AN: Well, it seems I already have a larger readership than I had expected for this story. Thank you all. Each and every one of your comments is appreciated.
Just a warning that the rating has been brought up because this chapter contains sexual references, bad language and violence. If you don't like it, then I suggest you don't read it.
It seems that some of you guys seem a little hesitant about the idea of Wedge and Biggs as a couple. See how you go with the more three dimensional versions of them, and if the idea still squicks you then the yaoi can be cut out. It won't make that much of a difference.
Just one last thing. I know you're all waiting for the beginning of the story, but this must be said. I'm well aware that Biggs might seem totally OC in this chapter, but there is still a lot of development planed for his character before he is the Biggs we all know and love from the game. Give him time.
And finally, with no further blabbing, here is the first true chapter of Yes Sir.
-(-0-)-
"Every exit is an entry somewhere else."
Tom Stoppard
Wedge shifted nervously from one foot to the other, occasionally glancing over at the other new recruits. To the right of him stood a short, scrawny man that hadn't given the rest of the group any name but "Rat". Right now Rat was fiddling nervously beneath his uniform; attempting to look as though he was standing at attention, and to some extent succeeding. Rat had already earned Wedge's partial respect through an ability to pack more curses into a single sentence than Wedge would have thought possible.
Beside Rat stood the new recruit the others had come to know as Crane. Crane's real name was Haphthetsuzuk. Wedge thought he'd stick to Crane, and not only to avoid the damage he would do to his mouth and vocal chords if he attempted pronouncing the man's real name. The truth of the matter was that Crane suited him more than his real name did, if you took Crane to mean the machine and not the bird. Unless you imagined the rest of the new recruits were another sort of bird like say, a sparrow. The man stood at least a foot higher than the rest of them, and probably quite a few inches wider in the shoulders as well. When he stood in the man's shadow Wedge felt something he had never felt before. He felt short.
To the left of Wedge were to his surprise, two new recruits that were younger than him. As far as Wedge could tell from the hushed late night conversation the new recruits had engaged in their cabin the night before, these two men were completely normal. Both Knick and Knack, as Rat had taken to calling them before Wedge had a chance to join the conversation, had light brown hair and blue eyes, stood at around five foot eight, and apart from their refusal to leave each other's side for even a moment, seemed so average that it was almost scary. Neither of them had ever done anything at all remarkable. The both of them were nice without being likeable, with a little bit of work Wedge had established that even their real names; Nicholas and Nathan; were unremarkable. The only thing about Knick and Knack that truly surprised Wedge was the discovery that, despite how much they looked like each other, Knick and Knack were not related in any way apart from the strong bond of friendship that neither of them would explain.
Wedge had stayed mostly silent while the other four recruits had chatted in their small barracks the night before. There didn't seem to be much he could contribute. He couldn't say that he particularly liked any of the other new recruits, and he certainly didn't find any shared experiences or kindred spirits amongst them. He couldn't talk about his family, and the only name he could give them was Wedge. There were a couple of raised eyebrows at the lack of a last name, but no-one said anything. He would remain just plain Wedge.
Together the five new recruits were scheduled to endure the most rigorous training the Galbadian military could dish out. In two months the five of them were to be members of the Galbadian army, fighting out in the field from the minute they graduated.
And they were to be taught by a senior officer with years experience in the field; a senior officer who was to teach them how to be the best soldiers they could possibly be; a senior officer who was now over half an hour late.
Wedge glanced to his right again and caught Crane's eye. The visors on the Galbadian soldiers' uniforms were so dark that the only part of a soldier's face that could be seen from more than a foot away was his mouth, but the devilish grin Crane gave Wedge was enough for Wedge to realise that the tall man was thinking along the same line as he was.
"Where the fuck is this guy?" Rat voiced opinion of the entire squadron. It shouldn't have been funny. It really shouldn't have, but Rat's voice dripped with the twangy accent of the inhabitants of the Galbadian plains, and when you are at your very lowest, sometimes even the smallest thing, like an expletive spoken by a man with an accent two sizes too big for him, can bring some much needed laughter to an otherwise melancholy heart.
Wedge found that the corners of his mouth wanted to curve upwards. His voice box wanted to laugh, even though that there wasn't really anything that he should have found funny about the situation. His mouth was determined though, and soon he was clutching his sides in an attempt to stop the laughter that was pouring out of his mouth.
It made no sense to be laughing, Wedge told himself. There was absolutely nothing funny about the fact that he was standing in a training centre in the middle of the Galbadian Plains, about to train so he could be part of a military organisation that was turning out to be nothing like he expected, with a group of people who were, now that his family had disowned him and he had left his friends at Garden behind, the closest thing he had to family or friends, waiting for a senior officer that was supposed to be setting them a good example. Nothing funny at all about the situation.
Great, Wedge thought as tears began to run down either side of his face. My first day has barely started and I'm already in hysterics.
He risked glancing up at the other new recruits, painfully aware that they were all staring at him. Rat looked away hurriedly, fiddling with his gloves as though he was wrestling with some sort of inner problem.
Maybe there was some part of Rat that would have extended his hand to Wedge, some part of him that would have asked Wedge whether he was feeling all right, but it seemed as though it had been buried beneath too many years of hardship to emerge right at that instant. Maybe if there had been a millisecond more of silence, Knick and Knack would have helped him up, but Wedge would never know, for right at that instant, the officer they had been waiting for emerged from behind one of the nearby buildings, and Wedge quickly picked himself off the ground.
The man wore the full red uniform that the Galbadian army gave to some of its senior officers. This uniform was much bulkier than the simple blue outfits that the new recruits wore and it bore several weapons that put the new recruits' swords to shame, including an attachment that turned the officer's left arm into an enormous machine gun.
"Don't tell me this is him," either Knick or Knack whispered, as the new recruits watched the officer attempt to pull on one of his boots and run towards them at the same time.
"Damn!" the officer cursed as his best efforts merely resulted in a close encounter with the floor.
"Err… hello there!" the officer greeted the new recruits as he proceeded to strap his boot on to the rest of his uniform. He picked himself off the ground, the heavy armour he was wearing necessitating that this be a slow and careful process.
"Sorry I'm late," the newcomer said with more energy than Wedge would have expected. "There was an urgent need for my talents at the front."
Talents, Wedge wondered. Right.
The new recruits looked uneasily at one another, none of them willing to say anything. There was nothing that could be said in a situation like this, and nothing to do except smile and nod, which all five of the new recruits chose as the correct action simultaneously.
"You are the new recruits, aren't you?" the officer asked as he brushed himself off, attempting to look dignified despite the accident all the new recruits had obviously seen.
"Yes sir," Wedge said, just a little hesitantly, throwing in a salute at the end because his SeeD training told him that he should. Just because their commanding officer had given a bad first impression there was no reason for him to return the favour.
"At ease soldier," the officer said, chuckling softly. "You'll have plenty of time for that later. For now just your names will do. You soldier; what's your name?"
Through some sort of unlikely and highly comedic chance, the officer looked straight at Crane.
"Haphthetsuzuk Shimatara, sir!" Crane snapped a salute.
"Uh…" the officer looked as confronted by the new recruit's lengthy name as Wedge had felt. "You got a nickname?" the officer asked.
"Well, the other boys have been calling me Crane, sir!"
"Welcome to the Galbadian Military Private Crane. Now, what crazy deluded notion made you want to join up?"
Crane seemed as taken aback by the officer's question as the officer had been by Crane's full name.
"I mean it!" the officer ranted. "You're all crazy joining up for this! Now, I've never taught a group of new recruits before, but I can definitely tell you this much from personal experience. If you want to get out then now is the time to do it. It isn't as pretty as the posters would have you believe."
"You!" the officer said, suddenly pointing at Rat. "I bet you joined up because you wanted to 'do your bit' to protect Galbadia, right? You thought you could get out there on the battlefield and 'make a difference' didn't you?"
"Actually," Rat replied without skipping a beat. "I'm in it for the money." Rat added a hearty "SIR!" on the end of his answer when it became apparent that the officer was too surprised by the Private Rat's answer to say anything. Wedge was just surprised that the new recruit had managed to get through an entire sentence without cursing.
"Well, err… That didn't go exactly as I thought it would," the officer scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "but I can tell you right now that there isn't much money to be had either, unless you find yourself in President Deling's private guard. Sure, the figures on most of the paycheques look all right, but actually finding yourself in possession of one of those paycheques is a rare occurrence, and one that you'll have to work extremely hard for."
Wedge felt his confidence in the Galbadian military slipping away at an incredibly fast speed.
"Okay," the officer moved on before Rat could come up with a suitable retort. "You," he said, pointing to one of the Knick Knack duo. "What's your name? And I don't mean Haphtezuthingymebob like the other guy. Just give me something short enough for the rest of us to remember."
"I'm Knick," Nicholas answered. "And this is Knack."
The officer froze as he took in the similarity between the two of them.
"And my name's Rat!" Rat interrupted, apparently put out that the officer hadn't yet asked for his name.
"What should we call you, sir?" Wedge asked when he sensed that the conversation had come to a complete halt and wasn't going to move anywhere without further prompting.
"You should call me Major Biggs. It's no good asking for another name, because there isn't one. Biggs is my first name and the only one I have. Although I'm quite happy conversing with you lot on a first name basis, the rest of the army won't be. When you address any other superior officer I will expect a sir, is that understood?"
"Yes sir," the new recruits answered, all of them squirming nervously under Major Biggs' gaze. It seemed that the Major wasn't a complete joke after all.
"You," Biggs said, staring straight at Wedge. "I don't have your name yet."
"Its Wedge sir," Wedge answered, feeling odd by leaving Lomani off the end. "Just Wedge."
There was a moment of silence, in which two pairs of eyes seemed to connect, despite the dark layers of tinted and reinforced glass between them. Time stands still for a moment, as the two of them recognise something in the other; some sort of similarity that is more than just mere circumstance. For a moment there is a realisation that the person standing in front of them, despite all appearances, feels like a kindred spirit, or perhaps something more, and then the moment finishes, leaving the two of them standing back in the middle of the training centre. The air itself seems to sigh, and the feeling never existed.
"Well, Just Wedge," Major Biggs continued, twitching slightly as though to shake off a passing feeling. "You, along with the other four of you, are mine for the next two months. As you can guess, I've been given you to train."
Major Biggs began to stalk up and down the line of new recruits, looking at each one of them in turn. Wedge couldn't help but notice that a smile began to twitch at the sides of Biggs mouth when the Major passed him. He had a feeling a smile was trying to break out on his face as well.
"Now, nothing I can do will really prepare you for your first taste of battle," Biggs continued as he stalked, "or the realisation that you've signed up to the most horrible military organisation on the planet, so all I can do is try my hardest to turn you into the sort of soldiers that will survive for as long as possible. While I'm at it, I suppose I should welcome you to the Galbadian military. I should welcome you to hell."
-(-0-)-
Sunset found Wedge leaning against one of the wooden barracks building, a small trickle of sweat making its way down his forehead. His lungs moved in and out in a pace that made Wedge feel more wonderful than drinking or having fun never could. He felt alive.
The other recruits trudged back to camp a few minutes behind Wedge to find the ex-SeeD in the process of a few cool-down stretches. Biggs's workout had more than made up for the missed half-hour in Wedge's opinion, but it seemed that his comrades didn't share Wedge's love of the obstacle course they had just run. It had indeed been a tough workout, but which Wedge was infinitely grateful for.
The other new recruits collapsed around Wedge; Knick and Knack beside each other on the floor; Crane somehow managing to do some sort of collapse while still standing. The tall man's shoulders hunched considerably, his head fell forwards and for a moment he seemed to be not so much taller than the rest of them. Rat leaned against the wall just beside Wedge, and turned to give Wedge a look that said that Rat was rather astounded.
"Damn it man. Aren't you completely fucked like the rest of us?" Rat panted.
"Not really," Wedge admitted. It seemed that his SeeD training had done him more good than he had given it credit for.
"Come on soldiers!" a merry and not at all exhausted voice soon joined them.
"Fuck no," Rat moaned besides Wedge. "As if having to put up with that dip-shit while we were training wasn't enough, it looks like we're going to have to fucking well put up with him afterwards as well."
"You're not all tired after today, are you?" Biggs asked them, the grin on his face growing as the Major allowed his more sadistic tendencies to shine through. "Because the day I've got planned for you tomorrow is going to be a lot tougher than today was. Private Wedge! Why are you grinning like that? Haven't had enough of running the obstacle course, huh?"
"No sir!" Wedge said, unable to stop the smile that began to form on his own face.
"Not tired at all are you?" Biggs pressed.
"Not really sir!"
"Oh," Biggs faltered a little. Wedge supposed that the whole situation would have been even funnier if Biggs himself hadn't been running the obstacle course as well, but he had, staying just one step ahead of Wedge the whole way.
"Well," Biggs rubbed the back of his neck, a sign Wedge had already picked up as a sign that the Major was slightly embarrassed. "Good work Private Wedge!" Biggs turned to face the more exhausted new recruits. "Well, dinner is in the mess hall at seven. Breakfast is at seven in the morning. I'll see the lot of you back here at eight, ready for another day of training."
Wedge turned to leave, but found he was quickly stopped by a hand pulling at the back of his uniform. He turned around to find that he was standing face to face with Major Biggs.
"What the hell was that?" Biggs hissed at him. "Were you really unfazed by all that training?"
"Um… yes?" Wedge hazarded. Whatever happened next, Wedge had the feeling that it was going to be extremely awkward for the both of them.
"Then what the hell are you doing here!" Biggs attempted to sound angry but keep his voice down so that the other new recruits wouldn't hear him. The result was a sort of raspy hissing noise that made the Major sound as though he had a sore throat. "You should be training to be a SeeD or something, not joining the Galbadian army!"
"Actually, um, sir," Wedge quaked. "I've already trained to be a SeeD, but I wanted to join the army, because, you know, SeeDs are just mercenaries, fighting for whoever pays them, and Galbadians are…"
"Let me guess," Biggs interrupted him, "a group of wonderful and brave men who fight for the peace of Galbadia and her sister countries and protect all the women and children at home?"
"Um, something like that, although I think I might have put it a little more poetically."
"Wedge my boy; you are a victim of propaganda. The truth is the Galbadian military are a group of fat officers sitting around on their arses in their nice cosy warm office taking advantage of the stupidity of a lot of basically all right young men like you and me. It's interesting to know that you went to Garden though. Which one was it? Galbadia?"
"Yes sir," Wedge answered.
"Galbadia Garden; damn I've missed that big hunk of concrete."
"You went to Galbadia Garden too sir!?"
"That I did, Private Wedge. Looks like the two of us have got a bit more in common than either of us would have guessed."
There was that silence again; that strange feeling that made Wedge feel both lost and perfectly at home at the same time. For a moment Wedge felt that he liked Major Biggs, and it wasn't a feeling he was perfectly comfortable with at the moment.
"Then," Wedge broke the silence, despite his instincts insistence that saying what he was about to say could get him into trouble, "why did you join up for the Galbadian army?" If there was one thing Galbadia Garden had taught him, it was that, most of the time, figures of authority didn't like to be shown up by those that they were supposedly superior to.
"Ahaha…" Biggs looked incredibly sheepish for a while. "Actually… Wedge, stop looking at me like that. I know what you're thinking and no, I wasn't stupid enough to fall for the propaganda, unlike some people. I actually have a completely valid reason."
Wedge didn't need to say anything to communicate his doubt to his commanding officer. It seemed that despite the tinted glass covering most of his face, the smile on his face said it all.
"Ijoinedupbecausemyfatherdidn'twantmeto."
Wedge was suddenly amazed at Major Biggs's apparent ability to speak without having to pause in between words.
"What was that sir?" Wedge grinned.
"You understood what I said," Biggs growled, whacking Wedge on the back of the head. "And if you didn't also go to Galbadia Garden then I would have severely reprimanded you for that."
Biggs continued explaining despite the fact that Wedge hadn't asked him to.
"My father and I never got along very well. He really, really wanted me to become a SeeD; said he would have become a SeeD if he had been young enough when Garden was founded. He sent me to Garden to learn all I could when I was only twelve. I suppose I could have been an excellent student if I had wanted to, but there was too much fun to be had for that, you know? When it came time to graduate, I just thought of what my father would have wanted me not to do, and then did it; teenage rebellion and all that. I joined the Galbadian army because I knew my father hated it. That's also the reason why Biggs is the only name I have any more."
"You were disowned?" Wedge asked sympathetically, his own throat tightening at the thought.
"No actually," Biggs grinned. "I didn't want to have my father's name attached to me for the rest of my life."
"Oh," Wedge deflated visibly at the news.
"Oh dear," Biggs said as he noticed Wedge's suddenly downcast mood. "You weren't disowned yourself were you?"
Wedge attempted to grin. "Ah, you'll notice that there's no last name on my details form."
"Don't worry about it!" Biggs laughed, throwing an arm around Wedge's shoulders, "We'll be Wedge and Biggs, the nameless duo from Galbadia!"
"Actually, I'm from Dollet."
"You're from Dollet and you joined the Galbadian army? No wonder your parents disowned you."
"Hey!"
-(-0-)-
Wedge couldn't help but grin eagerly when he jumped out of bed each morning and saw the other new recruits groan at the prospect of spending another day training with Major Biggs. The training sessions were no picnic, admittedly, and Wedge found himself dreading the day when their training finished and they became part of the proper military; Biggs's horror stories were enough to make even the staunchest Galbadia supporter quake in their boots; but for now Wedge would enjoy himself as much as was possible.
Before long Biggs was teaching them all how to use their weapons, and while the Major's swordplay techniques and instructions were nothing at all like the ones Wedge had learned at Galbadia Garden, he picked them up quickly enough, unlike some of the other new recruits. Knick and Knack did all right, and maybe Rat would prove to be talented enough if he found it in himself to stop whining and cursing and actually apply himself. Crane however, was hopeless, but Biggs and the other recruits just encouraged him, telling him that he'd probably end up with an officer's weapon suit like Major Biggs's. Either that or the military could just equip him with a club. Wedge knew he'd certainly run away if he saw Crane approaching with a club in hand.
As for the rest of the training…
Wedge was obviously the leader when it came to obstacles and speed. He and Biggs would remain ahead of the other new recruits in the courses, racing each other to see who would reach the end first. All of the new recruits were better at martial arts and hand to hand combat than their instructor, although this wasn't saying much. Major Biggs admitted to them that hand to hand wasn't his forte, and after the first flop of a lesson, Biggs handed them over to another instructor for training in this area. The group seemed to all excel when using magic, although Wedge found this to be the one area in which he fell behind. Galbadia Garden hadn't taught the students much in this field, but Biggs was patient with him, telling him that as long as he kept up his strengths in the other areas that he would have no problems in the field.
Days passed quicker than Wedge would have thought, and before long the five of them had been in training for a month. It was then that Biggs received a summons. It seemed that whatever his so-called talents were, they were needed.
-(-0-)-
The five new recruits trudged along behind Biggs underneath the scorching hot Galbadian desert sun.
"This is shit," Rat cursed.
"What did I tell you about that language soldier?" Biggs's voice came from the front of the line.
"This is shit, sir!" Rat responded, earning a grin from the rest of the soldiers.
"That's right soldier!" Biggs laughed. "It is."
"Sir," Knack asked timidly. It had taken time, but Wedge was beginning to be able to tell the two of them apart even when in uniform. "I know they need your help, but why are we coming along?"
"It will give you some good experience in the field," Biggs replied. "You can cover me while I do my work. Don't worry; it will be the easiest mission you'll ever be a part of. The worst you'll probably have to do is shoot a couple of rogue monsters."
"Sir," Wedge joined the conversation. "When we first joined you said that you were late because they needed your services at the front. What exactly is it that you do? If you don't mind me asking; that is."
If Wedge had turned around at that moment he would have seen Rat mouthing 'kiss-arse' to Crane.
"I am the only member of the In-Combat Mechanics Crew!" Biggs answered, his voice making him sound a lot more excited about the position than his body language would have had the new recruits believe.
Both Crane and Rat snorted.
"Well, it's not exactly General Barron's Elite Squadron," Biggs admitted. "But it's an important role, and it pays a lot better than many other positions."
"Oh, come on!" Biggs protested as Rat began to laugh. "It's a damn sight further than you lot will probably get. Stop that laughter right now Private or you'll loose your rations for the next week."
Rat's sniggering immediately stopped.
"So," Wedge began to talk to Major Biggs once the laughter had died down. "What's the mission?"
"The research and development team have been working on a new machine that is supposed to be more powerful than ten men during combat," Biggs answered, "and it only takes two people to control it. Apparently they've taken it on a test run and it's shorted out right in the middle of the desert. Of course, the boffins back in research can't step outside the lab and get dirty. They might break a nail. No, it's up to bloody In-Combat Mechanics, of which I happen to be the only member, to stomp out here and fix the blasted thing."
Wedge jogged a little and caught up with their commanding officer.
"To be honest Wedge," Biggs whispered conspiratorially to the new recruit, "I mainly brought the lot of you out here for company. It's been a long walk and I would have gone mad without someone to talk to."
"Don't worry," Wedge laughed. "I'm sure they'll all think its good experience." From the melancholic silence that came from the other members of the squadron, it seemed that Wedge might have been a little far from the truth. Wedge quickly decided that saying anything; anything at all, would have been better than that silence. "It must get lonely being the only member of the squadron."
"Yeah," Biggs admitted; a strange half-smile forming on his face. "But I can see why no-one else wants to join. Most of the time there's nothing to do and I just end up helping out with all of the odd jobs, and when there is work, it's as shitty as this is. It's a pretty boring job really."
Eventually, they reached a small pass in the rocky cliffs, where a couple of soldiers were waiting, one of them wearing one of the blue uniforms, the other the red.
"Okay soldiers," Biggs said, suddenly straightening his posture. "We need to go into formal mode now. If the others see how slack I'm letting you be, they'll have my hide. Wedge, drop back with the others."
"Yes Sir," Wedge said, slipping back to walk beside Rat.
They approached the other two soldiers silently, and when they reached them, the five new recruits and the Major snapped a perfectly synchronised salute. The group had perfected what Biggs had dubbed 'formal mode' fairly quickly, despite the fact that they never used it while in camp. Anyone that saw them now would assume that they were training under the strictest and most serious officer in the military. Anyone would be wrong.
"Reporting for the repair job as was requested, sir!" Major Biggs barked.
"Major Biggs?" the officer in the red uniform said, looking up from the clipboard he was inspecting as though he had just realised the group were there. Wedge doubted this was the case. The desert was so empty that you could see anything coming from a mile away.
"It's so good to see, you Major Biggs, as it always is." There was something about the officer's grin that made Wedge think that the facial gesture was just as poisonous and false as Wedge suspected the man's words were.
"No, no, no," Biggs said, gritting his teeth. "The pleasure is always mine, Colonel Everett."
There was something between these two. Wedge could tell. Behind the niceties and titles these two officers hated each other. The question was; why?
-(-0-)-
Biggs kept the smile on his face. Inside, he was writhing.
Of course it had to be him. He's the only pompous windbag in Research conceited enough to take an unfinished model this far out on an experimental run. This mission will be such a pain in the arse if he's going to look over my shoulder the whole time, and knowing Colonel Everett, the bastard will.
"As you know," Colonel Everett continued, keeping the fake smile on his face. "We've been testing the latest model of the BGH and one of the generators seems to have blown. I would have fixed it myself, but I was sure you would be itching to get back out in the field and away from the new recruits. It appears I was wrong."
"I thought the field experience would be good for them, sir!" Biggs answered.
"No doubt you did," Everett said, the smile slipping from his face. "I'm sure they'll learn a lot with your valuable expertise as guidance."
Smug sarcastic bastard, Biggs cursed inside. Outside however, he forced himself to let out a fake laugh. I am going to kill you one day. Just wait, one of these days we'll be left alone together and then… bang! No more mister smart arse!
"I'm sure you'll want to look over all of the specifics, Major Biggs," Everett handed Biggs the clipboard he was holding.
What is it that you have against me? Does your wife scream my name when you fuck or something?
Biggs smiled and nodded, trying not to think about how big this job was beginning to look.
"I've taken the liberty of getting out some of the tools I thought you would like to use," Everett said, the fake smile finding its way back onto his face.
"Thankyou sir," Biggs answered, snapping another salute.
I hate you.
-(-0-)-
Meanwhile, Wedge was dealing with his own problems. The new recruits had decided that since the Major and Colonel were so busy with their own verbal war, now would be a perfect time for them to start their own conversation. Knick and Knack had already been whispering for a while when Rat sidled up to Wedge and attempted to start a conversation.
"So Wedge," he said, leaning over to the other man, "you and Major Biggs seem to be getting pretty cosy, hey." One thing Wedge had to admit; training under Major Biggs had certainly taken the edge off Rat's cursing.
"Huh?" Wedge knew his answer wasn't really conclusive of anything, and he liked it that way. He wasn't too interested in talking with Rat right now, or for that matter, ever. Their minds never seemed to work on the same level, and it seemed that no matter what Wedge said, Rat had to take the opposing viewpoint. Wedge ignored the other new recruit and strained his neck, trying to get a better look at the conversation between Biggs and Everett.
"So, what did you bribe him with, money or sex?"
"What?!" This time Rat got Wedge's attention. "What on earth are you talking about?"
"Come on; stop shitting with me man. The Major gives you twice as much attention as the rest of us. You plannin' on leaving us all behind and fucking your way to the top?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, and neither, I think, do you."
"Come on then, what the fuck have you been whispering to him about?" Rat hissed, lapsing into his old habit of adding an expletive or two to every sentence. "You're always getting congratulations from him like you're the fucking teacher's pet. Don't tell me it's just because you're trying your hardest or some shit like that. What secret are you keeping from us man?"
"There is no secret!" Wedge hissed back as quietly as possible, trying not to draw the officers' attention towards them.
"Then why the fuck have you two been getting so friendly?!" Rat said, just a little too loudly.
Biggs spun around. "Quiet in the ranks!" he chastised them. "One more word and I'll have next month's paycheque taken away from whoever is involved."
Wedge knew that it was an empty threat, but still stayed silent.
"I suppose you would all like to see the job now?" Everett asked, including the new recruits in the conversation.
"Yes sir!" Crane answered for the five of them.
Everett gave the soldier in blue a command that none of them could catch, before turning back to the five of them.
"Follow me!" Everett told them.
-(-0-)-
When the five of them saw the latest model of the BGH, their eyes widened and their mouths dropped open. So far, the only machines the Galbadian army had invented for combat were the height of a tall soldier at maximum, and usually retained a basically humanoid structure to them. This however, was unlike anything any of them, including Biggs, had ever seen before.
The BGH lay close beside the cliff face, leaning slightly to one side because of the broken generator. The machine seemed to have six generators in all, which branched out from its body like six large spider-like legs. The generators also seemed to double as weapons, and included massive cannons, electrical devices and machine guns. It wasn't this that made the hunk of metal impressive though. It was the machine's size. It stood almost twice as high as any of them including Crane, completely dwarfed Rat, and looked to be over ten metres long.
"Look at the size of that thing!" Wedge gasped, gazing in awe at the powerful machine.
Everett stood with his arms folded, looking awfully proud at the fact that his invention could inspire so much bewilderment.
"We're also testing another model," he told them. "One that looks more like a crab. They work in basically the same way, but they do have their individual strengths and weaknesses. The crab is a fair bit smaller, far more agile and more beautiful in my opinion, but it doesn't have the fire power or strength that this one does. The only real problem with this machine is that we can't get the generators to work properly. At the slightest amount of resistant force the damn things overheat or break."
If you haven't got it working properly yet then why are you testing it? Biggs and Wedge happened to think at the same time.
Biggs approached the machine, under the close scrutiny of Colonel Everett.
"Recruits!" Biggs barked, making the five of them jump. "The five of you are to stand guard while I am working and protect both me and the machine if any monsters attack."
"Yes sir!" the five of them answered smartly.
Biggs shuffled closer to the machine, hauling the tools Everett had given him. Biggs had to restrain himself from snapping at Everett. The man's stare was completely unnerving at times like this. It was hard to trace the exact moment Biggs and Everett had begun to dislike one another; probably it was a couple of minutes after they had met one another, and Biggs doubted there would ever be a time in which they put their many differences and disagreements aside and began to treat each other like human beings.
Colonel Everett was more like a viper than a human anyway, Biggs reflected. Or possibly an eagle because of the way he was staring; no, that was being too kind; a vulture.
Biggs's set to work, trying to ignore the unnerving feeling of Colonel Everett's eyes burning into his back. The Major was soon ready to scream as he realised that Colonel Everett had every intention of looking over his shoulder as he worked and chastising every tiny mistake that he made until Biggs had either snapped or completed the mission.
"Are you sure that those wires shouldn't cross the other way?" the Colonel pointed out, for what seemed to be the hundredth time in under an hour. "That seems awfully dangerous to me Major."
"If you know everything then why I am the one on my knees fixing this thing instead of you?" Biggs said under his breath, so that the Colonel didn't hear him.
Eventually Everett seemed to tire of annoying Biggs and wandered off to boss around his own men. Biggs visibly relaxed as the Colonel wandered off.
"Good. Now I can finally work in peace," Biggs muttered to himself. "Wedge, can you come over here and assist me with this. I might need a spare pair of hands."
Wedge gladly joined his commanding officer. Rat had been giving him strange looks ever since they had arrived at the site, and Wedge could sense that the man wanted to continue their earlier conversation.
Soon a peaceful working order was established. Wedge would pass Biggs the tools he requested, occasionally glancing at Biggs's work to see what the Major was doing, while the other new recruits stood on guard. A couple of times Colonel Everett returned to check on their progress, and Wedge would, as swiftly as possible, move from leaning on the side of the machine, to standing to attention. Wedge didn't really understand much of what Biggs' was doing, but occasionally he suggested solutions when the Major seemed frustrated by a problem, and while it barely helped the progress of the repairs, it at least earned him a grateful smile from Major Biggs.
Everything was mostly good in the world.
That was, until the peace was shattered when a bullet suddenly pierced Crane's stomach. The tall man fell to the ground, blood oozing from a fresh wound in his mid-section.
"Crane!" Rat shouted, moving to the other new recruit's side. He moved to cast a healing spell on his friend, but was quickly taken out by another bullet.
"What the hell!?" Biggs cursed when he heard the sound of gunfire. He took a quick look around the side of the BGH to see a group of eight men approaching the work site, one of them pointing a gun at where Rat and Crane had been standing only moments before.
"What's happening sir?" Wedge asked, peeking around.
"Get back dammit!" Biggs cursed, moving back around to hide behind the BGH again, and dragging Wedge with him.
There was another shot, and a small whimper came from one of the Knick Knack duo. A couple of seconds later Knack joined them around the other side of the BGH, carrying his comrade over his shoulder. Knick was now bleeding profusely from a bullet wound in the shoulder.
"Sir…" Wedge pleaded, "Sir, what's going o.."
The last part of Wedge's question was drowned out as an explosion rocked the BGH. Wedge watched in stunned horror as Biggs pulled a grenade from the tool belt on his waist and threw it over the top of the BGH. A satisfying explosion followed a couple of seconds later. For a moment silence reigned in the battlefield around the BGH, before Knick let out a strangled cry.
"Don't worry," Knack whispered as he applied a potion to the wound, even though his face and the tone of his voice revealed that he was probably more worried at that moment than his friend was.
Major Biggs poked his head around the corner to check how much damage his grenade had done. Only three of the enemy had fallen to the ground. Even worse, one of the survivors was now pointing something that looked suspiciously like a rocket launcher straight at the BGH.
"Oh shit," Biggs cursed as he ran back to the new recruits. "Everybody get do…" The sound of the following explosion interrupted Biggs's last word.
There was another one of those moments that seemed to drag out for far longer than was possible. Wedge and Biggs's eyes met in the chaos, and before Biggs could even think about what he was doing, he had grabbed Wedge and pulled the new recruit down to the ground, half shielding him so that his heavier armour would take the force of the explosion.
Biggs opened his eyes to find that the BGH repair site had turned into the sort of battlefield he had experienced far too many times, and had no desire to see again. It was the sort of battlefield that looked to him like hell. Wedge slowly opened his eyes and shut them as soon as he could see the little that was now left of their allies.
Biggs knew that Wedge would naturally freeze; shock and despair quickly taking hold of his muscles, but to stay in one place on a battlefield such as this would be suicide. He grabbed one of the new recruit's arms and dragged him behind the wreckage of the BGH. There was nothing left of the great machine the metal had once been, but there was still just enough to serve as a shield to protect the two of them.
"Wedge," Biggs said firmly, making sure to look the new recruit in the eyes. "Wedge, I know that you're in a bit of shock right now, but it's not over yet. We still have to get out of this alive, all right?" Biggs grabbed him by the shoulders and attempted to shake some sense into the new recruit. "All right?" he repeated.
Wedge nodded dumbly and pulled his sword from his belt.
"Okay," Biggs said, turning back to the approaching force. "Now, they'll think that we were all destroyed in that explosion, so we're going to use surprise. On the count of three we'll charge towards them and take them out. I'll let a volley of gunfire loose on them first, so don't stand in front of me, all right?"
"Yes sir," Wedge answered, his voice sounding a lot braver than Biggs thought he looked, or truly felt.
"One…" Wedge gripped onto his sword as though the weapon was now his only lifeline, making sure that he held any tears for his fallen comrades back for a safer time. "Two…" It was easy really. All he had to do was concentrate on Biggs's voice and channelling the shock he felt into anger became easy. "Three!"
The two of them charged, Wedge just a short way behind the Major. Biggs let out the promised round of gunfire, taking one of the men down. It would have also killed another if his comrade hadn't blocked the bullets with a sweep of his blade.
Biggs knew that it took an incredible amount of skill to pull a manoeuvre like that. Whoever these people were, Wedge and Biggs were going to have a tough time bringing them down.
Biggs brought his own blade out from its scabbard the instant before the two teams clashed, and moved it up just in time to deflect a cut that would have torn Wedge's head from his shoulders. Wedge and Biggs moved to stand back to back as the three attackers moved in on them.
Wedge managed a lucky slash at one of the attackers' leg, bringing him down in time for Biggs to stab him in the chest. The man fell to the ground, dead almost instantly. This only seemed to anger the remaining three, and Wedge and Biggs soon found that they were fighting just to defend themselves. It was almost impossible to get an attack in.
Wedge cried out as one of the attackers' blades made contact with his side, ripping open his armour and the skin underneath. He was momentarily stunned, and the attacker would have killed him with his next move if it wasn't for Biggs blocking just in time.
The clang of metal on metal seemed to snap Wedge out of his reverie. Just a split second after Biggs blocked, he brought his own blade up to thrust at the man who had attacked him. Wedge's opponent partially deflected the blade, but it still connected with the man's leg, bringing him down in time for Biggs to score a killing blow.
Now that they were two on two, the rest was easy. Both sides had talent, but Wedge and Biggs worked better to defend and attack together. Wedge had just scored a crippling blow when seemingly out of nowhere, a bullet connected with the man he was fighting. Soon another shot came and downed Biggs's opponent.
Looking up, Wedge and Biggs saw Colonel Everett and his second in command; the one in blue holding the gun that had fired the shots.
"Looks like I came just in time then, doesn't it?" Everett said, striking what he probably thought to be a heroic pose.
Biggs glanced at the wreckage of the BGH, then at the bodies that lay around them.
"Yes sir," he said, although Everett seemed to miss the sarcasm. "Just in time."
Just in time for him to score a couple of kills and play at being a hero.
Biggs grit his teeth and strolled over to the wreckage of the BGH to see if anything was even mildly salvageable.
"By Odin!" Everett commented. "I know we have another one back at home base, but still; it's a shame that we lost the tank."
"A shame that we lost the…" Biggs scoffed. "Colonel, I lost four out of five of the new recruits just now. Fuck the BGH! Those men lost their lives for nothing!"
"If I was you Major," Everett said; his voice and demeanour suddenly turning cold, "I would just be grateful that I survived the incident."
Sensing that the conversation was getting a little too tense, Wedge attempted to change the subject. Besides, he really didn't want to think about Rat, Crane, Knick and Knack any more than he suspected Biggs wanted to talk about them. It just hurt too much.
"Who were they?" Wedge asked.
"Private Donis?" Everett asked his second in command, who was now kneeling next to one of the attackers' bodies.
"Timber rebels, sir!" Donis answered smartly. Wedge walked over to the Private and bent down to look at the dead man.
"How can you tell?" he asked Donis.
"See here," Donis pointed to a small tattoo of a fox on the man's neck. "That's the symbol of the Forest Foxes, one of the most active and dangerous revolutionary groups in Timber. My guess is that they were out here training or planning an attack and came across us by chance. They could have easily hidden behind an outcrop of rock and waited for the right time to attack us."
"Well," Everett said, grinning down at one of the bodies. "My guess is that there's going to be one revolutionary group that's going to be a lot less active in the near future."
Wedge got to his feet again, finding the process suddenly very difficult. The world seemed to be spinning a lot faster than usual.
Biggs took one look at the new recruit and shook his head.
"Permission to return to camp, sir?" he asked Major Everett.
"Permission granted. Don't worry; I'll give your four boys a proper burial."
For a moment Biggs wondered how Everett was going to find enough of the new recruits to give a burial, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything so heartless in front of Wedge when the new recruit was so obviously in shock.
"Come on, Wedge," Biggs said, placing an arm around Wedge to steady him.
"Wait," Wedge said, turning back to General Everett momentarily. "Make sure that you put Knick and Knack side by side. They would have wanted it that way."
General Everett nodded, and turned to say something to Donis.
Wedge stayed silent for the entire walk home.
