TSF Chapter 3

The harsh noise of my alarm woke me in the morning. I was on my feet in a second, instantly alert. Once I was awake enough to realize it was just my alarm I groaned and smacked the clock to silence it. “You’d think I’d be used to that by now.” I grumbled to myself. I shook out my pelt and jumped down from my bed. Exiting my quarters, I headed down the corridor towards the gymnasium. The place was like a ghost town. Most days I was up an hour before everyone else. It gave me a chance to train in peace and quiet without the distraction of others always interrupting me. It also helped get my blood flowing and gave my mind time to wake up completely. I wasn’t much of an early bird.

There was no one in the halls at this time. The only soldiers up this early were the patrols and the exit was in the opposite direction. The gymnasium was located at the far end of the canine area, opposite the mess hall and along the outer wall of the base. I arrived at the large double doors and pushed my way through. The room was pitch dark since I was the first to arrive. I walked over to the wall and stood on my back legs, feeling for the switch. It took me a few seconds but my paw soon found it. Light flooded the area. Once my eyes had adjusted I moved forward into the room. I weaved around the exercise equipment, not interested in any of it.  Half of the gymnasium was devoted to strength training. There were machines for every muscle group anyone could want. Running through the center of the weight area was a series of shelves. There were six total, and each had a colored band across the top. Each held weighted vests, harnesses, and collars. The shelf closest to the door held one pound weights, followed by two, five, ten, fifteen, and twenty pound weights in order. Once the weights got over five pounds they no longer held collars, and the twenty pound shelf held only harnesses. I walked over to the five pound shelf and took down a collar the right size. It slipped over my head easily and settled into place. Walking past the shelves, there was another weight area on the other side. These weights had chains attached to them that hooked onto harnesses so they could be pulled across the floor.

The other half of the gymnasium was an obstacle course. It was made to mimic all kinds of terrain and environments. The outer edge of it was made to mimic a forest. There were large pipes that were meant to be trees. There were branches and leaves coming off some of them, but since they were there to be practical and not beautiful, they had never been painted to resemble trees. Each one was a dull grey color. In the center it opened up a bit like a clearing. There were hills and valleys created by the many different kinds of terrain. In one part there was an artificial turf, next to it was shale, and on the other end was sand. Any type of terrain you could expect to encounter was there. This area was used to train for agility and was a popular place for sparring.

Hanging from the trees and rising from the floor were various platforms, ledges, and bridges. These were used for a different kind of agility training. Thirty-five feet in the air stood the highest platform. It was tight but up to ten smaller canines could fit up there at once. It was made to be that large so canines could rest before beginning the descent on the other side.  I had no need for any of the equipment. Instead I walked back out from the weight area.

Along the wall and running the entire perimeter of the oval-shaped room was a mile long track. It had four lanes for racing, but it was mostly used for endurance training. There was a clock above the door I had entered through. It was already 05:20. My strategists would be reporting for their morning exercises at 0600 hours. I scuffed at the rough terrain as I stepped out on it and took off at a light jog. Two laps later I was running at full speed.

Endurance was something I always prided myself in. I worked hard to maintain my high endurance. Forty minutes later when my strategists began showing up for morning training I barely showed the pace I had been keeping. They arrived in ones and twos a few minutes apart. When they saw me wearing the weighted collar they each went and picked one for themselves. Each strategist fell in behind me as I ran, and soon there were nine of us running around the track. Savannah was missing, having skipped the morning training session to interrogate the prisoner. Instead my first lieutenant, my third in command, was running at my right shoulder. Her name was Denna. After running for another thirty minutes I slowed down to a walk. The other eight continued past me. I paused and watched them as they ran by. They were showing the pace I had set them at much more than I did.

After catching my breath I turned to the obstacle course. Leaping up to the first ledge, I traversed the obstacles, working my way ever higher. Halfway up I slipped, and hanging by a single paw I scrambled for a hold. “Colonel! Are you okay?” I heard Denna’s voice call. I ignored her, too focused on not falling fifteen feet straight down. I managed to get back up before turning to locate Denna. It wasn’t too difficult. The other strategists had stopped running to watch as I struggled.

“Who told you to stop running?” I called back, looking straight at Denna and not the others. They visibly relaxed, relieved that I was okay, and turned to begin running again with Denna in the lead. I watched them for a single lap before I turned and began climbing once more. I reached the top and lay there, resting for a moment. I glanced at the clock. The other strategists had been running for forty-five minutes by the time I stopped them. I rose to my paws and let out a single, sharp bark. They slowed to a stop and looked up to me.  “Come up here.” I called to them. They each nodded and turned to make their own way up the course. It took them fifteen minutes but they each made it to the top. As each one reached the top they turned to me and bowed once in respect. They then collapsed, tired. They stretched out their legs and settled down once they had caught their breath. It was tight but since all of the strategists were mostly fox, we were smaller than most and all were able to fit. I looked to the clock. It was 0704. We would only have the gymnasium to ourselves for about another thirty minutes. Then it would be the warriors’ turn at 0730. It would take fifteen minutes for everyone to get down. That left me eleven minutes to go over the day’s schedule with my strategists. “First things first, I know Savannah already told you but we have a meeting at 1500 hours.” I began. “Of the things you will do today that is of the utmost importance. It is a strategy meeting to decide our next move against the Dovhic. Everyone must be there.” They each nodded. I met their eyes. “Also, I must tell you that at the end of the month we will be marching south to join the main forces in battle. You will each be getting a physical from the scientists and I will be giving each of you a series of tests to determine your current abilities. Starting next week we will discontinue these group training sessions. Instead you will be training individually at set times. Of course, the gymnasium will still be open from 0600 until 0730 for any that want to train on their own. I would suggest taking advantage of it.” I looked around the circle, receiving a nod from each canine as my gaze settled upon them. “I will talk to Evan and let you know when you’re due for the physicals. The rest of the day you have free. There are no missions scheduled. Make sure you use the time to train and come up with strategies for this afternoon’s meeting.”

There was a soft murmur of assent from each of the strategists and I rose to my feet. The others rose with me in respect and I turned, quickly making my descent down the obstacles. Unlike the single path to the top, there were multiple ways to get down. I could hear the others as they made their own ways down, and I paused to locate a single canine as he made his way to the floor, my only second lieutenant. He was moving quickly and had already gotten further than I had. I leapt forward and hurried down as quickly as I could to catch up to him before he could leave. My paws made contact with the artificial turf as I moved quickly towards the male. He had already joined two of the other strategists, both of them corporals, and they were walking together towards the exit as they talked, presumably exchanging ideas for our strategy meeting that night. “Cilan.” I called across the room as I moved in their direction. His ear flicked back at the sound of his name and, spotting me, he turned and murmured something to the other two who left without him. He sat and waited for me to approach.

He dipped his head to me politely once I was in speaking range. “Do you need something from me Colonel?” He asked. There was a slight glint in his eye and he was perceivably annoyed at being stopped but he was in no place to complain.

I walked up so we were shoulder to shoulder before speaking. It was a clear power move but he gamely stood his ground. He was headstrong and stubborn but he had the skills to back up his personality and it was a main part of the reasons I had made him an officer. “I want you to create a training schedule for each of the strategists, including myself and the other officers.” I told him. “Give each member mental and physical training time as well as plenty of time to rest since we’ll need our energy for both this last advance and our march at the end of the month. Physical training is to be scheduled for open gym time only and make sure to leave the morning training time open since I have told them I expect them to do their own training during that time. If you see anyone being lazy and skipping morning training you are to remind them of their orders. I want the complete schedule sent to my inbox by lunchtime tomorrow. Dismissed.” He nodded at each command and once my orders had been given he rose without another word and left the gym. By this point a good number of warriors had arrived and were moving to begin their training.

Valor always gave them time to train on their own and showed up a half hour later than they were required to report. He left it to his captain to keep them in line instead. Sometimes I wondered if it was because he and I didn’t get along that well even though we worked fine together. By always arriving late we never ran into each other even when my training sessions ran a little over. A trio of bantering privates walked by and I turned to watch as they moved towards the obstacle course. The largest of the three, a black male with silver streaks through his fur, split off when they reached the trees and sat while the other two faced each other. I recognized the largest and smallest as siblings, since they had gotten their genes from the same parents even though they were born at different times. The two that had moved off stood nose to nose and stretched out a single forepaw as they touched their claws together in salute. They held the pose, keeping eye contact the whole time. Every muscle was tense as they waited for a sign to move. The third canine’s tail swished to settle around his paws and he barked once. As if some cord tying them together was cut by his voice, the pair leapt back. The larger of the pair, a smoky grey colored wolf with red eyes and his personal crest going all the way from his left shoulder to his left hip, turned to the side to make a circle while the smaller female, dark brown in appearance with black markings on her paws and tail, instead opted for an offensive strategy. She shifted her motion and leapt forward to slip past him, snagging his tail in her jaws as she moved past. Her maneuver brought his motion to a halt as he turned to get her off and she leapt straight up, anticipating his movement and scratching him in the face like a cat with one of her front paws as she executed a perfect dodge. He turned and snapped at the leg that had scratched him but was just a hair too slow. The female moved again and jumped at him from the side, grabbing onto his scruff. She clearly had the speed advantage but the grey male had her out-powered. He was unfazed by the teeth in his scruff and moved as quickly as he could to the side. Before she could let go he had slammed into a tree, sandwiching her between him and the hard, unforgiving surface. She let out a yelp and let go but he held her pinned there. I realized what his strategy had been the whole time and smiled lightly to myself. Valor, or one of his second lieutenants probably since it was the second lieutenant’s job to take care of training schedules and Valor only did what he was required to, had been training the fighters well. The damage the female could do in that position was minimal and the longer she struggled the more energy she wasted. The larger male watching let them struggle for a few moments before he stepped forward and said something I couldn’t hear from where I was. The grey male let her down and they moved back to the middle of the clearing and resumed the pose where they touched claws. I guessed that the male had won that sparring match and the fire in the female’s eyes seemed to confirm my suspicions.

I watched as they started the next match, eager to see who would win this time. “They’re coming along nicely.” I jumped at the voice behind me and turned to see a female wolf was standing there. I hadn’t noticed her approach. She was off-white in color and had sandy colored streaks in her fur. The bright orange on her foreleg really stood out against the duller color of her fur but what were really striking about her were her eyes. They were an emerald green but they had small veins of blue in them that you could only see from a short distance away. They were the kind of eyes that a male fool enough could get lost in and drown. She smiled at my surprise and moved forward to sit beside me. As she moved my eyes were caught by the holster she was wearing and I checked the stripe that went around her neck. It was light grey, Second Lieutenant.  “I was not expecting to see you observing my warriors, Colonel Gin.”

“I must say, Lieutenant, that I am impressed with the skill level of even your lowest ranking soldiers.” I replied, not addressing the fact that she had just told me that I was out of place here. Honestly she had caught me off guard and I had no reason or excuse to stay. I had only noticed them moving to spar and stopped to watch on a whim. I hoped my delay would either distract her or she would drop it when she realized I had no intention to answer. “I would be expecting this level of skill from corporals or sergeants, not privates.”

She looked directly at me, trying to figure out what I was thinking. We both knew I probably shouldn’t be there and if Valor showed up he would directly confront me but this Lieutenant was outranked by me and knew she had to tread carefully to avoid accidently crossing the line of insubordination. She finally turned and started watching the trio as I was. “Of the second lieutenants I hold my soldiers to the highest standard.” She said as she watched. “I have some of the highest ranking soldiers in my squad, and even my lowest ranking members are expected to be the strongest in their respective ranks. They do extra training outside what is required of them.”

I tensed as I saw the female go for an attack that would have been fatal if she had not pulled back at the very last second. The two broke apart and I relaxed as the larger male stood and declared the female the winner for that match. The attack she had used was familiar to me. I had watched just a few weeks ago as Baki had demonstrated that exact move for his assassins. “I see they have been taking lessons from the assassins.” I commented, mostly to see how she would react.

She nodded, seeming unaffected by my comment. “I spoke with Siri about six months back and asked if we could do some combo training with the assassins. After Baki gave the okay we started holding combined evening training sessions with my warriors and his assassins once a week. They have shown great growth because of it and soldiers on both sides have learned new moves.”

I was surprised to hear her mention Baki’s second lieutenant. I hadn’t heard about the combined training sessions but from the sound of it Baki wasn’t directly involved. Besides himself, Siri was the oldest assassin and I knew he trusted her completely to come up with training strategies and schedules. It could be that all he knew about it was the bare minimum. I rose and stretched out my muscles which had tightened up as I rested. I shook out my pelt and turned to leave. “I would appreciate if you didn’t tell Valor about me hanging around when he comes in.” I told her, making eye contact to make sure she knew it was as much of an order as I was allowed to give her.

She nodded. “I wouldn’t want him saying something to you and getting himself in trouble over something as trivial as you watching a few sparring matches on a whim.”  There was a slight grin forming on her face and I found what she said as amusing as she did. She had seen right through me. I chuckled as she spoke once more. “And also just a little friendly advice Colonel, you might want to hit the showers before you head to breakfast.” I froze in surprise at her blatant comment that I smelled and she took advantage of my hesitation to walk away without giving me a chance to respond. She paused by the track where many of the warriors were still running to warm up. After calling the names of another twelve canines she led the group to where the trio was sparring and set up a large six-on-six match with the three left over acting as judges. I left quickly and, following her advice, headed towards the bath.