Chapter 13: New Arrivals
"Liz, go ahead and pull up over here. I think almost all of us need to heal after that." Stonewall grunted through the intercom. The camp set up just outside San Vittore del lazio was bustling with activity, troops replenishing their ammo and getting healed up so they could go back into the fray. Before they stopped, Stonewall swung the hatch completely open and grunted as he started pulling himself out.
Behind them, the battle-scarred halftrack rolled to a halt and the remainder of the ALO crew started climbing out as it was shut off, everyone immediately heading for the medical tent.
"Stonewall!"
"Hm?" The tank commander turned to see Dex standing beside his 'borrowed' tank. "Yeah, wassup!"
"Got a challenge for you. For your next video." Dex watched as the makeshift crew of Stonewall's tank began climbing out, everyone groaning from the awkward confines they'd found themselves in.
"Oh God what now." Stonewall sighed.
"T-34-85."
The tank commander immediately pretended to gag. "No."
"It's that or the Maus."
"Eat my ass Dexter. I abso-fucking-lutely refuse."
"Extra pay~"
Stonewall stopped and grumped, grumbling as he crossed his arms. "Fine." He opened up his menu and selected the vehicle, changing the entity to an Alliance T-34-85. "Ugh."
"Why didn't you sell the Panther and buy the 34?" Dex asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I am not spending credits on this piece of shit." He grumped, getting some ammo and an AI crew through his admin menu.
"Yo everyone. How are you guys all doing?" Nguyen asks as he walks over, his uniform covered in mud from the open-topped halftrack.
"This asshole decided I needed to change my office." Stonewall grumped.
"Huh?" Nguyen looks curiously at the T-34-85 before glancing back at Stonewall, "Can you even fit inside that thing?"
"Oi, fuck you I'm not that fat. There's more room in here than I expected too."
"Bruh, I was talking about your height. Soviet tank crews were made up of midgets. Explains why the PAVN didn't have any trouble with the damn things. Even I'm too fucking tall for a Soviet tank."
Nguyen pauses for a few seconds before grinning evilly.
"Man… you should get drunk on vodka before getting into the T-34. It'll be fucking hilariou-ow!"
"Nguyen you fucking moron..." Lou groans exasperatedly after slapping Nguyen behind the head, "Sorry Stonewall, there's nothing we can do for him."
Climbing up into the commander's hatch, Stonewall opened a menu and scrolled for a minute, eventually materializing a bottle of vodka in his hand. "For the memes! Ura!"
"Well, we all have to log off for the night. See you later?" Kirito asked.
"Later guys." Stonewall waved before the ALO crew all started logging off. "Well fuck it. I'm going to go see what trouble I can get into."
"Hey Stonewall, what did you get from that boss fight?" Nguyen asked as the T-34's engine grumpily rumbled to life.
"Improved rations and a companion, and no you're not getting any of my food!" The commander shouted back before his tank lurched forward, driving off.
Stonewall immediately developed a massive gripe for the T-34 upon starting his road march- the incessant rocking. He sat on the rim of his cupola and sighed as he read his map in the dusk light, assigning waypoints for his driver to follow while he tried to position himself somewhere on the front so that he wouldn't be useless. The mountains didn't lend well to the T-34's poor gun depression, and he knew taking the long-barreled tank into the narrow Italian streets would end up like his Super Pershing in Sicily.
Soon enough, the tank commander found himself overlooking a semi-destroyed vineyard, the gentle slopes of the valley he overlooked lending well to the faults of the T-34-85, while the firing position he occupied was amongst a gap between a fence, a road behind him and fifty yards or so of grass and flowers in front. Beyond the strip of grass was the vineyard proper, battered and broken down, but still bearing fruit.
He sat half out of his hatch as the last light faded from the sky, lending way to millions of stars. The half moon lended no help to the Stonewall as he tried to identify anything in the murk, AI infantry setting up on the cobble wall to either side of him and digging in for the night. All was quiet, aside from the occasional flare or burst of machine gun fire in the distance.
Eventually, a lone Sherman rumbled up the road towards him from behind, infantry sitting atop it as they hitched a ride. The vehicle snarled as it climbed the hill towards him, eventually passing him before it turned hard right across the cobble wall, tearing another hole in it and rumbling downhill towards the vineyard.
Seconds later, a figure leaped up out of the grass and slammed the end of a long pole against the side, disintegrating in an explosion. Stonewall ducked down and drew a Tokarev pistol from a cross-draw holster on his chest, watching in front for a heartbeat, then two, before a jet of flame roared out the open hatches of the vehicle. Immediately the crew's screams were drowned out by the screech and bellow of the ammunition cookoff as the infantry tried to pile off, only for more figures to jump up out of the grass and bayonet them.
Then, Stonewall heard a voice from in front.
"Toseguki!"
Followed by a cry that was echoed by well over two dozen players.
"Tenno Heika banzai!"
"Oh shit!" Stonewall shouted as his bow gunner and gunner both started shooting with their machine guns. He quickly raised a flare gun to the sky and fired it before a rifle shot zipped in, hitting him in the chest and dropping him into the turret. He groaned and started to bandage the wound, racing against his quickly draining health. Infantry quickly began climbing onto his tank. He pulled the pin on a F1 grenade and rolled it out the hatch, some of the infantry scrambling for cover before they were showered in shrapnel.
Nearby infantry tried to defend their position, jumping up from various states of rest before they were cut down by rifle fire, more and more hostile infantry running up from out of the vineyard as more infantry climbed onto Stonewall's tank, a pair of grenades being dropped into his hatch before he could close it.
He looked down and sighed, knowing there was no chance of getting them out in time.
"Well shit.."
Ding!
Ding!
Ding! Ding!
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
Asuna frowned and put her pen down, checking her phone as the group chat went ballistic.
Liz- "Have you guys seen the new War-Torn update trailer!?"
Agil- "I saw it on the TV earlier. A 'beastfolk' update."
Sinonon- "So we get animal ears and such like in ALO?"
Liz- "YES!"
Kirito- "Where's the trailer?"
Liz- "on their website!"
Liz- "it's on the front page!"
Silica- "so I can look like Pina now?!"
She smiled and set her phone down, focusing on finishing her homework. The hour seemed to drag on until finally she finished the last of it, stowing it carefully before she pulled up War-Torn's website, finding the trailer, as stated, on the front page. The thumbnail depicted glinting eyes in some tall grass, a helmet just barely visible through the foliage. 'Update 2.1.9 Beastfolk Update' was scrawled above and to the left in a red typewriter-esque font.
Asuna mentally admitted that all this chatter and the thumbnail did have her interest piqued. She double checked that her headphones were plugged in, fullscreened the video, and clicked the play button.
She was met with a black screen, but was soon met by the sounds of the beach; complete with seabirds calling, waves in the distance, and a slight breeze brushing past palm leaves that just faded in from the prior darkness of the frame. The camera panned down to a bustling, worn looking camp. The tents looked patched up, and some crates were cracked with splitting boards here and there. Loose ammunition was piled in open boxes, with several vehicles in disrepair being worked on by several normal looking soldiers, all in good spirits. A battle-weary American Lieutenant stepped out from a tent and put a dented and scratched-up helmet on, the camera panning to him walking past several men who were joking around and wrestling with each other.
A ship's horn suddenly sounded, dragging the soldiers' and camera's attention towards an approaching LST, which, upon landing lowered its ramp to show some long awaited newcomers. Yet to the beach-dwelling soldiers' surprise, they didn't look entirely human.
Some sported canid or feline ears and tails, some horns, antlers, and hooves, others had scales or feathers. Nonetheless, they looked just as nervous as their more experienced counterparts on the beach.
The beastly soldiers straightened up a bit as a wiley looking canid Lieutenant walked down the ramp, taking a firm stand on the beach, his large ears twitching once. He turned and looked over the lot of his group, gave a quiet nod, and with a swish of his tail he approached the American with a quiet confidence.
The more experienced of the two looked his counterpart over for a brief moment, then huffed in seemingly amusement before stepping forward and giving him a one-armed hug, the newly arrived troops all relaxing slightly.
The camera cut to a dark tropical forest, tree frogs and other nightlife keeping the eerie scene alive before a fern was brushed aside, the camera swiping to reveal one after another a determinedly moving company burst their way through the brush, the night being interrupted with a cacophony of gunfire behind them. The veterans moved with a purpose, though having to slow themselves to avoid tripping as tracers zipped through the brush, blowing chunks out of trees and kicking up small spatters of mud.
An especially battle-weary veteran was nearly shoved out of the way as an antlered beastfolk galavanted past, followed quickly thereafter by his comrades, the new arrivals outpacing the others until they were abruptly sent diving for cover by a plume of fire from a M3 "Satan" and rain of bullets from enemy infantry.
The Veterans' caution won out as many of the overzealous beastfolk were cut down like wheat to a scythe, their inexperience landing them in trouble. Many of the veterans finally caught up, laying down suppressive fire. Some moved forward and started guiding them to withdraw to fight another day.
The camera cut to the following morning, flying through camp. It weaved through, past where several beastfolk were mourning at graves, some restocking ammunition while others rested in the shade, shielding themselves from the tropical sun. Then, the camera took an abrupt turn, flying through a gap in the tent flap to show the two lieutenants arguing over a map. Pointing and shouting at each other, but soon enough, they both stopped, grinning and shaking hands.
The camera dimmed back to that moonlit jungle, this time the beastfolk stuck close, following their veteran comrade's caution and in return they guided them through the dark twisting foliage of the undergrowth. The point man scanned the brush cautiously ahead of them with every step, finally laying down along with the rest of his comrades and starting to crawl through the leafy forest floor, the humans stopping and taking cover as all the beastfolk crawled uphill to a tattered line of emplacements. One by one they took cover in shell craters before lobbing grenades into the trenches and bunkers as one cohesive group, a red flare being fired overhead.
Before the flare ignited, the grenades exploded, the experienced humans jumping up and starting to sprint forwards, only for some to be cut down by machine gun fire from their right. The camera peeked through the brush to see a pair of dimly glowing eyes peering over an older machinegun as it chattered away.
An explosion abruptly engulfed the nest, the camera turning once more and racing straight into the gunner sight of a M4 Sherman as a human commander patted his beastfolk gunner on the shoulder with a grin. The gunner turned with a piece of chalk and scratched a tally mark on the inside of the turret, the scene changing to an overhead view through a bombsight lining up on the tank, a cervid beastfolk with a small pair of antlers grinning and clicking a bomb release forward.
The screen went black with a reverberating click, slowly brightening to the sound of a ship's horn as the two lieutenants made their way out of their tent, looking at new replacements of mixed origins as they descended the ramps.
Two privates looked at each other as they slogged through the surf, one human, the other with feathers mixed into his hair, the camera zooming in as they fist bumped each other before the screen went black yet again.
With the trailer having ended, Asuna pulled her earbuds out and sighed, not realizing she had been holding her breath.
Pulling up the group chat yet again, Asuna pulled out her earbuds and sent off a message, hopping up and hurrying to her computer, finding the game already updated. She laid down and pulled her headset on, checking the time before she giggled. "Link start!"
SirStonewall- That's right, we're not dead! Just busy. Consider this a tease for things to come. Big things in the works! Credit to my lovely girlfriend Luxlator for helping me write the trailer, she's so much better than I am with detail, wouldn't y'all agree?
In other news, War-Torn now has a new fan Discord server due to hacker bullshit. Hit me or Good up for the link!
Luxlator- Hello! I hope you all noticed the slightly more descriptive writing in the trailer bit. I kinda gave Stonewall a nudge and then a kick in the ass to get working on this for y'all. He ended up asking me for a hand in some parts, so here I am! It's a pleasure to meet you all! Boy, do we have some content for y'all in the future. It's one more chapter before we can release those fun bits, though, 'cause we gotta do some last minute edits and read overs. [Honestly the man gives me too much credit. But yes, Hello!]
Good- Sorry everyone, the past two-three years (?) have been horribly busy for me. Between wrapping up my studies, publishing my Masters thesis, jumping from one job to the other before getting my dream job as a historian and getting back into miniature painting, it pretty much killed off a lot of my writing time.