Chapter 42: Undercover
Camping, even in a simulated environment inside a hangar on a spaceship travelling through another dimension, was pretty much how I imagined it would be.
Which is to say, rather miserable.
Our tents, which took too long to set up, were far too small and thin. Our sleeping rolls were made of a synthetic material that made my skin crawl whenever I ran my fingers over it, like nails on a chalkboard, or those scratchy plastic folders you had as a kid. The food was terrible, the toilet situation even worse, and all the clutter from our supplies; our weapons, digging equipment, cooking equipment and survival kit allowed no room to move around in your sleep.
Not to mention that we had to sleep in full flak armour, as we would in the field.
At some point in the 'night' it started to rain, which was oddly comforting, even if it was simulated rain from nozzles in the roof far above us. The sound, while startling and alien at first, was comforting once I realised what it was. It'd been too long since I'd heard rain. I must've drifted off to sleep listening to the sounds of raindrops on the side of my tent, because when I woke up, it was no longer raining.
And what a rude awakening it was.
I was jolted awake by someone pressing a hand over my mouth. Waking up in a blind panic, I flailed around, only to have my arms pinned to my side. Through bleary eyes, I recognised Sergeant Alexei looming over me.
"Training exercise. Get up, and don't make a sound," he said simply, exiting my tent. I sighed. Of course. What else?
Crawling from the dismal warmth of my sleeping bag, wincing at the irritating sound, I crept from my tent and onto the damp forest floor, littered with leaves and twigs and wet grass. It was nice to touch something so familiar and natural for once, rather then endless steel and concrete and marble.
The rest of the squad was being roused from sleep, everyone huddling together, trying to peer around in the darkness, keeping their voices low.
"What's going on?" Prassus whispered to me. I shrugged.
"I don't know. Training, I guess."
"Yeah, but what sort?"
"Night-time training," I deadpanned. I could see Prassus roll his eyes.
"You still mad about dinner?"
"A little," I replied.
"Well, whatever's coming next, it's probably going to be a lot more unpleasant," he said. I didn't say anything. I didn't really know what to expect.
Once everyone had gathered up, Alexei began to explain what we were doing, whispering the whole time.
"This exercise is simple. We're going to navigate to each camp, and try to do so undetected. If we get caught by another squad, we lose a point, and whoever gets caught must sit out. If we get caught by each squad, we're out. We will not be caught by any squad, is that understood?"
"Sir, yes, sir," we all whispered.
"That is good. Silence is always a key factor in stealth, at night, even more, so we must minimise all sounds we make. No one make any noise, even if you're caught. If you get caught, just sit down with your legs crossed. The others will know what it means. Is that understood?"
"Sir, yes, sir," we all replied. Alexei nodded, and ordered us to move out.
Navigating through the forest was rather hard, especially when we couldn't use lights nor make a sound. I was cautious not to step on any twigs, or grab a branch, and winced whenever a leaf crunched underfoot. I could hear other people moving about, like Burtrus, who wasn't too good at this whole stealth business. I could just about make out their shapes in the forest, as we fanned out to make it harder to find us all, and easier to find the others. At one point, I caught a glimpse of someone, not from our squad, searching the woods. They had their rifle raised like they were on patrol, and made not a single sound as they stalked the forest. A Cadian, no doubt.
I was almost caught a moment later when someone stepped out from a tree ahead of me. Ducking into a bush, I winced as it shook with the sudden movement. Their head snapped around in my direction, rifle raised.
"Was that you Christef?" They asked. Probably not a Cadian then. They sounded like a Practican.
"If it wasn't, come out now," they said. I sat there and did nothing. If he didn't see me, he can't make me come out, and if he started to search the bush, I'd tag him when he got close, before he ever saw me. If he did see me, he wouldn't have to ask to begin with. I held my breath.
"Come on, I know you're there. I heard you," he said.
But you didn't see me, I smiled to myself.
Cursing, the mystery figure stepped closer to the bush, pushing aside branches and leaves. They fumbled in the dark, cracking branches under foot and rustling the leaves. I heard the sounds of someone else move about in the woods nearby. Shit. A second person. That complicates things. Could someone in my squad come by and tag this guy please?
Just when I was sure I'd be caught, the figure stopped, as if he heard the sound as well. When he turned away, I took my chance, shooting out from under my hiding spot and placing my hand over his mouth.
"Tagged you," I said.
"Mpphfhfhpf," he tried to say, speaking gibberish into my glove. I slowly released him once I was sure he wasn't going to make more noise.
"Not fair, I heard you," he complained.
"And I saw you first. You stepped out from behind that tree over there," I whispered back. He just grumbled under his breath. There was a snapping of branches, and a sudden rush of movement, and suddenly I was the one who had a hand on their mouth.
"Tagged you," a female voice said. I recognised it.
"Ziya?" I asked. My assailant hummed in acknowledgement.
So, it was Andermark's squad I stumbled across. Made sense. There's was the closest to ours when we set up camp. Of course, it didn't bode well I got caught by the first squad we came across. There goes a point from our squad, but at least I took one from theirs as well.
"Was this a trap?" I asked, and Ziya just smiled.
"Maybe," she smirked. Clever. Very clever. Why didn't I think of that?
"You two numbnuts get to sit this one out," she said. She was about to say something, but she suddenly whipped her head around when she heard movement behind her. To my surprise, Desmond of all people was there, ready to tag her!
"Close one," she said, tapping Desmond on the chest. He just shrugged, nonchalant, and sat down. Did he deliberately out himself, or was he actually trying to come to my rescue?
"Ah, what a shame," he said, flopping to the ground loudly, making sure to sit down on a rotten branch. It cracked loudly. There was rustling in the trees nearby.
"Why, you rotten little…" Ziya said. Desmond just smirked at me. Huh, so maybe he did have some skills after all. He did nearly manage to sneak up on her, after all, and now he'd given away her position. Ziya had to scamper off before she could gloat anymore, and when someone, a Cadian, came to investigate, they found only three bored looking Practicans sitting in the dark. Well, two Practicans, and me.
"Bad luck, eh?" He smirked, walking right by us, eyes focused on the trees. Ziya didn't make an appearance, and he just sauntered off into the darkness.
"This sucks," Desmond whispered. Seems he was still sticking to the spirit of things.
"You tell me, I was probably the first one out," Christef muttered. I shrugged.
"I didn't do to well either," I said. Desmond nodded.
"I was surprised. I was following you because usually you seem to know what to do," he said. That surprised me. Did Desmond really think that?
"I don't know anything more then you, honestly," I said, after a while. He shook his head.
"Nah, you do. You're way smarter than the others. You know what to do. You're like a teacher or something, right?"
"Nothing of the sort," I said, "and don't talk about them like that."
"Why? It's true. You are smarter than them. Probably smarter than me, and I would daresay the sergeant as well," he said.
"Don't ever say that again," I hissed. I could only begin to imagine how Alexei would react if he heard that. He would not be happy.
"Why do you care so much about them?" Desmond said. "You barely know them."
"They've done a lot for me," I said, but Desmond didn't seem to agree with that.
"You've done more for them then they have for you. You're a stabilising presence in this group. You keep them held together. I've seen it. They fight way less now then they did before!"
"Did it ever occur to you that the reason why is because we're in the Imperial Guard now?"
"Nah, they'd fight even if they were on their way to the underworld," he muttered. "Trust me."
"From what I've heard, you don't know them as well you think you do," I said slowly. Desmond scoffed. Christef just sat there awkwardly.
"Of course they'd say that. I've known them since we were kids. You've known us…a little over a month?" Desmond said.
"Nothing they've told me about you is positive," I said, "and nothing I've seen about you tells me you're any different to what they say you are."
"What would they know?" Desmond seethed. "They're peasants. All of 'em, even you, I bet."
Christef bristled at this, but said nothing, instead looking to me.
"That's why no one likes you, you look down on everyone!" I shot back. Desmond rolled his eyes. I thought he'd gotten past this, but it seems he'd just learned to keep it quiet. But not around me, apparently. He probably wanted to see how I'd react.
"Are you really shocked that no one likes you when you constantly talk shit about them all the time? When you look down on them? Belittle them, mock their jobs, treat them like animals, act like you're so much better then them, when you do nothing worthwhile yourself?"
"They don't know what it's like! They don't know the stress!" Desmond said hotly, getting louder. Christef clamped a hand over his mouth to shut him up, but Desmond pushed him off.
"My father wanted so much from me! He wanted me to be the perfect heir, who knew everything. He wanted me to command complete respect. To be the ideal official, the perfect servant of the Emperor. All I wanted was to do my job, and do it my way, but he would constantly push me to do more, to achieve more, to want more!" Desmond hissed.
"Everything he wanted, everything he desired, he used me to get. All he saw me for was another opportunity, another tool. I didn't want to be taken from the Offering, that was his decision, not mine. 'I can't lose my only heir, not when so much work has yet to be done,' he'd say. 'Now's not the time, we still need to secure our future,' he'd yell at my mother. He wanted so much…and I couldn't give it to him!"
Wow, that…explained a lot, actually. Desmond's father was the real piece of shit…I mean, Desmond had still done plenty of shitty things himself, but it seems like his dad was the one causing him to act that way. Probably covered for him at every opportunity. It made a lot of sense, now that I think about it. Desmond was so used to his father bailing him out he honestly thought his dad would be getting him out of this. No wonder he seemed so shocked on that first day.
His father had just abandoned him, after a lifetime of lording over him, his father had just cast him aside. In all likelihood, his mother was likely pregnant with another son, meaning Desmond wasn't the only heir anymore. That would explain why he'd been cut off. Or perhaps his father simply grew fed up with him?
"You're free of him now. It is the Emperor's will," Christef said after a while. Desmond just sat there and brooded quietly to himself.
I don't know how long passed before the exercise was over. An hour, or maybe two? Eventually, people started talking, lights shone through the woods, and we returned to our squads. Alexei wasn't happy I got caught so early (and, it turned out, was one of the only three people caught alongside Desmond, with Burtrus being the third), but we didn't have time to waste on that. We went right into the day's training, focusing on navigation, squad movements, taking up firing positions, and even ran trials of providing covering fire and using smoke grenades to shield our advances. Prassus was an especially good throw with the grenades we were given, which Alexei approved of.
The rest of the day went by in a blur of frenzied activities, each one rather disjointed, but I tried to remember as much as I could from each of them. Alexei was constantly stressing how important it was to keep track of everything he taught us, and I took it to heart. Once the day began to wind down, we left the simulator and returned to our usual activities. In the back of my mind, I kept going over what Desmond what told me. Did it really excuse his behaviour? Not really, but it certainly explained a lot of it.
He kept to himself most of the day, and said very little, not even speaking up to complain, which was highly unusual. The days went by, and Desmond seemed to change, withdrawing inwards. He seemed to have a sudden burst of vigour, pushing himself harder to keep up with us, desperately trying to close the gap. He trained, and trained, and each day, he made a little more progress. His silent dedication didn't go unnoticed, but no one would willingly speak to him. He seemed to be suddenly aware where he stood in the group, and was desperate to reform himself as fast as possible.
Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months, each day a long and painful experience. We learnt as much as we could, honed our skills, sharpened our aim, learnt how to fight, went through trial after trial in the simulator, tackled the UTAC over and over, went through hundreds, thousands of repetitive rounds on the firing range. We repeated everything we learnt over and over until it became ingrained into us, like muscle memory.
As the fourth and final month of our voyage rolled around, Alexei told us we were ready for the war games.