Battlefield Regulation 4 – If Something Can Go Wrong, Prepare For It To Do So

The way in which I’ve jinxed us doesn’t show up immediately.

We have time to make decisions on what to eat and Sara fusses at Chaisee trying to make everyone food on her own. It’s an opening that Rehema immediately takes advantage of and I slip in to make sure everyone has napkins and drinks while those three are playfully bickering.

My stealth goes unnoticed until Sara is grabbing napkins and stops short with a confused croak. Rehema eyes me suspiciously and I put my hands up. In my defense, I didn’t want to be the only one that wasn’t helping. I’m ready to even say as much, but then Sara laughs and beams at me and the three of them settle into companionable chatter while everyone gets seated and starts eating. They even make occasional efforts to include me in the chatter when my mouth isn’t full of food.

This… isn’t too bad. I can handle this. They’re not expecting me to metamorphose into an extrovert on the same level as Chaisee or Sara. It’s like with Mao. Companionable silence and occasional nods on my end is allowed. I could get used to this. I could like this – I do like this. There’s more guilt burrowing into my jaw from the way that this could have happened while Yilmaz was still here if I’d let it.

The jinx comes in the form of the notification from earlier. Chaisee is starting to say something to me when an alert pings across my vision, bouncing from the bionic eye to obscure most of my sight. The notification turns a bright crimson, icon changing to an exclamation point that has a mini countdown underneath it.

That’s unusual, but I don’t have time to linger on figuring out what just happened. I have 30 minutes to respond to the notification. There’s an urgency underpinning everything about it that makes my fur itch.

I forget that I’m talking to the others as I open the notification and read it, all the while wondering what could be this urgent.

It’s a mission deployment.

There are two options at the bottom: Accept and Remind Me in Five Minutes.

I read it three times just to be sure. The fur on the back of my neck stands up. Several of the details are abnormal for a first time deployment, even for Special Commendations like me. Other details are the sort I’ve never seen before.

“Something wrong?” Sara asks just as I’ve finished reading the deployment message for the third time. Her eyebrows are bunched together, one of the ways I can see the worry written plain across her face.

“I’ve received a mission deployment.” I say, voice low. “I have under half an hour to respond to the notification. It arrived earlier without a timer.” for a moment, I consider stopping there. “I ignored it because I wanted to focus on this.” gesturing at the three of them with one hand, I can see the understanding settle in.

I don’t mean for them to take it any specific sort of way, but I watch as the three of them give one another a look before looking my way again.

Rehema sits up from where they’ve slouched into one of the couches. “End date?”

Double checking prompts me to shake my head. “None listed. Until the mission is done is all it says.” this is one of those little details that rub me wrong about this deployment.
There are almost always end dates on the early ones; missions without end dates are reserved for much higher ranks than I.

And yet…

Chaisee scowls. “I don’t like this.” she says, shaking her head. “Is that enough time to do the squad thing? I mean. I’m down for it – and having additional Riptide backing you up on that can only be helpful, right?” she licks her lips, runs her hands through her mohawk. “We. Don’t. All have to do it.” she glances over at Rehema and Sara. “I think we can use the squad as a getaway even if it’s just me.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Sara bares sharp teeth and I tense up.

“Pride.” Rehema leans forward. They stare at Chaisee until she ducks her head; then stare at me and make that purring gesture once more.

Sara huffs, crossing her arms. “Exactly!” she puts on an impressive pout. “And, and you two have been spending all this time with Kukali. So if you trust her enough to throw your lot in with her like this, then so do I!”

Chaisee laughs, shoulders sinking as relief overtakes her. “Oh good.” she leans back, letting out a long breath. “I decided while we were getting our food together, at least for myself.”

“Same.” Rehema says.

My throat gums up, teeth stuck together. I don’t- there is an emotion that’s built up atop my tongue and I don’t know how to begin articulating it. I force my mouth open. Shut it again. Try once more. “So the notification having a time limit and being suspicious doesn’t affect your choice?”

…I don’t actually mean to ask that. It comes out of my mouth anyway, leaving behind the half formed gratitude for them being willing to put such trust in me.

“Not one bit.” Chaisee grins. I catch Rehema nodding in agreement out of the corner of my eye. “Just makes it come into effect faster. I figured we’d have time to eat before I brought it and all my thoughts to the table, but that deployment means that’s not an option.”

“We did eat some at least!” Sara points out, holding up her half empty plate.

Chaisee nods; then exhales and visibly focuses on me. “So. Is there enough time to establish the squad before you have to accept that mission? What are the details? When is go time?”

I breathe.

We can make this work. We can get it done.

“According to the squad paperwork, all that needs to happen is that I establish the squad – I’ve got an option in my HUD for that – and then I send invitations through the LAGOON feed to whoever I want to invite.” I let out a huff and a quiet almost laugh. “Perks of landing Special Commendations and scoring like I did – I don’t need higher authorization to establish it, I just have to hit the button and start sending invites.” I look through the settings. “Another perk – none of you have to fill out anything special, just accept it.” there is still a part of me that’s overcome with glee about the fact that I was second in terms of scoring. Second! After so many years!! I shake myself. “Squad established. I’m deferring naming it for now. I’m going to send an invite to Sheila as well. They’ve helped us enough that I’m worried about leaving them here.”

Sara has one of those big grins on her face again. “And folks call you the ice princess and assume you don’t care.” she says, shakes her head. “You’re just real quiet about it is all. Dunno how I ever thought someone as kind as you had it out for us.”

I duck my head, lacking in words or even an idea of how to react to that. My gut reaction is to hiss that I’m not kind at all, but… well, evidence points in a different direction.

Chaisee engages Sara in conversation and eating again with a glance my way. A silent rescue. I nod in acknowledgement and focus on sending the invites out.

Four invites, neatly delivered – and the next step is quicker. Composing a message to Mao.

SilentYowl: Mao. Does your LAGOON have space for myself and a squad of 3 to 5 individuals?

I’m baking in the assumption that we’ll find Yilmaz. So I’m holding a space for him just in case. How that would work is a problem for future me.

Her response comes in under a minute.

thunderflare: Yes
thunderflare: is evac assist needed
thunderflare: ?

She must have hit send too quickly, with the way the question mark is its own message. I’m… heartened by this.

“Mao will take us.” I say aloud right as Chaisee accepts the invite to the squad.

Chaisee makes a big show of choking on air, eyes wide. “Gods that’s fast. What did she do, drop everything to respond? Oh I wonder if she’s been worried about you since the brineclaws…”

I hadn’t considered that. And I don’t have a response for it either. I’m debating one when I get the notifications that Rehema and Sara have both also accepted their invites to the squad. And now there’s the new little HUD piece lingering in the left side of my vision. Names, faces, and the status ‘Alive’ written in bright green beside their names.

“Please check that you all have access to the squad HUD now.” I say instead of continuing to try to figure out a response to what Chaisee said. I wait while the three of them pull out their phones and check. The trio of nods is exactly what I’m looking for.

“Huh.” Chaisee sits up straighter. “This looks actually useful. I wonder if we can customize it…”

“Check.”

“I’m already on it Hema!” Chaisee sticks her tongue out at the lioness. “I’ll figure out the ins and outs of this before we have to get going.”

Leaving her to it seems like the best idea, so I do so. I might have the manual looked over, but they’re navigating the HUD in a different way. “I’ve sent Sheila an invite as well.” I say, mostly to confirm aloud that I’ve done so. “My current rank permits me to have a squad of up to eight including myself. I plan to reserve one of those spots.”

“For Yilmaz?” Chaisee looks up abruptly, finds my gaze.

I nod. All three of them lose some tension I hadn’t even noticed they were carrying. “Once I accept the mission, we’ll have about twenty hours to pack and plan.” I say, looking over the deployment again. Less than the minimum. Is that because I ignored it for so long, or was it already planned like this…? “They’ll need to change my transport now that I have a squad, so that may or may not give us more time. Operate as if we won’t be getting any and we’ll go from there.”

At that point I pause and give the document another read. This has the benefit of also giving them time to digest what I’ve said so far. I’ll admit outright that my actions are inspired by countless briefings where everything was dumped on myself and others and no time was had for questions or thinking. It’s a bad way to do a briefing.

Not that the three of them seem to have any questions at all. So I continue. “The full mission details won’t be available until we meet up with the client on the ground. We don’t even get to know where we’re going until we’re on the transport.” extreme secrecy. Something else that makes me… nervous isn’t the right word. I’m not sure what the right word would be. I don’t like this.

This isn’t how first time deployments are supposed to go.

“Twenty hours?” Sara’s eyebrows shoot up. “That’s… that’s not a lot of time.”

“A classified client meet on your first deployment?” Chaisee frowns, looking up from where she’s been poking at the HUD on her phone. “No offense, but not even you are that good. No way in hell am I letting you go on this alone. Maybe, maybe it’s a coincidence.” she trails off, chewing the inside of her lip. “You are Special Comms and several Agents have been hurt in these recent incidents. I mean, I’d want to put someone resilient and trustworthy on this, but it still…” Chaisee shakes her head sharply.

“Suspicious.”

“I agree on all three points.” I nod. “It could be a coincidence, but I plan to prepare like it isn’t.”

Three nods and I let myself breathe. Good.

“I can get my essentials – both for mission deployment and staying gone – in under two hours.” Chaisee says, eyebrows pulling together as she speaks. “I’ve been gathering the latter slowly over the last few days.” here she offers me a guilty smile. “I couldn’t sleep until I had something to work with either.” she adds. “So after that I can help anyone who needs it.”

“Already good. Available to help.” Rehema gives Sara a long look and then glances over at me as well.

I’m distracted from answering by a notification.

furnominalRuins: ‘preciate the invite but I’m needed here. thanks though, good luck

The response is about what I expected. Sending it was more about the intent behind it than expecting an addition to our squad.

“Sheila’s not in. They say they’re needed here.” I report, give it a moment so the information isn’t crowded by my response to the previous topic. “I won’t need any help packing. I need half an hour at max. What about you, Sara?” I try to pitch my voice somewhere gentler as I ask. It feels like the right thing to do even if I’m not sure why.

The tallest of us ducks her head with a whine. “I’m gonna need help. Hema can you help me?” she looks to the lioness, perking up at the sight of Rehema already nodding.

“I’ll help too if you still need it once I’m done here.” Chaisee announces. “So, two hours minimum for the three of us.” A gesture at herself and a quirk of her lips. “Lets say… minimum of ten hours from now? That should give us all time to sleep once we’ve got it all handled.”

“Plus two.” Rehema counters.

“Plus two then. So twelve hours from now. That gives packing time, time for Kali here to have a bit alone, and some sleep.” Chaisee counts those off on her fingers and gives me a look. “Promise I’m not setting you up for anything, just figured you might like a bit to decompress before the mission. Pumas are solitary animals.” she grins.

I’m once again struck mute beyond a snort at the joke. I open my mouth, shut it, try again, and resort to shoving a piece of papaya in my mouth. Chaisee grins wider at me but then she’s engaging Sara in conversation and I’m left to my own thoughts for a bit.

Time to decompress won’t go amiss.

I remember, all at once, to actually accept the mission we’ve been talking about. I watch all three of their phones go off as soon as I’ve done it. Good to have confirmation that the squad system seems to be working as designed.

I finish eating and bid a quiet farewell for now as I head for my apartment. I keep my guard up on the way – eye connecting to each hallway as I go. There are more of them that spit that weird error code at me than there were before…. but nothing happens. Doesn’t stop my shoulders from hunching up to my ears, but nothing at all happens.

Once I’m in my apartment I glance over the status of my squad, tail flicking as I watch what looks like a real-time heartbeat monitor. It feels… odd. Odd and comforting at the same time. On the one hand – I have a brand new squad of relative strangers who have put their trust in my hands. …And on the other, the same thing but with years of Riptide training sidling in to assert that this is how things should be.

Shaking my head, I catch that I haven’t responded to Mao. The response from her is still open, waiting for me to respond. I set up the feed to take a voice recording while I go for my duffels. I still have work to do, I can allow myself to decompress once it’s all done.

“Hey Mao. Thank you for responding so quickly. It’s myself and three others for the squad at current. I’ve also gotten hit by a mission deployment, so I am uncertain how to progress with the transfer while the deployment is in the wings.”

Short. Simple. To the point.

After a few minutes I decide to send a second one. “This LAGOON isn’t safe anymore. I don’t know if you’ve seen anything about the fiend attacks and supposed accidents here, but someone sent brineclaws after me and have been targeting Yilmaz’s other friends. They’re who the squad is. His other friends.” that… feels awkward to say, but Mao will understand. “I hope this doesn’t put you in an awkward spot. If it does, I’ll give my all to rectify it.” I add, then send it before I can overthink again.

I’ve always been good at that. Overthinking. It’s been worse this last almost week without Yilmaz around to drag me out of my head.

Something about having a squad now, about knowing that there’s folks whose safety I’m fully responsible for seems to help. Even though the squad thing isn’t like in the exams.

A bone to gnaw on at another time.

Ten seconds after I’m done packing, I receive a voice recording in response from Mao.

“I have seen the reports. I would hear first hand accounts from each of you once you have arrived here as part of your debriefing. My spot is as it always is, no trouble can come to me that I cannot handle. Mind you, our regulations around missions differ from those in place at your LAGOON – so you will also be briefed at that time. There will be transcripts available for review after. I will have the paperwork sent to you over the LAGOON feed. Sign it – only you have to, your squad will be covered by your signature – and send it back.” silence for a moment. There’s a hiss on her exhale. “If the mission turns out to be a trap or unsatisfactory for any reason then you are to come directly to my LAGOON. Inform the client that terms need renegotiating, send me a message over the LAGOON feed stating that you are returning to base and I handle it from there.”

There’s a longer silence this time, long enough that I glance at the timestamp to be sure that she’s got more while I chew on what she’s said thus far.

“All of that aside, I would ask a personal question.” Mao’s voice has gone softer in that uncertain way no one would ever believe me that she possesses. “When you arrive and are living here, would you still be willing to aid me in learning to read? I understand that you will need time to acclimate and all else, so I am perfectly willing to wait if you require. And if the answer is no – that will be fine. I simply… wanted to ask.”

I can picture her with that last bit, tilting her head in that way which makes her silvery hair fall over her face so her expression is hidden. I replay her message while sitting on my bed, glad for something to focus on that isn’t the endless chanting in the back of my skull.

Task lists are something I can work with. It took less than a half hour to pack my essentials. I have plenty of time to pull up a notepad file and start sketching out my task list.

1. Inform the rest of my squad that Mao wants to hear first hand accounts of the attacks and accidents.
2. Keep an eye out for the paperwork so I can sign it and get that processing as quickly as possible.
3. Remind myself at least five more times that Mao’s LAGOON is more forgiving with missions that my own is and that she always says exactly what she means.
4. Respond to Mao

That last one I can check off right now. Short and direct to put that one worry to rest.

“Of course I’ll still be willing to aid you, Mao. We can keep it to just the messages or work in some in-person study sessions together if you want. Acknowledged on all else.”

Truthfully, I’m already welcoming the normalcy of her asking that and being able to answer. Stacked against everything else, I need it. The urgency is still there. We need to find Yilmaz and we need to keep ourselves alive while we do it. That’s best achieved with speed.

I can’t rush this stage of things.

Something worth looking forward to – perhaps Mao might let me spar her. I feel I’ve gained enough skill that I might prove an actual challenge this time! She’s… much more powerful than I am, my record of lasting in a spar against her sits at just under five minutes. It won’t be the same as with Yilmaz, but maybe it’ll be close enough…

If I focus on things like that, perhaps I can set aside the gnawing grief. All of my memories are here. Many of the things in my apartment I cannot take with me for fear of the pilot putting together our plans and alerting anyone. I can’t cry just like I can’t purr.

—

Twelve hours since we saw one another last and despite the time to nap baked in, I swear all three of them look more tired than they did before. All of us are packed lightly; maximum of two or three duffel bags each. We don’t know what we’re walking into but we can only prepare so much.

The pilot is a Riptide Agent I’ve seen once or twice before. My HUD informs me that his name is Roscoe and that everything else on his profile in the feed is anonymized. Even Moreau Base. Short pale blue hair gelled into a spiky style and dark blue eyes. Nothing I can see gives me insight into his Moreau Base.

He gives us a once over as we approach. “Think you ladies are prepared enough?” he asks, then shakes his head when Chaisee starts to answer. “Rhetorical. So. Ground rules and additional intel. Flight’s gonna take six hours. You’re early but that works out, client will be pleased. Or we’ll charge ’em for the extra time.” a bark of a laugh. “And don’t talk to me once we’re in the air, kay? This isn’t a taxi.” he raises one eyebrow like he expects one of us to argue that point. When nobody does he grins. “Now I see why so many pilots were fussing over who gets this gig. I’m going to be focused on running the transport, but I will also be keeping a weather ear on the news for where I’m due to drop you lot off. It’s so I know what I’m flying into, but it has been useful for other Riptide, knowing what the situation is on the ground where they’re headed.”

“I appreciate you going over this with us.” I say, dipping my head. “And sharing the ground news with us.” The mission deployment doesn’t even tell us where we’re going. I can use the news to work out at least some of what to expect.

Roscoe makes a muffled, squeaky noise and ducks around to the front of the transport – putting an end to the conversation.

Just as well, the four of us need to get our duffels loaded and then load ourselves. Once we’re all settled inside the transport it sinks in that this one is sized for a squad of eight. Twice our size.

“Did they not have a smaller transport available?” I wonder aloud, double checking to confirm the lack of supplies for a second squad to be deployed with us.

“It’s probably because of me…” Sara hunches her shoulders.

“Nah. More likely me.” Chaisee snorts, tone taking on the edge of a well trod argument. “Remember, I’m an anky. I’m denser than I look.”

“But-”

“Actually,” Roscoe turns around in his seat. “It’s because this – the 8-77 Acapell, seating eight passengers and two pilots with a focus on low sound impact and what some call over-responsive generators – is what I’m most comfortable with. They offered me a 6-55 since all of the smaller transports were in the deck that got shot up, but I decided to go for what I know best. Lots of folks do better with more space, and since y’all have two wild cats in your number… more space was in my list of requirements anyways.”

“I suppose we’re not in the air yet so this doesn’t count.” Chaisee says, lips quirking with the tease.

At that, Roscoe huffs and turns back around. “Look, I just don’t like folks having the wrong idea about planes.” he mutters and starts loudly doing his pre-flight checks. This will be the fourth time, so I suspect he’s doing it to avoid responding further to Chaisee.

I also suspect that thanking him for the information is a thing for later. I know the feeling of needing to break off a conversation and hoping that no one tries to pick it back up. I won’t do what others have frustrated me with.

“I… uh. I’ll need some of the flight time to nap.” Sara says, ducking her head as takeoff gets started. “Sorry. Sorry…”

“Why are you apologizing?” I’m baffled by the repeated apology enough to cut her off from saying it a third time. “You’re communicating with your squad?”

She gives me this surprised, watery look. Her bottom lip trembles.

“The main reason Sara failed – and has stopped trying – the Riptide Exam is because she needs more sleep than most.” Chaisee says. “It often made squad leaders angry.”

I shrug. “If she needs more sleep,” no, I should redirect who I’m speaking to. “If you need more sleep, all I ask is that you let us know when you’re headed to sleep or nap while we’re on a mission. Try to let us know when you’re awake again. That way we can plan around your needs as well as our- why are you crying?”

“B-because you’re so niiiiice!” Sara wails at me, loud enough that I flinch.

Rehema is making that purr gesture at me again, and Chaisee looks pleased.

…They’re taking this the wrong way. “There is no tactical benefit in being cruel to those looking to your for leadership, even in a limited capacity as we are using. Far better to make room for taking care of them.”

This is, apparently, the wrong thing to say. Sara gets even more teary eyed and Chaisee turns to talk to her directly. Rehema snorts in naked amusement and once more makes the purr gesture at me.

I heave a sigh and direct my attention to the news now that we’ve taken off. Roscoe really is quite skilled – take off was so smooth that I’m only just now noticing that we’re no longer in the LAGOON.

The massive airship still looms behind us, huge engines driven by combined engineering and magic thrumming loud enough that I don’t yet know what our plane sounds like. Greys and blues flow along the sides of the LAGOON, paint designed for the airships. It already seems so… small, outside of it as compared to inside.

I shake my head and pay attention to the news like I meant to instead of getting distracted.

It takes no time at all to gather that our destination is Knukyrn within Uisaerca.

…So we should expect lots of horses.

I’ve never been to Knukyrn before, but the horse thing is well known. That might make food an issue, depending on how they handle visitors that aren’t herbivores. I’m in the middle of making a mental note about that when the volume of the news triples without warning.

“And now a huge welcoming cheer for our newest High Mage!” an announcer calls out. I flick a glance back at Sara and breathe a sigh of relief at the fact that it didn’t wake her.

It has gotten Chaisee’s and Rehema’s attention though.

“Barely a month calling the shots here in Knukyrn and so many longstanding issues have been solved! This will be the first time our new High Mage sits for a race, so let’s make sure it’s a good clean one!”

Horses? I look it up through my eye. The announcer is already going on and on about the competitors so this is a good time to check. There’s apparently a big series of horse races going on in Knukyrn right now, setting up a festival that’s five weeks long and features three big races.

The first of which isn’t due to start until tomorrow.

Today is for all of the cheering and band music and big announcements. Pre-gaming, the announcer calls it. The feed notes that this is done to help make sure that things are calmer during the races themselves. Better for the horses this way.

But the information about a new High Mage? That’s worth knowing. It means that political upheaval is one of the many potentials of our mission.

They’re new to the position – the announcement informed me of that much already, and there’s… not a whole lot about their past. Some videos exist, journalists that did deep dives on their past and events that were caught on tape. I keep an ear out for Chaisee and Rehema while I go into the videos.

The first one – no, all of them – hit me with an error code that’s nagging in its familiarity… Where?

…Oh. It’s the same error code a number of the cameras responded to me with in the LAGOON. This time I pay closer attention to it.

It’s wrong.

Grounder error codes and LAGOON error codes are intentionally styled different, some old agreement that was designed to make it easier for techs servicing both to know which way the error flows.

This one isn’t styled like either. Or rather – it’s styled like both. The front end looks like a grounder error code. The back end? All LAGOON.

I look back to the real time feed that I pulled up on a whim. The pre-gaming of the race that’s due to come. I get what I wanted – a glimpse of the new High Mage, an idea of what might be a target, an obstacle, or a client. They’re looking directly at the camera, smiling with all of their teeth on display and waving.

The usual display for folks at home. I tell myself that a few times. It’s not a well timed threat display for nosy folk like me. Maybe their Moreau Base commonly displays all their teeth! The timing is a coincidence.

They turn away from the camera and call for the fireworks display to begin – to the delight of the gathered crowd. Dread sinks into the marrow of my bones and I tense.

It’s just another coincidence, I tell myself. I’m looking for excuses to be wary or something like that. We’re barely halfway through our flight. We’re not even over Knukyrn yet! It’s-

“Brace yourselves!” Roscoe shouts, swearing under his breath and flipping several of the toggles on the dashboard in front of him. “We’ve got hostiles!”