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inspiring me and letting me write this, TheHeartGallery21 for proofing and editing and all three for letting me use their characters\n\nZade sets off to track down the source of the communications sabotage plaguing the NKR Rangers", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Thanks to my friends \n\t\t\t\t\tD-6alaxy and \n\t\t\t\t\tDuhad for inspiring me and letting me write this, TheHeartGallery21 for proofing and editing and all three for letting me use their characters

Zade sets off to track down the source of the communications sabotage plaguing the NKR Rangers", "writing": "[center][u]Chapter 46: Return to Sender[/u][/center]\n\nZade and his two soldiers scoured back and forth across the landscape on their way back to Camp Forlorn Hope, stopping only briefly when Helios One lit up behind them around midday. It was shortly thereafter when Zade spotted the fallen patrol ahead.\n\n“Awesome!” One of the Luxio-men with him was about to run forwards, but Zade held out a hand.\n\n“Hold it, Private.” Zade’s voice made him pause as the Jolteon-man pulled out his binoculars to get a closer look, “They have a supply crate, but it’s still sealed and their bodies are still intact so it wasn’t a Pokemon attack.” He concentrated and focused his aura sight through the binoculars and saw a faint aura of anger nearby. “Stay here and cover me, Zade put his binoculars away, “Shoot any Kogun Ashigaru you see but check your targets.”\n\nBoth Luxio-men saluted, “Yes, Sir!” then dropped to a crouch and prone to ready their assault rifles, set to single shots.\n\nZade marched up to the fallen soldiers, four in all, and checked their belongings. Guns and ammo were still there and the supply crate was still sealed. As soon as he reached for the supply crate, he heard shouts and stood up in a flash. A dozen Ashigaru burst from hiding and charged at him shouting and swinging their makeshift katana swords.\n\nBefore they reached him, gunfire rang out, felling three of them followed by a several more that struck another in the legs before a headshot finished him off. Zade crossed his arms as they approached and as soon as he could smell their sweat, he unleashed a Discharge that fried half of them and stunned the remainder. A Thunderbolt finished off one of the last four and three more headshots took out the remainder. Not wanting to take chances, Zade hit the fallen Ashigaru with Thundershocks to make certain they were dead.\n\nThe two Luxio-man privates ran over to Zade, the one in the lead looked nervous, “Are you alright, Sir?”\n\nZade smiled, “I’m alright, Private.” He turned to the second, “was that you who got these headshots?”\n\nThe second Luxio-man smiled, “I was, Sir. Private Henning.”\n\nZade nodded, “I’ll talk to Major Dhatri at Camp Silverman, recommend you to First Recon. They should be moving to Forlorn Hope soon, closer to the front.” He turned to the other Luxio-man private, “both of you, salvage the weapons and gear then take those supplies back to camp, I have other business to attend.”\n\n“What about other Kogun Patrols?” the Private holding the supplies looked around nervously.\n\n“There shouldn’t be any more,” Zade turned to him, “Shalour was the source of these raid and ambush parties and after checking the local reports this was the only one of their raiding parties not accounted for after we took Shalour back. Just hustle back and keep your ears open. Now get moving, privates.”\n\n“Yes Sir!” both responded then crouched down to retrieve the fallen soldier’s gear then, carrying the supplies between them, hurried off back to Camp Forlorn Hope. Zade retrieved some of their stimpacks then began a forced march south.\n\nTech Sergeant Reyes had shown Zade all the communication problems they were having, supply conflicts as well as completely bizarre reports from the various Ranger Stations: Mewtwo Ashigaru from Bravo near Camp Forlorn Hope, Trained Death-Scyther employed by the Rockets from Foxtrot and an extreme casualty rate at Alpha near the lake farther north. That and the new codes Reyes had given him to update everyone’s radios and attempt to flush out whoever the transmission saboteur was.\n\nZade’s first stop was Ranger Station Charlie, south of Dendemille just beside some old railroad tracks. It was quiet, too quiet, in fact it sounded and looked abandoned. Zade tensed as he entered the station and found no personnel on duty. As soon as he entered the station he saw why, it had been attacked. Three corpses of rangers lay on the floor and a fourth slumped over his radio work station. There was a piece of paper placed deliberately next to his and, which Zade took and read.\n\n“This is a message to the NKR from the Kogun. We are coming for you. Run and we will catch you. Hide and we will find you. No matter what you do you are all going to die. We took one of the women alive.” Zade bared his teeth and crushed the message in his hand.\n\nZade moved to check one of the dead bodies and heard a click. Instinct made him panic and bolt for the door a moment before the landmine hidden under the body went off, blowing the dead Poke-person’s body to pieces.\n\n“Fucking assholes, boobytrapping bodies,” Zade picked himself up then peered inside the now blood splattered ranger station. Miraculously, the radio had survived so Zade was able to input the new codes and checked their transmission logs. Worryingly there had been reports about Kogun ambush parties sighted in the region and requests for ammunition and land mines had been sent, but instead the station had received food and water. While Zade was grateful to restock his supplies, from what the Kogun hadn’t found, the fact that the request had been ignored or misinterpreted worried him and he left with a backpack barely able to hold all the food and water, better to take it then let it sit here for raiders or the sun.\n\nRanger Station Echo was comparatively simple, but staffed entirely by ghost-types due to a radiation threat nearby, and sadly they had witnessed the returning raiding party with a ‘trainer’ accompanying them who had at least five Poke Balls on him. The Gengar in charge had reported in but received no order to act yet. Zade updated their codes and headed north to Delta.\n\n“Mewtwo Ashigaru? I’d remember something like that.” The Machoke-woman Ranger on duty gave Zade an odd look, “We’ve just been keeping the Kogun from crossing. Every so often they try to cross in a raft at night with an infiltration team. They end up floating downriver with holes in their heads.”\n\n“I see,” Zade frowned, “Thank you for clearing that up.”\n\n“If you don’t believe us, ask the comm officer,” the ranger pointed to the tent where their radio was set up.\n\n“I did, and I do. Just… I have more stations to update. Keep up the good shooting.” Zade saluted and headed north once again, this time to Ranger Station Alpha.\n\n“Extreme casualties? We’ve had one sprained ankle but no one’s died,” the Sirfetch’d-man ranger in charge sounded exasperated. “We haven’t seen much action except the oddly curious Rad-Skorupi since the frontline was moved to Gaiva Dam.”\n\nZade looked around and saw the place was oddly sedate for a ranger station, “I can see that. I’ll update the radio codes and move on then.” As he left the Ranger station a troubling thought started to nag at his mind. The Kogun barely used technology, let alone understood it, and he had caught the spy at Camp Silverman who was leaking intelligence so who and how could they be doing something as complex as intercepting and messing with transmissions? He put the thought into the back of his head as he headed northeast to Ranger Station Bravo.\n\n“Not much to report, just the occasional Ninjdadrill that gets too close to Bitter Springs,” The Vibrava-woman Ranger in charge sighed, “what we really need is water, we’ll need to close up shop in a week if we don’t get any soon but every time we radio in for water we get sent ammunition instead. It’s fine to be stocked up but we don’t have a lot to shoot at.”\n\nZade frowned as he handed over the new codes, he remembered the requests for munitions and water that had crossed his desk but now he saw they had been swapped and one station already fallen because of it, “I’ll look into that and make sure the next supply shipment is full of water. For now, here,” he pulled off his backpack and handed a dozen bottles of water to the outpost, “I got tons from Charlie and I’m passing by Lumiose soon so I’ll restock there.”\n\nThe Vibrava-woman Ranger smiled, “Thanks. I’m surprised you never joined the rangers, Sir.”\n\nZade pulled his backpack back on, “Thank you. Also, if you have too much ammo you should send some to Camp Forlorn Hope. We took back Shalour recently and they need a resupply.” They exchanged salutes and Zade set off west to the last Ranger Station, Foxtrot.\n\nThat confirmed it: someone was sabotaging the reports. While Zade wasn’t sure of the reason, he was certain of the source and possibly the individual responsible. But first he had to finish the rounds.\n\nRanger Station Foxtrot was positioned near Red Rocket Canyon and their main job was to watch over the Rockets. The Ranger in charge was a Kadabra-man who only reported the return of the Rockets Dee had helped months ago but so far nothing major had moved in or out of their base other than the chems they sold all over Kalos. They hadn’t tried to stop them as they didn’t have the resources to contain them if they found and attacked the station. The only thing of note was that their comm officer needed psychiatric help after she had a particularly bad run-in with the Kogun.\n\nZade updated their codes then set off. Now his destination was clear: the NKR Ranger HQ at Camp Golf.\n\nNamed after the fact that it was a Golf Club before the war, Camp Golf had a still intact three-story main building and was fortunate enough to be right near a freshwater lake so it never needed fresh water resupply. While it hosted a small company of NKR soldiers it mainly served as the headquarters for the NKR Rangers in the region and was the central point where all the intelligence from both army and Rangers converged and was redistributed. Zade knew exactly who to talk to and asked where he could find Ranger Chief Hanlon, and was directed to the third-floor balcony of the main building.\n\nChief Hanlon was a late middle-aged Goodra-man in a leather ranger uniform with a vest and red neckerchief. He rose from his deck chair next to a radio as Zade stepped onto the balcony. “Well well, Lt. Colonel Zade, didn’t think I’d get to see you until the campaign ended.” He extended a gloved hand to Zade.\n\nZade shook Hanlon’s hand, “Neither did I, nice to see you chief.”\n\nHanlon gave a weak smile, “So what brings you here?”\n\nZade leaned in close and whispered, “I’m here to talk about your falsifying the transmissions from every ranger station.”\n\nHanlon’s eyes widened as he stepped back, “Now hold on there, if we’re gonna discuss this let’s do it somewhere more private.” Zade nodded and stepped back to let the Goodra-man pass into the base, then followed after him.\n\nChief Hanlon led Zade down to his office, which was soundproofed, then sat down at his desk and waited until Zade shut the door before he spoke. “So, what makes you think I’ve done something like that?”\n\nZade folded his arms, “Over the last week I’ve visited every ranger station in Kalos. Because of strange reports coming in I needed to update their codes and verify the odd reports. The Kogun spy I caught only knew how to transmit under the RADAR, it would take a skilled hacker to mess up the transmissions from the outposts and no one in the Kogun could pull that off. It would be easy if you were the one whose job it was to collect and redistribute the transmissions, and you’re the one responsible for coordinating and relaying all Ranger Station reports.”\n\nHanlon sighed and rubbed his head, “You really should have been a Ranger, Zade. You’ve got all the skills and aura abilities half of them would be jealous of.”\n\n“If I did then I wouldn’t be second-in-command now or in any position to try and fix the mess Oliver and Kimball put us in.” Zade kept his glare leveled at Hanlon.\n\nThe Goodra-man blinked, “So you heard about what happened to Colonel Moore.”\n\n“I know who did it, soon as I saw her wearing the armor I believe Moore took with her when she was kicked out.” Zade shook his head, “Moore did it to herself and the best way I can thank those three is to use my new authority responsibly.”\n\n“Well good on your for realizing that. Two of my rangers saw that fight, apparently they naked when Moore ambushed them,” Hanlon chuckled.\n\nZade chuckled too, “This world needs more people like them, with no shame.” The Jolteon-man sighed then his face became serious, “Enough dodging the question, Chief. Why are you sabotaging all the transmissions?”\n\nChief Hanlon remained silent for a minute before he sighed, his voice somber, “Misdirection. When you’re pinned down, outnumbered and two days from any help, it’s just about the best friend you can have. Misdirection’s what saved me all these years. It’s what saved us at Hoover Dam. But it’s been two years now and Nobunaga’s right across the water. He’s closer now than he ever was before.” Hanlon’s eyes narrowed, “I was a young man once. I know what it’s like to want to fight for your home, but this isn’t it.”\n\nZade gaped for a moment, “But… why are you doing this to our side?”\n\nThe Goodra-man shook his head, “It’s never going to end. This fight with Nobunaga. People back home don’t know what these young men and women are in for. The Kogun’s the worst enemy we’ve ever faced, but we can’t stop Nobunaga here, not without getting a lot of good people killed. And even if we do stop him, I don’t see how we’re ever going to be able to pull out.”\n\nZade glared at Hanlon for a moment, then his expression broke and he sighed, “I get it, I really do. Between this war and Kimball’s purges we can barely deal with the raiders in our own territory while the Tauros Barons, Magma Caravan and Aqua Merchants consolidate, consume and drive us back down the same road that led to the final war while the Kogun breathes down our necks. I was only sent here to fail so Kimball can prove that ‘the gays can’t serve in the army’ so I know how fucked up this is and Oliver hates that your rangers and First Recon won the first battle of Gaiva Dam so he's been making everything worse to make sure he gets credit this time.” He paused and saw something akin to approval in Hanlon’s eyes, “But losing the war isn’t going to help. The Kogun won’t stop either and if we leave Kalos to Nobunaga he’ll just enslave everyone and keep coming for us!” Zade’s fur sparked as he continued, “If we don’t stop them at the Dam then we lose the best natural barrier between us.”\n\n“But then what?” Hanlon’s voice became harsher, “even if we hold Gaiva Dam, what then? Are we going to send the NKR’s men and women to die here for another five years? Ten? Push into Nobunaga’s territory or even just patrol hundreds of kilometers of a river to hold the dam?” Hanlon sighed, “It’ll be the death of us.”\n\n“I agree,” Zade said, “But falsifying reports isn’t helping, it’s going to get people killed, in fact it’s already gotten people killed.”\n\n“What?”\n\n“Ranger Station Charlie was wiped out because you swapped their request for extra munitions with Bravo’s request for food and water and Bravo’s close to dehydrating because of that and the false reports are killing morale faster than the Kogun’s raids.” Zade took a deep breath, “Hanlon, I agree that we need to pull out and I’ve been making withdrawal plans to minimize losses and prevent cutoff for months.”\n\nHanlon stared at Zade for a moment, “So I just lay down and roll over for Kimball and Oliver?”\n\nZade shook his head, “No, we’ll need you back home to help un-fuck the whole system after this ends.” He smiled, “One of those women that killed Moore, her name is Dee. I met her in the New Orange Pass during the war with the Raider alliance and Aether Enclave remnants, she was the one who killed their leader Lusamine. She dragged herself all over the wasteland and beyond after being shot in the head, resolved a standoff with the Rockets without getting anyone killed, wiped out the Ninjadrill nest that was harassing our caravans and it’s thanks to her that Alex Kitun was able to find incriminating evidence against the Magma Caravan and Van Graffs; some of the troops coming back from the strip said they saw her enter the Lucky 38. I don’t know what’s going on but,” electrical aura danced up his arm, “I trust her and her friends.”\n\nHanlon stared at Zade for a moment, “You have that much confidence in her?”\n\nZade nodded, “I do, you know as well as I do how much one person can make a difference.”\n\nThe Goodra-man thought for a moment then smiled, “One ranger often does. Alright I’ll stop sabotaging the reports, but this stays between us.”\n\nZade nodded and offered a hand, “Agreed, Chief.”\n\nChief Hanlon stood up and shook Zade’s hand, “Good, now I need to get back to my lookout. Oh and before you go, Sergeant McCredie’s been having trouble with one of his squads, ‘The Misfits’. Not the usual low morale, actual uncooperatives who would have been drummed out in less dire times. Maybe you could help get them into shape.”\n\nZade exited the office, “I think I could handle that.”\n\nCompared to the situation at Camp Forlorn Hope and even trekking around to the ranger stations, getting The Misfits to work together was easy: a ranger dropout, an ex-Rocket, a homeboy from a big family that couldn’t afford to feed everyone and a know-it-all who thought he was the real one in charge of the base. After talking to each of them and getting them both to talk to each other and onto the target range to work on their teamwork he managed to get them working together as a unit.\n\nThe next day, Zade set back off to Camp Silverman. After two weeks on the road he was relieved to be back in familiar surroundings and even the paperwork didn’t seem so bad… almost…\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "
Chapter 46: Return to Sender


Zade and his two soldiers scoured back and forth across the landscape on their way back to Camp Forlorn Hope, stopping only briefly when Helios One lit up behind them around midday. It was shortly thereafter when Zade spotted the fallen patrol ahead.

“Awesome!” One of the Luxio-men with him was about to run forwards, but Zade held out a hand.

“Hold it, Private.” Zade’s voice made him pause as the Jolteon-man pulled out his binoculars to get a closer look, “They have a supply crate, but it’s still sealed and their bodies are still intact so it wasn’t a Pokemon attack.” He concentrated and focused his aura sight through the binoculars and saw a faint aura of anger nearby. “Stay here and cover me, Zade put his binoculars away, “Shoot any Kogun Ashigaru you see but check your targets.”

Both Luxio-men saluted, “Yes, Sir!” then dropped to a crouch and prone to ready their assault rifles, set to single shots.

Zade marched up to the fallen soldiers, four in all, and checked their belongings. Guns and ammo were still there and the supply crate was still sealed. As soon as he reached for the supply crate, he heard shouts and stood up in a flash. A dozen Ashigaru burst from hiding and charged at him shouting and swinging their makeshift katana swords.

Before they reached him, gunfire rang out, felling three of them followed by a several more that struck another in the legs before a headshot finished him off. Zade crossed his arms as they approached and as soon as he could smell their sweat, he unleashed a Discharge that fried half of them and stunned the remainder. A Thunderbolt finished off one of the last four and three more headshots took out the remainder. Not wanting to take chances, Zade hit the fallen Ashigaru with Thundershocks to make certain they were dead.

The two Luxio-man privates ran over to Zade, the one in the lead looked nervous, “Are you alright, Sir?”

Zade smiled, “I’m alright, Private.” He turned to the second, “was that you who got these headshots?”

The second Luxio-man smiled, “I was, Sir. Private Henning.”

Zade nodded, “I’ll talk to Major Dhatri at Camp Silverman, recommend you to First Recon. They should be moving to Forlorn Hope soon, closer to the front.” He turned to the other Luxio-man private, “both of you, salvage the weapons and gear then take those supplies back to camp, I have other business to attend.”

“What about other Kogun Patrols?” the Private holding the supplies looked around nervously.

“There shouldn’t be any more,” Zade turned to him, “Shalour was the source of these raid and ambush parties and after checking the local reports this was the only one of their raiding parties not accounted for after we took Shalour back. Just hustle back and keep your ears open. Now get moving, privates.”

“Yes Sir!” both responded then crouched down to retrieve the fallen soldier’s gear then, carrying the supplies between them, hurried off back to Camp Forlorn Hope. Zade retrieved some of their stimpacks then began a forced march south.

Tech Sergeant Reyes had shown Zade all the communication problems they were having, supply conflicts as well as completely bizarre reports from the various Ranger Stations: Mewtwo Ashigaru from Bravo near Camp Forlorn Hope, Trained Death-Scyther employed by the Rockets from Foxtrot and an extreme casualty rate at Alpha near the lake farther north. That and the new codes Reyes had given him to update everyone’s radios and attempt to flush out whoever the transmission saboteur was.

Zade’s first stop was Ranger Station Charlie, south of Dendemille just beside some old railroad tracks. It was quiet, too quiet, in fact it sounded and looked abandoned. Zade tensed as he entered the station and found no personnel on duty. As soon as he entered the station he saw why, it had been attacked. Three corpses of rangers lay on the floor and a fourth slumped over his radio work station. There was a piece of paper placed deliberately next to his and, which Zade took and read.

“This is a message to the NKR from the Kogun. We are coming for you. Run and we will catch you. Hide and we will find you. No matter what you do you are all going to die. We took one of the women alive.” Zade bared his teeth and crushed the message in his hand.

Zade moved to check one of the dead bodies and heard a click. Instinct made him panic and bolt for the door a moment before the landmine hidden under the body went off, blowing the dead Poke-person’s body to pieces.

“Fucking assholes, boobytrapping bodies,” Zade picked himself up then peered inside the now blood splattered ranger station. Miraculously, the radio had survived so Zade was able to input the new codes and checked their transmission logs. Worryingly there had been reports about Kogun ambush parties sighted in the region and requests for ammunition and land mines had been sent, but instead the station had received food and water. While Zade was grateful to restock his supplies, from what the Kogun hadn’t found, the fact that the request had been ignored or misinterpreted worried him and he left with a backpack barely able to hold all the food and water, better to take it then let it sit here for raiders or the sun.

Ranger Station Echo was comparatively simple, but staffed entirely by ghost-types due to a radiation threat nearby, and sadly they had witnessed the returning raiding party with a ‘trainer’ accompanying them who had at least five Poke Balls on him. The Gengar in charge had reported in but received no order to act yet. Zade updated their codes and headed north to Delta.

“Mewtwo Ashigaru? I’d remember something like that.” The Machoke-woman Ranger on duty gave Zade an odd look, “We’ve just been keeping the Kogun from crossing. Every so often they try to cross in a raft at night with an infiltration team. They end up floating downriver with holes in their heads.”

“I see,” Zade frowned, “Thank you for clearing that up.”

“If you don’t believe us, ask the comm officer,” the ranger pointed to the tent where their radio was set up.

“I did, and I do. Just… I have more stations to update. Keep up the good shooting.” Zade saluted and headed north once again, this time to Ranger Station Alpha.

“Extreme casualties? We’ve had one sprained ankle but no one’s died,” the Sirfetch’d-man ranger in charge sounded exasperated. “We haven’t seen much action except the oddly curious Rad-Skorupi since the frontline was moved to Gaiva Dam.”

Zade looked around and saw the place was oddly sedate for a ranger station, “I can see that. I’ll update the radio codes and move on then.” As he left the Ranger station a troubling thought started to nag at his mind. The Kogun barely used technology, let alone understood it, and he had caught the spy at Camp Silverman who was leaking intelligence so who and how could they be doing something as complex as intercepting and messing with transmissions? He put the thought into the back of his head as he headed northeast to Ranger Station Bravo.

“Not much to report, just the occasional Ninjdadrill that gets too close to Bitter Springs,” The Vibrava-woman Ranger in charge sighed, “what we really need is water, we’ll need to close up shop in a week if we don’t get any soon but every time we radio in for water we get sent ammunition instead. It’s fine to be stocked up but we don’t have a lot to shoot at.”

Zade frowned as he handed over the new codes, he remembered the requests for munitions and water that had crossed his desk but now he saw they had been swapped and one station already fallen because of it, “I’ll look into that and make sure the next supply shipment is full of water. For now, here,” he pulled off his backpack and handed a dozen bottles of water to the outpost, “I got tons from Charlie and I’m passing by Lumiose soon so I’ll restock there.”

The Vibrava-woman Ranger smiled, “Thanks. I’m surprised you never joined the rangers, Sir.”

Zade pulled his backpack back on, “Thank you. Also, if you have too much ammo you should send some to Camp Forlorn Hope. We took back Shalour recently and they need a resupply.” They exchanged salutes and Zade set off west to the last Ranger Station, Foxtrot.

That confirmed it: someone was sabotaging the reports. While Zade wasn’t sure of the reason, he was certain of the source and possibly the individual responsible. But first he had to finish the rounds.

Ranger Station Foxtrot was positioned near Red Rocket Canyon and their main job was to watch over the Rockets. The Ranger in charge was a Kadabra-man who only reported the return of the Rockets Dee had helped months ago but so far nothing major had moved in or out of their base other than the chems they sold all over Kalos. They hadn’t tried to stop them as they didn’t have the resources to contain them if they found and attacked the station. The only thing of note was that their comm officer needed psychiatric help after she had a particularly bad run-in with the Kogun.

Zade updated their codes then set off. Now his destination was clear: the NKR Ranger HQ at Camp Golf.

Named after the fact that it was a Golf Club before the war, Camp Golf had a still intact three-story main building and was fortunate enough to be right near a freshwater lake so it never needed fresh water resupply. While it hosted a small company of NKR soldiers it mainly served as the headquarters for the NKR Rangers in the region and was the central point where all the intelligence from both army and Rangers converged and was redistributed. Zade knew exactly who to talk to and asked where he could find Ranger Chief Hanlon, and was directed to the third-floor balcony of the main building.

Chief Hanlon was a late middle-aged Goodra-man in a leather ranger uniform with a vest and red neckerchief. He rose from his deck chair next to a radio as Zade stepped onto the balcony. “Well well, Lt. Colonel Zade, didn’t think I’d get to see you until the campaign ended.” He extended a gloved hand to Zade.

Zade shook Hanlon’s hand, “Neither did I, nice to see you chief.”

Hanlon gave a weak smile, “So what brings you here?”

Zade leaned in close and whispered, “I’m here to talk about your falsifying the transmissions from every ranger station.”

Hanlon’s eyes widened as he stepped back, “Now hold on there, if we’re gonna discuss this let’s do it somewhere more private.” Zade nodded and stepped back to let the Goodra-man pass into the base, then followed after him.

Chief Hanlon led Zade down to his office, which was soundproofed, then sat down at his desk and waited until Zade shut the door before he spoke. “So, what makes you think I’ve done something like that?”

Zade folded his arms, “Over the last week I’ve visited every ranger station in Kalos. Because of strange reports coming in I needed to update their codes and verify the odd reports. The Kogun spy I caught only knew how to transmit under the RADAR, it would take a skilled hacker to mess up the transmissions from the outposts and no one in the Kogun could pull that off. It would be easy if you were the one whose job it was to collect and redistribute the transmissions, and you’re the one responsible for coordinating and relaying all Ranger Station reports.”

Hanlon sighed and rubbed his head, “You really should have been a Ranger, Zade. You’ve got all the skills and aura abilities half of them would be jealous of.”

“If I did then I wouldn’t be second-in-command now or in any position to try and fix the mess Oliver and Kimball put us in.” Zade kept his glare leveled at Hanlon.

The Goodra-man blinked, “So you heard about what happened to Colonel Moore.”

“I know who did it, soon as I saw her wearing the armor I believe Moore took with her when she was kicked out.” Zade shook his head, “Moore did it to herself and the best way I can thank those three is to use my new authority responsibly.”

“Well good on your for realizing that. Two of my rangers saw that fight, apparently they naked when Moore ambushed them,” Hanlon chuckled.

Zade chuckled too, “This world needs more people like them, with no shame.” The Jolteon-man sighed then his face became serious, “Enough dodging the question, Chief. Why are you sabotaging all the transmissions?”

Chief Hanlon remained silent for a minute before he sighed, his voice somber, “Misdirection. When you’re pinned down, outnumbered and two days from any help, it’s just about the best friend you can have. Misdirection’s what saved me all these years. It’s what saved us at Hoover Dam. But it’s been two years now and Nobunaga’s right across the water. He’s closer now than he ever was before.” Hanlon’s eyes narrowed, “I was a young man once. I know what it’s like to want to fight for your home, but this isn’t it.”

Zade gaped for a moment, “But… why are you doing this to our side?”

The Goodra-man shook his head, “It’s never going to end. This fight with Nobunaga. People back home don’t know what these young men and women are in for. The Kogun’s the worst enemy we’ve ever faced, but we can’t stop Nobunaga here, not without getting a lot of good people killed. And even if we do stop him, I don’t see how we’re ever going to be able to pull out.”

Zade glared at Hanlon for a moment, then his expression broke and he sighed, “I get it, I really do. Between this war and Kimball’s purges we can barely deal with the raiders in our own territory while the Tauros Barons, Magma Caravan and Aqua Merchants consolidate, consume and drive us back down the same road that led to the final war while the Kogun breathes down our necks. I was only sent here to fail so Kimball can prove that ‘the gays can’t serve in the army’ so I know how fucked up this is and Oliver hates that your rangers and First Recon won the first battle of Gaiva Dam so he's been making everything worse to make sure he gets credit this time.” He paused and saw something akin to approval in Hanlon’s eyes, “But losing the war isn’t going to help. The Kogun won’t stop either and if we leave Kalos to Nobunaga he’ll just enslave everyone and keep coming for us!” Zade’s fur sparked as he continued, “If we don’t stop them at the Dam then we lose the best natural barrier between us.”

“But then what?” Hanlon’s voice became harsher, “even if we hold Gaiva Dam, what then? Are we going to send the NKR’s men and women to die here for another five years? Ten? Push into Nobunaga’s territory or even just patrol hundreds of kilometers of a river to hold the dam?” Hanlon sighed, “It’ll be the death of us.”

“I agree,” Zade said, “But falsifying reports isn’t helping, it’s going to get people killed, in fact it’s already gotten people killed.”

“What?”

“Ranger Station Charlie was wiped out because you swapped their request for extra munitions with Bravo’s request for food and water and Bravo’s close to dehydrating because of that and the false reports are killing morale faster than the Kogun’s raids.” Zade took a deep breath, “Hanlon, I agree that we need to pull out and I’ve been making withdrawal plans to minimize losses and prevent cutoff for months.”

Hanlon stared at Zade for a moment, “So I just lay down and roll over for Kimball and Oliver?”

Zade shook his head, “No, we’ll need you back home to help un-fuck the whole system after this ends.” He smiled, “One of those women that killed Moore, her name is Dee. I met her in the New Orange Pass during the war with the Raider alliance and Aether Enclave remnants, she was the one who killed their leader Lusamine. She dragged herself all over the wasteland and beyond after being shot in the head, resolved a standoff with the Rockets without getting anyone killed, wiped out the Ninjadrill nest that was harassing our caravans and it’s thanks to her that Alex Kitun was able to find incriminating evidence against the Magma Caravan and Van Graffs; some of the troops coming back from the strip said they saw her enter the Lucky 38. I don’t know what’s going on but,” electrical aura danced up his arm, “I trust her and her friends.”

Hanlon stared at Zade for a moment, “You have that much confidence in her?”

Zade nodded, “I do, you know as well as I do how much one person can make a difference.”

The Goodra-man thought for a moment then smiled, “One ranger often does. Alright I’ll stop sabotaging the reports, but this stays between us.”

Zade nodded and offered a hand, “Agreed, Chief.”

Chief Hanlon stood up and shook Zade’s hand, “Good, now I need to get back to my lookout. Oh and before you go, Sergeant McCredie’s been having trouble with one of his squads, ‘The Misfits’. Not the usual low morale, actual uncooperatives who would have been drummed out in less dire times. Maybe you could help get them into shape.”

Zade exited the office, “I think I could handle that.”

Compared to the situation at Camp Forlorn Hope and even trekking around to the ranger stations, getting The Misfits to work together was easy: a ranger dropout, an ex-Rocket, a homeboy from a big family that couldn’t afford to feed everyone and a know-it-all who thought he was the real one in charge of the base. After talking to each of them and getting them both to talk to each other and onto the target range to work on their teamwork he managed to get them working together as a unit.

The next day, Zade set back off to Camp Silverman. After two weeks on the road he was relieved to be back in familiar surroundings and even the paperwork didn’t seem so bad… almost…
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