Space Odyssey: Spectre

"Sir, I found no holes or divots in the formation base from up here. But I need to go down and walk the maze to make sure. Nor do I see any signs of anything smaller than those titan Kitinols." Steel reported after walking the perimeter of the rock formation a few times.

"Good, my scanning shows the rock is solid all the way through but if it's anything beyond a few meters and it starts glitching out, like there is some sort of jamming but for scanning." The sergeant complained.

"Hmm… sir may I suggest something?" Steel asked as he looked out at the formations.

"Certainly, cadet." the sarge answered as he looked up from his scanner.

"We set up a single central base here but we set up several smaller outposts throughout the area on other rock formations. That way we never have to hold a single position but can instead rotate positions abandoning one when it gets overrun." Steel suggested.

"Huh, I will pass it up the totem pole but prepare automated defenses anyway. We do not want our central post to get suddenly overrun." The sarge turned away to make a private communication and Steel nodded before walking away to find spots to position automated defenses. Spots for turrets, cameras, emplacements, barracks, a landing zone, a tall wall seems unnecessary but maybe bridges between this formation and other ones instead.

Time to put all those planning and strategic skills to use. The next few hours were spent going around and marking the formation, he used his shorthand first before going over it again in military shorthand. Right as he finished is when the first Osprey came in for a landing while the others jumped over onto their rock formation.

Private Hand grunted while Cadet Anchor was wheezing and Private Dave was just as surprised. "Damn sarge," Hand sighed as he walked over next to the man who was watching the Osprey's rear door open up. "How did you ever manage to climb up that rock face at your age?"

The sarge chuckled, "silently, Cadet Steel did it three times as fast as I did and just as quietly. Enough complaining, Cadet Steel, do you have a base camp map worked out?"

"Yes sir." Cadet Steel walked over from the edge as the sun began disappearing. But a moment later something lit up in the corner of his vision. Looking over he saw massive explosions in the distance.

"Ignore it, cadet. They evacuated the old base and are now doing bombing runs to clear out the Kitinol population. Starvation tactics and burn tactics work especially well on a species that is highly flammable. Base specs?" The sergeant asked again, getting handed an info pad in response. He looked over it for a few moments before nodding. "Bridges and weaponry facing both outward and down into the canyons between the rock formations. Nice plan. The captain approved the outpost idea as well. But we are spending a long time searching the ground area as well. His drop pods with scanners and other things all stopped functioning soon after landing."

"Understood sir." Steel answered and stepped back.

"Desert Dogs unpack this Osprey, if you have questions about the base set up come to me or Cadet Steel. Get to it!" They started setting up the base camp and once the Osprey was empty it took off again. They still lacked the bridges and a number of other things. The first run was just for the basic necessities that any central base would have.

After several hours of work, his whole body was hurting, he was dead tired, almost falling unconscious while working. He was absolutely starving, and he most certainly had to relieve himself unless he wanted to piss himself. Which is when the most beautiful sound he had heard in awhile appeared. The Osprey came to land with both the rest of their Squad and more cadets that arrived only a few hours ago.

"Cadets Steel, Anchor, Charlie, Private Dave, and Hand. Go use the can and get some shut eye after eating rations. You can see the rest later." The sergeant said lazily, clearly as exhausted if not more than they were since he was fielding messages and organizing locations for outposts.

Steel did not have to be told twice, not even ten minutes later when the rest were still unpacking he collapsed unconscious. He thinks he saw one of the new cadets try to introduce herself to him when he was coming back from the bathroom. But he was far too exhausted.

Six hours later he awoke and shot up, he usually slept four so sleeping an extra two meant he was just that exhausted. After getting up he got armored up, ate rations, and took care of business. Five minutes later as he was exiting the barracks he saw the sergeant stirring in his bed, rousing himself awake.

Steel walked out to see a magnificent sunrise. As well as two soldiers, one cadet and one corporal walking past. As he looked around he saw several other soldiers, all of them had the same desert dog insignia on their uniform.

Steel ignored them as he made his way up to the highest point, a tower they made that could see down into the maze. There was already another person up there, sleeping in his armor on a chair. Once there he pulled out a scope and began looking around at the horizon. Spotting several slightly shivering and moving rock formations.

He pulled out a data pad and began marking the positions and movement of the titan Kitinol. Thirty minutes later they had settled down but Steel had not, he sucked in his breath. Twenty-three titan Kitinol, he had only heard of five or six in a place at most. He clicked his tongue and went back down the tower, he figured he might find something while he waited for the sergeant to wake up. But still, this was not just bad but also odd.

He had yet to see a single Kitinol corpse, unless they counted the empty shells. Which was odd because they produced rather quickly. Maybe they starved them a little too well.

As he was processing this he saw the sarge step out of the barracks and put on his helmet. He walked to a command station that was set up, it was uncovered because of the lack of need for secrecy. It was not like they were fighting something intelligent.

"Corporal Tani and Private Wise, fill me in. What have I missed while I was asleep?" The Sergeant asked as both women stood straight and saluted. He was nowhere near the post but he could still hear them as he approached.

"Sir, the captain has given us the last locations of the scanning equipment. He has also identified several points of interest and places for the outposts. We saw no Kitinol action last night, it appeared they gathered at the old base. None of the other continents are reporting a change; we are the only ones experiencing abnormalities." The Corporal answered while still saluting.

The sergeant was about to continue when he suddenly turned around as Cadet Steel got closer. "Cadet Steel, good job on waking up before me. But please tell me you did not immediately find something troublesome, because that frown says otherwise."

Steel walked forward, saluted and handed him the info pad. "Sorry sir, I doubt it was noticeable to the naked eye but I figured they would move in the morning as well so I counted once I saw how early it was."

"Damnit Cadet…" Sergeant looked over the data map on the info pad. "Corporal Tani and Private Wise meet Cadet Steel, he is highly intelligent, a tinkerer and quick on his feet. Since you came from the tower I assume Private Feathertail was up there."

Cadet Steel moved uncomfortably, "umm… asleep sir. He was asleep."

"Haa… of course he is. Corporal Tani, go wake up our resident medic then the rest that are in the barracks. I woke up Hand, but if they are not out in ten minutes you have my permission to drag them out. Private Wise, grab your favorite cadet of the ones you brought. You along with that cadet will be joining Cadet Steel and I on an expedition to one see one of these titan Kitinol. Then we will drop by this drop pod scanner to see what went wrong." The sergeant explained.

He then began programming the holographic table with the additional points of interest and began labeling them. "Sir should we have someone check each morning to see where they moved?"

"Ha, let me worry about that. Are you ready for a long patrol?" He asked, getting a nod in reply. "Good, because there won't be any bathroom breaks during our investigation. Nor any food breaks."

"I know sir. I remember the protocols to avoid providing the Kitinol with sustenance. Do I need to grab a repair kit?" Steel asked while removing his hand from saluting.

"Yes, I suspect we will need it." The sergeant then waved him off and Steel walked off to grab a repair bag.

Five minutes later he was meeting with the other three near a ladder that was set up. Cadet Steel saluted when he arrived.

"Cadet Steel, meet Cadet March, one of the other recruits I got for my squad. Now come on, we can talk and walk." They climbed down the ladder one-by-one with Steel getting to go last.

When they all arrived at the bottom he looked around before they began walking. "Cadet March was just telling us about the station she came from. I was wondering if you have any interesting stories from Kamot Prime." Private Wise spoke as she glanced back at him.

"Hmm… only the Union transmission and martial law. Aside from that I grew up in the slums as an orphan, I doubt those are the stories you want to hear." He answered as Sergeant Cornwall handed him the scanner that was not working yesterday.

"Oh come on don't tell me-"

"Sorry to cut you off. But see if you can get that to work while we walk. It still is not functioning as well as it should." Cornwall told him while he pulled ahead to walk at the pack of the group.

"Yes sir." Steel answered and started tinkering with the device.

"Come on, there at least has to be one story that was just a 'no duh' story." Cadet March encouraged. As they walked she was holding her gun tightly, she was obviously nervous and needed a distraction.

"Well, I have a few. But it is not like any of them have a happy ending." He remarked as he decided to tell a story about a Cthulian trader that got robbed of all his goods after attempting to trade. For some reason he thought the slums were where the honest gathered and sold on credit to thieves and pickpockets.

It was actually an interesting anecdote and insight into how the Cthulian culture was set up. And how their society functioned, because it meant they probably had their more honest people at the bottom and their liars toward the top.

"That is ridiculous it is not like-"

"We are here" The Sergeant cut off Cadet March again causing her to frown while Steel stashed the scanner now that he had made some progress.