"Ma'am!" came a shout from Amelian's irritating little communications specialist, for the eighth time this past hour. "Request from Central for the status of Lieutenants Trask and Rustov, and their platoons," he said, before being invited to proceed.
Captain Valerie Olgen wasn't used to the lack of deference the kid showed his officers, though it wasn't unusual by a specialist's standards. She had hoped time on the last wall, beneath Rustov and the old whip-cracking sergeant of hers would put some respect for the chain of command in him.
Valerie scowled, defeated. If Valen let it slide, it only meant the kid was that good, and there was a risk of Spendel being poached by a Bureau.
"I'll tell them more when I know more. Rustov isn't back from lighting the fields, Trask is MIA, and I'm still waiting on two platoons that are in transit. Once I have at least half a company, I'll go pull Trask out of the fire," Valerie replied, testily.
"Aye, ma'am," Spendel replied. He frowned, checked over something for a moment, then said "Odd..."
"What is it?" she asked.
"Miscommunication, I think. Some new kid on the telegraph line is pretending of have a sense of humour. The message makes no sense," Spendel answered. "I'm sure it's nothing."
"What did it say?" Valerie asked.
"As follows: Report any sighting of the airship," Spendel said, bemused. "Has to be a prank."
"Could be a mechanical issue. Request confirmation from command, and let me know when I get back," Valerie ordered, heading for the door.
When she stepped outside, she was nearly tackled by Lieutenant Rustov's junior sergeant, an antsy young man who hadn't yet learned how to wait. "Captain! My platoon is ready, have been since we left the last wall. We're ready to go and assist Lieutenant Trask."
This wasn't the first time Sergeant Reeves made this request. Or the second. Valerie kept her face as neutral as possible, as she glanced out into the night. "We're still waiting on Lieutenant Rustov and the rest of her platoon. They're due any minute by cable-car."
The sergeant did not look happy with her response, but saluted smartly and returned to his troops.
Valerie sighed as she glanced back towards the Last Wall, where they had seen a vicious eruption of flame from their location, fifteen miles away. "What the hell are you up to, Rustov?" she asked herself, not for the first time tonight.
Of the eight platoons that made up her company, only six were ever deployed to the last wall at any given time. Of those six, two had arrived since Valerie had sent orders to withdraw. Rustov's platoon was only at half strength, Trask was missing, and both Lieutenants Curt and Barrow were delayed by mechanical trouble with the cable-cars.
The last communication from Trask had said something impossible; two Golems were hitting his section of the wall. It was something she dearly wanted to confirm, but too much of her company was scattered. Until she heard more from Curt and Barrow, and Rustov, Trask was on his own.
She grimaced and spat over the wall, trying to wash away the sickening feeling of leaving him on the Wall alone. Withdrawal protocols were clear, and even the recruits came in knowing that no one held at the last wall. If Trask was still back there, it was because something had prevented his retreat.
She walked as she mused, passing by the two Valkyries assigned to her company. The Valkyries were large, bronze cannons, with a tube that a grown man could stick his entire head into, roughly eleven feet long in total. Each of them, smelted in the foundry under the supervision of a Crafter, was engraved along the top with one of the oldest expressions in the City.
"Burn fierce and bright," Valerie said to herself, quietly.
The occasional crash, somewhere far in the night, was eerily similar to the cracking of thunder, only it lacked the familiarity of lightning. It was too sharp a sound, too regular in frequency, to be anything natural. Like the tick of a mountain-tall clock. It had been Sergeant Reeves who told her what that noise was, and the knowledge made every crack and rumble that much more terrifying.
Somewhere, in the distant darkness, at least one Golem was pounding its way through the wall.
But between the distant crashing sound of her childhood nightmares knocking at the walls, she could hear a soft squeal of scraping metal and engines. She smiled to herself and had to force herself not to run as she marched to the receiving station.
As she marched, Sergeant Reeves fell into step behind her. She slowed a little, to let him catch up. "You heard it, too?"
"Aye, ma'am. Cable car. Someone's returning," Reeves replied.
She turned to him as she walked, and added, "We'll get to Trask."
"Aye, ma'am. I understand. It's just hard to wait."
She sighed and shook her head. "We were expecting Lieutenant Rustov soon, weren't we?"
"Aye, ma'am. She shouldn't have been more than an hour behind us. The Golem was almost at the wall when she split up the squad."
"Smart of her," Valerie reflected. "The longer you wait to set the fields alight, the longer the fires hold off the Gloam. And she didn't need the entire platoon to handle the job. Who did she keep?"
"Private Evert Reese, Corporal Mia Vascel, Mechanic Madeleine Soren, and Sergeant Valen Redgrave," Reeves said.
She nodded as he listed the troops, and asked, "Any ideas why she chose them, specifically?"
Reeves nodded almost instantly. "After Spendel, Reese is the best hand with communication equipment. Madeleine knows the flow controls better than any of us, and no one in the army can shoot like Mia. And Sergeant Redgrave, well, is Sergeant Redgrave. It's a light complement that can handle every skill she might need before she returned. It was a smart choice."
She nodded, impressed. "Good. Hopefully, they'll be here soon. I can't imagine the Wall will keep that Golem out much longer. I'd prefer to have her here if we have to split the company up to find our wayward platoons."
She turned away to watch the approaching cable-car, her smile fading as she stared into the open window and caught sight of its occupants.
She recognised the mechanic's coat instantly, the large buttons connecting the sleeves to the shoulders made it a distinctive sight. And the only other occupant looked young and paced around nervously inside the car.
"Only two?" she asked, out loud, and turned to Reeves. He shrugged and shook his head.
As the car halted at the station, the young one, she guessed Private Reese, opened the cage door and stepped through, saluting smartly as soon as he stood on the platform. Reeves returned the salute, and Valerie followed a moment after.
To the Captain's surprise, the Mechanic stepped past all of them, and threw her arms around the Sergeant, burying her head into his shoulder wordlessly. She turned away, leaving them for the moment, as she addressed the private. "Evert Reese?" she asked, and the boy nodded once. She frowned; the response was too informal but decided to let it slide. "Report."
"Ma'am, Lieutenant Rustov remained behind to detonate the flame pipes at the last wall. Madeleine, sorry, I mean Mechanic Soren identified the possibility of a pipe rupture if the flow valves along the wall were shut improperly."
"A pipe rupture? That's insane. There's no way you could predict when it ruptured," Valerie insisted, bewildered.
"The Lieutenant believes the stressed pipe would by the Golem's strikes against the wall, Ma'am," Private Evert Reese replied. "She's trying it right now, and had Sergeant Valen and Corporal Vascel remain to cap off the flame distribution to the opposite section of the wall."
"The theory is sound, Ma'am," Madeleine insisted, reluctantly detaching herself from the Sergeant. "It's insane, but it could work. And it doesn't cost anything to try."
Valerie shook her head. "It might cost her everything," she said, but she stared out towards the Last Wall and found herself smiling. To stop a Golem at the last wall was the dream of every soldier, no matter how impossible it was. She couldn't help but wish Amelian Rustov well.
"Send the car back for them," Captain Valerie Olgen said. "Sergeant Reeves, take two soldiers and return to the last wall. Find out what happened. Bring them back."
"Aye, Captain!" Harold Reeves said, saluting sharply before darting away to collect a pair of soldiers to accompany him. The Mechanic, Madeleine, followed closely behind.
Captain Olgen shook her head, and stared back into the night, towards the last wall. A deliberate pipe-burst would explain the flash of fire she had seen in the distance, a quarter-hour ago. Unless something went wrong along the Last Wall, Rustov and the rest of her squad should be back within the hour, and she could start a relief effort for her missing platoons.
"Evert, follow!" Valerie barked, and the private fell into step behind her as she marched away.
"Sergeant Reeves tells me you're a deft hand with communication equipment," Captain Olgen said, as they walked.
"No, ma'am. That would be Spendel."
"Oh, I know. He's at the hub right now, running it. Which makes you your platoon's communication specialist. I need you to remain with the rest of your platoon, rather than accompany Reeves. Can you handle that?"
Boots clicked sharply against the stone, as Evert Reese snapped to attention. "Aye, Captain."
She glanced back, with the barest flick of her head, to make sure he was following. "Inform the rest of your squad that I want them armed, and prepped for a prolonged assignment. They should be ready to depart at a moment's notice."
"Captain!" Evert saluted, and paused for a moment, glancing around.
She smiled and added, "They're near the relay station. Opposite way, about five minutes."
He smiled and nodded his head before turning away and starting down the wall at a slow run.
"Good," she muttered to herself, as she marched towards where her aide, Lieutenant Cadmus Arland and his platoon were still waiting. It took almost five minutes; time she feared she wasn't using wisely.
She was surprised to find her Lieutenant was geared up, with full kit and a water satchel packed. The rest of the platoon had done the same, and a few were lighting lanterns.
Cadmus was more of her aide than a field Lieutenant, and the platoon assigned to him was made of technical specialists, rather than general soldiers. She found it surprising to see them this eager to get into action, and felt guilty about feeling that way. After all, every single one of them had been trained on the Last Wall, by the old Sergeants. Some of whom were now missing.
"Arland, this is a bad time for a stroll," Valerie called out as she approached. Her Lieutenant snapped to attention, and a few of the closer members of his platoon did the same. Following protocol, she did the same, and glanced around. "What prompted this?" she asked, nodding her head towards the other soldiers.
Arland had always been level-headed, calm and reserved. Seeing him flustered was more than a little disturbing.
"Ma'am, one of the cable car lines went slack."
Valerie found herself wondering if her jaw had actually dropped, like in the plays. "Abyss below!" she hissed. "Who was due to return on that car?"
"Lieutenant Amy Barrow, and her platoon. We tried reeling in the rest of the line, but it appears to be attached to the car," her aide explained. "So we wound up and measured the other end, and determined that the car can't be more than two and a half miles in."
She shook her head. "What could have caused it?"
"Since the car was in transit, it wasn't sabotaged by Barrow's people. Which leaves two possibilities."
"Accident or Golem," Captain Olgen finished, glancing out into the night. She had to go after them, even if she was spreading herself thin. "Neither possibility should change our response. Go ahead, Lieutenant, and take a squad. Just be quick."
"I hope no one lit the fields up, yet. Any word from Trask or Rustov, ma'am?" he asked, prudently.
"Not from Trask. Rustov thinks she can take out a Golem with a pipe breach. She sent everyone except Valen and someone else."
Arland stood slack-jawed for a long moment. "That's insane, ma'am. Did Valen really let her do that?"
Valerie shrugged. "Her junior sergeant is on his way back to retrieve her. One way or another, I'll know in an hour. I expect you back around the same time. Happy hunting."
He saluted smartly. "Aye, ma'am," he turned away and gestured to the others, who silently fell into line behind him.
She watched the eleven of them start marching, in single file, down the long staircase to the grounds below, two of them carrying small torches to light their way. Abyss below, she thought to herself. Half of her company was missing, and instead of hoarding the rest, she was gambling them on a turn of good fortune.
She watched them for another minute, as they wound their way into the fields and neared the edge of the faint shadow the wall caused, as it blocked the light of the distant spire.
A lot of news, and absolutely nothing to report to Central. It was odd that command was so keen on the health of a single officer, as they had asked about Rustov and her platoon six times in three hours. Almost as strange as the request to keep an eye out for-
She turned away, and her jaw dropped.
Passing through the clouds in the distance was a ship.
The steel hull glimmered in the firelight as it broke the cloud cover in its descent, its propellers whirling almost silently in the distance. Captain Olgen stared, every thought lost for a long moment, as she followed the impossible ship's progress.
In less than a minute, it descended to just above the Causeway, it's forward momentum sweeping it along into the distance until all she could see of the ship was the faint glow of the strange balloon.
"Airship," she muttered to herself. "That should shut Spendel up."