Private Mentors

 My mentor was named Alan Fox. He was somewhere in his twenties I assumed and his accent was thick and from somewhere near my town. It was a breath of gun-powdery air actually after not being one of the only two Scottish accents, while physically being in Scotland. I wondered how the others were doing with interpretations. Ben, self-confessed posh boy that he is, was doomed.
 "You had these on the way out the cave, right?" Alan pointed to the riot shield balanced on my forearm.
 "U-huh," I replied, nodding because I suspected that whatever material the shield was constructed out of was far too thick for the sound to escape through.
 "Alright, I'm not giving you a weapon. No way. We're only letting you lot come with us because we need help with the hostages. The Major doesn't see it, but frightened people respond far better to frightened people than to guns. I assume you'll be planty scared."
 I lowered the shield, "That is one thing you can definitely count on me for."
 "What's it like being in there?"
 "Horrific. They could kill you at any day. I had no idea where we were, neither did anyone else, I thought. I'd totally given up hope at one point - I think Ben did too. That's why we want to help, because it was Shaliza who originally gave me hope. I have to repay that."
 "Shaliza?"
 "Shannen and Eliza. They're in a ship."
 "But ... cave?"
 "Never mind. How close are we to the terrorists?"
 Then he pulled out a map and that was just the end of my brain. From what I could tell, we were taking a Schlieffen approach to attack from behind, while the enemy camp was but a few hundred yards away. We would travel three times the direct distance. He said that once the confusion started, he and the rest of the Mentors would sneak their Mentees? away into a single group. We would knot together and try to help the hostages to the trucks parked a hundred yards at opposite sides of the cave.
 "Don't they already have people on that?" I asked.
 "Yes, us Mentors. We were the guys originally assigned to that?"
 "You all agreed?"
 "We're all Privates. We're basically civilians. We know how you feel."
 "If the Major sees us, what'll happen to all of you? Colonel Keaton was kind of vague about it."
 "I don't blame him. I'm fine, and so are the rest of the Mentors. But, Colonel Keaton and General Innes could be in big trouble. So, do good, and he'll be grateful. He'll turn his back?"
 "Do bad?"
 "Um ... bad things will happen ... "
 "God," I murmured, "You army types just can't give a straight answer, can you?"
 He chuckled, "C'mon, let's go get into position. Do. Not. Let. That. Shield. Drop."
 He led me around to the far flanks of the group of soldiers, where we stood beside Shannen and Rebecca and their Mentors. Ben, Alex and Guntas must have been at the opposite flank.
 "March!" called, well, I've no idea who called, but march we did.