on
[ The WAR ]
Green Colonels
Ch: 10
The City of Odina and her new residents….
- 始 -
The sun hung over the city of Odina, just like every other day. The rows of magnificent tower of commercial buildings stood high and mighty, baking under the orange sun.
However, this city was very different from what it used to be. There were no cars on the roads, no pedestrians along the pavements and the traffic lights no longer flashed with colour. It was as if no one — not even a single free person — occupied this large city.
Though it was lonely, it was not quite abandoned. Various corners of the streets were stationed with war tanks which could barely fit into the gap between two buildings facing each other. The buildings which had tactical advantage were guarded by a squad of soldiers. Each squadron had enough fire-power to takeover a city.
The 12th Battalion did a quick and efficient job out of evacuating the urban dwellers of Odina.
No. They were no longer called by their standard numberings. Under the command of Colonel Arnold Urbs, they were known as the City Hunters. These City Hunters were not to be trifled with. They were more than what the 12th Battalion could offer. Urbs trained his battalion into urban rangers, specialising in urban tactics and command.
The town hall was revamped into a huge operations room. In the middle stood a large low table with the map of Oclia spread out. Numerous flag figurines marked the comprehensive war map. Despite being surrounded by a swarm of officers in their uniform, it was relatively easy to identify the green colonel.
No, the colonel was not in a green military uniform for jungle warfare, neither was he in grey, which was a special uniform designed for the City Hunters to perform their urban missions. ‘Green colonel’ was a term coined up recently to describe officers like Arnold Urbs who were given the green light in the military to be promoted instantly to that rank despite having no experience on the battlefield.
In fact, the colonel was yellow. Or at least, he wore a bright yellow construction helmet instead of the standard military helmets. His dress-wear was an aegean blue coverall meant to be worn in construction sites. Since there was nowhere to don his epaulette, he took the liberty to cut his phoenix insignia off the epaulette and stitched it on the left breast pocket of his jumpsuit. Under military law, Urbs was liable to face charges for defacing a military emblem. However, no one could report on him. He was the highest ranking officer in the city. Besides, though no one admitted it, he was indispensable. Every individual from Heaven’s Command cannot be replaced.
“They took the south forest. They could arrive as early as four days time,” Captain Steele — assistant to the colonel — commented.
“Have we established contact with The Kingdom?” Urbs asked.
“No, Sir. Their signal is sluggish. It seems like they’re in for a rough patch themselves.”
The colonel nodded once without taking his focus off the map, acknowledging his head signaller.
“What about recon?”
“So far, nothing from Colonel Footes’ recon, Sir.”
He nodded once more. He turned to another scrawny man wearing an oversized green uniform, with no epaulette donned on. “Husker, what do you think?” Urbs asked.
Husker gave the colonel a blank look. He looked like a depressed and confused child forced into this situation. His lopsided spectacles gave others the impression that this child was a stressed-out scientist who had no breakthrough whatsoever in his experiments.
It would seem weird to an outsider that a colonel would ask for a mere private’s opinion. However, it was absolutely normal to the army of soldiers currently stationed in Odina. Colonel Harrold Husker had seemingly forgotten to wear his rank, once again. His sloppy attitude was never accepted by his subordinates.
“Was he even listening to the colonel’s briefing?” A junior officer whispered to another standing next to him.
However, Urbs knew better. Husker was a genius who graduated with his Masters in Applied Physics at the age of twenty-four two years ago. Moreover, Urbs had witnessed Husker’s profound ability back at HQ Command. This aloof Commanding Officer of the Hustlers was actually deep in thought.
“You are the expert in urban operations. But if I were you, I would strengthen the defence here rather than waste time on reconnaissance,” Husker murmured without confidence.
“What is he saying? Does he even think?”
The officers in the command centre whispered among themselves in disapproval.
This suggestion was totally against their direct order, which was to secure as many pockets of smaller cities and towns before the enemy took control of them.
“You’re right. Strengthen the defence here. We are now in Condition Orange.”
The entire group of officers gawked at the two misfit colonels in confusion as they walked out of the command centre together.
- - -
“Sorry about my officers just now. They just don’t understand,” Urbs apologised to Husker as they found themselves a nice spot in the abandoned park nearby.
Husker waved off the apology and replied, “I won’t take it to heart, Urbs. Such trivial comments are not of my concern.”
Urbs simply shrugged his shoulders. He knew how Husker truly felt but did not want to talk more about it.
“It’s against our direct orders, you know that, right?”
Urbs confirmed with the other colonel.
Husker glanced at the phoenix insignia stitched onto the left breast pocket of Urbs’ unusual sense of dressing and replied, “not like you care about rules.”
Urbs chuckled.
Rules were meant to be bent, as long as it made the process more efficient without changing the overall concept.
“Just like travelling from the third dimension to the fourth,” the physicist, Husker related.
Imagine an ant on the left end of a 10 cm ruler. This was the third dimension. For the ant to be at the right end of the ruler, it had to crawl that 10 centimetres to the right to reach the other end. The simpler method for that to happen was to travel from the third dimension to the fourth. One simply needs to bend the ruler – the ends of the ruler touching each other – for the ant to effortlessly crawl to the right end of the ruler. It beats physically expending time and energy using the conventional way. The same goes for rules. As long as the end result was still the same, bending the rules allowed the process to be sped up exponentially.
“Finally, someone who understands.”
“Though I would say that a ruler would snap if you bend it too much.”
“That is why the ruler has to be flexible.”
“True… You know, it’s odd for the head architect to hate straight lines and rules.”
“Then what about you? The fastest man alive has nothing he wishes to do in life and doesn’t need the extra time.”
“Isn’t that good? A life without regrets nor expectations.”
“I would say that’s a worthless life.”
Husker shrugged his shoulders and commented with a melancholic smile, “well.. then I guess we’re both suckers.”
The abandoned park was filled with laughter not heard for months.
They understood each other. After all, they were chips off the same block – geniuses who were never really understood and accepted by society.
- - -
From the searing flames emerged a cadaverous young man. His pale skin and cloudy eyes emphasised his ghastly appearance. The weird hairdo – jet black spiky long hair – accentuated his lengthy height, making him seem taller than 1.95 metres. The heat did not seem to affect him because he gave a twisted smile, as if he was enjoying the burn.
Through the thick grey smoke and orange fires, the town piled up with dead corpse. The scene was exactly like the destruction of the Evergreen Rainforest. However, this time round, the dead did not wear military uniform. They were civilians…
A trooper ran up to the bony man and reported, “Lord, we’re set.”
The man turned his head to face his trooper, exposing a tattoo on the left side of his neck — an uncompleted star in a circle. It was an uncompleted inverted pentacle with one line missing.
“Kakamada,” the man muttered under his breath, “it’s time for more blood. Next, that city over there.”
He pointed to the buildings in the horizon and licked his pale cracked lips once. Overlord Shil’Var Slandarma’an had decided that the next target was the city of Odina.
The City of Odina and her new residents….
The sun hung over the city of Odina, just like every other day. The rows of magnificent tower of commercial buildings stood high and mighty, baking under the orange sun.
However, this city was very different from what it used to be. There were no cars on the roads, no pedestrians along the pavements and the traffic lights no longer flashed with colour. It was as if no one — not even a single free person — occupied this large city.
Though it was lonely, it was not quite abandoned. Various corners of the streets were stationed with war tanks which could barely fit into the gap between two buildings facing each other. The buildings which had tactical advantage were guarded by a squad of soldiers. Each squadron had enough fire-power to takeover a city.
The 12th Battalion did a quick and efficient job out of evacuating the urban dwellers of Odina.
No. They were no longer called by their standard numberings. Under the command of Colonel Arnold Urbs, they were known as the City Hunters. These City Hunters were not to be trifled with. They were more than what the 12th Battalion could offer. Urbs trained his battalion into urban rangers, specialising in urban tactics and command.
The town hall was revamped into a huge operations room. In the middle stood a large low table with the map of Oclia spread out. Numerous flag figurines marked the comprehensive war map. Despite being surrounded by a swarm of officers in their uniform, it was relatively easy to identify the green colonel.
No, the colonel was not in a green military uniform for jungle warfare, neither was he in grey, which was a special uniform designed for the City Hunters to perform their urban missions. ‘Green colonel’ was a term coined up recently to describe officers like Arnold Urbs who were given the green light in the military to be promoted instantly to that rank despite having no experience on the battlefield.
In fact, the colonel was yellow. Or at least, he wore a bright yellow construction helmet instead of the standard military helmets. His dress-wear was an aegean blue coverall meant to be worn in construction sites. Since there was nowhere to don his epaulette, he took the liberty to cut his phoenix insignia off the epaulette and stitched it on the left breast pocket of his jumpsuit. Under military law, Urbs was liable to face charges for defacing a military emblem. However, no one could report on him. He was the highest ranking officer in the city. Besides, though no one admitted it, he was indispensable. Every individual from Heaven’s Command cannot be replaced.
“They took the south forest. They could arrive as early as four days time,” Captain Steele — assistant to the colonel — commented.
“Have we established contact with The Kingdom?” Urbs asked.
“No, Sir. Their signal is sluggish. It seems like they’re in for a rough patch themselves.”
The colonel nodded once without taking his focus off the map, acknowledging his head signaller.
“What about recon?”
“So far, nothing from Colonel Footes’ recon, Sir.”
He nodded once more. He turned to another scrawny man wearing an oversized green uniform, with no epaulette donned on. “Husker, what do you think?” Urbs asked.
Husker gave the colonel a blank look. He looked like a depressed and confused child forced into this situation. His lopsided spectacles gave others the impression that this child was a stressed-out scientist who had no breakthrough whatsoever in his experiments.
It would seem weird to an outsider that a colonel would ask for a mere private’s opinion. However, it was absolutely normal to the army of soldiers currently stationed in Odina. Colonel Harrold Husker had seemingly forgotten to wear his rank, once again. His sloppy attitude was never accepted by his subordinates.
“Was he even listening to the colonel’s briefing?” A junior officer whispered to another standing next to him.
However, Urbs knew better. Husker was a genius who graduated with his Masters in Applied Physics at the age of twenty-four two years ago. Moreover, Urbs had witnessed Husker’s profound ability back at HQ Command. This aloof Commanding Officer of the Hustlers was actually deep in thought.
“You are the expert in urban operations. But if I were you, I would strengthen the defence here rather than waste time on reconnaissance,” Husker murmured without confidence.
“What is he saying? Does he even think?”
The officers in the command centre whispered among themselves in disapproval.
This suggestion was totally against their direct order, which was to secure as many pockets of smaller cities and towns before the enemy took control of them.
“You’re right. Strengthen the defence here. We are now in Condition Orange.”
The entire group of officers gawked at the two misfit colonels in confusion as they walked out of the command centre together.
“Sorry about my officers just now. They just don’t understand,” Urbs apologised to Husker as they found themselves a nice spot in the abandoned park nearby.
Husker waved off the apology and replied, “I won’t take it to heart, Urbs. Such trivial comments are not of my concern.”
Urbs simply shrugged his shoulders. He knew how Husker truly felt but did not want to talk more about it.
“It’s against our direct orders, you know that, right?”
Urbs confirmed with the other colonel.
Husker glanced at the phoenix insignia stitched onto the left breast pocket of Urbs’ unusual sense of dressing and replied, “not like you care about rules.”
Urbs chuckled.
Rules were meant to be bent, as long as it made the process more efficient without changing the overall concept.
“Just like travelling from the third dimension to the fourth,” the physicist, Husker related.
Imagine an ant on the left end of a 10 cm ruler. This was the third dimension. For the ant to be at the right end of the ruler, it had to crawl that 10 centimetres to the right to reach the other end. The simpler method for that to happen was to travel from the third dimension to the fourth. One simply needs to bend the ruler – the ends of the ruler touching each other – for the ant to effortlessly crawl to the right end of the ruler. It beats physically expending time and energy using the conventional way. The same goes for rules. As long as the end result was still the same, bending the rules allowed the process to be sped up exponentially.
“Finally, someone who understands.”
“Though I would say that a ruler would snap if you bend it too much.”
“That is why the ruler has to be flexible.”
“True… You know, it’s odd for the head architect to hate straight lines and rules.”
“Then what about you? The fastest man alive has nothing he wishes to do in life and doesn’t need the extra time.”
“Isn’t that good? A life without regrets nor expectations.”
“I would say that’s a worthless life.”
Husker shrugged his shoulders and commented with a melancholic smile, “well.. then I guess we’re both suckers.”
The abandoned park was filled with laughter not heard for months.
They understood each other. After all, they were chips off the same block – geniuses who were never really understood and accepted by society.
From the searing flames emerged a cadaverous young man. His pale skin and cloudy eyes emphasised his ghastly appearance. The weird hairdo – jet black spiky long hair – accentuated his lengthy height, making him seem taller than 1.95 metres. The heat did not seem to affect him because he gave a twisted smile, as if he was enjoying the burn.
Through the thick grey smoke and orange fires, the town piled up with dead corpse. The scene was exactly like the destruction of the Evergreen Rainforest. However, this time round, the dead did not wear military uniform. They were civilians…
A trooper ran up to the bony man and reported, “Lord, we’re set.”
The man turned his head to face his trooper, exposing a tattoo on the left side of his neck — an uncompleted star in a circle. It was an uncompleted inverted pentacle with one line missing.
“Kakamada,” the man muttered under his breath, “it’s time for more blood. Next, that city over there.”
He pointed to the buildings in the horizon and licked his pale cracked lips once. Overlord Shil’Var Slandarma’an had decided that the next target was the city of Odina.