Lucas waved his hand urgently from behind the squad, ruining the warmth of the moment for Tenzin. Nodding to Viktor to take over the preparations, Tenzin stepped to the side and waved the engineer over.
“Captain Dorje!” Lucas yelled as he rushed over. “What about my team? You can’t just leave us here.”
“I thought Glaucus trained all their field teams in basic combat skills,” Tenzin said.
Lucas paused, obviously chagrined. “Well, yeah, but since you were joining us we didn’t bring any of our gear or weaponry.”
Tenzin sighed. It really was a babysitting mission afterall, he thought. He turned and watched for a moment how as the Keleres quickly grabbed the gear they would need for their expedition across town. They moved with precision and confidence as they checked their rifles, donned helmets and filled their packs. He was proud of them. Glancing at where the other engineers huddled, obviously terrified, Tenzin sighed again.
“Fine,” Tenzin said. “I’ll leave you three of my soldiers.”
Lucas bowed his head in thanks, but Tenzin ignored him and caught Sven’s attention. If he had to leave people behind, at least he could make them useful.
“Sven! Stay here with Andrew and Julian and babysit the Glaucs. Keep the HAWKS in the air and try to get a satellite above us. Notify me immediately if you see anything.”
“Sir!”
By picking one experienced soldier from each of the three other pentads to stay behind, Tenzin had done his best to prevent the weakening of any one of the pentads. He watched momentarily as Sven grabbed Andrew and Julian and explained their mission. Both of them chuckled momentarily but followed Sven to where the engineers hid.
Time to get going, thought Tenzin. He walked over to where the sixteen soldiers not assigned to guard duty waited in their pentads. Stepping to the front of the group, Tenzin cocked his rifle. The four green recruits directly under him in Pentad Alpha copied him, making Tenzin smile.
“Move out!” he yelled, and began walking down the road to the city gate.
——-
As useful and entertaining as it was to have Jane assigned to him as part of Project Oracle, Tenzin was most grateful to have her during tactical situations. His bio-suit was equipped with more sensors and technology than he could handle without Jane micromanaging it for him. She had also integrated herself into the movement and balance controls, and had quickly learned how to predict Tenzin’s movements well enough to assist him in everything from walking to aiming.
As Tenzin walked down the dusty street, trying to figure out what happened to Arkjut’s citizens, Jane took note of every tiny detail around him. Every time she found something of interest she brought it up on his viewscreen for inspection. An abandoned doll, a basket of food, a broken piece of furniture, each flashed in front of Tenzin’s face at higher magnification as he followed the course she’d plotted for him to the communications tower. It was a little disorienting, but having the heads-up-display had saved Tenzin’s life more than a few times.
Something on the HUD caught Tenzin’s eye. “Jane, pull up that last image again.” As Jane complied, Tenzin caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure ducking out of view behind the hydroponics bay. Even as Jane replayed it at slower speeds, he couldn’t make it out. “What was that?”