The Lord of the Plains

by Sarah Chapman

Chapter 18

  At the end of the first year the group split further. Those who were staying in the infantry and wanted a chance of an early promotion, or wanted to get into the air force, were very stressed about their exams. There were very few who wanted to be transferred to Coastside, though you had to be exceptional for that, as Coastside trained their own submariners.

  For Riley and the other gemengs the exams weren’t as worrisome. They were staying in the infantry and weren’t going to get promoted very far.

  When the exams were over the units were rearranged into groups of five. Some people had left for other paths, others were moved into other groups for reasons of group cohesion and so on.

  On the first day back Riley looked around at the group she was now a part of, Training Unit 4, or TU-4. Jann Geggis greeted her with a smile. Leili Fleras was also there as was Batar Krope. Maztar Lemnar was in another unit, Gasann Hulin had joined the air force. The only other gemeng in their group, Geilar Thres, had not been part of their exercise group but had been in their theory class.

  Standing in front of the large hall of 2nd year infantry students, where last year they had been first broken up into exercise groups, was a hard-nosed man who introduced himself as Colonel Hamnar.

  He told the students what to expect in the coming year. By now, he said, they should be familiar with weaponry and the theory of unit tactics. Now they would begin putting that into practice. The unit they were in would be the unit they stayed with when they graduated, unless there was a problem. They would also go on patrol with the Internal Defence and Internal Order Forces as part of their training, as well as with the Astar Home Defence Patrol. They would spend less scheduled time on exercise routines and unarmed combat training, however they were expected to keep that up in their spare time.

  Today, he said, would be the first day of combat training.

  ‘The rules are simple. Capture the opposing unit’s base. One shot and you’re out. You’ll have twenty minutes to discuss the plan and then the game will begin.’

  And as quick as that the units split up and headed in different directions. The unit Riley was in and Maztar’s unit, TU-5, were paired against each other.

  The combat training area was a large space with obstacles, barriers and fortifications. They were given SIGPEWs modified for training. They would sting, but they wouldn’t be able to do any real damage.

  To begin with they weren’t really sure how to start. There was no real leader among them and no one had been put in charge.

  Jann cleared his throat and looked around nervously, ‘um, so how should we do this?’ he looked at Leili.

  ‘Uh…well I guess we need to leave some people to defend the base and some others should go capture their base.’

  She looked around at their group expectantly. ‘Who wants to go capture their base?’

  There was silence.

  Everyone looked at each other. Riley was looking at what she could see of the area from their position. No area was elevated above any other, so it was difficult to get a good idea of the space. Their base was located in a rather poor position. They were in a clear space, so an attack was possible from all sides. On the up side, at least sneaking up on them should be difficult.

  ‘Ok, I’ll close my eyes and point. Whoever I point to stays here, alright?’ Leili said.

  She closed her eyes and spun around. When she opened her eyes she was pointing at Jann.

  ‘Ok, Jann will stay here.’ she said.

  ‘Alright. Who’s staying with me?’ he asked.

  Riley looked up at this. ‘Jann should capture the base. Batar and Leili should stay here.’ she said. She rather thought putting Jann in charge of sitting still anywhere was a poor idea. He was more likely to get frustrated and bored and leave his post. Batar on the other hand was very patient, whereas Leili was good at following orders.

  ‘Ummm?’ Jann murmured.

  ‘You’re not likely to stay put.’ she said, somewhat uncertainly.

  He shrugged. ‘I guess. Ok, we can go with that. What are you and Geilar going to do?’

  ‘One of us should stay here, the other should go with you.’

  ‘I’ll go.’ Geilar said.

  That settled Jann and Geilar started talking about how they should go about capturing the other team’s base. Riley walked around their area, noting the places the enemy could get through. She passed her conclusions on to Batar and Leili.

  Then their time was up. Jann looked uncertain for a moment before saying, ‘ok, we’ll move out. You guys, make sure nobody gets through.’

  For a long time it was quiet and boring. This was fine for Riley. Hunting wasn’t always very exciting either. Batar also, was not bothered, and Leili was good at sitting quietly if that’s what she had to do.

  Batar and Leili stayed inside the base while Riley, every now and then, made a sweep around the barriers and walls closest to their base.

  It was on one of these sweeps that she spotted a human and a gemeng sneaking up on the base. They stopped behind a wall and were debating how to get close without getting shot. Riley raised the SIGPEW to shoot and started shaking. It had been months since she’d had this much trouble.

  The pair was just sitting there. She could get them both, as long as she could shoot. She clenched her jaw. Bile rose in her throat. They would spot her. They would shoot her.

  And suddenly a stream of light burst from her SIGPEW, then another so fast it merged with the first.

  She looked at the two in shock. They were as surprised as her. Riley barely noticed. She felt as though she might throw up.

  ‘What happened-oh!’ Leili was talking. She had come out of the base. ‘Did you get them?’

  Riley didn’t answer, but the two were answering for her.

  ‘That’s good, hopefully Geilar and Jann are doing as well.’

  Riley nodded slowly. Leili turned back towards the base and in a daze Riley followed her. The walk helped, though it wasn’t very far at all. It was mainly the fear at what would happen if the rest of her unit saw her in such a state that made her regain control. She shook her head, clenched her jaw. By the time they were back at the base she seemed fine, if a bit stern looking.

  ‘What happened?’ Batar asked when they returned.

  Leili explained and Batar calmly added that he’d shot someone who was approaching.

  ‘That’s three.’ Leili said, ‘so that’s two for Geilar and Jann to take out.’

  They waited some more.

  They didn’t know how the others were doing until a whistle blew.

  That was the signal that the game was over.

  Leili and Batar looked at each other.

  ‘Do you think we won?’ Leili asked.

  Batar shrugged, ‘let’s go find out.’

  The two groups gathered back at the entrance.

  Colonel Hamnar looked them over sternly. ‘Both of the attacking groups were taken out over half an hour ago. The defenders just sat there, doing nothing. So I’m going to call this as a loss for both groups. Now, I want you lot to figure out what went wrong, then we’re doing this again and again. All day. At the end of the day, you’re going to explain your results to me.’

  When he was done the units reunited and explained what had happened to each other. Jann had been taken out by the defending team, as had Geilar, but Geilar had managed to take out one of the defenders before being shot.

  ‘What’s their base look like?’ Riley asked after they had finished. She was looking away from the unit, still struggling to control herself. She didn’t know if she could do this all day, so she tried to focus on the talk instead.

  ‘Pretty much the same as ours.’ Jann muttered. ‘Uh, I can’t believe we lost!’

  ‘Well, at least we did better than they did.’ Leili said. ‘But we still lost.’ she added quickly.

  ‘We need a better plan.’ Geilar said, ‘we can’t just charge into the base like we did last time.’

  ‘Maybe if we had more
people…’ Jann was saying

  ‘The defence worked well.’ Batar said. ‘But they sent three guys at us, we might not have been able to do it with just two.’

  ‘Well they managed!’ Jann said hotly.

  ‘Do you think they’d go on the offence right away?’ Riley asked thoughtfully.

  ‘Um, yes!’ Jann replied. ‘What else are they going to do, sit there?’

  ‘Was it easy to get to their base without being seen?’ she asked.

  ‘I guess.’ Geilar said. ‘We didn’t get shot til we arrived at their base.’

  ‘They might be more careful this time. You and Jann can go find out how many are defending their base…’ she paused, ‘Leili could go with you. Do you think you could try and lure one of the defenders away?’ she asked.

  ‘I could try…’ Leili said.

  ‘If they think just one person is out there they might send someone out to get you.’ Riley said thoughtfully. ‘If they do, it will be easier for us to attack whoever is remaining at the base.’

  She nodded. ‘I can try.’ she shrugged. ‘It’s better than nothing.’

  ‘If you don’t come back then one of us will have to go.’ Riley said.

  They agreed to go with that plan. The game started again and then it was just Riley and Batar in the base.

  Riley thought about it for a few moments and decided to check around the obstacles near the base again. That just left Batar defending, though it would be worse if Maztar’s unit snuck up on them.

  Riley wasn’t surprised when she eventually spotted two people sneaking around near their base. The Astarians weren’t really very stealthy when compared to mountain cats, or anything from the wild really. It was easier to shoot them this time, though her stomach still objected afterwards.

  Before she could spend much time trying to get herself under control she saw light over the base. Around one wall and another and she was back. Batar was down, as was another enemy. Without thinking she raised her SIGPEW and shot the fourth who was just making it into their base.

  In surprise she hurried to the base and scanned the area.

  With a grumble Batar and the other four got up and left the area quickly. They weren’t supposed to talk to each other once they were dead.

  Riley prepared herself for a long wait. If Leili’s team failed then they’d lose this round again, she could hardly leave the base now.

  She didn’t have to wait long before the whistle blew.

  She left the area. When she arrived at the gathering place Jann, Geilar and Leili were looking very pleased with themselves.

  ‘This round goes to Unit Four.’ Colonel Hamnar looked marginally satisfied at this, but perhaps it was a trick of the light. ‘Ok, discuss. Then we’re going again. There’s one more round on this set up and then we’ll change the obstacles around.’

  They continued like that for the rest of the day. Every day began early with a run, then they had theory, then practice. Sometimes it was weapons practice, sometimes it was combat training. They trained with different rules and against different units and in different situations. Eventually they started training outside the city walls in the forest near Astar. They set up league tables, so the combat training became very competitive.

  Once they began training outside the walls of Astar, Riley discovered how much she missed the forest. The smell, the feel, the sights and sounds. The training in the forest was a time she treasured. It also eased the difficulty she had with the energy weapons.

  Riley found she rather enjoyed coming up with different strategies, though not so much shooting people, even on low settings. If she had been using her sword, perhaps it would have been different.