Report - W.Caravan - ... WIC edition

Chapter 2 - Edge of the Known World

"Halt, who goes th-"
"B1, I'm here for the caravan"
"Your telling me these guys got the B2 to guard them?!"
That's always a good thing to hear.
"Where are they?"
"They should be here in a few"
"I'll wait for them"
There are few ways to bring fear into those living outside the comforts of the walls. theres even less for those like me.
[around 9 minutes and 13 seconds pass]
"B2, their here," I take one breath in a quick spin, so as to be certain they don't see it, before looking out to the furthest gate.
What a sight indeed - 15... no 16 wagons, and their big. Upfront is the crew, I can see their inexperience from up here. That means it's easy to impress them with a simple drop before them.
"Halt, Name and identification!"
"Sir, CL! I have been appointed as the head of this caravan," one of the scared men at the very front exclaims to me.
"I-den-ti-fi-ca-tion," I slowly uttered in a sarcastic tone, with a face that seemed to be one step from knocking this CL to the ground.
"Oh right sorry sir it-"
"Your first time I can tell"
"Wow, just like that you know already?! No wonder everyone speaks so highly of you! Well apart fr-"
I gave him a 2nd chance and instead raise out my palm.
"Right here"
...Hmm somethings going on. The papers are what you'd expect - names, cultures, skills and experience, blah blah blah - and some unique factors about these men, especially the ones with potentially violent outbursts, but thats not what catches my eye.
"CL you and your people get a 15 minute break then we depart, any questions?"
"Umm... what can we ask?"
"any stupid questions?"
"...No sir," lacked a bit of enthusiasm, but I'll write it off as still recovering from a potential beat down from his new overseer
"Good"
Great, they've left, now what in the name of the great planner are you doing with such valuable cargo. As a precaution I wave to the garrison commander, he's older than most of the men here and he understands, he will be ready at any second to pounce on them if they turn out to be thieves.
I enter the back of the first wagon and I open the sealed containers 'hmm... checks out'. The process is repeated for the 2nd wagon 'clear' and then the third, and then the next one and finally the last two 'personal provisions'.
"Damn, he wasn't lying! Green and given such valuable cargo. [redacted] what are you doing?!"
"CL!" A shout that came so naturally that not even I remember if it was intentional.
"Yes sir?"
"Who is your overseer and what have you been told?"
"Uhh I was hoping you could answer that"
He's barely standing still. It doesn't take someone like me to see the fear in him, even the laziest of these outer fort guards could see behind that helmet. This isn't a bandit, unless...
"I've recently finished close arms training and with it my temporary job at the between service depot. Thats all" Hmm... so he has some experience.
"What department?"
"Well in training I ran bet-"
"Current" my tone has reset, but my face still implies danger.
"Now I'm in the 3rd World Binding Trail caravan depot, the one that was recently gained from that botanists shop"
Hmm now this is something. A green crew, not the botanist kind, valuable cargo and to top it all off, [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted]. And they were lied to or mislead, this isn't the ideal time for a caravan. Either their overseer didn't do his job or he has a private, desperate buyer who's paying extra.
.....................No.
I know the botanist shop CL mentioned, it was a half shop and a half restock point for the fields and urban sectors of the city. Thats why after being incorporated the employees kept on working despite sharing a building with a caravan depot, because to them not much has changed besides having less storage. [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted].  Sending a caravan like this in a time like this is enough to get most of upper command, of most public spaces, in chain gangs for a quarter of their lives. [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted]. If they really were dishonest then in one place they'd have been ground into fertilizer and passed off to farmers as a state subsidy, in the other they would have had their face carved in and their bodies left there till the end of day.
..................... Someone demanded this caravan. Someone in [redacted] [redacted] said 'a group of 331 no 332 young men, in the prime of theire lives, must be sent on a mission in suicidal like conditions to deliver [redacted]". [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted] [redacted]. And I am the key to its success.
"Sir, is something wrong?" I've spent too long staring blankly at the wagons.
"No I'm just... thinking of the path, it's a bit hard to predict right now. Is everyone rested?"
"Well the 15 minutes are almost up"
Another inhale, but he doesn't notice or hear it. I pull out my whistle for its easier and louder than doing it naturally.
Everyone rushes out and attempts to squeeze into a line, the garrison doesn't even look to see.
"Men I don't know how brave or foolish you are, but listen up. The papers are all clear, we are to head to the Eastern civilization down the Binding Road and I'm to escort you. Any stupid questions?"
The crowd of 332 men immediately errupts into dozens of groups of chatter. It's cute when they think I can't hear them. 'When will we get back' 'what if we find monsters' 'is that really the B2' 'do they always check our stuff' 'he looks angry' 'has anyone here actually seen the other civilization' nothing unusual and it proves that they don't know.
"Listen up, gather formations. Pushers get on the wagons, rangers you stay with them along with the spears. The rest are to follow me. We shall advance, choose a path and lead the caravan. Understood?"
Everyone straightens out and nods... atleast half are quivering and we haven't started yet.
"CL gather your personal squad, your with me. We move out now"