Northern Valley (Location D)

[Max Dirks]

The Northern Valley is located far from the main area of the battle. Surrounded by the mountains in the east and the foothills of the west, this location is well protected. However, a direct assault may result in a bottleneck that would be difficult to escape from. Wise generals will situate their troops to prevent a bottleneck situation.

This is RumbleGrumblePuss' starting location.

The tournament will begin when 6 threads have been posted in this subforum. Good Luck!

[RumpleGrumblePuss]

Standing in the central command tent I surveyed my underlings. Eddie stood to my left General Kelly stood to my right GI Kelly was across from me. Between us a detailed map of this region rested on a table, daggers held the four corners down. Frowning at the map I studied it for a long moment.

“Eddie, you are not vital to troop intelligence. I need you to get out there, start distributing to the LA&C troops. I also need you to mobilize the Red Wolves and the Shadows. As long as the pass stays open our ass is uncovered. Go.” Eddie jumped at my barked order; he touched the edge of his beret and hurried out. A moment later I could hear him shouting to get the shadows and wolves moving immediately.

“Next order of business. Ladies, I will need your help with this. Our troops are wet behind the ears. We need our army to straighten up. General, I trust you to handle the LA&C. Don’t hesitate to make an example of one, the rest will fall into line after wards and you’ll only have to deal with grumbling afterwards. Kelly.” At that both of the women looked at me. Smirking a little I shook my head.

“For now you are known as General.” I said pointing at General Kelly. “And you will be called Kelly.” I pointed at the GI Kelly.

“Kelly, you need to take command of the Damn Dirty Pirates. That’s a mouth full, shorten it to DDP. I will personally take command of the Shadows and Red Wolves. For now, we wait. We will move out an hour before sunset. Once full dark arrives, be prepared for a harsh march. We move to Dandelion Forest. Get my troops ready. Dismissed ladies. ”

~~~~

I found my troops in disarray when I stepped out of the command tent. Several of the LA&C were grouped around the DDP’s. The two groups were faced off in a yelling match. Rubbing my forehead to relieve the ache building there I watched them for a few moments.

“Break it up! Now!” Several jumped in surprise before turning to look at me. I stalked down into the main camp to confront them.

“This is not acceptable. We are not here to have a picnic nor are we here to ‘pick up’ women. This is my army and you will get in line or I will string you up my self and let every one watch you fight for your last breath.” I looked around and was pleased to see many of them looked chastised.

“General, get the girls in line for their rations and get them properly reequipped. I don’t want to see any weapons lying on the ground.”

“Kelly, take the DDP’s and strengthen our lines. We don’t want a surprise attack wiping us out before this war has even started.” Both women saluted me; I caught the twin smirks they held as they waded into the crowd and began yelling orders. Nodding, I headed back to the command tent, at the flap I paused.

“General.” I shouted back at the co-general of my army.

“Yes ma’am?” The faint reply came. I saw the red headed figure turn towards me.

“Let the girls sleep in shifts then give them their rations. Not before.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I smiled and entered the tent. Looking down at the map of my current location I frowned and wondered where the other two armies were located. I hated fighting blind. I need a way to locate the others and study their tactics. A possible alliance with one of the armies would benefit me greatly. Not to mention it would keep the casualties at a minimum.

~~~
General Kelly looked around her and shook her head at the amount of work it would take to get this group in order and into fighting shape.

“I want your help. Gather a dozen of your fellows and come back to me in ten minutes. I need to look around and see what exactly needs to be done.” The Manda she spoke to eagerly nodded and leered at her before scampering off. Looking around it was easy to spot Eddie. As usual he stuck out like a sore thumb in his black clothing and the beret he thought covered the growing bald spot on the back of his head.

“Eddie, I need you to set up between the last two trucks and force the girls form a line. Check them off as they get their liquor. Also, if they haven’t slept yet they don’t get any. Kahlina doesn’t want them to sleep the effects off.”

“Check them off? They all look the same to me.” Eddie stared at the crowd of eagerly awaiting Manda’s. A shudder crept down his spine when he made eyes contact with the ones that had already finished a bottle or three. Their too bright eyes gleamed with a joyful abandon and reckless intent to destroy something.

“Whatever you say, you’re the General.” The General patted him on the back and walked away. An out of place noise caught the General’s attention. Following it, she came up a sight between two trucks she wished to never see again. On the ground, a writhing pile of two or three Mandas lay in a lesbian display, the likes of which has never been seen on Althanas.

“Gods, you are so awesome!”
“No, you are awesome!”
“Hey, we’re all awesome.” At that the general, having heard and seen more than enough bellowed.

“Get up now! Report to Eddie for duty suitable for a punishment. You have to explain to him exactly why I request this too.” The three frozen Manda’s looked up at the General, an expression of embarrassment and guilt equal on each face. “Move!” The Manda’s scrambled, pulling on clothing as they ran towards Eddie. Hoots and cat calls rose up from the ranks.

“Ma’am. I’ve gathered several others like you requested.” The general noticed a dozen of the Manda clones waiting on her. Nodding she gestured for them to follow her. On the far side of the camp she stopped.

“I want pallets set up here, a hundred and fifty or so will do. Everyone is to sleep four hours, in shifts. We move out tonight. The weapons need to be collected from everyone and then redistributed evenly.” Catching the glances from her group to the main mass, she shook her head.

“Recruit others if you need, but you 12 will be my core group of helpers. Find a way for me to identify you easily. Report back when everything is done.”

“Yes ma’am!” Twelve voices coursed before they broke up and headed for the rest of the Mandas.

~~~
Kelly found herself wishing she could use just one grenade on the DDP’s just to straighten them out. The raucous jokes and leers were grating on her nerves. Just as the first of the Red Wolves came into view the last nerve was touched and severed. Kelly grabbed the pirate that had decided to grab her butt. Her hands grabbed his groin and clenched, she raised her hand until the pirate stood on tip toe.

“I may not be Kahlina. I do have a nice figure but that had got nothing to do with my command. If I hear one more joke about my breasts, if I get groped once more, I will let the wolves bite off the pathetic things dangling between your legs. Just so you can fight afterwards I’ll be nice enough to cauterize it for you. Now, are you men going to be nice and listen to me or are we going to have to be nasty about this?” The man in her grasp paled under his tan until his skin was an unhealthy shade of gray. Sniffing, Kelly let go of the man and stalked off. Behind her mutinous mummers rose up from the DDP’s. Turning, she looked at them in a speculative manner. The murmurs abruptly ceased. None rose up when she turned back.

Her boots thudding heavily on the ground Kelly march up to the unusual sapling and looked at the red bark and leaves then at the ring of teeth on the trunk.

“I need you to find one of the Shadows and have it report back to Kahlina. This area will be secure until we are ready to move out.” The tree rippled in an almost unpleasant manner before turning into a wolf and racing into the tree line.

“All right men, I want you to spread out in the trees. I want three lines formed at 50 yards, 150 yards and 400 yards from this location. Keep within ear shot of one another.” Kelly smiled as the pirates moved without protest.

Minutes later something tugged at the ankle of her uniform. Looking down she spotted a tentacle sprouting from the ground. She didn’t doubt that the rest of the blob like shadow being resided beneath the ground.

“Area secure. I want you to remain with Kahlina until we are to move out. I will send another messenger if need be.” The tentacle bobbed as if nodding in agreement and disappeared beneath the ground.

~~~~
I walked out of the tent, it was near sunset. Only a couple of hours to go. The sight that greeted me was surprising. Groups of Manda had separated off and were working on various things. Several Mandas went from group to group collecting the bottles and putting them in the back of the trucks. Other inspected and cleaned weapons. Away from the rest, a huge group was napping.

“Good job. I am surprised how quickly you turned them around.” I said to the quiet figure that approached me. I looked at the idealized figure of my earthian mother and smiled at her tired expression.

“Go rest until it is time to leave. If you use the command tent, I have one of the Shadows there.” The general nodded and walked into the tent. Moving closer to the first group of Manda’s, I watched them talk and laugh amongst themselves as they drank. The sight made me smile. I looked around at the other groups and wondered why everyone was drinking tequila.

“Eddie!” I shouted. From my far right I heard an answering shout. Quickly, I headed for him.

“Why are you by the trucks? Also, I wanted about a third of the girls to have vodka. Why is everyone drinking tequila?” Eddie paused in the middle of leaning into his void to retrieve a case. The sight of half of an Eddie creped me out. Finally pulling out of the void, Eddie closed it after him. He put the case on the ground and sat on it, he wiped beads of sweat off of his forehead before he looked up at me.

“The general moved me here to keep the girls more organized. The vodka group is having their nap right now, when they wake up they’ll report to me and get their bottles.” I nodded and patted Eddie’s shoulder. He had sounded faintly disgruntled.

“That’s good Eddie. I’ll get them up now. We need to start heading out. Give everyone two bottles. Some troops will have to walk for a bit. The trucks can carry only so many.”

I walked up to a hill that allowed me to look over the whole group and cleared my throat. The Mandas closest quieted down, began nudging and pointing until the only noise in the camp was the clink of bottles and the buzz saw like noise of the sleeping Mandas.

“Ladies, pack up. We head out in an hour. Prepare yourselves for a battle. I do not know what we will find at the next location.” A loud roar rose up; I covered my ears against the high pitched shrieks and war cries from the Mandas. Grinning like an idiot I headed for the sleeping Mandas. Maybe I do have a chance to come out of this alive after all.

“Time’s up ladies. Time to get up.” I raised my voice to be heard. The reaction I got was little more than a few snorts and a couple rolled over. Sighing, I wondered for a moment exactly how to wake up this group. It occurred to me that the Mandas were based off of my home world and the Manda I knew there. Hopefully they carried the same memories I did.

“Manda! Wake up, Godhand is here! Come on, you’ve been waiting forever to get your hands on him!” Most of them woke up as I yelled. I chuckled despite the strain I felt from yelling over the snores as they woke up with a ‘huh?!’ The last few that slept still woke up from their fellows’ exclamation.

“Morning. We move out in an hour. Gather up the pallets, get your rations and get ready to leave.” Ignoring the grumbles coming from them I headed back for the command tent.

“I need you to move to the other group and inform Kelly we are on the move. Have her move to Dandelion Forest. We will catch up to her. I want three shadows to flank her. Send back nine shadows too.” At my orders the shadow sank into the ground to carry out my orders.

~~~
At long last my troops were ready to go; the sun just barely hovered on the horizon. The General, Eddie and my self rode in separate trucks. Beneath each truck, safe from direct sunlight the shadows clung to the underside of them. I glanced about checking to see that each truck was filled with as many Mandas as could possibly fit. Come sun set the general, Eddie and I would climb up in top of the trucks, the shadows would hold us in place. It would free up space for that many more Mandas. I knew even just one could potentially save my neck if it came to that.



Moving to Dandelion Forest (location E)