2953-07-02 - Tales from the Service: The Commandant’s Ears
None of the three guards tried to follow Garth Raimundo back toward the Kodiak cradles, but he didn’t harbor any illusions that he was done with them. He would just have to move quickly, before the unit’s officers realized who he was and concocted some more serious business for him.
That this serious business was ostensibly his main reason for being on Montani, but Garth had never had much patience for the official version of events. Commandant Calligaris could have sent someone else to debrief unit commanders about the performance of their heavy equipment in combat if that was all he wanted. Garth was the man sent when the center suspected there was information on the battlefield that would never be recorded in written reports which would influence the strategic picture.
He’d almost finished capturing good images of the work that had been done on the first three Kodiaks, none of which had quite been repaired and modified in the same way, when the guards returned, this time with a lieutenant. The man was dressed in guard personnel livery, but he had the build and bearing of a real field grade Marine, so Garth guessed he was one of the proper Marines of the 114th put on low-intensity guard duty to recover from an injury.
“Mr. Raimundo?” The lieutenant saluted crisply, befitting the rank Garth wasn’t displaying. “Colonel Montpellier is expecting you up at headquarters.”
“Is he?” Garth raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected to be expected. In fact, he had hoped not to be. “Well then, lieutenant, lead on.”
The guards seemed surprised at Garth’s words. No doubt they had expected him to once again flash his mysteriously unlabeled ident badge that gave him access to everything, everywhere. They fell in behind him as the lieutenant led the way toward the complex’s central office building, now serving as the regimental command post.
Upstairs, in the never-occupied, half-furnished executive office at the corner of the third level of the building, Garth was introduced to Colonel Montpellier, commander of the 114th. A thin, bald man with a long, severe face, he wasn’t what anyone pictured when thinking of an officer of the Confederated Marines, but Garth knew not to make too many judgements on face value. Nobody who had reached the rank of Colonel in the Marines could be underestimated, much less one trusted with a Kodiak-equipped unit.
“Mr. Raimimdo.” The colonel extended a hand, notably refusing to salute despite almost certainly knowing Garth’s official rank. That was, as far as Garth was concerned, fine. He still didn’t feel right about his rank, either, and didn’t really think himself worthy of being saluted by field commanders. “I heard someone from upstairs would be paying us a visit, but I expected an analyst.”
“Normally that’s who you’d get.” Garth shook the colonel’s hand. “But I had other business on Montani.”
“And taking our report was a convenient official excuse to be here.” Montpellier didn’t smile. “I know how this game is played.”
Garth gestured back the way he’d come. “I was examining your Kodiaks. I hope you don’t mind. It’s all unofficial, of course.”
“I understand.” Montpellier’s flat tone indicated that he didn’t like what he understood, but also that he knew he was powerless to stop Garth. “I have of course prepared a text report, but I understand you didn’t come all this way to copy over a few documents.”
Garth nodded. “I’d like to have a chat with the Kodiak men who were at Pileser Three Seven. And the commander of the troop company who dropped with them.”
The colonel’s eye twitched. “I should have guessed.” He sighed. “The center doesn’t care a whit about how we fared against Incarnation Cyclops units, does it?”
Garth blinked. “You thought I’d come here to talk about that, Colonel?” He shook his head. “Do I need to quote your doctrine manuals? We both know you shouldn’t be sending your heavies out to tangle with the black scarecrows.”
“We’re supposed to play the firefighter all up and down the line.” Montpellier scowled. “The boys screaming loudest for heavy backup are the ones staring down a Cyclops.”
“I understand your perspective, Colonel.” Garth nodded. “But the Corps can’t afford to throw Kodiaks into the line every time one of the Incarnation’s heavies shows itself.” He held up his hands. “I really do need to talk to the troopers who were at Pileser Three Seven.”
“They really sent you to about the landslide?” Montpellier scowled. “I’ll round up whoever we have on-base at the moment.”
Garth nodded diplomatically. It wasn’t a landslide during a battle in a rocky gorge that had gotten the Commandant’s attention, of course, but there was no reason to tell Montpellier what he was really after, not yet.
Unfortunately, our friend who is going by the name of Garth Raimundo refused to include the interview in his account, possibly for security reasons. I did a little bit of digging, as no doubt he intended me to, and yes, there is a report of one of the companies of the 114th engaging in a battle in a gorge and triggering a landslide. The report of that small unit action is not fully available to the press, but what I can see indicates little unusual about the skirmish besides the rockslide itself.
I will continue to investigate this, as it is certainly our submitter’s intention to call attention to whatever he was sent to investigate, even though he can’t come out and say it outright.