Day 1: July 7, 2062 | 1320 Hours | Base S09 Residential Building

The lobby of the residential building was empty with the impatient tapping of Juno's foot and the occasional clicking of the elevator button being pushed several times in a row filling the quiet air. For a top-of-the-line Griffin facility, the elevator took its time to travel from the third floor to the first.

What's taking so long? Juno looked to the stairwell on her right. Maybe I should just take the stairs.

As Juno quietly debated on whether she should commit to taking the elevator, the doors down the hall to her left swung open. She saw M16 and another T-Doll talking to each other while they walked towards her. The unfamiliar T-Doll looked a little like a younger M16, but she had a far more innocent and honest appearance to her. While M16 appeared to be the seasoned combatant, the T-Doll next to her looked more like a responsible schoolgirl.

Her straight, light brown hair reached down to her back, and like M16's orange streak, she had a green streak to the left of her bangs. Judging from the similarities between the two, Juno figured she was the sisters Springfield had mentioned earlier.

"W-Wait, M4. Let's be reasonable here," M16 said.

"I am being reasonable." M4 had a softer voice compared to her louder and stronger older sister's voice. "No more drinking for the rest of the week."

"Listen, if you're upset that I was late, I totally understand." M16 clasped her hands together. "But I'll make it up to you."

M4 looked up at her sister, who was about 30 centimeters shorter than her. "If you want to make it up to me, then no drinking for the week."

M16 opened her mouth to say something but seeing her sister standing firm caused her to raise her hands up in defeat. "Ok, fine."

"Promise?"

M16 patted her sister on the head. "I promise."

"Good." M4 grew a small smile after hearing M16's response. "Well, I'm going to meet up with STAR and Soppo for lunch. You get some rest, ok?"

M16 nodded and the two exchanged goodbyes. She kept her eye on M4 until she was out of sight. She then let out a big sigh. "A week… That's seven days too many."

"I'm sure you can handle it." Juno finally spoke up.

M16 looked down at Juno with furrowed eyebrows. "Have we met before?"

"I was sitting next to you at the bar earlier." Juno reminded her.

"Ah, yea, I remember. You a new girl? Never seen you around before."

Juno was about to introduce herself as Base S09's commander but quickly decided against it. She saw this as an opportunity to talk to one of her subordinates without her position influencing the conversation. "Yea, I just arrived a few hours ago."

M16 extended her hand out. "Name's M16."

Juno realized she had to figure out a name for herself as a doll and decided to use her preferred sidearm. She shook her hand and introduced herself. ".38 Colt Detective Special. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss M16."

"You certainly look like a detective." M16 checked out Juno from head to toe. While it was the traditional commander's uniform, without the signature crimson coat, Juno did look like something out of an old-school noir detective film with her white shirt, black tie, and pencil skirt. "So Detective, how you liking the base so far?"

"It's much nicer than I expected. Never imagined a private military base would have a hot spring."

"Let me tell you, once you take a dip in there, you'll never want to leave." M16 let out a hearty laugh but her joyful expression turned into disappointment shortly after. "But it won't be too long until we're swamped with work. If you want my advice, I'd say take advantage of all the free time you have before our commander arrives."

"But aren't you excited for operations to begin?"

"You bet I am! Can't wait to get out there and kick SF ass!" M16 said with great enthusiasm. "But… If I could, I'd spend the rest of my days drinking whiskey at the bar."

"Sounds like you have a problem." Juno joked.

"If you ever think I have a problem, you should meet A-91." M16 pointed at her left eye. "Almost clawed my good eye out after I drank her vodka by accident."

"It's a good think I don't drink."

"Aww, you're missing out on a lot of fun." M16 said with a playful voice.

Juno pursed her lips together. "I think I'll be fine with missing out."

"Suit yourself, but if you ever need any recommendations on where to start, you know who to call."

"I'll keep that in mind." Juno said before the elevator bell dinged and the doors slid open. "Finally."

"What floor?" M16 asked as the two of them entered the elevator.

"Three."

M16 pushed the third-floor button. "Well, at least we're headed to the same floor. Considering how long it took for the elevator to come down, we'll probably be in here for another five minutes."

"Is something wrong with it?" Juno asked while the doors slid shut and the elevator began its slow ascent.

"I'm not sure. Kalin said she'd get a maintenance crew to check on it, but she's been so busy worrying about the Commander's arrival that she probably forgot."

Hearing her adjutant being mentioned, Juno wanted to hear M16's opinion on Kalina. "Do you know her well?"

"Kalin? I've only been here for two weeks, but we go to the bar every now and then. Still owe her for getting me a crate of Jack Daniels."

"What do you think about her?"

M16 took a moment to come up with her response. "She's pretty fun and easy-going. Far more casual than most Griffin officers I've met. You should see her at the video conferences. Somehow, she always manages to get on Helian's nerves, but Kryuger seems to like her."

In Juno's eyes, while Kryuger was quite supportive of her during her time in the academy, he seemed to be a stern and serious man. So, the fact that he liked Kalina surprised her. "Interesting."

"Y'know you should meet her if you want to get to know her better," M16 said.

"Oh, I already have. Personally, I think she's quite unprofessional. I mean, have you seen her uniform? It's like she's trying to seduce someone!"

M16 chuckled and patted Juno on the shoulder. "You sound just like MP40. If you have a problem with the way Kalina dressed, wait 'til you meet the T-Dolls that wear less. Far less."

"Oh God." Juno put her hand on her forehead in dismay.

"I don't really have a problem with how people dress, but if we get some pervy old commander…" M16 growled and raised a fist in the air. "If he even lays a finger on my sisters, there'd be hell to pay!"

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that."

M16 lowered her arm and looked confused at Juno. "What makes you say that?"

The elevator bell dinged again, and the doors opened to reveal Kalina standing with a stack of folders in her arms. Seeing the two of them, the adjutant's eyes immediately locked onto M16 with nothing but suspicion. "You better not be hassling the Commander for more booze."

"Eh? What are you talking about?" M16 asked as she and Juno stepped out of the elevator.

Kalina rolled her eyes and shook her head. "For an elite T-Doll, you can sure be clueless."

"Hey, listen, I'm still recovering from four bottles of whiskey and a night of scouting."

"Sounds like a you problem." Kalina giggled and walked up to Juno. "Anyways, Commander, I have everyone's dossier right here."

"WAIT! YOU'RE THE COMMANDER?" M16 pointed at Juno.

"Commander Juno Itsuki." Juno officially introduced herself as Kalina handed her the dossiers. "Maybe we can continue our conversation over a drink. Preferably a non-alcoholic one."

Juno waved goodbye to the T-Doll and joined Kalina to head to her room, leaving a stunned M16 in front of the elevator. Wow… Didn't expect Boss to be cute…

Kalina sighed when they entered Juno's room. "I swear she's one of our best."

Juno skimmed through the dossiers until she found M16's. She silently read through it. M16A1. Important Operations Prototype Manufacturing Company, 16Lab. 1st Generation Elite T-Doll. Second-in-Command of AR Team. Current Assignment: Base S09.

Reading the information, Juno was surprised to learn that she had an Elite T-Doll squad under her command. She heard about AR Team earlier in the year before she graduated. From what she knew, each member of AR Team was personally designed by the head researcher of 16Lab, Persicaria, and they helped Griffin in several operations to regain territory from SF. So having a talented group such as AR Team under her belt provided some comfort for Juno.

"She's quite an interesting character. Really tall too." Juno said.

"Sounds like someone's jealous." Kalina sliced the air over Juno's head.

The young commander narrowed her eyes at Kalina. "Miss M16 told me that you forgot to attend to the elevator issue."

"Shit… I knew I forgot something…" Kalina muttered under her breath before swiping through her tablet. "I'll see that it gets taken care of right away."

Juno folded her arms together. "First forgetting to inform everyone I'd be arriving on base, and now that. Not a great first impression for an adjutant."

Kalina rolled her eyes as she walked out of the room. "Yea, yea, whatever, Commander."