Vivid Stars Online

It wasn’t hard to find the soldiers after the mayor’s assistant pointed me in the right direction. They had taken over a section of plains on the side of town farthest from my frigate, as that had turned into the centralized landing field for the area.

A large section of grass had been cleared, and the dirt underneath was packed to form a hard surface. One side had a row of targets set up, while the rest was organized for physical training.

Groups of people trained within, dozens of people in total. It was more than I had expected this soon, and I couldn’t be more pleased.

With only a few weeks before I would need to take over protecting the area, I would need everyone that I could get.

Not only would they have to patrol the lands around the growing town, but also the new village I was setting up in the mountains. Then there were any other missions I would need soldiers for.

While I expected we would clear the cave before patrols started, I would surely find more situations like that in the future. Now that I had access to groups of armed men when needed, there was no way I was going to stop using them.

Several of the groups noticed me as I approached, but didn't pause in their training. One squad of ten people was performing target practice, while the rest were doing physical conditioning.

I spent a few minutes watching the training before a uniformed man jogged over. He was on the older side, mid-fifties, if I had to guess, but clearly kept in shape. He slid to a stop in front of me before bowing and addressing me.

“Greetings Sir,” he said, as he straitened up. “The mayor’s office called ahead, so I got back as soon as I could,” he finished, gesturing toward a squad of panting young men and women behind him.

Despite the clear exhaustion they were showing, the man in front of me barely looked tired. Is he just normally fit, or is something else going on here? I wondered, before nodding in acknowledgment of his greeting.

I had no clear evidence of what level of strength the natives had, but I had always assumed that something was going on. I’d been here long enough to rule out a class system that they had access to, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that they got stronger than usual.

It seemed impossible that they could keep the Beasts I had fought at bay otherwise, and I’d been told multiple times that the army did just that. Even Adam had kept up with Linnea and me when we’d worked together, if anything, being fitter and stronger than we were.

“Well met,” I responded, pushing aside my theorizing for now. “You already know who I am, so I’ll just introduce my bodyguard, Linnea,” I continued, gesturing to where she stood beside me. “I’m afraid that I haven’t had time to look up your background yet.”

“Captain Hendricks, at your service,” the man said with another bow. “I served twenty-five years in the army before retiring to let fresh blood come up the ranks. In the intervening years, I have been an instructor in the Militia.”

“Impressive,” I responded with a nod. “That sounds perfect for my needs here. Is there somewhere we could talk in private? I would like more details on how the training is going, and I have an operation that needs planning.”

“Of course, Sir,” he said, gesturing further from the town to a set of white objects in the distance. “We have a command tent set up this way.”

I nodded and began following him past the training field. Beyond, most of the grass had been left intact for several hundred feet, before it was cleared again to make room for an extensive collection of tents.

“The Mayor is working on a few barracks to hold most of the soldiers,” Captain Hendricks said as we walked. “But it’s going to take some time to complete. In the meantime, we’re making do with tents.”

“And it’s a good thing too,” he continued with a snort as we approached the largest tent. “Some of these city boys and girls have barely camped in their entire lives. Best we train it here in safety, than out in the field.”

“That makes sense,” I responded looking around at the camp. Tents were laid out in orderly rows, and sentries patrolled the outskirts. I was far from an expert, but it looked very professional to me.

The Captain led us into a well-appointed tent containing several tables, each with a holographic projector. They displayed maps of the town and its surroundings, along with what looked to be patrol routes.

“We’ve gotten data from the army on how they’ve been patrolling the area,” Captain Hendricks said with a gesture toward a hologram. “So we’ve been planning our routes based on theirs.”

“That’s good to hear,” I responded with a smile as we pulled chairs up to a table. “We don’t have long before we need to take over.”

“We’ll be prepared,” he said with a sharp nod, a determined look on his face. “The troops might still be a little soft, but they’ll be fine to take on the beasts we’ve noted in the area.”

“Excellent,” I said before my face shifted into a frown. “Now could you explain a little about how the army, the militia, and levies work? I’m afraid that it isn’t an area that I’ve looked into since arriving.”

“Of course, I’d heard that you're from off-world,” the captain responded.

Thankfully, he didn’t look perturbed by that fact, as I was still worried about how people would take it. When it came out that I was actually from some other universe, then it would be even worse.

“There are two basic concepts to understand, and you just brought up each of them. First comes the Army and the Militia, which could be thought of as the active army and the reserves.”

“The Army is comprised of all soldiers that are employed full time. While technically every soldier that works full time for any noble lord is part of the Army when people say the Army, they normally think of the Crown troops.”

“Like the ones currently doing patrols?” I asked, leaning forward.

“Exactly,” he responded with a nod. “While noble troops like ours are tied to a particular lord’s lands, crown troops are the discretionary forces that deploy anywhere requiring extra help.”

“And I assume that they're paid for by the crown?”

“Yes, and they can only be deployed by the governor of a province,” he responded, before continuing. “As you might expect, the Army is not just highly trained, but continually battle tested. Whereas some standing armies might only fight a few battles in their entire career, we fight Beasts every week.”

“This gives us a core of heavily hardened troops and is why we are well known for having a powerful army,” he continued a proud look on his face. “Which is where we come to the militia,” he continued.

“Another difference between us and many principalities is that our military is always in use. The very thing that creates such powerful troops means we can’t simply deploy them all without consequences.”

“As they're needed to fight beasts,” I said with a nod. “So that’s where the militia come in?”

“Yes. The militia, or as many people call them ‘the part-timers’, are people who train a few days a week year-round. They are well paid to work this training around their normal lives and to be drafted in times of war..”

“If we need to deploy the Army, then we call up the militia who take over the normal duties of patrolling for beasts. In such a situation, they would be led by retired veterans, such as I was,” he said, gesturing toward himself.

“When we retire, we're given the option to continue serving in the militia. We get a larger pension and are allowed to keep our gear, but we have to help train them and we need to be ready for war,” he finished with a shrug.

“Right,” I said, slowly thinking over what he’d said. “So you were in the army as a full-time soldier, then you retired and became a part-time militia member and now you're back?”

“Yes,” he responded, a determined look on his face. “We were at peace when I retired, with more young soldiers than we had leadership positions. I’d done my duty and was happy to leave.”

“But now we are on the verge of war. I’ve even heard of foreign attacks on this province, of a group being hit not that far from here. When I saw how bad things had become, I decided it was time to step back up.”

“Then when Mayor Kosfeld contacted me it felt like the perfect answer,” he continued with a shrug. “I’d had years of training experience by that point, and this would allow me to put those skills to use.”

“So to answer your question, yes, I am back in the Army now as one of your soldiers and my rank has been officially re-instated. Any other questions before I move on to levies?”

I considered it for a moment but then shook my head. I had a reasonable grasp of the situation and believed I understood how things worked. When you thought about it as the Army being the active soldiers and the Militia being the reserves, it was fairly simple.

“OK then,” he continued with an approving nod. “The concept of levies is fairly simple. I spoke of how the army is deployed at times of war, with the militia taking their place. Each lord must deploy their standing army units and this is known as their levy.”

“There is a minimum number of troops that must be provided based on the lord’s rank and the size of their land. For most, this would not be an issue, but if a lord has been scrimping on their troops, they can run into issues.”

“The levies from each lord are added to the Crown troops to create the deployed Army, with the militia taking their place, as I explained earlier.” He finished with a shrug.

“I see,” I responded with a nod. “So in normal circumstances, they would expect me to provide soldiers, probably a lot of soldiers, given my rank?” At his responding nod, I continued. “Thankfully, I have been informed that deploying my frigate and other vessels will cover my requirements.”

“I’d heard that, yes,” he responded with a nod. “And a good thing too, I don’t see how we could make your quota otherwise.”

I nodded as well, thankful that the Duchess had already handled the problem. It also gave me a long-term goal to work toward. If I ever wanted to be free to leave with my ships, I would need to build up to the required number of troops.

“Thank you for the explanation. How good are the troops we currently have? I have an operation that I’d like to do.”

“They're decent,” he responded with a shrug. “About half of them were militia members before signing up so they’ve had years of training. For them, their fundamental weakness is the lack of combat experience. Without actual fights, they're a lot weaker than most soldiers.”

“The others need months of training at least before reaching that point,” he continued with a frown. “So I planned to use the trained members for patrols while the rest work on the basics.”

“That sounds sensible,” I said, leaning back in my chair. “Do you think ones with training are ready for a mission? I have an area of beast-filled caves that need to be cleared out. I’ve killed the biggest things there, but plenty of smaller beasts are left.”

The Captain leaned forward, looking intrigued. “Cave system, you say. So I’m guessing enclosed spaces with limited potential lines of attack? And a lot of beasts?” At my responding nod, he continued with a grin. “That could be exactly what they need.”

“As I mentioned, they’ve had the training, but not the combat experience required to bring them up to the usual level. Packing a lot of fights into a short period will be dangerous, but it will get them up to scratch a lot faster.”

“And with us only have weeks before taking over patrols,” he continued, leaning back with a satisfied look. “The more we can fit in now, the better.”

Well, that’s a confirmation that they have some kind of advancement going on, I mused as I began pulling the details up on a projector. No wonder their army has such a reputation. If there’s some kind of hidden XP system, then they would get more than almost anyone.

Satisfied to have my theory confirmed, I put those thoughts aside and began planning with the Captain. While I had a few things to get done first, I would soon take be taking my troops up the mountain.

I just couldn’t tell if that was exciting or terrifying.