The first snows had proven ephemeral. Since the day of the muster of the cudgellers it had been rain, unrelenting rain. The fields were sodden and the forests were thick with the squelching muck of fallen leaves and pine neddles. Kolja was feeling tired miserable and old. The tributaries flowing into the East Elwynn were in full flood and even the roads were awash with brown muddy water.
The FV101 Command Vehicle was parked in tree line that ended approximately half a kilometre from modern cantilever road bridge that marked the closed border between West and East Elwynn and the primary route between Eliria and Echo. The commander, a Lieutenant from the 101/04e Artilleriebataljon, sat in the cupola of his turret sipping a cup of strongly brewed tea fortified with a spike of gin. On the Elwynnese side was a fortified cudgeller post manned by a dozen bored drunks armed with billy clubs and rusty muskets. On the other side, a nondescript one-storey customs building, now jointly garrisoned, it was reported, by Ducal Militia and Imperial Service personnel, unit and affiliation unknown.
For Kolja, this was the beginning of a second night lying prone under a damp tarpaulin covered by a scrim net and a heap of leaves. He had placed his post half a kilometre north of the command vehicle where the location afforded him a better view of the customs house and the bridge. He was cold and bored and sodden, and his teeth were chattering. For a sorely needed winter warmer he reached into his chest pocket for the hip-flask and a soothing shot of Treesian Red. He had barely taken the first sip when the faint sound of an approaching car on the opposite bank pricked his attention. Fumbling Kolja fished out his AMK surplus binoculars and began to focus in. The car had pulled up at the customs house and a man who appeared to be an officer or serviceman of some kind had rushed in. The car's engine was idling and Kolja thought he could make out the silhouette of a driver and a passenger in the back.
Could be worth reporting. Kolja mused to himself. Suddenly his head set crackled to life.
Kolja swore softly to himself, having been freezing cold it was about to become far too hot for his liking in this locality. He wondered who it was who was actually in command in the glorified hut over yonder. On balance it hardly mattered now. He clicked the small black button on his head set and began to speak into the small Bakelite mouthpiece of the microphone."ALL UNITS ALERT. EAST ELWYNN ON WAR FOOTING. YOU ARE FREE TO ENGAGE ANY EAST ELWYNN-RAIKOTH FORCES IN YOUR FIELD OF VISION. DO NOT ENGAGE MOMA AFFILIATED FORCES. IMPERIALS ARE FOR NOW FRIENDLY."
"Panopticon, this is Dagger Nine. I have hostile vehicle and three ghosts in sight. Request fire mission on the following coordinates..."
Kolja clicked again to end the message. The FV101 would have to encrypt the message in order to put it on the grid. While they did that he would pack up and move out. No point waiting to be triangulated.