The Lord of the Plains

by Sarah Chapman

Chapter 25

  The rest of the final year of combat training drifted by.

  Whenever Riley smiled at Garis he nearly wet his pants. It was a somewhat gratifying response, as long as she didn’t think about Maztar.

  The rest of her unit were carefully awed by how she had avoided Garis’ SIGPEW. She told Geilar how she’d done it and eventually he was able to do it too if the distance was far enough. She didn’t tell the rest of her unit the limitations to her trick. If someone tried to shoot her she wanted that ace up her sleeve, despite its flaws; it wouldn’t work if her attacker got behind her (she needed to be able to see after all), or if there was more than one. Considering the limitations, she thought it best to avoid being shot at in the first place.

  At the end of the year their unit was on top of the leader board by a good number of points. The prize? Respect and admiration.

  And then it was over. The units gathered like they had on the first day. Colonel Hamnar said a few words and called out the new designations of the units and where they would be reporting.

  TU-4 became U-16. They were assigned to the Astar Home Defence Patrol. The unit found this rather exciting. They’d be outside Astar. As far as the infantry was concerned, they’d be the first line of defence for Astar. Perhaps there was more to topping the leader board than respect and admiration.

  Riley was concerned to find she had been given command of their unit, which as a gemeng was the highest position she would ever reach. The rest of the unit wasn’t.

  ‘You didn’t know?’ Jann asked an eyebrow raised. ‘Wow, maybe I should lead then.’

  ‘When did this happen?’ she demanded.

  ‘Um, like six months ago?’

  She just gawked at him.

  ‘Who’s always telling us what to do in combat training?’

  She didn’t want to answer because it was usually her.

  ‘Exactly.’

  For the first two weeks their unit had two more experienced soldiers working with them.

  Mazra- commonly known as Maz- and Lestar were a curious pair. Maz was good at telling them what to expect, common mistakes and so on. He was helpful. Lestar would, on occasion, jump at his own shadow. He wasn’t so useful.

  But Riley didn’t mind, as they were in the forest. Outside the wall, not as far as Garrondin or the testing centre, but even so, they were outside. Most days the glimmer from the AgriShields could be seen. And if you cared to look, the Shield Tower might be visible, a lone point above Astar.

  Something eased in her whenever she was in the forest. It was like letting out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. And so she was happy and determined to make a good impression so she could stay in the Astar Home Defence Patrol.

  The routine for their unit was a morning run followed by reporting to their commanding officer at the Astar Home Defence Patrol offices. There they picked up the radios- which were returned when they checked back in, and were told which area they would be patrolling. Then it was outside. They’d split into two groups and meet regularly throughout the day. They didn’t stop for lunch, which was eaten while patrolling.

  Mostly it was boring work, unless you enjoyed walking around forests, then it was rather relaxing.