Shadow Company (Girls Frontline SI)

[Gideon020]

​

>: sys.error.log callback
...
...
2 logs found.
>: sys.error.log list
...
...
Critical Error 7/10/2062
Critical Error 7/10/1986
>: Critical Error 7/10/1986 Display
...
...
File Corrupted. Attempt Repair Y/N?
Y
...
...
...
...
File Repair Failed. Delete Y/N?
Y
File Deleted.
>: del File Critical Error 7/10/2062
...
...
File Deleted.
>: run boot.root.sys
Initiating System Reboot.

---

Coming to wakefulness was always familiar to them. Momentary blink, and then awake and bleary, the price of so many late nights. The sin of the night owl returned to haunt them, and by reflex they reached to their right to grab their phone, only for the first anomaly to snap into focus.

This was not their room. This was not their house. They were strapped down in some kind of cradle inside what appeared to be a mix between a robotics lab and a private workshop, and perhaps depending on the owner the distinction was invisible.

"Oh good, you're awake. Again."

Their head snapped to the source of the voice, and the moment they saw the disheveled appearence, bags under tired eyes, twitching cat ears and the mug of coffee, a memory fired off in their head, played back in 4k High-Definition fidelity of the same person, a still image with changing expressions as text ran underneath.

"*******************************, Commander."

"Well, that's a new reaction." The woman, the Scientist, remarked as she sipped her coffee and checked a screen, "Maybe you'll finally be able to communicate and answer a few questions so I can figure out just how you came into existence."

Their eyes snapped around, recognition warring with the growing, awful realisation that this was all real, and they only had to say the Scientist's name to confirm it. They only had to say it.

"If you recognise me, I'd appreciate it if you could say my name, I'll even take the time finish up your repairs before we continue."

Repairs?

They saw it earlier, a mirror hanging above the cradle, but they had instinctively looked away, not wanting to give truth to the thought that had wormed its way in, but they had to. They had to look.

They had to know.

"Oh. Shit." The Scientist's eyes widened as they made to do something, "No, no, everything is fine, you didn't hear anything about repairs, there's no mirror above you...come on, come on, where is that override..."

They looked up, a single colorless eye of milk-white staring up at the image of a mechanical woman, staring down at them in a state of disassembly and disrepair. They moved a restrained arm, and the woman moved in perfect synchronicity.

"Nononononono, not again!"

They screamed. They screamed and screamed and screamed.

And the half-built woman in the mirror screamed with them until everything went black.

---

"Dammit." Taking another tired sip of her coffee, Persica leaned back in her chair as the screaming Doll went mercifully silent once more while her console dutifully reported another critical error to be deleted. The file would be corrupt, and it would be joined by another one dated back nearly a century in the past, and both would have an identical date in October despite it being August.

But at least this one had held on long enough for her to hook into the Neural Cloud and get a proper look inside before the Doll in the cradle eventually, and inevitably, saw herself and proceeded to descend into screaming madness.

And what Persica found was not pleasing in the least.

Somehow, whichever madman who made this Doll (and there was a short list of them), had done a virtuoso's job of crafting and streamlining system to base every emotional and psychological response into a single core module with the rest being redundant backups. In fact, just about everything was over-engineered for redundancy and survivability, in a frame that was clearly based on an IOP escort model, mixed with custom systems based on Sangvis Ferri hardware, reinforced with Svarog's typical flair for durability.

Everything about this Doll had been built from the ground up to be capable of fighting and surviving a war just shy of being a dedicated M-Doll chassis, and still be capable of living a normal life.

"Havier is going to have a field say with this." Persica grumbled, "Those fat-fingered twits in IOP must've broken something in her when they patched her up enough to ship to me."

And it was a miracle the Doll was in any recoverable form, not after killing an entire platoon of US Army Rangers and Dolls after being found in that bunker alongside an overstrength Infantry Doll company with support assets. The Americans had handed everything off to Kryuger, likely via Griffon's interference, as an apparent investment.

"Lacking suitable equipment. Eloquent way of saying that Kryuger doesn't have assets to put out every fire when you have PMCs running armour with Doll crews alongside air assets." Shrugging, Persica considered her options, before taking a longer sip of coffee.

A few tapped commands, and a second screen lit up with the footage of the Doll in the cradle, standing in front of the American special forces naked, eyes glassy and unfocused, wobbling as she stared at nothing.

"Identify yourself!"

"...No Name."

"Do remember how you got here?"

"...No Past."

And then Persica watched as the Doll attacked as if a flip had been switched. Stopping the video, Persica grimaced.

"No name, no past, and clearly no fear." She snorted, a small smile coming to her face, "Kryuger's going to love you."

And so, Persica settled in for another sleepless night of trying to puzzle out the mystery Doll's secrets. Another night of waking up the Doll and trying to get access before her system locked up with more screaming.

It would take until 2063 before she finally reported success.

Just in time for Havier Witkin to tell her that the entirety of the small army of Dolls had suddenly woken up.

 

[Gideon020]

Beresovich Kryuger stared impassively at the massive screen behind him, information flowing like a river as systems passively listened to the strategic network that formed the nerves of his company, including the 'Grifchan' private Doll subnet. Ordinarily he wouldn't have engaged the hooks embedded into the subnet but in his experience it was always the soldiers who kept their ears open in order to know which way the wind was blowing.

And as expected, the gossip on nearly every Doll thread was about the arrival of 500 Dolls, 2 M1A2 Tanks, several Fastback IFVs, assorted helicopters and several jet aircraft. None of this equipment or Dolls had been distributed, and Kryuger knew the reason.

"Persica's calling." Kryuger smiled as an incoming call icon lit up on the screen at the same time as Helian speaking up.

"Good timing." Tapping a button on his terminal, Kryuger connected the call, "Good news I hope." The call opened a videoconferencing window to show not just the sallow-eyed visage of Persica, but the grinning face of Havier Witkin, eyes all but glowing in glee.

"Havier," Kryuger swallowed his surprise, "I wasn't expecting this. Did something happen?"

"Oh yes Kryuger, several things," Havier's unholy glee was palpable, "But in the interests of priorities, I should let Persica start us off." Kryuger's eyes shufted to the Doll researcher and he immediately picked a few details despite Persica seeming her usual sleep-deprived self.

The coffe mug in her hand was shaking, the lazy look in her eyes was focused like a polished blade, and her usual slouch was gone, replaced with a ramrod-straight stance that paired with her cat ear headwear pushed back in a clear indicator of her mood. Persica was upset, no...more than upset.

Persica was outright enraged, and the suspicion was proven when she started speaking, her voice low and buzzing with anger.

"I managed to fully access the unknown Doll's Neural Cloud and..." She took a sip out of her mug, hand visibly shaking now, "The sheer level of depravity..." She inhaled, holding it briefly before exhaling as Kryuger glanced over at Helian who kept a stoic facade. Likely she would be speaking with Persica more, before he focused back on the woman in question.

"This poor Doll's Neural Cloud is a barely-coherent mess wrapped around high-level command authorisations and systems, all of which are hooked into American, NATO and Russian networks. Disconnect any of them, and the entire system burns up, along with the chassis, leaving nothing to recover."

"I've poked a few contacts and connections," Havier spoke up, still clearly giddy about whatever opportunity this represented, "Persica pulled operation codenames and commanding officers from the late stages of World War 3. One of them, a General Shepherd, is retired but admitted that the entire setup sounded similar to a concept he had championed of an all-Doll special forces battalion, a self-contained force that would have total deniability. No IFF, no identifying patches, the entire force would be under a single commander with orders to cause merry hell with the Russians."

"But it never panned out." Kryuger surmised.

"It didn't," Havier nodded, "The US and NATO weren't interested in the investment, and Shepherd said he knew that Russian intelligence agencies acquired partial details of the proposal. Which would explain their formation of KCCO and the specialist all-Doll contingents in the Spetsnaz and VDV."

"But then someone went ahead with it." Kryuger regard Persica who had seemed to calm down during the explanation by Havier, "Were you able to recover anything from the Doll's Neural Cloud?"

"Fragmented memories of a civilian life in Australia, belonging to a man who died in the war, bits and pieces of constant strategic simulations involving Griffin and Kryuger, myself, Helian, and my AR Team, encompassing your current operations against Sangvis Ferri, what appear to be simulated future operations...and the KCCO turning on you at the height of a joint operation to destroy the Sangvis Core." Her hand shook again, "The simulations had accurate personality reconstructions of everyone involved, plus reconstructions of a multitude of unknown individuals. All of it taking place in Level III Consciousness as a dream state, the Doll taking the place of the S09 Commander while also operating as herself to interfere with the events taking place."

"What happened in the simulations?" Helian questioned, "You wouldn't be this upset if there wasn't something to upset you in them."

Persica glanced away, "It's...no, it's just overly graphic. If you're still curious, I'll send them to you." Suddenly her expression became one of wicked amusement, "It certainly was being accurate about your dating chances." Helian scoffed, Kryuger smiling as a little of Persica's normal attitude returned.

But still, business needed to be attended to.

"Persica," The researcher glanced back at him, "What would be necessary to restore the Doll to a combat-ready condition?"

"A full system reset. Back to factory settings, whatever that is." Persica hissed in frustration, "Doing so will completely obliterate the Doll's memories but if the choice is restoration of normal functions or hours upon hours of constant screaming, there's no choice at all."

"Will it affect its supposed command role?" Kryuger tapped a key to bring up a new commander's posting in S07. Good training record, excellent tactical and strategic instincts but multiple notes of being something of a conspiracy theorist. Kryuger kept his mask up as he considered his firming idea.

"No. If my predictions are correct, and they are, the Doll will reform a completely new personality with no memory of their past, fabricated or otherwise." Now visibly calmer, Persica took another sip of her coffee, before looking into the mug and sighing, reaching off-screen to grab a nearly-drained pot and empty it into the mug, "The simulation data is recoverable, and includes detailed technical data on numerous Dolls, including a new system made in conjunction with Wave-Tech and data on the reprogramming and reappropriation of SF Dolls and Ringleaders for our own usage."

That...was something that had Kryuger's eyes widen, ever so slightly, "How?"

"Complete Neural Cloud overwrite." Persica replied bluntly, "Apparently courtesy of Svarog."

"I've started laying the ground work on my end. And I know you're aware that the subordinate Dolls have woken up and are waiting for their command unit." Havier spoke up, "I know you value your friendship with Carter, Kryuger, but this time we will need to sidestep him, have StateSec sign off on this quietly since they'll be suspicious of any sudden high-level orders to the military coming from that part of the world."

"We'll need the simulations." Helian countered, adjusting her monocle and tapping commands onto her tablet, "If any of the events that took place in the past can be corroborated by S09's Commander, then we can take any future events seriously. If the KCCO is planning on betraying us..." She glanced at Kryuger, who stared at Persica and Havier on the screen, before rising from his chair to stand, arms crossed, and his decision made.

"Send Helian everything you can before you reset the Doll, Persica. Havier-"

"I'll have the fruits of this labor ready before you know it." Havier rubbed his hands, his eyes gleaming with naked greed at the potential profits and how he could use them, "I assume this means you have a plan?"

"A risky one." Kryuger admitted, "One that will require us all to play our parts perfectly if Carter's suspicions are not to be aroused, but more importantly is this: someone wanted us to find all of this, and they hid their tracks well. If any of you discover what could be another breadcrumb on this trail, share it so we can aid each other. This goes beyond unknown Dolls and covert plans, someone wants us to reveal something, and this Doll could be critical to our efforts."

"You believe the Doll will take action if events go as in the simulations, even after a reset." Persica mused.

"Call it an old soldier's instincts." Kryuger grinned in reply, "The Doll won't be sent to S09,.the Commander there has enough on their plate as is. They'll be sent to S07, to keep vital logistics routes open. The Commander there is new, but I feel will be the best fit for our mystery."

"Meanwhile, we use the simulation data to keep abreast of possible further developments." Helian realised, "Sir, this is incredibly risky."

"Moreso if the S07 Commander is to be read into this situation, which they will have to be." Havier's expression was momentarily-serious, before his smile returned, "You don't make a profit by playing it safe. Good luck Kryuger, I'll keep you informed." His part of the teleconference went dark as Persica seemed to stare at nothing.

Finally, she met Kryuger's eyes, "The Doll will be ready for action in time to be sent with S07's new Commander. I'll send the simulations to Helian since she rides herd on the the Commanders taking part on the expeditionary ops." She made to say something more, before she shook her head, "I'll contact you when she's ready to be shipped out."

At that, the call went dark and Kryuger relaxed by a hair, "Helian. What do you think of this? Honestly?"

Helian glanced at the screen, biting her lip momentarily, "Sir, if even a fraction of what is on that simulation data is even remotely true, then the possibility of being simulated so accurately is truly frightening."

"Even if you could use it to improve your love life?" Kryuger teased, earning an pout and a sharp 'Hmph!' from Helian.

"As if my dating can be so predicatble to a Doll!" She flushed slightly, "However, that said, I am not above taking advantage of it if the data is credible."

Kryuger laughed, and for the rest of the working day, everyone working at G&K Headquarters would see Kryuger with a rare smile on his face and Helian unable to suppress a brilliant blush on her cheeks.

---

The uniform was nice, Marian noted as she regarded her figure in the mirror, it showed off her body very well, especially when she wore it with the jacket off the shoulders and her hair in its usual twin-tails.

"Today's the day." The raven-haired young woman grinned, "Today, I get closer than ever to the truth about Sangvis Ferri! If I play my cards right, I'll show the world that it was a StateSec plot to cause the Butterfly Incident and distract us from the coming of a one-world government!"

Granted, she had taken an accelerated course due to G&K being hard up for Commanders after Butterfly and a series of mysterious suicide attacks that she promised to look into, but the year of training had paid off, and she was ready to do her part while investigating.

"I don't care what they say, there's a deeper truth to everything." Marian muttered, "If even the Dolls think I'm just a conspiracy nutjob, then fuck 'em." And while Marian Harper would be the first to honestly admit she had a paranoid tendency, it had saved her life on a few occasions and even got her this job in G&K when her only other options were to be an office drone in Budapest or a service drone in Paris and wait until a Doll replaced her.

But the Butterfly Incident? A clear case of ham-fisted Soviet coverup into an apparent investigation and arrest of Sangvis Ferri's lead designer that results in the man dead and a robot uprising? Marian didn't buy it. Walking over to her desk in her small G&K-appointed temporary quarters until her flight out to the Balkans and her new command.

Pulling open a drawer, while fishing her phone out of her pocket, Marian pulled out a thick binder full of newspaper clippings, hardcopy printouts, photocopied maps covered in lines and notations, and photographs purchase at her own expense of the so-called Sangvis Base Zero, a now-abandoned facility since SF had moved their main base to a fortress near the Black Sea.

S07 was the internal code given to a country, Moldova, but between Collapse Radiation, the damage from World War 3 and the near-literal army of bandits threatening trade and logistics routes, G&K had decided to secure the countryside and open it for resettlement as the region was only lightly-contaminated. And since her operations would not only involve SF but human opposition, that had required additional training on how to approach those kinds of situations.

"Engage with lethal force only if it is unavoidable, arrest and hand off to Soviet authorities if at all possible." Marian quoted from the training lectures, while fiddling with her phone to bring up maps of Moldova, now S07.

The government hadn't collapsed yet but Marian was more interested in how close S07 was to Northern Romania, and by extension to Base Zero, the facility where SF had started their apparent uprising. So very, very close.

"And I can't send anyone there otherwise Vice-Commander Helian will have my ass." Marian leaned back with a frustrated groan, "Blue Balls! I'm being blue-balled by a sadist who knew I was investigating something that could show the world how this whole mess is just a smokescreen!" Standing up, Marian pointed at the roof, "But that means nothing! Like a patient hunter, I shall pick up the trail left behind and the true culprits will rue the day they tried to control us! Hahahahaha!"

A sudden banging on the wall cut her laughter short.

"Shut up!"

Blushing slightly, Marian returned her focus to her phone, sweeping up the binder so she could flop onto her bed, ignoring the ominous creaking of the springs as she brought up maps, comparing them to her own, and making notes.

The trail was long cold, perhaps dead, but Marian Harper had an eye and nose for the small details and the loose threads, once she found something to work with and got an excuse to send a team into Base Zero for any scrap of information from intact Doll memories to even surviving audio or video logs, the hunt would be on.

"Pftheheheheheheheheh!" Marian giggled as she carefully packed up her binder and put both it and her phone on the night table next to the bed, before giddily rolling around on the bed. Soon! Soon!

"I'LL SHOW THEM ALL!"

thumpthumpthump

"Will you fucking shut up!"

But first, time to go teach someone some manners.

---

Grifchan Discussion Boards! Remember the rules or MDR will dox you!

New Mystery Dolls Heading To S07!
As everyone here knows, we recently got a small army of Dolls from the US who apparently were all part of some super-secret black ops project, and now the news has come down exclusive to me, MDR!

Our new arrivals are heading to S07 and yours truly will be part of the newly-assigned Commander's first two echelons to make sure the new arrivals fit in, and to make sure our new Commander is ready for anything S07 can throw at her!

Choco4Eva
>MDR going to to S07 with a newbie.
RIP Commander

MiamiViced
RIP

RedSnow
RIP

KuroTV
Oi!

HighwayBandit
I'm heading up there myself, and I can tell you this ladies, something about this whole thing stinks.

NewsHund
Ooh, an opportunity for a scoop! What do you have for us?

HighwayBandit
500 dolls with Spec Ops Infantry settings, knowledge of vehicle operations, heavy weapons and aircraft? The US doesn't let that kind of Firepower go, and I don't care if they're listed as A2's, those tanks are A4 Paladins.

KellysHero
Can confirm. M1A4 Abrams Paladins and M118 Fastbacks, fully loaded and apparently being supplied by the Good Old US of A.

BigMa
What do you think all that hardware is gonna be used for? I thought PMCs couldn't operate heavy weapons and armor?

Ping
PMCs in the Neo-Soviet Union. They get twitchy if merc groups without their blessing run around in T-14s and Hellions. Keeping mercs from heavy firepower lets the Russkies beat em down if they get uppity.

KuroTV
And that's not all! S07/Moldova is a stone's throw away from Sangvis Zero! Maybe I'll be streaming some deniable ops to you all soon. XD

Daiyan
RIP Commander

KuroTV
OI!

 

[Gideon020]

>: sys.error.log callback
...
...
...
...No logs found.

"Ugh, finally."

>: run syscheck.bat
...
...
...
...
...
...
Hardware Integrity: 100%
Autonomic System Integrity: 100%
Battery Supply: 100%
Bioreactor Status: 100%
Core Systems: Nominal
Neural Cloud Status: 100%

Taking a sip from her mug, Persica allowed herself a rare smile at the sign of success. The reset seemed to have been successful with the mess of errors and conflicting data seemingly purged, though follow up examinations would be necessary.

What was interesting was that the simulations had restarted while the Doll was in Level III, running through older scenarios from the beginning before going into much newer scenarios; Persica found the Doll running through data on operations by the S09 Commander in Germany, and while seeing what would happen to her RO was heartbreaking, Persica focused on the task at hand, connecting to the simulations to extract the data in real time and also update the older simulations that were being kept by Kryuger.

She promised herself not to look at the data surrounding her deployment of M16 to Base Zero. If she still had to do that, she wanted M16 to tell her herself, not read it off a screen.

Persica rubbed her eyes, feeling exhaustion creeping in before taking a sip of coffee and leaning back in her chair. It was one thing to see one of your children blow herself up to try and kill the Sangvis Ferri Mastermind, Elisa, but to have confirmation from Helian checking the AAR'S that AR Team's recovery was exactly as described in the simulations...

Persica would deny to her dying day that she sniffled or scrubbed away a tear, even if the only witness was the comatose Doll tormenting her with visions of the future. M16 had to go to Sangvis Ferri for information she already had, because without that and STAR's sacrifice, M4's OGAS wouldn't awaken and everything would be for nothing. Standing up, the scientist did a circuit of the room to check various pieces of equipment and hardware plugged into the comatose Doll.

In a few more minutes, she could wake the Doll up, and then this whole sordid mess could begin for real.

"The moment for our own counter-move will come during the KCCO's betrayal." Kryuger's voice filtered through Persica's mind, "I know it will be painful, Persica, but events must happen on our end precisely to keep their attention off us long enough for S07 to hopefully make a difference."

That was the crux of it. Marian Harper was someone who vociferously advocated returning to and securing Base Zero in order to discover the truth and find any data that could be exploited to directly attack Sangvis Ferri directly without military intervention, citing the typical culture of corruption and backstabbing that was prevalent in the Neo-Soviet military.

Kryuger was planning on keeping S07 out of the major events in order to find allies outside of the Neo-Soviet military and StateSec, possibly even keeping them as a QRF in order to open evacuation corridors for Commanders and Dolls. And with S07 being so close to Base Zero, Harper would find any excuse to send Dolls in to investigate.

She glared at the Doll, "All this effort had better be worth it." She sent the updated simulation data to Kryuger, where hopefully it would remain safe in an airgapped server until he felt is necessary to release the information to the rest of the company.

Well, the company that was loyal to him. Looking back on it now, Persica realised just how many of Lyon's people were integrated into the command structure of the company, and how he had a few hooks in 16Lab as well, which Persica found suitable reasons to remove on various, entirely-legitimate grounds for dismissal.

Their work wasn't even important anyway.

Refilling her mug, Persica walked back to her main terminal, keying up another diagnostic to triple-check her work, before blinking as it chimed with an incoming call. Frowning, Persica accepted the call and her eyebrow rose as she stared into the eyes of a man about Kryuger's age, hair and moustache white with age and stress judging by his military bearing.

"You must be General Shepard," Persica stated neutrally, remembering a message from Havier who seemed excited by the new direction his own projects were going in preparation for the eventual capture of the Ringleader Architect, "Havier said you might be calling, apparently for some liason business."

"That's correct ma'am." Not a smoker, his voice was likely that gravelly from years of shouted commands. The last of the field generals who stood out on the front of the actions making sure his troops did their jobs, "You know, when Witkin called me to inquire about this project, DOD was already spooked to hell and back."

"Because of the Doll?" Persica hid her curiosity behind a sip.

"Because of the equipment, both for direct action and support." Shepherd replied, expression stony, "The location was not listed on any maps, in an underground bunker, in the depths of Louisiana. If it wasn't for the locals complaining about a constant military distress signal, that whole complex would have been left to rot. There is enough resources and equipment there to keep this Shadow Company running for years even if the US didn't support them."

"But the US is going to support them." Persica surmised openly, glancing at the readings from the Doll as it began another round of simulations, "With the upcoming Rossartrism vote and the peace talks between the European Union and Neo-Soviets, the US wants to remind people they still exist."

"We may have lost half the country, Doctor." Shepherd stated cooly, "But even half of the United States is still more powerful than most of the world."

And wasn't that true? The US still had their Carriers, they still had Hawaii as a fleet base, Guam for their Strategic Bombers, and Australia benefitted massively from being the new home for Pacific Command. And even with the Exclusion Wall, people still went out to extract oil and corporations sent in their own dolls, including T-Dolls, to operate the mines left behind, to say nothing of the military.

An M1A4 Paladin, which the two tanks had now been correctly identified as, could core an AA-02 Ares in one shot if the pilot was unaware, and even without them there were four Apaches going to S07. Four helicopters from a total of eight and two tanks out of six. At least the entire complement of 20 Fastbacks would be going.

"Regardless, the United States can't be seen operating openly. Hence," She activated a camera to let the General see the Doll, naked but intact after an exhaustive process to rebuild and arrange for a production line to supply her with Dummies in the future, "You make use of her."

"Good to see we're on the same page." Shepherd smiled, "I was pulled out of retirment because the all-Doll Special Forces Battalion was my brainchild. I know exactly how the wntire thing is supposed to be arranged and finding out that whoever did this managed a half-way decent job is impressive in itself but they forgot a lot of the support networks in place, and while I have it on good authority that funding will be made available to Griffin & Kryuger, I cannot confirm or deny that other moves might be made."

"Waking up the sleeping giant hm?" Persica muttered behind her mug before replying properly, "So we shouldn't expect to see US Marines or Delta Force any time soon? Shame." Her terminal beeped, and Persica nodded, "You're in luck General, the final checks are done, so I'm going to wake her up and begin questioning her. I'll allow you to observe but please remain quiet."

At Shepherd's nod, Persica adjusted the camera and initiated the startup sequence for the Doll.

A few tense seconds passed, and with a jerk her eyes snapped open to reveal milk-white under the dark-green hair. After a few moments, the Doll looked around and spotted the mirror, the final test as Persica's hands cleched around her mug as the Doll locked eyes with her reflection.

And then the Doll blinked in confusion, "Huh?" They moved an arm, followed by the other, befor shifting their legs in the restraints, "Oh. It's me."

And as she recognised her state of undress, she blushed before letting out an embarrassed screech, "WHY AM I NAKED?! WHERE THE HELL AM I?!"

Persica felt a tear come to her eye as she approached.

Finally.

---

Coming to wakefulness was always familiar to them. Momentary blink, and then awake and bleary, the price of so many late nights. The sin of the night owl returned to haunt them, and by reflex they reached to their right to grab their phone, only for the first anomaly to snap into focus

This was not their room. This was not their house. They were strapped down in some kind of cradle inside what appeared to be a mix between a robotics lab and a private workshop, and perhaps depending on the owner the distinction was invisible. What they saw next prompted a confused blink.

"Huh?"

And in front of them was a mirror, and in the mirror was the image of a naked woman, full-figured and strongly-built, milk-white eyes peering back from under a long mane of dark-green hair and for a moment they were struck with a mild sense of deja-vu before they moved and the woman in the reflection moved with them. After moving their arms and legs followed by shaking their head, they realised why the woman in front of them seemed so familiar.

"Oh, it's me." A sense of relief ran through them as they came to the realisation. That was fine, everything was fine, they were just strapped down naked inside some kind of lab, nothing strange going...on...?

'Wait...naked? Naked?! Lab?!'

"WHY AM I NAKED?!" She shrieked, a furious blush rising up on her face as she tried and failed to cover herself up, "WHERE THE HELL AM I?!"

"You are currently inside my lab." A woman's voice replied, the soft padding of bare feet coming to her ears and she turned to see a woman with long pink hair, tired baggy eyes, and a pair of cat ears approaching with a mug of coffee in her hand, sipping it casually, "I'm glad to see you're awake and stable."

"Stable?" She asked, the woman's familiarity tickling her mind, but she pushed that down for now, "What happened to me?"

"You were...involved in an incident in the United States." The woman replied, cat ears twitching, "I am not privy to the details, but you killed the soldiers sent to recover you along with several Dolls in some kind of state of programmed frenzy."

Ice flowed through her, a flash of her hands pulling someone's heart out, gunning down more before a rocket streaked out-

She gasped, breathing heavily, "W-what...what happened?"

"A flashback. It seems your memories are in a somewhat recoverable state." The woman replied, "Looks like we need to adjust your memory recall so you don't...react, quite so strongly to any future flashbacks triggered by stimuli." She smiled sadly, "It's a miracle your Neural Cloud recovered so well as it did from the repair process, I had to do a full system reset and reformat you back to your original factory base settings."

"That...doesn't sound right..." She frowned, trying to dredge her memory for a clue, but only brief, painful flashes of symbols, and numbers, "Ah...! What's wrong with me..."

"I'm not sure. Your memory seems to be using random triggers to restore themselves, but I have no idea on what those triggers could be," The woman looked sympathetic as she sipped her coffee, "Maybe I can help. It relates to how you were found anyway. Do you remember anything called Shadow Company?"

Like a switched flipped in her head, she was bombarded by a smattering of information, and after staring dumbly in shock and surprise, she managed to speak again, "Shadow Company, All-Doll Special Forces Battalion proposed for deployment into Neo-Soviet territory to locate and disable the control systems for all Neo-Soviet Pikes. Force composition consisting of 500 combat Dolls, 1000 Support Dolls, AFV and IFV support, Light Vehicles, utility and attack helicopter access, and access to artillery, strike aircraft and gunship."

She blinked, registering something in her systems, "Registered Commander...Gideon, last name not found...that's...me? But that's a man's name, and this is for a human. But, it feels correct. I am Gideon?" She shook her head, "I don't understand, it feels right but it doesn't."

"Might be a sympathetic connection." The woman mused, "You were given his name for a reason. Though we can always find a new name if it's less confusing."

"I think I might. Thank you Persica," She replied before her mind recoiled, a video playing back in her mind of an image of the same woman, stylised but recognisable, smirking at them.

Persica
"***************, Commander Gideon."

She came out of it with another gasp, "I...I think I'll need that adjustment...as quickly as possible."

The woman, Persica, nodded as she walked over to a terminal and tapped at the keyboard, "It should be a relatively simple procedure. I have a data link to your Neural Cloud so I have a baseline to work off of. What did you see?"

She frowned, "You were talking to him, to Gideon, but I couldn't understand your words. Something about...sugar cubes?"

Persica was happy to be concealed by her terminal, it hid the flinch as she observed General Shepard quietly speaking into a phone, possibly with the Pentagon, as she forced a casual tone of voice, "Must have been a conversation about coffee, I'm something of a connoisseur of a good brew."

"I guess," She replied, uncertain, "I think..." She suppressed a wince as names flashed in her mind, all of them familiar, and she chose one that felt less painful than the others, "I think I figured out what name to use instead of Gideon." She watched as Persica peeked out from behind her console to look at her and she stated confidently, "Mason. I want to be known as Mason."

"Perfectly good for a first or last name. Practical." Persica praised her lazily before returning to her terminal, "All right, the adjustment is done. Can you try remembering anything related to...General Shepherd, US Army."

Mason blinked and this time information flowed smoothly and painlessly as she recited what was coming up in her eyes, "General Shepherd, United States Army, founder of Shadow Company and international special forces unit Task Force 141, attempted to start and escalate a war with Russia before being killed by SAS operators formerly attached to Task Force 141." She cocked her head, "Huh, that was painless."

The expression on Shepherd's face was probably almost worth ruining the deception, but Persica addressed the Doll again, "Oh? Why did he do that?"

"Russia supplied nuclear weapons to a fundamentalist uprising in the Middle East, resulting in the loss of thirty-thousand United States Marines." Mason replied instantly, "This culminated in an invasion of the US East Coast, particularly Washington D.C. and New York, and invading Europe up to the city of Paris before the offensive was forced back."

"Interesting." Persica noted, "There's a few more things we need to cover but so far I'm pleased with the results. After that, we'll find you some clothes."

Mason blushed again, squirming, "That would be nice, thank you."

---

Remington 870 was not one to listen to idle gossip unless it was an opportunity to cause some havoc, but the rumor mill surrounding the black-clad Dolls currently in secured storage along with more military equipment than she had ever seen even in her days roaming up and down Route Sixty-Six? That was a goldmine that even 870 was happy to tap as theories and rumors went all over Grifchan.

Hell, MDR was running a fucking investigation and was getting any and all Dolls and even a few Commanders involved in it, all so the streamer could have something to farm likes within the network, too bad the company rules prevented those streams from going out to the public.

"Eight-Seventy!" The horned T-Doll turned to see another T-Doll, Grizzly, approaching her.

"Yo, Grizzly." 870 waved at the handgunner, "What's the word?"

"New batch of Commander graduates had their files released today, wanna go check 'em out?"

"New Meat, eh?" 870 grinned, tail wagging lazily as they walked in the direction of the bulketin boards to see the graduates and start the process of trading favours and knowledge to put their names forward as assigned starting echelons, "They're not posting them on the network?"

"It's weird." Grizzly popped a lollipop into her mouth, "Ever since S09 rescued that special T-Doll squad, Corporate's been running around with their asses on fire. S07 is being opened up for a posting to deal with the bandit clans, Germany's getting poked for facilities and land, and I heard that whoever is being sent to S07 might be getting an elite T-Doll straight from 16Lab."

'Good old Grizzly.' 870 mused, 'How the hell no-one caught her for that Cocaine Coke mess I'll never know, but damn am I ever glad for her habit of cultivating informants.' The handgunner seemed to have sources from here all the way back to the United States, and for 870 that meant easy access to gossip not even MDR knew.

"You think there's something big in the works? Maybe that secret squirrel unit found a weakness we could use to kick Sangvis asses into the scrapyard?" 870 mused lazily, "Cause I could use a vacation."

"Didn't you get kicked back here to Central because you, and I quote Legal on this, 'started a large-scale vigilante network dedicated to eliminating human and Doll traffickers' while you were in S17?" Grizzly looked askance at 870 who looked back with a massive shit-eating grin on her face.

"What can I say, I'm a force for justice. Plus, no one cares if you rob traffickers."

Grizzly rolled her eyes before opening a private Zener channel to 870, "Listen, you didn't hear it from me, but Makarov is being sent to S07."

"Isn't Makarov part of the Disciplinary Unit?" 870 queried, "Don't think a rookie Commander would enjoy that tea-drinking hardass being around."

"MDR's been like a dog with a bone about the Spooks," Grizzly countered, "Used her pull in HR to get assigned to S07 so she can have exclusive footage if they get used."

"And a good quarter of HR are paypig simps for her gaming streams." 870 realised, her grin fixed in place as they reached the bulletin boards, the shotgunner and handgunner taking in the crowds of Dolls looking over the profiles of the various commanders and where they would be assigned.

Grizzly whistled, "Decent number this time."

"Some guy from Turkey, I think I heard of him," 870 spoke up, "Supposed to be absolutely terrified of Dolls with Yellow Eyes." She scanned the others, optics easily picking out the photographs and profiles and she knew Grizzly could as well. It was still annoying since there were a lot of shorter dolls jumping about trying to get a better look.

"Canadian guy I heard was nearly shitcanned for the Doll Rights and Ethics sections." Grizzly snorted, "Total prick too."

"Better than that sleaze from Greece." 870 highlighted a file, "I got good intel from a training Doll that he's going straight into a logistics base, all human staff. Cushy job."

"And one that keeps him away from us. They never seem to learn that all Dolls have standing authorisation to resist and defend against sexual harassment and coercion, right? Not even the techs can pull it out."

870 shrugged, "You think I know how Meat thinks?" She looked over the last one, "Huh, the Conspiracy Girl made it. Looks like-" 870 suddenly burst into physical laughter as Grizzly looked over the file displayed publicly, before shaking her head.

"Unbelievable. They're sending her to S07."

"Right across from Base Zero!" 870 crowed over Zener as she kept laughing, "MDR is going to eat her alive!"

"Probably why Makarov is being sent," Grizzly opined as 870 calmed down, "But don't you think that's suspicious? A known conspiracy theorist who honest to God was arrested by the FSB and used Griffon and Kryuger to avoid the gulags, now being placed near the target of her obssession? Either someone screwed up, or someone wants her to go digging."

870 grinned, "In that case then, I think the poor girl is going to need some protection against MDR's wiles while Makarov isn't around."

Grizzly rolled her eyes, she knew that look, and Heaven help the poor girl getting caught between MDR and Remington 870.

"HEY EVERYONE!" A Doll shouted over Zener, "THE NEW GIRLS ALL WOKE UP SIMULTANEOUSLY!"

And with that, any thoughts of how much trouble she could get into or cause were forgotten as 870 joined the horde of Dolls rushing to look at the mysterious new arrivals, the hall where the bulletin boards were located rapidly draining of people in much the way a flash flood drains out of a town, leaving just Grizzly to look over the files before looking into eyes of a young woman with dark twintails.

Before shaking her head with a smile, "Good luck Marian."

Turning away, Grizzly whistled a tune as she went to help the more responsible Dolls corral the troublemakers.

 

[Gideon020]

This was the most secure room in the Pentagon, and each person present were thoroughly vetted by every alphabet-letter agency left in the United States, and the results had been surprising to learn for those who were organizing this meeting, details about personal lives, political and philosophical affiliations and sympathies, and their links to certain parties now under scrutiny. In the end, those who could be trusted were brought into the meeting, and carefully briefed on the situation as teams sent to investigate the bunker reported their findings.

On one wall, illumination was provided solely by a large screen, leaving the occupants mostly shrouded in shadows as they gave their findings while the recordings and other videos played, in particular a selection of videos showing off the simulations provided by Griffin & Kryuger and Persica over in Eastern Europe, video after video of simulated conversations between the Doll and individuals in the PMC, Persica of 16Lab, Ringleaders from Sangvis Ferri and others, video after video of simulated battles taking place across Eastern Europe covering the Sangvis Ferri uprising to what appeared to be a full-blown shadow war between the Commander that the Doll was playing a proxy of, and an unknown cult with support from the East German Stasi of all people and elements in the Russian StateSec Ministry.

This, combined with the report from General Shepherd, only seemed to make everything found so far seem-

"Absolutely insane." A General remarked as the audio recordings of the interview Persica conducted with the unknown T-Doll classified as PHANTOM MIRROR finished, a mystery that supposed was so deeply-integrated into the command structures of three separate military blocs, that combined with the small army that was in her control, meant that identifying the source of everything found and then ascertaining their loyalties was of paramount importance. Even so, the result so far were at the limits of credulity as the General continued, "This Doll describes a World War Three escalated by a decorated officer with a grudge against a version of Russia that only tangentially has similarities with the Neo-Soviets. Stolen satellite components, a man who the CIA confirms died in the war, along with a number of the members of this 'Task Force 141', save for Colonel John Price, who is the current Commander in charge of the SAS, and I expect if this information is shared with him, would want to have a few words with this Doll personally."

"What's more interesting is the complete lack of Collapse Technology." Another General remarked, "No Pikes, no Collapse Bombs, apart from one or two nuclear strikes, this was just a straight up fight between Russia and a US-supported NATO, and we kicked their asses. I'm thinking it was a fictional scenario based on massive data harvesting to simulate a non-Collapse based World War Three, and the data shows that even with half of the country in flames through an invasion of the East Coast, we kicked their asses." He lit a cigar, "Then we have the simulations where Dolls are introduced, followed by simulations based entirely on what can only be harvested historical data. Fictional scenarios into a real one."

"And the result of the final simulation is a near-match to historical events." The third General in the room huffed, "Which brings us to now." He fixed a glare at the other men and women at the table, "Ladies and Gentlemen, you are the people that we managed to find a level of actionable trustworthiness that shows you are not compromised by Rossartrist ideology, as well as linked to a party that through your briefings you know will be addressed only as 'The White Faction'." He motioned to the massive screen on one wall of the secured room, displaying various items, "You've been given access to Site One, and we are working on accessing Site Two and Site Three. Site Four is currently being excavated by Army Engineers and we are working to restore the airport to allow for transportation there so you can investigate it, but the United States needs to know what your current theories are, based on your investigations inside the Site One complex."

The experts; data analysts, archaeologists, historians, researchers of every description, and even a few civilian hackers located by the NSA and FBI paid for their expertise in cracking systems, and one confused political theorist, all looked at each other before one of them was nudged and seeing as he was the one put up to bat, sighed before starting to speak.

"We managed to develop a few working theories, nothing concrete or within our ability to confirm, mind you. In fact, we have three theories which we have arranged in order of most to least likely, based on our findings and Occam's Razor. Because at the end of the day, Generals, all three theories are quite...difficult to believe without some time to think on them." At the motion of the cigar-smoking General, the man continued, "We have discovered through further exploration of the initial area of Site One access points to deeper areas, three levels in all, with the deepest level being an array of computers of incredible sophistication, operating on principles related to quantum entanglement and exotic physics that...it defies all current understanding."

"The same computers you mentioned in the reports?" The man nodded at a question from one of the Generals, who pressed the topic, leaning forward in the shadows, "The report indicated that the computers were running, could not be shut down without setting off a lethal failsafe, and were powered by a small reactor based on Collapse Technology. What were they doing?"

"The Array was...it was running two functions simultaneously, without any apparent stress or excess load to the system," The head of the civilian group replied, "Furthermore, those of us with the qualifications, were able to confirm, with a high degree of accuracy and confidence, that this Array was linked by Quantum Entanglement to three others, likely in the other Sites. The first function was the strategic simulations that Persica of 16Lab confirmed that PHANTOM MIRROR was running in her sleep cycles via a device that while conventional in construction, was capable of acting as a passive receiver for the Arrays which actively broadcast to that device."

He paused to take a sip of water from a glass in front of him, "After some conversation with Persica, we found that the device is using an alternative function of Zener Network technology used by all Dolls. Apart from this passive function, the Doll is likely to be able to operate as an extremely-powerful network hub, one with the capability to match, defeat, or even outright ignore any attempts to jam or disrupt Zener signals running through the Hub. Combined with the command authority over the Shadow Company, the Doll is basically a mobile strategic operations terminal."

"One that could tell the United States to jump, and if we didn't know better, we'd ask how high." The fourth General, who had remained silent, scoffed, "We checked, the codes and authorizations are all legit, his Doll outranks The President in her capability to command the United States, and more than likely the NATO member states would all have the same legitimate codes and authorizations, along with the Russians." He tapped a key on a terminal, bringing up a photograph of hundreds of computers inside a sealed chamber, arrayed like gravestones under a lake of cryogenic coolant, all facing the largest standing at the center like a monolith, "What is the second function?"

"Data Harvesting." One of the other civilians spoke up, the scant light revealing casual clothes while they had a laptop open in front of them, "My eyes go blank to hear the guys who know quantum shit go into the technical deets, but the gist of it is that these computers are harvesting data to use for the simulations, and once we got access to that...fuck man, it was goddamn freaky."

"Uh, what he means, General, ma'am," Another civilian spoke up, glasses shining in the reflected glare of the screen, "Is that the data harvesting isn't just from networked devices. It is pulling data from everywhere. We watched as it pulled data from air-gapped systems, from mobile phones, from video games, financial systems, military networks, even computers inside Hollow City for some kind of simulation called Operation Bakery which was partitioned from the ones involving Griffin & Kryuger. But it didn't end there. We watched it scan newspapers, comic books, novels, technical manuals, sealed files inside Moscow, Berlin, London, the remaining inhabitable sections of Japan, China and the Middle East, here in the Pentagon and that was when we discovered what it was doing."

"It's a knowledge base," A woman in the group took over the explanation, "It is a collated, curated collection of data from across the planet which was then added to using data from...other sources."

"Other sources?" The first General asked curiously.

"We didn't look too deeply, discovering that the system was capable of doing it in the first place was disturbing enough and any interference could have detonated the failsafe, but it is somehow pulling data from alternate timelines, and perhaps completely different realities, ones where Relic Technology doesn't exist." The woman shuddered as she continued, "The data from all of these sources is collected into what we call The Infosphere, and it is this Infosphere that is used to predict...everything."

"Everything?" The third General parroted, "You mean it can simulate other scenarios?"

"We were able to start a separate simulation, to see if the system could simulate us..." The woman inhaled, before slowly exhaling, clearly shaken, "It was able to predict us, our actions and reactions, everything we said and did, a few of us nearly had existential breakdowns because of it. But we found out something critical."

"The Array in Site One," The man who had first spoken took up the presentation again, bringing up a map of North America with all four Sites marked on it, "Whatever technology it is made from, it is too advanced and complex to simulate itself. It literally cannot see itself in any simulations, possibly as a safety mechanism. We were able to have it simulate us in real-time but the level where the Array was located was...blank, it was like seeing us standing above what was essentially a black hole, a literal pit of darkness with data flowing into it."

"And you believe the same results will be found at the other Sites?" The first General asked.

"We were to confirm that each of the Site Arrays are connected to each other via some manner of quantum entanglement, and if our working assumptions are correct, each Site has an Array which has its own Infosphere, which would then logically mean that these four Sites are using the Infospheres to essentially correct each other of any errors in their data gathering." The man summed up, "And it was from those assumptions and what we were able to ascertain of the Array's function, that we came up with our theories."

"Theory one," The woman spoke up once more, "Is that the Arrays are in fact US in origin, built during the Cold War based on experiments into Relic Technology and Collapse Fluid, as a black operation. Based on the exceptional data gathering capability and simulation potential, this theory posits that the Sites showed what was going to happen, which shocked the project leaders and researchers so badly that they buried the project in the depths of sealed files in the Pentagon, and then used technical information to build the Shadow Company before abandoning the Sites to be deliberately discovered." She sighed, "Unfortunately we can't prove that without digging deep into every classified file that survived World War 3 and the contamination of the United States."

"But there's a problem with it, the Doll herself, and the Shadow Company, along with the state of the facility." The man explained, "Site One's location makes it difficult to accurately gauge how old it is, moreover according to 16Lab most of the Dolls were built after World War 3, which means the Sites would have to have been abandoned recently...but we have no eyewitness accounts to confirm it, and the Doll still rapidly locks up as a screaming mess before being forcibly shut down."

"The second theory is that the Arrays were built, but everything was the result of whoever made them discovering an additional function that...generated the Shadow Company and Doll from...nowhere, literally pulled from another reality. We nearly dismissed it out of hand," The man shrugged in the shadows, "Considering that the Array is very likely built with an understanding of Collapse Technology that is far ahead of us, if it has the ability to pull things from other realities, it can't be entirely dismissed."

The person in casual clothes piped up, "At least its less crazy than the last theory."

The man nodded, "Yes. The last theory is the most outlandish. It posits that the Precursor Civilization, the alien species that left behind Relic Technology, developed the arrays and through them, predicted their disappearance and created the Shadow Company to possibly protect their own vested interests, which might be the prevention of the creation of any individual who can manipulate Relic Technology and in doing so guarantee their faction's hegemony over the world. But why they would put the Sites in North America, build these forces and then use their technology to conceal everything until an appointed time, we do not have any workable theories or guesses."

"Further answers then," The first General mused, "will have to be secured from the other Sites. We'll have analysts and archivists dig through the sealed records here and at Langley, see if there was anything buried in the Black Budget to try and prove the first theory. If need be, we may have to use Site One to confirm it. Not directly, but to at least point us in the right direction to start looking." They tapped a button and the screen went into sleep mode, the lights coming on as people blinked the spots out of their eyes.

"Thank you for your hard work Ladies and Gentlemen. As it stands, we may require you to investigate the remaining sites once they've been cleared safe and any additional Shadow Company equipment is removed." The First General, wearing an Army uniform stated neutrally.

"If required, there are allowances made for additional compensation and support, though we cannot promise to fulfill too many conditions." The Second General, marked by an Air Force uniform, offered.

The Third General, in actuality a Navy Admiral, nodded, still quietly chewing their cigar, while the Fourth, a woman wearing a Marines uniform indicated the now-blank screen.

"We do not need to remind you that everything you have participated in is top secret. Your communications will be monitored and you have agreed to this monitoring. We cannot afford any leaks, and if this information is leaked, we will remind you that the consequences are severe."

"Just one question, yeah?" The young man in casual clothes held up a hand, "What the hell is the plan for all of this?"

The four Staff Officers glanced at each other, considering the answer to give, before they nodded in agreement, with the Army General speaking up.

"If you hear this, there is no going back for any of you. You will be considered part of a high-level operation to secure the national security and indeed the continued independence and super-power status of the United States Of America." He met each of the civilians eyes as he continued, "As it stands, you can continue with the original terms, investigate the Sites, and go home with the knowledge that you will be well-compensated and only have to suffer continuous monitoring until the start of 2065. If you do wish to be fully brought in, be aware that if any of you attempt to back out, or try to engage in whistleblower actions, we have permission from the President to remove you as a national security threat."

The Admiral blew out a smoke ring, chuckling, "If I was you folks, I'd take the money and just accept tapped phone lines and monitored emails for a couple of years. This secret squirrel superspy shit is not for the faint-hearted." He waved at the door, "Don't answer immediately. Just take some time to think about it, and we'll hear your answers at the next briefing once we get confirmation that Site Two is ready for investigation."

---

"Investigations." Grizzly stated flatly as she stared at the trainee Commander across from her in the training center main mess hall, shared by the assigned Dolls for this batch of Accelerated Training Program enlistees, as she took up another spoonful of stew, "You mean more conspiracy theories."

"I mean," the young woman with the twin-tail hairstyle huffed, "Actual investigations. Specifically into why the United States was defeated during the mid-point of World War 3."

"Not much to investigate there." Grizzly remarked, "IOP and Sangvis Ferri sold Dolls to the Russians, and the US lost two Armored Divisions to them." She shrugged, "US lost the tech war, simple as that."

"They lost to a country recovering from a political takeover, and with a military budget that was only barely beginning to cover the cost of T-14 and T-15 production for their human troops, let alone Dolls." Marian Harper grimaced, "I dug up the real numbers, not that shit that Pravda and the other papers regurgitate, the Neo-Soviet Union was bankrupting itself to fight the war, and somehow they can afford to purchase and equip nearly five battalions of Dolls and Automated Weapon Platforms? Bullshit."

"So?" Grizzly raised an eyebrow, "IOP and Sangvis probably just sold 'em cheap to show off my ancestors."

"There is cheap," Marian countered, "And then there is selling at a nearly three-hundred-percent markdown. IOP and Sangvis Ferri were all but paying the Neo-Soviet Army to take Dolls, they were running at net losses that would have, should have, bankrupted both companies but instead they boast record profit margins and are even able to quadruple output thanks to the increased investments! They run at business-breaking losses and then bounce back without any kind of after-effect for doing that? I don't fucking buy it."

Grizzly liked Marian Harper. Sure, her conspiracy theories often made her out as a vocal opponent to the Neo-Soviet System, but she was a good kid, strong-willed and with a good head on her shoulders. Hell, compared to the others, Marian was practically the Ace of this batch of trainees in regards to tactical and strategic abilities and her treatment of Dolls was frankly heartwarming to the ex-Homicide Department Doll. The conspiracy theories were the only wrinkle in a personality and temperament that would have Elites putting their hats in the ring to be assigned to her, and here she was in the heart of Neo-Soviet Territory, loudly declaring that the Neo-Soviet Government basically won the war because of charity.

But the one thing Grizzly knew about Marian through interacting with the young woman; she never spouted baseless nonsense. If Marian Harper had a conspiracy theory, she would make sure she had verifiable facts to back up her insanity. And that was likely the reason now.

Sighing, Grizzly smiled at Marian, "All right Marian, I'll bite. What's the proof?"

thump

The stack of print outs dumped on the table drew the attention of every Doll and Trainee there, as Marian ignored them and pushed a couple of sheets out of the stack towards Grizzly, "I got these numbers through paying off a hacker to trace old financial data from the period. It clearly shows an anomaly in IOP and Sangvis Ferri finances during the War." She pointed at one section that Grizzly scanned, rows upon rows of account numbers, deposits, withdrawals and transfers ran before her, and after a few minutes, Grizzly frowned.

"Huh."

Marian smiled triumphantly, "See? I knew a Doll would pick it up!" A few other Dolls drifted closer to look at the sheets as Marian picked up steam, putting forward another set of papers, "These are Neo-Soviet Treasury accounts from the wartime period. You can see that identical accounts show up both in IOP, Sangvis Ferri, and Treasury accounts during the mid and late war periods, massive influxes of hard currency from numerous banks, from accounts that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. No individual account holders to identify, tracks erased. BUT!" She fished around and pulled out another sheet, "One account was overlooked, and the hacker states that while it was closed, the bank's own records showed that it was in fact held by the United Nations Relic Agency!"

"And you think these accounts were held by the UNRA?" Grizzly asked.

"The UNRA or Proxies!" Marian declared, "For some reason, the UNRA wanted the Neo-Soviet Union to win the war strategically in order to essentially control the entirety of Eastern Europe, and portions of Continental Europe, to position itself as a local superpower, while at the same time embarrassing and weakening the United States who held the majority of influence in the UN and used that influence to expel the UNRA before the UN was dissolved."

Grizzly connected to the local Zener to find it buzzing with discussion as the closer dolls went over the papers with Marian's permission and started picking out details, and she kept the connection open to gauge reactions as she made a decision to play Devil's Advocate, "Let's say I believe that, Marian, and I'll be honest, it's pretty convincing..."

"But there's a hole in the theory, right?" Marian replied, undeterred by Grizzly's doubt.

"The UNRA dissolved before the War." Grizzly pointed out, "Half of the Agency basically sealed themselves into Antarctica while the rest simply vanished. If any of this is to be remotely possible, the UNRA remnants that remained outside Antarctica would have had to infiltrate major sources of financial, political and social influence in order to basically do an Illuminati. And if they did do that...why?"

Marian pouted, "I have a theory, but it's pretty out there."

"More out there than UNRA remnants influencing World War 3 just to dunk on the United States?" A trainee further down the table asked, "Way I see it, you're full of shit as always Harper."

Marian ignored him, "I think this is being influenced by Geographical Determinism."

"Geo-what now?" A doll asked curiously.

"Geographical Determinism, basically a theory where if a major faction or superpower controls a certain region or regions, it basically declares that power as the one to truly influence world events." Marian explained, "There was a big one, back in the nineteen-hundreds, called the World Island Theory. Basically, whoever controls Europe controls the world, with Russia as a Pivot Point. Whoever is supreme in Russia, basically can run the planet."

"And you think this UNRA Conspiracy manipulated events based on this theory?" Grizzly prodded, looking over some more papers.

"I don't know. What I do know is that the UNRA or some group masquerading as them wanted the Russians to win, and then propped them up further in order to be a lead partner in a future unification of Europe under a single hegemonic government that would eclipse a weakened United States. That is the basic end goal of any kind of conspiracy looking to manipulate politics and world events, they want to consolidate power into a single government entity with an artificial culture placed on top."

"This relate to that 'Marxist Wizardry' stuff you were talking about a month back?" Grizzly cocked her head.

"No, but it's closely related. Hagel was pretty clear in his mystic leanings, and Marx just hid his Gnostic roots better." Marian replied, "The real mystery remains why Russia, because as far as I can see, it's the same kind of cronyism and oligarchism as the Old Soviet Union and the Russian Federation!"

Grizzly shrugged, "I don't know how you Humans think, I'm happy with a few beers and some cheesecake." The rest of the dolls cheered in agreement at the thought of cheesecake as Marian sighed before laughing quietly to herself.

"Well, thanks for listening Grizzly." She collected her printouts, "Now I need to get this all shredded and burned so no-one tries to use them against me!"

"Ain't you planning on keeping them?" Grizzly asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Already collated them into my binders!" Marian announced, "Can't leave any trails just in case they have people on the look out for this!" And with that, Marian Harper left the cafeteria while the other trainees scoffed at the latest insanity to come from her mind.

When she vanished for a month, returning with her arm in a sling, her fingers taped up in splints, and a nasty black eye to go with a story of being arrested by the FSB, the Dolls soon found they had their own conspiracy theories as Marian continued to soldier on through the training despite her injuries.

Only Grizzly heard her sobbing quietly one day, and paid more attention to her theories from that day forward.

 

[Gideon020]

Thanks to some quick and dirty image editing by my brother, we now have a nice new logo image for this fic.

 

[Gideon020]

Spoiler: Author Commentary

One more chapter after this one, and then...the curtain rises.

In all her time in the Stasi, Romy Riefenstahl never liked coming to the Reichstag, because everytime she did there was always an annoyance.

"Director Rifenstahl," With years of long experience, Director Romy Riefenstahl turned to face the politician with a politely-neutral expression on her face, while the Party stooge in front of her smiled the kind of smile the Stasi director once associated with American used car salesmen on the TV as a child.

"Comrade Weissmann," Romy inclined her head slightly in acknowledgement, internally tolling her eyes at the communist trappings the Volkskammer wrapped themselves in to appear palatable to their Russian backers, "How can the Stasi assist you."

'Rather, what complaint do you have about our Doll recruitment today?' Romy mused, as that seemed to be the perennial complaint that the Party had to Romy's solution to the manpower gap the Stasi was suffering. Dolls were overall more suitable for the majority of low-level field and office work the Stasi handled day to day, which let her husband her remaining core of veterans and scant new recruits for more high-profile operations.

But to the pigs in cheap suits pretending to run the country, putting a mass-produced second class citizen into Stasi was a step too far, even as they ignored her recommendations and requests for increased funding and newer equipment.

"Director Rifenstahl," The politician's expression was not the typical mock-seriousness that came with complaints about recruiting Dolls, and that was enough to have Romy on guard, "I need to discuss something with you, urgently." With a sharp glance around the empty hallway, the politician moved closer, "It concerns America."

Now this was interesting. Romy had ignored the United States in the past; the nation had greatly diminished in political influence and military power, with the Ruble steadily looking to eclipse the Dollar, but then again so had everyone. America was to the world of the 2060s as the Ottomans were to the 1900s, so everyone ignored them.

With a wave, Romy led the man into one of the conference rooms she knew had a Stasi, not Soviet, listening device inside, and after locking the door she turned to face the man, "Talk."

The politician nodded, "I have...private interests in keeping an eye on any interesting rumours and news out of America."

'In short, investments in American businesses.' Romy translated in her head.

"And I heard from my associates that the United States was publicly resuming research into Collapse Technologies, with research to be done in the contaminated zones outside the Exclusion Walls. Apparently there was a breakthrough of some kind, and the United States is pouring large sums into the research."

"Is that so?" Romy mentally noted to get the Dolls in Analysis to check American news networks for any news articles of this development, the Americans loved showing off so some passive intel gathering would be a good start, but the real question was...

"Why would the United States resume research on Collapse Technologies? They lost half the country to contamination, the public would be in an uproar." Something didn't add up; the global moratorium into Collapse Technology was done to prevent another Beilan Island disaster that would finish the job of leaving the world to the ELID. Any nation that even considered reopening research into Collapse Technology would become a pariah-

"They're deliberately flouting the UN Mandates." Romy realised out loud, before her eyes bore into the politician's, causing him to flinch, "The Stasi will be requiring access to your contacts in order to ascertain the reason why the United States is repopening Collapse Technology research despite the bans." After ensuring that the man understood that her request covered all of his contacts, Romy made to leave the Reichstag, pulling out her phone to dial her aide.

"I want all staff assembled in six hours, all hands briefing." She snapped before her aide could reply.

After a scant moment, the Doll replied immediately, "Understood Director, shall I give a reason?"

Romy briefly considered saying 'no' before dismissing the thought, "America has done something incredibly stupid. We need to open an investigation into American activities and movements."

Reaching her car, eyes scanning the area as she fished her keys out, Romy continued giving orders, "Get me a line to Zielinsky as soon as I return to headquarters, have the Dolls in Signals start monitoring US news outlets and contact the University Of Berlin's Collapse Sciences Department."

"Understood, Director Riefenstahl, everything will be ready by the time you arrive." Romy hung up with a muttered farewell while turning the keys in the ignition, her car speeding out of the Reichstag private parking area into the bustle of Berlin.

'The University's Collapse Sciences Department is one of the best in Europe after Moscow,' Romy kept her eyes on the road as she drove, barely glancing at a city that was adancing towards the future, 'Their staff will be important to understanding any technical information recovered in the future from America. The next thing to consider is Moscow; the Bear will not tolerate an Eagle rising across the Atlantic again.'

Tolerate was the polite word for it, the Neo-Soviet Union would likely think that the United States was committing political suicide and start cheering, but Romy had a good enough read on the Politburo from her time as a liason to guess that once the news hit, a lot of people were going to be concerned.

Especially State Security.

'Why now?' Romy grimaced as she made a turn, before she blinked, 'The moratorium.'

It made sense the more she considered it. The United States was universally looked down on, a fallen superpower sacrificed to display the victory of socialism renewed, but it would have won the war even with half the country gone had the Soviets not pushed Dolls into military service.

Half a country fought Russia and only a surprise innovation stopped two US Army Armored Divisions from simply rolling into Moscow. The Russians played up the propaganda victory, but Romy had seen the files, read the Stasi transcripts of private meetings. The Russians would have lost the war.

And even in its diminished state, the United States could be felt. US-made Synth and Vat-Grown meat products were a major import commodity, with the worst grades of real US Beef now a luxury on par with the luxury meats that used to be ranched in Japan. Oligarchs, politicians and other elites sneered at America while paying extortionate prices for what America sold, and the Black Sea Fleet remained in the Black Sea or Mediterranean.

Confronting a Supercarrier and attendant battle group was a fast way to humble an arrogant captain, and if that captain did turn hostile even the British would turn a blind eye. America was weakened, not weak.

Ignoring the Moratorium On Collapse Technologies, along with the additional UN Mandates threatening punitive penalties and even military intervention, only worked if your nation was weakened enough by Collapse Disasters and the aftershocks of the War. If the United States decided they would ignore them?

'If the United States ignored them, there would be nothing Geneva could do short of sanctions and military intervention would stop them, and that's not an assured thing.' Mind reeling with the possibilities, Romy arrived at Stasi Headquarters with her expression set into a grim stare as she passed through security, her aide approaching her.

"Is everything ready?" Romy didn't even slow down as the Doll fell into line slightly behind her.

"All necessary information has been placed on your desk for review." The Doll replied, "All operatives have received the order to return, though there may be a need for urgency."

Romy turned her head to look at the Doll, "What urgency?"

"The President of The United States is making a public address to the country regarding the resumption of research into Collapse Technology."

Romy Riefenstahl, Director of Stasi, paused just long enough for that statement to sink in, before she visibly sped up her walk.

---

"Xav. Oi! Xav! Wake up mate you need to see this!" The shout caused a pile of documents arrayed like a protective wall go shift slightly before the man in question peered from around the paper fort, blinking owlishly behind his glasses.

"Rita?" Looking behind the woman, 'Xav' saw that the corridors outside his small office in GCHQ were abuzz with activity, "What's going on?"

"Trust you to be the only one unaware when it's your area of resposibility Xav," Rita admonished, "It's the Yanks, they're broadcasting some speech by their President, going on about resuming Collapse Technology research!"

"What?" Xav said faintly before fumbling around his desk for a remote control and after a few moments of fumbling, turned on the silent TV hanging in a corner of the office to display a BBC broadcast of the President Of The United States speaking before a packed Congress.

"Honored members of Congress, and to all of my fellow Americans at home and abroad. I have come before you today to state my intentions and explain the incredible statement I made just yesterday."

Xav stared alongside Rita at the screen as he turned up the volume, watching as the President began their speech proper.

"For the past decade, America found itself dumbly, numbly following the commands of a new world order, an order which sought to suppress technological advancement and stifle the freedoms of the free people's of the world in favour of the promotion of an artificial culture, one that even we in America have fallen victim to, ignoring the indignities it inflicts on a particular group of people in favour of easy answers to old prejudices."

"It is a system which promotes a second-class citizenry which flies in the face of the democratic values and ideals this nation was founded upon, and reacknowledged with The Second Revolution! We cast down the corporate oligarchies poisoning our values, warping our sensibilities, and resolved to start again from zero. Only we didn't start again, because we were shackled to the new order by way of the UN Mandates and Treaties forced upon us by Russia and Geneva! We are nowhere near the finish line because we never crossed the starting line!"

Other workers, analysts, and a few non-descript individuals were now watching the broadcast from the door as Xav realised he actually had to do some work, furiously taking notes and preliminary observations down.

"We were forced back by corporate greed and foreign disaster to the territories of the original thirteen colonies. Regardless of any one religion or creed, the message was clear that America needed a reset, the loss of the country was a punishment for hubris, and our losses in World War 3 were the final nail in the coffin for what some might call American Exceptionalism. I say it was a call to return those times, but the cowards in the Old Administration decided it was better to kowtow to Moscow than pick ourselves up and try again!"

"That was until Doctor Michael Bridges, a brave pioneer driven by defiance of foreign impositions, and patriotic faith in this country, made a breakthrough that has opened the eyes of America to a new path! The Bridges Paradigm, a scientific method to utilise Collapse Technology in manners that even now can only exist in the realms of science-fiction. With this process, the eyes of America are now open! The West will be won again, the ruins reclaimed, and the contamination purged!"

"Which is why, I declare that the intentions of the United State are to discard the UN Moratorium On Collapse Technologies! We will throw away the UN Mandates On Collapse Restrictions and ignore the terms of all UN Resolutions banning the research and development of Collapse Technologies! It was unchecked arrogance by unregulated corporate interests that lost us our country, so it must be by clearly-defined and monitored research and development into Collapse Techologies that will win it back."

"Dear God," Someone muttered.

"I also bring forward to Congress, The Bridges Plan, a great reclamation plan in the spirit of the original pioneers. Humans and Dolls crossing the lands outside the Exclusion Wall, establishing new settlements that will be the heart of new cities while tearing down and salvaging the old, or preserving them for historical value. Purging the contamination so that only the Black Zones are contained behind Red and Yellow Zone, while the new cities will become Blue Zones controlling purified Green Zones. It will be the work of lifetimes, but it is my hope that by the year Twenty Eighty, we will see the Pacific once again."

Xav's office phone started ringing, and he quickly picked it up, "Xavier Winton speaking."

"Winton, it's Holmes." Xavier straightened slightly at the voice of his direct supervisor, "I've been handed word on high. We're opening a taskforce to keep an eye on this new direction America is going in, and you've been shortlisted. Not my call, you're technically the sole expert on American Affairs left, so you're up."

"Damn," Xavier said jokingly, "There goes my plans to finish the East Wing."

"It's the West Wing that needs watching now." Holmes replied sympathetically, "They want you leading the team. I need you to come into my office with any notes and observations, along with any relevant records. They'll be sending someone to review candidates so try not to embarass yourself."

"Try my best." Xavier replied sunnily before saying his goodbyes and hanging up, looking back up at the screen he had half an ear on, taking rough notes the entire time.

"-remind the world that America is not defeated, and as long as even a single American lives, our nation will never die. Thank you all, and may God bless The United States."

As The President left to a standing ovation, Xavier Winton glanced at Rita, who had an amused look on her face, "Something interesting?"

"Just thinking about how the Russians will react. Bet they'll be happy that the US are going to make themselves into pariahs."

Xavier glanced at his notes, one observation standing out to him.

Complete confidence in this new direction. Act as if they have seen direct proof.

"Somehow, I'm not too sure of that."

---

"The stunning announcement by the United States has been met by unanimous condemnation by the European Union, Neo-Soviet Union, and the People's Territories Of China, with the Nile River Coalition and North African Congress member states abstaining. At the presentation of a resolution to sanction the United States, the American delegate declared the withdrawal of the United States from the General Assembly, citing that America will not be held back by Eurocentric interests any longer."

"They're breaking out the champagne at this news." An aide remarked to Viktor Zielinsky, "The Politburo is ecstatic at the US withdrawal from the UN, and all branches of the military are hoping that intervention in the United States will be called for." A shrug, "Not exactly unexpected."

"Wait a few days, Comrade." Zielinsky stated, looking out over Moscow, "While our citizens make memes about crazy Americans, GRU will start coming to realisations. As will our analysts. The President had total confidence in The Bridges Plan, the kind of confidence that comes from seeing hard evidence." He pulled out a mobile phone, dialling a number from memory, "Keep an eye on General Neustadt. His reactions will be important."

"At once, Comrade Director."

As the aide left, the phonecall picked up as Director Zielinsky spoke into it, "Get me the status of the listening stations in Siberia, and organise for repairs and upgrades. I want satellite observation of the United States to resume immediately."

After receiving acknowledgement, Zielinsky dialled another number, waiting as it secured a connection and a woman's voice came on the line, "Director Zielinsky."

"Agent, I want you to follow up on rumors that US equipment was handed over to Griffin & Kryuger during the course of your operations in the region. You can consider this secondary but the priority may change as I receive new information. Report any findings through the usual channels."

"Understood."

The call ended without a word, leaving Director Viktor Zielinsky to look back out at Moscow as the city went as he felt a faint chill on his neck.

'Sattelite surveillance will be in position in a few days, the Politburo will release a public statement subtly mocking the United States, and no doubt the Rossartrist Charters will start protesting this apparent insanity. The last gasps of a dying regime, they'll call it.'

He sat down at his desk, preparing for another day of running an organ of The State, but even so Zielinsky couldn't dispel his disquiet.

"Even a dying man can still inflict some damage." He muttered before focusing on his work for the day.

 

[Gideon020]

Spoiler: Author Commentary

Last one. Thank you for putting up with them. The groundwork is now complete.

The classroom was just the same as it normally was for the G&K Training Academy in St. Petersburg; blank walls laid out with a massive screen at one end, while tactical tables were set up to handle the wide variety of simulations that would cover various tactical scenarios that Commanders would be expected to face in the course of normal PMC activity, and over the course of operations as a possible Expeditionary Commander sent to engage Sangvis Ferri as well as securing regions against bandit activity so that the Neo-Soviet government could resettle regions with proper Soviet proletariat, irrespective of the opinions of anyone who settled the empty, partial-wastelands of regions like Estonia, most of Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Afghanistan...just about anywhere that was a NSSR really.

And as Marian Harper had learned many, many times, these operations were to be done without anyone outside Neo-Soviet borders finding out so as not to embarrass their Russian overlords, because in classic Soviet fashion, the Neo-United Soviet Socialist Republics would send their limb-breakers to grab you off the street if you so much as breathed in the direction of the truth, because even though America wasn't getting involved in international affairs, the Soviets couldn't let them have wind that there might be weaknesses in Communism. Again.

Marian wondered just how they could have hoped to win the war without help by the UNRA, or whoever they were now. Hopefully, once she aced whatever the final exam was, she could go digging into some restricted files for her research, maybe see if any of the Dolls she'd be assigned knew how to hack into places-

"Welcome to the final practical exam." Marian jolted at hearing Vice-Commander Helianthus' voice, the monocle-wearing woman standing at the front of the room in front of the screen as the gathered Commander trainees stood in line, and as the woman continued Marian wondered why Helianthus glanced directly at her, before she focused on listening to the details of the exam while the screen lit up to display further information.

"For this final exam, you will be going through an advanced combat assessment scenario based on the combat situations experienced by the Commander of Area S09 in Romania. The objective of this mission is to terminate three Sangvis Ferri Ringleader-class Dolls code-named Executioner, Scarecrow and Hunter. You will be assessed based on your tactics, the number of Dolls lost in combat, and how long you took to eliminate each Ringleader." The screen showed an annotated map of a town, one clearly custom-made for the simulation, "For the purposes of this scenario, the Sangvis Ringleaders will have an infinite number of reinforcements to call upon and bring in to eliminate your assigned forces. You will have access to areas for emergency field repairs, but engaging in constant repairs will affect your score." Helian removed and polished her monocle, eyes firmly meeting each of the trainees before she reaffixed it to her face once more.

"You will have one hour to defeat the three Ringleaders. You will use text and keypad commands only, so that your fellow trainees do not attempt to copy your tactics and vice versa." She waved towards the massive computerised tables, and each of the fourteen trainees moved to a table, Marian taking one near the middle and booting it up, waiting as it went through the usual startup screens to display the G&K logo before she navigated to the combat exercise loaded for the exam, bringing up the map and waiting for the simulated, cartoony drone footage to begin as little chibi representations of Dolls were flown into the combat zone, placing her forces in the center with SF forces preparing to move in.

The strategic view showed suitable landing zones in each of the three sections of the fictional town where the Ringleaders had fortified themselves. Scans showed each Ringleader had substantial escorts, and patrolling each area was a heavily-outfitted force consisting of armored Aegis Dolls, Nemeun walking howitzers, and a new unit, one that hadn't been reported yet in the form of Manticores, which she had read were supposed to be Military Police units now that the Hydra was in service, lighter-armed than military-grade Hydras but still fitted with a heavy autocannon and was supposed to be quite nimble for its size and armor. Marian figured that the more gung-ho Commanders would try fancy tactics to eliminate these 'death stacks' but she a job to do as she pushed for Scarecrow first; the Ringleader was supposed to be a recon unit so removing her would let her pick between Hunter and Executioner. And with her decision made, Marian pushed the orders to her Echelons and began the operation.

Resistance was immediate; mixed units of Rippers and Vespids, supported by Dinergates to fix her units in place while the standard Guard/Jaeger formations moved to contain and flank her for the finish. Scouts and Prowlers as early-warning nets, Scarecrow immediately tightening her protective pickets but there was a gap that could be exploited with the proper timing. Tapped commands sent her Echelons through the buildings, Dolls ordered to make mouseholes to pass through structures using available weakpoints and brute strength, her eyes watching as enemy formations were flanked and caught in the open before she captured a landing zone, calling in a supply drop to get her Dolls their battle-snacks and spare bullets before checking their conditions.

Light damage from combat, though one of her shotguns was more beat up than the rest, so an emergency repair order was given as Marian swept her gaze to find a route. Her fingers dancing through commands and keywords, the young woman found it. An apartment block, the kind of ugly Soviet beast that was the norm for Eastern Europe, built nearly right up to the fortified wall surrounding Scarecrow's compound. It would be risky, but a Doll could make the jump, bypassing the pickets patrolling the outside. All she had to do was keep up the pace, and not get bogged down by the larger Sangvis formations, and that could be easily accomplished by continuing to mousehole through buildings.

"Okay girls," Marian muttered, "Time to really earn your paychecks." The Chibis reacted with confident expressions and movements, and Marian began tapping out routes and orders, watching the Sangvis formations as the Echelons approached the major barrier, a large stretch of open parkland with scant cover beyond playground equipment and a couple of public toilet blocks. At a dead sprint, her Echelons would-

The harsh buzzer rang out as one of the trainees swore, "Fuck!"

Helian's response was immediate, her tone sharp, "Kuznetsov, leave the room."

The Russian trainee swore again, leaving the room muttering darkly. Marian pushed the distraction away as her hands finalized the order, and with a short inhalation, she committed, watching as her Dolls broke out in a run across the park, drawing the attention of waiting snipers on nearby rooftops, though her mousehole tactics had left the snipers out of position as sporadic fire was directed towards the running Echelons, shots clipping some of the slower Dolls as the fastest smashed in the front doors of the apartment building and the echelons piled in, leaving behind a couple of destroyed dummies in exchange but when the other accessible route was a killbox of snipers on the rooftops and ground troops to tie up anyone trying to pass through, the cost would have been higher.

Another buzzer.

"Tan, leave the room."

Marian ignored the sound of another failure, directing her Dolls to the roof; snipers and machineguns ordered to clear out Jaegers on the neighbouring rooftops, shotguns to make the jump first, the distance easily within their ability even with heavy armour weighing them down. As the shotguns landed heavily, the machineguns were orders to jump next as the assault rifles fired single shots to keep any reinforcing Jaegers from taking opportunity fire, plasma rounds punching into airconditioning units, water storage and the stairwell access but with the earlier shooting the volume of fire was greatly diminished as the Rifles went next, followed by the assault rifles as the submachineguns and handguns jumped together, one of the handguns falling short as a rifle grabbed her, pulling the handgun up onto the wall while Marian had the echelons pause and rest up while she observed the death stacks.

Three more buzzers.

"Kayserling, Zhelev, Aikawa, leave the room."

The pickets had a gap, large enough to send an echelon through. Marian quickly reorganised her echelons to arrange for a fast moving strike team, and as the gap opened, she gave the order and watched the Dolls make their way down the wall and into the compound, the team skirting the bodyguards to hit the Ringleader from multiple angles, Marian watching as Dummies went down to fire from the floating drones surrounding the masked Sangvis Doll, fingers sending orders as the rifles and machineguns set themselves up behind the shields of the shotguns, the strike team pulling the Ringleader into the exposed courtyard of the compound, trading gunfire with the bodyguards as Marian silently tapped out a countdown.

A buzzer.

"Williams, leave the room."

A buzzer.

"Leary, leave the room."

The strike team was pinned down, the rifles opened fire, picking off Guards to open holes, but the machineguns stayed silent. Marian could tell they were getting frustrated.

Not yet, she messaged. Not yet.

A buzzer.

"Stanalli, leave the room."

"But-!"

"No excuses. Leave the room."

The strike team reported Scarecrow was in the open, and Marian ordered telemetry sharing. Immediately the Ringleader's position at the center of a cluster of Guards was exposed, and Marian ordered smoke and flashbangs to be thrown.

A buzzer.

"Fakhoury, leave the room."

Marian gave the order, and watched in silence as the machineguns opened fire, heavy armour-piercing rounds punching through concrete and bodies to catch the Ringleader by surprise, the strike team and rifles adding their fire to create a crossfire, Marian watching as the floating Doll's body was rapidly blasted apart before the machineguns turned their fury on the escorts and the Sangvis units went down, connection to their Ringleader lost as they waited for a new command authority to connect to them.

A buzzer.

"Jhalawan, leave the room."

Marian leaned back, releasing the breath she had been holding the entire time, fingers automatically ordering her damaged echelons to regroup at a nearby landing zone for rearm and repairs, including replacement Dummies. It would hurt her score, but she imagined that it would average out in the end.

She looked around the room. Including her, there was only four people left in the exam, and while Marian knew that most of the trainees would likely resign to try and get in, most would likely be washed out due to the stringent requirements of the training program. Marian didn't envy their desperation, but she had a job to do, ordering her echelons to begin infiltrating Hunter's section of the map, skirting the edge of the town to access the storm drains, shotguns leading the way into the underground sections, large enough for human maintenance workers. An easy infiltration route and likely to be trapped.

'But sometimes, the best way to draw out your prey,' Marian mused, 'Is to spring the trap.'

Pulling up the maps of the underground section of the town, Marian started plotting as the exam continued.

"One down, two to go, let's see what you've got." She muttered again, ordering the Dolls to remain in visual sight, shotguns leading the way.

As she continued to direct her echelons step by step in the dark sewers, Marian Harper didn't notice Helian paying more attention to her than the other trainees taking their exams as the simulated fight continued.

---

"So, Helian," Kryuger rumbled as he looked over the files of the graduating trainees who had passed the simulation mission, and were now waiting in the hallway lounge, "What is your opinion on the newest group?"

"Largely unsuited for anything involving actual combat," Helian adjusted her monocle, "Except for Marian Harper. She has proven the high expectations of her correct in all regards, certainly more than enough to ignore and if need be, make use of her conspiratory tendencies."

"Good." Kryuger replied, bringing up Marian Harper's file, "The revelations about this 'Parapluie' virus and the possibility of Sangvis Ferri trying to subvert our Dolls means that even without the simulations, a strategic meeting of all Commanders would be required to ensure everyone is prepared to enact countermeasures and tactics to prevent infection. Persica has reported that she has countermeasure programs in the works, and should have them ready before the joint operation with KCCO."

"So far, the steps...and dialogue is unchanged from the simulations." Helian remarked nervously, "If we remain on script for too long..."

"Right now, we must play the part that is expected of us. Once Commander Harper is in Moldova, she will be left to her own devices, and that more than anything will open the way to unexpected results." Kryuger stated, "Besides, your last date went well, didn't it?"

Helian blushed, "Does everyone know about that?"

"The price for making your romantic endeavours so publicly noteworthy in the company." Kryuger chuckled, before his expression sobered, "Have they arrived?"

Helian nodded, checking her pad, "Yilmaz, Galanis and Hsu will be given their assignments by me, while Harper will be having a face to face meeting with you, Mr. Kryuger."

"Good." Kryuger leaned back in his chair, "Send her in immediately before you send the others to their assignments."

"At once."

Watching Helian leave the room, Kryuger considered the timetable that everything was running on. The strategic meeting, according to the simulations, would be attacked by Sangvis Ferri following STAR-15's infected signal broadcast. He knew the lines to give the S09 commander, and it was a funny thing to see that after he had given the young commander his spare handgun, he had never received it back. How appropriate for an old soldier to give a gun to a new one.

The simulations, reliable as they were, could not be fully trusted. Nothing was set in stone, certainly not the future, and with S07 being the wildcard there was every possibility that a Pyrrhic victory might become a crushing defeat, or a truly glorious success. American equipment in the field would draw StateSec like flies to a corpse, attention that would only grow the more equipment was handed over by the United States, who had embraced the title of a rogue state with open arms, their public withdrawal from the United Nations and declaration of the Bridges Plan meaning that whatever the source of the simulations, America was using it.

Kryuger wondered if in the end, it would be necessary to negotiate the transfer of Griffin And Kryuger to American hands, before StateSec had everyone in front of a firing squad.

The door chimed and with the press of a button, Kyruger was waiting as Marian Harper, the wildcard he was pinning his hopes on, entered with a nervous expression on her face, clearly not expecting to be having a meeting with the founder of the private military company, watching as she saluted.

"Marian Harper, reporting for duty!"

Kryuger nodded, motioning to the large chair in front of his desk, "Take a seat." Waiting until Harper had taken her seat, Kryuger began, "What I am about to say to you is not to be repeated outside this room, it must never be said in front of your fellow Commanders or their dolls, and especially not in front of the Commander of Area S09, whose efforts you will find yourself to be directly supporting."

"Sir?"

Kryuger, tapping keys on his terminal, brought up the maps of Moldova, now classified as Area S07 on the internal maps at Griffin, "Last year the government of Moldova, marked as Area S07 on our internal strategic maps, offered a lucractive contract to G&K to clear out the numerous well-armed, well-equipped bandit and trafficking clans operating in Moldova and open it up for resettlement and also act as an important strategic logistics hub for supporting our efforts in Romania and Ukraine to contain Sangvis Ferri and also restore law and order to forgotten sectors of the Neo-Soviet Union." He marked a location, near the border with Romania, "The Moldovan Government has officially signed away an airbase situated in a moderately-contaminated region of the country, sufficiently large enough to act as a major forward operating base for raids across the country, and into Romania if any nearby Commanders require support. Your job, however, is to fulfil the contract given to you by Moldova; removing the bandit clans benefits us as much as it does Moldova, as the country bypasses routes in Romania that are still high-risk."

He then brought up an image of Area S09, "The one facility that will benefit greatly from this is Area S09, which is technically one of our more remote expeditionary bases. As long as Area S07 remains open, we can more easily ship in supplies to S09 and others which will serve to put increased pressure on Sangvis Ferri." Kryuger fixed Harper with a serious stare, "Your training record and acumen shown in your final exam have marked you as someone who has the ability to be perfect for this critical strategic role. Due to the nature of this assignment, you are also being given additional forces, provided as an investment by the United States in exchange for consideration for contracts in the future."

"We're going to take American contracts?" Marian asked, surprise coloring her tone.

Kryuger shrugged, "For now, I am happy to take American equipment and Dolls and put them to use, and they will see use in Area S07 since you will need significant dollpower to secure the country and currently all Dolls from IOP are being sent to engage Sangvis Ferri, though if your performance is suitably up to standard, I will see about releasing additional Dolls as you need them."

"So what exactly am I receiving from the US?" Marian asked curiously.

Kryuger smiled, "500 Special Forces Dolls, Light and Medium Vehicles, Rotorwing and Tilt-Rotor Aircraft, Light and Heavy Armour, and a heavy fire support fixed-wing aircraft, with Doll crews and support Dolls." Marian started coughing in shock as Kryuger continued, "You will also receive, as part of your assigned echelons, the Command Doll overseeing their operation. She will be operating as a T-Doll directly under your command, and will direct these assets as you require. I trust you will be able to clean up Moldova with these forces?"

"Clean up?" Marian spluttered, "I could conquer the country with those forces!" She flushed, but didn't retract her statement as Kryuger regarded her evenly.

"You likely could. You are recorded as having a knack for creative tactics and maneuvers. That will be necessary where you are going." He leaned forward in his seat.

"Commander Marian Harper, do you accept the assignment?"

---

"Are you excited?" Mason turned from inspecting her new outfit at Persica's voice, the scientist leaning against a workbench sipping a fresh mug of coffee.

"Excited as I can be, Persica." Mason replied, picking up her newly-bonded assault rifle, one hand unsheathing the long bayonet and idly twirling it, "Go out, see the world, and shoot things, classic work/life balance."

"Your new Commander will be briefed on what you can do, Mason...no, VAPR-XKG," Persica stated, "From now on, you will be addressed by your weapon while working as a T-Doll for Griffin & Kryuger, so any usage of your chosen name is largely for private, casual moments on base. Make sure you remember that."

"I will, don't worry," VAPR replied with a smile, brushing dark hair from in front of her bright silver eyes, "Any word on where I'm being sent?"

"Area S07," Persica replied, waiting to see if that would trigger a twitch that signified Mason receiving fresh memories, only for the dark-green-haired Doll to cock her head slightly.

"Huh, not S09?"

Persica felt her blood chill slightly, "Area S09 is full to capacity on Dolls. Why?"

"Felt important for me to be there," Mason shrugged, "Doesn't matter."

Persica relaxed slightly, "Sure. Anyway, the helicopter is waiting to take you to Ukraine where you'll meet your Commander and your fellow T-Dolls before you all fly into Area S07." She sipped her coffee, "Once you have all your gear, head straight to the pad. You don't want to be late."

"Rog." VAPR replied, grabbing a bag from the floor and heading to the door, "I'll see you around, Persica."

"Until next time, VAPR." Persica lazily replied, waiting until the T-Doll had left the room, before waiting a few seconds longer, padding over to her usual work console and sending a message to Kryuger.

V is deployed.

 

[Gideon020]

April 14th, 2063
On board light passenger cargo aircraft enroute to Odessa
Critical Personnel: Commander Marian Harper
Deviation Index: 0.7%, Rising

Commander Marian Harper fidgeted as she watched the landscape flying past underneath her through the window of the transport aircraft flying the short hop from St. Petersburg to Odessa, where a G&K staging base for the Balkan expeditionary bases was set up. In the plane's passenger area near where Marian was seated, eight Dolls from Central were chatting amongst themselves while checking weapons and equipment or looking out at the landscape in amazement, likely only ever having traveled by truck or helicopter, not in a light cargo/passenger aircraft.

"And as you can see, viewers, we have now crossed the border into Ukraine, one of the few places in Eastern Europe that avoided major contamination!" Marian watched as MDR played travel guide, the streamer Doll's camera drone flitting from window to window to get the best shots of the terrain, "Ah! Look chat! We're passing over Chernobyl!"

Marian looked out the window to see the Zone Of Alienation passing underneath, source of numerous World War Three myths about entire companies vanishing inside, never to be seen again, along with Post-War stories about how Pripyat was a secret research site for Relics where the military and researchers became cultists and cannibals, but looking out the peaceful terrain Marian could only see an untouched landscape, one that had come through Collapse and World War unscathed.

"Commander," Marian turned to see Makarov standing near her with a can held out, "We've been in the air for over an hour, it's time for refreshments."

Marian smiled as she accepted the can, "Thanks Makarov. Is there any word regarding our new arrival, and the other stuff?"

"The...additional forces are waiting at the airfield, and the new Doll from 16Lab will arrive shortly after we land." Makarov replied, "According to the briefing packet, we will make the rest of the journey to the provided airbase by helicopter, where we will meet with a representative of the Moldovan government to go over our areas of responsibility." She looked at Marian, "Commander, I've heard about your...hobby."

'That's a polite way to put things.' Marian mused internally as she cracked the can open. She had heard about Makarov being something of a stickler for rules along with the joking nickname of Commissar, and apparently she was formerly part of a special operations squad. Still, she shouldn't be completely unreasonable about this.

"Here to keep me on target, Makarov?" Marian asked with a smile, "Don't worry, I know my priorities."

"This might not be Russia, Commander Harper," Makarov's tone held a warning, "But that only means the FSB won't be involved, it will be GRU, and they won't be satisfied with a month in solitary confinement with a broken arm." She nodded at Marian's flinch, "Be careful, Tovarisch, distance means nothing to the State these days."

"Is that experience talking?" Marian questioned, her voice low to keep the others from overhearing.

"I was not always with Griffin, but I was always involved in enforcing the rules." Makarov replied, eyes hard but glittering with sympathy before she spoke up in a louder voice, "In any case, as long as our contract is maintained to the client's satisfaction, I can be convinced to ignore any diversions you engage in, Commander."

There was a flash along with the click of an analog camera, "Wunderbar! The first scoop! The Commissar and The Conspiracist agreeing to a treaty!" MP41 crowed as she held up her camera, "Commissar! Commander! Can we have a photo of you shaking hands?" The submachine gunner's smile was electric while Makarov's expression was thunderous, her hair seemingly puffing up in time with her cheeks as the small handgunner prepared to clearly deliver a tongue-lashing when MDR butted in, camera drone flitting about.

"And here's our new Commander, chat! Marian Harper, graduated with top marks from the Accelerated Training Program in all areas from Tactics to Doll Rights! A regular genius talent who is also famous on the Grifchan boards for her twelve part lecture on how governments across the world are actually in technological stagnation because of UN moratoriums and mandates concerning Collapse Technology!"

Marian groaned. She had forgotten about that; she had gotten done on a major run of research and had divided it into twelve parts with a fairly standard cipher for basic security but in her rush to get everything uploaded to her personal folder had selected a public drop box that was used by the Grifchan subnet.

She later found out that her research had sparked massive debates concerning new Doll generations, cost increases and drops, even how human labor markets would likely be affected by this apparent stagnation that Marian had pointed out.

That had resulted in her being read the riot act on proper usage of the Griffin network, and her fellow trainees hadn't let her forget it.

"Just wait MDR," She smiled confidently, "I've got a few more projects in the works, and a really big investigation coming up."

Makarov frowned as MDR cooed, MP41 grinning widely as she took another photograph, while MDR spoke, "Ooh, any interesting hints you can give? Perhaps something to do with our mystery reinforcements?"

Marian smiled, seeing the other Dolls looking over and listening, and knowing MDR was streaming live, she gave the camera drone a 'v' sign, "Sorry, no spoilers, only that it's gonna be huge. The exposè of a lifetime!"

"Was?! A scoop? An exposè? Yes!" MP41 crowed, the other Dolls in the plane looking either amused as the aircraft continued south over Kyiv, the Dolls momentarily distracted by the sight of the city with MDR once again playing travel guide while Marian finished her tea and looked out her own window, watching the city passing underneath.

But her mind was more concerned with other issues, returning to a conversation she had with Persica, the founder and head resesrcher of 16Lab.

"Commander Harper, a pleasure." Persica's voice was lazy, almost distracted as she stared at Harper over the videocall.

"A pleasure as well, Professor," Harper replied, "I'm about to head off so-"

"I know. That's why I'm calling." Persica interrupted, "This is a secure, encrypted call, so no one will be listening. I need to know something important. Did Kryuger tell you what will be involved in using the Doll I am sending you?"

"I was briefed that the Doll was a Command Unit for the additional Dolls I would be commanding in securing S07." Marian frowned, "Is there something I wasn't informed about?"

"Many things, including the full extent of the forces at your command, Commander Harper." Persica sipped her coffee, "Kryuger likely felt that you needed some time to settle in but I disagree. I'm going to send an information packet to your personal command pad that has a full briefing on the exact capabilities of the Doll I'm sending you, VAPR-XKG. I've read your file, Commander, seen your work both in regards to Griffin operations as well as your private affairs."

Marian felt a chill run down her back as Persica fixed her gaze squarely on her, "VAPR will help you find the truth, if you know how to use her, and I intend to give you a head start." She sipped her coffee before waving the mug lazily, "That's all. Read the briefing packet and do not distribute it, Marian Harper, a lot is riding on your effective command. Good luck."

With that cryptic statement, Persica had hung up and now Marian had a file she was thumbing through on her datapad for the duration of the flight, noting down the pertinent details mentally while MDR pestered Makarov about doing streams of engaging the bandits, citing the fact that they didn't have network access as an advantage.

"C'mon Makarov!" The streamer pleaded, "It'll be awesome! We go in, kick ass, and show the rookie Dolls our good sides!"

"Our rookies," Makarov replied evenly, "have only been prepared and trained to shoot at Sangvis Ferri and perhaps reprogrammed and hastily-armed dolls used as security by traffickers. Shooting humans is a messy, noisy affair." She shook her head, "There are exactly three Dolls in this plane who have shot and killed humans in combat. I know you aren't one of them."

"It can't be that bad." MDR replied weakly, flinching at Makarov's glare.

"You know the mess that had me sent back to Central?" M870 asked from where she was draped over her seat, "Shot a man with my gun during a rescue of kidnapped kids." Her expression shifted, "Hit him in the chest but he went down screaming. Had to put another one in him to finish the job, so don't expect them to drop dead like SF, a human only does that if you hit him hard. Any other time they'll keep fighting or lie there screaming or swearing at you until they pass out."

The other Dolls looked ill at hearing that except, Marian noted, 4-Shiki who nodded sagely at Makarov and M870's words before remembering that 4-Shiki had listed herself as an ex-security Doll but her brief read on the rifle's file had a few suspicious gaps.

Marian clapped her hands, "All right, that's enough." The Dolls looked over at her as Marian made to tell them to get ready for landing, when the pilot's voice cut in over the intercom.

"Attention all passengers, we are coming in to land at Griffin Field, Odessa International Airport. Please buckle in for landing." While the dolls strapped themselves back into their seats, Marian brought up the image of the new Tactical Doll she would be receiving.

"VAPR-XKG" She muttered, "Just how are you going to help me?"

Closing the pad and packing it back into its hardcase, Marian straightened her seat and watched as the ground came steadily closer, the aircraft rumbling as it drew closer before with a firm thump the wheels hit the ground and the engines whined as the reverse thrusters engaged, the Dolls chattering nervously while the plane slowed until it was now moving at a much more sedate pace along the runway, turning to head towards a series of hangers that were a hive of activity with a doll pointing out the way for the plane with a pair of light sticks.

"Everyone make sure to check your gear before we disembark," Marian commanded as the plane came to a halt, the pilot giving permission to unbuckle their seat belts, "This aircraft is heading back to Central with execs and security personnel, so if you lose any lucky items or favourite toys, tough shit." She pulled out her carry-on bag from the luggage rack as the Dolls made sure to check that nothing was left behind, before turning to face them, "All right, listen up."

As everyone turned to look at her, Marian gave them her best serious stare, "I know what sort of reputation I have. I know what my obssessions are and what they can cost me if I go too far. But that doesn't mean I am planning on haring off to uncover the truth behind the Butterfly Incident, or dig up a conspiracy that will turn humanity into zombie slaves. I joined Griffin because I believe in its message of helping people, and right now we are going into a country whose citizens must rely on airdrops becase traveling anywhere will get you robbed, enslaved and killed by thieves with military training, many of whom are former New Red Army conscripts from World War 3 and whoever they pressganged into service."

She looked each of them in the eyes, "While there will be investigations and perhaps a covert operation for MDR to stream and for MP41 to take photos of," She ignored the fistbump the two muckrackers shared, "Our first order of business is to get Moldova to a state that can be called secure, followed by establishing and protecting our logistics lines that will pass through Moldova into Romania. After that, with hopefully the majority of bandits rendered ineffective, we can look into investigating Base Zero for any clues."

As the Dolls nodded their agreement, Marian smiled, "Now let's go meet the new girl and then kick some ass." With a motley cheer the group proceeded to disembark from the plane into the cool air of Ukraine, Griffin support staff moving about while a large number of helicopters were waiting further away, and near the helicopters were a number of black-clad soldiers checking weapons and equipment while the aircraft crews conducted checks.

"Woah. So MDR was right," M870 whistled as the group started casually walking towards the soldiers, "They really are being deployed."

"EHHH?! You doubted me?" MDR pouted with an offended harrumph, "I'll have you know that my sources and data gathering are top-notch! There's no-one in Griffin who can pull data off nets as easily as I can!"

"Grizzly hid her drugged Cola side business for nearly a year until SAA locked up from drinking a bad batch." M200 retorted quietly, "It was MP41 who broke the story."

"Still don't know how she avoided disciplinary action. Figured our little Commissar would be the first in line to reformat her." MP41 shrugged her shoulders.

"Grizzly never lets herself get caught for this sort of thing," Makarov grumbled, "She dumped the evidence on the black market and it vanished in less than an hour before editing her backups and then wiping her memory." The smaller Doll sighed, "Standard legal nonsense. Tabula Rasa defense, with no recoverable memory of her activities, she was technically innocent."

"Running her business outside Griffin property also helped." AK-Alfa noted as she looked at the cloudy sky, "When the story broke, there was a spate of arsons."

"But why would she run that kind of business?" 4-Shiki asked as she she did stretches, "Griffin pays well!"

"I heard..." M870 glanced at Marian who simply turned her head away but didn't move any further apart, a message that M870 understood implicitly, "I heard that Grizzly was cultivating contacts in the Vory, the Russian mafia, to investigate some rumors."

"Rumors?" Marian asked, still looking away as the group got closer to the soldiers, who noticed them approach, a few shifting rifles into easy reach but they continued mingling amongst themselves.

"Weird shit involving human trafficking. Kids taken from orphanages, loads of Infected, piles of hobos, weird shit." M870 replied, "All moot now. Trails are cold, and the Vory are hard to find even if you know who to ask."

"Another time then," Marian replied, before focusing her attention on the soldiers, waving to them, "Excuse me! Is this Alpha Section, Shadow Company?"

The soldiers looked at each other before stepped forward, pulling her mask up to reveal a female face but Marian could pick out the subtle details of a high-performance Doll, "Torus Actual. You're the G&K Commander we were told to wait for?"

"Commander Marian Harper," She replied in answer, holding out a hand which was shook firmly and quickly, "We just need to wait for your Command Unit to arrive. Did the rest move on to the base as planned?"

Torus Actual nodded, "Trucks left two days ago. Last update has them in the base perimeter but they have been observed from multiple parties."

Marian nodded, "No surprises or squatters?"

Torus shook her head, "Crude IED-based security cordon, thirty-plus foot-mobile Uniforms. All terminated and disposed of."

M870 whistled, "You killed them all?"

Torus glanced at the Shotgunner, "This is our job." She returned her focus to Marian, "Black Eagle should arrive in the next few minutes, so we shouldn't have to-"

"Contact!" Another Doll shouted, "Command Signal detected and in visual!" The group turned in the direction of the Doll who pointed in another direction, and as she turned to look, Marian spotted a civilian helicopter approaching the Griffin section of the airport, the aircraft soon passing overhead before coming to a hovering stop, the side door opening to let a T-Doll jump out and land heavily on the ground while the helicopter immediately headed off, likely back to 16Lab.

Rising to her full height, the Doll started casually walking over to them, letting Marian get a good look at the Doll.

In terms of height she was about average, maybe a little taller than the average human male, and judging from the way the dress shirt and slacks bunched up the Doll was probably on the upper end on strength, perhaps on par with Svarog physical trainer Dolls. Silver eyes peeked out from under dark green hair worn long and down to her hips, and combined with the shirt, slacks, heavy boots and gloves, the Doll looked like someone on a business trip, the effect marred by the plate carrier worn over the shirt holding ammo and a tac-radio connected to a throat-mic while a handgun and knife were holstered at her belt, an uncommon addition but Marian knew that high-performance T-Dolls could operate a secondary weapon alongside their imprint.

The Doll nodded at Marian, her voice smoothly-light for such a heavily-built body, "Be with you in a minute, Commander." She stopped in front of Torus Actual and her posture straightened, "Delta, Five, Nine, Five, Seven, Two, Three, Three. Read back."

"Echo, Six, Eight, Eight, Two, Four, Zero, Nine. Authenticate."

"Prophet."

Torus stiffened, "Engage handshake." There was a brief moment of silence from the two Dolls before Torus Actual relaxed and saluted, the rest of the Dolls briefly twitching before they too moved to stand and salute, "Confirm successful handshake with Red Horseman. Shadow Company, ready for operations. Its an honor, ma'am."

"Begin final checks for departure, warm those birds up." The Doll ordered before turning to face Marian and the rest of the Dolls, saluting with a smile, "VAPR-XKG, reporting for operations."

Marian saluted back, "Commander Marian Harper, good to have you aboard Vapor."

---

The new girl was clearly built for action, M870 mused as she shook hands with VAPR and introduced the rest of the partial echelon to her, "Name's Remington 870 or 870 in the field. I'm your Echelon Captain for the duration." She waved over the others, "Before MDR and MP41 crowd you, lemme introduce the others. This is MG3," she waved at a heavyset blond with her long hair done in a braid under her beret, machinegun slung at her side.

"Guten Tag," MG3 greeted nervously, "I hope I don't slow you down in the field." She shook VAPR's hand while the Assault Rifle Doll laughed.

"I should say the same thing, being the rookie here." VAPR smiled widely, "Always good to have an MG at my back."

"Yosh!" 870 watched 4-Shiki step up and greet VAPR with a raised hand, "Type Four Self Loading Rifle! Welcome to Griffin, our new comrade!"

"A pleasure." VAPR shook the smaller Doll's hand, before looking around, "Is this everyone?"

"Yup." 870 replied, tail wagging lazily, "Major rumblings in S09. It would've been the three of us meeting you but-"

"Hello!" The shouted greeting came right next to VAPR's ear and the reaction was immediate as VAPR'S elbow came up in a textbook counter but met air as the owner of the voice dodged, "Wah!" VAPR didn't pause, spinning with her momentum as the rifle came up in her off-hand while her main hand yanked a blade as black as tar and as long as the T-Doll's forearm out of a sheath, sweeping up to lock it in place and brace the rifle to fix the suppressor-clad muzzle square between the eyes of MDR, who stared up at her with wide eyes.

Milliseconds later, the muzzle came up and MDR scrambled to her feet, "That...was...AWESOME! OMG, I can't believe my drone caught all that! Chat's going wild!"

VAPR blinked, "You're streaming?"

MDR nodded, "Just until we finally get settled into our new base. Just about every Doll in Griffin wants to see you so I'm not stopping!" She hopped in place, "And those moves were so badass! If I hadn't dodged you would have shattered my nose!"

870 chuckled as the Shadow Company Dolls went through checks and packed equipment, "MDR might look like a complete brainlet," she ignored MDR's offended 'oi!' with practiced ease, "But she's actually pretty damn good in the field, and is a decent hacker."

The word made VAPR blink, and she turned to a nearby Shadow Company Doll, "Soldier!"

The Doll paused in her work, "Ma'am?"

"Any COMSEC units to spare?"

The Doll shook her head, "They went with Bravo, Charlie and Delta Sections to Lotnisko Avdarma!"

VAPR nodded, "Carry on."

"Ma'am!" The Doll rushed off as VAPR shook her head, attention returning to the others, "Sorry, thought there might spares I could give out," she tapped the radio-looking device on her chest rig, pushing a data packet out for explanation, "So you're the second Echelon, MDR?"

"Yup! And you are looking at the premier purveyor of gossip and rumor in Griffin!" MDR puffed up her chest, "If there's any rumours you want dug up, I'm your girl!"

"And we're your best bet for photo recon." A smiling blond holding a camera with her gun slung at her side approached with a light, nearly grey-haired companion with a massive sniper rifle slung over her shoulder as the blond continued, "MP41, photographer and professional journalist."

The grey-haired Doll with the sniper rifle waved languidly, "M200. Also a photographer."

"I wouldn't believe a word MP41 says about journalism," A White-haired Doll approached, "AK-Alfa. I make sure her stories don't go off the rails." She smiled politely, "I look forward to working with you."

"Same to you," VAPR replied.

"And I am Makarov," the petite Doll, again with white hair, that had spoken up stepped forward to look up at VAPR, "I will be responsible for ensuring a measure of discipline on base, please do not add to my workload."

VAPR nodded, "Of course," she replied professionally, "I'll try to keep out of your hair."

"Ma'am." The call of a Shadow Company Doll drew everyone's attention, the black-clad Doll saluting, "Final checks are complete, we are ready to depart."

870 smiled, "Well MDR, we better get ready to head out."

MDR nodded, her expression turning more professional, "We'll ride with Commander Harper, what about you?"

"We'll hitch a lift with the new girl's troops," 870 jerked her thumb towards VAPR who watched impassively, "Who knows, maybe we'll see some action before you."

"Make sure you get recordings!" MDR yelled as her Echelon ran to where Commander Harper was waiting near a Blackhawk with G&K markings in contrast to the dark, unmarked helicopters that the Shadow Company Dolls were loading themselves into, the largest numbers boarding the massive V-22 Osprey at the center of the formation of Blackhawks.

VAPR waved a hand, "This way." Walking over to a Blackhawk, VAPR stepped on board before offering a hand out, MG3 and 4-Shiki accepting while 870 easily climbed on even with her massive shield. Once the Dolls were settled into seats they received a connection link request.

"I'm going to pull you into the Company comm-net, same with MDR's echelon." VAPR explained over Zener, "It'll help with coordination. I'll assign command authorisations subordinate to me as well."

"You're giving us command authority?" MG3 asked, flabbergasted, "But we don't have command modules!"

"Don't need them," VAPR replied easily, "You're sending me requests and I allocate Company operators to you to do the job. Just tell them what you need and I'll handle the tactics."

"Pretty confident about that." 870 commented.

"I should be." VAPR's voice took on an odd tone over Zener, "It's the reason I exist."

With a sharp wave of VAPR's hand, the helicopters took off, and as the Blackhawks took up formation, a small group of MH-6's buzzed ahead with sniper Dolls on board those that didn't have rockets and miniguns.

But what caught everyone's eyes in the Griffin Blackhawk, and on the ground, was the distinct if not legendary shape of four Apache Gunships appearing from where they had been concealed to take up formation.

Another set of hand motions, and the formation began to move forward, and as M870 looked over at the Griffin helicopter, she could see MDR all but howling in jealous amazement as the formation lead the way.

Chuckling, she prodded the rest of her team to accept the request, before accepting herself.

And immediately she entered into a whole new world.

---

Marian Harper didn't have anyway to access Zener beyond the neural link chip that used the systems of the base for briefings, so she had to rely on her pad being plugged into MDR with wireless headphones to hear any communications inside the 'Shadow Network' used by the mystery Doll and her troops.

'Is this what a real military is like?' Marian wondered as she listened to terse reports, a background buzz of jargon-laden conversation as Shadow Company Dolls in both the air formation and the forces getting the airbase operational traded reports and updates, while VAPR-XKG snapped orders at seemingly random intervals.

Despite the dry nature of the information flowing around, it was strangely soothing, like watching ants at work before a sharp tone rang out.

"Black Eagle, this is Oxide Actual! Priority Traffic!" The Doll sounded urgent but they were still calm, not panicked like how a Griffin Doll might be."

"Oxide, Black Eagle. Send traffic." VAPR's voice didn't shift.

"Ten Uniforms in the treeline on your approach vector. MANPAD, I say again, MANPAD."

Marian felt her hands go clammy, before she clamped down on the fear, "VAPR, can your troops clear the treeline?"

She was in command, that meant she needed to give orders, not wait for VAPR to give them. That could wait until a more appropriate situation.

"Fox Two, do you have Thermals?" VAPR continued as if Marian hadn't spoken.

"Confirm. Fifty's are ready."

"Clear those MANPADs." VAPR ordered, "All Alpha Air, divert course. Hunter One, support Fox."

"Copy." An Apache peeled away from the formation as two of the Little Birds sped ahead as the formation diverted course.

"VAPR, this is Harper." Marian spoke into her comms to get the Doll's attention.

"Commander."

"VAPR, I want your remaining scouts and Apaches to sweep the airbase perimeter. One MANPAD team means ten more."

"Copy. I'll organise ground-" A streak of white smoke zipped past, luckily missing the helicopters as VAPR swore, "FUCKING SHIT!"

"Black Eagle, Fox One! RPG teams coming out of concealment!"

"Hunter Three, Four! Escort the Commander's helicopter out of the ambush! Now!"

Harper pushed the shock down, using her pad to pull up the drone feeds while speaking like she was trained to, keeping the panic out of her voice as she ran a mnemonic in her head to calm down, "Eight-Seventy, I want your echelon on the ground. VAPR, do as you see fit, just clean out my fucking property."

"Rules Of Engagement?" 870's voice was calm while Harper could hear panic in 4-Shiki and MG3's voices as their helicopter swept down, a truck with a machinegun screaming into view only to get torn apart by an Apache's autocannon, the drone of miniguns starting to fill the air as Marian watched door gunners go to work.

"Lethal force. Send a message." Rockets struck the treeline where the MANPAD team had been sighted, the sniper teams firing as their helicopters maneuvered while Apache swept in behind them, chaingun barking.

She saw 870 and her Reduced Echelon landing, door gunners laying down suppressive fire as more bandits revealed themselves and started firing back, only for miniguns to rip into them as Blackhawks swept over them, before she started to lose sight of the combat, the escorting Apaches sweeping forward to hit trucks and bandit troops coming out of hiding.

Unplugging her pad from MDR who had a deathgrip on her weapon, Harper slapped Makarov's shoulder, drawing scarlet eyes to her as Harper began giving direction, "I'm going to contact the airbase for help, help the others!"

Makarov nodded as she went to each of her Echelon-mates, slapping them back to reality as Marian connected to the airbase.

"S07 Base, this Marian Harper, Black Eagle's commanding officer! I need a sitrep!"

"Confirmed, Commander Harper. This is CIC, callsign Disciple. Base is currently under siege by one-hundred-plus hostile foot-mobiles with light vehicles and mortars."

"Disciple, I'm coming in with two escort Apaches. Deploy them to deal with those mortars and send out QRF immediately! I want my command console ready to go when I land!" Marian barked.

"Roger, reassigning Hunters Three and Four now." The Apaches peeled away to hunt down the mortars as the airbase came into view, an explosion flashing into a plume of black smoke, "Be advised Commander, your LZ is hot."

"I'll take my chances." Marian grabbed MDR who was staring wide-eyed at the carnage, Shadow Company Dolls firing from barricades and hasty trenches while human bodies, some still moving littered the ground. A Fastback IFV rolled forward, autocannon thumping as it sent rounds into a cluster of bandits and Marian saw the airburst rounds tear them apart, bodyparts flying from bodies turned into gore-laden mist.

"Look at me!" Marian ordered, the helicopter circling as the pilot frantically spoke with the Shadow Company Air Traffic Controller, "This isn't Sangvis Ferri! If you can't do this, I won't force you! Any of you! Killing another machine is one thing, but killing a person is another thing!" She looked at the rest of the Echelon, "That goes for the rest of you! If you can't do this, get to the command building and take shelter!"

"What about you Commander?" MP41 asked.

Marian grimaced, the helicopter finally touching down, "I'm going to finish this."

With that, she pulled open the door and jumped out, taking off towards the Command Building while the Dolls looked at each other, and in the space of nanoseconds made their decision, jumping out of the helicopter.

And running towards the action.

---

Looking behind her to see MDR's echelon dive into a trench, Marian smiled sadly before pushing open the doors, Shadow Company Dolls immediately waving her past a barricade, one of them moving alongside her, "Black Eagle just ordered Ukranian Air Force jets to start bombing runs under Red Horseman, ETA is 4 mikes."

"The Ukranians didn't protest?" Marian asked despite herself.

"Only if they want to be replaced." The Doll answered, the pair heading up a set of stairs, "We think this is an opportunistic raid. This much hardware moving into the country, Disciple thinks they expected us to be less prepared than we are."

"Are we at risk of being overrun?" Marian asked as the pair reached a room marked 'CIC'.

"No, once we break this attack, we'll have broken the back of the nearest bandit clans."

Pushing open the doors, Marian entered a converted conference room, her Command Table and an array of screens joined by Dolls operating consoles while one with cables running to the base of her neck turned.

"Commander." The Doll saluted, "CIC callsign Disciple. Everything's set up for you."

"ETA on the airstrikes?" Marian asked as she logged in, bring up a view of MDR's echelon firing on incoming bandits alongside Shadow Company Dolls. Switching to another drone, she could see that 870 and her group were okay, VAPR menacing what appeared to be an apparent leader and a young boy with the bayonet of her rifle, serving to drive home the briefing packet's warning of child soldiers, children of bandits who would raid with their parents, and often just as if not more ruthless due to their upbringing.

Marian's throat caught as VAPR casually sliced off the boy's hand, savagely kicking the now-screaming child in the head before pointing the blade at the man, prompting her to pull up the audio from VAPR directly.

"-just like that. Confidence breaks so quickly when you lose a hand. Now, unless you want me to keep cutting him apart, you are going to tell me who leaked our arrival."

"And I told you bitch, no-one did!"

"I can read your micro-expressions you know. And you actually want me to believe that you just so happened to be watching Odessa as a coincidence after you saw the convoy arrive. That you coincidentally decided to setup ambushes along our direct route. That you were just hanging out with rival clan forces for a bit of fun and raiding."

Jets screamed overhead, but the boy's screaming was louder as VAPR's bayonet sliced off a foot.

"Well? Still plenty of bits left on him if you want to keep trying your luck." The blade hovered dangerously-close to an arm as the captured bandit grit his teeth, staring at the boy who kept screaming.

"All right. All right! It was Voiculet! He leaked the info to keep you from disrupting our business arrangements! It was him! He ordered this!"

The jets dropped their payloads, napalm sweeping over pinned pockets of bandits and breaking their will, many running for the hills as those who surrendered were simply shot dead.

VAPR 'tsked', "Voiculet, the head of the Special Police Force. How fucking predictable." She raised her rifle and fired; three shots destroying the screaming boy's head before three shots were put into the bandit's chest, followed by two to the head, VAPR reloading as she looked up at the Drone.

"These people are animals, Commander. Human or Doll, we do not want to be taken alive by them."

"We can't go around torturing people for information." Harper swallowed the lump in her throat.

"I know. I will accept any action you choose to take."

"Will this happen again?"

"No Ma'am, it will not."

Marian nodded, "Brig. Two weeks, you will be expected to continue your command responsibilities for the duration of your confinement."

"Understood."

"Eight-Seventy," Marian switched to the Shotgunner's channel, "Confiscate VAPR's weapon and return to base."

She didn't listen to the acknowledgement, switching the view back to the airbase surrounds, watching as Shadow Company Dolls walked amongst the bodies, brief flashes of gunfire as they fired bursts into bodies to make sure no-one was playing dead before kicking the corpse over and searching the body.

Elsewhere, teams were starting work on repairs, while others pulled down barricades. In the trench they had jumped in, a battered echelon traded tired high-fives with Shadow Company before simply staring at the field of death in front of them.

Not even a day had passed, and their base had been sieged, she had nearly been killed, while a prominent official had been fingered as a possible culprit on flimsy pretexts.

"Is it too late to transfer to the Sangvis Front?"

Only grim laughter came from the CIC Dolls in response as the helicopters began to arrive.

 

[Gideon020]

April 14th, 2063
Area S7 Base Conference Room
Deviation Index: 1.2%, Rising

Marian Harper looked out at the airbase, the encroaching dusk steadily banished by floodlights being set up across the facility and the perimeter. With the base now a target until the nearest bandit clans were removed from the picture, and with VAPR-XKG sitting under an automatic administrative lockout for the unjustified torture of an enemy combatant, that left Marian in charge of the Shadow Company Dolls while VAPR served as a strategic hub for her orders over the next two weeks of VAPR's confinement to the brig, though Marian didn't order the issuing of Doll Rations for the period. She wanted to discipline VAPR, not give the elite T-Doll with a small army a reason to get uppity.

Walking back to the conference table, laptops set up for everyone to review drone footage along with a large holographic projector on the ceiling for additional data displays and taking important communications when she wasn't in her new office, Marian sat down and started going over the after-action reports provided by the Dolls while waiting for her Echelons to finish up with their repairs. After a few moments she opened up the Griffin intramail client and sent a request for a new helicopter and pilot since the one who had flown them in had all but said 'fuck you' to Marian and fled S07.

"I suppose that's what you get for putting a civilian pilot in a combat posting," Marian grumbled as she included a request for an update on when she would be receiving her primary Doll Technician and Logistics Officer; having the Shadow Company running things was pretty good but regulations and international standards stipulated that there was human oversight for Doll repairs and Logistics. Though at least the Shadow Company had brought a full Logistics department worth of trucks to transport the heavy vehicles so that would make running base logistics easier once they made contact with the nearest towns for supplemental contracts.

Supplying fuel and ammunition was also a concern, but apparently the Shadow Company had that part sorted out, albeit with some caginess on the details. Marian wondered if that would be another source of concern for her; everything about the Shadow Company screamed at her to start digging and digging so she could get some answers and find out just what-

Marian leaned back, sucking in a deep breath, before she ran her mnemonics again to calm down. Trying to dig into the Shadow Company would just be digging her own grave, especially when it relied on building trust with VAPR. "Fuuuuuck..." She breathed out, leaning back in her seat; she was holding the leash on a war hound, not some civilian service dog like most of the Dolls in G&K's roster, torture was never justified simply because it never worked and existed as a power play. Torture only worked if you could verify the information, otherwise it was there to force submission, not gather information.

Even so, these were special operations Dolls, and it was only now sinking in. MDR's Echelon had gotten a little beat up, and M870's had taken a couple of bad hits since they had to maneuver on open terrain even with fire support from the Blackhawks and other helicopters. While M870, Makarov and 4-Shiki had kept everyone from losing their heads, the Shadow Company had taken the lion's share of the kills but that was to be expected when you were facing nearly two-hundred hostiles according to the AAR. Griffin's intelligence wing had reported that the majority of Bandit Clans were small, barely more than a thousand people at their largest, with those clans mostly concentrated in the central regions around the capital or in the north where they controlled lucrative smuggling routes for weapons, drugs, Dolls and people. The southern clans were largely seasonal raiders, or they did smaller-scale smuggling on the southern Ukrainian border or into Romania's north.

The number of dead bodies, with large numbers of armed children mixed in with elderly, indicated that whoever pulled the strings for the attack had all but drained the southern bandit clans of any serious manpower, and with drone scouting locating a number of camps, Shadow Company had put in a request to enact cleanup raids, which she had deferred for the time being until she was satisfied the airbase was fortified to protect against another siege.

The sound of knocking on the door brought Marian out of her musings as she called out in response, "Come in!" As the door opened to let in the Dolls of her two echelons, Marian smiled as she waved in greeting, "Hey, take a seat anywhere, it's just us for now."

"Ooh, fancy room you set up here, Commander." MDR's smirk was subdued, but her attitude was returning after a repair check and some shower time.

"This is where I intend to hold Level Two briefings as well as standard ones," Marian replied as the Dolls took seats, "The larger auditorium will be for when we need Shadow Company to actually be present, and not just have VAPR sitting in." She glanced at M870, "Speaking of, what happened?"

870 sighed, "Seen it happen before, back when I was involved in...activities, back in the US and here in Griffin." She explained, "Rookie Doll with permission to kill someone, and someone gets under her skin, says something that gets her angry, and with some Dolls they just shoot, but some models have a capacity for cruelty and if you don't check 'em, they'll remind a human that even a child-type chassis can pull a person's head off their neck." She shrugged, "For what it's worth, you made the right call. VAPR's being a good sport about it, she knows she did wrong and she respects you for not overlooking it."

"Do I have to expect more brig time in the future?" Marian asked, "Mutilating a child for flimsy evidence is one thing, but I think it's fairly obvious that most of the Company's rules of conduct for combat operations might have to be relaxed...if not ignored." She looked at each of the Dolls, "What you experienced today is probably not going to be the majority of our time here; whoever was responsible, if it was a government official profiting off the misery, or some other influence, cannot hope to drive more Bandit Clans to burn manpower to evict us, it would turn the bandits against them and make our job easier."

"So, hopefully we'll get some peace?" Makarov asked.

"Hopefully." Marian replied, "I've already collated the AARs you and Shadow Company submitted and sent them off to Corporate. Right now...I just want to see how you're doing. All of you."

The Dolls looked at each other, before MG3 spoke up, "It was scary, Commander. It wasn't like the combat simulations against Sangvis Ferri or the few times I've been out doing things like repairing communication lines, where you had silent enemies or bandits with homemade guns. These people had proper weapons and they kept shouting and screaming the entire time. It was horrible."

"Yeah," MDR replied, "I thought this was going to be like how I heard the fighting with Sangvis was going; trade quips with the Ringleaders while shooting at them, and when you shot the enemy, they stayed dead. I shot three people and one of them kept moving until M200 shot him in the head!" She shivered, "Is that what it's like when humans fight?"

"It is." Marian nodded, "From my research and studies during training, lot of human combat is loud, chaotic, and filled with shouting. Humans don't have Zener for communication, and the implants allowing for Level 2 briefings are more like a virtual reality system for us, rather than whatever you see in Level 2. In combat, soldiers shout to be heard over the gunfire, and when faced with entrenched forces in open terrain, a charge might seem suicidal but if they got into the trenches, they'd be fighting hand to hand where they might stand a chance." She looked at them, "Do you want to leave?" When they all jerked in shock, Marian folded her hands and spoke gently to them, "This is your first combat for most of you, and it's against humans. Not silent Sangvis drones and Dolls, not against arrogant Ringleaders but flesh and blood people who will bleed and scream when you shoot them, sometimes surviving long enough to pull grenades and handguns for a last stand to try and take you down with them. There is absolutely no shame in going back, I can hold on with the Shadow Company and VAPR until Corporate sends Dolls who have experience fighting humans arrive."

She looked over all of them, "This is a much different war than what you signed up for, and I would be compromising the principles of integrity I was raised on and the ideals of caring for Dolls with the same respect and care as humans if I made you stay here to face this kind of fighting. If you stay, I will be putting in requests for a therapist to help you deal with this, but only if you choose to stay."

"I'm staying," MDR stated immediately, expression firm, "I made a promise to show what would be happening here in S07 and showing just how nasty it can get fighting humans will go a long way to getting our fellow Dolls prepared in case they get caught up in something as bad as this! Plus! Everyone wants to see more of the Shadow Company and you! You impressed a lot of Dolls with keeping the entire situation from going bad."

"Oh god," Marian moaned, "I forgot you were streaming. How many Dolls did this whole mess traumatize? Who else saw the footage?"

"Eheheh," MDR scratches her cheek, "Pretty much every Griffin facility with a connection to Grifchan?"

Thump. Marian's head hit the table as she let out a long, pained groan, "I'm dead. I'm dead. Helian's gonna call and tell me to pack up and go back to Paris. I'll be stuck selling cheap snacks and asking if they want fries for an extra Franc or half a UCred." She looked up at the Dolls, eyes pleading, "I changed my mind, let's go rogue, start our own PMC. With blackjack and hookers."

"While that sounds like a party," MP41 commented with her smile returning, "I have to keep a journalistic record of this current mess."

"I want to help the people here," M200 said simply, "So I'm staying." AK-Alfa nodded in agreement.

"What about you?" 870 nudged MG3, "Held your own pretty well out there."

The machinegunner bit her lip, meeting Marian's gaze as the Commander straightened her posture and nodded encouragingly, and after a few more moments, MG3 made her decision.

"I...am staying. That fight was...horrible, but I came here to help people, so if you'll let me, I'll stay."

4-Shiki simply nodded, her face determined to see this campaign to the end.

Marian smiled as 870 cackled, "Looks like it's unanimous!" The shotgunner leaned forward, "So, what's the plan going forward? I tell VAPR the rules of engagement, make sure she keeps the rest of the Shadow Company in line? We livestream a few more battles? According to what I heard from the Company Dolls, Moldova hasn't had an airforce for fifteen years, got sold off to prevent the bandits from taking them. Hell, most of the planes and their pilots are living in Ukraine."

"Can we expect Ukraine to allow VAPR to call in more strikes before StateSec comes down on us?"

870 shook her head, "I asked. Turns out this system isn't entirely foolproof. The orders are legit, but peacetime makes people vigilant. Ukraine can cover their own asses, but its the Soviets, they got spies everywhere there's human staff."

"The real problem is the Apaches, the IFVs, and the Abrams tanks," Makarov spoke up, eyes serious, "The IFVs can be restricted to larger-scale operations, and we can obfuscate them as arms sales, but we cannot use the tanks and Apaches for every action, it would bring StateSec down on us in days." She tapped the table, "The other problem is more closer to home; with MDR having streamed what was essentially a full-blown massacre of humans, that's going to get the attention of other commanders and it could have Corporate refuse to release more Dolls to us so that the company's reputation isn't tarnished."

"You're right." Marian nodded in agreement, "My own reputation isn't exactly stellar either. Any Dolls we do get can't simply be ordered to come here, they would riot. Can you imagine Springfield or Thompson being told to come here?" Everyone shuddered; while there were numerous Dolls of Springfield's model who operated in Griffin, the one in S09 was considered the oldest of them, having served almost near the beginning of the company's operations before going to S09 to run the base cafe-bar. And Thompson's reputation as a particularly independent and wilful personality would cause issues from day one."

Marian looked at MDR, "MDR, I want you to get S07 listed on Grifchan as a Volunteer Only posting, using the stream's VOD as an example of the kind of situation anyone who volunteers could get involved in. HR can do the screening of anyone who feels brave enough. That should cover our asses and let the company save face by officially recognizing this as a high-threat posting and not some cushy rear-line position." She looked thoughtful for a moment, "We'll also need to reorganise our standing rules of engagement for everyone on base, Shadow Company included and especially VAPR."

Everyone nodded as Makarov spoke up, "VAPR clearly is capable of professional action and she is genuinely friendly and willing to work alongside us. The lack of clear operational guidelines is what led to her emotional mistake and overly-aggressive information gathering. I'll work on a list for everyone's review and have it ready by dinner. Eight-Seventy can update VAPR once it's agreed upon, and as long as we show that we're willing to forgive her if she's genuine about her remorse, I feel that she'll operate that much more effectively going forward."

"Ano, how should we handle supplemental contracts?" 4-Shiki asked, "A lot of our work is based on helping out local towns and settlements in our areas of operations, and we can't send Shadow Company out for them."

Marian hummed thoughtfully, "Tomorrow, we show the flag at the nearest towns, make sure they understand why we're here, and that we're willing to help if they can cover the price. Though considering they're likely paying bandits tribute, we should hold off on demanding payment until we speak with the government official we were supposed to meet today."

"They got scared off by the attack?" 870 inquired.

"Yes. We'll need to move on driving out the nearest clans near the airbase, show the central and northern clans along with the government that we mean business." Marian explained.

"Killing over two hundred people showed we meant business, Commander-san." 4-Shiki stated coldly, "Dealing with the groups nearest the airbase will show that we don't leave things unfinished."

"I can record video and send it to the government for them to confirm," MDR offered, "We might be able to get a leg up on any bounty remunerations that way."

"Just don't post them to Grifchan," Marian warned, "The same with photographs. We use those for confirming HVT kills, not posting on the company network. If that happens, we're all hitting the unemployment lines."

At everyone's nods, Marian sighed with a measure of relief. So far so good.

"All right, let's go over the list of bandit clans in our immediate area and in the southern regions of S07, find some targets for Shadow Company to hit."

And with that, S07's newest Commander and her ad-hoc command staff began discussing targets, trading jokes, and soon the atmosphere began to grow a little more livelier.

It was enough to make Marian Harper think that they could avoid the worst of any consequences.

---

April 14th, 2063
Griffin & Kryuger Headquarters
Deviation Index: 1.5%, Steady

"This is a disaster." Helian shook her head as she watched the footage from MDR's camera drone showing her echelon keeping charging bandit fighters from overrunning the machinegun nest they had been told to protect, the assault rifle Doll scoring several hits on a man who managed to remain standing before a shot from M200 blew the man's head off, MP41 unloading a magazine into a woman who was trying to flank AK-Alfa as the other Assault Rifle in MDR's echelon gunned down three more fighters.

An Apache gunship roared overhead, chaingun and rockets scything through clusters trying to avoid the machinegun nests and the explosions joining the flak clouds of airbursting cannon rounds from the IFVs, until jets flew overhead, dropping Napalm that set entire groups alight while cutting off the attempts to charge the trench lines, the airstrikes finally breaking the will of the attackers who started fleeing while the black-clad Dolls continued firing. Finally, MDR remembered she was streaming, and without a word she ended the broadcast.

"In actuality, Helian." Kryuger replied, "This is a learning experience for many of our Dolls, and a number of our Commanders as well. S07 is a crucible that some of the older men and women are familiar with, but the younger ones aren't. They need to understand that it wasn't so long ago that it was humans fighting other humans as much as Dolls; the brutality on display is hardly anything unique, in fact I had seen worse in North Africa."

"Even so, this has started a firestorm of discussion on the company internal message boards," Helian pointed out, "There are Dolls and human staff alike alternately condemning and supporting this massacre, and it is distracting from this entire Parapluie mess occurring across our operations against Sangvis Ferri. We've managed to ensure that the VOD can only be released with signed permission from myself and you, sir, but that won't stop our more 'patriotic' employees from informing StateSec."

"Hardly anyone in the Company has any love for StateSec," Kryuger stated, "And Marian Harper has given us an opportunity to save face by using the stream to list S07 as a Volunteer Only posting. Deliberately denying the possibility of making requests for more Dolls was the best move she could make."

"I don't understand, not exactly." Helian frowned, partly-confused by Kryuger's statement.

"By making S07 a Volunteer Only posting, Marian Harper cannot ask us to send more Dolls. In fact, per company regulations, she is forbidden to do so and would be reprimanded for it. Making an Area into a Volunteer Only posting is only done for locations that can be considered high risk for both Dolls and Humans, mostly due to those positions involving heavily-contaminated zones with high possibilities for encountering mutated wildlife. It also happens to be an effective deterrent for Dolls signing up for locations for the hell of it, Volunteer Only postings have a reputation for being extremely difficult to work in."

"And a region filled with hostile bandits armed with much more than the usual hand-made garbage our Dolls sometimes encounter would be that kind of place," Helian realised, "Combine that with the strong possibility of having to kill humans..."

"And you have a posting that will only attract those who know the risks, and the foolish who will be stopped by their friends or push through and discover just how bloody this little adventure can get." Kryuger's grin was unpleasant, "As I said, a learning experience."

"Well, there might be some learning occurring then." Helian grimaced as she regarded her pad, "HR is receiving requests from multiple Dolls to go to S07 to help the forces already there, so we need to delay sending the requested specialists that Harper is asking for until we have these requests filtered. As it stands, we can authorize the deployment of two additional echelons to send in."

"Any candidates that stand out?" Kryuger asked even as he brought up the lists of applications for deployment to S07.

"X95, formerly of Negev's squad, Mk. 23 and M14...and SPAS-12." Helian listed the T-Dolls in question, and Kryuger raised an eyebrow.

"SPAS-12?"

Helian shrugged, "Her application stated that she felt like she would be of great usefulness in S07." How that would happen was a mystery to the woman; most knew SPAS-12 as a self-proclaimed 'foodie' but most considered her a glutton with a habit of raiding base stores where-ever she was deployed.

"The four of them are experienced Griffon fighters, they should be able to handle any less-experienced members that are cleared by HR." Helian mused, "But it's strange how popular this is."

"It's a morbid curiosity." Kryuger pointed out, "Many of the Dolls who work here have only ever fought Sangvis. Most who encountered human bandits only needed to scare them off. It's like how young men and women might wonder what it's like to be a soldier, to kill for your country." He motioned to Helian's datapad, "Even those who've hunted deer in the forest might never know what it's like to kill a man. There is no equivalency; it is a different kind of killing, a killing that hurts the soul no matter how much you ignore it. When you've only fought Sangvis, sometimes you might wonder just what is different in killing a human."

"Its that kind of curiosity that led to so many early rogue Doll incidents when A-Dolls were first introduced." Helian grimaces, "S07 is potentially Pandora's Box. Any Doll sent there will come back changed."

"War changes everyone," Kryuger admitted, "All that matters is that you can still recognise yourself when you return."

The room was silent for a long moment, before Helian spoke up again, "Area S09 sent a message regarding MDR's stream, stating that they don't want MDR running any more streams of events in S07 citing possible mental harm to some of the base staff and Dolls." She adjusted her monocle, "I'll handle it, but knowing MDR it will pass in one ear and out the other."

"Commander Harper will likely restrict future streams. With any luck the situation will stabilize now that the airbase is secured." Kryuger dismissed the concern, "I will inform Commander Harper to focus on getting S07 operational, and to avoid coming to the strategic meeting regarding the Parapluie threat. Helian, organise a briefing packet on in for Harper, she should be at least kept informed in case Sangvis try something."

"I understand, Mister Kryuger," Helian replied, before she looked more concerned, "How is the timetable looking?"

"We are on schedule." Kryuger replies, "StateSec is investigating rumours of American equipment being in-country so Makarov will need to be informed in order to ensure that secrecy is kept. VAPR-XKG's systems and command authority are effective, but it is not yet time for that kind of power to be used openly." He leaned back in his chair, "Tell Makarov to keep an ear open in StateSec, and expedite the delivery of the remaining Apaches and Abrams. I want them gone from our facilities in in Moldova before the end of the week."

"I under, Mister Kryuger," Helian replied, "I'll make sure it happens."

As Helian left the room to organise various actions, Berezovich Kryuger brings up a video clip and watches as the video silently shows VAPR-XKG casually mutilating a child, before sending an order to delete the footage. The new entrant to the dance had started with a stumble, but Kryuger was confident she would get her feet underneath her, and she was already having an effect on things.

Isolating S07 from the regular means of attaining Dolls was a stroke of brilliance in regards to office politics; Kryuger knew that Marian wasn't a fool, footage of Dolls killing humans en-masse was a death sentence to her reputation so the Volunteer Only listing would prevent those Commanders who thought lowly of her, and Kryuger knew that there were a number, from trying to interfere. Some would, it was inevitable, but the Dolls held the agency for any applications, not the Commanders.

After adding his own statement to the Area S07 Volunteer Only listing, Kryuger settled into getting the rest of his work done.

There was still much to do.

---

April 14th, 2063
Area S09, Springfield Cafe
Deviation Index: 1.5%, Steady

M4A1 watched the footage from the MDR livestream that had happened while AR Team had been searching for AR-15, fascination warring with horror as MDR fired on humans alongside the black-clad 'Shadow Company' Dolls, communications a mess of terse military report and MDR's echelon trying to remain calm and organised as humans came at them in a wave, screaming war cries, threats and insults before being gunned down by weapons fire from the Dolls, or the airbursting shells from the IFVs supporting the defense.

"Still watching that?" M16A1 asked as she sat down opposite her youngest sister, "Don't think you need to watch other Dolls getting caught up in killing humans, not when we still have to find STAR." She set a bottle of whiskey on the table along with a shot glass, casually pouring her drink into it before knocking the shot back, "Seriously M4, you're gonna screw up your head if you keep watching that."

"It's just..." M4 shook her head, "How can a human do this? Sangvis pours numbers on us because they can mass-produce more Dolls, but these people threw away their lives to try and raid the base. Why?"

"Money, mostly," M16 explained, "Dolls are valuable in this part of the world, not everyone can afford them and even one that's refurbished is worth maybe a year's salary or more. To most people, Dolls are something rich people use, or companies who don't want to hire humans and just put Dolls everywhere. That's why there's anti-Doll activists and Doll Traffickers; there's money in Dolls whether or not you want to get rid of them or get rich off them one way or another."

She knocked back another shot, "Supposedly, the Commander in charge has a bad reputation. Conspiracy theory nutjob, but one who is supposed to be a genius at tactical command, plus with the fact that humans are the enemy, Area S07 is now a Volunteer Only posting which means you have to want to go into a place where your enemies are flesh and blood and not metal like Sangvis." Knocking back another shot, M16 continued, "And the only Dolls who'd volunteer for that are either messed up in the head, too stupid to know better, or..." She shook her head, "Forget it, just don't watch any more of those streams, M4."

"M16?" M4 asked quietly over Zener, as if afraid she'd be listened to, "Have you ever killed a human?"

M16 was quiet for a long, long moment, as she leaned back and knocked back another shot, eye closed as she took in the sounds of the Springfield Cafe, Dolls chattering about random topics or just drinking coffee and savoring cake, before she responded, "I have."

"What did it feel like?" M4 asked, still quiet.

"That ain't something I can answer in a way you'd understand." M16 replied, "All you need to know is that it's a different kind of killing. And that the only way you'd understand is to kill someone yourself." She fixed M4 with a hard glare, "And like hell am I going to let that happen."

Sensing that her older sister wouldn't accept any further conversation on the topic, M4 simply nodded and focused on her coffee.

But not before quietly opening the stream VOD in a private window, and watching it from the start once more.