Systems In Chaos: Dissention

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

After Teran and Vrik and left the barracks to go meet with Rogan, Garen stood up and walked over to the holo-terminal that was connected to the sound system that had been set up throughout the Valiance barracks. The small blue screen had a play list down its left side while the rest of the screen was full of jumping volume lines. The lines jumped most when the bass of the music hit. He swiped his finger along the screen to scroll down the playlist. He touched one of the rock songs to make it play. He selected one of the songs that had been the camp’s favourite back when they used their jukebox. As he listened to the drums start to beat he returned to his seat next to Vladimir and took a swig of his mug of beer.

There were a dozen soldiers sitting around them singing, adding their voices to the dozens that were ringing throughout the warehouse. He heard Vladimir cough and grunt as he cringed in pain. “Are you alright?” Garen leaned in to ask so he could be heard over the music.

Vladimir forced himself to smile, “Yeah, I’m alright.” He had his jaw clenched as he waited for the pain to subside. He was holding his side where the wound was healing, “Still going to be another three days or something the doctors say. The medical supplies the Harts had at their disposal are really high quality, it’s only taken a few days to do what regular supplements would have taken a few weeks.”

“Well, you aren’t going to be able to do much when we fight against Jore, you might be able to jog by then but if you find yourself needing to do any rolls or dives... you might tear the hole open again.” Garen knew how much Vladimir wanted to feel like he could contribute again, he was very impatient. But they both understood that he couldn’t, not for a few days at least. Thankfully it wasn’t going to take half a month for Vlad to heal up, otherwise, knowing him, he probably would have tried something by now and would have succeeded in only making it worse.

“Yeah, I know. It isn’t going to stop me from doing what I can though.”

Garen snorted a laugh through his nose, he had to respect Vlad’s tenacity. Garen put his beer aside and stood up, “I’m going to go do the rounds. I’ll see you later.” Vlad nodded as Garen patted him on the should and left.

The day was warm, the twin suns were shining brightly today with not a cloud in sight. The rays felt warm on his skin, he stretched his arms and tried to work the kinks out of his back and neck. His stomach rumbled to remind him how hungry he was. He hadn’t had the chance to eat breakfast this morning and when he had started drinking with his men he had forgotten that he hadn’t eaten yet. Now it was past midday and time to get some grub. I may as well get something to go, while I check the defences. The streets near the barracks were bustling. There were a lot of soldiers patrolling the roads but along the sidewalks normal people were trying to carry on with their lives, trying to ignore the  devastation around them and doing their best to forget about the fact that at any moment they could be attacked by the imperials again.

“Freshly baked bread! Freshly baked bread for sale! We have many toppings and spreads to spice it up!” a woman was calling. She was standing behind a stall that sat in front of a small bakery store. A little boy was at her side twisting and turning all the jars of spreads to make them look neat.

Garen walked over to them and smiled, “You wouldn’t happen to have any sugar icing to spread over the break would you?” Iced bread had always been his favourite back in the day. Before the war he would go to a bakery every Sunday morning and buy two or three fresh to eat as he walked down the streets. That was when he lived and served in the small town of Den Valley, back when there was nothing for soldiers to do but keep the local peace. He had been part of the special commando unit which was only called for duty on special occasions, not like Vladimir and his soldiers which were used like ordinary police. Den Valley was almost seventy kilometres west of the Royal City. Their resistance forces had even set up base there for a time, before they were attacked by the Hadi and were saved by two dozen Zeuti Guardians. That was when they had decided to start using guerrilla tactics and moved to the forest. It had been a quiet place, mostly meadows consisting of farmlands. Not somewhere most soldiers would expect to be placed. In truth it had been a reward, of sorts. Vladimir and Garen had taken down a smuggling ring that had been in league with the black pirate group known as the ‘Black Steel Raiders’. They had both been captured during that mission, and were tortured for fun. Though it had only taken them four days to break out of their cells and take out their captors, they both had marks to show for it. After that, their General had seen fit to give them a few months leave and sent them to ‘serve’ at Den Valley.