I watched outside the wall on the fort, Ronin was in a trench at the gate of the Broken Wall. With Shark on the other fort, his men were evenly spread in the forts and front with Ronin.
The hills outside were empty grasslands, with nothing of note happening other than of course the small figures I keep seeing off in the distance, or was it me seeing things. Although it could also be because the sun was in my eyes and I was being blinded by it. Meaning I can’t tell if those figures were real or not, and I didn’t want to bother Shark if he saw anything as he too would be blinded.
There was only the sound of crickets making noise as the temperatures began lower once more to sub freezing as the sun had set. Yet there were clear skies, the clouds, and fog from yesterday disappeared entirely being replaced by the blue sky.
Then I saw a silhouette once more, similar to the figure from before. But I wasn’t being blinded as badly as before, due to the sun turning red as it set lower and lower into the evening.
The silhouette was small, it was far away and I am 20 feet up from the ground. I brought up my binoculars and attempted to focus in on the silhouette but it was a shadowy figure under the binoculars. Which was expected, however as the sun setted further I did in fact get a bit of color and detail from it.
I placed my elbows on the wall of the fort to stabilize the image a bit more, and I saw that it was a green humanoid.
Which was the only details I could make out at this distance.
I decided to call it out. “I see a figure, around 3 miles away!” I reported to everybody.
Shark responded, “3 miles away? What do you see?”
“A green humanoid figure, can’t tell you much more than that as the atmosphere is blurring my view.” I said, continuing to focus on the green figure.
Then the figure ran down a hill.
“It ran down the hill and I can no longer see it.” I reported to Shark.
“That''s not good, was it scouting us out?” Shark asked.
“Can’t tell you, all I know is that it was there.” I pulled my binoculars down and looked at the area closest to the wall. There were footprints in the snow, tiny not a human''s foot prints but it was only a few footprints that led nowhere.
I chalked it up to me seeing things and ignored it.
Nothing much happened, it was incredibly boring but boring to me is an opportunity to imagine. In fact I like to embrace boring, with a specific task I need to really finish like writing but without anything to write with all I can do is daydream.
Yet I kept an eye on reality, the sun had fully set and I saw the moon rise in its place. It was waxing crescent, it looked very different from the moon I grew up with. It looked surreal seeing an alien moon, it was grayish like Luna but the craters and features were entirely different. The Sea of Tranquility wasn’t where it was supposed to be, in fact not existing at all.
By being much darker in color, meaning there was more exposed rock on this moon than Luna.
My thought process and analysis of this alien moon ended when I heard footsteps, a quiet pitter patter.
Everyone else seemed to hear this as well, with a soldier below me asking. “Do you hear those footsteps?”
“Yeah, I do.” I responded, bringing out my carbine rifle and putting it at the ready.
Ronin seemed to hear this as well as I heard the Noxu spell activating and then stopping, Ronin was likely testing if the spell worked and how it worked. Shark put his LMG at the ready, and the soldiers below me turned off their safeties.
“Be prepared for a-” Overwhelming pain shot up in my chest, the force of it led me to step back and fall down everything was muffled when I heard an explosion. One familiar, a Noxu flamethrower activating. Then an ensemble of gunshots, an LMG, bolt action rifles, carbines with a choir of yelling, screaming.
Muscle memory came into action as I reached for my spellbook and I flipped to the page with the healing spell. The first page, line 3 and I activated it. I imagined the spell appearing above me, a massive foreboding magic circle with stars that spun. Seconds later I saw the circle appear and the pain disappeared. I didn’t see what had hit me.
My ears were no longer muffled or were still as my cat ears were held closed but I was sure I could hear Ronin screaming who was underneath the goblins cries and the desperate gun fire. I got up and grabbed my SMG, the soldiers were shooting out of the holes at something I didn’t pay attention to.
The soldiers outside were busy shooting at small green humanoids, which I automatically dubbed as goblins. I didn’t pay attention to much other than their size and color, as Ronin was being held down by those goblins each one carrying a small knife, club, bones, whatever a weapon and hitting him.
I charged through the crowd with enhanced strength, speed, and healing from the spell firing my SMG not caring about friendly fire. It didn’t matter as long as the spell was active and healing Ronin, the goblins all fell down to my bullets but it eventually clicked and I threw the gun to the side bringing out my Saber.
I began to try and cut through the entire horde of goblins, the first goblin charged me with a dagger and I sliced the head off with extreme strength and speed. Well it wasn’t clean at all as I actually had hit it with the flat end, with the result of the head exploding from the force my saber hitting it, then I decided to just go full brawler mode dropping the sword and just using my fists.
Several years of competitive boxing came back to me, and I threw the goblins around into the walls so hard that blood splattered. I gave a roundhouse kick to another goblin, it was very strong to the point I sent it flying and killed an entire line of them.
I sent another goblin flying who could barely react, in fact everything was moving slow, at least half as fast as it normally would. In other words I can react twice as fast, like a fly.
I threw a hook towards another charging goblin, as they kept stabbing my legs with their knives. Yet no wounds appeared and I kicked them off of me into a nearby wall, I got to Ronin who was pinned down on all limbs.
I began punching each of the goblins off and Ronin immediately jumped up, grabbed his flamethrower and fired it. A short blast of fire incinerated a horde of goblins that were attempting to reinforce their attack. I grabbed an abandoned LMG near a dead Kyntari soldier, and began firing into the horde as the healing spell ended.
The bullets tore through several goblins before not going any further, Ronin and I stepped back into a shallow trench as dozens of stone arrows rained on us. Ronin and I rushed towards a broken bridge nearby, Ronin was hit in the leg from an arrow.
“Ahhh!” Ronin gave out an anguished cry, and brought out his trench shotgun slam firing into a dozen goblins.
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I looked at Ronins leg, the injury wasn’t life threatening and a simple medkit syringe can fix it. I was uninjured with many holes in my trench coat, showing I should’ve died a dozen times over by now if it wasn’t for the healing spell.
There was no more gun fire, and no more sounds of the goblins'' cries.
“Is everybody alive and well?” I yelled out.
“Alive!” I heard Shark yell, soon afterwards I got confirmation from the rest of Sharks men from their yells.
“Ronin, the guy with a flamethrower is injured.” I reported, I grabbed Ronin by the shoulder and supported the side with the arrow in it and we got out from the shallow trench and bridge. “Lets get inside the fort.” I told him.
I saw there were hundreds of dead goblin bodies, most were littered at the gate, with most not even being able to pass the first forward communication trench. On top of that a lot of them was a charred mess, with another sizable chunk being either filled with bullets or caved in bodies from my punching.
“Do we have a medic?” I asked as we entered the left fort, the place where I was when the short battle started.
“I am a medic.” Said a middle aged Kyntari medic, he rushed over as I placed Ronin on the ground.
Ronin gave a groan, as the medic rapidly brought out a syringe from the medkit.
“Take the arrow out of his leg.” The medic ordered.
I tore the arrow out, leaving a massive bleeding hole in Ronins leg. Ronin gave a massive cry. Then the medic stabbed Ronin with the syringe on the shoulder muscle.
“Wouldn’t want to find out what this does in the bloodstream.” He said, Ronins injury rapidly began to close and then fully disappeared leaving only a slight scar.
“Thank you.” I said.
Ronin said thank you in Japanese.
“You''re welcome.” The medic said in English then Japanese, Ronin got up and looked at the Medic. “So he’s the Japanese kid I keep hearing about. I am Lieutenant Hans Gunther, a medic in Sharks’ Company.” The medic said.
“I am Ceo, the Colonel.” I said.
“Well hello, you are someone with less of a life than me.” Gunther said, putting the syringe away back in his medkit.
“Well coming back from a failed space mission really traumatizes one into laziness.” I said.
“You were a part of that failed Pluto mission, where half the crew cannibalized the other?” Gunther asked.
“Yeah, and I do not wish to go into detail about it.”
Gunther then turned to Ronin and began speaking to him in Japanese, likely giving introductions.
I received a message from one of Sharks lieutenants asking what had happened, and at the same time the first squads and platoons arrived.
I went outside to meet the reinforcements, “Y’all are late.” I said to them, there were 3 squads arriving.
The warrant officer didn’t respond and said “You are covered in blood, ma''am, and holes.” The warrant officer looked at the hundreds of dead bodies, charred, beaten, and shot dead all at the Broken wall. “And that''s a lot of dead bodies.”
Shark got out of his fort and immediately gave out orders “start building defenses, and get to work!”
The squads immediately began getting to work and none commented on my appearance any further. I sat down on a grenade box, and slumped forward in exhaustion as the adrenaline wore off.
I wanted to go to sleep but my work wasn’t done yet. I brought out my clipboard and sent out an order to the other Majors except Shark.
“Head to my office in the Bunker for a meeting in 20 minutes.”
I got up and saw Ronin was pulling the dead goblins into a ditch that was being dug by the reinforcements. Others were dragging sandbags that were around the area towards the gate, making a wall that blocked the entrance, along with repurposing barbed wire in front of them. There were several openings made that would make defending easier.
But I had to get moving, and Ronin looked at me as I left onto the road passing several dozen more squads who were just arriving.
Once I got onto the right side of the road, I began running the entire distance. I was likely on limited time so I needed to get to the back bunkers as soon as possible. So I jogged at a brisk pace and arrived at the bunker in 15 minutes. I went down the stairs and entered the door, passed the bunk beds and into my office with all the Majors except for Shark.
I was met with everybody waiting for me, and the second I entered questions immediately began being asked.
“What happened over there?” Fish asked.
“Why was there a healing spell activated?” Punisher asked.
The questions from everybody kept coming and I said “Shut up, give me a moment to breathe and I’ll answer them.” I took a sip from the cup that sat on my desk and I sat down in the chair.
I sighed and sat up “so what happened fifteen minutes ago that we were attacked by green humanoids. What matters most is that they were repelled in the time span of a healing spell so a minute, none at least from what I could tell got past the Broken Wall. Which is a gate now.” I reported.
Everybody then began to panic, “Attacked?” Memes asked.
“Yes we were attacked, which is why I have a dozen holes in my uniform.” I sighed.
“So what are we to do now? Since you were attacked, by how many?” Memes asked.
“I am not sure exactly, I got here in a rush and couldn’t count there were at least several hundred, though the good news is that they aren’t immune to bullets and flamethrowers.” I said, taking another refreshing sip from my cup of water.
Village then spoke, “What are we to do, anybody have ideas?”
I answered “for now we hunker down, and we guard the gate, letting no one come in or out until we can confirm it''s safe outside the walls. On top of that we would need to prepare our land for long term habitation. I don''t think it''s safe to be living in the remnants of a warzone.”
“What do you suggest exactly for inside the walls, guarding the gate is something I can already easily guess. But for here?” Village asked.
I started to explain, “Well firstly we are to start picking up the land mines, barbed wire, and other hazards designed to slow the enemy''s advance who is across the river and is no longer our enemy. We also need to get into consistent contact with the Noxu players. Our food situation still hasn’t been solved yet, the meat is going to last only so long before it decomposes away so we need to continue collecting food.”
Village responded. “I could have my men deal with the mines, trenches, barbed wire and also getting across the river. While everybody else can deal with the other issues.”
Fish said, “My company could deal with the food issues via fishing. How long will the smoked meat last if we ration it at the minimum at which people can effectively work?”
I did the math in my head, and said “Well assuming the meat doesn’t spoil, which it will, we should have enough supplies to feed everybody 2000 calories a day that’ll last around for six months, give or take a few days. Enough time to make a fishing industry, or a fish farm industry.” I said.
“That is assuming we properly smoked every single body we can get our hands on?” Fish asked.
“Yes, in actuality however we should expect the food to last 3 months. I’m not sure how much we can preserve in a day, but it''s a conservative estimate.” I answered.
“That should be enough time for me to build small fish farms, and fishing boats. Giving us more time.” Fish said.
Silenz spoke, “I could have my company try and start a traditional farm, whether to feed some sort of livestock or to grow edible food to cook with. It won’t be done in the 3 month time limit but it should be started by then.”
I turned to the remaining Majors, “Y’all have any ideas on what to do?”
Memes, Shadow, Punisher, and Buzz all shook their heads.
With Buzz saying this “I’ll like just help with whatever comes up, maybe manage who goes where and does what. I don’t know, I just threw an idea out there, I was in the HR department for the company I worked at before getting fired.”
I cocked my head curiously, “So you want to manage the workforce?” I asked.
“Well if we need that kind of management, I would like to volunteer. I am very good at managing numbers to get the desired result of more productivity. Although my boss did disagree with me on that and fired me, so please don’t fire me.” Buzz asked meekly.
I leaned closer towards him, “If you don’t fuck up the numbers game of human resources.” I said.
Buzz nodded meekly.
Memes said “Well whatever comes up, I am free to take any position you can give me. But for now I’ll stay as a commander if you are fine with that.”
Buzz immediately answered Memez. “You could just be a reserve company in which we can move people towards different work wherever they would be needed.”
Fish looked at Buzz, “You really are a HR manager, if you came up with the idea of having people in a reserve.”
“Yeah, I wasn''t sure how well it would work in reality other than just having people be employed constantly. For now my job may be useless, and if it is then I’ll just resign to prevent bloat.” Buzz said.
“Alright, I’ll keep that in mind but we might need your HR skills one day, or not, who knows.” I turned to the remaining Majors who hadn’t volunteered. “For the rest of y’all just donate your men to the cause of Village, Fish or Silenz as they are doing the most important things right now.”
Memes, Shadow, and Punisher nodded.
“Well I would like to hear y’alls ideas by Noon for the specific issues you guys have volunteered to try and solve. I need to go get some rest as it''s probably nearing 9:30 PM now, so y’all get some sleep and we’ll start working tomorrow.” I said, everybody nodded and left the office.
I slumped back into my chair and looked at my uniform. I was covered in Goblin blood and I didn’t look too good. Plus I needed to find a replacement for my uniform and trench coat, along with some armor. I won’t have access to my healing spell all the time.
But the good news is that there''s a lot of bodies to loot so someone should have my size and or a lot of clothes assuming they all weren’t torn up for fuel. But I also had some role playing clothes in a box beneath my cot. I got up and went to the sectioned off room and went under the cot where the box was still there.
I opened it and was met with an extra Vost Dor, Noxu, Adushasha, Rostora, and Oskovian uniform with a trench coat. I grabbed the Vost Dor uniform and the Trench coat, I changed my uniform into the fresh uniform and then left for the river to clean myself. I made sure to grab the lantern before I headed out.
The entire walk was uneventful, I arrived at the river and simply rinsed off my face and hands with the cold water. Making me wish I was back in the bunker but the entire thing didn’t last long and I returned to the bunker wet but also cleaner.
I went to bed and immediately passed out.