Chapter 7 – Back in Action

Bryant adjusted his coat as he and USP walked through the main gate of Base 09-882. His hair and beard were trimmed, his clothes were pressed, and his new jacket shone in the mid-afternoon sun. He wore a black 'safari hat', which held his reading glasses. There were small patches of fabric sew onto the inside of the hat carrying various encouraging messages. Bryant didn't wear it often, but he did keep it around as a personal item. He wore 'non-regulation' boots that were built more for combat and constant use than the lighter, less dangerous work of a base commander.

USP had changed out of her police uniform that Civilian Protector models. She wore a long sleeved formal blue blazer with a small black tie with an extremely short white skirt. She wore a small pack on her hip, which contained various supplies and necessities. A thigh bag held spare ammunition for her weapon. She wore knee high blue socks, and neatly polished black shoes. To complete her transformation, she wore a small blue hat. Bryant had joked that she was copying him. She responded by blushing and looking away.

The two of them walked side by side into the main room of the base. A few spare dolls greeted them quickly as they rushed around. "Understaffed and undermanaged." He muttered as another A-Doll rushed past him. "This is a mess." USP nodded in agreement.

"I can't believe the Commander is letting this go on." The two of them entered the Command center to find the commander. It was empty, save for a single doll manning the communication array. She nodded politely to Bryant and returned to her work. "This is…strange." Bryant shrugged.

"Let's look for the Logistics Officer…the base has to have one: doll or not." The two went across the way and entered the data room. The room was barren and filled with non-functional equipment. It looked like the mix of a graveyard for tech and the staging area for a move. There was a young girl sound asleep at a data-entry desk. USP turned to Bryant, and saw a smile on his face. The first real smile she had seen.

"Well I'll be damned!" He said loudly. The woman jolted awake and looked startled. She quickly straightened out her hair and stood up.

"I'm sorry, I was just finishing up the data, and –" She stopped mid-sentence and stared at Bryant. A massive smile appeared on her face, and she ran up to Bryant. "I can't believe it's you! I thought you retired." She gently poked his shoulder. "Wow~"

"Yea, I did retire. It's a long story, but I'm back." She nodded and gave the commander a quick hug. Bryant returned the hug. "This one's on the house, by the way." Bryant laughed.

"Gonna start charging me for the next one, huh?" The girl stuck her tongue out playfully.

"Of course! I have a reputation to keep." She put her hands on her hips. "But wow…it's amazing to see you here." Bryant nodded. He was fairly certain Helian had set him up again. The woman turned to face USP. "And who is this cutie?" USP saluted.

"USP Compact, ma'am." Bryant put a hand on her head.

"Well, I'm Logistics Officer Kalina. Some of the others call me Kalin, too. Welcome aboard." Kalina turned to Bryant. "Now, to business: why are you here? The new commander isn't supposed to arrive for a week." A look of confusion formed on Bryant's face.

"Huh…that explains the staffing issues. Well, what have you been doing?" Kalin shrugged.

"The usual: data entry, logistic support, and occasionally leading the defense team." Bryant nodded. She was doing some fine work, even though they were badly understaffed. "Honestly, some days I'm bored silly…" she trailed off and looked at the stack of repair/retirement forms, "and other days we just barely hang on."

"Well, while I'm here…. I'll take up some of the work." Kalina smiled.

"Great! I'd appreciate that, Commander." She handed him her tablet and a set of keys. "Your equipment will come when the new commander arrives, so you can use mine until then."

"If you are certain. Now then, could you take me to Dummy Storage?" Kalina nodded.

"Of course. Right this way, Commander."

Dummy Storage was filled with incomplete dolls. Most of their cosmetics were in place, and they were fully functioning. However, they received minor upgrades depending on which doll they were assigned to. However, with the right applications, the dummies could be used to make a 'main unit' doll. Bryant was given a small ration of combat cores. Hopefully it would be enough.

"Alright, let's see who we have left." Bryant pulled a large black box from inside his briefcase. He plugged it into the main terminal and accessed the neural clouds within. He scrolled down while talking to himself. USP leaned over his shoulder and watched as a truly amazing number of names passed by.

"Are all those yours? Commander, that's got to be at least two hundred!"

"Two hundred seventeen, to be exact." He muttered soberly. He clicked a record and deleted it before USP could get a good look. The only word she was able to read before he did was 'Oath'. "Each and every one of them was special in their own way." He paused and pointed to three records. Each one was an identical doll, with identical information. The only things that differed were their combat role and their neural cloud data. "These three used to be on separate logistics teams." He pointed to the middle one. "The other two were so serious, but this one always got into some kind of trouble. Kalin used to put her on logistic duty to keep her off base." Bryant let out a sad chuckle.

"I've been meaning to ask, Commander. How do you and miss Kalina know each other?" Bryant nodded and was quiet for a moment. He erased a few more records before stopping.

"Before we met, I used to work for Griffon. I had been working with them for a little less than ten years." He continued typing. "I retired a few years back. But, to answer your question, Kalina was training under my logistics officer for the last year or so I was there." He finished clearing a good number of the records and sighed.

"Why did you retire, commander?" Bryant didn't hear her and didn't respond. After a couple of seconds, he finished and leaned back in his chair.

"Seven functioning records…damnit. That's depressing…" He trailed off and reached for a small chain around his neck. "I had hoped…that there would have been…more." Bryant's voice started to quiver and break. He took a sharp breath and rubbed his eyes.

"What happened to their records?"

"…a lot." He recovered and activated the repair protocols. "Anyway…I'll have Recon team 'Bravo' and what's left of Patrol Team 'Copper' up and running in a few hours." He stood and turned to leave.

"Commander!" USP started, then stopped. "Umm…" he turned to look at her. "If…if you ever want to talk…" he gave a smile and nodded. "My opinion of you won't change, commander. So…"

"Yes…thanks, sweet-" He stopped. "…USP. Thank you." He turned to walk out of the room. "You are dismissed until supper. I'll get you a dorm assignment and put you on for a combat drill later today." USP tried to say something again, but felt that the commander wasn't ready yet.

"Of course. Thank you, Commander."