Ch.0

Uncertain Futures

"Today's war crime is tomorrows business as usual" – Killzone

"Drones, Bots, Androids, Dolls."

"The history of unmanned warfare can be traced back to World War Two, maybe even earlier depending on where you look. Regardless of it all, the spike in what led the future started after 9/11. The United States led the charge in the RPA community, Predators leading the charge then Reapers taking over. Then somewhere in between we moved to loitering munitions, from a tap to target from an operator to an AI planning its targets itself. Of course, that's only part of the story, the world developed many many other assets. Civilian sectors beat out the militaries of the world in the realm of logistics though, from daily consumerism and international shipping."

"That's all in the past now. World War Three bled the military might of the Free World, the Communist, and the EU. As time progressed, unmanned assets became vital for the effort. Different companies came into the manufacturing business and made literal bank off the waring world, even after the economic collapse. IOP being a main contributor to all players during the War, as if they weren't one before."

"Anyways, I'm boring you with the historical context of what my limited memory can give you. I've been bumped around a lot, don't remember much of the past, get stuff wrong, that's what it is to be human though I guess."

Matthias 'Red' Wall lit up his pipe, and took a long drag, enjoying the flavor of his newly acquired tabaco. It was nearly night now, and a spring evening in Southern Eastern Europe held a nice warmth that was unexpected to him. After the glow simmered, he blew out a mouth full of cherry flavored smoke, into the face of a now dead G&K Commander. He looked deep into the deceased young mans eyes, a breeze pressed the moment away as trees danced in the setting sun. "Encrypt your comm's kid, all you had to do, I'm not that smart." Wall said as he pressed up off his knees, ending his prolonged squat.

Another moment of looking at the dead man passed before Wall threw a MP433 down into the Commanders lap. Obviously, it didn't look like a suicide, but it would buy enough time for him to move on elsewhere. "Commander Liam Kyle Jacobson, killed himself and two of his dolls in the woods south of Sector whatever, after failing his most recent mission in which the deaths of thirteen dolls and his own brother weighed too heavily on his mind."

He snapped his fingers. Behind him, an entourage of six heavily modified Aegis combat units instantly flung their heads towards their operator.

"6, 2, You done?"

"UNITS HAVE CORRUPTED DATA CAPTURE AND CORES OF HOSTILE DOLLS."

"Good enough for me."

Another snap and the Aegis ceased their task and started to follow him as he left the kill site.

THREE WEEKS LATER / S09 / 3MAY62 0720 LOCAL

An aged MV22 pressed out a low cloud layer, the early morning rain had left some gifts behind, but the crew of the bird was apparently all WW3 vets, so they knew how to fly, probably. Wall was pretending to be asleep in the back, head tilted over, and arms crossed. His six Aegis stood in pairs of two, all in standby waiting for their orders. Wall racked his brain over and over about his current mission, pros and cons, failure and escape, detection and escape, and even the possibility of being burnt.

"Red, we have successfully signed a contract with G&K. Your current mission will have you assigned to S09 as a supporting asset for the FOB per the "Refortification Bill" signed into play by the United States. You will act as a Combat Liaison to the Commander and G&K Dolls, your duties will include Base Defense, Medical Assistance, Quick Reaction Support, and Convoy Support. Anything outside these duties should be limited and avoided to prevent current operations being discovered. Operation 'Duck Bill' will have you conducting HUMIT and SIGNIT collection of the G&K staff and all Dolls on premises. Timeframe till completion is Indefinite."

Why he remembered the entire conversation with the third member of the ever so secretive "Big Six" was lost on him. He was just an old War Vet turned killer for hire now. From the young age of 18 and enlisting into the Air Force as a Sensor for the MQ57 Banshee, to being moved to a Doll Operator at the Age of 21 just because his brain worked well enough to neural link to the Angel Combat Units that preceded the Aegis. War ended, things needed killing, and his brain was burnt enough from the early years for him to be perfectly fit to Kill.

His state of false trance ended when he felt the pressure difference inside the bird as it descended.

"Hey brother we're on final, about five minutes." Someone said over the comm's, Wall didn't care to remember the three individuals' names that were inside the bird.

"Thanks killer, gonna run my thing back here."

He unbuckled his harness and stood up, moving down the line of his Aegis and checking their systems with his LOS link. Each unit held a different set of encryptions from the other, and each encryption held various backups and counters to jamming and leaks. Realistically, taking an Operators ability to battle track his Dolls away did nothing. They still utilized vocal commands and hand signals, and even if the operator died, they would proceed on last know mission and or command.

A small shift in the aircraft caused Wall to grab onto the back of Six, the last Aegis in the stack, to avoid bouncing around. The rotary had repositioned, and the bird was slowing down, he could feel that without having to look outside.

"10 Seconds"

Wall made a clicking noise with his mouth, something akin to getting a dog's attention. Immediately the six Aegis came out of standby.

"UNIT ONLINE, AWAITING TASK."

The words were in complete unison, and noise filled the bay as gears shifted and systems came online. Then the dull thud of the landing gear touching down, followed by the whirr of the ramp opening. A simple touch and go, once Wall was out with his Aegis the bird would leave.

"Good ride gent's Ill see y'all another time."

"CYAA"

Wall tossed his headset off and grabbed his duffle bag as he shuffled in-between the Aegis and off the bird, his entourage in tow. He squinted and pressed a hand to his face as he stepped out, walking directly into the sun.

"MUTLIPLE UNKNOWN CONTACTS IN AO, REQUEST COURSE OF ACTION."

The voice wasn't aloud, but via his neural link.

"Standby, do not engage unless ordered or compromised."

"UNDERSTOOD."

The MV-22 started to spool back up and take off, Wall took the liberty to watch it leave before a voice sounded off.

"Specialist Wall?"

He turned around and locked eyes with the Commander of S09 and its Echelon's.

"Julius Band, 26, from old Poland, raised and molded by G&K, decorated career, known for special treatment of dolls under his command."

The mission dossier of the Commander played though Walls mind as he approached the man, Band was a full head taller than him, so he looked up and put on a smile as he came in to shake the Commanders hand.

"Nice to meet you Boss man, Specialist Matthias Wall 3rd Foreign Support Legion, the pleasure is mine."

A lie, undetectable due to the degeneration of neural matter and subsequent drug injections that had fried his body and made him nearly emotionless.

Band smiled back and clasped his hand tightly and shook it, only letting go to introduce his 2IC.

"This is my first ech-"

He was cut off by the Doll.

"Python, I like to…hunt…"

The doll gave off an almost known smirk, as if she somehow knew who and what he was. Wall didn't budge though, not from some weirdly designed combat unit.

"Weird way to introduce yourself but nice to meet you too."

He stuck out his hand again, "Specialist Wall, I don't hunt." The game began.


UPDATED 3/29/2022 0148PST

Alright killers, if anything read weird or wrong let me know. I played GFL when it first dropped in the States for like two months then bailed and haven't touched it since. I'm only writing this cause 15ZerO had a good ass GFL story (PENDING REWRITE) and I wanted to hop on a dead train because it looked like fun.

So yeah, I know jack fucking shit about the lore and probably wont be friendly to it to a certain degree, I'm just here to play with some new writing styles.

This will probably be a oneshot to see how well I can develop to new stuff, or if literally one single person likes the idea Ill probably take that motivation and make some actual chapters with 10k+ words at the minimum, and that's almost probably very challenging for my small busy brain.

With that in mind sorry if it looks interesting but has no substance, again just a teaser, or test, or whatever. If it goes on ill make it look good with the help of some cool dude, talking to you if you read this nighthawk….