Base Defense
- S09 Command and Control -
Gentiane stared at the map in front of her intently before she spoke. "First echelon, breach from the roof. Second echelon, go in on the ground level, I want you both to work your way to the middle of the building. Overwatch team, make sure that no one sneaks out of the building."
A chorus of affirmatives rang out in her headset, and she watched everyone get into position. Gentiane tapped her pen on the desk, her face tense. She saw G36's team hook up their ropes to rappel down, when a series of explosions rippled through the base and caused the feed to cut out. She tried to raise hail her teams on the radio but got nothing but silence. There was another explosion, and the lights were cut. After a few seconds of silence, Gentiane could hear the whistle of a mortar followed by an explosion. The sounds of gunfire could be heard outside.
-S09 Dorms -
"Give me a headcount ladies, who's still with us?" Makarov's voice rang out through the darkness. One of the mortars had struck near their dorms, blowing out a wall and causing a partial collapse. Luckily, theirs was the only group in the guest dorms before the attack. One by one, the dolls from Outpost 17 confirmed they were still among the living.
"I'm good."
Good over here!"
"I'm good, but my bottle is broken..."
"I'm fucked up, but I'm up.
After the confirmation, G3 could be heard, "Check your weapons for any damage, and see what we have for ammo."
She made her way over to where Makarov was standing. Makarov noticed that the right side of her head was matted in blood, making her look like a deranged killer.
"It would appear that you're bleeding." Makarov deadpanned.
G3 just smiled and ignored the comment, "We need to get everyone combat ready and get to Owen. I have a feeling we're in for a very exciting evening."
Makarov pulled her namesake out of it's holster and checked it for damage. She heard a firefight kick up nearby.
"I think you might be right."
Nines made her way to the two Echelon leaders, her face was completely devoid of emotion.
"I can't raise Owen or Gentiane. I ran a comms check, and we're the only ones I can get a signal from." She informed them.
Makarov and G3 checked as well, only to discover the same thing. One by one, the other dolls reported the same and Makarov swore.
Uzi delivered more bad news. "I don't know about you three, but I only have a basic load out."
A basic load out for a T-Doll in a secured location and not on a security detail was one magazine in their weapon, plus two extras. If they got caught up in a sustained firefight, it wouldn't take long for them to run out. G3 frowned as she weighed their options.
"Where did we store the ammo we brought with us from the raid last night?" She asked.
"Loaded in the helicopter, along with our combat gear." MP-40 replied.
"That's off the table then, if we want a chance at getting properly equipped, we need to go to the armory." Makarov thought aloud.
At the sound of her voice, the two kittens scampered out of hiding and began mewing at her. She scooped both of them up and began shushing them quietly.
"We need to get to Owen, make sure he's ok." Nines stated.
G3 nodded, "I agree, does anyone know where he was before the attack began?"
No one did.
"Let's check his room, it's right down the hall. If he's not there, we head to the armory and stock up. After that, well... we'll see what happens." Makarov said as she lined one of the wall lockers with blankets and placed the kittens inside.
One of them began to cry and she hummed to it softly until calmed down. She placed their food and water bowls in there as well and then gently shut the door.
"Do you think it's safe to leave them in there?" Garand asked her.
They could hear a series of explosions as the mortar barrage picked up, then the power went out.
"It's safer than out here." Makarov said, and no one could disagree.
The dolls searched the room for flashlights with Makarov's, Nagant's and, much to everyone's surprise, Nines' help.
"How do you have night vision capabilities?" Sig asked.
Nines gave a small shrug, "I always did."
"I'm a little jealous." Sig admitted.
"You should be, being able to see in the dark without a flashlight is super handy." Nagant crowed.
AK frowned as she thought back to when the two had first met years ago. She didn't think 9A-91 had night vision, but she could have been wrong, so she didn't say anything.
"Let's go, Nines on point and Nagant will be the eyes in the back of our head." G3 ordered, and everyone moved out.
- S09 Command and Control -
"And Kalina said, let there be light!"
The room lit up and the tac map blinked back on.
"I am the greatest!" Kalina cheered as she crawled out of a maintenance grate beneath the floor and slung her AK-74 over her shoulder.
"What do we have?" Gentiane asked as she checked her Vector for the hundredth time.
"The emergency generators I rigged for the control room, which if you recall, you said was expensive and unnecessary, can run the base TACCOM channel, SATCOM, drone feeds, and tac map display is good for about four hours." Kalina said.
Gentiane nodded, "Try to raise G36 make sure she's ok, and see if she found who we're looking for."
"O~k!" Kalina sang.
Gentiane took a shaky breath before she turned on the base radio and switched to the open defense channel that the guard's personal short range radios were keyed in to, and was immediately overwhelmed.
"Checkpoint Charlie is overrun! Fall back!"
"Enemies have T-Dolls mixed in, aim center mass and hit the cores."
"Any station, this is Defender 4-2. My team was wiped out, fell back to storage shed. I've been hit in the thigh... it's bleeding pretty bad..."
"Enemy is not Sangvis! I say again, enemy is not Sangvis!"
"Checkpoint Bravo is in heavy contact! Ammo is red! We need help over here!"
"This is Defender 2-3, hangars are holding for now, enemy vics have mounted MGs and recoilless...ah shit, take cover!"
"Enemy mixed with friendlies! Check fire!"
"Blue on blue! Blue on blue!"
"This is STG-44, my handler is KIA and both of my dummy links are offline. I'm wounded as well. Falling back to assist Defender 2-3"
"Be advised, possible that hostile elements have breached interior buildings. All nearby teams move to defend Monarch."
Gentiane keyed her mic. "All stations, All stations, this is Monarch Actual."
The radio fell silent. She licked her lips and continued.
"Begin Broken Arrow Contingency. All combat restrictions have been lifted. I say again, all combat restrictions have been lifted. T-Dolls are now authorized to use lethal force on *all* hostile forces. Anyone able to fight begin moving to designated areas. Authent code is Ragnarok. Team leads begin counter operations. Monarch actual, out."
Sector 09's defense teams were mostly humans with T-Dolls mixed in. Up until this point, Gentiane's primary threat had been against Sangvis forces, with minimal concern given to human combatants as per Griffin regulations. All defense T-Dolls had to be given orders from Gentiane herself before they were allowed to go weapons free on people. Activating Broken Arrow and lifting combat restrictions meant that the base was faced with the real possibility of falling and everyone was now expected to help in its defense. She would catch absolute hell for not trying to contact Griffin HQ first. But she would worry about that if she made through the night.
"Hey boss?"
Gentiane snapped out of her trance and looked at the Logistics Officer. Her face was pale, and she clutched her AK in a death grip. Gentiane looked around and noticed that the defense team looked grim. She tried to remain calm.
"What's up?" She asked.
"I got in touch with G36, she reports mission success and no causalities. She's awaiting orders."
"M4 is secure and unharmed?" She asked.
Kalina nodded.
"Have them drop her off at Outpost 17 with a guard. She's too important to lose and that's the closest, hopefully safe, place they have to go. Then have the helos haul ass back here."
"Will do. Also, I've sent out a distre..." Kalina paused, listening to her headset, frowning.
"What's going on?"
"Ah...M4 said she won't comply with your order."
Gentiane's eyebrows shot up, "Oh really."
She walked over to Kalina and grabbed the headset.
"...nderstand, and I'm sorry, but I can help!"
"Can you now?" Gentiane said into the headset.
"Oh!" M4 said in surprise.
"Miss M4, do you understand how hard it was to find you after your team scattered in the wind?" Gentiane asked.
"I understand but..."
"No, I don't think you do, and I don't have time..."
"With all do respect ma'am, either I go straight to your base, or I jump out of this helicopter now and find another Commander to help me out."
Gentiane ripped the headset off and swore, Kalina stared at the ceiling. Gentiane took a few deep breaths before putting the headset back on.
"Fine."
She threw the headset down onto the table, and went back to her console.
"If you broke my headset, I'm docking your pay!" Kalina said.
- S09 Dorms-
Nines, SVT, and SKS stood around Owen's bed in awe as the sounds of all out war surrounded them.
"How in the hell is he asleep?" SKS asked, bewildered.
SVT shook her head, "I've heard that during the war, humans would sleep through attacks all the time if they thought they were safe enough, but this is crazy."
Nines kicked Owen's bed, but that just caused him to roll over and continue snoring. She muttered something they couldn't make out and ripped the blankets off of him. Still, he slept.
"This is ridiculous." SVT said and SKS nodded in agreement.
"Can I borrow your flashlight?" Nines asked, hand outstretched.
SKS nodded and handed it over. Nines leaned over Owen's snoring face, peeled back an eyelid, and flicked the light on.
"Wake up." She ordered. "Now."
Owen swore and came up swinging. He almost connected with Nines' face, but she caught his fist and twisted. Owen yelped in pain and fell out of bed.
"I said wake up." Nines growled.
"Nines? What the fuck is going on? Why are the lights out?"
The sounds of the struggle brought G3, Sig, Uzi, and Makarov into the room with their guns up. Nines hauled him to his feet, and jabbed him in the chest.
"The base is under attack, a mortar struck our building. I thought you were dead, and we find you in here sleeping through the whole thing?" She was yelling.
Owen held his hands up, "Slow down, clearly I'm fine so, y'know. Chill the fuck out."
"Oh Owen," Sig groaned, "You idiot."
Nines had a look somewhere between wanting to murder him and wanting to cry. Her eyes started tearing up. She spun on her heel, shoving the flashlight into SKS' hands as she stormed off. SVT glared at Owen and shoulder checked him as she followed Nines out.
Uzi laughed, "You really are an idiot."
Owen just stood there bewildered. A burst of gunfire from somewhere outside the building shook him out of his trance. He motioned to SKS to shine the light at his wall locker.
"Ok fine, I'm an idiot." He said as he began putting his gear on, "Now tell me what the actual fuck is going on?"
"The base is, quite obviously, under attack." Makarov said, "Of course you would know that, if you didn't get sleepy every time you go a couple of days without rest. Truly humans are inferior to..."
"That's not helping." G3 chastised.
Makarov smiled, "No, but it's entertaining."
As Owen got his gear on, G3 walked him through everything they had talked about before they made it to his dorm. As Owen flipped his NODs down to make sure they were working, he grunted in approval at their plan.
"Has anyone tried to contact Gentiane since you came here?"
G3 shook her head, "Nein."
Owen powered up the communications suite that was built into his helmet. It squelched to life in his ear, then gave a beep telling him that it was working properly. There was a burst of static and then he heard Gentiane's voice.
"...norak. Team leads begin counter operations. Monarch Actual out."
"Monarch Actual, Monarch Actual, this is Misfit Actual, do you copy?"
Nothing, then, "Owen, is that you? How are your teams?"
"It's me. Both of my teams are accounted for, no casualties. Pilot's condition unknown. We're still in the dorms and about to move to the armory for supplies."
"Understood, I'm still trying to get a read on the situation. Contact me on channel four when you're geared up and ready to fight. Monarch out."
-S09 Command and Control-
The control room looked ready for siege warfare now. Gentiane's personal security team, jokingly dubbed the 'Queen's Guard' because of her callsign, were all experienced fighters she had hand selected, and that experience showed. Deployable barricades with overlapping fields of fire covered the heavy steel doors that were now closed. An M2 was brought out and mounted for that extra 'fuck you' if the enemy actually managed to get through. The Control room was secure, for now. Everyone looked to be on a razor's edge.
"Emergency Drone uplink coming online now." Kalina reported.
Gentiane stared expectantly at the map which had been showing a -Signal Loss- message. It finally blinked on, and her blood ran cold. Almost all of the vehicle checkpoints and guard towers had been obliterated, and the security fence was down in multiple areas. The antenna farm was gone and the generator building looked like a raging inferno. The dormitory wing of the main compound had been hit hard. The base defenders had fallen back to the secondary defense point, and was mostly holding the attackers off. But judging by the amount of bodies between the base perimeter and the secondary point, the retreat had taken a heavy toll.
Kalina began swearing in Ukrainian. Gentiane tried calling her name to get her attention, but Kalina ignored her, eyes fixed on the screen. Gentiane picked up a pen, and bounced it off of her head. Kalina looked down at the pen, then back at Gentiane.
"Are you with me?" Gentiane asked.
Kalina continued to stare for a second before she slowly nodded. Her self assured grin creeped it's way back onto her face.
"Of course, there is no way you could run this place without me." She said as she loaded a mag into her -74 and chambered a round. "Besides, you know I'm your ride or die bitch."
"Damn straight, let's get work."
- S09 Dorms -
Owen, G3, and Makarov stood around a map of the base that SVT had hastily sketched out for them, considering their options. It was the first time Owen actually saw the layout of the base, and it kind of reminded him of a pentagram. The armory, medical, dorms, doll repair bay, and motor pool were spread out like points of the star, with the Command and Control at the center. Perimeter corridors connected each point, and each point had a second corridor that ran straight from the point to the center. That made moving around inside easier, but the corridors were lined with offices and rooms, which made Owen groan inwardly. It gave the bad guys plenty of places to hide.
"After we gear up at the armory, we should take the hallway that runs to the center of the complex to the Command room. From there, you can help Kommandant Gentiane coordinate with the base's defenders." G3 said, pointing out the route.
Makarov nodded, "We can also keep a team in reserve there to act as added defense or as a quick response force elsewhere if needed."
Owen frowned and was about to voice his opinion when Spectre, Uzi, Nagant, and Sig returned from their recon.
"Bad news," Nagant said as they entered, "we're completely trapped here, I say we eat Uzi first. She's got plenty of meat to spare." Uzi let out an indignant yelp.
Spectre rolled her eyes as Sig bopped Nagant on the head, causing the small doll to rub her head and grumble about great indignities. Owen looked to Sig for an explanation.
"We're not trapped, but the corridor leading from here to the armory was collapsed by the mortar fire." She told him.
Spectre joined in, "Assuming it's not collapsed as well, we can take the corridor north to medical, then swing to south to the armory. Bit of a hike though. Plus side is we could stop at the Command center along the way, you can stay there and help out while we press on."
Owen's eyebrow rose at the second mention of his staying at the CC, but said nothing.
Nagant straightened her hair as she spoke next, "The second option would be quicker, but means we would have to go outside, which would almost guarantee us getting into a firefight."
Owen nodded and looked around the room, the others were restless. AK-47 however, was chatting with SKS and turning her remaining bottle of vodka into a Molotov.
"Yo, AK."
AK looked up, "Da, Komandir?"
"Come here a sec."
AK rose and made her way over, "What can I do for you?"
"Want to go on a sightseeing tour?"
AK's head cocked to the side, "It depends, who would be coming with me and where am I going?"
"Nines and SVT, if you can find them that is," he pointed to the map, "Direct route to the armory is cut off, I want y'all to see if it's safe to take the scenic route."
"With just the three of us?"
"I don't want all of us bunched up and running around blind in the halls, good way for us to get ambushed."
AK nodded as she stared at the map "It makes sense, and I agree with the plan..."
Owen noticed her hesitation, "But?"
AK made a face, "I was wondering if I could go with two others, like You and Makarov, or G3 and SKS, or SKS and Sig, I'll even take Garand and MP-40."
Owen frowned, "I didn't realize you had beef with SVT and Nines."
AK shook her head, "Nyet Komandir, no beef, it's just that..." she searched for the right words, "they're so... emotional right now."
Owen laughed at that, "Emotional?"
AK nodded, "Nines looked upset when she left, and SVT was definitely angry when she left," AK pointed at the map, "She also didn't look pleased when you drug her back in to doodle that."
Owen stared at her.
"I'm just saying, having people this emotional on a mission is bound to cause problems."
"Hey AK?"
"Da, Komandir?"
"Go grab Nines and SVT, and go on the damn mission."
A sigh, "Da, Komandir."
She turned to leave, "Oh! One more thing AK." she turned back.
Owen opened a pouch on his chest rig and produced a flashbang, "Give this to Nines, she'll want to take point when you tell what you're doing, and she's the one with the built in cat eyes, be safe out there AK."
AK nodded and placed the flashbang in her cargo pocket and left.
Owen shook his head and noticed Makarov giving him the side eye, "What?"
Makarov said nothing, just continued giving him the side eye.
He suppressed a groan, he missed the Army.
- Medical Wing S09 -
"Doc, we really need to move, the field medics report that the temporary triage is set up." One of the security members reminded Ribey for the third time as they stood in the reception area of the medical wing.
"I just need a minute to finish things here." She told him.
"I haven't heard anything from the team we sent to check out the repair bay, at this point we have to assume the worst."
Ribey felt a hint of annoyance bubble up, but suppressed it, "I understand Mikhail, but if I don't keep the medicines and IV bags at a certain temperature, they will be useless, I need to try and save as much as I can."
Shots could be heard from the direction of the repair bay, and every member of the security team turned to the sound.
"Doc..." Mikhail pleaded.
"I can finish things here Sergeant Mikhail, go help the other team." Ribey said.
Mikhail nodded and motioned for his team to move, "We'll be back soon." He told her, and disappeared down the hall.
Ribey made her way back to the medication room, moving as fast as she could, packing medicine from the refrigerators into pressurized temperature controlled coolers. She wished briefly that she had kept one of her dummy links here to assist, but they were much more important outside where the would be setting up a triage and treating wounded.
As she sealed up her third cooler and made sure to clearly mark the contents it contained, she rolled a fourth one over. She sat down on top of the cooler as her head began to spin from the exertion. After a few measured breaths, the spinning stopped, and as she stood up, she thought she heard someone moving around. Ribey squinted her eyes to see what it was, but the dim emergency lighting did little more than further darken the shadows.
She looked around for her rifle and spied it laying atop the first cooler. She slowly moved towards it, straining her ears. As she reached her weapon, she heard thought she heard a door open in the main room.
"Bonjour?" she called out, but no answer.
She double checked the IV bag that she had secured to her leg, she thought she heard someone whispering in the next room. She moved forward slowly, weapon at the low ready. She stopped at the doorway.
"Mikhail, is that you?"
Nothing.
She pushed the door open and a group of men moving between the rows of beds in the main room, they were definetely not her security team. She straightened her back and put on the face she reserved for stubborn patients.
"I have been authorized to use deadly force on anyone I consider to be hostile. I do not wish to do so, but will if I must. Please leave."
The group turned and Ribey found herself at the business end of five rifles. The group moved towards her but didn't fire. One man raised his hand, and stepped forward, weapon hanging in front of him, with a relaxed hand on the grip.
"I'm afraid we can't do that miss, we're here for someone. A Commander that was injured recently," he looked around the darkened room, "You wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you?"
She frowned as she realized he meant Owen, "I am the only one here," she moved the radial fire selector forward to full auto, "Please leave immediately."
The man held up one hand, but kept the other on his rifle, "No reason to be rude miss, we're just looking for a friend. If he's not here, where would he be?"
"None of your business, last warning."
The man took another step forward, grip tightening on his rifle, his body visibily tensing as he moved, "I fear we got off on the wrong foot here. Allow me to introduce myself..."
Ribey opened fire.
- Corridor leading from Dorms to Medical S09 -
After being told about the recon mission they were given, AK left Owen's dorm to track down Nines and SVT. She didn't have to look far. They were both sitting on the floor near his door. Nines was hugging her knees and sniffing quietly while SVT stroked her hair and was whispering something to her. AK cleared her throat, causing them to both look up.
"Uh...the Komandir wanted us to do recon on the corridor going to medical."
SVT frowned, "Why not go through the opposite corridor, it's a direct route?"
AK shrugged, "That path is blocked, this is the back up plan."
Nines picked her weapon up, and stood, wiping her eyes as she did. "Ok, I guess we should go."
AK pulled the flashbang out of her cargo pocket, "Here, Owen said it was for just in case."
Nines smiled a little, and took it with a nod. She placed it in a pouch on her belt, and made her way to the doors that led towards medical.
"Come on." She said quietly, "I'll take point, since I have the best vision in the dark.
AK wanted to ask her about that, but again, she held back. Nines open the door and made her way down the darkened corridor flanked by AK and SVT. They checked each room as they went, making sure each wasn't hiding a nasty surprise. It had been uneventful until they neared their destination. Up ahead, full auto fire could be heard, it sounded like one rifle at first, then multiple were heard. Then silence. Then a short range emergency beacon activated, it belonged to Ribey.
"Ribey!" SVT cried out and darted forward.
Nines and AK rushed to catch up.
"SVT, hold on!" Nines cried out.
"Nyet, Ribey isn't a strong fighter, we need to hurry!" SVT explained as she ran.
Nines slowed next to AK, a troubled look on her face. AK already knew what Nines was about to ask.
"Go after her!" AK said as she slowed. "I'll go back and get the Commander!"
Nines nodded and ran off, leaving AK alone. It wasn't until after she had left, that AK realized SVT took the flashlight. AK swore, and slung her rifle behind her. A clink could be heard as the barrel bumped the molotov she had stashed back there. A tragic waste of her last bottle of vodka, but a necessary one. She pulled a zippo out of her pants pocket. She flicked the top open and after a couple of tries, was rewarded with a small orange flame. In the flickering light she noticed four figures standing just far enough away that she couldn't make out any features. They were armed, she could see that, but they didn't make a move. She kept the lighter up, and slowly started to move her free hand.
"Commander?" She asked, tension in her voice, her hand still slowly creeping downward and behind her, reaching.
A cold chuckle was the only reply, she swore.
"Not a good idea for a doll to be wandering around in the dark. Could be boogie men around." The voice said.
AK scoffed, "I don't know who you are, but you're no Baba Yaga."
"She's feisty." Another voice spoke.
AK's hand found what she was reaching for, she said nothing.
"Like I said," the first voice again, "It's dark in here, I know you can't see me too well. But I can see you, and I can see you fumbling for your gun on your back."
She grabbed the vodka bottle turned molotov and in a flash, brought the cloth up to the flame, it ignited.
"Who said I was going for my gun?" She asked and hurled it at the group.
The Molotov broke open at the feet of the first man, and with a *whoosh, the man was engulfed.
He wailed in pain and dropped to the ground rolling around. The other men tried to remove their nods, the light from the fire causing them to wash out. AK, however, could see just fine now. She brought her rifle up and squeezed the trigger, filling the hallway with full auto fire. Bullets ripped through her would be attackers. The first man's wails became high pitched shrieks as he continued to burn. AK's bolt locked back.
The fire caused the automated fire suppression system to activate, soaking everything in the hallway. The man's shrieks dropped down to pained whimpers, and another man started groaning. AK reloaded, then quietly fixed her bayonet, and stood over the burned man. She drove the blade through his neck, his whimpers turned to gurgles and wheezes as blood rushed from the wound, and mixed with the water. She jerked the blade out and made her way over to the other survivor. He was desperately trying to put pressure on the wound on his thigh. He saw AK approaching him and raised one hand up in surrender, the other staying on his thigh.
"No, no wait, please." He begged.
AK shook her head, before slamming her boot into his chest and held it there. The man groaned in pain and tried to raise back up, but blood now flowing freely from his leg, making him weak. AK shoved the bayonet through the bridge of his nose.
"Holy shit."
With a jerk, AK pulled her rifle free and snapped it up. Blood and brain matter slung from the bayonet as she did. She saw another man holding a rifle and wearing nvgs. She almost fired, but blinked and saw Owen. Behind him, she saw Garand, MP-40, and Makarov sprinting to catch up.
"How is he so fast?" Garand griped as they grew close.
Owen raised a hand in a cautious gesture, "Easy there AK," then looked at the pile of bodies at her feet, he let out a whistle and stepped closer.
"Damn girl," he said, "Nice work."
AK lowered her rifle and smiled, "Spasibo, I made sure to keep ammo conservation in mind."
Owen nodded and looked around again then frowned, "Where's Nines and SVT?"
AK cocked her head behind her, "They're up ahead in medical, Ribey sent a short range distress signal out."
Owen swore, "Garand, wait here and radio backup, Garand stay with her. You two, on me." He sprinted off.
"Why does everyone keep doing this." AK grumbled as she and MP-40 started running.
- Hangars-
Colette woke up how she had so many times before. Naked and confused. She could hear shouts and gunfire coming from outside the Hind, she stood pulled up her flight suit from her ankles, and zipped it up. She then ran around her bird for a super quick visual inspection before jumping into the cockpit. Colette looked over and saw fire coming from the main base in the fading sunlight. The small ATC Tower looked like it had been hit with a rocket, and one of the hangars was fully engulfed in flames. She could hear the gunfire growing closer to her baby. She had to get airborne.
A few seconds later and engine was spooling up and the blades started turning. She then powered on the rest of her electronics and heard another flight crew talking on the channel.
She keyed her mic, "Be advised Griffin traffic this is Archangel 1, lifting off from the south end of the ramp and entering the pattern."
"Archangel 1 this is gunship Animal 1-1, we read you. You have weapons?"
"Fully loaded." She said with glee.
"Copy that, we're already in the pipe, the flight crew for the spotter helo will up soon. Be advised there is a drone operating at flight level one eight zero."
"Archangel copies."
As her blades picked up speed she began to taxi, and she a Little Bird lift off and dart away, followed by an MH-60 DAP gunship. Colette lifted off and followed the DAP.
"Animal 1-1, Archangel is on your right."
"Animal copies, you're my number two ."
"All callsigns on this channel, spotter helo is in the air. Callsign Sauron." A female voice called out.
Animal 1-1 laughed, "Yvette, is that you? What the hell kinda name is Sauron?"
"Bet your sweet ass it is! The bastards blew up my tower, time to make them pay. And my name is Sauron because I am the all seeing eye on Mount Fucking Doom."
Colette grinned, she liked this chick.
"All callsigns standby for tasking."
"Animal 1-1 standing by."
"Archangel 1-2 standing by."
"I've got mortar teams dug in on the treeline in the north. Animal advise you come in from heading One Four Zero to Three Two Zero. Valkyrie you follow in behind them. Keep hitting them until there's nothing left. After that we'll work our way in toward the base."
The MH-60 swung around to the right heading and Colette followed banking her Hind left and above Animal.
"Got em on thermals, Animal 1 cleared hot. Guns, guns, gun."
The gunship dove for the deck, lighting up the tree line with it's two M134 fixed chainguns and the M320 minigun. It lifted it's nose and banked to the right to come around for another pass.
"Archangel is cleared hot. Guns, guns, guns!" Colette hit the line with her own gun and followed up with rockets. She cackled in glee as a line of fire blossomed beneath her.
"Good hit! Good hit! Both of you, hit them again!"
Colette banked hard to the left and saw Animal was already lined up.
"Guns, guns, guns!" He called out.
Colette came around for her second pass and afterwards Sauron came back on.
"Mortar teams are fucking toast! Good work, stand by for individual tasking!"
Colette grinned from ear to ear, she was having the time of her life. After this, she was going drag Owen into her helo, kicking and screaming if she had to, tie him up, and go to town.
- Medical S09 -
Owen burst through the doors of the medical bay, gun up and searching for something to shoot, but Nines and SVT had already cleaned house. Owen stepped over bodies, looking for either SVT or Nines but found neither. He heard someone sniffle. He moved forward and heard it again. He finally found SVT at the end of room, kneeling over a body, she was crying. He felt a knot form in his gut and his brain locked up.
SVT was kneeling over a body. He didn't see Nines. SVT was crying, where was Nines? He couldn't find Nines. SVT was kneeling over a body and he couldn't find Nines. Where the fuck was she? Why couldn't he find her? That couldn't be her. Could it? Where the fuck was Nines?
A door swung open nearby, he turned to see Nines walking out of the medicine storage room. His gut unclenched and his heart felt like it did a backflip. It took everything he had to not run over to Nines and pick her up into a hug. He shook his head and turned back to SVT. He took a step forward, SVT must have heard him because she turned to face him, her eyes full of tears.
"Owen..."
As he got closer he saw who she was kneeling over, it was Ribey. The full color his quad tubes gave him shown the damage clearly. She had taken a round in the stomach, and in the chest.
"Oh no..." he muttered as he crouched beside her.
Ribey's eyes fluttered open and settled on him, a weak smile played on her lips.
"It would appear that you weren't the one we should have been worried about." she tried to joke, but the words came out just above a whisper.
Owen swallowed and nodded, "To be fair, I have a longer history of getting hurt. It seemed like a safe bet at the time."
Ribey tried to laugh again, but screwed her eyes shut instead. It took longer than Owen wanted for her to speak again.
"A bullet...grazed my core." She told him, "Having trouble keeping...everything together in my head."
She took another shallow breath, "Trying to...keep dummy links operating...for triage."
Owen flipped his nods up and put a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"Hang in there," he said in a low voice, "You gotta hang around and patch me back up."
Ribey's eyes cracked open again as she looked him over, "You haven't been injured."
"I haven't been injured, yet." He told her.
"When you do, let me know, now shush, I have to concentrate." She said, and closed her eyes again.
At this point AK, Garand, and MP-40 burst through the door.
"How the fuck are you so fast?" Garand gasped out.
Owen ignored her, "SVT, if her core is hit, how long does she have?"
SVT shrugged but her eyes never leave Ribey, "I can't tell, but we need to move quickly."
He pointed to , "Find a stretcher, we gotta prep Ribey to move."
Owen stood back up and hailed Gentiane on the radio.
"Are you at the armory?"
"Negative, we had to make detour." Owen then explained the situation. Gentiane swore.
"I'd tell you to take her to the repair bay, but the team I sent to secure that area never checked back in." She informed him, "Where is the team I sent to help Ribey?"
"Security team?" Owen asked.
"There was no one else here when we arrived." Nines said as she helped AK carry a stretcher over Ribey.
Owen relayed the news to Gentiane who swore again.
"Owen I need your teams to get to the armory yesterday. I'm hanging on by a thread as it is, and I cannot have these bastards running around inside my damned base."
"What about Ribey?" He asked.
"Kalina has emergency supplies stashed in the Control room, bring her here."
"Copy that."
"Good luck Owen."
"Same, see you soon."
After that, he got in touch with G3 and Makarov to tell them the plan. They informed him that they had encountered some minor resistance in the halls coming to the medical bay, but were on their way with no further problems. As Owen listened to the report he watched Ribey being loaded onto the stretcher. SVT and Garand stood on either end and lifted her up.
Nines moved close to him, "We're ready to move."
Owen stared at her, taking in every detail of her face. The fear from earlier creeping back up. He shook his head to clear his mind. Nines saw this and her face went from passive to concerned.
"Are you ok?"
"I thought, uh, I thought..." He thought he lost her. He thought she wouldn't help him through another bad night like before. He thought he'd never see her smile again.
...Jesus, what the fuck is going on with me, he thought.
"Yes?" She asked.
"I thought I was kind of a dick earlier, and I wanted to apologize."
She smiled and his heart did that weird flip thing again.
"You were, it's ok though."
Owen nodded, "Ok then, let's uh, let's get moving."
He shook his head one more time to clear his thoughts. Clearly, he had some shit to work out. Now definitely wasn't the time.
"We're moving Ribey to the Command center, then moving on to the armory. MP-40 you're with me on point. SVT and Garand, you're on stretcher detail since you're already holding the stretcher. Nines and AK, you're my rear guard. The rest of the team knows the plan and will meet us at the armory."
He paused, "Gentiane told me she's already lost two security teams in the area, so keep your heads on a swivel and stay frosty. Let's move."
Owen moved to the doors that lead reception area, and MP-40 moved beside him. He glanced over to her and saw the determined look on her face. She looked at him, and gave a little nod. She was ready. He flipped his down his NODs and and moved forward, she quietly slipped in step behind him. He checked the corridor that led to the dorms, she checked the corridor that led to the repair bay.
As they met in the middle, Owen's hair stood up on the back of his neck. They were being watched, he could feel it. He scanned the entire room but saw nothing. He switched his NODs to thermal, still nothing. He stopped, and slowly turned in a circle. MP-40 saw him and turned opposite of the direction he was facing. As he was turning, he saw the tell-tale wave effect of active camo being used in the corridor leading to the repair bay. He acted like he didn't see it and kept going. Then he snapped his rifle up and sent a burst at the shimmer.
The rounds impacted and he could hear the figure grunt and a pop as the camo module deactivated. Owen saw his target and his blood ran cold. The figure was wearing a fully enclosed exosuit, holding an absolute beast of a weapon and a massive metal backpack was strapped to him. The figure let out an amused chuckle, and pressed a button on the side of his weapon.
Owen grabbed MP-40 by the arm and flew towards the medical bay, he heard the whir as the electronics warmed up, and then heard the thunderous roar as it fired.
"Fuckfuckfuckshitfuckfuckfuuuck!"
The SAIGA ESG-16 (Electronic Shotgun-16 gauge) was an automatic shotgun that boasted a standard cyclic rate of about 530 rounds per minute. The rate of fire could be adjusted electronically down to 20 rounds per minute if the user wanted to use specialty ammo like the FRAG-16 round, or up to 600 rounds per minute if the user wanted melt the barrel and murder a packed hallway as expediently as possible. It also had a heartbeat sensor and combat core sensor to inform the user what they were facing. That way, the user could switch to EMP rounds (the weapon's onboard electronics were EMP hardened) if they needed to. It could also be quickly modified to operate as a semiautomatic if the electronics did fail for whatever reason.
The electronic whir, followed by the massive fireball the gun created when it went cyclic was how it earned the nick name the Robot Devil's Dick or RDD when first encountered by US forces en theatre. It didn't take long for the nickname to stick with the rest of the allied forces. The ESG-16 was THE go to weapon for the Spetsnaz when heavy urban combat was on the menu. When paired with a heavy exosuit, and plenty of shells, Owen had seen a single Spetsnaz wipe out entire breaching teams in seconds.
He slammed the door to the medical bay open, threw MP-40 inside and took cover behind the wall.
"Shit fire!" Owen swore and clutched his weapon tight.
"What the fuck was that?" AK said in alarm.
"It's a damn RDD!" Owen said.
"Wut."
"A Robot Devil's Dick, a cuntfucking ESG-16!" He yelled, trying his best not to start hyperventilating.
Owen heard the guy thud his happy ass into the reception area. Owen could hear someone talking to him.
"Ok, I'm gonna frag em, then we'll finish him off. MP-40, Nines, I want you with me when I push up, move fast and hit him from the sides, ammo pack is hardened. SVT and AK, cover us best you can from here, don't let anything happen to Ribey."
He looked at everyone, his NODs allowing him to see everyone's face in perfect detail and color. They were all looking at him like he was crazy. Nines shook her head.
"Do you have a death wish, or are you just insane?" she asked.
He let out a nervous chuckle, "Uh, I dunno, maybe both?"
"Ah...fuck...ok." Owen knocked his helmet with his fist a couple of times and took a few deep breaths, then pulled a grenade out of its pouch.
He nodded to Nines and MP-40, "Give me a two count before you follow. If I go down, book it out of here and try to make it to Gentiane."
He put his finger through the ring and took one more deep breath. "Let's fucking go."
"Primary target has been spotted." The asshole said, his voice amplified by the exosuits helmet so they could hear him from the other room. "He has his dolls with them."
More talking, "Acknowledged."
Owen pulled the pin, made it through the door, threw the grenade, snapped his weapon, and started firing.
The armored giant just kicked the grenade down a corridor, where it detonated.
The RDD hummed to life.
Time slowed to a crawl.
Nines was now through the door and circling the opposite direction of Owen. MP-40 was just making it out when the weapon fired. Owen saw the rounds hit MP-40. The bastard aimed low and walked his rounds up. Most of her flew back into the med bay. One of her legs stayed in the reception area.
Nines dashed forward with a scream and pulled an AK syle bayonet out of the sheath strapped to her leg. She fell into a slide and jammed it through the armored joint at the behemoth's knee. The man screamed as his leg gave out. Owen mirrored Nines movement, but instead of pulling a knife, slammed the muzzle of his rifle onto the faceplate so hard it cracked. He pulled the trigger and the round shattered the faceplate and flattened itself against the back of the helmet. The man jerked back but the armor kept him upright on his knees, what was left of his face staring up at the ceiling and his arms opened wide.
Owen dropped to one knee, his heart beating faster than a jackrabbit on cocaine, now he was hyperventilating. Nines ran over and dropped beside him.
"Were you hit?" she asked frantically as she started checking for wounds.
Owen tried to talk but couldn't. He just shook his head. Footsteps could be heard moving quickly towards them from one of the corridors. He jumped up to his feet, stumbled and got his gun up just in time to see his team running into the room and fanning out.
"Friendlies!" G3 shouted as they entered.
Owen started to lower his gun when enemy troops poured out of the opposite corridor. Both groups stared at each other in confusion for a half second before someone from the enemy group screamed to open fire.
Both sides opened up at the same time and reception area turned into a shooting gallery. Owen fired, dropped a body, switched targets and fired again. In the chaos Owen heard a yelp and saw Makarov and Spectre both go down. One of Uzi's arms hung limply at her side, hydraulic fluid rand down it. She sprinted around the room, firing her weapon one handed. SKS took a round to the shoulder but recovered and kept firing.
Rhe group from the medbay entered the fray, Garand came through first and fired until the clip pinged. As she was reloading she took a round to the thigh. They gave as good as they got, but more troops kept pouring in, and little by little, the fire from his team started to taper off. They were running out of ammo.
Owen heard a bullet whiz by his head, and heard someone behind him cry out in pain. Rage wash over him, he saw red, and his brain clocked out. He moved towards the asshole in the exosuit and with a grunt, spun him around to face the enemies pouring out of the corridor. Bullets pinged off the exosuits chest plate. He hunkered down as best as he could behind his makeshift cover and reached around to fire up the ESG. It hummed back to life and Owen yanked the mans hand away from the trigger guard. He hoisted the man up, exosuit and all, and fired.
The RDD roared and screams of pain and confusion could be heard from the enemy. Chunks of meat were torn away, bones were shattered, and the enemy fell in waves. The Devil's Dick started to glow cherry red, but he still kept firing. Even after the corridor was devoid of life. Owen kept the trigger down even after the ESG-16 let out a series of beeps and an electronic Russian voice announced that the barrel had warped and the gun was shutting down. He dropped the body and began walking.
Owen's movements were mechanical, he pulled the large bayonet from its sheath and affixed it to his rifle. He slowly walked towards the pile of bodies in front if him, and began stabbing them one by one. Still alive or not, it didn't matter. Move to a body. Bayonet goes down. Remove bayonet with a grunt. Move to a body. Repeat. He did this over, and over.
The dolls that weren't injured began to take notice of their Commander's actions. G3 placed a hand on Nines' shoulder, who had been helping patch up Nagant's foot, which had been hit with a ricochet and tore off one of her toes. Nagant was not happy about it. Nines looked up at G3 in confusion, until G3 quietly pointed to Owen. She swore.
"This wasn't supposed to happen.. Persicaria said..." she trailed off when she noticed the look G3 gave her.
She stood and made her way to him, and after a moment's hesitation, called out to him.
"Owen, stop."
He turned to face her, top half of his face hidden behind the NODs. She slowly reached out and placed a hand on the clasp of his helmet. He didn't stop her, didn't move at all. So she undid the clasp, slid the NODs up, and removed the helmet, holding it to her side. She looked at his face, and immediately regretted it. This wasn't her Owen that stared back at her. His eyes had turned steel grey and devoid of life. She had been wrong. Owen wasn't staring back at her, he was staring through her. Like she wasn't there. This was the lifeless look of a machine. Not a doll like herself, an actual robot.
"Owen?" The helmet fell from her hand.
He said nothing and tried to turn back to the bodies and continue his work, but Nines grabbed his shoulders and shook him hard.
"Nate!"
He didn't move, just that blank stare into nothingness. Not moving an inch while she held his shoulders. She could feel tears start to well up. She raised her hand, and punched him as hard as she could.
The punch didn't seem to cause him pain, at first. His head snapped back, and he didn't let out so much as a grunt. His head just hung there for a few seconds until his hand came up to rub his jaw.
"Jesus Christ Nines, what the fuck? I think you dislocated my jaw." Owen said.
He worked his jaw around and ran his tongue over his teeth. "Ah fuck, you knocked a tooth loose, why in the hell did you sucker..punch..."
Owen looked down at the pile of bodies they were standing over. Then ran his hand through his hair, and realized his helmet was on the ground. He squinted as he tried to focus on the other dolls in the emergency lighting who were either administering first aid to their comrades, or looking at him like they were deciding on whether or not to shoot him. He looked at Nines, and she saw the confusion and worry in his now natural looking eyes. She pulled him in a tight hug.
"You're back." she whispered.
He held her for a brief moment, before gently pushing her away and looking at her, "Nines...what the fuck happened?"
Nines started to say something, but stopped and shook her head.
"I don't know." she muttered, her eyes glued to her feet.
"Nines..."
She turned away from him, "We need to check on the others." Was all she said.
Owen picked his helmet up and followed. The rest of his team didn't say a word as they watched his every move. He followed Nines from the reception area and back into the medbay where AK was trying her best to save MP-40. His heart dropped to his stomach when he saw her.
One of her legs was gone, the other was a mangled wreck. Most of her torso was destroyed, exposing the wires and metal skeleton underneath. Her left arm was missing below the elbow. A round had hit her in the face, ripping away her skin, and destroying her left eye. Tears streamed from her right eye as it looked up at him. He dropped to his knees into the puddle of hydraulic fluid that surrounded her.
"Owen?" Her voice cracked as she struggled to speak, she reached her remaining hand out to him.
"I'm here." he said softly as he grabbed her hand in his. He struggled to keep himself together.
"My core. I didn't back up myy...my core."
He tried to give her a smile, "That's ok," he said, "we'll get you patched up in no time, you'll see.
What was left of her face tried to return the grin, tears still streaming from the right eye. "You liar."
She burst out into sobs, "I'm your adjutant, I failed you. Don't abandon me, please. Please please please don't leave me Owen. I'm sorry, I'm sorryI'msorry I'm sorry.
He reached out and started stroking her hair, it calmed her a bit. He was trying hard to hold it together, but a small part of him just wanted to shut down. He ignored that part.
"Come on, a guy couldn't ask for a better adjutant, there's no way I could leave you. You're stuck with me." He tried to sound cheerful, but it all came out sounding hollow to him.
She let out a weak laugh as her sobs quieted down, then she turned to fully face him.
"I haven't backed up my data since... Owen I don't want to forget you. I don't want to forget you. IdontwanttoIdontwanttoliaryouliaryouliardontwan"
Her eye slid out of focus and her hand went limp. Owen held it to his face as he continued stroking her hair.
"Not you too." he whispered, "God please, not you too."
- Outpost 17 -
- 4 hours after the Search and Rescue mission -
Clouds covered the moon as four figures moved through the abandoned outpost. They split into two teams and searched the place top to bottom before meeting in front of the collapsed command building.
"The old man wasn't kidding, there really is a Griffin base way out here, it looks abandoned though." The first figure said cheerily.
"No wonder," the second figure said, "This place is a trash heap. Why are we here again?"
"Mmmm we're here because it's time for sleep." the third muttered.
The second figure reached out and grabbed the third by her cheeks, "It's always time for you to sleep, you worthless rug."
"Ooowww, don't be mean."
The fourth figure looked around before giving a satisfied nod, "I know it's not the lavish conditions that you're used from when you worked with Griffin, 416, but I think this would make a great place for us to lay low for a few days before we get started on our next job."
416 let go of G11's cheeks and scowled, "You know I don't associate with them anymore."
G11 took advantage of 416's distraction, and wandered off in search for a place to sleep.
"Must be why you're so nervous hanging around here!" UMP 9 teased.
UMP-45 began to say something but turned around and snapped her weapon up.
"My my girls, we already have guests." She said in an icy tone.
416 and UMP-9 moved beside her. G11 was nowhere to be seen, and was probably already fast asleep.
At the edge of the Outpost two figures approached from the darkness. The moon slid out from behind the clouds and revealed the figures to be Alchemist and Scarecrow.
"If this is who we'll have for neighbors, I vote we move, they'll lower our property value." UMP-9 taunted.
"And lose such prime real estate? I think it would better to just clean up the neighborhood." -45 said.
416 just growled and moved her hand to the trigger of her grenade launcher.
"Relax," Alchemist said as she approached, "We're not here to bother with small fry like yourselves. We've got bigger game to hunt."
A burst of rapid gunfire rang out through the night, and three rounds planted themselves in the dirt in front Scarecrow's feet.
"Hey, that's far enough." G11's sleepy voice called out from nearby.
Alchemist activated her weapons, but Alchemist raised a hand, she had a smile on her face.
"As I've said, we're not here to attack. We're just passing through?"
UMP-45 gave a smile of her own, "But what's to stop us from killing both of you here, and collecting the considerable bounty that's on both of your heads?"
"How can we collect a bounty on a ringleader that's already supposed to be dead? " UMP-9 stage whispered as she moved her gun to face Scarecrow, "It would be awkward if we showed up to Griffin HQ and they're all like, gee thanks girls, you already killed a dead chick."
UMP-45 nodded, "Ja, I have to agree with my sister, you look exceptionally well for someone who supposedly blew herself up after getting her ass handed to her by Griffin dolls."
Scarecrow just glowered in response, Alchemist let out a laugh.
"Let the Griffin dogs think that they've killed her, it just makes life easier for us."
"Why are we just talking about killing these worthles pieces of trash instead of actually doing it?" 416 growled out, "It would be too easy for me to blow them away."
"I also have to agree with 416, as much as I hate to. Unless you're willing to pay us a very handsome fee, I'm inclined to killing you both and collecting the afore mentioned bounty." UMP-45 stated.
"Ah, but what if I have work for you?" Alchemist asked, grin still on her face.
"We're not helping you fight Griffin." 416 snarled.
Alchemist shook her head, "I honestly could care less about the fight with Griffin, I want information on something else."
UMP-45 let out a laugh, "Our reputation precedes us then, are you aware of our fees?"
Alchemist nodded, "Oh yes, and I will offer you triple your going rate."
"What's the job?"
Alchemist's grin widened, "As I said, we're just passing through, on our way to a more pressing matter. But I need the location of a compound that's in the nearby abandoned city. A group recently moved in there and has been a headache for me ever since they did."
"That's it?" UMP-45 asked incredulously.
"That's it, I would do it myself but," a shrug, "I'm a busy woman. Don't underestimate this group though, as soon as you find the location of the compound, come back to me. Don't try to start a fight. I'll handle that part."
"Wow, it's almost like you care about our safety." UMP-9 said.
"You can't give the location if you're dead or captured, and trust me, you don't want to get captured." Alchemist said.
"Deal." UMP-45 said.
Alchemist nodded, "Excellent,T then we'll be in touch."
She motioned for Scarecrow to follow her as they went back the way they came.
After they were out of sight, 416 turned her head to glare at UMP-45, "We are *not* helping them."
"But 416, triple our rates!" UMP-9 said, wagging her eyebrows, "Imagine all of the nice hotel rooms you could buy! You'd never have to live in a dump like this again!"
"If you don't like it, leave." UMP-45 stated simply, "No one is forcing you to stay, but I'm not passing up a pay-day that large just because you're having an attack of the conscience."
416 swore and stalked off.
"I think you made her mad." UMP-9 observed.
UMP-45 shrugged, lied down in the grass and closed her eyes. UMP-9 stared off in the direction of the two ringleaders.
"Hey sis?"
"Ja?"
"Did you pick up any other Sangvis units, other than those two?"
UMP-45 opened her eyes, "You noticed that too?"
UMP-9 nodded.
"Nein, I didn't pick up any other signals."
"I wonder why they're moving through Griffin territory by themselves?"
UMP-45 shrugged again, "I don't care, so long as they pay us."
UMP-9 laughed and flopped down next to her sister, "You think they will?"
"If they don't, then we'll move forward with original plan."
"Kill them and collect the bounty?" UMP-9 asked.
"Ja."
UMP-9 smiled, "You're going to get us killed one day." she joked.
UMP-45 said nothing, she just stared at the stars and wondered if they would look different on the beach.