Chapter 6: A Bone to Pick
"It is good that you could meet us here, Sergeant Levina, Sergeant Shadrach, and Sergeant Siria," General Alem rumbled, nodding at each one of them as he listed off their names. "Come, our tacticians await you in the briefing room. We mustn't waste any time."
The four of them walked down a fluorescently lit hallway. Even at this Arceus-forsaken hour, 'mon made their way through the corridor, most of them bustling. After a minute's journey over repetitive tiling, they moved into a spacious doorway. Inside, four seats at a table were empty: one at the front, and three on the side. All of the others were already occupied by soldiers.
Alem took his customary position at the front while the other three took their seats. The Latias couldn't bring herself to even glance once at Shadrach as they sat down, instead focusing on the sleek black sheen of the desk.
"Now, as some of our best minds, Sergeant Siria and Sergeant Shadrach, what are your opinions on this mission? I trust that the source files made their way to you. "
"Sir," Siria began, shoving all of her anxieties to the back of her head. "We have several objections to the tactics of this mission. Firstly, we feel that there is too much opportunity for the enemy to escape."
Before she could continue, a Xatu further down the table countered, "Explain."
Recognizing the head of intelligence, Siria elaborated. "Director Raymond, I don't believe that that bombing only the main entrance is a pragmatic way of going about doing things, sir. The costs of the attempt will most likely be greater than the benefits reaped."
Shadrach straightened up. "In short, sir, we believe that neither the department nor its tacticians have any idea of what they are talking about, and that even a private would be more qualified to plan this attack than them."
The obviously inflammatory statement caused nothing short of pandemonium as shouts of both assent and outrage rose from the once professional soldiers.
"What did he just say?"
"That arrogant bastard!"
"I think he's right."
"Wait, what?"
"Well, you're a stupid son of a bitch!"
As the argument grew louder, Siria, with mouth agape, stared at the Umbreon, completely forgetting about the events prior to the discussion. "Shadrach!" she hissed.
Levina merely smirked, unabashed by his actions. "What, you've never been with him on one of his presentations? This is his favorite thing to do," she told her, shrugging as she did so. "Gives him a chance to express his hate and all of that."
"I demand order!" the Persian roared, a very noticeable vein bulging from his forehead. As the general was a well-respected individual, the room became silent in an instant. Staring at the Umbreon, he stated, "Hopefully you have more than simply wit to offer, Sergeant Shadrach. That little act alone is punishable by court marshal."
"What, and you're going to lock your top planner in the clap?" Shadrach replied, grinning casually. As he felt Alem's glare wash over him, he quickly gave in. "Fine, fine. Listen, first of all, do you have any intelligence? And I mean that in both regards." He leered at the Xatu.
Face contorted in anger, Raymond responded, "No. For the past few days, cloud cover has obscured the area from our satellites, meaning that we couldn't get additional images. We also don't have any forces in the area, so we have no data from there either." He put extra emphasis on the word as he said it.
"You couldn't afford to send a Skarmory unit?" an Arcanine asked.
"Brigadier Seraphim, I hope you realize the sheer probability of them being shot down if we had sent them over."
Ever so quick to battle, he quickly countered, "What about the losses we could receive because we didn't have proper intel? Doesn't that outweigh the tactical loss of the units?"
This comment provoked a series of murmurs from the spectators until Alem once again glared at them all. "Brigadier Seraphim, I hope you are not proposing that we should have sacrificed one for the sake of another," he intoned
"That's exactly what I'm implying, sir. If you had a choice between two units, would you pick the more useful one or the less useful one?"
"I would pick both," the Persian responded, clacking his claws on the table.
"What if you didn't have a choice?"
"That is exactly the point. I do have a choice, and I have already made it. Now," a tired Alem continued when the Arcanine began to form a response. "I've heard your tirade many, many times and as much as I do understand, the main goal is to minimize casualties, not take unnecessary risks. Argue as we will, we are not getting anywhere. The fact is clear: we do not have the proper intelligence to find every escape route our enemy has in those mountains. So let us progress with keeping that information in mind. We've wasted enough time talking about what could have been."
The room's atmosphere became icy as the general gave his rebuttal. One 'mon whispered to another, but the action caught the Arcanine's attention. "You. We will talk after this meeting."
'That's enough, Seraphim!"
"Director Raymond, what forces are we allocated?" Levina tactically changed the subject, trying to diffuse the argument.
He rustled his wings a bit, looking at a clipboard. "A lot of our Special Forces soldiers are scattered right now, but we can supply about twenty men, or two squads' worth." He passed a folder down the table to the Ampharos, who began to flip through it. She smirked for a fraction of a second as she saw a very familiar face among the troop profiles.
"Now that we have niceties out of the way," Alem stated, stroking a whisker, "We can discuss how we are going to approach this mission. If Lieutenant Sergeant Tabitha may give her presentation…"
A stout Camerupt made her way to the front. "As all of you are aware, this mission will commence at two-hundred thirty hours tomorrow, when the enemy's visibility is at its slightest. The targets will be as follow…"
Shadrach, already familiar with all of the details, whispered to Levina, "Files."
She slid the folder to him. After a moment's glance, the Umbreon hummed. "These are actually better than what I expected. We may be able to pull off a sabotage mission if everything goes right."
Levina snorted.
"If all events pre-attack go right," he elaborated.
"…and our main approach is to bomb the main entrance to entrap them. The topic is now open for discussion." Tabitha finished. "Siria, I recall you having an objection. Would you like to state it now?"
Before she could begin to talk, Shadrach, still looking to further disown the tacticians at the table, took the lead. "Yes, we have an objection. You are severely underestimating Tamsus's ability. These are not just run-of-the-mill insurgents we are dealing with, but members of an organized and quite intelligent militia. You really believe that they don't have secondary escape routes through the mountains?"
Raymond replied, "We've considered that, but there are no other viable approaches."
"How about a sabotage mission? We can just destroy the main cannons right before the Air Wing comes down, meaning that we can eliminate as much of their forces as possible."
"Twenty troops is far too few for this attack."
"No it isn't," a baritone voice objected. "Raymond, can you even comprehend the skill of those involved in this attack?" He leaned over the table, taking the troop catalogue and perusing through them. "When you say that, you insult all of Special Forces, and I can't idly stand by and watch your act. These are some of the best soldiers I know. More than half of them have honors for their duty and skill, and I recognize almost all of their names. Three of them are even sitting in this room. Have you read these resumes, director?
The Xatu shifted uncomfortably. "What happened to taking risks? You seemed adamant on deploying a unit which had a perfectly good chance of being shot down."
"Need I remind you that every situation is different? Perhaps this is something that will happen, not something that has already happened. Now, let me ask you again, Raymond. Have you read these resumes?
"No, sir."
"Then maybe you should." The Arcanine tossed the folder at Raymond before returning to sit back down at his seat. Raymond wore a half-stunned, half-angered look on his face. The others looked in awe, stunned that Seraphim had the decency not to raise his voice.
Watching all of this, Alem commented, "Shadrach has brought up some good points against the current plan. Raymond, do you have any counterpoints or objections?"
"Well, sir…" Raymond was clearly green in the face, despite its pigmentation. "What I mean to say is, err…"
Shadrach smirked at him. "You have no intelligence?" Everybody but Raymond gave at least a chuckle at this statement. Even Alem looked bemused, laughing softly. The Xatu looked downwards, flustered by this turn of events.
"Shadrach," Tabitha leaned forward, breaking the levity. "This plan sounds fine, but how are the troops going to get there? What form of transport do you have in mind?"
Shadrach looked down at his notes, scratching an ear. "To be honest, only about ten will be directly involved in the sabotage. We had originally planned fifteen, but the number of troops allocated did not meet our expectations. The rest is for patrol and security, should something go wrong. As for transport, the flying-types directly involved in the mission can carry non-flying soldiers in a two-to-one ratio. The others that are to help scout the area will be dropped off by helicopter at a landing zone close to the hot zone. There, they can sneak into the area by using traditional stealth tech. Furthermore, we have a pair of Latis to rely on, so sneaking the primary forces in should be very easy," he proudly noted, looking at Siria.
Still not satisfied with his plans, she continued, "If the primary plan fails to work, what is your contingency plan?"
"I've thought of a few things, but I'd like to hear what Siria has to say," the Umbreon offered, trying to involve her in the conversation.
She straightened up at the mention of her name. "We had a second plan in store should there not be enough troops," she began. "There was an arrangement to get some training dummies to toss out of a cargo plane, which would distract enemy AA forces."
"And then while the enemy is distracted, we can get away while the Air Wing comes in and bomb them to the Distortion," Levina finished.
"What happens to the Special Forces team? Obviously if this plan is implemented, then something must have gone wrong."
"We will map out all possible escape routes found on this map. We may even be able to utilize one of the enemy's, depending on how lucky we are." Shadrach cringed as he eked out the last few words. Lucky my ass.
Tabitha, still challenging the proposal, continued, "What advantage does this have over our current mode of attack?"
Levina stared at her in disbelief. "I'm no master tactician, but even I can see how this works out, and frankly, that's quite something. If you destroy the entrance, Tamsus still gets to take potshots at our bombers. If you blow their only chance of fighting back to the Distortion right before we attack, we can destroy them without getting shot ourselves.
After musing over this answer, she looked satisfied. "I have no further questions." No other individual raised a hand, so Alem took the lead. "Those in favor of Shadrach's plan, say 'aye.' Sergeant Levina?"
"Aye."
"Sergeant Siria"
"Aye."
"Sergeant Shadrach?"
"Aye."
"Director Raymond?" The Persian peered at him.
"What? Oh…aye…" he muttered, glaring at Shadrach.
After the rest of the roll calls, General Alem stood up. "We have a unanimous vote in favor of implementing sabotage. This mission commences at oh-two-hundred thirty hours tomorrow. Thank you for coming to this meeting." With that, he left the room. After a brief rustling of papers and folders, everybody else soon followed, half of whom rushed to the restrooms. The other half began to gossip about the meeting, obviously astonished by the events within.
"Holy crap, did you see Seraphim? He looked like he was ready to rip Alem a new one!"
"Yeah, that was pretty intense. I liked how Alem carried himself, though."
"You were impressed with Alem? Out of all the people to say that, you'd expect it to be him. On the other hand, Seraphim? He freaking destroyed Raymond! I never knew that guy was capable of more than 'Shut up!' and 'We're going to kill those damn bastards.'"
"Colonel Roy!" A roar filled the hall.
"Sir? Brigadier, I mean, I said-ARGH!" Shadrach, about to look back, chose not to do so when he felt the air temperature rose several degrees. Siria and Levina wisely did the same, keeping their faces forward. When they were out of earshot, the Latias rounded on him.
"What was that in the conference? Do you want then them to hate us? I've never seen you act that way, so casual and nonchalant!"
"Have you ever been with me in a meeting?" Shadrach asked in an honest tone. "There are few times when I can directly communicate my contempt, so I try every time I get the chance."
"That's a bit immature of you," she replied hotly, opening the door that led outside. The three of them stepped into the cool night.
Levina laughed, breath condensing in the air. "He makes it so much more entertaining, though! I don't know why they make me go half the time, but I do. I probably would be asleep if it weren't for him."
"I don't particularly enjoy the sarcasm," Shadrach said. When Siria glared, at him, he rectified, "Ok, maybe a little bit."
She huffed, rolling her eyes when she did so. "Really, do you have any idea of what kind of image you give us? It's already a privilege that we can sit in those meetings."
"A privilege that I would love to have taken away," muttered the Ampharos.
"Besides, I find it strange that you're complaining more about my etiquette than my combat readiness."
The dragon stopped right in her tracks, a red flush working its way up her face. She tried to say something, but panic overtook her mind.
With alarm, Shadrach quickly said, "I meant it as a joke. A joke!" although it was clear from the inflection of his voice that he did not intend it to be one. Damn, I forgot about how sensitive she was.
She stared out at the darkness blankly, still muted by embarrassment.
The Umbreon sighed. "Levina, could Siria and I have a moment together?"
She giggled. "Sure. Just make sure to clean up your love problems before this mission starts."
"Wait, love?"
"You heard me right!" And with that, she bounded off. Shadrach put a paw to his face before looking at Siria again. She remained perfectly still, not even moving an inch from her original position.
"Siria?" Shadrach touched her shoulder. She recoiled instinctively, taking a step back while turning away from him. "Siria, is there something you want to say?"
"I…" she whispered. The Umbreon leaned closer in to hear. "I'm sorry about those thoughts. It must have been awful for you…"
"No, no, it's fine," he said while waving a hand. "To be honest, I'm still upset about my brother, and even more so about my mother. It makes me wonder about my own life. As in, what's my future? To die gloriously on a mission? To get caught in the head by shrapnel? Or will I survive this nightmare, and actually retire?"
Siria sat, watching him with solemn eyes. He grinned slightly.
"Sorry if I'm boring you with all of this mundane talk. I know I'm usually silent and all…"
"No, no, it's fine!" she squeaked, taken aback by his confession. "I always thought of you as always cold and cool except in a few special cases…"
He laughed. "I try my best to project that sense. It's best to look professional when you're constantly under inspection. Whatever emotions I'm feeling won't interfere with whatever work is at hand." He relaxed, loosening his posture and slipping his paws in his pockets.
"I certainly hope so," Siria replied. "At least I know how you're feeling now. I was worried that I offended you and just made everything worse."
"That's not true at all. I'll be able to do tomorrow's mission without a problem. Come on," he said, offering her a paw. "We need to get back inside."
They were about to go back to the building when a yell caught their attention. A yellow figure was running towards them.
"Guys! We need to go! Now!" Levina shouted.
"What?" The Umbreon replied.
She waved her arms, frustrated by his slowness. "I can only hold the helo for a minute more! C'mon!"
She was about to turn back when a red blur almost knocked her over. Shadrach followed, moving much slower than the Latias. Shrugging, Levina ran beside Shadrach.
"What kind of chopper did you get?" he asked her. "Cargo?"
"No," she replied. "Transport. Carrying half of our strike team."
An increased loud whup, whup sound caught their attention. Both of them stared at each other before running even faster.
"Wait! Wait!" two consonant voices yelled in the night.