Fort Ingrestie, Trail of Tears Route
Temporary Camp Area 1
After marching in unassisted in their M10 MCAS, Class 27 finally make their way to the first "checkpoint" of their three-day march into the wilderness of the Fort. If it wasn't for the visors of the trainees hiding their faces, the look of sheer exhaustion starting to set in could be seen among them all. Even the instructors could be seen to be quite happy to be finally here.
The last exercise was nothing short of a disaster, so remedial training was in order. But that would have to wait for tomorrow. First proper rest was in order, you can push only so far before training is more harmful than actual education.
"Organize into your squads and set up your tents. You have 40 mins to complete the task." Hansen Joto Heisho said before walking into the main area. Where most of the trail has been dominated by forests, the area they were to set up their tents in was a flat plain at the bottom of a hill. It was almost like they were put into a poor defensive position on purpose. But the area was beautiful.
Delmira started to set up her tent she was still in her M10 as she did it pushing through her fatigue. She was like a machine with how much she pushed herself but she was running on autopilot in the end.
Sanda slumped to her knees for a few moments, just utterly exhausted but feeling a sense of accomplishment. She and her squad had made it through the first day. Although the order to set up a tent seemed somewhat a waste of time. Just let me crash here on the ground. She thought but pushed herself to get up and assemble her tent.
Cheilith stood there, closing her eyes for a moment and holding back the exhaustion. She needed something to do, she looked at Sanda putting up the tent and wearily joined her.
Yayoi breathed in heavily as she worked to set up her tent. the training was harsh and exhausting, but she still refused to quit.
Kamiya-heisho, quickly getting out of her M10, arrived at the area Delmira, Cheilith, Yayoi, Sanda, and the rest had been designated to rest at. The Type 42 bodysuit seemed to contrast a bit with all of the M10s still being worn.
"Listen and continue with your tasks. Delmira, after that stunt you attempted with the mortars you get the first fire watch. DOUBLE duty." she said looking squarely at Delmira, then continued.
"After that, Yayoi, Sanda, Frank, Cheilith, Jiang, Tachiko, and Delmira again. Are there any questions?"
Yayoi was silent but disappointed she hadn't been able to prevent Delmira from almost teleporting. She listened as Kamiya-heisho spoke to them, but continued her task. She didn't say anything but a part of her wanted to say Hai to indicate she understood. But at the question though she responded "No, Heisho"
Sanda listened to the Heisho explain the night watch order. She wished she pulled the first watch. That way she'd have as much uninterrupted sleep as possible but second duty wasn't bad. She felt a little bad for Del having to pull double but she was honestly too tired to care. "No Heisho."
"No Heisho," Cheilith responded, wondering who would get the night surprise she was almost certain at this point they would get. She mentally set an alarm to wake her for her watch. Waking up in the middle of the night for it wasn't fun, but she would deal with it. She looked at Del and Sanda, she wasn't going to quit if they weren't.
"Hai Kamiya heisho." Demira responded. She kept setting up her tent anyway.
"Very well then, fire watch begins in 2 hours at lights out. And one last thing... can anyone tell me what went wrong with the mortar ambush?"
Yayoi knew what went wrong, she treated it like a real ambush, and Sanda was the only one to figure it out.
Sanda just wanted to crash. Did they really need a lesson now? "We didn't approach the attack as an actual attack. We just went moving in without taking the time to move as a unit and make sure the enemy didn't have other surprises in store for us." Sanda said. She had finished setting up the tent and was crouched down in front of it. She took her helmet off and was munching on a ration bar.
"And we didn't communicate like a team." Delmira added
"Individual actions didn't add up to a coordinated whole." Cheilith responded.
"Ding, ding, and ding. So once you are rested tomorrow, this squad is going to spend some time re-learning to communicate and act as one unit once again. I am sure there is a log laying around in that forest." Kamiya said with all seriousness on her face. "Until then, Giretsu!" she said before walking forward to talk to the other instructors.
Yayoi thought what they all had said was right, and because she didn't think she had anything to add she said nothing. She listened and was amused to hear they would be focusing on communications.
"So any plans for when they wake us up in the middle of the night?" Cheilith asked now that the instructors were out of earshot.
Sanda washed the dry ration bar down with water. She wished she had her flask but she had left it behind. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it I guess. Blade." She said glancing at Yayoi. "Wake me up after your watch will ya?"
Yayoi nodded "Hai." she said simply before adding "Look, I know I don't...communicate much, as this might be causing problems I apologize.. those in my batch tend to not talk unless we have something we really need to say or.. when we don't realize we should be saying something.. I will work on this" she finished
"If they stage a night raid we hit them back hard." Delmira suggested. She then looked at Yayoi. "We all need to work on communication I think"
Yayoi nodded her head. "Agreed"
Sanda chuckled. "Yayoi, for the first time that I've known you, you're talking too much. I need sleep." Sanda smiled and lay down in her tent with her helmet to the side. "If someone attacks us, just shoot them and let the rest of us sleep." She called out from her tent.
As Cheilith lay down, she thought about how much she liked Sanda, Del, and Yayoi, as well as the rest of the class. She started with just not wanting to her crewmates down, but as the class had gone on, it expanded larger.
Yayoi said nothing more since Sanda needed to sleep and she laid down on her back. Her heterochromia eyes closed as she fell asleep.
Delmira will walk around the camp switching her vision modes as she looked around into the forest. She will stoke the fire pit a few times in her shift.
In the forest, a group in old fashion ghillie suits low crawl towards the edge of the rim of the forest. Sure they could use volumetrics, but they preferred the old methods as they do not give off power signatures. The large mortarman reached into his pocket and grabbed his scouting scope.
He looked around until he found Kamiya's squad. "Found them, they were the ones that came after me?" the man puttIng Away The scope. He relied on his cybernetic eyes Magnification to watch.
"What do you think Shosa?" Kamiya's voice came internally.
"I've seen worse... a loooot worse. If they know what their problems were last time, I would not worry about them washing out."
Yayoi turned in her sleep, but her danger sense, something she picked up from the resistance was starting to alert her to potential trouble. Yayoi slept on, but her hand moved to something like a stick or rock close by.
Delmira would stop and look around then she would start to rearrange the camp a bit grabbing logs and dragging them closer to the group and even grabbing a few rocks and setting them down as well.
Sanda was snoring lightly in her tent. She was so exhausted that she didn't even hear Del moving around outside. Normally a very light sleeper, Sanda was out. But her 'rifle' was secured in her hand with the strap wrapped around her wrist.
The Shosa panned over to watch what Delmira was up to. He could help but chuckle internally.
"Shall we hit them again tonight Centurion?" a female voice said, clearly eager to wreck the same kind of pain on the trainees as she received when she was one.
"How many times do I have to remind you that this isn't the 75th Giretsu Century Rie-shoi?" the Taii said, sighing. "And no, just observe and infiltrate. I am sure there are a few unsecured weapons down there. If you find them, hand them over to the instructors. If you are discovered, mark what area it was in. And for the love of Kami, if they raise a stink don't go full Giretsu mode on the poor trainees. Just raise your hands and wait for the instructor to remove you."
Delmira would turn and seemingly look right at the shosa when he watched her. The short neko, in reality, was using her own cybernetics how ever she looked into the infrared system as she did it picking out animals and other things.
Yayoi still slept but the rock or stick she grabbed was gripped hard as soft sounds of slumber left her form.
Cheilith slept with the sling for her rifle still attached. It wasn't long, but a sling was how you kept things from being taken from you. It was also handy when you needed your hands for other things. She was so tired that she hadn't really thought about the slightly uncomfortable position she was in.
"Well that is good to hear, I wouldn't want our numbers to be affected by more wash-outs. I have my bonus to think of." Kamiya finally responded back, making some kind of an attempt at a joke.
"Legion II is not known for its jokes. Please stop Heisho."
Several hours later
"Keep your guard up, I'm sure the instructors are planning something." She told Yayoi when her watch was up. "I moved logs and rocks to use as weapons if needed." She would crawl into her tent in full M10 and would lie down however she would not sleep but lay her rifle down and curl her tail around it slipping her tail tip into the trigger and entering a sort of meditation rest with her eyes closed.
Yayoi glanced around after getting awakened for her watch. She nodded her head in agreement with Delmira's words. She appreciated Delmira's preparation. and began her watch. "Sleep well she said in a whisper. She glanced at Delmira and then the others in their squad, and held a stick close.
All was quiet over the camp. Most of the trainees had long passed out but even the social bugs were not fast asleep. As promised, the Taii and his Giretsu started to make their infiltration of the camp to ruin some trainees' mornings. 5 individuals that were chosen for their ability to move silently from the old Giretsu Century slowly made their way down the slope.
The Taii made his way towards "The Squad", knowing that Yayoi was a ranger. He would have to pull deep into his SAINT tricks to get past her completely unnoticed.
Yayoi could not shake that familiar alarm feeling. But she focused on her hearing allowing her self of hearing to aid her. The rock she held finally broke from the strain of her strength, now becoming sharp shards. She listened to the breeze around her, to the way it flowed and moved, the way trees and grass was affected, and the way camouflaged individuals were interrupting it.
She listened for any sounds of the breeze that indicated someone was there who did have visibility.
The Taii paid attention to the wind patterns to match his movements to minimize any disruption he was having. He watched Yayoi to see what her reaction to his actions was.
Her eyebrows furrowed as she listened.
Eventually, he got close enough that even his careful movement could possibly be heard. So he grabbed a few rocks from a pouch and threw them in a pattern to mimic someone walking quickly in the opposite direction.
Yayoi suddenly turned her head as she heard the sounds but didn't move. instead, her head turned the opposite way from where the rocks landed. A shard appeared in between her fingers. Suddenly the Taii heard her voice in his head. "what kind of steak do you like?'
"Oh we are going to throw down are we?" the Taii simply replied.
Yayoi looked at him then. "if it's allowed, sure." She said to the one she caught.
He stood to his full height and turned off the reactive camo of his Shinobi suit. "Well, no point in keeping this on. Plus the objective has been accomplished," he said, referencing the other successful infiltrations and gathering of free weapons of other squads.
Yayoi nodded her head silently, as her mind processed what he said.
"We can throw down when and after you graduate. Until then..." The Taii did a two-finger salute to his head and disappeared.
