Welcome to Intermission V! While Echelon Two continues where Echelon One left off, the latter Echelon returns to base while the Commander and Kalina do some late-night gaming after writing a report for Helian.
In terms of GFL: War, I'm making decent progress in it, but in terms of the whole conscription thing for Russia, it's a pain, since I don't know the whole process, but on the bright side, I finally found a place to put Sector 09, as while I don't know where in Ukraine it is, Poincare Recurrence did reveal that Station 794 was on the Ukraine/Russia border, and as such, it's somewhere near the city of Seredyna-Buda, which is both near the border and big enough to be the "old city" many of the Recollection's operations have been set in.
Also, to seanongayo90, thanks for the advice on dealing with Executioner, and to Culture-Hunt3r, you must really want a poly relationship in the fic, although on that, we'll see how it pans out first, but I think it's safe to say Kalina'll be part of it.
Without further ado, please enjoy this chapter.
Station 794, Sector 09
Ukraine, Neo-Soviet Union
July 10, 2062
Commander Ian Becker
Pacing around outside of Garage 05 and ready to help carry M1911 to the Repair Bay when Cheeto got back, Ian carefully watched the base's gate for a tan Humvee marked with the US flag and a "05" on its side along with the usual Griffin shield, the late afternoon sun not bothering him as he paced left and right repetitively.
"Come on, it's been a couple hours already..." he muttered to himself, tempted to call Kalina to see if she knew how close they were to getting home when the Humvee in question finally approached the gate, numerous bullet impacts and plasma burns marring its frame alongside Sangvis oils splattered on the front end.
With his breath held he watched as the vehicle requested clearance and got it, rolling into the garage at a rather slow pace, its headlights briefly highlighting the Commander before he moved. Opening the passenger side-door, his eyes widened as he laid eyes on his bloodied friend, the numerous bandages wrapped around her torso doing nothing to hide the severity of her injuries.
"What happened?!" he asked interrogatively.
"Roadside ambush on the way back, had to ram one of those SF bitches to get out of it." a slightly-wounded Cheeto reported curtly. "Now, though, AK needs some minor repairs, I just need some stitches, and 49 needs more 7.92."
"Noted. Anyways, c'mon."
Unbuckling the seatbelt keeping her in place, he settled his arms behind M1911's back and under her knees, lifting her out of the vehicle and carrying her bridal-style, the sunlight reflecting off her hair making him wish he had a pair of sunglasses. Still, he dutifully carried the HG towards the base as carefully as he could, faintly hearing the others get out of the Humvee as he walked.
"Hey, you mind sticking around for the repairs?" she asked him.
One look at the Doll showed that if he stayed, then he felt it'd be best if he had his back turned to her.
"You sure about that?"
"Yup. I know you peeked at me back when we first met, and honestly, I wouldn't mind if you looked now~" M1911 told him cheekily, causing his cheeks to redden and him to stumble.
Oh, fuck.
"I'm not in the habit of peeping on girls, 1911." he told her crossly in a hushed tone as they went through the decontamination area. "As for you, I had never even looked at a girl in ten years, let alone talked to one before meeting you, and I'm not into shot up, bleeding girls."
That bit of information caused the blonde's eyes to take on a curious look, and Ian couldn't help but internally facepalm for giving his friend the opportunity to poke fun at him— or worse, ask about his past. And considering the things that had happened back in the war, and the people he'd lost, he didn't want to talk about it.
"So uh, how many girls did you know before—?" she asked— or tried to before he cut her off.
"I don't wanna talk about it."
M1911 looked at him questioningly, but respected his wish anyways, staying silent as they reached the elevator and entered it, the soft light illuminating her pretty face and emphasizing the soot that slightly covered it.
"Um, so, what exactly did you find in that settlement?" he asked, causing his subordinate's expression to harden.
"All there was was about fifty Sangvis units and a dead transponder. Absolutely nothing of value was found in that area. As for the others, AK-47 and Howa 64 found G3 in the vehicle graveyard, hiding from about fifteen or so enemy units, and FN-49 and MP5 stumbled upon an ELID horde. However, they only took minor damage from them and they were eliminated by AK's group. All in all, while it's always good to get rid of trash like SF and the ELID hordes, it was ultimately pointless. If anything was there, then Sangvis must've found it."
"Damn. Still on square one, in that regard."
After about thirty seconds of elevator-riding, it soon stopped, the door opening to reveal the Repair Bay, Andrei and his team clad in scrubs and ready to begin their work on M1911.
"Ah, Komandir, you're right on time." the lead technician told him as he set the blonde Doll in his arms down on the gurney. "Based on what you told us, it'll take an hour to fix her. On top of that, it'd be best for her if you leave, because the majority of the injuries she suffered were to the torso."
Nodding in understanding, Ian stepped away from the gurney and looked away from it, faintly hearing the soft hiss of cloth coming off of M1911 as she removed her upper layers and confirmed that she was ready for repairs.
"If you need me, I'll be in my office." he said with finality, heading back to the elevator and setting it to go to the ground floor.
"Got it, we'll have her fixed the best we can!"
The last thing he heard was the whirring of machinery as the men got to work.
Sub-Director Helianthus
Griffin and Kryuger Headquarters
A Few Hours Later...
Holding Commander Becker's newly-written report in her hand, Helian carefully read through the contents with a scowl on her face, annoyed by them.
"While the sheer amount of hostiles present at the coordinates provided confirmed the presence of actionable intel or at least something useful in the sitr, there either was nothing useful or Sangvis has already secured whatever was there. Considering that it's been multiple days since Operation Uproot, I'd daresay that they'd had plenty of time to check the coordinates out themselves, and even then, their technological superiority is still one of their best assets. All I can hope for is that M4A1 is still MIA, and that she is not a prisoner of Sangvis Ferri."
"What did you find?"
In response to the deep, baritone voice, the greyish-haired woman turned around to see a tall, muscular man clad in a black suit with a red, furred trench coat over his shoulders, his greying hair and beard telling of his age and the scars adorning his face telling of his previous experiences.
This was Director Kryuger, one of two founders of Griffin and Kryuger and one of the Neo-Soviet Union's legendary war heroes.
"Nothing. According to Commander Becker's report, Sangvis Ferri is yet again one step ahead of us." she replied to him. "Both me and Becker believe this is due to their technological superiority, and that they may have possession of a special code-breaking T-Doll."
"Or, they're recieving intel from one of our own..." Kryuger speculated.
A mole in Griffin's ranks? That was scarier than Helian was willing to admit, and honestly, she was absolutely sure that every Commander involved in the Griffin/Sangvis conflict was loyal to the cause, and that Sangvis had nothing a Commander would betray Griffin for.
"Are you sure? I made absolutely sure every Commander in this fight is trustworthy, and our Dolls' security systems should be airtight."
And yet Scarecrow got around them somehow...
"Security and trustworthiness are relative." the Director said. "We can't even begin to guess what kind of cards the enemy has up their sleeve. Halt all of your operations just to be safe, and there's no need to follow up on that Commander's mission, either."
Helian looked up at him questioningly.
"What about M4A1, or the AR Team? Should we keep looking?"
The burly man simply nodded in affirmation, crossing his arms.
"Absolutely, but we must rethink our strategies. I'll find someone more suitable for the task. Speaking of which... does your newest subordinate happen to like cats?"
"Huh? I never asked him that, I hope he does..."
Then it hit her.
Oh, God help you, Commander.
"Please tell me you're not involving her..." she groaned, causing Kryuger to shake his head.
"Because we can't solve the current issue, we should start at the root of the problem." he explained matter-of-factly. "And as far as I can tell, he's wanted to be involved in the operation to find Anti-Rain for a good while, now."
With that explanation in mind, only one thought was in Helian's mind as she thought of something to say back.
I really regret my life choices now.
Commander Ian Becker
Station 794, Sector 09
"God, that was such a waste."
Walking to his dorm room after writing his report to HQ and handling whatever paperwork built up while he was leading the last operation, Ian's work was done for the day and he currently wanted nothing more than to get to his dorm room and unwind, with how he'd do it depending on whether or not Kalina was in his room or en route to it. Whether he'd see how badly he'd get his ass kicked by a busty logistics officer or he'd try his hand at drawing once more, he didn't care.
That was what propelled him to get to his room faster and open his door to see Kalina setting up a black Xbox Series X on his desk, a 22" television and two controllers already in place. Unlike usual, she had chosen to wear a rather tight-fitting black tank top adorned with a red headset-wearing tiger head, very short jean-shorts over a single sheer stocking on her right leg, and knee-high black boots, along with a pair of black gloves and a pair of goggles hanging from her neck by their straps. Her hair was now done in a messy ponytail on the back of her head, and a green jacket was tied around her waist.
Haah, why are most of my subordinates so hot? he thought as she caught sight of him.
"Oh, hey, sir!" she greeted chipperly, giving him a little wave as he sat down next to her.
"Hi, there. So you picked the Series X, huh? Based on what I heard 'bout fifteen years ago, it was one of 2022's best consoles." Ian commented lightly as he watched the ginger set the console up, a practice he'd perfected long before the Valentines' Bombings.
"Eh, this tech store in the Kiev White Zone was selling it pretty cheap, and it's a perfectly good system, so I figured 'eh, why not,' and I got it on the spot." she explained, putting the power cord in and pressing the power button on the first controller, nicknamed the "Big X" due to its appearance.
After the console auto-signed her in, she handed the other controller to her Commander and inserted an older-gen disk into the Xbox, allowing him to see a single greenish "2" on a tan background before it disappeared into the console.
MW2 2009? Well, if everything's broken, then nothing is, I guess.
"You alright with Modern Warfare 2?" she asked a bit too late as the game loaded in.
"Nah, it's one of my favorite games, actually." the dark-haired man told her, making a nonchalant hand gesture.
"Huh. How long has it been since you last gamed?"
Thinking long and hard on this, he soon got an answer for her.
"My last gaming session was on Modern Warfare 2019 local play, and it was a free-for-all splitscreen with myself, Sophia, Jack, and Shi Jun. As for the time it happened, it was right before we got sent to Kiev..." he trailed off, his voice tinged with regret.
Memories of fighting the Soviet regime in Kiev alongside its anti-Soviet militias and trying in vain to stop the bleeding of a friend's fatal wounds in a pre-war bunker rushed through his head, but he ruthlessly pushed them back, not wanting to show weakness in front of his logistics officer.
"Oh, the US Army was involved in that? I thought it was just them sending stuff to the militias." she asked curiously, causing Ian to nod solemnly, his somber expression not going unnoticed by her keen gaze. "Did you... lose someone in Kiev...?"
He nodded again, holding his hand up to stop her from pressing the matter. Unlike with the Valentines' Bombings, the events of Kiev still felt somewhat fresh to him, despite the atrocities there happening eleven years prior.
"It's fine." he said insistently as the title screen popped up. "I'd like it if you don't press the matter."
"Yes sir."
Without a word Kalina nodded and selected splitscreen multiplayer, letting Ian sign in as a guest before going into the lobby and picking a map to play on.
"Go with Rust." the Commander said, sitting up.
"Okay. Uh, snipers?"
"Nah, I've only got the default sniper class, so let's do ARs."
Nodding, the ginger selected the map in question, set it to Free-For-All, and launched the match. With the game loading in, she decided to lay down and get into a reclined position while Ian maintained his sitting up position, gripping his controller with confidence as the game loaded in fully, revealing the sandy terrain of the small-scale Rust as well as the team choice screen— a cosmetic-only thing in Free-For-All.
Now, it was time too see if his gaming skills had stood the test of time or not.
Tactical Doll M1911
Level 2 Consciousness
"You're leaving Station 794?"
"Yeah. HQ needed a good courier and I fit the bill."
On May 12, 2056, Grizzly had been selected as a courier for HQ and was packing her gear up and getting ready to leave, only to be stopped by M1911 in the armory, then the second-in-command of Echelon One, who wanted to know what was going on with her.
"But... why? Why can't you stay?" the blonde HG asked sadly.
"I'm sure you can tell, but our boss is kind of a dick, and sooner or later, he'll have us all scrapped for whatever dumb reasons he can come up with. At least this way, I can report him to HQ without him censoring my report." Grizzly told her, patting her head.
Why the current-day M1911 came here, she didn't know, but from her place sat on top of a crate of 5.56x45, she had a birds' eye view of the entire memory, including her younger self's tear-stricken face.
"I-I understand, just... take care..."
Noticing her sister's budding tears, Grizzly immediately closed the distance and hugged her lightly.
"Hey, don't cry on me, I'll be sure to pay you guys visits every now and then." she consoled her sister softly. "Besides, you gotta stay strong for the rest of us, you know."
Her younger self nodded lightly, returning the hug.
"Yeah..."
"Hoo, I forgot how emotional you could be, sis." a voice remarked beside present-day M1911, causing her to turn to her right and see modern Grizzly sitting beside her on a box of 5.56x45.
"Oh, come on..." the blonde groaned. "I wasn't that much of a whiny baby!"
"Eh, sure." the brunette shrugged nonchalantly.
"Anyways, what's up with AK?"
"At the firing range. She's a bit pissed of at Sangvis at the moment, so she went to go bleed off some stress." Grizzly explained.
"That's better than isolating herself from us."
"Yeah, it is..."
Soon, the memory ended without them noticing, instead cycling to a more recent one, one that made them both blush heavily when they realized what it was.
"Come on, where could they have gone— d-damn it, Grizzly!"
"Gah, why'd this pop up?!" M1911 squeaked as she changed the memory again to a combat mission, watching as her old team fought through a scavengers' den to free a team of Griffin operatives.
And with a perfectly good memory playing, the two found new places to perch down on and watched the memory play through.
Tactical Doll AK-47
Station 794 Firing Range
The loud report of AK-47's rifle rang through the newly-refurbished firing range at rapid intervals, each burst fired in carefully-controlled bursts as to both preserve ammo and ensure that her accuracy was as high as possible. The targets were set to move side-by-side or pop up and down from the plywood and wrecked automobile cover placed in the field to simulate the city of Seredyna-Buda, and were currently displaying Sangvis Ferri's Dolls on their screens, a choice made by the blonde to help her imagine that she was really busting the rampant killing machines' heads open as she worked on her marksmanship.
Soon, though, the timer she set hit zero, causing the targets to stop moving and her results to appear on the terminal in front of her.
"69%?" she asked herself, reading the hit rate. "That's good, but I know I can do better."
The range door soon opened and footsteps resounded through the range as a new arrival entered the room, taking the stall next to her and restarting the simulation the first occupant had started. Reloading her rifle as the timer counted down to zero and the target drones repositioned themselves, AK-47 aimed down her sights again and focused on the possible positions the Jaeger-displaying drone may be.
When the starting timer hit zero, three targets immediately popped up in the makeshift "town square," causing both parties to take shots at them, AK-47's shots landing in a Vespid drone with an errant shot missing by a mere two inches and the new arrival's shots hitting their marks entirely, striking two drones down and causing three others to pop up.
Taking aim at a target behind a derelict car, the blonde opened fire on it through the side window and cursing when her first burst missed entirely, hitting the frame of the car instead while the new arrival put it down in her stead. Annoyed, she instead flicked to a target in one of the "buildings" and shot it through the wall, performing a similar flick with a third target that was repositioning to a trash bin.
Four more targets appeared as the timer hit fifteen seconds, and two of them were snipers, AK-47 noted, meaning that their stun guns were active— another choice she made as to ensure taking them out was a priority.
Speaking of, she easily dropped one of them with a single shot to the head before trying to nail the other one, only to miss it as it got behind cover. Turning her attention to the other targets, she fired on the Ripper amongst them and put it down and flicked to the Vespid drone— only for the other shooter to strike it down.
Now, with nothing else but the last Jaeger target on the field, AK-47 quickly scanned all the buildings and perches a Jaeger would've used— only for the target to emerge from a garbage can and charge its stun gun, ready to fire.
In the fastest flick she'd performed in a good while, she targeted the sniper target and immediately put a pair of rounds into its head as her gun clicked empty and the timer hit zero, stopping the simulation and allowing the results to appear.
"71%, nice... 'bout time I broke the 60% mark..." she murmured.
"Just... how long have you been here, Fraü AK?" a soft German-accented voice asked, causing the AR to look behind her to see the new arrival G3 standing behind her, her battle rifle's barrel pointed to the ground.
"Hours. Had to vent my frustrations." she explained curtly. "I'm sure you saw how they turned her to Swiss cheese."
"Ja. Are you sufficiently calmed yet...?"
"Yup. Using the fifty-cal on those bitches and a couple hours' worth of shooting targets did that."
G3 rolled her violet eyes amusedly, setting up a new simulation to train with while using the same terrain layout.
"So you're doing okay?" the German asked as her new colleague reloaded her magazines with fresh bullets.
"I am." AK‐47 replied— then froze. "Wait, when did you get here?"
"A half-hour ago. We didn't find anything useful in that area."
"Blyat."
After finishing loading her magazine, she stored it in one of her pouches and pulled another one out to load, slotting each bullet in with practiced ease. As she loaded the magazine, another question entered her mind.
"Hey, how's 1911 doing?" she asked.
"Her repairs have been finished and she's currently at the Café, eating supper. She's fine, but worried about you."
Nodding in understanding, the AR topped off her second magazine and holstered her rifle, putting her last magazine into its pouch before making her way towards the door, a new destination in mind as the automatic door opened and allowed her to leave.
Commander Ian Becker
Commander's Bedroom
"Hoo, fuck, that hurts."
After about an hour of riotous splitscreen mayhem, it was quite clear that Kalina was much more in-touch with gaming than Ian was, as shown by her consistent streak of victories and the fact that she called a Nuke on their first match. However, as they played on, his skills soon came back to him and he had earned custom classes at rank 4 (Private First Class,) meaning they were able to both use Cheytac M200 Intervention rifles against each other, to chaotic results.
"I think I get why they always memed the fuck out of this thing now." Kalina remarked wih a chuckle as she reloaded her sniper rifle.
"Yeah. It also spawned an era of eight-year-old 'MLG tryhard 360 no-scopers.'" Ian groaned in response, spawning in and promptly getting revenge on his opponent with a brutal quick-scoped neck-shot. "It was always a big case of 'Mom, get the camera!' anytime they got a quickscope, and everyone hated it when they spoke (or rather squeaked) in the lobbies."
"Ahh."
And as soon as he passed through the building in Rust—
BAM!
"Fucking hell." he simply swore as his character died from a headshot and Kalina took his ammo with Scavenger.
At this point, I might have to committ the cardinal sin of screen-peeking. he grumbled in his head when he respawned.
"Come on, where are you...?" his opponent cooed as she searched for him— a quick, heretical look at the screen revealing her on the large pipes in the third corner of the map. Taking aim, he immediately saw the camo-hooded head of his enemy and fired, striking her down with a single well-placed shot.
"Screen-peeker." she grumbled, blowing him a raspberry before returning to her game, mildly annoyed at him.
"Guilty as charged." he admitted casually, dodging a shot from the ginger woman's rifle with practiced ease as he ducked into the central building. Gauging where she was positioned at was a bit difficult since he lacked a UAV and wasn't under fire, but in time he correctly assumed that she was by the white semi-truck and threw a flashbang at the truck, the signature hitmarker making him crack a grin.
"Argh, blyat!" she swore as her screen went white and he emerged from cover to fire on her, scoring another kill and tying their scores, 28-28.
Finally, I've got the advantage. he sighed internally as he pulled his pistol and searched for a good perch to use, then nearly jumped out of his skin when a camoflagued sniper popped out from about twenty feet above, critically injuring him and causing him to fire on her, one shot hitting and ensuring an assisted suicide when she landed while also earning him a UAV.
Good, 29-28. One more, and I can repair my pride as a gamer.
Despite his thoughts, he knew for a fact that Kalina wasn't about to let him win, and that he should be careful for her— a fact proven when a shot whizzed past his head, causing him to spin around— and curse when a throwing knife flew through the air and hit his character's head.
"Damn. 29-29." he murmured when he respawned, popping his UAV and seeing her red dot next to the pipes.
Going right from the trucks, he kept his eye on the radar as he went around the building, then jumped into cover as a shot whizzed past.
Nope, not losing again, not at all.
Throwing a flashbang at her again, he unfortunately saw no hitmarker but still forced her to move away from the pipes and behind some barrels, allowing him to cook and throw a frag grenade at her position, knowing it would force her away from the barrels— only for her to betray expectations and toss it back, making it explode in midair and splatter dirt across both their screens.
Darting around the barrel, he fired his rifle as soon as he saw his opponent, unfortunately not killing her but throwing her off-target with the flinch. Ignoring the fact that a real-world sniper would have an aneurysm if he saw him using an Intervention at such close ranges, he immediately fired again, missing by an inch, and did the only thing he could: pressing B and lunging forward, embedding his combat knife into the opposing sniper's neck and winning the game.
When in doubt, just press B. Always works.
"PROKLYAT'Ye!" she swore angrily as her screen showed defeat, bitter over her victory being stolen by a melee kill. "I just lost a thirty-to-zero win streak!"
"Finally..."
"Gah, ty sukin syn!"
Thanks to years of combat experience, he knew exactly what was going to happen, and sure enough, the ginger-haired woman attempted to tackle him to the bed to try and avenge her loss. However, with a subtle shift in his posture and a quick grab of her wrist the former Rifleman turned the tables on her, pinning her to his bed and straddling her, holding her hands in place above her head and keeping her pinned. He wasn't using so much force she had literally no chance of escape, but it was enough so that she couldn't hit him, and with her hair splayed across the sheets and a cutely-bitter look on her face she looked like a hot mess, although he'd never be caught dead thinking of that.
"Nice try." he smirked maddeningly, causing the woman to pout at him angrily, such a face making her look cute rather than intimidating and reminding him of another girl he knew.
"You suck, sir." she grumbled, looking up at him before shooting her head forth and impacting his with it, stunning him and allowing her to break free from his containment and flip them around, and as the victorious ginger leaned down to whisper something to him, he copied her headbutt and flipped them around— just as the bedroom door opened without warning and Howa Type 64 walked in, stopping dead in her tracks when she saw the two, and with their current position it didn't take a genius to understand why.
"G-Gomen'nasai!" she squeaked, her face lighting up crimson nigh-instantly as she quickly shut the door on them, plunging them in near-silence, their forgotten game's lobby music keeping some background noise going on.
Hope she doesn't think I'm some kind of pervert for this. And note to self: lock the fucking door.
Casting an odd glance at the door, the Commander returned his gaze to Kalina, whose cheeks were reddened in a similar manner to Howa 64 as she looked up at him.
"S-should we go see what Miss Howa wants?" she asked meekly.
"Yeah." he grunted, getting off of her and brushing himself off before getting off the bed and heading to the bedroom door, Kalina following suit. "Uh, sorry if I caused any trouble."
"It's fine, but I doubt you'd want to have the Dolls thinking you're a womanizer." the ginger told him, adjusting the jacket tied to her waist as he opened the door and exited the room. Taking a look to both his left and right he immediately saw the same unfortunate rookie whose view of him might have been affected by his little playfight standing next to Kalina's room.
"Hey, Howa." he called out casually, causing her to turn to him, embarrassment clear in her eyes.
"S-Shikikan...?" she asked uncertainly.
"Uh, was there something you wanted to tell me?"
"Um... you got a call from Headquarters, and because neither you or Kalina-san were there I told the woman there I'd get you, and then..."
Ian chuckled lightheartedly at her embarrassed trail-off, despite the light blush on his cheeks, and corrected the Japanese Doll's presumptions.
"Don't worry, that wasn't anything too bad, just Kay-Kay here getting bitter about losing in a game and failing to get me back."
The aforementioned logistics officer raised an eyebrow at the nickname, but later figured it was just one of her Commander's quirks and shrugged in a "eh, sure" manner.
"Oh, okay."
"Anyways, please knock next time, and thanks for telling me about HQ."
"You're welcome... Um... by the way, that FNC girl tried to eat a chocolate cake Springfield-sama made for our Echelon but wound up crashing into it." Howa 64 explained exasperatedly. "As of now, G36-san is very angry and is requesting permission to punish her accordingly."
Quickly facepalming, Ian said the one thing on his mind, heedless of his two subordinates' presence.
"Goddamnit, FNC."
"What is it, Helian?" Ian asked as soon as he reached his office, Helian's hologram already materialized on his projector and tapping her foot impatiently.
"I've recieved your report, and after some consideration, I may have a new assignment for you." the Sub-Director explained. "I'll need to confirm the intel though, so feel free to tackle these jobs for now."
Three separate virtual folders appeared in front of Helian's hologram. Looking at the one on the left, the Commander groaned when he saw the Soviet Armed Forces' seal on it.
"Soviet Army? Seriously?"
"They're having smuggler troubles." Helian told him. "A smuggler group is using experimental riot gear to disable Dolls and steal them, and they've taken one too many Doll squads from the Army, so they want our help in stopping them. They've also seized some of our Dolls as well, so it's not just the Army that wants them."
That was understandable, and considering the fact that P38 and M1895 were violated by bandits and smugglers based on the former's recorded footage and a captured insurgent's testimony, he wasn't feeling too merciful against them.
"I'll be taking this one first." he said, pulling up the Soviet contract and opening it up.
"The Colonel will be happy to hear that."
"I guess... Hmm, this says they need aid from four human operators, although that's likely because of this anti-riot stuff the smugglers have..."
Finally, some actual fieldwork. the ex-soldier thought in his head. I'll have to check the base's files to see who's the best at combat, though, or maybe I could rope 737 into it.
"Fortunately, they're planning on conducting the operation at 0730 hours tomorrow, so you can get some rest before then. Speaking of, I've got my own business to take care of." Helian told him, causing Kalina, who had been silent up until now, to speak up.
"Another mixer, Miss Helian?" she asked exasperatedly, causing the Sub-Director to give her a glare that could puncture even the strongest armor plating.
"Commander, do not believe anything Kalina says about me and mixers." she ordered sharply.
She goes to mixers? Being Griffin's Sub-Director must be a lonely job.
"She's just in denial about being lonely..." his logistics officer whispered into his ear, causing Helian to glare at her again.
"You have your orders. Helian out."
As the hologram faded away, Kalina decided to sit on the edge of the desk as Ian started looking through the staff's dossiers, the unprofessional action sure to make any military officer, especially his old CO, blow a gasket, but Ian was no by-the-books officer, and as long as she didn't obstruct anything he didn't care if she sat on his desktop.
"Say, who would you pick if you had to assemble a human-only four-man squad of soldiers?"
"Hmm... There's Cheeto, he was in the US Army Rangers before joining Griffin, and Andrei's an experienced Doll technician, also ex-military... Fuck, I don't know if there's anyone else who could be exceptional enough to put into that group other than you and me, but I'm not exactly a soldier and you need someone with a bird's eye view."
"What about the other bases? Do they have anyone that can fight?" he asked.
"Um, Kamalov showed exceptional talent in the personal combat training exercises at the academy, but— wait, we could have him giving us tactical support while we're the boots on the ground." Kalina said, snapping her fingers as the idea came to mind. "I mean, they just want four operatives from us, right?"
The Commander nodded, catching onto her idea.
"Then we've got everyone we need, Komandir." she told him.
"Go ahead and notify Andrei and Cheeto that their skills will be needed in an upcoming operation tomorrow." he ordered, sending a call to Kamalov as the ginger complied with his order.
"Hello?"
"Kamalov, it's me."
"Ah, comrade Becker, it is good to hear from you." the burly Commander told him. "Do you require aid?"
"Yeah. Soviet Army needs help dealing with some smugglers that stole their shit, and both me and Kalina are needed on the ground. I was hoping you'd be our eyes in ghe sky."
"Gladly. When is this mission taking place?" Kamalov asked, a serious disposition about him now that his ally was asking for aid.
"Tomorrow, at 0730 hours. As it's currently 0657 hours here, we've got time to prepare."
"Understood. Do you want reinforcements?"
"If they're Dolls, the Army doesn't want to risk the smugglers using their stolen anti-Doll riot gear to subdue them." he explained evenly. "Something about disabled Dolls being a liability."
"I see. I'll do my best to guide you to victory, then."
"Thank you. I'll be waiting for you tomorrow morning. Becker out."
Ending the call, he quickly sent the mission file to his colleague, looked to Kalina, who was busy listing gear they'd need for the operation, then looked to the file in his database, summing it up with one thought.
Looks like we've got our work cut out for us.
Next up: the first fieldwork chapter since Search Party I, along with Kalina's first written fight.
In terms of the chapter's writing length, I wound up cutting a decent bit of stuff, but all around the chapter's (mostly) the way it was originally intended, and for the rare M1911 fans out there, I'll get around to doing stuff with her and Ian soon. However, I need to flesh out his colleagues-to-friends (and possibly friends-to-lovers) relationship with Kalina first.
Thanks to a RWBY fic called Nobody, but us!, a fic where four Russian VDV operatives wind up in Remnant, I can at least not be alone in dealing with RWBY canon's idiocy while also enjoying the fact that our weapons and ammo are actually effective against the Grimm (unlike most fics where our ammo cannot harm the Grimm.) I encourage you to check this fic out, as well as the Gears of War stories by devernis.
Anyways, I'll see you next chapter!