Chapter 8 – Motivation

Bryant and his leftover dolls ran combat simulations. They were sloppy: years of data lost to time. But they remembered how to fight. He smiled to himself as his old girls took shots at targets. He glanced down at his data pad from time to time, gathering information. With his eight dolls, he managed to form two partial-strength echelons. He called these 'Shield Team', his most powerful – and his only – soldiers.

Shield One consisted of his leftover Assault Rifles and Submachine Guns. They were serious, but calm. MP40, Spectre, SIG 510 were part of the team, with AR doll FNC leading the pack. In the past, Bryant would have put this team on logistics. But that wasn't exactly feasible right now.

Shield Two was his leftover handguns and a single rifle. USP, M1911, and M1895 were led by the rifle SKS. They were relaxed and more playful than the other team. All but USP. She was serious and was frequently frustrated by the doll's laxness. They were used as his 'quick assault team'. They were surgically inserted, dealt their damage, then left. It was a risky move, but it was highly effective against certain enemies and the ringleaders.

The two teams participated in drills until Bryant was satisfied. The dolls each were able to manage two additional dummy units: identical dolls that followed the orders of the main unit. It essentially turned each doll into a powerful hivemind. Bryant had put in additional doll orders to IOP, and hopefully those would be coming in soon. Once he got those new dolls in, his teams would be close to full power. After training, Bryant took his dolls to the armory to get fitted with equipment and to work out all the bugs in their programming. Most of his dolls were fine tuned machines and only required slightly tweaks. USP, on the other hand, was given extensive optimizations and updates.

Both dolls and Commander were exhausted after a long day of training. As the sun started to set, Kalina managed to convince Bryant to host a small 'welcome back party'. A picnic with only the finest scenery; dirt, cement, and a single light post. Only the best and freshest packaged MRE's were prepared, and Kalina procured a moderately pricy case of flat diet soda. Generic brand, of course. The party was quite impressive, given the size and capabilities of the base. Not including Bryant, Kalina, and Shield team, only eight other A-Dolls were on base. It made for a strangely cozy party.

A few hours after the moon had settled overhead, Bryant turned in. Most of the combat dolls followed him, eager to rest after the day they had. USP and M1895 stayed behind with the A-Dolls and Kalina. USP held onto her can of soda tightly, and began to squirm in her seat. "Um…miss Kalina?" The operator looked up with a curious expression. "Sometimes the Commander looks so sad. Is he alright?" Kalina sighed and put her own can down on the table. She shifted in her seat and turned to look up at the moon.

"Well, I mean, his psyche report seems to say so." She put a finger to her lips. "But, I don't know if I can tell you…" Kalina closed her eyes and thought for a moment. She shifted in her seat again, this time acting professionally. "Tell me, USP: How much do you know about Commander Bryant?"

"You and Ms Helianthus hold him in high regard. He was a key part of several deniable operations and had a very high mission success ratio. Other than that, not much."

"I see…" Kalina said quietly. "Most of what he did was before I joined his logistics team. The biggest operation I was able to see first hand was a support operation in Sector 12." Her voice lowered to a whisper, but was still clear enough for all the dolls to hear. "He had sent four combat teams to assist in holding a supply line. As fate would have it, our base was the mid-way point of the operation. Everything went fine until the last day of the operation. Somehow, our location had been leaked. Within hours, we were set upon by the full might of an SF ringleader." The mood became solemn.

Ringleaders were powerful Sangvis Ferri dolls. Unique, capable of their own thought, and they could manipulate dozens of teams by themselves. A single ringleader could tear apart an entire squad of Griffon dolls. To fight multiple ringleaders was a death sentence. "Bryant only had a small defense force available. He called back all logistics teams and ordered all human personnel to leave the base." M1895 shivered and clutched her jacket closer. "The commander recalled his assault team dolls…but they were ambushed seconds before they reached the base perimeter."

M1895 nodded and started speaking. "I saw them…get torn to shreds in the crossfire. They came from the forest by the dozens. Their target was the server room, where all our neural cloud data was stored."

"But why?" USP asked.

"Without your neural clouds, your memories and experiences are lost forever when you get damaged beyond repair." Kalina said and took a sip of her drink. "I watched from my data pad as the commander organized a defense. One hundred and fifty dolls went up against thousands of SF dolls and their ringleader. I saw that number drop and drop until only one remained. Then, everything went dark. We lost all connection to the base for seven hours. When it was safe to return, we found Bryant in the communication room. He had been badly injured, but he was alive." Kalina took a deep breath and looked away. Tears were in her eyes.

"He had lost everything. Nearly a nation's worth of supplies, a family of dolls, and years of training were dashed to pieces. The only things we were able to salvage from the rubble was an old, damaged backup disk and Type 63's Oath Ring." She forced a smile and turned to USP. "I'll be honest: I'm so happy to see so many dolls survived." Kalina put a gentle hand on M1895's head and pulled her closer. "But, that one doll didn't. Without her, Bryant just wasn't the same. He barely talked, barely ate. He would only sit and play with that burnt ring." The air was heavy and the sounds of the base seemed to dim.

Kalina took a sharp breath and gently patted her cheeks. "Enough of this. Happy thoughts, Kalin." Kalina nodded and returned to her normal self. She smiled and flashed a peace-sign. "You cuties just do your best now! Leave the hard stuff to the Commander and your amazing Logistics Officer." Kalina picked up some of the trash. "Now then: time to call it a night. Get some rest, and hopefully we'll have a better day tomorrow." The dolls nodded in agreement and went back to the dorms.

By chance, USP passed by the communication room. A faint blue light poured out of the room. She peaked inside and saw the commander at the display map. USP took a step inside and froze. His left hand was balled into a fist, and his other was up by his neck. She saw him gently running a finger over the oath ring. A single red dot occasionally pulsated as it moved. Bryant was running several algorithms of the screens, all focused on this one mark. She opened her mouth, but froze when she saw his lips move. "Not her. Not this one." He said silently. He pushed a button on the console and moved to another dot.

"Where are you hiding?" He put the ring in his left and traced the second target's path with his right hand. "Not you. Not you either." He was getting louder. He moved to another target. She heard a rumble come from his throat. He switched to another target and stopped. A low, sad chuckle escaped his lips. "Not here, either." He let both hands hand at his side as he looked at the screens. The algorithms had stopped, and the map focused on a green target. It was in the center of several predicted paths from several ringleaders. USP couldn't grasp the significance, other than the unusual amount of SF traffic. "I'll find her. I'll find her soon, Tia. Just wait." He clenched the ring tightly in his left hand.