Tomás was standing up alone inside the Major room still dressed in the patient clothing he was using in infirmary, waiting for the man to return from a full round session of rants around the base. Apparently, the man didn't like when a wounded soldier goes around base, in his words, 'disrespecting medical orders', so he was now going around the base and making complaints to the ones he thought responsible for the breach in the chain of command.
He was observing the spartan way of life of the mysterious ranking officer of the base, with his simple accommodations and sparse luxuries reflecting his no-nonsense style of command. As it turned out, he was the same Major that, days before, Tomás had explained about the discovery of the Magic, so Tomás was having a hard time understanding how a simple Communication Officer with the rank of Major was in full control of the entirety of the base. In response to that, Silva, Olivia and Gustavo told him to behave himself and listen to what the man had to say because he had information that should not be shared carelessly around the other soldiers, so Tomás was waiting the man's return so they could talk.
The room was simple, with a simple office desk full of office material and papers and with a turned off computer and its appliances. On the wall there was a map of the city of S?o Paulo, courtesy of the Metropolitan Train Company, that showed all the contested areas and possible places for Goblin's bases and hideouts, and Tomás could see the tactical acumen of the officer, showing troop movement that aimed to encircle the hostile point before committing to a head on assault, but, apparently, none of the movements or attacks had been successful.
Turning back to the table, Tomás noticed that many of the papers were drafts of possible orders and speeches, but all were too scribbled to make sense, all exhibiting the signs of an anxious writer. One of the papers he could understand suggested a specific trooper organization for the search and destroy missions, a forty-man platoon comprised of four squads of ten under the command of a Lieutenant and three Sergeants, divided into two fire teams of five, with a Corporal as the second in command of the squad. Tomás was nodding approvingly to it and some of the other things he could understand when he heard the click of the door closing and a voice behind him.
"Liking what you see, Corporal?", the Major said.
Tomás turned to face the man. He was of shorter height than Tomás, standing maybe a hand shorter. He sported a haircut very short and the features of a person who had dealt with a lot of stress over the years, with deep bags under his eyes and the diseased aspect of a cancer patient, with his lean muscles and malnourished aspect, but his eyes, two light green piercing eyes, transpired the likeness of a wizened predator and survivor.
Tomás saluted the man, saying "Sir, yes, sir. If you would allow me a comment, Sir."
The man studied him for a second. "Go on, Corporal.", he said.
"Thank you, sir. In my opinion, it’s fairly practical and, probably, will be effective, the only suggestion I would make is the designation of a machine gunner and of a combat medic and orderlies per platoon, but I don't see any of these new platoons. May I ask why is it still not on usage right now?", said Tomás.
The man studied him for a while, measuring Tomás before answering. "It's because, Corporal Tomás,", he said, taking an axe from his back and putting it on his desk, "we are lacking trained and experienced individuals to lead those platoons. Right now, I intend to form at least four of these platoons, but, even if we have the numbers to create enough soldiers for these positions right now, we can only reasonably create one. I conducted a experiment with this one platoon under the now Lieutenant Silva, and, although they performed nicely, we still need time to cultivate good officers between those numbers. As per your suggestions, I don't think a machine gunner is necessary anymore, or even a rocket launcher, for that matter, with all the new advancements your squad brought to this man's army, but a support squad is attached to each platoon, with nurses and explosive experts helping the soldiers, so no need to worry about them."
"With all due respect, sir, I digress.", said Tomás. "A combat medic at the ready can save a wounded soldier life by being attached to the platoon, and sending civilians or vital medical personnel on a mission is highly inadvisable. And, if you give me an LMG, I can show you the advantages of using it, even with the Magic at our disposal."
The man sighed and gestured for Tomás to take a seat on one of the chairs in front of his desk. He moved for his own and both men sat down facing each other.
“Firstly, let’s do a quick round of presentations. And I believe this is yours.”, the Major said, taking out and axe he was hiding behind his back and handing it to Tomás. He also picked up a file and readied it in front of himself, reading its contents.
“My axe. Thank you, sir.”, Tomás said, checking the weathered weapon. “But how did you get it?”
“Your squad mates were quite insistent on going back to that school to get it back, so I allowed them to do it in the return trip from their mission. I am surprised that they didn’t hand it to you the moment they saw you.”, the Major said, nonchalantly. “My name is Marcus Fran?a, and, as you can see, I’m the Commanding Officer of this base. You are Tomás Santos, currently Corporal. Your promotion will be held in just some minutes, don’t worry. You got quite the curriculum, even outside the army. Metallurgy, Chemistry, Nursing and Mechanics, all of them technical degrees. Still impressive. You have an apprenticeship from before your time in the army as an Assistant Mechanic. Good. Irrelevant right now. You served the obligatory Army service as a Private. You received a promotion to Corporal and continued for two additional periods of two years up until three years ago, when you got discharged, totaling five years. You worked in a farm for the last three years until you answered the calling to the reservists. Right?”
“That is correct.”, said Tomás.
“Good. I called you here because I need competent people that I can count on, and you fit that description.”, said Marcus. “I want you to lead the second platoon and train, together with Lieutenant Silva, enough soldiers and officers to mount a third and fourth platoons.”
“That is doable.”, said Tomás.
“But now comes the real reason I called you here in private. Like I explained to your squad and to my closest aides, Army High Command is no more, and no one in this base other than the ones I just mentioned know anything. The Catastrophe hit S?o Paulo hard, but it hit everywhere else just as hard, so we are now completely out of chain of command and down to our luck. The high brass defected or was killed by monsters sometime between three or four days ago, with the Armored Brigades that were fighting the Drakes being completely obliterated and some of the forwards units being routed by monsters. Right now, from what I know, the hillsides between here and the sea is completely under monster control, with the Drakes taking ownership of the Jaraguá’s Peak and its surroundings.
“In S?o Paulo, we are currently dealing with the aggression from the Goblins. They are taking residence in the Metro Stations and are harassing the remaining of the civilian population for food, as they are flesh eaters of the worst kind. We are currently being pushed back and it is only a matter of time before we become their source of food. Between civilians and soldiers, we number four hundred and fifty-four, counted and double checked, with roughly one two hundred being combat capable, with more fifty if we recruit more of the women than we already did. Our supplies are low and morale even lower, the glue keeping us together being the fact that the monsters don’t seem too eager to attack a well-organized foe just now, but they will, so we really need to pick ourselves up before we are dead meat. So, can you help me, Tomás? Help all of those people?”
Tomás breathed deeply, remembering all the things the Warrior said to him about protecting the weak. He already had an answer, but hearing all the facts exposed to him like that made him apprehensive about all of the responsibility. He extended his hand forward, offering it to a handshake.
“That is a tall order, sir, but count me in.”, he said, looking deep inside the green eyes of the Major. “Give me a day and I will have a squad at the ready so we can harass the Goblins back. They will feel sorry for messing with me.”
“That music for my ears, Lieutenant.”, Marcus said. “Now stand up, I will promote you and give you your medals.”
And so, they did. There was no way for Tomás to receive a new name tag with his new rank, so he kept the name tag with the sayings “Cb. T. Santos”, but he received new rank pins with the correct number of stars to denote him a First Lieutenant. Normally, the promotion sequence would be Seargent, third to first, then Sub-officer, then aspirant, and then Lieutenant, second to first, but the situation called for drastic methods, so the simplification of the chain of command was a necessary evil so the new recruits could be assimilated more easily.
Then Tomás received the two simple medals he was supposed to be awarded, the Medal of Brazil’s Blood and the Combat Cross, who were extremely weathered by the time, like they belonged to someone for the longest time.
“These I received during my service in the Peacekeeping Mission in Haiti and I passing them on to you because they should mean a lot more if they are with you, who will lead those soldiers.”, said Marcus.
“Sir… I can’t accept these…”, said Tomás, knowing how much they would mean for the man.
“No, you keep them.”, said the man, finishing attaching them to Tomás uniform. “I received these medals because I sacrificed myself for my team mates, but… they didn’t deserve that sacrifice. They turned out to be wicked men who abused the civilians and the power they had. I cherished those medals as a reminder of why I fought in the first place. But I see in you the same energy I saw on myself all those years back, when I was full of hopes and dreams, I just hope that you can live up those expectations of mine.”
“Thank you, sir, I won’t let you down.”, Tomás said, saluting to the man, who saluted back. “I believe now we have some battle planning to do, if you permit me.”
“Of course, tell me what is on your mind.”, Marcus said, approaching the metropolitan map together with Tomás. “And don’t keep anything out, tell me everything.”
“Well, firstly, when you and Silva told me that those Goblins are using the metro stations as hideouts, I thought to myself that we can use that to our advantage. If we can attack from above and below ground, we can pincer them and cause a rout even with inferior numbers. I think we should aim at these two for the moment.”, Tomás said pointing to two Goblin Bases at the map, one in the Butant? station and other in the Vila S?nia station, both in the yellow line of the metro, both very close to their position. “I will train the boys to take the fight underground, and I promise you sir, we will get those bastards.”
Marcus was thoughtful for some seconds, then said “Do it. You have permission to make the changes in your platoon structure as you see fit and you also have access to the armory, but don’t take everything you see there, we still need to ration our supplies. Remember, bring results, not dead bodies. Also remember that we are low in ammunition, so don’t go guns blazing o those things. Godspeed.”
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Thank you, sir, you won’t regret this.”, Tomás said with a confident smile on his face, the he left the room to build up his personal squad of Goblin hunters.
----
“Why do you think they called us here?”, asked Tobias to another man beside him. The man nodded negatively, and, just like him, didn’t know anything. He and a group of other roughly forty people between men and women were waiting on the street in front of the Police Department that the Provisional Base was situated. Bothe sides of the street were barricaded and the residences around the Department were seized as a means of assure a closed and defensible position for the base, and now, in every corner of a one square kilometer perimeter, was the most heavily guarded position in the entirety of S?o Palo, save from any unknown monster hideout. Not all of the inhabitants of the base were inside this perimeter, but, if the need arises, they could be accommodated rather easily.
The members of this group that now stood outside of the base were mostly some few soldiers that remained in the base after the unknown desertion of their superior officers and civilians that showed martial aptitude after getting to the base leading groups of survivors on their own. Surprisingly, the civilians exhaled a more dangerous appearance than the soldiers because, probably, all of them were criminals or violent individuals before the Catastrophe struck, but all of them answered the call to duty anyways, so they were eligible to conscription in the makeshift warband.
Tobias was one of those mean looking individuals, with his gang tattoos and chains denoting his criminal past. He was a tall man with a chubby belly and strong arms who were full of tattoos and scars, his placid brown eyes and grayish hair betraying a man that was capable of great violence but great care, too, and that was what brought him here alive together with the biggest group of civilians that reached the base, numbered in the twenties, who were comprised most of elderly, wounded and children who were abandoned in the flight from the Drakes and Goblins. He gathered a lot of respect from all of the civilians in the base and was now been seen as a sort of leader of them, since most of them already heard of him even before of the Catastrophe.
Despite his criminal past, Tobias spent most of the recent years a community leader in Paraisópolis, advocating for the people of the marginalized community with fervor in the city’s chamber of representatives. Having served some years in prison, he also knew a lot of the injustices of the country, but, now with the advent of monsters and the destruction of the status quo, everybody seemed to work together to survive in this desolate reality.
Tobias looked around, finding a very diverse cast of characters, from men to women of various ages. Between those people, he saw a beautiful gal with blonde hair that appeared ripped from the front page of a magazine, her features almost angelical; a black man taller than him with the looks of someone who practiced a wide array of martial arts; a woman of short stature and a snakelike appearance that seamed the least trustworthy person Tobias had ever seen; and a bald man with a mustache that Tobias recognized as a policeman almost instantly.
Tobias also noticed a man standing with his arms crossed in front of the group of individuals. The boy, as he appeared to be very young, sported a short brown hair, white skin, black eyes, an average face, and the complexion of someone not so sure of themselves, with the looks of someone who worried too much, but, right now, he was sure of himself, with a uniform and rank pins that denoted him as a Sargeant.
The boy looked at his watch and raised his head, opening his mouth like he wanted to say something but was gathering the courage to speak up.
“A-Attention!!”, he managed to say. “I am Seargeant Gustavo Costa and I will be supervising this meeting. I will say your name and you will raise your hand and confirm your presence.”
The young officer said a long list of names that ended with Tobias’ name. The man used to opportunity to speak up.
“I am here.”, he said. “Can I ask what is the meaning of this?”
“It will be explained, sir.”, the young officer said looking back at his watch, appearing to confirm the time on it. He also took out a piece of paper and readied it in front of him to read. “By the time of fourteen hours and forty-five minutes of the afternoon, I conclude that all individuals called to this meeting are here. You will be inducted in a short training session aimed as a mean of recruiting capable individuals to fight against the Goblin Threat. By the time of five in the morning of tomorrow, we will go out on a mission that is targeting one of the Goblin bases in the region. This request is mandatory and those chosen for this taskforce are to respect the authority of Lieutenant Tomás Santos. You-”
“Cut it, Gus.”, said a man from behind the young officer. “That is just protocol and we don’t have time to waste.”
The man exited the front door of the Department and walked down the steps to the street. He was short and wide, with muscles all over his body that reflected a life of hard work. His black hair was messy and his face and body was full of scars that seemed new, with his right eye missing behind a simple bandage. He seemed the most dangerous person Tobias had ever seen, with his instincts telling him that he was far stronger than he looked.
With him came soldiers carrying a wide array of equipment, from sniper rifles to riot shields and LMG’s, as well as protective equipment and explosives. They put down the boxes containing the weapons and, except for a man that appeared to be an armorer, returned back inside the building.
“Listen up people!”, the man said raising his voice so everyone in the street could hear him. “I am Tomás and you will be taking orders from me now on. I hope that this endeavor can be fruitful. Now, you will form a line as I call your name. David!”
The giant black man stepped forward and stopped in front of the officer.
“Corporal David, you will be the second in command of the Sword Squad.”, the officer said.
“Yes, sir.”, the tall man said in a deep voice.
“Corporal Glória!”, a woman with the uniform of a soldier stepped forward. “Congratulations, you got a promotion. You are Sargeant Second Class Glória now. Youl will lead the Arrow Squad.”
“Sir, thank you, sir.”, the woman said, almost tearing up. Tobias could see that she was happy with the promotion.
“Samantha!”. Per the cue, the snakelike woman stepped forward. “You are Corporal Samantha now and you will be Seargent Glória second in command in the Arrow Squad.”
“Okay.”, said the woman without excitation.
“It is ‘Yes, sir!’ or Sir, yes, sir!’, remember that”, the officer said. “Seargent Gustavo here will lead the Magic Squad. Yara!”
A figure Tobias hadn’t noticed up until now stepped forward. Yara was a pretty woman of short stature and the features of indigenous person, with her brown skin and long, smooth black hair. She appeared to say something Tobias couldn’t catch because of her low voice.
“What?”, said Tomás. “I can’t hear you, woman. Speak up!”
“Sir, I am here, sir!”, she managed to say, now loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Good. You are Corporal Yara now and you will be the second in command of the Magic Squad.”
“Sir… yes, sir.”, Yara said, lowering her head and stepping into the line.
“Silvia!”, Tomás said.
The beautiful woman stepped forward almost like she was walking towards to her execution, saying nothing as she reached the front of the line.
“Corporal Silvia now and you will be our field medic.”, Tomás said.
“… Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”, the woman said, with a disguised hate in her voice. Tobias wondered if the two knew each other.
“Seargent Sérgio!”, said Tomás. The bald man with the moustache stepped forward. “You will lead Sword Squad.”
“Sir, yes, sir.”, said the man.
“Tobias! Tobias!?”, said Tomás. Tobias almost thought that he misheard the call, but the man repeated himself, so he stepped forward. “You will be Corporal Tobias from now on and will be my second in command in the Shield Squad.”
Tobias almost responded with a protest but Sérgio spoke first.
“Sir, this… man doesn’t have the capabilities to be a second in command.”, said the police officer with distain. “You are much better served by one of the ether soldiers here.”
“Oh, he will be Seargeant, don’t worry. He is perfectly capable, isn’t you Corporal Tobias?”, said Tomás.
Before Sérgio spoke, Tobias was ready to give the position to another man, just like the man said, as he did not saw himself as a good fit for the position. But, now with the distain of the police officer clear to him, he would accept the offer just to spite the man.
“Of course, sir.”, Tobias said, glaring daggers at Sérgio. “I am honored by the confidence you deposit on me and hope that I don’t let you down in any way, sir.”
“Glad hear it. You are too, right, Seargent?”, Tomás said, patting Sérgio in the shoulder. Without waiting for an answer, he got on with his list. “For those whose names I call out now, direct yourselves to your respective squads.”
Tomás went on calling the members of the four squads forward, who finished forming the lines behind their respective squads without much complaint. The bulk of the remaining ex criminals went to the Shield Squad under Tomás, but some still went to the Sword Squad, much to Sérgio visible distain. The overall distribution ensured that all squads had two mages, all of them with specializations that suited their squads. All of the career soldiers went to the Arrow Squad and, by Tomás instruction, picked up the long-range weaponry that was laid out in front of them, such as DMR’s, sniper rifles and some regular assault rifles. Samantha was a different story, as Tomás instructed her to pick up melee weapons and just one DMR and one assault rifle.
“Officers, to me.”, Tomás called out. When all of the Sergeants and Corporals stepped in a circle with Tomás, he said “Let’s make this quick and simple. Firstly, all of you should pick up and familiarize yourselves with your squads and with melee weapons. Now, every squad will train to operate separately from the others, mainly the Arrow Squad. Anyways, all of you will wield firearms and learn how to strengthen them. Are you familiar with that?”
“They showed us how when they taught us about Aura. We can manage, sir.”, said Sérgio, answering for everyone.
“Good. Divide yourselves in two fireteams and train small unit tactics. Focus on your voice commands and the focus of fire.”, said Tomás. “Every squad will have a machine gun except for the Arrow Squad, so designate your machine gunner with care. Are you familiar with the concept of suppressive fire?”
“I am sure that I can answer for all of us civilians here that you will have to explain, sir. I am not familiar with gunfights but I am familiar with fist fights.”, said David, raising his callused fists to show his years of fighting.
“That will be useful to cover your boys, but I will explain all you need to know in a few moments.”, said Tomás. “Arrow squad. Just like my Squad, you will split into two: Scout and Far Strike. Samantha, I heard about your special talent of Aura, so let’s put that to good use. You will take the Scout Team. There are four others that have similar expertise in your squad and your job will be to scout ahead and inform us, and mainly the Far Strike Team, about vulnerable enemy units. See if you can teach that trick of yours to the other boys in your squad. You are free to kill any unsuspecting and vulnerable units, but you will be deep inside enemy territory, so you will have to be careful.”
“Music to my ears, sir.”, said Smantha with a wicked smile on her face. “I will make them bleed.”
“… Good.”, said an unsure Tomás.
‘He didn’t expect that’, thought Tobias.
“Glória.”, said Tomás. The woman saluted when her name was mentioned and quickly snapped to attention. “You will cover our units from afar. Take advantage points and kill any units that Corporal Samantha picks for you, simple as that. I want you to keep an eye out for enemy command units, such as Leaders, Captains, Casters, and any other you identify on the way. Kill them on sight if that is necessary and/or possible, but be wary of the Casters, they are nasty bitches.”
“Affirmative, sir. You can count on me. On us.”, said the woman, returning to her resting position. The woman said the last part looking at Samantha, who returned a shy and unexpected smile.
“Gus and Yara.”, Tomás said. “You and the other magic users in each squad will be the rocket launcher that we are lacking. The battle tank that we don’t have. Learn the affinity of the other mages and teach them your tricks. See if they can enhance their management of Mana in their respective field of Magic. The Magic Squad will be a little different because the ones leading the squad will me the mages. The reason for that is the fact that Gustavo and Yara are the ones with the best magical aptitude.”
“Yes, sir.”, said Gustavo. “You can depend on the mages.”
“Like I said, Corporal Silvia will be our field medic.”, said Tomás, turning to her. “Silvia, pick two orderlies for each squad and instruct them about first aid. You will be the magic user of my fire team and I am already experienced in first aid, so no need of an orderly with us.”
“Yes, sir.”, said Silvia, quickly making herself almost invisible to the others by hiding behind David.
“Do you guys understand all I said up until now?”, said Tomás, looking around.
All of the officers and petty officers made positive remarks, so Tomás went on.
“Okay. Hear me well and ask any questions you may have after I am finished.”, he said. “We will attack a Goblin base located in the Vila S?nia Station of the metro. We will face superior numbers, but. If follow my instructions closely, we will be victorious, got it?
“We will roll out tomorrow at five in the morning, so, after we are finished here, inform the members of your squad and make sure to rest well. Now, we will train until nightfall. I will show some tricks I learned, so watch closely.”
Tomás smirked. Some of the members of the task force, those who were a little more sensible to the Presence of others, such as Tobias and Gustavo, felt a cold running down their spines. This didn’t sound good.
