Saiyuki Fan Fiction ❯ Shades of Time ❯ Marching Orders ( Chapter 16 )

 

The end of the hour saw every officer ranking above Major in the throne room at the Emperor's palace. Everyone took their places in their respective sections and as such Tenpou was only a few feet away from where Shi stood with her squad. Tenpou frowned a little. Usually Shi's unit was only brought in when something needed to be done in secret. Her team was trained for covert operations or, he shuddered lightly at the thought, when something was particularly nasty and required getting in and out with all due haste. And damn it, he wished she'd just look at him instead of standing there like a statue.

 

Kenren was shooting him worried looks, wondering what the hell was going on between Tenpou and Shi-ne this morning. Unless he missed his guess, they'd had some kind of fight but this didn't seem to be their usual Shi driving Tenpou crazy sort of thing. He looked behind Tenpou's back to Shi's second in command, who was giving her leader the same kind of worried glances and mouthed “what?”. She shrugged and shook her head, indicating she had no idea what was going on with them either.

 

Everyone fell silent and all attention turned to the Emperor as he entered the room. “I know you're wondering why I've called everyone here so I'll get to the point. Several excessively large creatures have been rampaging at all points of the lower world, most dominantly at the southwest and northeast corners of our domains. All attempts at containment have failed to this point. I've called the special situations units in because these seem to be things that can not be put down by sword point alone. They will go with their respective sectors with the exception of the Southern and Northern squads. General Mulan, your team will be going with the Eastern division and General Kai, yours will go with the Western, since those areas are the most heavily infested and in need of your particular brands of expertise. You deploy as soon as possible. Warrior's grace be with you all. Dismiss.”

 

There were instant calls of “Fall Out!” that rang through the room and the troops scrambled to do their superior's bidding. Shi didn't bother to shout, she only jerked her head slightly and her team nodded almost in unison before heading out to get gear and supplies for the mission. Tenpou wondered at the nonverbal communications for a moment before realizing something that had never really dawned on him before. Shi's team had to operate in almost complete darkness and total silence most of the time in order to keep everyone alive. Any harsh gestures, even the slightest whisper of sound could give away a position and get someone seriously injured or killed.

 

As he pondered this, Shi's second in command walked over to him and Kenren, saluting them both in turn. “Field Marshal Tenpou, where would you like our squad to rendezvous with your troops?”

 

Tenpou glanced to where Shi had been a second or two before only to find her gone. He sighed heavily and looked at the young woman addressing him. “The Western training grounds will be fine.”

 

“Very good, Sir. Any further instructions?”

 

“No. Dismiss.”

 

The woman nodded and left, presumably to find Shi and the rest of the squad.

 

“So, what now?” Kenren said.

 

Tenpou shrugged. “Company! Fall out!”