's sleep, Raidon feels a bit more himself again. He now feels good enough to tackle the less fun side of leadership: the paperwork.
His job this morning is to check who performs which task. Figuring out where the soldiers can best be stationed is quite a task. There are now so many places where soldiers have to be stationed, that all in all it has become quite complicated. Especially now that tasks have been added with the conquest of Arana and the discovery of the naval base. In addition, there are also fewer soldiers to perform these tasks, so all locations are now understaffed.
The garrison of Aran must consist of a full platoon. This is a huge part of the eighty-eight experienced soldiers. Fortunately, the recruits ensure that they now have a total of one hundred and twenty-two soldiers. Currently, as it should be, there are fifty men in Aran. Twenty-eight are experienced soldiers and twenty-two are recruits. Among the experienced soldiers, however, there are eleven wounded. Sergeant Lenn is in charge of the garrison.
That means that Raidon has sixty experienced soldiers left. Half of these are in Fort Alpha, with Sergeant Indigo as commander.
Since there are now very few experienced soldiers in Aran, with only seventeen men who are not wounded, Raidon decides to make some changes. Therefore, he moves ten of the eleven wounded soldiers from Aran to Fort Alpha. This means that ten soldiers from Fort Alpha can be moved to Aran to help there. The last wounded soldier in Aran only has a broken arm and can help train the recruits in the city.
The twenty experienced soldiers on the island are also redistributed by Raidon. Arana gets five more soldiers, leaving a full squad of ten men. The other ten soldiers are really needed by Raidon in the naval base. He would have preferred to keep more soldiers at the naval base, but it is useful to keep a few experienced soldiers in Arana just in case the pirates try something. The high walls and other defenses of the naval base ensure that he does not have to worry about safety. In addition, he has twelve recruits to double their number if necessary.
Including the last squad of ten soldiers who are with Brandon, the New Legion currently has a total of one hundred and twenty-two soldiers. That is twelve soldiers more than before the battles with bandits and pirates.
Duncan has found a perfect solution for Arana to secure the port. By attaching iron chains to a number of tree trunks, Duncan has devised a system with which the port can be closed. This is based on the chain that lies in the naval base in front of the entrance to the port.
With ten men on the walls and no possibility of being attacked in the back, Arana should be able to hold out long enough in a siege to allow reinforcements to come from the naval base or Aran.
Once Raidon has redistributed the soldiers, it's time for the other people under his command. He has five instructors, including Morris. Morris and another instructor will have to come to the naval base to train the new recruits, while the other three will remain in Aran. The four clerks will have to be spread over different points. Raidon wants reports to be kept in every place, to draw up balance sheets on expenses and so on. The squad leaders may be able to read and write, but the complicated arithmetic and what else is involved, that’s too difficult for them right now. So Fort Alpha, Aran, Arana and the naval base all get one clerk. Hopefully Brandon will be able to get some extra staff in the capital. Now they are very spread out.
Then there is his unit of cavalry. Each instructor has four men under his command. That's twenty horsemen who have to be stationed somewhere. As it is now, there will soon be eight cavalrymen on the island and twelve in Aran.
What if I keep five horsemen here in the naval base, Raidon thinks, then there are still fifteen in Aran. If they manage to get five new recruits there, there will be enough to send out two mounted patrols."
The kooks, Raidon leaves up to the chef. The chubby cook knows a lot more about her people than Raidon can ever figure out. So far, the cooks of the old training camp have just stayed in Fort Alpha, but there are no people with cooking experience in the naval base. The recruits need a bit more than the rations that have been consumed so far.
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When this job is done, Raidon is surprised to see that it is already time for lunch. Time flies with paperwork. That he has found out already. He quickly draws up the final orders to be sent to Aran and goes to lunch.
After lunch, Raidon decides to wander around the naval base. First he goes to look at the port. Movement can be seen on the trading ship. Raidon sees that Ryker has taken command of the ship.
"So you couldn't resist getting back on the water?" asks Raidon to the old fisherman.
"No, boy, the call of the sea was too strong," he replies. "As you can see, I found a few more guys for this barge. I know a few more who live a little further away and as soon as I can send them a message, they will probably join us. Just a little longer and this barge can explore the seas again just like in the past. Before the winter storms come, everyone will know what to do."
"Well, maybe I should appoint you captain of our navy. You've already taken on that task anyway, so we might as well make it official."
"Ha, then all those little soldiers of yours have to call me sir. Bunch of cheeky brats that they are. But I'm really happy now. This way I can still carry out the profession that they thought I was too old for."
"You too old? Only when you are in your grave, I think. Even if you live to be a hundred years old, you are still telling everyone how to do their job."
"You're probably right about that," laughs Ryker, "I've already persuaded ten men to go out to sea in that overgrown wash tub of yours. That's only a quarter of the normal crew for a ship that's that big, but even with half of the normal crew, I can do it. So it won't be long before I have a seaworthy ship for you. Then we'll see if I can still do my job."
"I’d love to see how such a large ship sails compared to the smaller boats I have sailed on now. This seems to me to be a completely different experience. I just hope that I can conjure up an extra squad of soldiers somewhere. Your sailors have no combat experience, and unprotected, such a ship is of course a nice booty for pirates."
"Ha, I'll leave that to you. You can play warrior, then I will make sure that we get where we have to go."
Since he can't do anything there that Ryker can't do a lot better, Raidon decides to continue with his round. Duncan also appears to be in the harbor. He is again working on the mechanism by which the chain can be brought up and down. Despite the repair that Duncan carried out a while ago, there still appear to be problems with it. Over time, the moisture has entered the mechanism, causing it to get stuck. As a result, the parts that had not been replaced are now due for replacement.
"A few more days, captain, then it will work as it should."
Raidon decides to also investigate the forge. Since they found it, no one has been there. Perhaps there are clues there for finding a blacksmith priest. Raidon doesn't know much more than that they have to meet unknown requirements.
Unfortunately, there is nothing new to be found in the forge.
For the rest of the afternoon, Raidon roams the naval base. He visits a number of buildings in the barracks and also the gatehouse. Slowly but surely he gets a better and better picture of the naval base and what condition it is in.
When he passes the training field, he sees that squad leader Ice is crouching with one of the recruits, who is sitting on the ground with a pale face.
"What happened to him, Ice?" asks Raidon to the squad leader.
Horrified, the normally so strict squad leader looks up.
"Excuse me, Captain, I didn't see you coming. Recruit Bram has managed to hurt his hand quite a bit, as you can see."
"Yes, that's a big wound. How did you manage that, recruit Bram?"
While the recruit gets a red head, one of the other recruits laughs and answers.
"He managed to cut himself to his own sword. Apparently, it can be difficult to grasp the right side of a sword."
Shaking his head, Raidon leaves the care of the recruit to squad leader Ice.
He spends the evening on paperwork once more. There is still plenty to study in the barracks. The fact that he has now become a captain does not mean that he is suddenly handed all the knowledge on a platter. There is still a considerable study involved.
To expand his knowledge, he takes a look at the library before going to bed. He doesn't expect to find much in such a short time, and he's happy when he even finds something useful. After half an hour, the only useful information he has found is an overview of the names of the months in the old language.
Ianuarius
February
Martius
Aprilis
Maius
Iunius
Quintilis
Sextilis
Septembris
Octobris
Novembris
Decembris
Randomly, Raidon opens a bunch of books in the hope that he will still come across something that arouses his interest. In the third book, his gaze falls on a piece about the building up of the legions.
Units of the Legion:
Ten soldiers together form a squad, led by a squad leader.
Five squads, or fifty soldiers, together form a platoon, led by a sergeant.
Five platoons, or two hundred and fifty soldiers, form a company, led by a captain.
Four companies form a battalion, led by a major.
A regiment has five battalions and is commanded by a colonel.
A full army consists of five regiments and is led by a general.
A little further on are also the units that relate to the navy.
Number of marines per ship:
A warship has a platoon of soldiers on board that is supported by rowers and sailors, with room for transport of an entire company.
A merchant ship has a squad of soldiers on board as an escort.
In a standard naval base there are usually ten warships stationed with room for fifty other ships. Hence, these locations have an additional garrison of a battalion led by a major.
"So this wasn't a wasted hour after all,” Raidon murmurs. This information helps him a lot further in finding out how this place once worked.
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Later that day, a number of cavalrymen report to Raidon.
"Captain, as ordered, we explored the area. We looked at everything within half a day from this place and we found quite a bit."
"So, so there are still signs of the old empire on the island?"
"Yes, sir," the scout continues, "we have found a number of places where we think there used to be a village, and in one place there are clear signs that there has been a farm. That farm is completely gone now, but the fields can still be recognized if you look closely. We also found an old water mill near the river. There is not much left of the building, but you can still clearly see that the riverbed has been adapted to drive the water wheel."
"So the conclusion is that there are still a few things, but only a few that we can immediately benefit from," Raidon concludes.
"Not quite, sir. We also found many traces of wild animals such as deer and boar and of various predators. But we also found traces of farm animals. We think they were released when the island was abandoned. The animals that survived have become wild."
The scout remains silent for a moment before continuing.
"Our conclusion is that the island can take care of hundreds or perhaps thousands of people. I myself think that this island is even better than the province of Aran."
"I think that used to be the case. It's our job to rebuild everything."
It is clear to Raidon that the reconstruction of the island will take many years. Due to all the raids by bandits and pirates and the mismanagement of the former garrison, the entire province of Aran is weakened and impoverished. The province cannot afford a lot of extra people to build a new life on the island. In addition, the danger of those pirates still exists. And of course there is also the war, which will make everything even slower.
After dinner, Ryker comes up with some interesting news.
"Raidon, I just looked into those logs of the trading ship. I haven't been able to make much of it yet, but I have found the name of this naval base."
"Oh, is that so? And what did they call this place? It's hard to keep calling it a naval base, and that number they assigned it wasn't exactly convenient to use."
"True, even in the old legions they thought so. Even though this place had its official name as a naval base three seven five, among the soldiers this place was called Naval Base Centurion. Or Centurion for short. That seems to me to be a better name than the other one, even though I don't know exactly what a centurion is. Can you eat that?"
Raidon laughs at his antics.
"No, you can't eat that. A centurion is an old name within the army for sergeant. At the time of the establishment of the legions, there were all different names. Later they changed during a reorganization of the army because the language changed."