Stray Cat Strut - Volume Nine - Chapter Seventeen (Patreon)

Chapter Seventeen

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I parked the Bastion on the edge of what was clearly some sort of big old military base. Emphasis on the old. It was mostly a collection of five or six low and long buildings around a central courtyard, then behind that a few more, with garages and a small train depot. The side of one hill had a large metal door in it, currently open just enough to let people out if they were walking shoulder-to-shoulder. 

Some sort of old-school bunker? That made sense for a military base, I supposed. 

“Alright, let’s hope they noticed us landing,” I said as I stood.

Crisis Mode had chosen to stand in the little corridor just behind the cockpit, hands white-knuckled on one of the railings above. “I think it would be hard for them not to, no?”

“You’d be surprised,” I said as I slipped past her. From the clunk of boots on steel behind me, I knew she was following as I made my way through the ship. I hadn’t reloaded the guns and rocket pods yet, but it would come. Meeting Juno took some amount of precedent.

Opening one of the side doors of the Bastion, I stepped out, then stifled a bit of a yawn. I was a smidge tired and starving. I was considering putting things off for a few minutes to grab a bite, but... well, starving might have been an exaggeration. 

By the time the door finished opening, a soldier was stationed at the base of the ramp, back straight and arm folded in a smart salute. “Samurai Stray Cat,” he said, all crisp. “Lieutenant Colonel Juno sent me to inform you that he is in the command centre and to lead you there if you wish.”

That was nice. Especially the ‘if you wish’ at the end. 

Kinda funny how some people treated samurai as just normal folk, but more official sorts tended to know that while we were just normal idiots, we were also normal idiots that didn’t take too well to orders. 

“Sure, lead away,” I said.

He finished his salute and turned smartly, then walked at a rather sedate pace that let Crisis Mode and I keep up. 

“So, how are things on the base?” I asked.

The soldier glanced back, and I had the impression he would have done a ‘who, me’ kind of gesture if he wasn’t so professional. “We have only been here for a few hours, ma’am,” he said.

“Humour me,” I replied. “The brass sorts might feel a certain way about things, but they care about numbers. A few hours might be enough for a quick first impression. Are the toilets bad, the food ass, the bedrooms.. Bunks or whatever, filled with bedbugs?”

He licked his lips. “The Lieutenant Colonel told me to do whatever you asked, within reason, so... keeping in mind that this is only my first impression, ma’am, I’d like to say that this place is weird.”

“You’re gonna have to elaborate on that one,” I said. ‘Great’ I’d have been surprised about, ‘ass’ I’d understand, but ‘weird’ left a lot up to interpretation.

He nodded sharply. “The bunks are nice. The buildings aren’t the newest, but they’ve been renovated and kept clean, and barely used. Other than some, ah, non-regulation posters and such left behind, the bunks look good. The bathrooms are... fine? I haven’t been to the mess yet, but I hear that we’re taking it over anyway, so it’ll be our cooks doing to work and they do alright. Plus we’re close to the city instead of out in the boonies, so food should be decently fresh.”

“That sounds overall good, not weird,” I said.

“It’s not the place that’s weird, it’s the people. There were soldiers here that have been living here for the past few weeks and they made the place their homes. There were unauthorized personnel all over the place. Things are missing. People are missing.”

“People?” Crisis Mode asked.

“The rolls are supposed to be called every morning, but I bet that not half of the soldiers that should be here are,” he said. “And there’s just a... pardon the informality, but a weird vibe to the place?”

I hummed along, then glanced around. The place was pretty clean, now that I was on the ground and looking at it. The barracks were clean enough, they even had little flower patch things next to them, and the walkways had been kept clear. I didn’t see used needles or cans laying on the sides. 

There was a lot of traffic, though. Soldiers moving in and out of buildings, sergeant-sorts calling out orders. Tinwhistle’s people were all over the place as well, and they reminded me more of like, construction workers than just soldiers.

We slipped into the big bunker-like place at the back, and I found myself half blind. My still-fleshy eye took a moment to adjust to the dark, but my cybernetic one did it faster than I could blink. It was weird being half blind again, but the other way around.

The interior was lit by a strip of neon lights way above on an arched ceiling. There were rails on the ground, and what looked like a smaller parking spot to one side, but most of the space was taken up by this long corridor that angled slightly downwards. 

Our guide started down that way. There were more soldiers milling around, and while the amount of tinsel on their lapels increased noticeably from those who were outside, I could still tell who had come with the expeditionary force and who was a local.

It wasn’t that the expeditionary force was cleaner. They had plenty of road dust and a bit of sweat. It was more that the locals looked... rumpled? Clean uniforms worn carelessly? Someone like Emoscythe might be able to write a dissertation about it, but all I could really tell was that it was all off. The soldiers we’d come with gave Crisis Mode and I a glance, but it was the locals that really stared.

It wasn’t too far into the bunker before we were in what I assumed was the command centre. 

Honestly, if it wasn’t in a bunker deep underground, I might have assumed it was just some rather plain office space. There were desks and computers and even a few cubicles and offices in the corners. 

Our guide pointed us to a room at the far end, behind a window, and I noticed Lieutenant Colonel Juno and Tinwhistle within, both standing there with their arms crossed. 

“Thanks,” I told the soldier before moving in. 

Juno jumped a little as I opened the door, then relaxed on seeing me and Crisis Mode. “Samurai Stray Cat,” he said. “And... I believe you must be Crisis Mode?”

“I am,” Crisis Mode said. She accepted his hand and shook. “A pleasure? Thank you for coming to Quebec.”

“It’s our duty,” he said.

I pulled the door shut behind Crisis and then nodded to Tinwhistle who grinned back. “So, what’s the situation?”

“It’s a load of shit,” Tinwhistle said.

Juno shot her a rather flat look, but eventually nodded. “She’s not entirely wrong.”

“What kind of shit?” I asked. “The base looks okay, all things considered.”

Juno worked his jaw. “I think about three quarters of the force that was here is gone. Not all dead, mind. A large number of them have deserted.”

“To where?” I asked. “The city?”

“I don’t know exactly, but the colonel of this base has left to the employ of someone in the city,” Juno said. “And he took much of his staff with him. Obviously, this isn’t permissible. Those that remained are fractured. The Militia has been in charge of most of the defense, so a good number of the missing soldiers simply took what kit they could and are working with the militia directly. Those that remained here... I don’t know. It’s a mess. Order’s broken down and we have people just doing whatever they please.” He stood up a little straight. “Until now, of course. I’m officially the highest-ranked person in Quebec unless that colonel returns. I’ve already sent a preliminary report back to command.”

“What’s that gonna do?” I asked.

“Strip the fucker of his rank and courtmartial his ass,” Tinwhistle said. She looked excited by the idea. “He basically broke all the rules... and a few laws as well.”

“It’s a strong case of dereliction of duty,” Juno replied. “We’ve seen commanding offices pay favors to locals before, and a bit of graft will slip by sometimes. It can even be helpful, but this is... a lot.”

“Can’t just have been greed, right?” I asked.

“I don’t know. The fact that nothing was reported is concerning enough,” Juno said. “From the looks of it, things were taken bit by bit as well. It’s a mess.”

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