(27/10/2056 | 08:22)
Today was it, the day of days. The final assault on Intruder's base of operations.
It had been a struggle, being able to reach this point on an accelerated timetable. The dolls were forced to stick to an offensive for a full 24 hours, being resupplied with ammunition and rations perpetually as they kept marching on. The casualties mounted quickly, and the other sectors' dolls were now scraping the barrel as far as back up bodies and dummies were concerned. It was slapdash, it was sloppy, and for all intents and purposes it made Hsu grimace.
But he'd done as Corporate demanded. He got to Intruder's door. Now, they had to kick it open and blow her away.
On the outskirts of the airfield, the old man stood next to IWS. It was still quiet, for the most part. No engines, motors or gunfire infecting the fall air. Ideal for someone like Hsu, though the lack of activity made the already nervous IWS even more nervous.
He kept his eye on the western horizon. Back towards some vague direction of their home base.
"No complications from the new module?" Hsu asked. IWS shook her head, wringing her wrists as she drove new creases into her white gloves.
"K-Kommandant. Are you… sure about zhis plan?" The Austrian asked her elder.
The Commander nodded, though it was a half-truth. This new plan now greatly relied on Soviet air support, which filled Hsu with no real confidence. But he knew that wasn't the part that was eating at IWS.
No, the part that was bothering her was her new capabilities. This new duty that Hsu had handed down.
Persica had once told him that M4A1 possessed an experimental command module, one that allowed her to command dolls without any human oversight. Something that, at first, horrified Hsu. Though as he'd grown more comfortable with the AR team, he'd accepted the reality that it wasn't in M4's nature to abuse that gift.
Then, a month ago when Hsu had initially begun planning this attack, he'd contacted Persica. He asked her to make another of those modules, intended for IWS.
It was something he'd kept his mouth shut about to everyone on base. The only people aware of it were Helian, Khan, G36 and M4. Giving another doll such authority was crazy. Especially one as meek and skittish as IWS.
But Hsu knew one thing. He needed redundancies, especially if humans weren't able to give dolls orders pertaining to the mission.
So, he made the order. And last night, while he and Helian were drinking and sharing war stories, Khan had implanted the new device into IWS. She'd been a nervous wreck since. It was why they were here, to try and reassure her before they went to work.
"If things go as expected, you won't have to use it anyway." Hsu assured.
"But if you expected that, you would have never given me this authority!" IWS pointed out, staring back up to the man. Hsu grumbled, knowing that despite her attitude, IWS was intelligent. Smart enough to see why he was doing all of this, for sure.
"You want to know how I first got promoted?" Hsu asked. IWS nodded immediately, hoping to glean some wisdom from the Commander. "I reached a Fob with the rest of my company, got greeted by my Battalion Commander. Only saw that geezer twice before then."
"He wasn't close with his men?" IWS asked.
"He was a Commonwealth traditionalist. Getting attached with the cannon fodder wasn't encouraged." Hsu explained, some resentment still lingering. "Either way, he told me and the rest of the officers that our Captain and our Lieutenant's vic got blown up by a mine. Then he pointed at the first platoon CO, said 'you're it' and had her pick a new XO. She picked me."
"That sounds awful!" IWS said. Being given such new duties on short notice would've driven her mad with panic.
Hsu grunted, not disagreeing with the meek android. "It's how things worked. You didn't get promoted because you were good, you got promoted because your higher got killed and the chain needed to hold. The average lifespan for an Allied field officer was about a year. It was even worse for the enlisted."
That information served to discomfort IWS even further. How terrible it must have been to be sent into a fight, knowing that statistics said that you were on borrowed time. Another number among numbers.
"But… for you to survive, that meant you were good. Yes?" IWS rationalized.
"I got good. But it took a while." The Commander amended. "This place made me remember something that I forgot a long time ago. I'm not a soldier. I'm a reporter who used to be a militiaman. I was always better with a keyboard and a microphone than a rifle and grenades."
Hsu scratched at his scar. The old wound always seemed to get irritated whenever he grew uncomfortable. Still, he kept speaking to the Austrian. "But none of that's the point. The point is that you aren't me."
IWS' confusion was visible. "I don't understand."
"I went up the ranks because I was the best option left. You're getting this authority because you're the best option." Hsu explained as clearly as he could. "There's five other Captains. One of them already had this module. I picked you, because out of all six, or any doll I could ask for from Headquarters, you are the best for this."
"That… can't be true." IWS rebuffed, once again refusing to accept such observations. "I'm not a better choice than any of the others. They're all far more capable than I."
"Bullshit." The Commander replied, silencing IWS' attempts at 'humility'. "Thompson's a great field officer, but she's reckless and short sighted. Thirty-Six is learning, but she's as inflexible as the stick up her ass. SVD is capable and clever, but she's even more risk averse than I am. Grizzly's got charisma and brains, but misses the forest for the trees. And M-Four communicates about as bad as a drunk Dutch person in Somalia."
"I have just as many flaws as they do!" IWS insisted.
"And I still choose you, because you're better suited for this job." Hsu replied, voice level. He looked down at the doll, eyes narrowing as she continued to question his decision. "Why do you think you can't do this?"
IWS grew even more uncomfortable, but she knew she couldn't weasel out of this any longer. She'd already lied about this before, using 'wanderlust' as an excuse. Painting this whole expedition into Soviet territory as a flight of fancy.
So, the doll braced herself before she spoke.
"...I've been blessed with so many things that most people don't have. Not just my specifications, or a peaceful home but the people around me. Even before I came here, I had Aug, my friends, my sisters and…"
"The professor." Hsu deducted.
IWS gave the smallest of nods. "I left Austria out of guilt. I came to Griffin out of guilt. I abandoned everything because I knew I did not deserve it. And I swore that I would never go back until I earned my life."
She glanced over to Hsu, expecting some sort of admonishment. "You must think I'm a fool."
"Nicer than I'd put it." The Commander admitted. "He's like a parent to you. This Professor."
IWS hesitated, the term having always caused her grief. "Dolls do not have parents. We cannot have children. Even our siblings are mere derivatives of our model. Families to us are simply constructs."
The doll sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than her conversant. Trying, and failing. She knew she loved her siblings, even if they were all machines. If none of this was 'real', it was real to her. Just as her feelings for her friends, her boyfriend, and the man who'd taught her everything.
"...Do you think he's proud of me?"
"I can't speak for a man I don't know." The Commander answered. "But for what it's worth, I am."
The Commander's admittance lessened the grip on IWS' chest, though the tension still lingered. Hsu observed the sniper one more time, before coming to the conclusion that he'd done everything he could for now.
They still had a battle to win.
(14:30)
Hours later, the Chinook flew over the battlefield, fully loaded.
Almost every doll from Sector 09 sat next to one another on the benches. 25 tactical dolls, the first time they were working together on a single objective. Transported together, working all in tandem with one another.
To call the transport bay inside chaotic was an understatement.
Echelons 1 and 4 were in an active shouting match with one another, someone having slighted the honor of the other's homeland. Both Captains were completely in each other's face, with BAR and Mosin getting ready to toss one another out the port door. Only Springfield and AK-74M stayed out of it, focusing on their kits.
Echelon 2 was keeping mostly to themselves. Performing weapon checks, ensuring that their equipment was on tight, and helping one another where they needed it. Though on occasion XM8 would throw a jab into the ongoing reenactment of the Cold War next to them, egging both sides on.
Echelon 3 sat near the cockpit, chattering amongst themselves and assigning rucks. As the forward command element, they had some extra gear to lug along. Comms equipment, namely. Though now it was becoming a game of hot potato for the group, something that S.A.T.8 happily avoided as she flew the helicopter.
All the while Echelon 5 was split, three of them on the guns while Grizzly and M590 stood guard at the cockpit entrance. Lest one of the squabbles start to bother the two women keeping them in the air and not under some soil.
Over the horizon, a plume of orange smoke coiled into the sky. Santiago grabbed the radio, telling the dolls in the cockpit to all get themselves ready for a landing. S.A.T brought the aircraft carefully over the bend, bringing it to a hover before guiding the thing down.
As the wheels touched, the whole helicopter shook from the rough landing. Santiago checked the instruments, a scowl forming.
"A landing's a landing." She said, before standing up. "Switch out, get your weapon."
The nervous shotgunner gulped, getting out of the right-hand side seat and scuttering back. She grabbed her shotgun and a radio pack, eyes drifting towards where Springfield was sitting before she looked away in panic.
Her head was in the wrong place for all of this.
As the loading ramp dropped, each of the teams filed out in two lines. The AR team held the perimeter, having done their pathfinder duties. Once the rank and file had gotten themselves and their equipment off of the Chinook, it's rotors picked up the pace once again. Lifting back off into the sky and towards their base.
They wouldn't see it again until after their work was done.
IWS began transmitting orders, getting everyone into formation to move towards their positions. Echelon 1 and the AR team at the front, Echelons 2 and 4 on the sides, with Echelon 5 taking up the rear. Her group was in the middle, their cargo hopefully being as protected as they could be.
AUG strained somewhat under the added weight, her body being ill suited for more physical tasks. Like IWS, her frame was built with mostly administrative duties in mind. All her development had gone into her AI, not her chassis.
Still, the alternative was making Type 100 carry her share. The shorter Japanese doll was encumbered enough as is.
"The landing went well." Hsu's voice rang into her ears.
"Believe you connected to the wrong doll, mein Herr." AUG replied, keeping her gaze forward as she saw XM8 faceplant ahead of her. The shorter doll grumbled, yelling at the rest of her team to get going and 'waste their time' when G36 and M1897 moved to assist.
"IWS doesn't need me in her head right now. There's enough noise between her ears as is." He deflected.
The priestess shrugged. "An accurate assessment. Though, we have never spoken before now."
"Neither of us are social butterflies." He pointed out. "That bother you?"
AUG scoffed. "Quite the opposite. At least someone here knows to allow me my requested privacy."
"IWS does say you enjoy the background."
"Not everyone wishes to be the protagonist of the story. And unlike many of our colleagues, I stopped questioning my purpose long ago." AUG muttered, kneeling down to pull the recently tripped XM8 out of the dirt and back onto her feet. She then gave the girl a light shove back towards her team, glancing in return to the wave G36 sent her way.
"I only interfere when the situation necessitates. Grandstanding is a disease of the mind I have no wish to contract." She explained to the squatter in her ear.
"Good segue into why I called…" Hsu said, taking the chance to get to brass tacks. "IWS is going to be busy overseeing the other teams. That means keeping your echelon in line is going to be your problem."
"It's always my problem. IWS cannot discipline anyone." AUG pointed out. "Though I avoid overstepping my bounds."
"Overstep them. Too much going on, I don't want to hear about any blue-on-blue incidents or fights between team members." The Commander permitted.
"So you do read the after action reports." AUG observed.
"I know you have opinions, Aug. This is your chance to act on'em."
"Noted. I'll ensure mission compliance." She promised, the call cutting after that. The doll's gaze then floated towards K11 and S.A.T.8, the two members of their team who'd been causing the most trouble. Though for very different reasons.
She'd deal with it later. For now, they had to get to their destination.
(14:59)
"What're we looking at?" Hsu called out to the Command room, eyes focused on the TACMAP projected over the central table. The other three commanders remained at their consoles, chattering into their headsets as they micromanaged their teams.
"Nothing. No movement, no reaction…" Orlov answered, getting one of her teams to pull back after their inspection of the base walls came up with nothing.
"Right flank fortifications are much the same." Blucher offered, before focusing back on his front. "Our demolitions failed to create an entrance, however."
"Damn it!" Bateer cursed, looking back over at the senior officer. "We've used all of our plastic explosives! Even the satchel charges!"
"Then pull back to our line. No use slamming our heads against a brick wall." Hsu ordered. The others replied with various affirmations, their dolls beginning to move back to the drawn out line away from the base's front.
Hsu's brow furrowed. This whole situation was ripped out of the 1700s. A star fort in the middle of nowhere, firing ports overlooking every possible advance and walls too thick to blow on their own. If he was in a real military, he would just keep blasting at the walls until the whole damn thing came down with artillery.
But he wasn't, which meant he had to rely on a real military. Despite very much not wanting to.
He'd spoken with the Air Force Colonel again around noon. The man assured him that there would be a flight ready with a strike package 'tailored to deal with the Sangvis threat.' The whole conversation had been filled with even more chest thumping and large promises, enough that it made Hsu desperately wish he had more liquor on hand.
The Commander looked up from the map, over towards his logistics officer as she typed away on a laptop. "Kalina, what's the ETA on the airstrike?"
"They're still preparing, Commander." She reported, scrolling down her screen before grimacing. "He… still hasn't responded to your forward observer request."
He bit back a curse. "And our request for the pilots' radio codes?"
"They said no…" Kalina answered.
"Great. If I didn't know any better, I'd say they're hosing us." The Canadian complained, before looking back down at his charts. "Keep trying. If they're not gonna bother to show up, annoy them until they admit it."
As Kalina returned to trying to connect with their liaison, Hsu sighed. This plan was a mess. They were relying on help that didn't even see them as worth helping, given tools unable to complete the task, and a timeframe that didn't make any sense with the reality on the ground.
…Maybe he was still in the Army.
(15:11)
As their Commander languished with his poor situation, the Sector 09 dolls were setting up along their defensive line.
The other teams were already pushing out to their designated positions, with a few teams heading out to spot and warn the others for when the hostile force began to move in. IWS' team hung further back, setting up in the remains of an old petrol station overlooking the main Sangvis base.
The building itself was a wreck. Cracks in the walls, water dripping from the ceiling. Something seemed to be living inside what was once the restroom. But it didn't matter, cover was cover. Damaged plaster and moldy wood planks were still better than hiding behind bushes and shrubs.
IWS and Type 100 made their way up the stairs, lugging up a radio amplifier so they could monitor all the Griffin communications in the area. The door at the top, however, was tied shut. Vines blocking the path to their destination.
Unimpressed, Type 100 passed her leader and drew out her firearm. She then hacked away at the overgrowth, cutting until it all fell off and she was free to shove the door open.
"Why do you keep a bayonet on a submachine gun, anyway?" IWS asked, hopping over the now cut up foliage and past her short subordinate.
"A sixteen inch blade does not lose reception." Type 100 answered, attempting to follow along. IWS waited for the smaller doll to join her again as she stood on the center of the flat roof.
"...You've wanted to use that line for a while." The librarian postulated.
"No." Type 100 initially denied, trying to manage herself over the greenery that was on the ground. before looking up at the disbelieving gaze of her Captain. "...I like being cool too."
IWS chuckled, going back to the door and offering a hand to assist the stout doll over the foliage. "You are very cool, Miss One-Hundred."
The normally emoteless doll grumbled in embarrassment, accepting the assistance. The two then moved out onto the rooftop, setting up the antenna. As IWS took a step back to look over towards where the battle would take place, she once again felt herself slip into the doldrums.
A large part of her still felt unworthy of Hsu's trust. This power that he'd had bestowed upon her was something that very few humans would feel comfortable in giving. Removing the human element from the chain of command, altering one of the fundamentals of how a doll in Griffin acted in the field. She wondered if the man's alcoholism had driven him nuts.
But she knew that wasn't the case. Hsu was many things, but insane wasn't one of them.
No, if anything he was uncompromisingly pragmatic.
Though she couldn't put any more thought into the matter, as a back and forth was going on at the front of the building. IWS and Type 100 shared a glance, before both dolls scurried over to the edge so they could look down and see AUG leering over K11.
"These hairbrained schemes of yours are dangerous."
"Excuse you, my schemes are not hair-brained. They're normal brained!" K11 answered back sitting in a foldable camping chair she'd lugged along.
"Setting off all of your grenades as a 'surprise' is not normal." AUG readily countered.
"But it is awesome." K11 pointed out, catching the heads of both IWS and Type 100 as they hovered above. AUG, however, seemed to not care.
"You're going to get someone killed." AUG continued to insist.
K11 shrugged, relaxing even further into her seat like a middle aged man on their porch. "Duh? We kill Sangvis basically every day."
"One of us, not the enemy." AUG clarified, standing before the chemist and looking down upon her like a nun scolding a child at sunday school.
K11 rolled her eyes, leaning to her right so she could call out to the rest of the echelon as they finished setting up the radios and command equipment. "Come on, I don't hit you guys with my grenades that much. Right? Right?"
No one answered. S.A.T disappeared into the gas station, fleeing for her life from the standoff. IWS seemed conflicted, words not coming out as she beamed down at AUG. The only one who looked her way was Type 100, her friend visibly uncomfortable before running back off towards the radio antenna.
Realization finally sept into K11's neural cloud, her posture slouching. "...You guys are actually scared of me? You think I'm some kind of teamkilling nonce?"
"I prefer 'reckless imbecile', but that is also somewhat accurate." AUG confirmed.
The confirmation didn't bring any relief to K11. If anything it made the grenadier panic more. "I didn't know! Really, I thought it was fine!"
"That would be part of the 'imbecile' descriptor." AUG followed up, not giving the woman an inch.
"...I'm sorry." K11 mumbled.
"Then don't hit us with your fragmentation again." The priestess insisted, going to grab a telemetry spike before leaving the now depressed Korean to sulk in her shame. Shaken from her shock, IWS snapped up and rushed down the roof's staircase to follow.
AUG made her way down the far side of the hill, the motion sensor in hand. IWS followed after her, finally catching up and trailing behind her Lieutenant as she marched.
"Aug…" IWS called out, no response coming from the lady in black.
"Aug!" She repeated, lifting her voice. Still, AUG walked down the hill unperturbed.
"Agnes!" IWS shouted as they reached the base of the hill, getting AUG to finally stop. The bleached blonde doll stood for a few moments, still as a scarecrow after her true name was invoked for the first time in ages.
Until she took the spike and stabbed it into the earth with a harsh grunt. Giving the electronic device a harsh kick for good measure as it began to sag.
IWS jumped at the actions, never having seen such violent movements from her muted friend. She made no move to interdict, unsure how to react as she'd never been in such a situation. Though, the kick seemed to have helped vent AUG's pent up annoyance.
"Why are we here, Weiss?" AUG spoke, turning to face her friend fully. "Why in the name of almighty God are we in the Soviet Union, leading a patchwork team of miscreants as we fight purple and black cybernetic hellspawn?"
"You said tools don't question their usage." IWS said, resolve hardening as she invoked AUG's own words.
"And you say we aren't tools." AUG threw back at her. "So again, why are we here? Why are you not at the library? Why am I not at the cathedral performing duties I actually enjoy?"
"I never asked you to come with me!" IWS yelled, trying to use the same defense as an aggrieved teenager.
AUG glared back at her companion, insulted by the implication. "My alternative was letting my best friend wander alone in a foreign land. Would you have done any different?"
IWS tried to come up with another retort, but caught herself.
"Never." The woman in white assured.
AUG grunted, satisfied as she tugged the telemetry spike back upright. "I'll go make sure the imbecile isn't doing anything nonsensical. You need to prepare for when combat begins."
"Right." IWS said, her grievances getting buried under a new surge of self-doubt. "Do you think I'm ready for this?"
"Would I listen to you if I didn't?" Was AUG's response to yet another silly question. One of many she'd likely have to endure today. "Though it would match my sense of humor."
"You don't have a sense of humor!" IWS complained.
"I do." AUG calmly replied. Her friend's cheeks flushed in annoyance, pouting at her dour companion.
"Name one time you did something because you thought it was funny!" The sniper demanded.
AUG looked at her fuming friend, cocking a brow. "I humiliated those two drunk buffoons in front of the entire base."
IWS blinked a few times, recalling that infamous drinking contest. Particularly how M16A1 and A-545 had to be carried out of the cafe and dragged over to the repair bay.
"You did that on purpose?! Why?!"
"Because they were bothering people." AUG explained, watching another squadron of Griffin dolls push up the mound in the distance. "The best kind of knowledge learned is that which a fool thinks they learned on their own."
IWS nodded, understanding what her friend was saying. "So… what lesson did you teach them?"
"Pride is a sin for a reason." The spotter said. "And to shut up once in a while."
(16:43)
The day passed, and nothing changed. The Sangvis fortress remained dead, no sign of life on or behind the walls. Sector 09's line remained quiet long after each of the echelons had settled in. No word from the Air Force still, and the sun continued to set in apathy to the engagements below.
IWS' team was becoming familiar with the oldest of military adages. 'Hurry up and wait'.
Such waiting was eating at S.A.T in particular, hoping that their mission would have been dealt with already so she could be left to anything but her own devices. Tension and anxiety had always bothered her, and these lulls before the storm proved to only make that anxiety worse.
Though this time there was some guilt to go along with it. Making Springfield faint in M14's arms was particularly shameful. Now she stood before her team leader, trying to figure out a solution to her own prideful insolence.
IWS tapped her chin, trying to think of a solution. "Maybe… ask Aug for advice?"
S.A.T's eye twitched, her already high stress levels only increasing. "Why do you hate me, Weiss?"
"She's a good listener, I swear!" IWS said, yet again jumping to the defense of her dour friend.
"She hates listening. She hates everyone!" S.A.T pressed.
"That's not true! She just hates being around everyone!" IWS tried to correct.
"Madre di Dio, how is that different?!" S.A.T insisted, looking over her shoulder as the Priestess passed a shovel over to Type 100.
"Just trust me!" The sniper insisted, taking hold of S.A.T shoulders and spinning her around. IWS then guided her stammering friend forwards, towards the eye of the storm.
AUG turned to look at the newcomers, eying IWS suspiciously as she dropped the Italian off before her and then promptly zipped back over to her own equipment. S.A.T simply stared at AUG, stammering sounds that theoretically resembled words.
AUG, either out of courtesy or not giving a damn, let S.A.T process herself at her own pace. Eventually the doll got a hold of herself.
"Could I ask you for some assistance?" S.A.T asked, putting on her best customer service voice and smile. AUG silently nodded, permitting S.A.T to continue. "I said something I regret to Springfield. I want to know how to apologize."
"By apologizing." AUG replied.
S.A.T shook her head quickly, her lion's mane flaring out from the motion. "It's not that simple! I said something very hurtful!"
"You poked fun at her love life." AUG deducted.
"How did you-"
"Because nothing else would bother Springfield as much as you think it did." The Austrian explained, before turning back around to fix a radio set. "The solution remains the same. Apologize."
"I have to do more." S.A.T insisted, refusing to believe the solution was so straightforward.
"No, you do not. Springfield is a kind woman. If you mean it, and I believe you will, then she'll accept it and you can both reconcile." AUG said, remaining firm before looking over her shoulder back at the blonde. "But this isn't really about her, is it?"
S.A.T sighed, sitting down on a stack of ammunition crates. This was the first conversation she'd ever really had with AUG, and from what she could tell, the woman was disturbingly good at reading people.
"...Do you think true love exists?" S.A.T asked.
AUG shrugged, turning the dial on the radio carefully. "Romance was never something I cared for."
"So you plan on being deserviced alone?"
"God willing, yes."
S.A.T grimaced at such a wish, but shook the feeling off. "Springfield's issues have been making me think. Perhaps I should try and look for the same thing she's looking for."
"Don't go looking for things because others want them." AUG said sharply. "Focus on your own needs, and work on your own failings. Then you can act on such feelings."
"Speaking from experience, Mother Superior?" S.A.T asked, noticing the intensity behind the words.
"I was never a Nun. I'm not even a sister anymore." AUG deflected, dodging the question aptly as a third party scuttered over to the two.
"...So can I get some advice too?" K11 said, slipping over after overhearing the two speak.
AUG's mood visibly darkened, her glare returning as it was aimed squarely at K11. "Stop being an idiot."
K11 winced, rubbing her arm. "Um. OK, how?"
"Intensive therapy and not feeling sexual pleasure towards mad science." S.A.T chimed in, frowning at her teammate.
The grenadier grumbled, pouting over to her coworker. "That's not really helpful..."
"Not hitting us with grenade shrapnel is a start." AUG reiterated setting another tin box. "Also button your shirt up. You look like a music video reject."
K11 blushed, grabbing her lab coat and pulling up the zipper. S.A.T snickered at the display, something that only prompted K11 to flash an obscene gesture her way.
AUG rolled her eyes. "Both of you have the same problem. You cannot keep your whims in check. It will cause you grief in the long term."
The chemist squinted over at AUG. "What, you want us to be more like you?"
AUG shrugged noncommittally. "Be yourselves, just be self-aware. We're a team, that means we need to act together."
The words knocked K11 off her pace, having expected another insult. S.A.T.8 sighed, standing back up.
"We understand." She told the team's Lieutenant. K11 begrudgingly nodded as well, accepting the advice as good faith.
"Good. Now, allow me to finish my task." AUG said, waving the two off as she returned to adjusting the radio's settings. Eventually, the thing chirped to life, the comms chatter from not only their sector's dolls but all of the Griffin dolls in the area filling her ears.
At least she had something to listen to during the wait now.
(17:10)
"Your secretary has been bothering my adjutants, Mister Hsu." The Colonel said pointedly, his hologram glaring at the Commander as if he was a school principal lecturing an unruly child.
After what had felt like ages, Kalina had finally managed to get some information out of the Military base. He'd informed him that the flight had taken off and was already heading towards the Sangvis base, something that'd made Hsu even more internally irate. The fact that this idiot refused to share even the most basic bits of information was beginning to drive him up a wall.
But yelling would likely only shut him up entirely, so he simply listened to the information and adjusted accordingly. Ensuring that the dolls were a thousand meters away from the walls, putting something in between them and the strike zone, and telling them to prepare sets of colored smoke to mark their positions as friendly.
"She's my logistics officer, not my secretary." Hsu corrected with a scowl as the last of the teams settled into place, eyes settling on the feed of the Sangvis fortress. "What's the strike package?"
"Four Mig Twenty-Nines, each loaded with rockets and TV bombs. They make up the first wave." The man explained, looking to his right as someone on his end of the call made a quick report. "...The second set is a flight of three Two-Onehundred and Sixty bombers. They're going to deploy heavier vacuum munitions to destroy the walls and the base itself."
Those last words caught Hsu, the Commander turning back to the Soviet officer with a distrustful glare. "You told us you were going to provide close air support, not carry out air interdiction."
"Soviet Aerospace has been developing new systems to deal with the threat, seeing as Griffin is unable to defeat these robots themselves." The Colonel sneered. "This mission is the perfect field test."
Hsu facepalmed, the man's stress levels increasing exponentially by the second. It was bad enough that they were being given 'support' by a glory hog who clearly wanted all the credit. Now he was using their front as a guinea pig for some pet project.
"What's the blast radius of the munitions?" Hsu questioned, hoping to at least keep the company's dolls out of the line of fire while the flyboys had fun playing pyro.
"Commander Hsu!" Bateer called out, standing from his station and pointing at the main screen. "Something's happening at the fortress' entrance!"
Hsu turned from his conversant to look at where the junior commander was directing him. The main screen showed that not only the front ports, but the front door of the fortress was beginning to open. Like the maw of a beast, finally waking up from a long slumber. With the distance between the dolls and the target, none of them could make out what was going on until whatever was leaving came out into the light.
Five tall walkers stepped out on the grass, a swarm of Sangvis rippers and vespids running out between their legs and before the smoke-line that had been popped by Griffin. The lumbering four legged metal monsters dug into the earth with each step, their plasma cannons focusing onto the enemies before them as they began to push across the field. Pinkish purple pulses came down on the front, pinning the Griffin units in place while the cannon fodder rushed forwards.
"What ARE those things?!" Orlov asked, frantically trying to reorganize her echelons into a defensive posture under fire.
"Manticores. Son of a bitch." Hsu cursed, before looking over to another of his underlings. "Blucher, how much light infantry do you see?"
"Too many to stop before they reach us, Commander Hsu!" The East German reported, spreading his teams out to avoid them all getting caught by the arcs of fire. "None of my dolls can pierce their armor at this range!"
"Then we're leaving!" Hsu ordered. "Get everyone to pull out, now!"
"They can't, there's too much plasma fire!" Blucher insisted.
"For the love of-." Hsu began, before looking to check his own units. IWS had sent a message reporting that their positions were now being engaged, though no heavily armored targets had made themselves known.
The Colonel's hologram had also fizzled away, likely having departed the moment Hsu had shifted his focus from him back to the front.
"SF infantry has reached our battle line, Sir!" Bateer yelled over. "What is our plan?"
Hsu quickly went to his console, punching in a set of coordinates and sending them to IWS. He then stepped away, moving over to the other Commanders as he attempted to organize something resembling an orderly fallback.
(17:20)
IWS-2000 looked at the new ping from Hsu with confusion. The words 'IMMEDIATE FALLBACK' written next to the marker on her map. But she had no intentions of questioning her Commander, so she relayed the information to the other teams.
Thompson, G36, SVD and Grizzly's teams were still stuck in their own shootouts. Each of them were attempting to pull back, but the enemy was sticking on their heels like wads of used gum. Anti-Rain, having avoided engagement, was already moving towards the point.
Not wanting to leave the others behind, IWS opted to remain. She and the rest of her team sat atop the gas-station's roof, looking down at not only the Sangvis fortress but also the large line of colored smoke clouds that marked where their allies fought. Tracer fire was being lobbed back and forth, with gray blobs starting to mix in with the multicolored Griffin line.
Which was about when the five of them heard the sound of jet engines.
K11 scoured the sky with her binoculars, trying to spot where the planes would be coming in from. The others continued to watch the front, AUG holding a radio phone that was tuned to the various echelons as they continued to attempt to disengage.
"Hey, hey! I see some planes!" K11 said, pointing off into the distance and trying to mark the figures on her HUD for the others to look. Up in the air, a pair of MiG-29Ms began to descend, their speeds lowering further and further as they continued on their attack vector.
The planes then released their rockets and bombs. Yellow and gray smoke trails followed behind before they all plowed into the ground, blasting apart all that were unfortunate to remain within their blast radius. The radio phone in AUG's hand grew even more chaotic, static and screaming piercing the soundwaves as the Griffin dolls were thrown into absolute anarchy.
Many of the voices stopped speaking, though those that remained active desperately attempted to get everyone back in coordination.
"Dear Lord…" AUG muttered, watching the smoke clouds curl up and the craters form as she could make out dozens upon dozens of blurs and blobs on the ground. Most were Sangvis, but… too many didn't seem to be.
Then, a final pair of MiGs came below cloud cover, its nose pointed towards another batch of fire. The flank where the other Sector 09 dolls were fighting.
IWS immediately jumped into action, scurrying down the stairs for her own command console.
"Everyone, disengage!" IWS yelled out to the Captains still in the thick of it. "The airstrike is coming in! They aren't waving off!"
"We're trying, they keep catching up to us!" Thompson yelled, her screen showing a mob of enemy infantry doggedly chasing her and her team. The Sangvis drones continued to pour fire down, unaware and uncaring for the incoming death from above.
"Then scatter apart! Get away from one another and hide!" IWS ordered, panicking as she heard the engines hum closer and closer. As the rest of her team scuttered down, not wanting to be viewed by the aircraft and mistaken for hostile dolls.
All the while, her words spread to the other team leaders. Each of them getting their team members to run for the hills to avoid an explosive demise. Individuals ran in every direction, some sticking in pairs or trios while others made a break for whatever hiding place they could find on their own.
And then, the world began to shake.
And their video feeds began to cut.
A/N: Apologies for the long wait, everyone. Some unforeseen circumstances came up. But this arc is continuing as scheduled, with two more chapters left in it. After that, we should have two mini-arcs to put a bow on this first 'season'. Until next time.
o/