Ichor

Commander (Part III)

Year 13 - Commander
Planet Primae

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"Thank you for joining us," Percy formally greeted. "This dinner is in celebration of Major General Travis Stoll for his quick thinking and quick apprehension of Corley of Binmeth. May he continue to serve the army well and perform more acts of brilliance and bravery."

"Hear, hear!" everyone chanted from around the table.

Percy sat on high with Travis to his right in the seat of honor.

"So, Travis—can I call you Travis?—tell us about yourself," Mason more ordered than asked.

Everyone around him was listening in carefully. Word had spread to the generals that Travis knew Ichor before he joined the army, so everyone wanted to see if they could glean information about their Commander through him.

"Well," Travis started, choosing his words as carefully as he could, wanting to respect Percy's wishes to hide his past, even if he didn't know why it was a secret, "I joined the army just over five years ago. I honestly don't know how I got to be a major so quickly. General Faren promoted me right from a lieutenant to major for some reason. I'm grateful, of course, but it's all a little shocking to be honest."

"You can call me Andrew here, Travis. This is an informal dinner, dress code aside. And I chose you because you're the best, and I don't want that potential wasted on boarder patrols."

"That's great and all but we all knew that. What else? Your file is almost as classified as our Commander's."

"For good reason," Percy interjected. "You don't need to know about my past."

"Do you think it that unimportant, Percy?" Travis snapped, shocking the whole table to silence.

"Excuse me?" Percy asked baffled and slightly offended.

"Did you really not care about your past to the point that you've erased it? Why did you leave? Huh? Without a trace, you were simply gone. We thought you died, Percy. Did you know that? We spent months looking for you." Travis had raised his voice by now and was visibly shaking in anger.

"It wasn't my choice to leave you all."

"Pathetic!" Travis shouted. "That's a pathetic answer and you know it! Why'd you leave us?!"

"I didn't... it wasn't my choice," Percy tried explaining. He had never seen Travis this upset over anything.

"Nine months," Travis said frighteningly quietly. He was clearly on the verge of tears. "Nine months after you disappeared we were attacked. One of your old enemies coordinated an attack and you weren't there to stop them. It was... we couldn't... people died, Percy. Connor," his voice broke and the tears fell, "Connor died. My little brother died. He should not have died. He should not have died." By the end, Travis was quiet again, head in his hands.

Percy was stricken in horror. He never imagined Camp to be threatened so soon after defeating Gaea. And certainly not by a force they couldn't handle. He wished he could have been there to help fight, but he knew that was not an option. No matter how badly he wished it, what he said was true. The decision to leave them was not his own and he had no choice in the matter.

Percy didn't say anything. He just got up and gently led Travis away to somewhere more private. Somewhere they could talk freely without watching their words. Once they arrived in his private office, access only granted with permission, that had enchantments to ward off prying ears, they sat down in chairs opposite each other. Seeing as Travis was not going to elaborate, Percy told his story instead.