She snapped her gaze to the side. "Milah!"
"Ana, I swear to fucking god–"
"Did we turn off all the lights?"
Kamilah shut her eyes, taking a deep breath as her wife smiled impishly in the seat next to her. It was lucky they were sitting in the briefing room among their Egyptian and Russian colleagues. Ana's safety wouldn't have been assured otherwise.
"Ana, we turned everything off. The lights, the fans, the entire house except our fridge. Even if we didn't, we're too far from home to do anything about it."
"You're adorable."
"The army ships bodies back for free, don't they?" Mesi shrugged, wearing an enigmatic smile when Ana looked back at her. "Just a thought."
"Free funeral too," Ana played along.
"Don't tempt me," Kamilah said flatly as the entrance doors slid open.
A command rang through the briefing room and the soldiers promptly stood, snapping off a sharp salute to the officers walking in.
"At ease," the Russian colonel rumbled, and they sat down in unison without a single sound.
Ana focused on colonel, listening to his heavily-accented English as he covered the details of their 12-day exercise. It all seemed pretty routine – drills, drills and more drills for the first few days so the soldiers would get used to one another. Followed by live-fire exercises, holo war simulations, then a full-scale field exercise at the end. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary – that was, until the 'equipment exchange' was discussed. The Egyptians had brought their stealth technology – primarily utilised by snipers and recon troops – to the table. In return, the Russians would be sharing their EMP tech and their latest modifications of armour-piercing ammunition.
Cocking her head, Ana stared at the list on the screen as the colonel's voice droned on in the background. Frequency jammers, prototype hacker drones, omnic code translation devices. It hadn't been explicitly stated yet, but the rumour mill had been busy of late, and Ana had a sneaking suspicion…
"Yes, my brother?" The colonel gestured at the soldier who raised his hand.
Everyone turned their heads to look at the Egyptian soldier, who stood with shoulders straight and hands clasped behind his back. "Forgive my bluntness, sir," he said. "But is this exercise focused on anti-omnic warfare?"
The dead silence dragged on through the room as heads turned back to the colonel, who seemed unfazed and stared back at the soldier with a poker face. Then he boomed in laughter.
"Sharp eye, my friend!" he said genially, gesturing for the soldier to sit down. "Yes, yes it is. And you want to know why, do you not? It is simple: in the army, we kill things. And when new things appear, we learn how to kill them!" He laughed again, this time accompanied by some of his subordinates. "But to be serious, yes. This is anti-omnic warfare. Our armies have welcomed our metal brothers and sisters into our ranks, and we all know how effective they have made us." The colonel shook a fist to emphasise his point.
"Of course, there is a problem. We humans have been killing each other for centuries. And with so much practice, of course we are good at it! But now, we are realising we are not as good at killing omnics. That is why we are practicing now, no?"
"Sir, does this have anything to do with the omnic unrest in Russia?" the seated soldier persisted, but the colonel fielded the question without the slightest pause.
"My dear brother, in peacetimes, we train for war and all possible forms it can take. This is but one of the possibilities. Understood?" His tone was still friendly, but there was an undercurrent of warning which the soldier picked up on.
Ana glanced discretely at the Russian soldiers as silence fell over the room again. None of them seemed to bear any kind of questions, not even sharing the subtle signs of suspicion some of their Egyptian counterparts wore. Just sober and resolute.
Kamilah noticed her examining the room and caught her eye. They shared a knowing glance, then turned their attention back to the colonel. The brass could keep the records as clean as they wanted; no one was getting fooled.
They were split up into new platoons – two Egyptian and two Russian squads each. Naturally, Ana was thrilled that her squad got grouped with Kamilah's. Her wife merely gave a drawn-out sigh and muttered something about 'long weeks ahead'.
It was fortunate for her then, that no medic had been needed for the first phase of their program. Things went smoothly through the days of physical training and team exercises, climbing and crawling and sprinting through obstacle courses. There was the macho 'my gun is bigger than yours, my muscles are harder than yours' bravado that fueled competition between the local and visiting soldiers, but it built camaraderie among the winded troops at the end of each race. It was all friendly and reasonable – no one saw the need to pull dangerous stunts just to come out on top.
With the ice broken, the times they spent together became more boisterous, and tongues finally came loose.
"It is true," Pavel said quietly to the soldiers sitting around him. "There are a lot of omnic attacks recently, and people are starting to protest the God Program. But of course, no one wants to budge. That is why we suspect this–" He nodded his head back at the mess hall they were sitting outside of, where most of the exercise's participants were gathered. "–is preparation for shit going to happen."
Pavel glanced at Adofo, sitting quietly beside Ebo. "What about home, Blue Eyes? You should know."
"We have the Anubis AI, and many omnics are starting to get worried," Adofo replied. "But no attacks have happened…yet."
"'Yet'," Nadia snorted and took a swig from her bottle. "Means it will happen, but no one knows when."
"Pessimistic," Layla commented, meeting Nadia's raised brow with a smirk.
"Realistic," the Russian soldier said simply.
"How widespread are the attacks?" Ana asked. "After that time in Novosibirsk, we haven't heard much from the news."
"Because they are covering it up," Pavel growled. "It has been spreading from Krasnoyarsk, but the government decided it is better for people not to panic. The farthest it reached is…Yekaterinburg?" He looked over at his squad mate, one with sandy brown hair to match his, and received an affirmative nod. Pavel pointed a thumb at the soldier. "Matvey's cousin got hurt in one attack. Lost a little finger."
Mesi cocked her head. "Yekaterinburg? That's west of Krasnoyarsk, yeah? Sounds like it's making its way to…"
"Moscow, yes." Pavel fell silent then, leaving the squad to their own bottles. Then Nadia drained the last of her beer, and let out a long groan.
"I'm getting more of this shit. Who wants?" She clicked her tongue when the entire group piped up. "Okay, fuck you. Get your own drink."
Pavel chuckled, getting onto his feet with the rest and following Nadia towards the mess hall entrance. "Don't mind that bitch. Always grouchy. But that is her charm."
"Hey," Ana whispered as she rested an arm around Kamilah's shoulders. "Sounds like someone I know." She snickered, getting a hard pinch in her side.
Their team training was concluded with a final course that involved hauling stacks of large tires up a wide dirt road, turned muddy from a long night of rain. Tired bodies were exhausted further from having to scrub their filthy equipment clean. Thankfully, they were afforded a little reprieve when time came for live-fire exercises. The Egyptian soldiers learnt to use the EMP equipment quickly, their engineers taking just a little more time to get a hang of the drones. And Ana couldn't lie – she loved the impact of the new armour-piercing rounds, blasting through thick steel plates as if they were construction paper. It was nearly intoxicating, how much power was packed into each shot.
Stealth training took place in a simple course filled with tall poles, concrete walls, ropes, and cargo nets – designed to help the soldiers adapt to their cutting edge stealth kits. It was simple enough – two platoons would sneak their way through the course, kept invisible by the device on their chest harness. The trick was in staying invisible, being mindful of their surroundings and not giving away their positions on accident. Another two platoons were stationed outside the course, armed with paintball guns and ready to mark any who was as subtle as an elephant. Both Ana and Khalid, already proficient in the kit's use, met their platoon at the end of the course without a single splatter on their uniforms, smiling smugly at the others grumbling with bright paint all over their bodies.
Then came their war simulations, a notably relaxed affair in their schedule. 'Relaxed' because it was held indoors with the help of VR and holo technology, and didn't involve any risk of physical injury. It was the safest method of putting new tactics to the test, though the environment was always too controlled to yield reliable results. Notably, most of their simulations put them in urban territory – the messiest place to fight a war. But the streets were too clean, too devoid of civilians and rubbish and rubble, especially when compared to what Ana had seen during the insurgency. Whenever she turned her head, she half-expected to see burning corpse piles and civilians running in bloody clothes. She had to touch her VR goggles often to remind herself that it was just a simulation.
Oddly enough, when they were stationed in the city for their war games, it was easier to compartmentalise. Being in an actual physical setting where the streets were cleared of civilians helped her focus. Which was a good thing, because coordinating troop movements in the urban jungle was a bitch. Squads kept getting lost and separated from their platoons. Communication mishaps caused a few squads to stumble across designated 'terrorists' ahead of time. Unfortunate civilians accidentally wandered into their training grounds and were alarmed by the sight of soldiers bearing rifles.
Tempers simmered in the beginning, and it was obvious their platoon commander – Jaida – was less than pleased. It took two days, but they managed to get their act together before they were shot on the spot by the Major. Their weapons were loaded with blanks, of course. But none doubted even those would somehow become lethal in the hands of an angry Jaida.
"You think we'll win?" Khalid muttered as he peered through his spotter's scope.
"Of course we will. I'm here."
"Ugh."
Ana smirked, lowering her gaze from the rifle to look down at her holo-map. Their engagement with the opposing forces would occur soon, and the platoons were inching carefully into place. Blue markers moved and halted, then moved again, covering ground with acceptable speed. Then she caught a red blink to the southeast of one of their squads.
Looking back up and increasing the magnification of her cybernetic eye, Ana focused ahead of her allies and caught ghost-like movement in an alley.
"Delta-1," Ana said, a finger pressed on her earpiece. "Tangos at 5 o'clock."
"How many."
"Unconfirmed. Estimate one squad." She scanned the surroundings. "I can flush them out, and you can remove the squad from the board."
"Getting into position."
Ana waited as Delta squad spread out, altering their formation slightly. The ghosts tailing them stilled all movement, having sensed they had been spotted.
"Waiting on you, Whisky-2."
They had been through many waiting games for the past days, but this one would be much shorter than the rest. Ana kept her eye on the enemy's rough position, and fired at the slightest movement in the alley. Her shot hit – sensors on her target's body marked them as KIA, and they gave the wearer a mild shock, prompting them to fall to ground in 'death'. It caused a ripple of movement, and Ana squeezed the trigger repeatedly, taking down two more before the rest of the enemy squad spilled into the street. Delta squad took care of them effortlessly.
"Clear."
"Nice one, Amari," Ana said on a private channel.
"Focus, Amari," Delta's leader replied, before cutting the channel off.
"Stop flirting with your wife," Khalid grumbled.
"I can't help it."
"Then shoot me."
"If only I could, my dearest brother."
Their platoons advanced ever onward, meeting light resistance on the way, and lost only one squad. Ana and Khalid – along with other sniper teams – went from building to building to keep up with their allies. When Ana started to have a niggling feeling that things had been too smooth, the situation went south for their forces immediately.
An ambush was sprung when they clustered too close to one another, and they lost two squads in the first assault. The surviving squads split up immediately, trying to minimise casualties as they fought to break out of the ambush. Ana and Khalid latched onto Delta and Kilo squads, who had banded together and broken clean out of the ambush. They were running along the edges of the city, trying to reach the other squads that were pinned down. Ana and Khalid decided to take a different path – sneaking from building to building to their rendezvous point, and taking stock of the field as they went.
She spotted Mesi and Foxtrot squad fighting off their ambushers alongside Lima, entrenched behind concrete planters in the park. Opening a comm channel, she told her leader to hold on and that help was on the way.
The sniper team met up with their squads, and guided them towards Mesi, lightening their opposition along the streets with well-aimed shots. By the time they reached the park, only half of Mesi's squad was standing. Though it was imperative to win the war game against the 'terrorists', Ana had to suppress a chuckle at the 'dead' soldiers lying on the ground. They had been removed from the board, and would continue to play dead until the simulation was ended. The easy way out of the exercise, as it were.
According to the map and scattered radio contact, the bulk of the action was concentrated in the city square, and they made good time towards it. Ana stopped the squads before they got too close though, giving them an update on the situation. There was a group of soldiers being held hostage, kneeling by the steps to a museum and surrounded by inert bodies on the ground. A mixed squad of omnics and humans kept a close eye on them. Patrols around the area seemed sparse, and only 10 soldiers were close to the hostages.
"Ideas?" Pavel's voice crackled over the radio.
"My squad can create a distraction," Mesi said. "Get their attention while you get the hostages."
"Not much of a squad with you," Kamilah stated. "Mine can back yours up."
Ana ran an eye over the three squads huddled in a discussion behind the bank. "No, Kilo's down by nearly half too. Pavel can work with Mesi. Kamilah can lead Delta for the rescue." She cast a glance back at the museum. "I can guide you into a flanking position, Delta."
A chorus of affirmation, then their shared channel clicked off. Ana promptly opened a secure channel with Kamilah, giving her directions to skirt around the city square, taking down a few patrol drones along the way. It took them a little longer than Foxtrot and Kilo to get into position, but they reached south of the museum safely and waited for the distraction from the north. Ana scanned the square again, moving her scope from target to target, getting used to the distances while listening to Mesi finish counting down. There were regular pitches of static marring Mesi's voice…
"Go go go!"
Mesi and Pavel burst out of position ahead of their squads, rifles rattling with blanks. Ana fired, and an omnic by the hostages fell, body twitching briefly from its sensors' shock. The rest of its squad – which had its attention on the decoy – looked at it in surprise, then at the second soldier who had dropped as well. Delta squad fell upon them just as they recovered, both sides opening fire at the same time. With Ana's help, Delta managed to cut down the opposition quickly, but still lost a third of its soldiers.
"Ana?" Khalid said as the hostages were helped to their feet, and the rest of the soldiers performed a sweep of the area.
"Yeah?"
"I have a feeling…"
"Yeah…"
"Heads up!" Adofo's voice blasted through the radio on all frequencies. "Anti-personnel–"
A large, deafening blast screeched through Ana's earpiece, and she flinched in pain as Khalid hissed. On her holo-map, all friendly blue markers turned red. They had been wiped out in one fell swoop.
"Shit," Ana cursed under her breath. Her scope instinctively sought out Kamilah, who lay on the floor with a look of utter irritation as the shock's effects subsided.
Khalid sighed. "Fucking called it."
"You goddamn motherfucking brainless hero wannabes!" was the gist of Jaida's private tirade at her own soldiers after their debrief back in base. They had been performing well until the end, when they fell right into the trap by assuming their enemies had intended to leave anyone alive at all. The hostages were bait, and they bit without doing a proper field sweep first; they had scanners to reveal the presence of the mines, and drones to disarm them before launching an assault. But urgency got the better of them.
Ana didn't know what would happen to their Russian comrades after the joint exercise ends, but she knew for sure their lives would be hell when they returned to Cairo. Still, it was rather easy to forget their impending doom in the post-exercise wind-down. Their days spent cleaning up countless pieces of equipment were dull, but still made for a good breather from the busy weeks before. Their new friends' relentlessly upbeat demeanours did help as well.
"Tonight, drinks are on us!" Pavel patted his chest soundly as they strode towards the car park. "We will make you drop to floor before they drop you home!"
"Not if we make you drop first," Ebo said, looking unimpressed when Pavel aimed a punch at his stomach.
"I take your challenge, meatman."
"Who wants to carry Ebo back later?" Mesi asked, watching the two men start throwing out challenge after ridiculous challenge before they even reached the car.
"I say we just leave him here," Ana drawled.
"I can carry him back," Adofo volunteered as always.
"Yeah, you can. But do you want to?"
"Hm."
"Oh," Layla laughed. "Ado's finally turning."
"He would've turned long ago if he could smell." Ana patted on the omnic's body, where a few scratches and dents were still visible. He would need a thorough tune-up when they went home.
"Oi, Pavel!"
They glanced over at another group approaching the man – Ana recognised a few members of Lima squad from the war game.
"Hey, Foxtrot." The blonde woman tossed a casual salute at Mesi, who returned the gesture. "You going to drink without us, Pavel? What a bastard you are."
"Only for you, darling Irina," Pavel replied drily, receiving a light swat on the head.
Irina kept her hand on Pavel's head – much to his obvious chagrin – and looked around, before her eyes lit up. She made her way through the group and fell into stride beside Kamilah, who looked away from her squad mate and fixed Irina with a curious gaze.
"Delta! I remember you from the war game," she said. "The way you handle rifle is very interesting. Want to discuss techniques over drinks?"
"If you want techniques, you should ask my wife," Kamilah replied smoothly. "She handles guns much better than I do."
"Wife?"
"She is married, you dumbbell." Pavel turned around so he was walking backwards. "Amari." He pointed a finger at Kamilah, then moved it towards Ana. "And Amari."
"Ah."
"She's right, you know." Ana cut her way through the group to join the blonde. "I am very good with guns. And many other things as well."
Irina grinned and smacked a fist into Ana's chest. Ana marveled at how her rib cage didn't cave in right then and there.
"Then let us see how good you drink, pretty face."
Kamilah shot her a pleading expression when Irina walked away. Obviously, that meant 'pretty face' would be throwing the drinking contest later.
Not that she minded – it was good to feel pretty while surrounded by dying, hung-over faces during the morning flight back to Cairo.
Already wise to Jaida's ways, the platoon hunkered down to face any punishment that was thrown their way. Usually in the form of a training range turned torture pit that few would survive unscathed – at least, for the first few days when they were still trying to get their act together. Several post-training tactics meetings and weeks of slogging later, they finally managed to pacify their commander and were able to breathe easier.
Their well-earned break really was a blessing – it was not long before they were hit by a major change, which arrived in the form of a promotion ceremony. Fewer were involved this time; only Mesi and Kamilah were elevated to Captain.
As a spouse, Ana had the honour of pinning the third star to Kamilah's epaulette during the ceremony. It took all her willpower to not embrace the woman on the spot, and she made up for it the instant they were dismissed. Ana clamped her arms tightly around her wife, feeling so infinitely proud that she didn't want to let go, and the two had to be pried apart by their squads in the end.
Of course, the promotions meant a long and loud celebration at the end of the week. The high lingered after their merrymaking, but only for a short while. The promotions could only mean one thing: their squads would go through even more changes in the near future. And for Ana, it would be a double-whammy.
"Do you think they'll let you stay a while more?" Ana asked. She patted her hands idly on Kamilah's legs, which were resting in her lap.
"I think so. They haven't decided on my new post, as far as I've heard," Kamilah replied, eyes not leaving her tablet while she lay on the couch.
"No, I mean, will they let you stay for as long as Deyab did?"
The tablet was lowered so Kamilah could raise her brows at Ana. "You know he was stuck being squad leader for so long because he stepped on toes, right?"
"Yeah," Ana sighed. Her hands continued patting away at Kamilah's legs as she turned her attention back to the TV screen. But she had stopped following the movie a while ago, and switched it off instead. "Think you could step on some toes soon?"
"You want to hold me back?" Kamilah asked, a faint smile on her lips.
"Of course not, albi. I want you to hold yourself back." She chuckled when Kamilah rolled her eyes. Ana moved the legs off her lap and crawled over, so she was lying on top of her partner. "It'll just be lonely without you, that's all."
"I know."
Ana planted her face into Kamilah's chest, giving a long groan. "At least Mesi's still in the company."
Kamilah hummed, patting on Ana's back gently. "And you're getting a little promotion, hm?"
She muttered incoherently into Kamilah's t-shirt. When Mesi starts leading the company as Jaida's second-in-command in the future, Ana would be bumped up to squad leader. Honestly, that wasn't a jarring change for the squad at all. It was just Mesi's leaving the group that was a bummer – kind of like breaking up a tight-knit family. She would still be with them – even if it's as their commander now – but the news still needed some time to sink in with the squad. Especially Ebo and Layla. Although Ana was more concerned for Layla – the two women had been inseparable for the longest time.
But she would leave that concern for later. Her mind was occupied with something else right now.
"You'll still have me, amar," Kamilah said softly when Ana continued to stew. "Look on the bright side. At least you won't get 'bossed around' by me anymore. Ah right," she added at the muffled whine. "That's not a bright side for you, is it?"
Ana smiled when Kamilah hugged her tightly, pressing a kiss on top of her head. She lay still on her wife, feeling no urge to move from the spot. Kamilah was right – at least they still had each other after work. Sure, she wouldn't get to see her wife in the training range, but it's just a little change to get used to. The world wasn't coming to an end, and even if it did feel like so, she could always get hurt and be sent to the hospital.
"And you're not that upset about this, are you?"
"Not really. I just want you to hold me longer."
"You big baby," Kamilah laughed.
"You were supposed to say you'll hold me forever."
"I'll hold you forever."
Ana heaved a dramatic sigh. "Missed the moment, but thanks."
"You're welcome, darling."