It was early in the year, the seasons where slowly transitioning from winter to spring. Deep in the city, what was left of the population must be celebrating the first glimpses of sunlight in months, the slow steady break from the biting cold to the nice still warmness spring would undoubtedly bring. Unfortunately here, in the middle of an untamed forest, none of those comforts were available, the nights were still long, and what little daylight was granted saw no sun emerge from the thick layer of clouds omnipresent during the winter. Indeed they were in the middle of a war, so even marveling at the vast field of untouched snow, or enjoying a stroll through a near picturesque snowy forest wasn' even an option. All there was time time to do was sit and wait, entrenched, always on guard; the air always thick with tension, only broken by the occasional crack of rifles, followed by the same intense silence that preceded it.
Our camp was set right on the edge of a treeline, the enemy presumably was also set up right behind the tree line in front of us, I haven't seen a single one of them or any signs of movement after our counter strike pushed us to become entrenched like this so I'm honestly not sure. The only thing separating us is a few hundred yards of a clearing in the forest, it was mostly natural but a closer look one would find pits formed in the mud under the thick blanket of snow, dead and decimated trees, also well hidden in the thick, undisturbed, almost perfect snow cover; all made by the storm of artillery from both sides, nearly doubling the size of this clearing. My soldiers are well entrenched, our skill in defensive tactics have become polished and perfected throughout the winter, as we held the front line almost perfectly, I would venture to say to perfectly, as my superiors gained a lot of confidence in me and my company ordering a counter strike after one particularly large push from the other side. It didn't go horribly, the soldiers were enthusiastic about the chance, but I can't help but feel it was all a stunt for good press, as we were order further and further forward, the enemy barely putting up a fight, until we reached the very limits I could organize our supply line; and we were ordered further still. It still being midwinter at the time, we were well equipped, so we loaded up as much as each person could carry, my supply coordinator stayed behind, promising me she would follow my order that once they we were able to regroup she'd have more food and supplies than we knew what to do with. As expected, only days after overstretching our limit we started to stall, and eventually had to dig in, our position is perfect for a long term defensive line, a clear open field in front of us, crowded steep hills one side, and a near frozen impassable river on the other. But the amount of our supplies was less than ideal, while luckily we have plenty of winter gear, our ammo is slowly become a precious resource, and more pressing, our food supply lessens and drops in quality every day, reminding me of some of the stories one of my friends in the submarine divisions told me about last we saw each other.
My company, made up of the most advanced androids of the country, advertised as the best, most well made AI controlled androids all of humanity has, has been able to cut back on the consumption of most creature comfort materials that we carry with us, but contrary to popular belief, these 'machines' have become more human than most my superiors, and morale is a delicate thing so I am hesitant to cut them off from everything like I can theoretically do; who knows how long we will be trapped here? At best I estimate until the sun finally wins its own battle with the clouds and emerges victorious, at worst when we finally eat our last meal we'll have fight our ways backwards and pray my logistics coordinator kept her promise and we run into her along the way before we run out of steam.
All these thoughts weigh heavily on my mind, making set my pen down so I can try and massage the ache forming from my temples., even this slight movement lets the chill penetrate its way through the multiple layers of my uniform, making my body shiver. As I attempt to warm myself up, one of the senior officers I'm in change of walks through the flap of my command tent, a warm freshly brewed canteen of coffee, and two ceramic cups in her hands. She sets them on the table as I move the letter I was writing back into a bag draped over the back of my chair, it was pointless to write as the mail wasn't even running to our lines. She poured us both a cup of the dark, thick coffee, handing me both the mug and the folder containing her daily operations report at the same time. I chuckled and shook my head as I grabbed both, taking a sip of the strong coffee first, it was much stronger than I would've liked it, but I wasn;t about to complain as I felt its warmth spreading throughout me, I cracked open the folder next, thumbing through the packet of paper; honestly not even sure why we even bothered with this by now, every report from every officer has been the same for months, defenses serviced, ammo counts only reduced by a few magazines on occasion returning sniper fire, scouting missions delayed due to weather, basic meals handed out. But at least the familiar ritual of morning briefing, helped keep things feeling somewhat normal and under control. As I thumbed through the papers, I felt something off, normally when Springfeild delivered her report she would go over the more important details as I read, or general conversation, but she just sat there, quietly sipping her own cup of coffee, I quickly discovered why as I reached her daily ammo count, it was way higher than average, flipping a couple pages ahead I see a couple of her soldiers also reported to the medic for repairs. Sprinfeild was over the most western part of our line, facing mostly thick forest that early scouting proved to be uninhibited. "I don't remember any sniper fire reported from the west since we dug in, when did that start?" I ask simply setting the report down, open to the medics report before reaching for my mug once more. "Yesterday, I would describe it as oppressive sniper fire between 2100 and 2200 hours." I could hear the concern in her voice, but her calm attitude is one of the reason I put her in charge. I hummed as I leaned back in the wooden fold up chair and it creaked under the added stress. I took a big gulp of the thick brew and sighed, "I don't like it, that fronts been untouched for months, but now its the only to receive fire all week. How is your scouting troop, you think they'd be up for a brief excursion?" The weather was still pretty rough, but the western line being mostly additional forest is probably the only line I'd be comfortable doing this with. She nodded in confirmation and I leaned forward in my chair again, closing the document on the table and standing up. I slide it into the messengers bag on the back of my chair as well and grab it the strap, it was over filled with every report since we entrenched, along with my own personal folder, and put it in its place next to my duffle bag at the foot of my bed. As Springfeild opened the flap of my tent to return to her post I called out to her, dawning my thick peacoat, "I want to visit your repair center, see the line for myself, it's been a couple days."
Our frontline doesn't cover a huge swath of land, and despite being theoretically safely behind them, walks between the sections that make it up fills you with anxiety, the air has been so thickened by the tension only felt when two sides reach a stalemate, making it feel harder to breath. We reach the western most part of the line relatively quickly, I tried my best to set up my command tent as central as possible so the sub-commanders were never to far away. The medic tent here was brilliantly set up, right next to a natural hill and covered in snow, from a distance it blended into the environment perfectly, with the added benefit of the insulation from the snow. A small fireplace was lit in the center, making it feel totally different as you enter, the air inside was warm and the thick anxiety in the air outside melted away into a more calm and relaxed feeling, it was honestly pretty impressive. A total of three soldiers were injured per the report, nothing major, but a full diagnosis was ordered due to the weather on top of the fact its been a while sense anyone present has gotten one. Two of the injured were laying in cots in temporary hibernation to give the repairs time to set; I picked up the clip board set between the cots for reference by the acting medic, most of the damage seemed to be surface level, and unfortunately the only skin repair we had on hand was the spray repair, meant for quick temporary field patch. I uttered a silent apology to the two sleeping androids, undoubtedly they wouldn't care but I still felt a pang of guilt for not even having the ability to treat basic wounds fully like I should, that should be the bare minimum I should be able to provide right now. "Commander?" I heard behind me I turned around to see the third injured sitting atop the makeshift repair table, their thigh opened up as the medic checked and repaired the sensors present there. I walked over, pulling up a chair to sit next to the medic and relaxed, "Sorry it took me a bit, how are you feeling?" I have the absolute bare minimum of training in android repair, as theoretically I'd never have to use that knowledge, but just a cursory glance I could tell she was damaged more than the other two, my supesions quickly confirmed when the medic fished out a fragment of a bullet, and it tinked as he discarded it into the metal tin, my lips pursed, "Much better now." she said optimistically, sitting up straighter. One of the androids that were asleep began to stir, the medic looked up broken from his concentration, "Don't worry solider, I can close her up, it's the least I can do, we only have the spray repair." "I have an assistant outside I can easily call.." I put my hand up to interrupt him, "I'm here and you have to check on them don't you?" He was about to put up more of an argument when you could hear the other android begin to stir, "Thank you sir." he saluted and left to tend to the other wounded. I grabbed the spray can and began to shake it as I scooted over to the seat the medic previously occupied. With my free hand I grabbed a patch of gause and held it on the edge of the incision made to do the operation, you could still see the wires, circuits inside, a small amount of coolant and oil also dripped out, despite the slight discoloration it seemed all to human like, it reminded me off why I joined the war, I thought it was because the advanced technology of the androids and my fascination, but as I learned more about them, and got to them, it was more like I was trying to protect them. Apparently I was a little to lost in thought, "Did you offer to take over just to leer commander?" I heard teasingly, I snapped out of it and finally began to apply the spray, it was a neutral gray color until it began to set and it took on a color closer to their skin tone, though it was still an obvious patch and could easily be removed with the application of enough heat. "I wasn't complaining." she laughed as I pressed the bandage down and began to secure it, "I'm sure you weren't." I laughed as I tied the knot of the bandage, a lot of my fellow commanders treated their company extremely strictly, some even treating the androids as mere objects, as I've been stationed in a defensive line for so long, a long with my general attitude, most would consider much to relaxed for the military, I saw no point in that kind of attitude, and I haven't negative consequences from my relaxed, more friendly command. I stand up, draping her arm around my shoulder as I gently lift her up to carry her to the free cot, "Once we're back home you guys will get a nice dinner on me." I lay her out gently on the thin matress as the ricity metal frame creaked, "You sure you want to promise that?" I was teased further, but I could tell she was still in at least a little pain, "There'll be a budget of course, you know who you're talking too." The proper medic walked over and inserted a wire into her arm to begin her temporary hibernation, letting all the repair settle, and hopefully relieve some of the pain.