There were eight hours in a normal guard shift at Sapland Airfield. So far, one lieutenant of the Sunset Coalition’s 85th Guard Regiment had found all of them irritating.
“If only the missus saw what honourable work we’re doing out here.”
His laugh was empty and wheezy. It was directed towards a dark, seemingly endless jungle that made up the vast majority of this region. The only things he knew could hear his words were the sleeping creatures in the canopy, the uncaring leaves of the maiti trees, and the leashed guard beast the Lieutenant was pulling on to. Even then, it seemed to not care for his snark, answering him with the wayward chirping of insects. He was left alone to dwell on his boring, exhausting patrol.
To slog through the dirt… unbelievable! The Lieutenant thought. I should be fighting rebels in the west, not stuck with mudstompers out here near the border.
And doing so with this rotten mutt in the middle of the night, what a waste of my time.
The guard beast on his leash seemed to hear his thoughts. It tugged hard on the leash and galloped forwards, nearly catching him off-guard had he not matched his steps and dug his heels in. The Lieutenant fumed quietly and hung on to the knowledge that sunrise would come soon. At least in that aspect, he was savvy enough to note that down. It made his days much more manageable. Many of his peers, however, weren’t that bright.
To the Lieutenant's knowledge, some of his peers staffed this base alongside him. Being assigned to a guard regiment for ‘training and morale purposes’ made their sightings very infrequent, yet there was some solace to be found in staying out of their way. Where they sat disallowed them from ever learning how to blend in with the soldiers, causing needless bickering over how to manage the airbase to the Coalition’s greater needs. Colonel Mali- in her hushed words to the Lieutenant- gave them some slight bit of credit; they hadn’t caused Sapland Airbase to defect from their presence alone. He remembered her adding a venomous ‘yet’ at the end of that statement, a deep snarl that still made his skin crawl thinking about it. Immediately, he stopped thinking about his peers.
His patrol brought him deeper into the jungle. Solid ground turned muddy, foliage getting much thicker, while the creatures seemingly next to him started coming alive as sunrise approached. The Lieutenant didn’t have a map to guide him on his path. The Guard regiments here didn’t need any, in fact. Between the guard beasts they had, whose brains simply ‘saw’ the safest paths through the jungle, and the old veterans who knew the jungle surrounding the airbase like the back of their mottled hands, commitment to memory was the best way of keeping the base safe without getting lost.
The Lieutenant had picked up on this quickly, despite not liking such an archaic idea. Because of that, he knew there was some respite ahead; a snaking river that led all the way out to the coast. A careful wash of his face and some hydration for the guard beast would be enough for the last of his shift. So the Lieutenant pressed on, pacing his breathing and occasionally checking his communications equipment. It was then he noticed something curious. Nobody had called each other over the comms in the last few hours, leaving it silent with only soft static in the air.
Usually, the comms would have an occasional spark of conversation. The Lieutenant wasn’t the only one bored with the patrols. There would be talks about one’s wife expecting a baby soon, or perhaps about how torrid the week has been. Perhaps a bit of disdainful gossip regarding his peers, fully knowing that the Lieutenant was hearing in, but the main point was that the line occasionally went alive. For the last few hours, however, there had been absolutely nothing. Tension built in his mind, one that began recalling whispers from the Guard regiment about something brewing down south. The Lieutenant mused on it as he approached the river.
The Coalition had neighbours. Many neighbours. Most of them kept to their own business. Some, however, had bad blood with the Coalition; one of these being the Regalia Merah. It had been a long time since he personally had seen a citizen of the Merah, but what they did to him, the Lieutenant remembered in its horrible, horrible entirety. Before he knew it, his breathing had quickened and his hand had gripped on the leash hard enough to pain the guard beast’s vulnerable neck. The growling of the guard beast quickly snapped him out of his stupor, away from the blood-choked gurgles of his cousin as he bled out on parade grounds. He loosened his grip and muttered a quick apology.
“Ah. Sorry for that.”
“Sorry? Did I just hear the greencap apologising?”
The realisation that he had left his radio on had just kicked in. One of the grunts had picked up on it and finally gave the line the conversation it needed. Flustered, he responded quickly.
“You heard nothing, Anvan. Keep on patrol, over.”
“Oh, I heard something. The others probably did too.”
“I said keep on patrol, Private. Disobedience is-
Anvan mocked him, “tantamount to treason. That’s what they always drilled in our heads too, greencap. So what’d you do?”
Gritting his teeth only made the Lieutenant's flustering worse. He tightened his grip once more and tried his best to compose himself over the airwaves.
“I did nothing. Was just thinking of something.”
Anvan didn’t skip a beat, “Missing home?”
The Lieutenant sighed. Fighting back verbally would be pointless, especially when he noticed his body had tired out from his brief flashback. He simply played along in the end.
“Kind of.”
Anvan’s tone was that of surprise, “Really now? Surprised you guys have time to act like the rest of us.”
Fucking mudstompers.
“What?” The Lieutenant said, feeling the guard beast pull on the leash harder as it got closer to the river, “Three months as your officer not enough to get you guys off my back?”
“Kinda,” Anvan hummed, “the nicer a CO acts towards us, the more suspicious we get. Y’know, like how goblinfishes lure their prey in? Those nice, dangly lights? Looks safe, then-
Anvan made a whooshing noise before clasping his hands shut.
“Bam! You’re all gobbled up.”
“I’m not a wild animal, Private,” the Lieutenant said. His tone was back to being stern, “do well to know you’re talking to me, not your comrades back at the barracks.”
“Oh, I know who I’m talking to, greencap-
“And stop calling me that. If you’re going to call me that anyway, do it out of comms range.”
Anvan snickered, “Anyway, pretend like I didn’t say anything rude or shitty the last few minutes. You’re near the river, yeah?”
The sounds of streaming water were much louder now. The Lieutenant responded after looking around, “Yup.”
“Same here. We won’t meet ‘cause our routes are too far, but I’ll give ya a flash when we reach the bank.”
“Mmm,” the Lieutenant said, then followed up, “have you reported anything on your route so far?”
“Nothing much, sir. Some of Sarge Ikol’s guys came back from their visit to the EW guys out east in their vehicles. They looked a bit cooked, but anyone that stays here ends up like that without even trying, yeah? Passed them on, thought one of them seemed a little taller than usual though.”
Right, the outposts.
“I’ve seen them come and go. Bless their dedication to keeping our nation safe before trouble even arrives, but Gailich be damned for their lights. Hurts so much when they pass over you.”
“Tell me about it. Burning my eyes out ain’t exactly what I call a pleasing sight no matter how much they tell us about the Way of the Sun, eh?”
The Lieutenant was glad he could find some commonality with the mudstompers in the end. As prickly as both sides could be to each other, ultimately he knew he was the better option to be attached to their group. Had it been any of his peers, the Lieutenant knew they’d be sooner found dead under ‘mysterious’ circumstances. There had already been a few. His wife would rather he come home alive.
“You let anyone from the academy hear that and they’ll cook your ass alive, Private.”
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“Oh, we know, trust me,” Arvan said, “Tight lips around anyone we know we can’t trust properly, loose lips around friends.”
“Even with all the shit I gave you all those months ago, you’re going to consider me a friend?”
The private shrugged, “Hey, you may be an officer and all, but we’ve seen you stick your neck out when Mali chewed the fuck outta us for the mess hall fight. That’s real mulya to us. If not, at least to me,” he paused, trying to think of something else to say, “but enough about that stuff, what’s the word on your end?”
“Well,” the Lieutenant scratched the back of his head. The ground became even softer, his boots sinking into the mud. The river was just a few minutes away. He hurried up, thinking back on what he had heard, “another supply drop should be leaving the capitol soon. Usual restocking of supplies, I heard, but there might be some of the newer stuff R-and-D have been cooking up. Details were hushed, but well- they’re new. Must be good, right?”
“New?” Arvan was wondrous, “They hardly send us new shit out here, Leftie. You’ve been here long enough to see the really old shit on the base. Like… First Age-old. Anything new comes when the tide floods the landing strip. Usually just hand-me-downs from the other battalions.”
“Between rebel scum and potential war, the Prime Minister’s not taking any chances. Re-armament is coming, the airwaves are all about doing our part to protect our country.”
Arvan was silent. The Lieutenant wasn’t sure if the private was ridiculing the idea of new armaments coming or thinking about it constructively. Either way, it was not his problem. He looked ahead and saw the canopy of the jungle open up. A dim blue sky was beginning to emerge now. There were barely any clouds all the way out here, allowing him to see the stars up high. Some lazily drifted across the sky, remnants of the Old World that still watched over the world, whilst others merely stood still and twinkled. A flock of birds abandoned their roosts and further decorated the sky with their shadows, making their way to new lands somewhere far. It was a serene sight amidst uncertainty; the Lieutenant appreciated the beauty and sat down on a smoothened rock.
A few minutes later of relaxing, washing down and watching his guard beast slake its thirst, his radio came alive.
“Oi, oi, you at the bank?”
He shook himself awake, “Yup. You seeing the sky, Arvan?”
“Beautiful shit. You’ll never get to see this kind of view in the capitol, not with all the factories.”
“All in the name of our country, Private. Where are you?”
“Here as well. Look left.”
The Lieutenant did. He saw a faint flashing light much further away from him. He took out his own flash-clicker and signaled to Arvan his presence.
“There we go. How’s Lofti?”
“The beast?” said the Lieutenant, watching it roll around on the river shore, mucking up its carapace, “It’s screwing around.”
“Making a mess up there, yeah? Getting you all worked up?”
Actually, not so much. It’s the least I can do for hurting the poor thing before.
The Lieutenant replied, “Not really.”
“Good, good,” said Anvan, “Lofti lives for the river. Cargo-sniffing and mine training only gets so exciting after a while. You remember anything from his handler?”
“Be specific.”
“We’ll be here ‘till midday if I do that. Just… anything that comes to mind. That’ll do.”
The Lieutenant thought. More than five facts entered his mind immediately, followed by a dozen more. He chose five and stuck with it in his response to Anvan. One of them felt guilty to confess to someone like Anvan. Not his fault, the Lieutenant thought, Iori was pretty for a Beast-Nine trainer.
“Iori’s a pretty looker. That’s one. Then the beast… it was born here, unlike the other Beast-Nines. That’s two.”
“Keep going. I’ll maintain watch.”
“Three, three… Lofti’s torn apart a terrorist group that tried to sabotage an experimental plane here because they didn’t disguise their bombs right.”
“Oh yeah, that happened.”
“Four, he’s got a little bit of a lazy eye. Then the fifth-
There was a soft splash. It was not anywhere close to him. Instead, the noise came from the other side of the river. With how quiet the place was other than the awakening wildlife, the Lieutenant’s ears perked up. At the same time, Lofti growled. The Lieutenant checked whether he was doing anything to make it uncomfortable from where he sat. After thorough checking, he immediately called Anvan. It turned out the Private had the same intuition as the beast, intercepting his report.
“Bushes. Three o’ clock. Across the river. Something’s moving further back from the banks. Think something just entered the river.”
“Swamp grazer?”
“Not in the slightest,” Anvan said, raising his rifle slowly, “Warning shots only on your orders, sir.”
Lofti kept growling, its snout pointed towards the river. It was getting massively agitated, a reaction the Lieutenant hadn’t seen in a long time, but stayed its ground. It wouldn’t attack this far away, only warn its walkers. The Lieutenant had his hand on the receiver of his rifle and stood still. The sky continued to brighten, so did the foliage on the other side where it was allowed to shine through. His eyes narrowed in on what possibly spooked the beast.
At first, it was hard to make out. But there was something moving. No, his observations pointed out things moving. They were too small to be swamp grazers, but too tall to be tulo raptors. His mind immediately went into alert mode and whispered to Anvan, “Private, verify position, over.”
“Right.”
The Lieutenant looked left. The flash-clicker of the Private was bright as day.
“Keep your eyes on those shadows. It could just be locals looking for scraps, over.”
“Would make sense if it weren’t so close to the airfield, sir. There’s safer places to find stuff here.”
“Yeah,” the Lieutenant said. On the side, he was trying his best to pull Lofti away from the river. If it was indeed an enemy, there was no guarantee Lofti was of use here. Especially if they were on the other side of the river, and most certainly if they were armed. Could it be Merah forces? Rebels? His mind went wild for a split second, calmed only by remembering protocol, “Keep a close watch on the river and the bank, gun ready. I’m getting the operators on the line.”
“Aye.”
Pulling out his comms-piece from his chest rig, three deft motions cycled the frequency to that of the Guard regiment’s operator channel. Ever vigilant even in the dead of night, there was no doubt that backup wouldn’t be too far away. Still, how careless of the enemy if it was really them. As he prepared to contact the operators, the possibility that both of them could be overreacting entered their minds. It left quickly when static answered him.
“What the hell?”
The Lieutenant tried multiple times to contact his backup. He could barely make out the operator’s voice on the other end the first time. Each call became increasingly distorted from there until Lofti whimpered out of pain. Something was coming, he had to act quick. He tried to get a hold of Anvan.
“Private, something’s jamming the base frequency, do you copy?”
“What? Shit. Shit, shit, let me try.”
The Lieutenant stayed put and waited for the private’s response. Suddenly, the guard beast snarled. This sound was absurdly hostile, evolving into loud hissing as something next to him moved. It was not a few meters away, nor close to Anvan’s location.
Something was right next to him. It was definitely not a wild animal.
By Gailich!
He leveled his rifle up in panic. In doing so, Lofti was set loose as the least slipped out of his hand. The Lieutenant’s voice was loud, but failed to overcome the sounds of the guard beast viciously taking off into the jungle.
“Lofti! Lofti, come back!” He turned to his radio, “Private, I lost the Beast-Nine.”
“What?” said Anvan, “how the hell didja lose him? Wait, I think… I think I hear something-
A singular, loud pap echoed across the jungle. The line went dead.
“Private? Private! Anvan, respond! Flash-clicker!”
There was no response.
Oh fuck, oh fuck…
The Lieutenant chose to focus on finding Lofti. He broke from his position and followed the rough direction of the guard beast. The sounds next to him seemed to become even more distant. It was like something was clearly fucking with his senses; there was something next to him! He just knew it, yet it was clearly getting lost in the jungle. By the time he took a breather, the Lieutenant had ended up off the beaten path. The river was on his right, but hidden behind thick foliage. The sun wasn’t up yet, so it was still mostly dark.
Dark enough to make him start panicking. He tried contacting the operator again, his movements now sloppy and careless.
“Operator! Operator, do you read? This is patrol five, do you read me?!”
Something moved next to him again. He swerved. The Lieutenant then heard a loud yelp. It was followed by a brief scuffle and breaking branches, before something’s bones broke. Lofti didn’t make any more noise after that. He began to hyperventilate, shouting to the darkness.
“W-who’s there?! Show yourself, on orders of the Coalition! You’re in vi-violation of military grounds, surrender or die!”
The bush behind him chuckled. He had no time to respond before something fast broke through the back of his neck. The Lieutenant looked down for a brief moment and saw the faint shimmer of a sharp blade behind thick red blood just beneath his chin.
He tried to breathe one last time, then the blade twisted. His last conscious thoughts were of his wife crying before things went dark.