Over the next two weeks, Piccolo spent as much time as he could learning from the members of his group. After all, he was eventually going to go on missions with them, and he didn't want to die. The others were all soldiers (Prakash and Lal had been soldiers in the Punjab Army, and Ram had been a mercenary) and already knew at least the basics of fighting. Piccolo had no knowledge, and had to learn. He wasn't even skilled enough to stand a chance against Lal, the least skilled member of the squadron. So, he trained. If he could have, he would have trained all the time. But Abu Bakr and Prakash (who turned out to be the most skilled martial artist in the squadron besides Abu Bakr) only spent a few hours each day giving combat training; most of the rest of the day was spent in relative idleness. There were camp duties here and there, but most of the fighters wiled away their time on gambling and sport. Piccolo instead spent his spare time conditioning his body. He spent hours on end hitting trees to strengthen his bones, and even more time exercising. Often the only time he spent actually talking to his squad mates was in the messes. Both Prakash and Lal were displeased with this arrangement, yet Abu Bakr did not do anything to change Piccolo's habits.

"He's trying too hard, Lal," Prakash said at one mess loudly enough that the whole squadron could hear it.

"Oh, just shut up about that, Prakash," Abu Bakr yelled from the other end of the low squadron campfire. "Piccolo's doing fine. He needs to get better, and unlike some, he wants to."

"I'm doing just fine, Abu! Both Piccolo and I are strong enough – stronger than you, actually – and I do extra exercise too," Lal interjected. "There's only so much time each of us can actually exercise and gain from it, and he is way past that line."

Ram added, "Last week he didn't show up for latrine duty. We already had enough cleaning to do without having to do his too."

"No one told me we were going to get started an hour before dinner!" Piccolo said.

Abu Bakr calmly said, "Don't get mad, that was Lal's fault. I asked him to get you." He glared at Lal. "And you missed half of the cleanup!"

Lal snorted. "I was doing what you said, but this…"

Prakash held up his hand and said, "What Lal said before. But there's also the factor of cohesion. We're going to be working together, and I'm concerned that he's going to sabotage the mission because he thinks he knows better than us. We all have to respect each other here."

Piccolo said, "Pshhh. Respect? A few seconds ago you were calling me a saboteur!"

"I didn't mean that in the traitor sense, I meant in the sense that…"

"We're going to be in dangerous missions, and I am not going to drag the team down!" Piccolo paused and took a breath. "It's just a little extra practice on the side," he added more composedly.

"Exactly," Abu Bakr said, "He needs to catch up."

"Except you, we're all new recruits. It's like you said yesterday, we aren't going to get hard missions for months," said Prakash. The conversation paused, and everyone dug back into their rice and pulses for a few moments.

Ram said, "I'd like to see him on the Kabbadi team. He has a good throw, and we haven't won a game in a while."

"It's just a game. It couldn't possibly be useful in a mission," Piccolo said.

"See, I'm going to have to disagree with that," Ram said. "In my experience, almost everything is useful to people in our field. Once, when I was serving with the… Mysore army, I was able to put down a rebellion by gambling. See, the fort was surrounded by rebels, and our commander called for a conditional surrender. The rebel army came into the fort, and their leadership delegated the negotiations to one of their members. I started a gambling table with the other rebel leaders, and eventually I had won more money than the entire yearly production of the district we were in. So I said, surrender and you don't owe me anything. And they did."

"Bullshit," Piccolo said.

"Yeah, that's kind of implausible," said Lal.

Prakash said, "Their rebel army didn't owe you anything. Why didn't they keep on fighting? They were about to win the battle, after all."

"Come on, stop lying," Abu Bakr said.

"Don't know what I can do to convince you guys. I'm telling the truth," said Ram. The campfire stayed silent for several minutes afterwards.

Mitesh sat down at the campfire. "You guys have a mission," he said. "I'll brief you in the morning, but basically you'll be accompanying a weapons shipment to Bihar. Meet me after assembly." He walked away, and the campfire stayed quiet until he was out of sight.

Piccolo broke the silence. "See? Mission. We go tomorrow. Prakash, didn't you say it would be 'months'?"

"I said it would be months until we got a hard one. This is a routine assignment."

"How would you know? You've never been on any missions either," Piccolo asked.

"I've been talking to Abu Bakr about this," Prakash said, "and he knows. Abu, can you back me up?"

"Yes, this shouldn't be a very hard assignment," Abu Bakr said. "Unless all of the sudden the Company starts seriously trying to stop us."

"They haven't been?" asked Piccolo.

"Really?" Lal added.

Abu Bakr, Prakash, and Ram burst into laughter. "No, they aren't," Abu Bakr said. "Haven't been for years!"

"I mean, of course they put in an effort and all, but they could put in a much larger effort. Most of the military police have been sent to the war," said Ram.

Prakash said, "With the Burmese war and all, the Company is too strapped for troops to send any against us. Most of the zamindars are loyal to the company, but they don't really help each other out, you know? Once we establish a solid presence in a district, we can entrench without much interference."

"How do you know all this shit? You haven't been here much longer than I have," Piccolo growled.

"I talk to people. You should try it."

"I'm talking right now!" Piccolo said.

Prakash shrugged. "Look, we'll find out more in the morning."

Lal stood up, shook out his legs, and announced, "Squadron D is going to have a game of man-hunt after dinner. I told them I'd be there, so they'll be waiting. Who wants to come?"

Ram and Abu Bakr stood up. "Come on, Prakash, Piccolo!" said Abu Bakr, "It's going to be fun!"

Prakash said, "Sorry. It's been a long day, and I was on watch last night. I need some sleep."

"Me too," Piccolo blurted out.

"You don't sleep," said Ram.

"Well, I…." Piccolo grit his teeth and joined Lal.

At the Squadron D campsite, all of Squadron D and most of C were divided into two teams. With nine people there, it was determined that the Squadron D leader, Prithviraj, would pick teammates first, but that Abu Bakr would get the one remaining after the first six people had been called. Prithviraj first picked Bhagwan, a deer-man with an odd gait. It's like he's limping… But no, he's not. Abu Bakr then picked Bhola, a man whom Piccolo recognized as one of the apparently more experienced soldiers in the camp. Prithviraj picked another man, Hira, from his own squadron, and Abu Bakr picked Ram after some heated pointing of fingers and discussion with Prakash. Prithviraj pointed at Piccolo and called his name, leading to some fluster from Abu Bakr. Ram calmed him down, and he swiftly apologized. As the last two players, Lal and the last D squadron man joined Abu Bakr's team. Ram moved to explain the rules of the game to Piccolo, and both captains agreed.

"One team will have a base," Prithviraj said. "The other team will have to try to get at least half of their members to that base, and the other team will be trying to stop them by tagging them."

"But, as we play it, 'tagging' is bringing someone's shoulders to the ground for three seconds. After that happens, they are out of the game and go back to here," Abu Bakr added.

Prithviraj chose a shelter in the back forest as the base. He and Abu Bakr then flipped a coin and determined that Prithviraj's team would be attacking. Subsequently, the defenders retreated to their base, with an agreement that they wouldn't start until sunset.

Once Abu Bakr's team was out of sight, Prithviraj made his team get in a huddle. "We have about half an hour until we attack. They think we're going to start here. So we won't. We'll go all the way around to the back ridge and attack from there. Got it?"

Someone commented, "That's a kilometer away!"

"Yes, so we're going now! Run!"

Ten minutes later, the attackers were all at the back ridge. In order to not set foot in the forests and possibly alert the defenders, they had to go by a longer and much rougher route which slowed them down. Nevertheless, they had twenty minutes left, and they were able to catch their breaths and formulate a plan. Piccolo didn't listen to the roles of the others on the team, but his part was simple and he was able to memorize it. He and Bhagwan would make a mad dash to the defender base through a predetermined path that took several minutes for the two to chart out between the trees. He would start a few seconds after Bhagwan, on the same path. If Bhagwan was waylaid en route, he would intervene, allow Bhagwan to escape, and try to put a good distance between him and the attacker before continuing on the path. After he had worked out his part of the plan, Piccolo spent the rest of the prep time stretching.

The moment the sun fell below the western ridge, Bhagwan dashed off on four legs. Piccolo followed seconds later. The path was almost completely straight, but it was filled with trees. In a stark contrast to Bhagwan's agile bounding through the woods, Piccolo tripped on a root twice and almost ran into a tree once. But each time, Piccolo got up quickly and stayed within visual range of Bhagwan. Soon they were facing the long side of the shelter. It was in one of the clearings, about 20 meters away from the tree line where they had stopped.

"So, if we both touch the walls, we win?" Piccolo said.

Bhagwan said, "Yes, so let's get to it. I was kind of expecting to run into someone on the way… Oh well, I guess it was a good plan."

As if on cue, a series of sounds erupted from the shelter. The banging noise of a large object hitting a wooden roof or floor repeated semi-rhythmically. Piccolo's heat sank as he saw Lal cresting the peaked roof of the shelter. When he got to the top, he yelled, "They're here!"

Piccolo remembered his role out loud, "I'll hold him off! You get to the base! I'll catch up later!"

I won't, but if he gets to base, then all it'll take is for someone else to get there and we win.

Bhagwan broke off into a sprint, but the rhinoceros-man took a short running hop from the roof right into the deer-man's path. Bhagwan dove past Lal's feet-first landing and did a front roll, then delivered a donkey kick to Lal's spine. Piccolo reacted a few seconds later and charged at Lal with his fist cocked. He tried to hit Lal in the shoulder, but Lal dodged and punched Piccolo in the face. Lal brought his elbow back sharply to hit Bhagwan, but he ducked under and and jabbed Lal in his armpit. Piccolo lashed out at Lal's shin with his foot, then let loose a flurry of punches. The first two were blocked, but the third landed squarely on his solar plexus, making him recoil and giving Bhagwan the opportunity to spin-kick Lal's thighs.

Maybe I can do this! But how do I get him out of my business for enough time to go clear?

As Piccolo went in for another foot jab, Lal kicked his shin aside and toppled him with an open-handed strike to his sternum. At that moment, Bhagwan broke off and ran for the wall. Piccolo log-rolled away from Lal and jumped up while Lal grabbed Bhagwan by the wrist and yanked him away from the wall. He then kneed Bhagwan in the gut and swept out his legs. Lal lifted the deer-man off the ground, only for Piccolo to hit him in the side with a flying knee. Lal rotated his stance slightly towards Piccolo and stepped back. Piccolo dropped into a lower stance and shot out at Lal's legs, but the rhinoceros-man sprawled as soon as Piccolo wrapped his arms around them, leaving him on top. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Bhagwan making a run for it.

I just have to hold him off for a time. Still doing my original plan. I can't win; he's too good. But I still succeeded, and that's just good enough.

Piccolo wriggled his torso and posted his left arm, sliding his right around Lal's ankle. He drove his body up with his legs, then circled around Lal until his right leg was hooked around Lal's left. Lal tried to resist, but Piccolo was able to force him down. Lal rolled onto his belly and managed to get to all fours before Piccolo got on top of him.

Crap, what do I do from here? Maybe a chop?

Piccolo chopped at one of Lal's arms and drove him forward. Lal's other arm buckled, then extended explosively, driving his shoulders into Piccolo's face. Piccolo's legs slackened for just enough time for Lal to bring his knee up. Lal came up to a crouch, but Piccolo jabbed Lal's calf with his foot, brought both of his hands to a monkey grip around Lal's stomach, and sprawled back to the ground, crashing Lal down to his butt. Piccolo extended his legs and started circling to Lal's side, but a boot impacted his side and sent him rolling away from Lal. The green man rolled onto his back to see Abu Bakr preparing another sharp kick to his rib cage.

Damnit! I was winning, too.

And just as sudden as the shock had begun, it disappeared as Prithviraj brought Abu Bakr down with a flying knee. Abu Bakr tucked into a front roll and sprung back up, but that was all Piccolo saw of the fight, as Lal took the opportunity to pounce on him. He held Piccolo's shoulders down, and struggle as he might, the rhinoceros held him in a position with no leverage whatsoever. Three seconds later, Piccolo was out of the game and could only wait in the shelter. Bhagwan was there; he had managed to touch the wall while Lal was fighting Piccolo. Eventually, Abu Bakr beat Prithviraj by knocking him over and pinning him to the ground. Lal had ranged off into the woods at that point, looking for Hira. Lal did find him, but he got past Lal and made it to the clearing. He took Abu Bakr by surprise, and was almost at the wall when he was blocked. Hira shook the block, however, and continued to reach the wall and win the game.

After cleaning all their wounds and gathering all of the members of Abu Bakr's team that were still in the woods, both squadrons gathered around the D campfire. They cooked some leftover nan and ate and talked with each other until Abu Bakr led his squadron back to the C campground.

"You're pretty good, you know," Lal said. "That was a good fight, could've gone either way."

Piccolo said, "Well, it went the way it did."

"You don't give yourself enough credit, Pik. If Abu Bakr didn't come in, who knows what might've happened?"

"Eh, I'm good," Piccolo said with a slight smile.


The next morning, at assembly, Mitesh did as promised and announced that they would be going on a mission, and that they should meet him in the cottage. Afterwards, C Squadron followed instructions and lined up in front of Mitesh's desk in his office.

"At ease," Mitesh said amusedly.

No one budged.

Mitesh took a deep breath and said, "Alright. First, I sense that many of you are nervous. If you ever feel that way, just remember this. Abu Bakr is one of my best soldiers. I, along with several well-regarded martial instructors, have made him one of the finest warriors in all of Akhand Bharat. You can count on his guidance throughout any mission, especially this one. Because I know most of you are not as skilled as him, I have given you an easy mission for your first one. He should have no trouble. Now, Abu Bakr. Your mission is to get the crate of weapons outside the door to this address in Patna in 15 days." He handed Abu Bakr a sheet of paper. "Besides the address, this paper contains information about some contacts we have in Patna, and about the Patna police force. Now go!" he coughed, "Go for our sacred quest! Do not quit! Do not die! Do not surrender!"

Abu Bakr reached towards Mitesh.

Mitesh continued, "Well, you can actually go whenever you like. But make it soon-ish. Please?"

Squadron C was out the door in no time. "Alright," Abu Bakr said tensely, "we'll go into the armory and load out. Prakash and I will be planning after that, and then we'll get some more supplies for the journey."

The five went into the armory, a relatively dry shed with most of the camp's weapons and supplies, and started pulling weapons off the shelves. Piccolo selected a steel-tipped stick and wooden shield much like what they had practiced with. Ram, on the other hand, took an urumi whip-sword, a tulwar, a silk shield, five bindapala iron darts, and a chakram. Lal took a mace and a buffalo hide shield, Prakash a battle-axe and a pachycephalosaur skull shield. Finally, Abu Bakr took a tulwar and a rhino-hide shield.

Ram, Lal, and Piccolo practiced with their weapons outside until Abu Bakr and Prakash came out, having finished planning. "Patna is 20 days away by foot," Abu Bakr said, "By horse, it's 12. So here's the plan. We'll take all of the weapons out of the crate and put them in saddlebags, to be carried by mules. I think two will be enough. We'll get to Patna by horse, hide out for a few days in one of our contacts' houses, then drop the weapons after dusk and come back here."

"Sounds good," Ram said, "Is it safe to carry weapons openly, or should we hide ours?"

"Patna and the surrounding countryside is basically run by this one Rajput, Nitish Kovind, whom the Company has allowed to keep a private army. As well as running protection rackets, smuggling opium to China, and executing people he doesn't like, he puts down riots, sells tax resistors into slavery, and executes rebels. So we'll be able to carry weapons on the way to Patna, but in Patna, they'll have to be concealed."

It took Squadron C another two hours to pack food and supplies and to round up seven horses and mules. Ram and Abu Bakr helped each of the fighters prepare hiding spots among the saddlebags for their weapons. After some brief goodbyes, the squadron embarked on their first mission.