"Fine, Fine I hear you loud and clear. Iroryn it is then" Stephan said back knowing all to well that he wasn't in any position to defend himself if he decided to push this further. Then came Olivia's mandate. Stephan almost tried to call her bluff and argue, but he had caused enough trouble for the night and wasn't going to completely disrespect the "B Team's" Leader in front of her squad.
Alm on the other hand disagreed entirely with the idea. He knew she was trying to establish order and her standards but this was no time to be making people go hungry on a whim. So using the ingredients he had already prepared he tweaked the serving sizes so that those who were unaffiliated to the fight had larger than normal rations and those receiving punishment were only taken down by a third of ration size. He knew this wouldn't go unnoticed but didn't much care as long as everyone made it out of this trip safe. After meal prep was done Alm took his bowl and went off to relive Shion of guard duty.
It was quiet while Alm ate watching the desert as the sun disappeared. A quiet that was interrupted not to much later. "What you did with the rations won't go unpunished you know" Stephan said as he walked up, "But thanks for that. Miss Bitch sure has a way to make friends." He continued while sitting down next to Alm. "She sure does, but we didn't make that easy on her. Should of just let it go." Alm replied while taking another bite. "Nahh, Boss Man told us to test her and if she can't deal with the two of us bickering then how could she handle it if people got into a real fight." Stephan answered with a grin, "Nice job there went all beast mode and everything I almost believed it for a second." "You should of, I wasn't joking back off on the kid you know he doesn't know how the outside world works he has been nothing but a slave his entire life. let him get used to the outside world before scamming him." Alm said without missing a beat. "Ok I'll leave the Demi alone then. For now.... Now back to Miss Bitch. She is far to militaristic for this realm of work. I'm sure she has experience in those little Noble's wars where everyone has to follow the rules. But out here there are no rules. keeping your people hungry is an easy way to get someone killed in an ambush or night raid. You want to bring that up to her tomorrow since your the Vice-Captain and all that." Stephan asked and Alm sighed. "Yeah I'll bring it up to her after things have settled down. And speaking of pushing people, you should head back and get some rest don't you have the late watch shift?" Stephan let out his own sigh. "You are right about that. I'll leave you to this then. Watch yourself wolf boy." He said as he got up and wandered back to camp. The next few hours were quiet Alm took patrols around the camp looking for anything out of the ordinary.
It was almost Midnight when it came Alm caught their sent jest before he could hear the shuffling of the sand in the distance. In an instant he was up and sprinting back to camp. "Orcs!" he yelled out as he got close enough for others to hear, "Everyone get up its time to work!". Thanks to Alm's heightened scenes the Irregulars were able to prepare themselves before the orcs were upon them. And after taking up a basic formation. (Olivia and Alm making up front line, Stephan, Kaeciel, Ariel, and Iroryn making the mid line, and Shion, Glyndan, and Eris for the back line) With everyone in position and the Orcs moving into position Alm gave the signal and Shion let loose an arrow into the sky. The arrow exploded in the sky lighting up the desert revealing the oncoming Orcs. 15 in total Five shielded warriors, Three with some sort of two handed weapon, Two with only a one hand weapon, Three with a bow, one Shaman, and A black Orc presumably the leader.
The Flare kind of caught the Orcs off guard giving everyone that last bit of time to prepare before the battle started. The Irregulars stood ready for their leader's order to engage the enemy.