TSF Chapter 2

Tia, Valor, and Inali left silently. My announcement had sobered them. Even though they knew this day was coming, it was hard to prepare yourself for that kind of news. They each went their separate way to announce the news to their subordinates. Baki stayed behind in my room. I knew my friend and fellow colonel wanted to talk to me in private. So did the other three. I ignored his presence, giving him some time to think. I was rolling up the map when he finally spoke. “We’re really going to march in a month?” He asked, trying to figure out how to begin.

I nodded. “Worried about Caine?” I asked as I slid the map onto a shelf that was supposed to hold my personal records, remembering how the young male had pushed in on him during the mission. Baki had some of the youngest soldiers in his forces and it was mostly for them I had been delaying. Not only were they supposed to be the most dangerous, but they tended to be targeted for that reason and the fact that besides the strategists they tended to know the most useful information. Baki had plenty of reason to be worried for them.

“Among others.” Baki replied somberly.

“Want to collaborate our training?” I offered, trying to perk him up a little bit. “We could both benefit that way. Your assassins could work more in a teamwork setting and it will give my strategists more experience leading and giving commands.”

Baki nodded before shaking his head, visibly trying to shake off all of the negative thoughts going through his mind. “Want to grab some dinner together before we go to bed? Tomorrow’s going to be a hard day.”

I glanced towards my bed which was just begging me to climb in and sleep, but I knew Baki needed someone right now so I shook off my tiredness and nodded. “Mind if I stop by the soldier barracks on our way?” I asked him. “I wanted to let Savannah know we brought in a prisoner tonight so she can interrogate her first thing in the morning before training.” Savannah was my captain, my second-in-command.

Baki shrugged so we headed towards the soldier barracks, pausing at a door with the mark of our clan, the Kage Clan, on the door in purple, the same shade of purple as the mark on my own door. I pushed open the door and walked in. There were nine beds total, five to my right and four to my left in a zig zag pattern. There was a small lamp attached to each bed and above the headboard on each one was a locker the exact same color as the wall. Next to each locker was a microphone and scanner that worked the locking mechanism. I hardly noticed the lockers unless I was looking for them because they blended into the wall so well. The beds themselves were made of wrought-iron and the comforter on each bed was solid grey. Each one had a different symbol in the same shade of purple as the one on the door. Each symbol was the personal crest of the soldier who slept there. All but two beds were empty, but luckily the bed directly to my right had an occupant, Savannah. She had her lamp on and was quietly reading on her tablet. “What are you reading?” I asked conversationally as I approached her and stood at the foot of her bed.

“Oh, hello Colonel.” She greeted me, pushing her tablet to the side and sitting up. She nodded in greeting to Baki who nodded back. “I was reading Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman. It’s an interesting read. It’s almost two hundred years old but it still makes you think about life. You should try it if you have the time.”

“Send it to my tablet and I’ll read it next.” I told her and she nodded. “I have something I need you to do for me actually.”

Senna chuckled. “I was wondering when you would say that.” She told me. “You never come around just to say hi.”

I laughed with her. She was right and we both knew it. I was careful to keep a professional relationship with my own subordinates, and I didn’t come to their barracks unless I needed to. It allowed them to relax without the constant presence of their commander watching them. “We took in a prisoner during today’s battle with the Dovhic Clan. I want you to see what you can get out of her.”

“Now?”

I shook my head. “No, it’s late. You can start tomorrow during the normal training hours. That will allow her to sit for a night and worry about what her future holds. That should make things easier for you. We’ll have a strategy meeting tomorrow night. There are decisions to be made.”

Savannah nodded. “What time will the meeting be?” She asked.

“Let’s meet at 1500 hours.” I told her after a moment of thought. “You’ll get a late dinner but that way we can hopefully have our decision before lights out.”

Savannah nodded. “I’ll let the others know when they come in tonight.”

“Thank you Savannah.” I said. She nodded and hopped out of her bed, walking towards the only other strategist in the room. I glanced in that direction and saw that it was Greyson, the second youngest strategist. Despite his age he showed natural talent that was hard to find. He was the youngest of the sergeants. I left them to talk and turned to leave. Baki glanced at Savannah one more time before he followed me. “I saw that.” I teased him and he huffed good-naturedly, although the sound was a bit forced. I knew who he had feelings for and it wasn’t Savannah, although he wasn’t above taking a peek at other females when he got the chance. We walked down the corridor past each of the other barracks. Directly across from the strategists were the medics. Their door was a bit unique. Depending on their specialty they could have one of two colors for their marks, so there were two marks of allegiance on the door. They had reversed the second and placed it so the two marks created an ‘x’ shape. One mark was a light green and the other was a shade of pink. Both colors bordered on neon. Next to the medics were the assassins. Their door was marked in a bright red symbol, the same shade as Baki’s own marks. Beyond the assassins were the scout barracks. The light blue used to differentiate them reminded me of water, making me thirsty every time I walked by. On the other side of the hall, next to the strategists and by far the largest, was the warrior barracks. The room was so large there was a door at each end and each door had a bright orange mark. This one wasn’t borderline neon, it was neon. Every few seconds a door would open and someone would move through. Most were going inside to turn in for the night, but there were a few moving in the other direction. A group of warriors emerged from the far door of their barracks and walked away, laughing and joking with each other. They headed for the exit and I realized they were that night’s dusk patrol. I wondered who was the midnight patrol and whether Valor would have implemented the changes yet or if he was going to wait until tomorrow. Then I remembered that Baki was with me and until he told his assassins to join the patrols they wouldn’t. Colonels didn’t have the authority to command anyone outside their jurisdiction. Valor could only command warriors, and likewise no one else could command his warriors. The exception to this rule was in battle when the strategist in charge commanded the entire battalion like I had that morning, and even then I gave the orders to the leaders and they took charge to follow them.

The mess hall was a short distance from the barracks, directly between our living area and the humans’. They may call us equal but none of us outranked any humans and we were still forced to live separately. Most chose to see it as a distinction, but I thought of it the way it was. It was discrimination. They may claim that it was because with our different body types that we needed different facilities, but if that was the case then there would still be no reason to force us to live in the other half of the building where we wouldn’t come into contact unless necessary. It didn’t help that we couldn’t speak the human languages and very few humans bothered to learn ours. Even so, the only place for us in this world of war was at the human’s side.

We picked up some trays at the door and logged in. Soon our food appeared from the kitchen. Each meal was designed for the recipient’s dietary needs so that we would stay at peak condition. We took our food to the last empty table and sat down across from each other to eat. I had chicken and Baki got a steak. I was a little envious. Chicken always left me feeling hungry an hour later. I had just taken my first bite when Baki looked up and a shadow fell across me from behind. “Move, dog. You’re in our spot.” I knew that voice and it sparked my anger before I even turned around and looked into the face of the human who had come up behind me. As I thought, it was Bryce. He was one of the humans who could speak our language, but sometimes I felt like he had only learned it so he could torment us.

I opened my mouth to say something but Baki cut me off. “Hello, Bryce. Nice to see you.” It snapped me out of my anger and gave me a moment to think. I hated Bryce but if I went off on him then Baki and I would be the ones getting in trouble, not him.

“It’ll be even nicer to see you leave in a month. I won’t have to deal with you taking our table anymore.”

Now it was Baki’s turn to be angry. He hadn’t gotten over the fact that his subordinates would soon be in danger and in his worried state of mind he was more likely to snap out in anger. “Let’s go, Baki.” I said, cutting him off this time and picking up my food. Baki glared at Bryce but wisely kept his mouth shut. We walked across the mess hall, but there were no empty tables.

“And don’t let me catch you sitting in my seat again Dog.” Bryce called out after us. He used our language so the humans nearby couldn’t understand him. My anger flared again at being called a dog.

“Baki, Gin, over here.” Evan called from two tables away. He was eating with two other scientists and they looked at us as he spoke. Baki motioned towards the table and I nodded. We walked over side by side and took seats across from Evan and one scientist. The other scientist whose name was Millie sat on my right.

“Five percent.” I muttered once I had set my food down, still annoyed at Bryce. He had tormented us so long that the mere sight of him had me fuming.

“What was that?” The third scientist asked.

“Sorry Taka I’m just still mad at Bryce.” I admitted.

“He said ‘five percent’.” Baki clarified for me.

I huffed at him while Evan spoke. “Are you talking about what he called you when you left?” He asked me. I nodded. When we were talking on an official business Evan was a completely different person. He was a lot more informal when we were just talking like we were now.

“At least he didn’t call you mutt.” Baki tried to encourage me.

“At least calling me a mutt would be calling me what I am. To refer to me as a dog implies that I’m a stupid animal who only knows how to serve humans. I’m only five percent dog to begin with!” I complained.

“I think for you the proper definition would be fox.” Millie spoke up, not catching my point. “That makes up the majority of your DNA. Baki would be a wolf.”

I rolled my eyes where she couldn’t see. Evan caught the gesture and cleared his throat to correct me. “I don’t think that was the point Millie.” He said for me. He then turned to look at Baki and myself. “As for you two, what you are doesn’t matter. You’re damn brilliant, much more intelligent than Bryce and I don’t want to see you stooping to his level. He can’t see that despite being canines the two of you are just as well off as any human I know. You actually have a better survival chance on your own than any human here, especially the three of us sitting here. Your intelligence is much higher than the dumb creatures that existed in the past thanks to years of research, and it can rival that of most humans. We humans are lucky you guys are so instinctly loyal or you could’ve been the dominant species years ago. You know that’s why the humans outrank you right? Because the Commanders are afraid what you might do if you got too much power. Don’t tell anyone I said that.” He got quieter towards the end so no one that wasn’t at their table would be able to hear him.

“Thanks Evan.” Baki said with a soft smile.

“Have you shared our earlier discussion with the others yet?” Evan said, obviously trying to change the subject.

Baki and I both nodded. “I told them at the end of the debriefing. They weren’t what you would call happy.”

“They had to have known it was coming.” Millie said, tilting her head slightly.

“Even if you know it’s coming it can still be difficult to take in.” Taka pointed out. “And even if the leaders are prepared some of their subordinates might not be. They have to take the pressure of commanding entire battalions. They’re not just thinking of themselves.” Baki nodded sadly in agreement with what Taka said.

“You’ve been reading war novels again, haven’t you Taka?” Evan asked, nudging the man.

“That’s beside the point!” Taka countered. “You just sucked the cool out of everything I said!”

The rest of us chuckled at Taka as we finished our meals. “We should be headed to bed.” I said out loud, looking pointedly at Baki whose ears drooped at the idea of being alone in his private barracks.

Evan nodded and smiled. “One thing before you go.” He said to the two of us. We turned and looked at him with confused looks on our faces. “Since you’re going to be marching in a month the Commanders ordered us to give each of you a physical examination to make sure you’re in good shape.”

“Should I let Tia know you want to see her so the two of you can collaborate or will you be handling this one on your own?” I asked.

Evan shook his head. “This will be done strictly by us.”

I nodded. “Oh! Since this will affect the schedule for the physicals, we were planning to make one last advance on the Dovhic Clan before we moved out. It will be the last chance to test the younger ones in a field situation before we move out.” I got a nod from Evan and he left, so we headed towards our own barracks.

I walked with Baki all the way to his own barracks even though he really didn’t need me to. “If you’re five percent dog, what are your other percentages?” He asked me conversationally after a few minutes, still trying to not think about the battles to come.

“Five percent dog, forty percent wolf, and fifty-five percent fox. You?”

“Forty-eight percent wolf, thirty percent dog, and twenty-two percent fox.”

By this time we had reached Baki’s barracks and he paused, looking up at the door. “Good night Baki.” I said as I turned to leave. Baki just nodded and walked into the room, closing the door behind him. I walked silently back to my own barracks, thinking about the fact that I knew Baki wasn’t going to be getting much sleep tonight with all of his worrying. I personally was exhausted and collapsed on my bed the moment I got back to my barracks. Within minutes I was fast asleep.