Ichor

Commander (Part XIII)

Year 20 - Commander
Planet Earth

° ° ° °

"Have a seat, Commander Valdez." Percy offered the seat directly across from his at the table.

"You can call me Leo if that's cool with you," Leo offered casually as he sat down.

"Very well, you may call me Ichor. But that colloquialism is only extended to you, understood?"

"Yeah, I get it. Us commanders gotta stick together, right?"

"Precisely."

Percy was holding back some laughter and a smirk. Even though Leo couldn't see his face, he would've been able to feel if Percy had smirked at him and he definitely would've been able to hear the laughter.

"So... can we just call a truce? I mean, we're on the same side, so we could just like let it go..." Leo suggested hopefully.

"I doubt your people would 'just let it go'. I understand many were close to Major Stoll, but he is one of us now. Has been for a while. His discipline and orders are given out by me and his general."

"Look, I get it," Leo said as he threw his hands up to gesture that he conceded that point. "Orders and stuff are important, but it's not like he was actually going to attack you, right?"

"You're correct," Percy confirmed. "I doubt my argument with Major Stoll would have come to blows."

"Great! So we can just all lower our weapons and carry on!"

"And if I said I would be suspending Major Stoll? Would the demigods respect my decision?" Percy countered.

"Uh... if that means he would just be hanging out around camp, yeah, I'm sure that would be fine?"

"Oh, no. If I suspend him, he goes back to Primae," Percy explained. "It would only be a week or so there, but the amount of time that transfers into on Earth is classified."

In all honesty, Percy would not have done that. But he needed Leo to know there were rules set in place and that he would not be lenient just because it was Travis's past home. It was his too, but Leo didn't know that.

"What?? No, please don't do that! Isn't that a bit excessive? Why does he even need to face consequences? He is safe. The little girl is safe. No one got hurt. What harm was done?"

"The harm is what could have happened. My orders were disobeyed, my leadership was questioned, and my allies had immediately turned against me. I run a tight ship, Leo. Don't you?"

"Well, uh, of course. I've got the tightest ship ever. Super tight. But, um, I also know that, and I'm not accusing you or anything, but I know that I'm not always right and that I have to trust my other, uh, crewmates."

Percy was silent for a moment. He was proud of how far his friend had come in terms of being a leader. That was something he often told newer officers. It was impressive that Leo learned that lesson on his own.

"Ok." The quick turnaround was very surprising to Leo. "I'll drop any disciplinary actions for Travis, but... we need a solution to bring our two forces together. The Chaos Army has more overall experience and has more resources. Demigods know the enemy and the terrain. You called us here because you needed more firepower, more people to fight on your side since the gods can't or won't. Believe it or not, I did not choose to come here because the gods asked. I chose to come here because the campers asked. So prove to me you will accept the help I'm offering."

"How?"

"That's up to you."

Leo was fiddling with some spare parts as he thought. He felt completely out of his depth. "If only Percy was here," he mumbled under his breath.

Percy heard him clearly but was humbly shocked, so he asked Leo to repeat what he said.

"I said that I wished Percy was here. He kinda led the seven of the prophecy with Annabeth and Jason. Piper too, I guess. And even Frank and Hazel did more than me. Honestly, you should ask one of them to come up with something. Plus, Percy was the one to lead the Battle of Manhattan and bring down Kronos's forces. I wasn't there, but I heard all about it. If he were here, he would be talking to you and not screwing things up."

Percy was silent a moment as he figured out how best to respond. When he did, Leo hung on to every word.

"The universe knows of Perseus Jackson, of course, but I for one do not think he was infallible. I'm sure he too felt like he wasn't the right person for the job. But from Commander to Commander, it's the ability to overcome these feelings that brings the confidence needed to lead. I think you've got more going for you than you give yourself credit for. It became clear as we worked together."

Leo was contemplative and more still than Percy had ever seen the Latino. Until, however, the son of Hephaestus exclaimed, "That's it! Working together!"

"What?" Percy had to ask because he didn't exactly register what was being yelled.

"We can integrate our training so the army and the campers get to know each other. We'd prove we're accepting the help because we'd be learning from you all, and the campers would start trusting you all more because they also had some input on how things were going to be run. Right now, our plan is for your generals and other important people to train everyone. But what if some of our counselors also taught your army some things?"

Percy really liked the idea, but he had to make sure Leo thought this through entirely. "And what could you teach us?"

"Um... we could still cover the topics we discussed earlier today, but like split each lesson in half so that two instructors—one soldier and one counselor—taught their way. The more perspective the better, right?"

Leo couldn't see it, but he felt the proud smile Ichor was giving him. It made Leo grin wide as he all but bounced in excitement.

"Very good idea, Commander Valdez. You shall inform them of the arrangement. Let's go."

The grin dropped from Leo's face faster than Hazel's horse.

"Whoa, wait a minute, I can't go out in front of all of them and explain this!"

"Sure you can. You just explained it to me. I'll be there to back you up. But the idea is rightfully yours."

That did not comfort Leo too much, but he gulped down his nervousness and followed Ichor out of the tent.

Eyes followed them as they approached Travis who was still restrained by the interlocked swords of the generals. Leo could feel the rising tension from the soldiers and his friends. It scared him to think of what would happen should he mess this up. When Ichor gave a reassuring nod his way, a little confidence crept back in. Enough for Leo to throw caution to the wind and shout, "Lower your weapons!"