A figure crouched motionless, obeying the first law of unseen movement. Avoid unnecessary movement. Moving makes you stand out. It would seem obvious, but still.... it was rule one. The figure wore camouflaged armor and held a small carbine in its hands. Slowly, the figure moved to a prone position. Yellow eyes stared out from behind the helmet eye panels. They were the eyes of a Cathar. Thengil’s eyes. Thengil lay at the edge of some woods, watching the surrounding area. He set up his rifle and began recording the area, taking out a datapad as well. He had to record what he saw. Usually the scout had aids such as he had now, holocam and a datapad. Sometimes you didn’t have those. Sometimes all you had were a piece of flimsy and a stylus. And on rare occasions not even those were to be had. That was where memory came into play. It was the most accessible method of recording. The ability to retain and recall all of what he saw depended on his mental capacity and alertness, and to recognize what was essential. But luckily he had a holorecorder with him, and a datapad. But he would still remember it all, memorize the layout, for the holocam could be damaged, as could the datapad. You never knew what might happen on a mission. He began to type what he saw.
Before he did he made sure that he followed the other rules. Awareness was number one when it came to reporting on what you saw. You must always be aware of the surroundings and nothing could be taken for granted. In addition, certain things could be misinterpreted by distorted awareness; such as an inaccurate or incomplete view of an object. The five senses had their limitations. Imagination could also hamper awareness. It could cause possible exaggerations in the surroundings. In general, he just had to be aware of what went on around him, which is what he was there for.
Be concise. ARC trooper Whiskey had drilled it into his head so many times over this past week he didn’t think he could ever forget. Be concise. He began to take notes, marking his position and studying the distance to the bridge. One: range to bridge is three hundred meters. Two: pond is two hundred meters. Thengil enabled the macrobinoculars on his helmet, zooming in on the bridge. Three: bridge is durasteel enforced cermacrete, can hold three vehicles side by side. Panning over to the road, Thengil saw that it was permacrete track. Four: road is permacrete. Five: road is two hundred pt above water, soft shoulder on both sides. His yellow eyes moved to the pond. Six: water is not potable. The water lay still, it did not look very healthy. He looked around at the grass. Seven: vegetation is sparce, few trees. A ring of trees surrounded this area, Thengil felt wind rustle the leaves above him. Eight: Woods on all sides.
His eyes returned to the road. Nothing stirred, yet. There would be repulsor sleds coming along soon. This was why he must report what he saw as soon as possible. If they were to launch a strike against this area, they must know it beforehand. Suddenly, he saw movement. He zoomed in even further and saw the few figures moving slightly. Nine: trooper one at intersection, seven hundred meters, left of position. Ten: Trooper two is bridge at pond, three hundred meters away. Eleven: Trooper three is at intersection on right. Twelve: Rear reference point is stone. Thengil looked behind him. A towering rock, the only significant one in the area, loomed in the forest just behind him.?Nodding, Thengil retreated back into the forest. That should do it. He messaged the report to his superiors through his encrypted datapad. It wouldn’t do to be caught now without having sent the report in.
He recalled his first report at the beginning of the week. ARC trooper Whiskey had ordered him to describe the instructor’s building and the one next to it. After he had written for a while Whiskey had strode over and snatched the flimsy from his hands.
“What is this?” Whiskey had growled, “I didn’t ask you to write a novel! Try again, this time short, key words.”
Thengil had. What came out was a three point description. One: Metal class-room w/2 metal doors. Windows on sides have bars. Bldg is 8m wide, 6m tall. Sloped roof. Two: radio tower, 14m tall. Stands behind class-room. Three: Instructors bldg made of wood. Two windows, one door. 9m wide, 7m tall. Repulsorlift parked in front.
After taking a brief look at it, Whiskey had nodded. “Exactly. This is what I want to see. You don’t need to go describing every leaf. Give me the essentials and only the essentials. You don’t tell me it’s a kosha tree unless there's a forest and it's the only kosha tree in the area. You don’t tell me what kind of repulsorlift unless there are dozens of them. Got it?”
Thengil had ‘got it’. Now he just had to use it. Understanding was another of those rules. It was harder to achieve than awareness. It derived not from the physical senses, but from experience. Education and training increased one’s knowledge of what should and shouldn’t be observed. It broadened the ability of a scout to think on all aspects and aided in the evaluation of information. This would only come with time. Time spent training. As he had for the past week.
He headed off toward the road. Specifically, where the road went through a wooded area. On the road he rigged a warning device, a laser trip that would broadcast an alert back to HQ. If all went as planned the repulsorlift sleds would set off the laser trip and alert HQ. Thengil faded back into the shadows, using the shadows of the trees to hide his form as he moved amidst the forest, on the alert for enemy patrols. Scouts were not handled nicely when caught. And though Thengil felt the lust for battle stirring in him, he quieted it with an effort. It was better to observe before taking action. He observed now, but later he would join the squad in action. Later.
His feline form shimmered amidst the trees, the camouflaged armor blending in. As suddenly as he had come, he was gone. Lost amidst the forest, as if he had never been.
Sometime later, the squad came to the edge of the forest. Thengil pointed out the guards at the bridge and at the intersections. The alarm system Thengil had set up gave them early warning of approaching vehicles.
“Good work,” grunted the squad leader.
In short order the three guards were taken out. Each went down before they had the time to return fire. Moving swiftly along the road and avoiding the terrain that Thengil had marked as treacherously swampy, they reached the bridge. It was durasteel reinforced, which would make their job of destroying it all that much harder. Thankfully, they had brought enough explosives. As soon as Thengil’s report had come in, the squad leader had seen to it that they each carried enough explosives to blow up a small fortress.
They wired the bridge to blow and retreated back to the edge of the woods. The squad leader seemed only too happy to throw the activation switch. The flavescent explosion rose high into the air, making the entire squad shudder with excitement. Everyone loved watching something get fireballed.
“Job well done, all around,” growled the squad leader.
Thengil was still smiling as the hologram dissipated and he was unhooked from the training machine. Mission complete.
