Fifty-Six

"Wow. That looks like a shithole," Kon muttered to Diur as they came upon Camp Alpha. Thick streaks of black smoke rose above the tightly packed camp. A low wooden wall ran along the perimeter of the camp, with slightly elevated towers on each corner of the square fortifications. A much larger tower was in the center of camp, this one made of repurposed scrap.

The shuttle gun was on it on a spinning pedestal. Even from here Kon could see the big, crude, track it sat on. It would be able to spin about to give a full three-sixty degree cover with the cannon. Kon didn't see if the gun could depress far enough to actually aim near the walls.

"Good, they're not dead," Mathis panted. McGuire had set a brutal pace, just on the edge of the squires ability to keep up with. It had caused Kon to start sweating lightly, nothing more than a good warmup.

"Come on. I want some water and to get out of this armor," Mathis said as he started down the hill they were on. Kon had hardly noticed as the ground had become hilly but the closer they had gotten to the camp, the more apparent it had been. The current hill they were on was more advantageous, but was narrow with sharp sides which would make it hard to build on.

Camp Alpha's hill was shorter and broader. They had been hard at work clearing the area around the fort, tree trunks sitting forlornly across the hill. Kon could see people patrolling along the edge of the walls, looking down at the ground. McGuire was already halfway down the hill and toward Camp Alpha.

They crossed the distance in only a few minutes of hard jogging. Kon risked a glance back and saw that Willis, the squirrelly Knight, was still there. The gap between him and the end of the line of squires had gotten longer and longer the closer they had gotten to the camp.

Bosch stood at the gates, counting each and every squire that entered the gates. Willis slowed, dragging his feet as he got to the gates. A second Knight came out of the gate, this one's armor slimmer, sleeker, dark brown bordering on black. A massive rifle was cradled in the Knight's arm as they locked their gaze on Willis. Willis started to move faster.

"Tribunal will be called to go over his actions. The loss of that many squires, and in the manner they died, is a disciplinary action. He broke a bunch of rules for engagement by doing what he did," Mathis explained to them as they walked toward the center of the camp.

"You have food here?" Diur asked. Not seeming to care at all about the current predicament that Willis was in. Mathis chortled as his camouflage fell away. He nodded his head in a follow me motion, and walked through the crude streets toward a building near the central gun emplacement.

The ground was hard packed, the beat of feet having compressed the soft soil. Kon couldn't help but look around to see if he saw a familiar face. Mathis must have seen him peering around because he cut in quickly.

"There won't be any cadets here. They're all back at the main camp with the majority of the support staff, Freymis and a few Knights for security."

"Thanks," Kon said. The smell of fresh cut wood dominated the air. The squires walking around did it quietly and efficiently, wasting no time as they walked briskly from one appointment to the next.

"Are your camps normally this quiet?" Diur asked as they walked. The Ulmna woman drew a few stares, but it seemed most of the squires were more worried about keeping their heads down as they walked than looking at the alien woman.

"Hmmm…oh, um, yeah?" Mathis said as they entered the building he'd been leading them too. The floors were dirt Kon noticed. Everything about this camp screamed raw to him.

"I've never been at a base like this, you know? Most of our training expeditions were planned and not on fallen worlds filled with rifts. I mean, we've gone through rifts obviously, but nothing like this." Mathis pointed them to a line of people who were slowly shuffling forward. At the back of the line was a small table that was covered in sturdy, metal plates, tins, and utensils.

Diur balanced it all in one hand while holding her sword in the other. Mathis watched them carefully, using the mag rails on his armor to hold his rifle, as they waited. The smell of cooked food caused Kon's stomach to growl angrily, reminded of the abuse it had been suffering lately.

"It's been so long since we've eaten anything other than meat," Diur said. Even with the exhaustion weighing down on her, she had perked up to look at the backs of everyone in front of them. Mathis chuckled as they made it to the front of the line to receive a heaping ladle of slop.

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Diur stared at the plate of mush, slowly looking back at Mathis. The man took his own serving without a word, walked over to a small table, and sat down. Kon was more versed in the protein and vitamin enriched calorically dense food that the Dragon Maw served frequently. It had everything one needed to stay alive and healthy and didn't taste bad.

"Well, it tastes like cardboard." Kon had to admit to himself as he sat down next to Diur.

"Who knows, maybe you can't eat it?" Kon said. Diur sighed slowly and shook her head.

"I know what this is. Unfortunately this can be consumed by the majority of the universe. It is just unappealing. Unless," Diur said, hope blossoming in her eyes as she turned to look at Mathis.

"Have your cooks enriched this food in some way unique to human biology?" Diur nearly begged with her question. It caught Mathis as he was pulling his helmet off, a snort half modulated, half not as he sat his helmet next to him.

Mathis was a dark man with kind eyes. A thin mustache covered his upper lip while he pulled a skull cap off his bald head to place right on his helmet next to him. He chortled as he looked at Diur and slowly shook his head.

"Straight out of the processing vats. Plain and healthy."

"How unfortunate," Diur said. Regardless, she spooned the slop up and ate in stony silence without another word of complaint. Mathis ate quickly, speaking in between mouthfuls of food.

"All the Knights are in a meeting right now. All the squires hit the showers and armory first. We'll do that next. Get you guys cleaned up and get you some armor," Mathis said, stabbing his spoon at Kon, sending some slop over the spoon's lip to splatter loudly on the plastic table.

"After that, Bosch is going to want a more thorough debriefing of what happened. If there's any chance of finding Commander Roose, she's going to take it," Mathis continued after a second of staring at the splattered food.

"Were they close?" Kon asked.

"I have no idea. But Commander Roose would be the highest ranking person if she returned to base. It would end the fighting between the Knights and Navy guys. Also, Commander Roose is the strongest Knight alive on planet. Even without her armor, she's a prodigy with energy control. Has run more missions than nearly everyone else. Combined." A hint of hero worship had edged into the man's voice as he spoke of Alice.

Kon grew quiet as he ate slowly, trying not to think of the mealy paste he was shoving in his mouth. Could Alice be alive up on that plateau after they had left her? The thought teased him, tortured him, the thin tendril of hope sharpening that doubt till it felt like a blade slicing across his skin.

"Come on, let's get you guys showered and in some regular clothes," Mathis said after the mood at their table soured. All three of them had scraped their plates clean. They dropped the plates off next to the door, with a bunch of other soiled cutlery.

Mathis led them to the showers, a series of cubicles in a small building. The water was at best, lukewarm, but Kon shuddered in delight. It took a while as he cleaned, scrubbing himself vigorously with a coarse bar of soap that Mathis had handed him as he walked into the cubicle.

The water had turned black as it streamed off of him, swirling down the drain in a stream. Kon had lost track of time since landing on the planet. It had all been just fighting, hunting, and training. A constant challenge as the world tried to kill him, the pressure never ending as it pressed on him, looking for a weak point to break him.

Now he watched as it was scrubbed free. Weeks of dirt, blood, sweat, and whatever that gunk was that came out of him when he body cultivated, all of it was wiped away with just a bit of effort.

He left the shower feeling lighter than he had in a long time. His exposed skin seemed fresh, new, the breeze blowing through the building was refreshing as he took a deep breath. There was so little better than a good scrubbing under warm water. Mathis had left him fatigues, just simple olive green pants and shirt, with under garments in sealed packages. All of it felt rough and uncomfortable against his skin.

"I was living in a half cured lizard hide and this is what feels weird," Kon said out loud with a laugh as he found a pair of new boots also had been stashed under his chair. Whatever else he was, Mathis was good at his job.

"I admit, these clothes are poorly made and uncomfortable," Diur said, her voice causing Kon to stiffen and spin as Diur walked toward him. She was dressed in identical clothes as him, her ruined robes bundled in one hand while her sword was in the other.

"How long have you been here?" Kon asked, looking around the showering station, he hadn't seen her at all.

"I was just a few stalls down. Worry not, I did not peek at you," DIur said. She tried to keep a straight face, but it broke and she smiled broadly at whatever look had plastered itself across Kon's face. He laughed himself as the two of them walked out of the showers together.

Mathis was waiting for them, his scalp wet, dressed in fresh fatigues himself. He had a sidearm strapped to his waist though. Kon wondered why he hadn't gotten the same privilege. His laser rifle had disappeared on him between entering the shower and exiting it as well.

"Bout time. Come on, Bosch wants to talk to you," Mathis said after looking them up and down. They were apparently clean enough to stand before the Knight. Mathis spun on a heel and headed straight toward the central tower and the mounted shuttle cannon.

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