The helicopter slowed down its propellers as I got ready to leave.

The ride had taken 3 hours, and I had napped through most of it.

''Thank you, pilot, for waking me up.''

He turned to face me, but I couldn't see his face through his visor.

''No problem, Commander. Best of luck to you in this sector.''

He saluted me, and I saluted him back.

The helicopter doors opened, and I jumped to the platform below.

It'd take a couple more hours until Wolf Squad would be here.
I had arrived earlier than planned.

The Ukranian weather was less than ideal today.
They had to transport me earlier than anticipated to evade the coming storm tonight.

I was separated from the squad.

They had been sent to base for repairs and their check-up, it honestly worried me.

Most of them were less than adept in social situations, so if they got into any altercation, it would be an extra hassle to deal with on my end.
I could only trust the maid to handle the bunch, even if I didn't like it.

My footsteps echoed with each step on the metal stairs as I continued down the building.
I could see T-Dolls and support dolls carrying equipment, doing inventory checks, and loading materials into different containers.

The wind blew from my back as the helicopter took off behind me.

When they heard my footsteps, some of them stopped their tasks to stare me down, some ignored me, and some of them only gave a quick glance before going back to their tasks.
By the time I had reached the end of the stairway, multiple dolls had gathered there to marvel at me.

They didn't intend to let me pass through.

When they tried to shout over each other to get my attention, I felt my heart getting squeezed by my rib cage.
I had no energy or will to deal with this, right after my helicopter ride.

With one hand over my chest, I resorted to slapping the metal support beams of the stairway to get them to stop the commotion.

After catching my breath, I asked the T-Doll in front of me:

''Do you know where the sector commander is?''
''Tell them: Commander Kaan has arrived.''

While the doll that I had asked the question nodded her head and started sprinting away, another one in the crowd started questioning me:

''Commander Kaan? THE Commander Kaan?''

What?

''Yes. THE Commander Kaan.''

I answered.

''But they told us that you wouldn't be here until 10PM.''
''We haven't finished tidying up the base!''

The doll protested.

Usually, I wouldn't have humored such a question and only replied sarcastically.
But I was still surrounded by the horde of T-Dolls wanting to know more, so I answered with the hopes that it would satisfy their curiosity:

''My transport would have gotten caught in a storm if we didn't pull our take-off timing back by, 5 hours.''

I looked at my old watch:
5.43 PM.
It was soon to be dinner break.
I needed to find that Commander.

''Don't worry. I won't report back to HQ about the state of your base...''
''If you girls can get me to your Commander before 6.''

While I had done base check-ups on other sectors before, this time I wasn't here for that.

The Commander in charge had called for reinforcements, and currently, the spread-thin high command had sent us to aid the Commander's operations in this sector.

The Dolls looked at each other, and then at me again.

After a second of silence, they all started tugging at me, trying to drag me away.

I resigned myself to my fate.
There wasn't much else I could do.

Dare I say it made me miss the company of Wolf Squad.