The Colonel wasn't stupid. He knew when something as missing. He knew when something wasn't right. He knew who was missing right away. And he knew why too. He was shocked. Even after punishment the Major never slept in. then again, the Major never got the chance.
He sighed. He still had ten other men to train. "Go train with Reniku." He ordered.
They all gave him looks of surprise. They weren't fans of Reniku. They weren't good at total obedience.
"Just go. You won't have to train with him all day." The Colonel responded.
They nodded and joined Reniku's squad.
George shook his head and walked towards sector twelve. His men were good fighters. But in a way, they were wusses. They weren't very adaptive. And as much as he hated to admit it. They weren't as good as the Major. Or the Majors friends. The Major should be promoted. But the Army General had taken the privilege away from them. While the Major was gone, the Army General had changed a lot of things. He stopped the supply of arrows and knives. Instead he gave them bullets and guns. Metal monsters. No training course materials were given. They had to make their own. After the brigade Generals and the Major left, and it wasn't their fault, the Army General started to treat Unit Nine like a joke. That's the real reason behind Skippers reinstatement. He would change things. He had his own rule book. Inherited by the Brigade Generals'. But not entirely. The Major was different. He was different from the Brigade Generals. He had control. He had stealth. He was clever. The Major was a good fighter. On all levels. But that wasn't good all the time. If the Army General visited, he would have a run in with the Major. The Major could stop his actions. But he wouldn't stop his mouth. George knew that if the Army General came, Skipper would say something. One small thing. And the Army General would have his head.
But now wasn't the time to think about that. Now was time to wake them up. And thinking about how they slept through the bell annoyed him. But it also mystified him. No one ever slept through the bell.
He stopped in front of their door. He couldn't be mystified when he kicked their door in. He let it go and let his annoyance fill his mind. Making it easier for him to be angry. And kicked their door in.
Kowalski and Private woke up immediately. They were startled by the sudden loud noise. It wasn't a bell. They wouldn't have minded another bell. They would've slept through another bell. But they recognized the sound of breaking door knobs.
They sat up and looked over at the Colonel with sleepy, scared, startled eyes. So far, he was the guy that you weren't supposed to piss off. And they pissed him off.
He looked at both of them. They were in the bottom bunks and had woken up completely. They weren't fans of having their doors kicked in. "Get up." He ordered.
Not wanting anything bad to happen, or prevent worse treatment that what they were going to receive, they obeyed and walked to the door.
"Wake up!" He shouted. Rico got up. He was annoyed at the Colonel for ruining his sleep. But the Colonel looked severely pissed, so he obeyed. He saw Private and Kowalski near the door so he hopped down and joined them.
Skipper was tiered. He had never felt so tiered in his entire life. Then again, he had never run from Canada to New York City and have to do punishment workouts within twenty four hours. He actually had never run from Canada to New York City. Didn't think it was possible.
He had heard the Colonel break in. He woke up half way. He heard the Colonel scream too. He was just so tired. He didn't want to get up. He hadn't felt that way in a long time. He was starting to get up when someone grabbed the scruff of his neck and threw him to the floor.
He got the wind knocked out of him. And he was still waking up. He blinked a few times clearing his vision. Above him stood Colonel George, supporting his very angered look. The Colonel never smiled at Skipper. Nothing new.
Skipper sighed. He didn't say anything. Technically the Colonel could do something. He didn't know what that something was. The Colonel never really gave punishments for sleeping late. He just screamed. Skippers eyelids still felt very heavy though. He couldn't keep them open.
Colonel George saw Skipper's struggle to stay awake. So he decided to help the Major. He grabbed Skippers neck and held him up against the wall. Choking him of course. That should wake him up.
Skipper was up against the wall in a heart beat. It wasn't the impact of the wall hitting the back of his head that woke him up. Nor was it the speed of which it had happened. Or the fact that his feet couldn't touch the floor. He woke up because he couldn't breathe. He was being choked, and something in his brain told him that now would be a good time to wake up. He struggled and pulled at the Colonel flipper. Trying to loosen it at least. But nothing worked.
"Killing me isn't going to change anything." He choked out. He didn't expect to be able to do that. But it was his last shot.
"I know." The Colonel replied casually. He knew that the Major was helpless right now. He needed to remind himself that he could do that to the Major. The Major was growing on him. That was never a good thing. "Wake up next time Major." He warned removing his flipper and letting Skipper fall towards the ground. "Or you'll black out before I let you breathe again."
Skipper watched him leave. That was a somewhat creepy warning. Still nothing new. But the thought that next time he would black out wasn't exactly a happy thought. Then again, the Colonel wasn't a very friendly guy. He picked himself up, off the floor, and rubbed his neck. He got the choking thing, but the Colonel didn't have to break his neck.
"Was he really going to kill you Skippah?" Private asked. Sleeping late didn't mean kill did it? He hoped not. That seemed a little extreme.
"No. technically, he's not allowed to. I personally think he wouldn't kill me. Even if he was allowed to." Skipper replied. Sure George was no fun. And sure he was mean. And maybe he was dangerous too. But he wasn't a killer. He wouldn't kill anyone purposely. He had no trouble paralyzing them, though. That often made people kill themselves…somehow. But he doesn't kill. Skipper had never seen him kill anyway.
"I think we should go before he comes back." Kowalski said a little shaken. H didn't exactly picture his morning starting that way. Being startled out of bed and watching Skipper get choked.
"Let's go then" Skipper replied.
They walked down sector twelve in silence. Everything was silent. Until they reached the first room. Then they could hear the sounds of training. Grunts, screams, orders, commands, clanking of weapons, the bang of guns being fired, all coming together to form one voice.
Skipper stopped. There was another sound. Another voice. It was something he never heard. 'I quit'. No one ever quit. But there wasn't just one voice. There were many people quitting. He could hear it. I quit, I quit, I quit. He could hear the drop of weapons, and the march of people leaving. How could they? Unit Nine was about to go into war. It was already a small unit. They needed every man. How could so many quit now? Skipper hated this place. But he wouldn't leave now. He would wait until after the war to quit. Not right before. It wasn't right to just abandon ship before battle. It wasn't right at all.
"Skipper?" Kowalski asked carefully. Skipper looked like he was thinking, wondering. But now wasn't exactly a good time to do that.
Skipper took off running. He didn't hear Kowalski. He just needed to see it. He didn't believe what he was seeing. When he reached the doorway to the training area he saw that it was true. Many men were just dropping their gear and walking away. There was a stream of people walking out. They were leaving the Unit. Skipper spotted Colonel George. He was talking to Reniku. Neither one looked happy. They both looked stressed out. Nervous.
Kowalski, Rico, and Private caught up with Skipper, but didn't walk up to him. He was hanging his head. It didn't take them long to figure out why. Everyone was leaving. And they weren't going to come back. It was clear as crystal. They all looked fed up. Tired.
"Skipper." Kowalski said walking up to him. "There's nothing you can do." There wasn't. No one could. It was sad.
"I know that Kowalski. It's just. Unit Nine is already so small compared with the other units. Unit Nine used to be. It was an honored Unit. I don't know what happened to it. But I can tell. It's no secret. Unit Nine has become nothing more than a throw away Unit. It's been discarded. They think Unit Nine is a waste now. And it's not. It's just as good as the others. It's just smaller. And has more fight. Towards the Army Generals. That may be why it's been discarded. Uncared for. Unit Nine doesn't need to get any smaller. It just doesn't. It doesn't deserve to." Skipper explained. It was sad really. It was just sad. Because he realized that Unit Nine was being treated so badly. He could just tell. Sara seemed less happy than she usually is. Reniku seemed more focused, and George, he was so stressed. So wound up. He was easier to tick off. Alone, those meant nothing. But when they all happened at once, something was wrong. The equipment was the same as when he left. So they weren't being supported. Unit Nine was on its own.
"No. I suppose not." Kowalski replied. Unit Nine seemed so big. But the other Units were bigger.
Skipper stared at George and Reniku. They both turned to him at the same time. George sighed and motioned for them to come over. Skipper did.
The guys followed. The mood of the whole Unit wasn't anger. It was eerie. It was almost sad. But not quite.
"Now would be a good time to leave." George stated solemnly. Skipper had the perfect chance to go home. They needed him. But if he wanted to go home he could. It wouldn't be fair to let so many leave and keep him here.
Skipper looked him in the eyes. He was right. Now would be a good time to leave. But it wouldn't be right to. "No, sir. We will not leave until the job is done. We'll stay with Unit Nine until it's all over." He replied. He wasn't leaving now. Unit Nine was going to need all the help it could get. And he wasn't a quitter.
For the first time, George actually smiled at Skipper. "Then make yourselves useful. Go talk to Sara. You guys are the last remnants who haven't tried to speak with her. She won't let anyone in. Not saying a single word." He sighed and looked towards the ground.
"She needs to be talking to someone." Reniku added.
Skipper sighed. He and Sara were friends. But she seemed to adapt to him faster than anyone else. They were more or less like brother and sister. Sort of like him and Marlene. Therefore, she would usually let him talk to her. Because he had control. And he had understanding. And he was a good problem solver. There were many reasons behind why he was allowed to talk to her. "We'll talk to her. Let's go guys." He replied.
They started to walk towards the general's quarters.
"What kind of re-" Kowalski started to ask.
"The same kind I have with Marlene. Just friends." Skipper interrupted. He knew the question.
"She trusts you." Kowalski said. It seemed that way. Marlene trusted Skipper. So if they had the same relationship than Sara would trust Skipper too.
"She does. But she gets stressed a lot easier than I do. And she has good reason to." He replied calmly. Sara could handle most stresses. But some things just pushed he stress levels too high for self-management.
"She needs help sometimes?" Private asked.
"Yes. Sometimes it's too much." Skipper replied.
"She needs someone to help her figure it out then?" Kowalski asked.
"Yes. That would be us." Skipper said, as they walked up to the doors. He knocked on the doors. Hopefully Sara would answer.
She didn't.
Skipper sighed. This was probably very stressful for her. She had lost more than half of her men. Her unit had just shrunk to less than half of its size. That was never a good thing. He opened the door and walked inside. Sara was standing over the war table, leaning on it with one hand and tapping the table with the other. She was trying to think. Or it looked like that was what she was doing. Skipper could tell she was overwhelmed.
Kowalski, Private and Rico followed Skipper in. It was obvious to them that she was overwhelmed. They felt bad for her.
She looked up at Skipper. "What?" She sighed. She didn't feel like talking. She needed to think.
"Are you ok?" Skipper asked, carefully.
"Do I look ok? Did you really need to ask that Skipper?" She asked annoyed.
"Do you need help?" Skipper asked. He didn't waste his time with modesty. He just threw the question out there.
She sighed. She did. But she didn't want to look weak. "I do. But."
"We can help you." Private said. He gave her a warm smile. Maybe it would help her calm down a bit.
She laughed. "You can try. But I highly doubt you can help at all." She replied.
"Well what's the problem?" Kowalski asked, ready to get to the solving part.
"You mean you didn't see it? Everyone's leaving. That's the problem. We can't face Scythro like this. We'll get ran over by his men." She explained. This was a major, major setback. They would have to surrender.
Skipper thought for a moment. "Why are you going into war with Scythro? What was it exactly that he did?" He asked. He needed more background information before he could solve anything.
"Well, you know the city nearby right? Delivaria? They're a major farming city. Scythro and his men have been stealing from their surplus for a while, but they were getting tired of it. So they asked the Delivarians for a deal. They would stop stealing from the Delivarian surplus. If, the Delivarians would give them half of the surplus every two months." She explained.
"But that seems like a fair deal? Why make a war out of it?" Private asked confused. It seemed fair. It was only half of the surplus, every two months. It didn't seem like a righteous reason to start a war.
"The Units protect the cities that surround them and the cities goods and people. But if the city makes an agreement the Unit does not interfere. Unless the city calls upon the Unit. Scythro broke his end of the deal. Two weeks after the deal was finalized the entire surplus of Delivarian crops disappeared. Since Scythro and his men had been stealing the food for years, they had to be the culprits. They were the only ones who knew how to get passed the Delivarian security system. And since Unit Nine is the protector of Delivaria, it was up to us to punish Scythro. That is what the war is for." She eexplained.
"Why did he take the entire surplus if he was going to get half of it? He was the one who made the deal. Why make it if you're just going to take what the deal was based around?" Kowalski asked. It didn't make sense. If Scythro was going to take the food then why go through the trouble of making a deal?
"I don't know that. He told them that his men didn't take anything. He told us the same story." Sara replied.
"What if he's telling the truth?" Private asked.
Sara gave him a confused look.
"I mean-" He started.
"What if he didn't take the surplus? If he's telling the truth then this war would be for nothing. And the surplus would still be MIA." Skipper finished. "Is there anything else that's pushing this war into action?" Skipper asked, thinking about the third party she had mentioned earlier.
"Yes. He had kidnaped our men. And accused us of capturing his. He's claiming not to have done anything. That we didn't have to steal his men and go into war. One would've been fine. We didn't take revenge for him kidnapping our men. And we don't have any of him."
Skipper thought for a moment. "What if he's telling the truth. About everything?" Skipper asked.
"What do you mean?" Sara asked confused.
"I mean what if he's not the culprit? That third party you mentioned earlier. He might be pushing you two into this war." Skipper explained. Scythro didn't waste time on anything. He was an in and out job type guy. He liked to get things over with. Done so he could move on. He wouldn't waste time making a deal that he was going to break.
"What if Scythro doesn't have any of your men? Or the Delivarians surplus? If you don't have his men but some of his men are missing, then there has to be a third party somewhere behind the scene." Kowalski added. It all made sense now. The third part took the surplus, and kidnaped the men.
"Are you suggesting that the third party, which we don't even know is truly there, is pushing Unit Nine and Scythro into a war?" Sara asked in disbelief. That meant that there actually was a third party. That wasn't a good thing. Unknown third parties were instant signs of trouble.
"Yes. There has to be a third party. If you don't have his men then who does? Think about it Sara. Scythro never wastes time. If he was going to take the entire Delivarian surplus then why go through all the trouble of making a deal with the Delivarians?" Skipper, asked. There had to be someone operating behind the scenes. Someone playing Unit Nine and Scythro like dolls. Pitting them against each other to see who wins. Someone was causing this war. And it wasn't Scythro. Nor was it the unit.
"You're right. Scythro wouldn't waste his time. And if we don't have his men, then someone else does. Because he seemed extremely pissed off that we were blaming him for everything." Sara said. She realized that she may have wrongly accused Scythro. The least she could do was warn him. Or give an honest explanation. An apology would probably help too.
"We have to stop this war from happening then." Private stated. If this third party had the surplus and the kidnapped men, then they shouldn't be fighting each other. They should come together and fight the third party.
"We do lieutenant. But how?" Sara asked thinking. They had to stop this. But it seemed already too far in to back out of. The war started in two weeks.
"You can call me Private." Private informed.
Sara looked at him confused. He was a lieutenant. Why did he want to be called Private? "Might I ask why?"
"That's his name." Skipper explained. "It was given to him because we didn't have time to think of a better one. And he didn't know his real name."
"Oh. Then I'll call you Private." Sara said. His full name here was interesting. Lieutenant Private. Two ranks, one the actual rank, the other a name. She had to make sure that she didn't confuse herself. "Back to being serious here. What can we do to stop this?"
"We can talk to him." Kowalski suggested.
"To Scythro?" Sara asked. Scythro wasn't going to talk now. Everything was too far gone to save.
"Yes to Scythro. Get him to agree to meet you somewhere." Skipper said.
"Like the middle of the battlefield." Kowalski interrupted.
"So you can talk one on one. But you'll need protection." Skipper finished.
"I can try that. I think six men will do." Sara replied. That would be all she would need. Just these four, George and Reniku.
"Six? Who?" Private asked.
"Well you four, since you helped plan it. And George and Reniku. They'll be able to handle a fight should Scythro stay untrue to his word of discussion." Sara told them.
"Stay true to his word of discussion?" Kowalski asked confused.
"When you meet before a battle, any time before a battle, to talk about something concerning the battle, it's tradition to do so in peace. You have men to protect you should something go wrong. But you try to keep peace when conversing with the opponent.? Sara explained.
"Oh. Well I guess you wouldn't want the war breaking out any sooner than needed." Kowalski replied. Or in their case an unneeded war to break out.
"No. that wouldn't be a good thing." Sara agreed.
"We'll go tell The Colonels" Skipper said turning to leave. The General could plan what to say on her own. It was best that they give her time to do so.
"One more thing, before you leave. A question actually." Sara called. She needed reassurance mostly. Or an idea. They didn't have enough men to fight anyone. How was she supposed to fight with such a low number of men?
Skipper turned back to her. "What's the question?" He asked.
"We don't have enough men to fight this third party. How do we fight it if we don't know its numbers?" She asked.
"Ask Scythro for an alliance." Skipper suggested. "And before you reject that, remember that the third party has his men too. And if we catch this third party then he and his men will be cleared. The deal he made with the Delivarians would be able to go as planned. But we need his alliance first." Skipper explained. "Then we wouldn't have to worry about numbers."
Sara thought about that. "I'll see what I can do with that. Thank you. You can go explain to the Colonels now." She replied. Skipper was smarter than he gave himself credit for.
He nodded and left, The guys right behind him.
"So we aren't going to fight in a war?" Kowalski asked hopefully. He didn't want to fight in a war.
"No. we're going to fight one. Just not with Scythro. With someone smarter." Skipper replied.
"Oh, boy." Rico sighed. A war didn't sound fun. It sounded scary. Of course wars were scary.
"Couldn't have said it better Rico." Skipper replied. War wasn't his favorite activity either.
They walked back into the training area. There were only four Colonels now, instead of the many that were here before. Each one only had about four or five men. Reniku and George were still talking. But there were at least fifteen men standing and sitting behind them. They didn't lose many men. They only lost a couple. It was still eerie. There was no yelling, or screaming. There were no clinks or clanks of training. No grunts or pitter patter of feet running, training. Everything was silent. All that could be heard was the sound of talking. Only the Colonels were talking. Talking to their men. Or the men that remained. The training area looked so empty without the many men that usually filled it. It was sad to see that Unit Nine had been reduced to forty men. Unless the security guys quit. Then there would only be thirty, not even.
"This is just sad." Kowalski stated.
"It is." Skipper agreed solemnly.
"How big is the biggest Unit Skippah?" Private asked. He wanted to know just how small Unit Nine was now.
Skipper sighed, "Two hundred." He said.
"Oh that's not too bad." Private said.
"No. Two hundred thousand." Skipper corrected. He didn't like to say it. That was Unit Four. They had the top number. Then came Unit Seven. And then Unit One. Seven had one hundred fifty seven thousand, and Unit One had one hundred and fifty thousand. And Unit Nine had forty. That was a sad difference.
"Oh." Private replied, solemnly. "That is quite sad isn't it?"
"Yes it is Private." Skipper agreed.
They walked over to George and Reniku.
"No, we can't do it now." George sighed.
"Then what are we going to-" Reniku stopped when he saw them standing there.
George turned to them. He didn't know what to tell them. He and Reniku had been talking about the war between them and Scythro. It was impossible now. There was no way that Unit Nine had even the slightest chance of winning now.
Skipper was waiting for one of them to say something. But they didn't they just stood there and stared at the four of them. "We need you two to help with something." Skipper started.
"The General is going to talk to Scythro. She wants us to be her guards." Private continued.
"The four of us and you two." Kowalski added. Just to make sure they knew who 'us' were.
They both said nothing as they wrapped their minds around the news.
"Why?" George asked. Why did the General want to talk to Scythro? The answer was obvious, but he wanted to make sure the obvious was right. And knowing some of the details would help.
"Yeah. And why did she decide to do so?" Reniku added.
"She wants to stop the war from happening because Unit Nine is too small and wouldn't stand a chance against Scythro." Kowalski explained.
"And we believe that there is in fact a third party. It's the reason the war was set in motion." Skipper said answering Reniku.
"What?" George asked confused.
"We talked to the General like you told us too. We got a little sidetracked from the loss of men topic and talked about Scythro. He doesn't waste time, so he wouldn't make a deal just to break it, and he seemed serious about finding his men, we don't have them, so who does?" Skipper explained.
"The third party." George replied. "There's actually a third party? I thought that was just a rumor?"
"No. It's not. It's real." Kowalski stated.
"What about our men?" Reniku asked. "We thought Scythro took 'em. Did he?"
"No. He said he didn't. Sara believes him. If we're right. If Scythro hasn't done anything. Then this third party has everything. His men, our men, and the Delivarians surplus." Skipper explained.
"We don't have enough men to get all of that back." George stated, it was true they didn't. they didn't even have enough men to attempt that.
"No, we don't. That's why the General's also going to ask for an alliance." Private replied.
"An alliance? With a neutral?" George asked surprised. "That hasn't been done in a long time. And the last alliance didn't go well."
"No. The last alliance a Unit had with a Neutral didn't last very long. But just think for a moment." Skipper said, pausing to get his thoughts together. "Scythro's starting to make deals with the civilizations nearby. The Negarios, the Yulandans, and now the Delivarians. He's different than the other neutrals." Skipper reasoned. "And if you haven't noticed, he seems to like Sara." He added. It was true. He usually acted calmer around Sara. Not the calmness that says he's used to her. The calmness that says he likes her. Making an alliance shouldn't be very hard.
"No, I've noticed that. She shouldn't have a hard time making an alliance with him. But will he accept the apology? He's been accused of kidnapping and stealing, and has been cut off from a deal. Three things. He didn't seem to take kindly to them either." George countered.
"He didn't. We'll just have to wait and see what happens." Skipper replied.
Sorry it took me so long to update. Been having writers block a lot lately. The next chapter should be up faster than this one came. I can happily say that my writers block on this story is writers block no more.