Chapter Seventeen – Court Martial Arts

Chapter Seventeen – Court Martial Arts

“Under capitalism, it is normal to allow the sick to die and children to go hungry. Society needs its slaves.

Somehow, I don’t feel hope.”

Re-re-reposted tweet, Twitter, 2022

***

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.