Chapter Four.
Sub-teniente José Santana watched in fascination. The two Knights marched down the aisle. The only sound in the entire building was the sound of their footsteps. They ascended the stairs to the stage and stopped in front of the man called Deimos.
Arcángel’s voice rang out, his voice heard by every woman and man. “Deimos, why have you called us here?”
“An introduction and induction.”
Madre de Dios filled the room with her voice, with no help from the sound-system. “You are ill-equipped for this, Deimos.”
The man nodded, then said, “Please help me, Sister. Help me Brother.”
Arcángel stepped forward, then reached down and grabbed the commander’s head in his hands. He bent at the waist and pressed their foreheads together. He released him and then they turned to Madre de Dios.
She handed Arcángel a small black rectangular block, pressing the control on the side. It made a slight hum and a long, thin, violet strip of light sprang into existence on one of the long face. Arcángel took it from her, pressed it against the man’s head and used it to remove the hair on the sides of the captain-commander’s head. Styling his hair in a Mohawk with the skin on the sides of his head smooth. His tattoos became visible.
Madre de Dios gently pushed Arcángel aside and affixed eagle feathers made from an ultra-thin electrum alloy to Deimos’s ears. She then attached two real eagle feathers to the short Mohawk at the top of his head. She stepped back. Arcángel placed a choker necklace around the mans throat. The necklace had a disk made of abalone shell in the center with added beading, bone, and silver hanging on suede. There were four groups of smooth cylindrical bone pieces separated with sterling silver beads and leather. Instead of a clasp, the necklace featured a mustard-colored suede tie, which made it adjustable. Because of the opalescence in the abalone shell, the coloration of the central medallion changed in the light.
Turing to the side, Madre de Dios accepted a small rectangular tin from one scout in the group on the stage. Using her thumbs, she marked his face with the war paint. A black horizontal line under each of his eyes, with red lines below. Matching the patterns of her own war paint.
Arcángel approached him again. He placed a necklace over Deimos’s head. Hanging in the center of the necklace was the "hog's tooth". A bullet from a sniper rifle. On either side were two sixty millimeter long eagle feathers crafted from electrum. The necklace hung to the middle of his chest. The feathers signified the number of battles fought -- one battle for the small feathers, two battles for the large feather. Arcángel and Madre de Dios both wore the same necklace, but theirs had metal feathers that signified they had taken part in well over two dozen battles each.
Arcángel removed the rank and army insignia from the uniform Deimos wore. Madre de Dios pointed to a scout who was holding a ceremonial sniper rifle, and said, “Kiowa, if you please.”
The scout looked at the rifle in her hands, then opened the action. After verifying the chamber was empty, she inserted a loaded magazine into the well and closed the action, putting a round in the chamber. She then engaged the safety and handed the loaded weapon to the knight.
Upon opening the action, Madre de Dios confirmed the weapon was loaded. She faced Deimos and handed him the rifle.
“Your weapon.”
Deimos worked the action, verified that the weapon was loaded, and then shouldered the rifle. The rifle had a clever bit of kit that hooked to his belt. When used with the strap on the weapon, it kept the rifle upright with its streamer flying behind him.
“Thank you.”
Arcángel pointed at another scout on the stage, the woman holding a sheathed saber. “Kiowa, if you please.”
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The scout stepped forward and presented the sabre to Arcángel. Among the scouting community, the sword was as famous as the man that owned it. The sabre that had once belonged to an enemy cavalry trooper and the first third of the blade was missing. The sabre had broken when it was embedded in the chest of a charging cavalry horse. Sub-leftenant Zapata had won the sword in a desperate battle. He had also earned a broken wrist along with the sword, thanks to that damned horse.
***
Scout/Snipers didn’t do hand to hand combat. They were much more comfortable shooting their enemies from two kilometers away with a high-powered rifle. Or if that was not a realistic choice, and if the option was available, they used the mortar section. For closer contact in an emergency, scouts were armed with carbines and pistols. Realistically, if a Scout was in a position where her life depended on actual physical combat, she was fucked. Her job was to observe and report. Intelligence gathering. Her job was not to start a fight she had long odds of winning.
Hiding and seeking, sneaking and peeking.
The unofficial jingle of the Scout Service was a ditty from the late twentieth century. Written three hundred and fifty years prior, it went like this;
“Brave Chief Robin ran away! Bravely ran away! When danger reared its ugly head, she bravely turned her tail and fled! Brave Chief Robin turned about and gallantly she chickened out! Bravely taking to her feet! She beat a very brave retreat!”
The song was a very pointed allegory showing how you got to be known as an old scout.
The Captain-Commander maintained his qualifications as a Scout/Sniper. He ran 41 kilometers in a timed qualification every month, along with every other scout in the First Regimental Combat Team. Every month he fired for record on the known long-distance rifle range, as well as the situational/opportunity target range. He took part in the monthly quals for field artillery spotting.
He was first and fore-most an infantry commander. Which meant that sometimes he had led his men and women in battle. He was no stranger to violence.
***
Madre de Dios faced him and placed the Sam Brown belt over his shoulder, threaded it under the magazine pouches on his chest, and attached it to his belt. She stepped back. Arcángel hung the saber on the man’s side. “Your weapon.”
“Thank you.”
They both stepped back and the proclaimed, “You are presentable, Deimos. We can proceed.”
The two Knights then flanked Deimos and faced the crowd.
Deimos spoke again, his voice booming out of the sound-system. “Captain Fusiyaki! Captain Greenley! The Scouts we honor today are known to you. Please bring them before us.”
The commanders of the Thirty-Seventh and Thirty-Ninth Heavy Assault Companies stepped off the stage and walked halfway through the formation. They halted. Right Faced.
Deimos announced over the loudspeakers. “Bunny. Gator. Front and Center!”
***
The two scouts in question both responded the same way. Eyes shot wide open; mouths opened as they silently mouthed, “Shit.” They turned and looked at each other. Then turned and looked back at the two Captains, eyes still wide.
Captain Greenley whispered, “Close your mouths and try not to look like idiots.”
Captain Fusiyaki winked and whispered, “Don’t ask questions. Obey orders. The General will be quite cross if you two behave like a couple of muppets.”
The four soldiers ascended the stairs, where the two Captains halted and said in unison, “Your Scouts, Lady, and Sirs.” They bowed, stepped back and then performed a left face and moved to rejoin the line of dignitaries at the rear of the stage.
Deimos spoke again, “Kiowa, about face. At ease.” The two scouts spun, then assumed the position of “at ease”. Heels shoulder length apart, hands clasped in the small of their back. First impressions were that they were both young. But if you looked closely, it was quite obvious that they both had extensive experience in dangerous situations.
They were both qualified Scout/Sniper and Forward Artillery Observers. But they were both turned out like the captain-commander. Ballistic vests, knee, shin, elbow, guards. Two visible pistols, a pair of knives, extra grenades, first-aide kits and pouches packed with magazines for battle rifles, pistols, and carbines. These things suggested that they both suffered from the same paranoia that Deimos did. Besides the issued weaponry, Bunny had an edged black Gardener’s axe forged from battle steel, and Gator had a short club. The club was made of a tree branch and had a steel cap on the end, the body of the club was treated with epoxy resin making it almost impervious to damage and had turned the wood black.
The pair had earned their reputation for being paranoid. They had both fought alongside Deimos in the same battle that had cemented his reputation as a bloody madman. The pair, like Deimos, had been overwhelmed by a numerically superior enemy force and forced into desperate, terrifying hand-to-hand combat. The only reason they had survived had been sheer luck in the timing of the Third Army’s arrival, and the fact that their enemies had wanted to take them alive.
Deimos spoke. "Alecto, Aeshma. Front and center."