(Thanks, Karia, for the permission, sorry it took so long)
As soon as all the commotion had died down, Max had led Karia out of the med tent. Slowly she led him to her tent where they sat down. Max started first.
"Congratulations on the promotion, Karia. How does it feel to be in command?"
The woman only shrugged, seeming indifferent about the situation. "I'm fine." She told him.
Max nodded, slightly off-balance from her lack of enthusiasm. Figuring she was tired, he continued on. "Well...do you have any plans as of yet? I know it's been kind of a rough time for your people these last coupla days..." Max had no idea what Karia was about to say next, and he was very sure that she wasn't expecting the response he gave after she finished her story
"So you're telling me that after you took command of this unit, leaving him with no real command authority, he took it upon himself to give the whole unit a movement order with neither your knowledge or permission. And you did...nothing." She only nodded in affirmation of his statement. That only angered Max more. His voice raised slightly, but it was his tone that gave his words force. "And you don't see anything wrong in the slightest with this situation?! You're in charge now! The head honcho! Nobody makes any plans of that magnitude without including you in that thought process, and you make sure of that!
Karia's expression at his outburst turned to surprise, but he continued. "I don't know if this has sunk in yet, judging by your attitude of this whole situation, but it's your job as the commander to keep these people alive and well for the duration of your stay in this little combat zone we call Earth! These folks are counting on you to do just that, that way they can focus on killing the enemy!" He turned his back to her for a moment, head lowering. "I've seen too many people fall to the enemy because of careless officers, it's the worst waste of a soldier there ever was."
He turned around to face her again, this time slipping on his red-tinted sunglasses. "Okay, this is the situation. You and your 70-odd troops are going to assault the main Diterr base in this sector. You are going to assault it, capture it, and survive if I have anything to do with it. Copy?" Karia nodded, his verbal assault having shook her emotions. "That place is about a day's march from here, but with as many walking wounded as you have it may take a bit longer. I will leave ahead of you and begin scouting the area. As soon as you are encamped, I will find you and give you all the intelligence you should need. In a matter of hours we will have planned our attack and we will then execute it as soon as possible. That means you have to find a hole and quick so that your troops can get some sleep. It will be a good idea to start the assault early in the morning while the Diterr are still mostly asleep. Sound like the start of a victory so far?" Karia nodded, still be silent.
Max closed the distance with her, pulling her chin up softly with his finger as he pushed his shades up so she could see his eyes, know he was telling the truth. "Listen, this may be a little scary to you at first, but it's going to be fine. You're smart enough to make a great commander, you just have to apply yourself, okay?" He got a small nod in agreement. "Just focus on getting your people there and back alive, I'll handle the rest. Deal?" Another small nod. "Good, I'll see you tomorrow, then. In the meantime, get yourself some sleep." With that he exited the tent and quickly made his way out of the building.
Under the cover of darkness it had been too easy to slip out undetected. He then got back to his own little hidey-hole and shed his uniform, getting once again into his normal garb. Shoulder his rucksack and ensuring that all traces of his stay here were gone, he began to move out on his own objective. He had to get there well ahead of the humans in order to scout out the base. If he ran, he could make it with enough time left in the morning to find a good scouting position from which to observe the Diterr. Quickly he picked up his pace, time was of the essence.
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