Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick Tock.
The Officer sighed as he stared blankly at the small wooden clock that sat on his desk, then he shifted his tired gaze to the ten-sheet thick stack of papers that sat in front of him. He slowly read the Outline of the report detailing uneventful search attempts by a number of squads to search for any Changeling outpost.
Nothing, they'd found nothing. He'd go so far as to say they'd found less than nothing, but there was hardly such a thing as less than nothing, was there?
He picked a pencil from the coffee cup on his left, before dropping it onto the desk and leaning back in his chair, his hands running up his face, before he wove his fingers together and held the back of his head up as he stared at the ceiling.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
At least he could be quite grateful for the locals letting them use this old house as a Command Post, they had mentioned that the owners had packed up and left to move farther north.
They had decided to rig the house with electricity, but it was crude, and the wiring was exposed. The Gas-powered Generators the Company had brought with them on their runs between here and the Main Command Area in the Everfree were certainly seeing their uses.
The Officer sighed and stood up straight, before getting out of his chair entirely and walking to the tall fan that stood in the corner of the room, he'd initially left it off to conserve power, but the air in the small room he had made his temporary office had begun to get a little too stuffy for his liking.
He quickly snapped the old fan's switch to the 'On' position, and it quickly began to spin and hum. And with it, the air in the room began to cool and circulate. Now it was a little easier to breathe.
His objective completed, the Officer returned to his desk and sat down.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
For a moment, he did absolutely nothing. Then he sighed, for he knew he couldn't put off doing those reports any longer.
'Don't mean I have to like it.', He thought as his face fell into his hands and he groaned in frustration.
He sniffed, and picked up the pencil, before going over the closing statement of the most recent scouting report.
"-are, as of this report, no enemy activity within the area encompassing Appleoosa or it's surrounding territories. Peaceful dialogues with the local Buffalo tribe has also revealed that they too, have seen nothing relating to changeling movements. Unlike the first several weeks since arriving in the territory around Appleoosa, there has been absolutely no contact with changeling scouts, skirmishers, or Infiltrators. Due to the dead silence exhibited by the Enemy, the only conclusions that can be made are that the Changelings have either completely abandoned their attack on the Appleoosa Territory, or that the Changelings are likely rallying for a large assault. Suspicions among most troops deem it the latter, and requests to the Main Command Area have been filed for more ammunition and heavy weaponry. End Report"
'If we're not fighting the enemy we came here to fight,' The Officer thought, 'Then what are we even doing here in the first place?