Welcome to Chapter Four, everyone! This time around, the combat drill from the first chapter will be getting adapted to the fanfic, and I'll try to find a way to adapt the other early bits into it.
Concerning the non-protagonist T-Dolls I chose, I wanted to be a bit lore-accurate with M1911 (as she's the first Doll to join your ranks, and because she's one of my favorites), I like AK-47 as a character (too bad that she sucks in-game,) and MP5's cute. G36 and Springfield are integral to Station 794's staff, and the other ones that'll be included are just ones I like.
I rather liked how I explained AK-47's subpar stats in the story, and the PMK-2 gasmask players get when they start playing for the first time's inclusion was nice.
Concerning the target drones, there's a shooting animation for their chibi forms in the Index, so I put that to use here.
Anyways, off to Chapter Four!
Training Area, Station 794 Outer Forests
Neo-Soviet Union
July 3, 2062
Tactical Doll M1911
"Alright, ladies, today's exercise is simple: eliminate the numerous target drones scattered through the forest while being as accurate and fast as possible. Kalina told me that they're just standard target drones, but they have low-powered stun guns on them, too. No permanent damage if they hit, but as you know, taking damage will reduce your overall rating and in real combat situations, solicit costly repairs, and the Station's budget isn't too great. And remember, as cliché as it is, working together is key, especially against a powerful enemy force like Sangvis Ferri. Good luck, ladies."
The Commander's words rang loud and clear through their radios as M1911, MP5, and AK-47 were being driven to the training area via Humvee, the former of three currently holding onto AK-47's current bottle of vodka, having caught the drunk chugging on it during the ride and deciding it was detrimental to their success.
"You can have this after the exercise ends, AK. I still haven't forgiven you for what you did last time we went out on the field." M1911 said, clutching the bottle tightly to her chest as she glared at its owner annoyedly.
"But I won't do it again! I promise!" AK-47 pleaded, giving her fellow HG her best puppy-dog eyes. However, due to the latter's resilience to such maneuvers, she failed to sway the leader of their little team into giving her vodka back, and she instead passed the bottle to MP5, who fumbled it a little before securing it in her shaky hands, having been nervous about her upcoming training exercise.
"If she tries to take it back before the mission's done, then I want you to pour it out. Or better yet, shoot the bottle." M1911 told her as their driver stopped the vehicle at the start of the AO.
"Ja, gnädige Frau!" MP5 acknowledged, ceasing her shaking and picking her SMG up with her right hand as she noticed they'd stopped.
"How is that fair?!" The drunkard protested irritably.
"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that excessive intoxication results in reduced combat efficiency, AK." The Commander stated over the radio, having heard the little spat. "And I honestly think you may have partially drowned your FCC in vodka, so lay off of the bottle until you're no longer needed on the field."
"Understood, Boss." AK-47 begrudgingly replied, the direct order from her superior preventing her from protesting further due to her core programming.
Smiling at her subordinate's compliance, M1911 reached out and opened the door to the Humvee, stepping out of the vehicle and walking over to the rear to extract a few magazines from the supplies in the back. Following her example, MP5 got out and hid the vodka bottle in thd back, grabbing four spare magazines for her weapon out of the open rear compartment and quickly passing two of AK-47's magazines to her.
After recieving the order from the geared-up Dolls, the Humvee's driver put his vehicle into "drive" and departed the AO in an instant, leaving the three-Doll Echelon to their devices for the time being. No specific number had been given to how many target drones there were, but if they stayed where they were, then they'd be the hunted ones, so with that in mind, the three quickly moved out from the starting point.
M1911 and MP5 took point, sweeping through a patch of trees with their weapons at the ready while AK-47 followed behind them to cover their rear, due to SMG-class Dolls being better suited for frontline positions thanks to their high mobility and the shorter range of M1911's pistols demanding that she be closer to her enemies.
So far, they hadn't encountered anyone, and given that speed was an important factor of the exercise, that was a bad thing, unlike on the field where not making contact with the enemy could be a blessing and a curse.
"Hey, 1911." AK-47 suddenly said, breaking the silence.
"Huh?"
"What do you think about the new Commander so far?" she then asked curiously. "I can't really get a good idea on him since I've only seen him for a couple minutes, but you've known him longer, so what's your take?"
"Mmm... Not sure where to start, but he's a good guy..." M1911 said unsurely. "I think the eleven years he spent of the run took their toll on him, but he's got his heart in the right place and once he was a bit comfier with me, it was relatively smooth-sailing from then on. He's very direct and to the point with his speech, and despite lo longer being a US soldier, he seems to still live by those standards to an extent."
"Yeah, he literally had the fucking Big Red One sewn onto his uniform's shoulder, so yeah, I don't think he's fully left that life behind yet."
"Oy, hostile contact!"
After hearing MP5's warning, the trio stopped at a small clearing in the area, and to their delight, they had stumnled upon the first two targets, their flat faces, side-mounted stun guns, four wheeled legs, and white/orange color schemes in full view, meandering along the small area without a care in the world. Perfect.
After signaling her team to do the same, she raised her dual pistols and fired at the left one, the powerful force of the .45 ACP rounds she'd fired knocking it down and disabling it. Noticing its destruction, its companion swiveled to fire at her, only for MP5 to gun it down as well. After giving MP5 a thumbs-up in response, the HG jumped down from their small hill and ran into the clearing, soon noticing a third target at the opposite edge.
Yelping in surprise, she quickly jumped out of the way as the drone fired its meager weapon at her, the weak yellow laser passing by harmlessly and striking a tree. On the other hand, the drone was slammed into by a hail of 7.62x39 rounds, the target piece getting punctured in the process as the unnecessary number of rounds hit it.
Sighing, M1911 turned around to see AK-47 enter the clearing, a mad grin on her face as she checked her ammo.
"You know, a few less rounds would've done the same thing." she dryly told AK-47 as she followed MP5 further into the forest.
"The last Sangvis I didn't fire enough rounds at nearly killed you." the blonde AR shot back.
"That's becaused you missed most of the ones you did fire. Get some damned fire discipline already."
"Alright, alright..." AK-47 relented as the three left the clearing, going northwest through the trees, and after a minute or two of running through trees and nearly getting tripped by roots and fallen branches, the three stopped at an abandoned log cabin that was covered in foliage, where a single target drone rolled across the roof as it searched for hostiles with the high ground as an advantage.
"Just one target?" the Echelon Leader scoffed as AK-47 caught up to her and MP5 and after seeing the drone, quickly shot it down with a long burst of gunfire.
"Too slow, you scrap heap!" she yelled cockily, and soon M1911 saw a second drone pop up from the other side of the cabin and send a shot flying towards her.
"Get down!"
Before the ahot could land, MP5 ran up and quickly tackled AK-47 to the ground, taking her out of harm's way as M1911 dodged the attack on her own and retaliated by shooting the target down with only two shots, reloading her pistols and holstering her silver one to help her teammate up, all while the Commander watched from the Command Room with a critical eye...
Commander Ian Becker
Absentmindedly gapping his fingers on the holotable, the rookie Commander watched carefully as the small Echelon carried out the exercise, picking out any and all details concerning the three, like AK-47's tendency to fire far too many rounds at the same time, or M1911's constant bantering with her, all while Kalina and G36 passed important information to him as the exercise was carried out.
"AK doesn't seem to be too bad in accuracy, but she's just sprayin' and prayin,' and that's a serious problem." Ian noted grimly, watching as the drunk shot a pair of targets down.
"You'd think she'd know that by now." G36 commented dryly, stood ramrod straight beside him with her hands clasped in front of her. "Then again, she's always been a heavy drinker."
"Even on the field?"
The maid merely nodded, causing him to sigh ruefully.
"Drinking on the field is a bad thing in general. She should've known that." he simply stated, watching the Dolls move through the AO.
"She was a barmaid before joining Griffin, but every Russian Doll I know or have ever known has been a heavy drinker." his assistant replied.
"That can't be good."
"A-91 models actually gain a temporary boost in processing power after a certain level of intoxication, but AK-47 models, as Fraülein Kalina told you, typically have improperly seated or faulty Fire Control Cores, and thus don't know better unless they're physically trained to get around it." the maid explained. "I've never heard of AK-12 or AK-15 T-Dolls before, and I've yet to see an AK-74M model yet, so I don't know much about them except that the Ground Forces specifically commissioned them for infantry roles."
"Did you know any A-91s, G36?" the rookie Commander suddenly asked, turning to the T-Doll as she replied in a somber tone.
"Ja. One used to work at Station 794, but she was killed during the attack. Her backup data was destroyed as well, like about seventy percent of the Doll forces at this Station."
After hearing the mention of the destroyed backups, Ian briefly remembered the bloody mess that was the dorm rooms, as well as the many Griffin and Sangvis bodies in the rooms, and a new promise settled in his mind a moment later.
"I won't let anyone else die here if I can prevent it." he said with as much conviction as he could.
"Commander, we just encountered an abandoned T-Doll!" M1911's voice yelled through the comms, promptly ruining whatever G36 had to say next.
An abandoned Doll? Guess that happens a lot over here.
"Call for a Humvee to pick her up, then continue the exercise when she's safe." he quickly told her, looking at the HG's feed to see a short T-Doll that had blonde hair in pigtails, hazel eyes, a red beret on her head, a red coat over a white shirt, a flannel skirt, and tall brown boots standing there. She held a Sten Mark II in her hands and a bright smile on her face.
A good addition to Station 794's T-Doll population, he thought.
Tactical Doll M1911
"Alright, we've radioed for someone to pick you up, miss." M1911 told the chipper SMG before her, feeling somewhat weird about meeting a British T-Doll on the field, given that most of the T-Dolls at Sector 09 as a whole were either German, Russian, or Chinese, with the exception of an M1903 Springfield Doll, a handful of others, and herself. "So, where'd you come from?"
"Um, I came from a small outpost not too far from here, and I ended up here after a large Sangvis force attacked the outpost." the Doll, a Sten model, told her in a lighter English accent, tapping her fingers together nervously.
"Were you the sole survivor?" M1911 asked next, carefully watching the Doll's reaction.
"No. There was a PPSh-41, a vz. 61 Skorpion, and an StG-44 that escaped a couple days ago, but I wasn't able to rejoin them when I escaped— oh, God, I hope they're still okay!"
The HG noticed the fear in Sten's voice, crouching a little to better match her shorter height so she could calm her down.
"We'll find them before Sangvis does, so don't worry too much, okay?" she told her, flashing an optimistic grin to cheer her up. "Besides, StG-44 and vz. 61 Skorpion Dolls are pretty good T-Dolls from what I hear, so don't sweat it."
Sten smiled a little, now calmer than before. And that was the moment when M1911 remembered that a training exercise was ongoing.
Seeing a target drone driving up not a second too late, the three Echelon members all turned their weapons to it and shot it with a rather unnecessary amount of rounds, reducing it to a heap of mangled metal and electronics in front of them.
"Whoops. I forgot about that, hehehe." M1911 chuckled half-heartedly, before shaking her head and getting back into a more serious mindset. "Hey, why don't you go ahead and talk to AK-47 and MP5? I need to contact my Commander."
"Um, okay."
While she watching the little Redcoat approach her teammates from a tree she was leaning on, the HG quickly opened her comms and contacted the Commander.
"Commander, we've got a situation."
Commander Ian Becker
"What's the issue?"
"That Doll we rescued came from an observation outpost not too far from here, but she was stranded after it got attacked. Three of Sten's teammates escaped as well, but she doesn't know where they are." M1911 reported dutifully.
"That's not good." he replied, shifting his weight onto his left foot as he sipped a cup of coffee G36 was kind enough to make for him.
"Oy, Komandir, we're getting hailed by HQ!" Kalina reported from beside him, a tablet in her hand as she recieved the call.
"Patch them in." he said, sighing and shaking his head.
First, abandoned Dolls, and now HQ? This is what I get for bring assigned to a frontline base.
His logistics officer then accepted the incoming call, and the projection of a serious-looking woman with greyish brown hair tied up at the end and draped over her left shoulder and piercing golden eyes appeared on his holotable, partially obscuring his map in the process. She wore a uniform similar to his own, but with gold buttons and bars on the coat, no beret, no gloves, and knee-high heeled boots.
"Greetings, Commander." the woman greeted curtly.
"Um, hello? This is rather sudden, miss...?" he trailed off, not knowing her name.
"Helianthus, Senior Acting Officer of Griffin and Kryuger. Let's skip the pleasantries, and for efficiency's sake, just call me Helian."
"Understood. Is this the 'welcome to Sector 09' call?" Ian then asked her.
"Honestly, I wish it was, but no. As you know, Sangvis Ferri has recently launched multiple large-scale attacks in Sector 09 as of recent times, destroying multiple Griffin-owned Command Posts and costing us a large number of Tactical Dolls and human Commanders, includjng your predecessor."
"Human Commanders, too? Well, fuck." the rookie swore, sighing irritably.
"These attacks dealt a huge blow to the company's reputation, and if the Soviets believe us to be incapable of stopping Sangvis, they'll terminate our contractwith them, so HQ is taking this very seriously."
"And the Soviets can't just obliterate them... why?" he asked, fully aware of just how lazy both the NUSSR's government and the US government could be.
"If the public knew that the Union's best T-Doll manufacturer has gone rogue, then it would destroy the illusion that it is the strongest nation on Earth post-war." Helian explained to him, making his confusion on the situation— and the reason why he hadn't seen mixed human/Sangvis formations after 2061— very clear.
"So that's why Griffin was hired..." the rookie trailed off.
"Indeed. While HQ's forces take on Sangvis Ferri head-on, they have tasked me with investigating why this has happened. The words from above, Commander, are that you'll be assisting me with my work until it's done."
While he simply nodded in affirmation, Kalina was less than thrilled by the development.
"Hang on a second, Miss Helian! Komandir Becker just reported for duty today and—!"
"Has fought in the European theater during the Third World War for two and a half years, you told me yourself. I'm calling you because we don't have any experienced Commanders available at the moment, and this is of top priority. And seeing as you survived everything the New Soviet Armed Forces had to throw at you, you're more than enough fot the job." the serious woman assured. "As for experience in the command room, there's no better place than the battlefield, as you know."
"What am I doing first?" Ian then asked, ready for action.
In response, Helian's hologram shrinked as a map of the Sector materialized, revealing a vast network of Command Posts and hostile signals around the region.
"According to our latest reports, enemy movements have been detected behind the main frontlines, close to your base. While Sector 09 does have a small bandit population of its own, the signatures were undeniably of Sangvis Ferri origin. They are very few in number, but we can't possibly let those machines roam free. Not when our situation's as bad as it is."
"So search and destroy, huh?" the Commander murmured, looking at the areas surrounding the enemy nodes and taking note of each one.
"Yes. Dispatch units to the designated locations and destroy these scouts, as well as their Command Posts, to prevent any intel they've acquired from getting leaked to their leaders." Helian ordered. "There's other Griffin units assigned to the task as well, so you won't be alone on this.'
"Good. Consider it done."
"I applaud your attitude, Commander, but be careful. Helian out."
As the last syllable left her lips, the senior officer's hologram quickly phased out, and Ian's newest assignment was then uploaded to his holotable as the display returned to normal, as well as Kalina's tablet. Opening the comms channel to Echelon One, he then contacted M1911 to give her new objectives and start the search and destroy operations.
Tactical Doll M1911
"M1911, HQ just gave us a new assignment."
After getting Sten settled, M1911 was about to continue the exercise when the Commander suddenly called her over the comms.
"What is it, sir?"
"Find and eliminate Sangvis Ferri scouts located a few miles away from your position. There aren't a lot of them, but they need to be destroyed so the intel they've gathered doesn't get out to Sangvis' leaders. Destroy their Command Posts as well." the Commander told her. "I just sent you the data to their locations, and HQ has some other units hunting for enemy scouts as well."
The coordinates to the enemy Command Posts then appeared in her field of vision, pointing to the northwest, northeast, and the southwest, with the closest one being the northwestern one.
"Got it, I won't let you down, Commander~" she told him confidently.
"Good. And bring Sten with you, since you might run into her friends on the way. Commander Becker out."
M1911 turned to the other two T-Dolls on her team as they sat down with Sten on the forest floor.
"Oy, the Commander just gave us a new mission." she then told them, getting their attention.
"Wait, a real mission?" AK-47 asked from her place on the ground, crouched down like the man in the age-old but iconic Adidas meme. "Not just a drill?"
"Yup, and it came straight from HQ. They want us to eliminate some Sangvis scouts a few miles away from here and destroy their Command Posts to keep information they've acquired from getting out along with a few other units. He said to bring Sten with us, too."
"I'm going out onto the field again?" Sten asked, looking up at the Echelon Leader unsurely.
"The Commander said we might run into your friends on the way, and we need the extra firepower. Not to mention, MP5 could use some friends, either way." the blonde HG then explained to her.
"O-okay!"
As she briefed them, the Humvee arrived just in time, the passenger door swinging open for Sten as the driver still thought he was extracting Sten and bringing her to base.
"Alright, time to go back to base, girls!" the man inside told them, his voice Slavic-accented.
"Not yet, we've got a new mission, Luka. Take us to these coordinates and retuen to base until further notice." M1911 told him, sharing the coordinates to the northwestern Command Post with the driver, who them told her Echelon to get in the Humvee so he could get them to the new AO.
Entering the vehicle's passenger seat, M1911 found herself sitting next to Sten, the Redcoat herself nervous about the mission.
"Don't worry, Sten. This is my first real mission in a long time, not to mention MP5's first mission in total, but we've got this. It's probably just some Prowlers and a Scout or two, either way." the HG assured from her seat.
"How can you be so calm, then...? Aren't you scared of failing, Miss M1911...?" the SMG asked.
"Not really. For all their talk about being superior to us in every way, their grunt units are a bit low-end and easy to scrap."
"It's only a failure if we die, kid. Even MP5 knows this." AK-47 helpfully supplied as she got into the Humvee. While it wasn't necessarily true, it helped calm Sten down a little.
"I guess..."
"Alright, ladies! Go ahead and buckle up!" the driver Luka yelled, pulling the Humvee out of its parking space and setting it to drive, bringing the vehicle out of the clearing and onto the roads once more to start the new mission.
Next up, the adaptation of 1-2: Transporting The Wounded. I plan on doing the in-game opening for it (as opposed to the manga/anime opening chapter/episode, as it destroys the mystery surrounding the events before M4A1 getting choked out by Agent.) Also, why the hell is Agent a sadist in Ling's version of the story? (EDIT: She's always been one, but Ling exaggerated it a lot.)
If M1911 seems to be a bit too mature here, then that was a mistake on my part. The only logical explanaition for that is that being an Echelon Leader requires one to act more mature than usual. Either way, I'll try to make her act more M1911-ish in later chapters.
Concerning the game's plot, it always bothered me that Sangvis Ferri has such a hard-on for M4A1 in the Sangvis-centric parts of the game (Chapter 00-10.) I know why they do, but it bothers me a lot, nonetheless.
See you in the next chapter, readers!