Sigma/Star

Chapter 74: Scoly

General Goulet sat atop a mountain, watching the war unfolding beneath his Goliath. Next to him was Grimsley in Memini te Pater, gripping the controls to his machine tensely. Ronald was outside of the warmachine, relieving his bladder in a bush on the ground, obviously to the grander situation.

"You hold fear in your heart Grimsley." Goulet spoke softly through the radio network. "But anxiety. You wish to be in the fight as much as you want to run from it. That is good. You must overcome this if you wish to become the true warrior you are striving for."

"How do I overcome it General?" Grimsley had now fully adopted Goulet to be his master and teacher, hanging on his every word.

"You cannot do it here. This is not where we make our stand."

"What?" Ronald had hopped back into the cockpit and tried to pick up on the middle of the conversation.

"Quiet old man," Grimsley snapped. "Go back to peeing. Tell me General, why is this not our place? I have fought the Bahari before and I'm sure we could do it again."

"And we will. Not here though. This battle is but a front. It is simply an initial confrontation meant to test the armies that oppose the Jahari. The wisest understand that it is not this where we fight but rather, at the source." Goulet swept his hand out over the expanse of land in front of them where the war raged, and then he moved it underneath him, brushing past his body to end up pointing in the opposite direction. "Beneath these lands are catacombs and caverns. How else do the Jahari move within the ground itself?" Grimsley nodded as he followed along with the Artisan's logic. "Within them walks a very unique being, one who is different from the others. Perhaps he is some sort of leader."

"How do you know all of this?"

Goulet smiled in his battlesuit, feeling inspired once more by the energy of youth. "It is my gift, my speciality. That which helps to feed your machine life can also be used for many other purposes. I could be considered a detector of this energy."

"So you can sense this stuff if someone has it?"

"Everyone has it. Chi is the essence of life and flows within every living being. Some are simply more apt at manipulating their own than others, such as myself. But whether you can use it or not does not mean you do not have it." Grimsley nodded in understanding and the pair heard the soft snores of Ronald over the speakers as the elderly man had fallen asleep during the lecture.

"You stupid buffoon! You're supposed to be my partner. You're the worst co-pilot ever!" Ronald simply snorted in reply and rolled over in his seat, eyes still shut tight. "I'm sorry about him Goulet. Please ignore his...ignorance."

"Ignore his ignorance?" Goulet mused a little at the expression before turning his back on the battlefield and motioning for Grimsley to follow. "Let us move. We must hunt for the signature beneath our feet. It will be through stealth and strategy that we will dismantle the Jahari, not through the brutality of war and loss."

Grimsley followed his master as the two descended the mountain, his heart heavy to be abandoning people to die behind him. He sucked in a deep breath and tried to expunge those feelings from his body but it was no use. As he moved away he saw nothing but images of Raven, of Aunt Shauna, and of Gretta all lost in the fires of war. He had to remind himself that the fight was far enough from Easley, and that Gretta was safely in the stars but his emotions would not leave.

"Come now," Goulet spoke softly, seeming to read Grimsley's mind. "It is not dishonourable to enter into useless combat. You always have to think through your actions before committing to them without the constraints of emotions or honour codes. We are not bound to aid them for they need no aid." Goulet pointed back at a little glint in the sky above the battlefield. "Things will be ending their shortly, trust me, and it would be in our benefit to be as far away from the ending as possible, for there will be much loss." Goulet continued down the mountain, his eyes scanning over the area as he searched for a way to breach the tunnels beneath them.