Callie's Heroes

PART II - ANOMALOUS READINGS

“Thorn, what else is out of the ordinary?” Xera asked. “That reminds me, where did the Prince end up? He’s a Warlock, right? What’s he like?”

“Correct, he’s with me,” Trainer Terrin said. “From what I can gather, he’s a rather humble young man, a natural and charismatic leader, and like his father in many ways. I think he will do very well. It’s a shame about his circumstances, but I have little doubt he is high-rank officer material if his duties to the Crown are no longer needed.”

“Do you think he’s someone you want to mentor?” Xera asked.

“It’s too soon to say, but possibly. He needs to do a combat tour first, though, but he has the right demeanor for being a trainer, once he has some real experience.”

“He’s made a point, repeatedly, of insisting he be treated as any other recruit,” Thorn added. “He’s also shown great protectiveness for the Little One, that single Gnome recruit that is. Given her situation, it’s an admirable quality in the young prince.”

“What’s wrong with the Gnome?” Xera asked, concern in their voice. “What situation?”

“Apparently, she has no memory from before awakening in the transport wagon just prior to arrival. The Prince’s suggestion was that she may have been kidnapped and dumped into the wagon as a bounty, given that she appears to be a hybrid.”

“Hmm. I’ve heard of that happening. I certainly disapprove, though. I presume she’s Conscript? Which class is she?” Xera asked.

“She’s one of mine,” a voice said from one of the chairs. “I’m not sure how, but she’s one of mine.”

‘You’re serious, Reynard?” Xera said, seeing his Ranger trainer had arrived.

“Unfortunately. I completely blame Thorn for this.”

“Now now, my good friend. New challenges are a good thing,” Thorn said with a grin. “Besides, she can shoot pretty well, if I do say so.”

“There’s more to being a Ranger than just shooting your bow. She needs to learn tracking. She needs to learn wilderness survival. She needs to learn stealth. She needs to learn sword fighting. She needs to learn a lot of things that a Gnome is not physically able to do, and she’s only a meter tall on top of all that.”

“She may surprise you,” Thorn said.

“We’re not even sure she’s a Ranger. It’s a waste of a worm!” Reynard snarled.

Xera made a puzzled expression and Thorn clarified. “The Scryers were unable to determine her class. Something odd about her readings, even under deep scans. However, she does have the Advanced Archery perk, so I felt it was worth the attempt. At worst, we’ll be able to try again with another after the next term.”

“Still a waste,” Reynard grumbled.

Commandant Xera stood up and waved to interrupt the escalating exchange. “Thorn, are you saying we have not one, but two anomalies here this session? The Goblin Barbarian last term was strange, but it has happened two more times?”

Thorn gave a slight chuckle. “It’s stranger than that, Xera. We have three.”

A low murmur went up among everyone who was hearing this for the first time.

“Who’s the other one?”

“Mine,” The leonine Trainer Olin said, rising. “She’s mine. The Pixie.”

The Commandant was left speechless for a moment. ‘The one that was injured?” they finally asked, unsure what else to say.

“The same. The Scryers checked multiple times and even did a deep scan. She’s a Bladeweaver,” Olin said with a shrug. “It will be an interesting combination, but once she is fully healed, her nimbleness and ability to fly could make for a very interesting advantage, despite her small size and fragility.”

Xera ran a hand through their hair. “Thorn, that’s four of these ‘anomalies’ we’ve had now. Make some discrete inquiries to see if there are any other reports of odd-classed recruits that may not have passed through our intake screening. The first from last session is strange, but three more this session makes for the start of a pattern. If it continues into the next one, we’re going to want to find out more.”

“Of course,” Thorn said. “Do keep in mind, whatever oddity this may be, assuming it is the start of a pattern, would have started years ago. The Gnome and Pixie are in their twenties. I’m not sure how old the Ogre is, but probably mid to late twenties as well. They all received their classes quite some time ago.”

“Except the Gnome, who seems to have none,” Reynard scowled.

“We’ll know in the morning,” Thorn snapped. “This was my call to make, and I made it.”

“Reynard, please,” Xera said. “Give the Gnome a chance. We owe that to all our students. That’s why we’re doing this.”

Reynard nodded with a grumble. “Fine, I’ll do what I can with her, assuming it takes. But it probably won’t matter and Thorn owes me when it fails.”

“You can give me a solid ‘I told you so’ should that occur,” Thorn said.

“I look forward to it.”

“Anything we need to be aware of from the Front, Legate?” Xera asked, trying to change the heated subject between Reynard and Thorn.

“I was expecting the latest report today, but it’s late. Hopefully I’ll know the latest counts by tomorrow night. But, as to your question, based on last week’s report, there has been great success among our graduates that are working in small, balanced teams of two or three using ambush and sapper tactics, especially among the Hybrids. We’ve been asked to provide additional training in these areas, as well as possibly identify teams that work well together from the start.”

“Any issue with making that kind of adjustment to the training regimen?” Xera asked Thorn.

“I think we can find a way to make some adjustments as we go along. Maybe identify pairs and trios that work well together. With the extended training post-semester, we certainly could arrange for focused instruction.”

“Are we still planning that foolishness? I need the break between the two sessions,” Trainer Cheena said, interpreting for Trainer Maugra.

“That is still the plan, Maugra,” Thorn said, pointedly not acknowledging Cheena rolling her eyes in career exasperation. “It may not involve any of your students, so your skills may not be needed. And I’m sure Trainer Cheena could cover, should it be so required.”

“Her?” Maugra said incredulously with a whispery, raspy voice. “I highly doubt that.”

“Nonetheless,” Xera said firmly, trying to placate the venerable Goblin, “we must do what we can. For the war effort, of course.”

Maugra gave a grunt of dismissal and took her seat again, thankfully not feeling up to arguing with the Commandant.

Xera and their staff proceeded to work their way through the first-day checklist of items to discuss. Save for the three anomalies and the fact that the Prince was in the camp as a recruit, there was little truly out of the ordinary with this training group. Xera was happy with the balanced variety of classes represented and was already giving some thought on how to match them up for the two and three person squads as the session progressed.

The plan to extend training for select recruits was a new idea for this term. Xera had seen many recruits come through who had shown great aptitude towards leadership or advanced tactics, but the compressed training timelines made it difficult to fully explore those talents before the term ended and the recruits were sent onwards. Xera and Thorn had speculated that some additional focused training, with those few specific cadets that showed promise, could round them out and create new officers, field sergeants and elite combatants. The trainers hadn’t warmed to the idea of giving up their four-week break between terms, but there was enough interest to try it as a pilot this time. If it was successful, they’d make adjustments to future schedules to make sure and allow adequate time between the start of each training cycle.

Unfortunately, advanced Symbiotes were getting harder to come by, and Xera was worried they’d either need to start working with smaller recruit counts, or reduce the number of terms every year even further.

Xera also still had this nagging feeling in the back of their brain regarding the four anomalies. Something seemed off about it, but they weren’t sure what exactly it was. The Goblin Barbarian last term had been strange, but the recruit had proven herself quite remarkable, despite her race-related challenges, graduating top of her training group and actually making it to Gold Tier. But to get three more the very next term just felt off. It would be interesting to see what Thorn’s inquiries on the recruits would yield, as well as how well these three recruits would do with their challenging classes.

The business concluded, Xera dismissed everyone. The camp was still. By now, most recruits would be sleeping, having just received their Symbiotes. The Fairy drank in the quiet, the last the camp would see for quite some time. Tomorrow, the real chaos began.