42. Scout

"Avocato!"

"Sir!"

Jogging the few paces to fall in before Purrina and the other acting officers, Avocato cast them a hasty salute. The trio of fifth-year cadets was clustered around a single padd projecting a topographical map of the battlefield. In the faint, pre-dawn light, the map cast an eerie glow on the faces of the cadets studying it.

"Who are the top three trackers in this squad?" asked Kemuri, in command of their small troop. He spoke softly, with a faint lisp that marked him as being from the noble class of Tros, one of the planet's most industrialized cities.

Avocato considered his resources, since only half of Squad 3 had been included in this scenario. "Kedi, Belle, and Nikos," he replied almost immediately, his breath misting in the chilly air. "In that order."

With a hint of a satisfied smile, Purrina quirked an eyebrow at him, asking, "Where do you fall on that list?"

"Fourth or fifth, sir," he admitted, his heart rate picking up a bit as he caught the look Purrina cast Kemuri. They seemed to come to an understanding.

"Belle can step up as acting sergeant," Kemuri said. "I need a team who can work seamlessly together, and your reputation precedes you. I want you, Kedi, and Nikos back here in five minutes."

"Sir!"

Fighting the impulse to smile, he saluted and hurried off. Belle, with her creamy fur and height second only to Avocato's, was easily spotted. Avocato let her know that after a mere three minutes since the academy transport had dropped them off, she was now to assume his position, just with three fewer heads to worry about. Nikos and Kedi asked no questions when he gestured for them to join him. They simply grabbed their gear and fell in behind him.

"For my plan to work, I need to pinpoint the enemy's location," Kemuri explained, motioning them to step in close. He brought up the image of the map again. "We're presently located right here, on the western bank of this stream. We know the blue team was deployed on the other side of this ridge, roughly in this area, but we don't know their numbers or armaments. The ridge is heavily wooded, so while it won't be easy to move through, it offers a lot of cover. Work together. You need to get in quickly, find them, and get back here even quicker."

"Sir, you know Cadet Rale better than us," said Avocato. "Will she send scouts out?"

Kemuri nodded, pleased by the question. "Yes. Avoid them if you can. If you can't . . ."

Without looking away from the map, Nikos suggested, "Get us some rope, and Kedi and I can trammel them."

The acting officers gaped at him, speechless.

"What?" He looked up. "Kedi's a herdsman. I grew up on a farm. We have to know how to tie things up."

They kept staring. Nikos looked puzzled before realizing he was once again facing off against the uptight niceties of noblemen. Trussing up a fellow cadet had clearly never occurred to them.

Finally, their acting captain blinked. Still looking a little stunned, as if he couldn't believe what he was saying, Kemuri said, "If you can't, you'll . . . trammel them. Gently."

"Sir," said Avocato, trying not to laugh at his expression. "Permission to divest unnecessary gear?"

"Yes," said Kemuri. "Leave it here, we'll have your squad mates carry it for now."

They removed everything they wouldn't need from their packs, while the other acting lieutenant, Biri, ran off to fetch them some rope. Kemuri hovered, oddly curious and anxious.

"Do you . . . really know how to tie someone up?" he asked.

"Of course," Nikos said, perfectly aware that he had casually rattled this young man to the core. "Doesn't everyone?"

"Mmm . . . no," was the tiny reply.

Kemuri was saved by Biri's return with the rope. They each stashed a coil in their packs before pulling them tight and close so nothing would shift or make noise as they moved. With weapons secured and pointy-eared helmets on, Kedi gave their gear a quick once-over before leading the way. Crisp leaves rustled beneath their feet as they jogged into the trees, and the bracing air smelt of autumn.

The moment the observers were out of sight and they were out of earshot, Kedi halted and faced them, his eyes bright with excitement. Like his friends, he could barely contain his smile. "Are we doing this?"

Nikos cracked his neck. "Oh, yes."

"Thought you'd never ask," said Avocato, shifting and stretching his shoulders. "Let's make Kemuri shine."

Kedi took command. "Me, Nikos, Avocato. Ears wide. Tch if you hear or see something." He tapped his comm unit, displaying the map. "We stick to the forested area, get in in, get out, get back."

Avocato bowed formally. "Lead on, Lord Kotik."

Without another word, they dropped to all fours and set off for the ridge. The rocky surface and undergrowth did not allow them to go at full speed, but they still made excellent time, especially after Kedi found a game trail heading in the right direction. By the time the sun was fully up, they had topped the ridge and were on the downward slope to where the blue team was located. They could not have asked for a better day for this - clear and cool, with the promise of sunshine all day. Having four points of contact with the ground allowed them to move almost silently despite the leaves, though Avocato quickly realized he was the liability in comparison to his friends when it came to being quiet. Kedi had spent his whole life tracking animals. Nikos was light as a feather. Avocato, meanwhile, had grown up on manicured lawns versus tundra and wild jungle, but he had been hunting since a young age. Annoyed at himself and the amount of noise he made, Avocato focused, moving with the stealth and control of the accomplished martial artist and dancer that he was. He stepped with greater care, intent on passing through the woods unnoticed, and was concentrating so hard that it took him a moment to realize he smelled something out of place. Spicy. Cloying. Was that . . . body spray? Cheap body spray, no less.

"Tch."

The small sound brought his friends to a stop. When they looked back, Avocato jerked his head slightly, exaggerating smelling the air. Kedi and Nikos both stiffened as they detected the same scent carried by the breeze. At a gesture from Kedi, they swiftly crouched together behind a fallen tree, keeping low as they strained their eyes and ears. Kedi and Avocato faced forwards, while between them, Nikos faced the opposite direction to cover their rear. For a few moments, they scanned the forest. Then Kedi pointed just as two scouts from the blue team came into view, barely visible in their camouflaged fatigues. Cadets Heros and Azi from Squad 1 were picking a path upwards. They were still far enough away from the red team - or so they thought - that they weren't moving with much caution yet. Both cadets were of noble houses, average students, and relatively capable hunters, and one of them, at least, had bad taste in toiletries. Their tracking skills were probably what landed them this task, but in this case, they were outclassed. Avocato and his team had traveled at least three times as far in the same amount of time, though they were on the right path to find the red team.

Nikos leaned back slightly and made a motion of tying a knot. There was no love lost between Nikos and these two young snots, who shared the opinions of many others that non-nobles should not attend the royal academy. Avocato shook his head, dashing his friend's hopes. There was no need for an ambush, appealing though it might be. They could just let the unsuspecting enemy scouts pass. With their speed, they could get to the blue team's base and back before the scouts found Kemuri's troop.

". . . that's another klick," Azi said softly, checking his comm unit. Avocato caught a glimpse of the same topographical map Kemuri had shown them. Then Heros looked around for a suitable tree. He spotted an owd tree, beautiful in its purple-red foliage, and used the tip of his knife to make a quick symbol on the smooth bark. Then they checked their direction again and continued on.

Behind the fallen tree, they waited in silence to be sure the enemy scouts were well away before emerging. As Kedi picked out their trail back to the blue team's camp, Nikos frowned at the tree.

"Kedi, do Azi and Heros not know how to track?" he asked softly.

"Well enough not to mark a trail so obviously," Kedi replied. "A cave bat couldn't miss that."

Avocato shook his head. "They're not trying to hide the route. Rale's going to move the whole squad to attack our camp," he concluded.

"And thanks to our classmates, we'll know exactly where they are the whole time," Nikos added with a grand gesture. "We just follow the signs."

"Let's move," said Avocato. "If the blue team really is only a few kilometers away, I want to scout it out and get back with time to spare."

They dropped down again and set off, following the scouts' tracks. They abandoned the trail and grew more cautious as they started to catch sounds and scents of a sizable group. Without a word said, Nikos and Avocato imitated Kedi's every motion. Laying low, each step calculated, they soundlessly edged closer and closer to where the blue team had been deployed less than an hour ago. While not too loud, the cadets were noisier than Avocato would have tolerated had he been in command, but that served to cover their passing. Circling around almost to the far side of the troop, they lay in the loose dirt beneath thick pricker bushes by the edge of the level clearing. From their vantage point, they could see the blue team had twice their number, and heavier laser rifles than what the red team carried. Almost a hundred soldiers, six acting officers, and what looked like three repeating stenray guns by Avocato's count. The cadets stood about in loose formation, waiting to fall in to follow whatever trail Heros and Azi had blazed.

Without discussion, the three young men knew what had to happen. Kemuri needed this intelligence immediately, and Avocato was the fastest of them, with the best endurance. He looked at Nikos, then Kedi. With a finger he motioned dropping back and circling around. Kedi answered with a silent nod, so Avocato began to inch backwards out of the thorny bush. His uniform and pack snagged here or there, but he had little trouble extracting himself. The blue team, fortunately, was focused more on the ridge and the route they'd take over it than the forest behind them.

His arms and legs were cramping from tension and moving so slowly, but he kept backing away, stopping only once when one of the imbedded observers glanced in his direction. He lay low, looking down so his blue fur wouldn't show and praying his camouflaged fatigues were enough to conceal him. Even though the observer could say nothing to Cadet Rale, he very much wanted to pass completely unseen. Finally, she looked away, and he fell back far enough that he was out of sight of the camp. Avocato took a moment to stretch and drink some water before he pulled his pack close and tight, and then he ran.

Even with boots on, it was easier than when he'd raced in the Far Reaches. Looser clothing allowed for far greater motion, which allowed for longer strides and higher speeds. He had to pick his route carefully, and occasionally force his way through some underbrush. Sticks and branches he avoided as best he could. Mossy rocks were slippery. The falling leaves could be slick, but they made for a cushioned landing as his hands - protected by fingerless gloves - landed.

How could they have ever given this up? What conventions made Ventrexians turn their backs on such speed?

Birds complained as he raced beneath the trees, stirred up by his passing. Some, like the ever-curious jett jays and bold little beedees, followed Avocato for a while, making a clamor, for he was moving like nothing they had ever seen.

He quickly found the trail he, Kedi, and Nikos had taken out. Their tracks were so unnatural that even if the blue team scouts found them, they would assume some unidentified animal had passed through. Certainly nothing bipedal, and certainly nothing immediately familiar. He followed the tracks back to where the tree had been marked. Estimating roughly another kilometer distance before he overtook Azi and Heros, Avocato ran on for a few more minutes before veering to his right, intent on giving the scouts a wide berth. He had to slow down to avoid injury, but since he was well off the route the other scouts were taking, he didn't try to hide his passing. If they heard, let them wonder what was racing through the forest.

Pushing himself, he knew he's be spent by the time he made it back to the red team camp. He'd also pay for such exertions tomorrow. That was fine. It was a price he'd happily pay. Fast as ice running was, it was unfamiliar, with different demands on his body. He had not run like this since leaving the Far Reaches. Like swimming, it utilized his muscles differently than just plain running.

Right before he reached the outer pickets of the red team camp, Avocato stood up, dusted himself off, and settled into a fast jog.

"Halt!"

He grinned to see Currant and FannFee emerge from the cover of some bushes.

"Cato, where have you been?" demanded FannFee, foregoing protocol.

"Scouting," he gasped as the sprint caught up with him and took his breath.

His friend gestured expectantly. "Password."

"ISS Torbin," he replied, slurring the name of General Mau's famous flagship. He kept trying to swallow and ease his throat.

"Pass." Currant handed over his canteen. "Take a drink before you drop."

The mouthful of water helped. "Any activity here?"

"Nothing."

"We saw two scouts - Heros and and Azi." He pointed in the general direction their last known route would take them. "That way. Keep an eye out."

"Speaking of two scouts, where are Kedi and Nikos?" demanded FannFee. "Did you lose them?"

He swallowed a second mouthful before returning the canteen. "Spying," he said, before hurrying off to find Kemuri and Purrina.

"Avocato?" squawked their acting captain as, per the usual, Avocato's color and height made him unmistakable all the way across the clearing. Catching himself, Kumari cast a quick glance at the observer before hurrying over and ordering, "Report."

Avocato coughed, leaning his hands on his knees. His hands were filthy, but he did his best to hide that fact. Kumari gestured, and Biri handed over her canteen.

"They were right where you anticipated, sir," Avocato gasped. He took a drink, and forced himself to keep talking. "Just under a hundred troops, six officers. They have long-range rifles and we saw three stenguns. We passed two scouts marking a trail here, but didn't engage. The blue team was prepping to move out when we found them. They're probably moving by now."

"We weren't expecting you for . . . how . . . Avocato," Kamuri whispered tightly, leaning closer. "How did you get there and back in just under an hour?"

Still panting, Avocato laughed and assured him, "We ran."

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

". . . no possible way they could have covered that distance in that amount of time."

Acting Captain Rale sent them another amber-eyed glare, still bristling with fury and indignation a good hour after she had lead her troop into an ambush. The carefully picked and marked trail had ended abruptly when the blue team discovered their two scouts gently trammeled and gagged and left right in their path. More men and better weapons had not won out against surprise. Based on Avocato's report, Kemuri had hastily revamped his battle plan, snatching a sure victory right out of Rale's grasp.

Standing at attention beside Azi, Avocato came to several realizations as the debriefing dragged out. First, there was definitely something personal and highly charged between Kemuri and Rale. She was far too worked up at losing for there to be anything less. If it involved romance, class ranking, or social status, Avocato couldn't tell, but she was incensed to the point of accusing.

Second, Azi and Heros were deeply put out not so much at having been trussed up, as having been trussed up by Nikos. They were of the petty noble ilk who looked down on commoners in order to feel superior. If what Kedi had told him was correct, Heros was also upset because he'd enjoyed it.

Third, his speed back to the red camp had been something truly remarkable.

"The cadets left within ten minutes of their deployment on their scouting mission," said Captain Nyan, observer for the red team. "Cadet Avocato returned alone less than an hour later with an accurate report of enemy location, forces, and leadership."

"Nobody runs that fast, ma'am," Rale countered, barely maintaining her professionalism.

Nyan's expression never changed as she pointed out the obvious. "Avocato did. Are you suggesting something otherwise?"

"I'm suggesting he had help," Rale snapped.

Avocato stiffened sharply. Her words were like a slap in the face. Was Rale accusing him of cheating?

Rale wasn't done with her derision. "He is the academy's darling little Blue Imperial. I'm sure they'll do anything to make him look good."

Before anyone could respond, Heros cleared his throat, breaking into the debate. "Ma'am," he said, diplomatically failing to specify which female he was addressing, "Cadet Azi and I heard something move past us at high speed while we were scouting the red team's position. We assumed it was a roe or other large game that we'd startled."

"That was me," confirmed Avocato hotly.

"As fast a roe," said Rale in scornful disbelief. "You can run as fast as a roe?"

Avocato frowned. "I can run as fast as I can run. Are you accusing me of conduct unbecoming?"

Rale folded her arms across her chest and turned a dark glare at Avocato. "I can't see any other way you could have made it from your encampment to mine and back in less than an hour."

"Your lack of imagination is not my burden to carry," he shot right back, even as Captain Nyan raised her hand for order.

"Attention," Nyan commanded, and they instinctively obeyed. "Cadet Rale, are you calling for an investigation into these events?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Nyan's voice was ice cold. "In that case, learn to do so before accusing both the royal academy and a fellow cadet of misconduct. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am." There was a long pause, and then Rale said, "Captain Nyan, I respectfully request an investigation into today's scenario, specifically, the conduct of the three scouts sent out by the blue team and how Cadet Lord Avocato was able to cover the distance between camps so quickly."

"Cadet Kemuri?"

They young man steeled his nerve and put his faith on the line. "Captain Nyan, if Cadet Avocato says he ran, then he ran. We have no reason to believe otherwise."

"You only say that because you won," hissed Rale in an aside.

Kemuri smiled, as if only now accepting that fact. "And you only say that because I beat you."

Oh, yes. Highly charged.

Half an hour later, with a few bored fifth-year cadets trailing behind them, Avocato was walking Captain Mewtonia, the observer for the blue team, roughly along the route he had taken on his return trip. The wind had picked up a bit, mercifully obscuring some of his trail. Better still, Mewtonia was no hunter, and relied on Avocato to point out marks from his passing. He did point them out, but he certainly didn't explain the odd angle and placement of his boot prints.

"If you can run this quickly, Cadet Avocato, why aren't you on the academy's track and field team?"

He was rather glad she had asked, just to give him a reason to explain away such an obvious gap. "Captain, I'm the class head, with all the responsibility that entails. I tutor all grades in Galactic Standard, I'm on the empty hands and weapons martial arts teams, I play thimbles in the senior league, I'm in the war games and the rifle and shooting club, and I'm an alternate for the debating forum. Once a week I teach shadowblockers, and three mornings a week, I'm teaching some friends how to use an ust, on top of classes, homework, studying, having friends, and occasionally sleeping."

Mewtonia smirked. "Say no more, cadet. I remember those days." She looked about at the dense forest. "There's no way a vehicle or other means of transport could possible get in here, and your description of where I stood and what I was doing at the blue camp checks out. Cadet Rale is grasping at whiskers." She blinked, then looked at him with bright eyes. "No offense, Avocato."

"None taken, ma'am."

"I believe this investigation can be closed with a simple conclusion."

Avocato smiled when he realized she was waiting for him to provide said conclusion.

"Yes, ma'am," he replied. "We ran."