"Of course I volunteer, General. I love these missions."
One of the coldest places in Karnath. In winter.Aloud I say. "I hope we are able to requisition sufficient quantities of wool, General."
Quote from: borealis on April 26, 2016, 11:31:00 AMOne of the coldest places in Karnath. In winter.Aloud I say. "I hope we are able to requisition sufficient quantities of wool, General."He gives the major a sharp look. "You will not doubt my commitment to properly supporting your team after I tell you the secondary objective." He continues, in chill tones, "Three months ago, we dispatched a team with the same orders. The last report we had from them was at Irontown. After that, they went silent. We have, however, indications that they advanced at least as far as the alpine tundra north of Lakeside; after that, the trail is lost. Your secondary mission is to locate and extract the original team, or failing that, discover what became of them." He pauses, then says in a hard voice, "The leader of the first expedition was my son."
Military form be damned. I offer the general a deep bow. "You must be very worried, sir. Trust that I will act to the best of my abilities to fulfil the mission, of course, but with the further thought in mind of restoring a son to his father. It is an honourable quest."
"If people took your son, m'lord, you just want him back, or d'you want who did it dead too?" I ask practically.
"Sir! Permission to ask a question, sir!"
[Insight check: 17+5=22 for if it seems there's more to his son's disappearance than he's telling us]
"Sir! Thank you, sir! Does Object 17 require special containment? In the event that Object 17 is in the possession of hostiles and recovery is impossible are we to terminate Object 17? With extreme prejudice? Sir!"
"So then, sir," I ask, "why send such a small squad? Why not a legion? There are plenty of those lying around. And why do we have so many officers, begging your pardons sirs, with just one soldier."
"Well, we have a lot of ranks here sir, we're going to spend half the day saluting each other, up and down sir."