Spacial Illusions

Chapter Fourteen

NOT PROPERLY EDITED

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Guns clattered loudly to the wood of the market, a rifle sliding down the mountain to scrape to a stop at Callisto's clawed feet. The crowd of Praesidium villagers scrambled backwards at the noise and the sight of the odd machinery. Clawed hands lifted the rifle and Callisto handed the large hunk of metal to Kasar, the boy balking a bit at the unknown object.

"Each of you will take a gun, the youth and elderly are the only exceptions. They will stay here and look after each other until the war is over. Boot camp starts now." One by one each able-bodied citizen was fitted with a gun and a secondary weapon for when they will engage in hand-to-hand combat. She then lead the troupe up to Deimos' old training pad where the boy had already prepped for the upcoming training days.

"Why are we here?" Demands Kasar as he glared at Callisto with harshly golden eyes.

"You will be splitting into two groups, half will train with me in close combat while the other half will train with Deimos in accuracy with the guns." Snickers swept through the villagers, quiet at first until they were soon outright cackling and howling with hysterical laughter at her words.

"Us? Train with Dumbo Deimos? Are you serious?" Callisto whirled around to face Helix as he giggled out his questions, stopping mere centimeters away with deadly eyes and an angrily serious snarl to silence the laughter.

"Did I fucking stutter, Helix?" The mentioned boy gulped down his boughts of giggles and fervently shook his head no.

"No, you didn't."

"That's what I thought. Let me be clear, right here and now. You will do what I say and when I say it. This isn't a game, this is very real. If you do not follow my exact orders you will not survive the week, you will be shot down where you stand and you will be trampled by an entire battalion on their way to burn your trees and rip out the throats of your children. They will not show mercy, and they will take no prisoners. I am not your leader, I am not your friend. I am your commander and my job is to prepare you for war and to make sure you live long enough to win it. Am I understood?" Silence was her answer, the stunned silence of stunned citizens at her sudden attitude and demeanor switch. Callisto had become a battle-hardened, steely-eyed warrior driven by the demand to keep the whole of Praesidium safe.

"I said am I understood!" Her roaring voice scared even Deimos and everyone was swift to answer her in any way they could to express their compliance. "Perfect, half of you to Deimos and half with me. Now." Once they split up, training was quickly underway and Callisto was in no way gentle with her half. Firing guns at the enemy was the easy part, especially if there was an enough to close the gaps in accuracy. In close quarters combat, if you misstep then you die and if you die, then the planet dies with you. At the peak of the day they switched groups after a small break for water and a second wind.

In her second she had both Kasar and Helix, the two who had given Deimos the most trouble during the accuracy practice. She could tell they weren't taking any of this seriously enough and were giving no regards to the ones trying to save their lives. And Callisto decided she would give them a proper slap back into the reality of their precarious situation of possible annihilation.

"Kasar and Helix, come here." The boys huffed but did as ordered and stepped to the middle of the training pad to meet her where she stood.

"Yes? Did we do something wrong?" This came from Kasar and Callisto lifted a brow before removing all her weaponry and tossing them over to Deimos then shaking out tensions in her shoulders.

"Attack me." The two males shared confused expressions before turning back to face her in a silent question in regards to her mental stability. "Oh, come on, you two don't have any problem using your words like swords against me so it's time to graduate to physical assault. Don't be shy."

Both hybrids shrugged before drawing their simple shortswords and charging straight for her in a dual frontal attack. Callisto swiftly ducked down low and swung her right leg out to smack Helix in the ribcage hard enough to send him into Kasar and both go propelling towards the edge of the wooden pad.

"You both just died, the village has been cut down and everyone slaughtered like cattle. Try again." They pushed to their feet and this time swerved around to attack from either side. Simultaneously swinging, Callisto wrapped her hands around Kasar's wrist and her tail around Helix's before twisting so they jerked to a halt with the tips of their swords lightly making one another bleed down their throats.

"Congrats, you just killed your own comrade, keep fighting like this and you'll basically give Praesidium to Striker on a bloodied silver platter. Try again." She pushed them away and they returned to try to beat her but each match ended quicker than it began with Callisto standing victorious every time as they went flying or stopped by each other's blades.

"We get it, you know how to fight without weapons." Kasar grumbled as he pushed up from being thrown across the training pad like a toy doll.

"No, you don't understand. I want you to understand the danger you are up against, especially when you do not take this seriously. Everyone will die because you chose to be idiots. Everyone will be slaughtered. Brothers will be shot, mothers will be gutted, fathers will be beheaded, your loves will have their necks snapped like twigs," She glared directly at Helix with these words, "your children and grandparents will be burned alive with your name as their dying words. You will die and you will not be mourned." Callisto stepped to the edge of the wooden platform and replaced her weapons before turning her back on the villagers.

"Go home, get some sleep. We start again at first light tomorrow. Don't be late." With those words, she dropped out of sight and headed for Ursa back at her old ship outside of the village. The Tao Cat happily greeted her with chuffing and chirps and food he had foraged for during the day. They ate their fill before settling down for the night in their usual curled position by the open doors. Ursa was asleep in no time at all while Callisto sat up and contemplated their chances at this war. Nearly every outcome was tilted against them, but she knew the odds intimately well. Silently and slowly slipping free of the large feline's soft and silky fur, she stepped over to her receiver and astral projector to switch them into working gear. This won't be sent to the Council since she wasn't using the needed generator to reach them, but instead will sit in the memory of the ship and the projector until it has been played back.

"This is Callisto, last of the Scout Regiment to Praesidium, survivor of the Mors Magna, and protector of her people. Hello, Deimos."