(BL) Hunting The Field Guide - Chapter 401

Chapter 401: A message made
It felt like the week passed too quickly. Seven days flew by, and soon it was time for the last of his two classes to head out to the front lines. Kellen met them for their drinks in the cafe before they all headed off, went about the normal day of relaxed classes of target practice, before having to greet the first half of the class that had left.

Once again, Kellen hadn’t heard of anything negative happening to this class. Brent, in fact, had barely spoken to him this week. Kellen worried that it might have been something that he had done, until Rhys had told him that everyone who was on the front lines was communicating sparingly.

Apparently there had been a surge of power somewhere, and a few of the generators that were on the front lines had exploded. It wasn’t a completely uncommon thing to happen. Usually something involving the generators on the front lines happened about every 8 months or so.

The only strange thing about it was the age of the generators that exploded.

These generators were only a few months old themselves, having been brought out to the front lines by the Saturn Guild before Kellen had joined and right before the gate showed up. They shouldn’t have exploded, the older generators should have.

It was a curious situation, that Hill was looking into the situation, leaving Brent to kind of take on the position of Lieutenant while she was occupied with the investigation into the generators.

Kellen was a bit surprised to hear that, but was proud of the man. It explained his short responses, and the way he had sporadically responded to his questions and emails. He did worry if that meant he was too distracted to take proper care of his pupils, but as he hadn’t heard anything from other sources, i.e. scientists, Captain Sergei, other Field Guides. Kellen was sure things were going okay.

Plus, this was the week that the new fabric that Carlos had made was going to be made into new suits and sent to the front lines for them to test. Every second counted, so Captain Sergei’s team on the front lines was sewing them then and there.

Kellen was excited that things were going well, but that gnawing fear remained. If he was honest with himself, it hadn’t left since he realised what the gate was and how dangerous it was. It wasn’t going to leave until it was closed and dealt with.

Kellen was sure no one would want to try to stabilize it. At least, he hoped the fucking idiots in charge realised how terrible it would be to try to stabilize a gate like that one. He really fucking hoped that they weren’t that stupid.

He also hoped that Rhys wasn’t included in the list of people in charge who wanted to keep it open. Even if they had originally wanted to buy the gate, it wasn’t worth it. Kellen knew that it wasn’t worth it.

So, he waited in the receiving room with Rhys. Unlike the last few times, Taylor wasn’t able to make time to come to the room so Rhys and Kellen were just sitting down on two of the chairs, holding hands, waiting for the Field Guides to arrive.

Kellen had been chatting away to Rhys about his week since the two had only really been able to see each other right before they went to bed. At that time of night, Kellen and Rhys had other things in mind, and didn’t want to waste their time together chatting about things that weren’t as important to them.

Now was the time that Kellen and Rhys could take a small breather, chatting to each other about things that were going on in the Guild that either they weren’t sure the other knew about, or wanted to inform them about.

Kellen found out that Rhys had a pretty good pulse about all that was going on in his Guild. Most of the big news or things that he had learned throughout the week, Rhys already knew. There were only a few Guide related issues that Rhys didn’t know abou. He did seem upset about that, and Kellen didn’t really know how to comfort him.

It was a good and a bad thing that he was getting along with Casper again. It meant that Casper and Kellen spoke to each other about issues that they were dealing with when it came to Guides and that the Espers were informed later. It was something that Kellen and Rhys came to an understanding about as they were talking, waiting for the group to arrive.

It also meant it was something that needed to be addressed, because Kellen was sure that Casper wasn’t aware that it was something they were both doing. Rhys and Kellen were coming to an agreement about it when the doors opened and the first half of his second class came in, followed by the usual Esper escort.

They seemed excited, but mostly exhausted. While the first class had come out rather chipper, the second class came out a little more subdued. It might have to do with the fact that they were able to chat with other Guides who had gone before them.

The first group probably had the worst experience with the shitty Esper, while the second had had a normal time on the front lines. These guys and gals had experienced a rather normal, but interesting situation while on the front lines. That had translated into a group who weren’t as excited as everyone else had been when coming back.

They appeared to have their head on, with a lot less stars in their eyes. They seemed…exhausted, actually, and that had Kellen worrying.

He rose from his seat, coming over to greet his students as they trickled in. The Esper that escorted them went to Rhys right away, glancing over the Guides as he passed. The Guides themselves greeted Kellen warmly, if not more subdued.

Kellen wasn’t sure from their energy if any of them were feeling up to going to the front lines at all, but he also wasn’t an expert at reading others. Just because they weren’t jumping up and down didn’t mean that they weren’t willing to go to the front lines. Kellen had never jumped up and down in his life, well, at least not out of joy. He wasn’t about to expect any of his Field Guides to do the same. The fact that the first two groups had people who did that? That was an outlier situation.

So, Kellen just greeted them the same way he had greeted the others. Treating them differently wouldn’t have any good outcomes, so Kellen didn’t do that. He chatted with them, let them know that they needed to visit the Medical Bay as soon as they were unpacked, and that he was available for dinner once they were done with their checkups. He told them the time to meet him at the cafeteria and saw that many of them seemed excited at that.

Getting to eat with him and chat with him about what they had experienced while on the front lines seemed to be something that they wanted, and Kellen was happy to provide it. Despite what he had just told himself, he could tell that with the way a few of them weren’t meeting his eyes that they might have a few that wanted to drop out of the course.

That was fine. He expected that. He was not going to treat them any differently. He sent them on their way, watching them as they all departed before joining Rhys and their escort. This time, he wasn’t all smiles and Kellen felt his stomach lurch at that.

“It’s not public knowledge, but Lieutenant Hill seems to think that it was intentional.” It didn’t take a genius to figure out what he was talking about, and Kellen hated how his stomach dropped at that thought.

Rhys looked grim, and when he glanced at Kellen, he let out a deep sigh.

“While it could have been anyone, my bets are on Gunther.” Kellen swallowed at his words. Gunther? Gunther was the one who killed the generators? Why? How? He was supposed to be in the city!

“Why do you think it was Gunther?” Kellen asked and Rhys shifted, crossing his arms.

“It has him written all over it. What’s one of the best ways to make others a little freaked out, but not in a way that they are going to sound the alarm? Kill the generators that go out every once in a while, at least once a year. No one is going to question them too much if they go out twice in a year. That then gets you access to areas you wouldn’t otherwise because everyone would have their guard up because they have to deal with a power shortage.” Kellen hated how much it made sense.

‘But…why the front lines?” Kellen asked and that seemed to stump Rhys.

“That’s the thing I don’t understand. Is it related to the gate? Or a different one? It feels like he sent a message by targeting our donated generators. What was that message? I have no idea.” Rhys muttered, before meeting the other Esper’s gaze. “Thank you for letting us know. I’m assuming Hill told you to come to me directly with this?” He asked.

The other Esper nodded.

“Yes sir. Lieutenant Hill told me I was to forgo all pleasantries and let you know as soon as possible.” He confirmed and Rhys sighed.

“Another worrying sign. Shit. I might have to head to the front lines for a minute.” He muttered, and Kellen felt his chest lurch.

“A minute?” He questioned and Rhys nodded.

“Yeah. I should be fine without you coming since I’ll only be there for a short time. I can’t do it tonight, but maybe tomorrow morning.” He was muttering to himself, before he slid his gaze to Kellen. Kellen swallowed as his gaze dipped into gold. “Care to help me charge up before I leave?”