Captain Kurt Simpson was sitting at his desk with his feet up smoking a cigar. Leaning back into his seat his peace was interrupted when a tall pale man with a short buzzcut hairstyle ducked his head into the room. "Captain Simpson there's a bit of an issue" he said nervously.
Rolling his eyes and groaning Kurt sat up straight and looked at the young man. "What is it boy?" he said with a derisory glare in his eyes. "Well a couple of the guys just heard that the special tactical gear and weapons we were supposed to get and use is...gone" he said to a visibly frustrated Kurt.
"I don't have all day for your nervous stammering boy what do you mean gone" he said rising to his feet. "Um *ahem* the general assigned it to the Jarans that just left this morning. All of it" the recruit said to a visibly confused Kurt.
Not registering what he'd just been told he collected his hat and coat. "Out of my way rookie" he said barging past the recruit who was already moving out of the way.
Standing outside the generals office he took a deep breath putting on his hat and coat as he politely knocked on the door. "Come in" a booming voice commanded from inside the room.
Walking in slowly Kurt stepped into the room before removing his hat and placing it across his chest as he stood perfectly upright. "Sir a moment of your time please" he said as he looked forward. The overly muscular chocolate complexioned grey haired man sitting at the desk gestured towards the open seat in front of him.
"What can I do for you today captain Simpson" the general said with a grin. "Sir one of my recruits informed me of the sudden change in weapons distribution. Ii assured him there was some sort of misunderstanding so I'm just asking where the break in communication happened" Kurt said nervously smiling.
"Oh yeah. Thomas's team is better than yours so they got the weapons. There communication fixed" the general shrugged as he gestured to the door signaling for Kurt to leave. Sitting there with an incredulous look on his face Kurt froze causing the general to raise an eyebrow.
"Penny for your thoughts there Simpson?" he asked setting his hands down on the desk with his fingers intertwined with only one pinky finger between them.
"Well general Mandla I just...and this isn't me doubting your judgment-" "Sounds like it's gonna be" the general said interrupting Kurt and smirking at him looking visibly frustrated.
"No no no sir, I just don't understand how a group of, well newbies can be the best options to take over a base we've already lost two sets of soldiers to" Kurt said as his fake smile began to slip. "That's exactly why this is happening. No offense to you or your men but we need firepower on that front line and quite frankly I trust the Jarans more than I trust you with a string of third choice recruits. There that satisfy your obsession with this?" the general asked going back to work before even waiting for an answer.
Tucking his tail between his legs Kurt nodded and stood up. "Thank you for your time general Mandla" he said as he did his best to leave the room before steam started coming out of his ear.
Heading straight for his office he stormed in and flung his coat off and undid his collar. "Ain't no way ain't no fucking way" he said walking over to the cabinet behind his desk and picking up a dust covered brown envelope. Picking it up left a perfect clean rectangular shape around all the dust that had gathered on the desk.
Grimacing as he shook the dust off the envelope the cover read "Scouting report: Jaran section of the Lux Army recruits".
Opening it he scanned the document for key words that stood out and his heart sank when he read the words "elite physical conditioning". Stopping dead in his tracks he sat down and read the entire document in pain staking detail.
Accounts of how physically well conditioned some of the Jaran recruits were confused him. Reading that they had further and superior vision to every Luxen due to living in the caves angered him.
The boiling point for his bubbling frustrations was the statement that the best recruits from the Jaran reinforcements were as good if not better than the very best Luxen recruits ever. In other words as far as Kurt was concerned the very best Jaran recruits and maybe even Thomas himself were better than him at his physical peak.