Architect's Workshop (Girls' Frontline design quest)

You take a moment to ask Intruder what "capturing" an asset entails in this game, and agree that touching it for 5 seconds sounds reasonable. Then you lay down the you plan to the troops, walking back and forth in front of them and trying your best to act like a proper commander, or at least what you imagine them to be. Strangely, you feel like your spoken words hold more substance compared to data packages. It's refreshing and engaging, so by the end of your speech you naturally come up with a tertiary objective. You smirk, beckon one of the T-Dolls to your side, and whisper into her ear for a good fifteen seconds. She steps back, turns to the troops, opens her mouth and screeches-hisses-chirps for a fraction of second without moving her lips. Moment later a wave of screeching propagates through Blue force, spreading out to the last one of your troops. Another moment, and it's quiet once more. The Vespid who was lending you her ear then turns to you and salutes.

"Orders acknowledged."

Here it goes again, that sensation of novelty and bizarreness. Her voice is monotone and somewhat mechanical, yet it is so much more than a data package. Did Intruder plan for this too? You're not sure, and for now it doesn't really matter. You give yourself several seconds to bask in the new sensation, then nod at your troops.

"Good. From this moment you're on your own. Go get them!"

To your surprise, instead of moving forward all together, you see a number of Jaegers activating their cloaks and dispersing ahead first. The main force forms up into a staggered formation, arranging different types of units in a way you struggle to comprehend. They set out a good minute after the Jaegers, training their weapons in all directions and keeping distance between each other. Soon they disappear from sight, and that's when you link up to the drones overhead. You're not going to give any more commands today, so you're allowed to observe the spectacle in real time. Intruder is going to do the opposite: she'll actively command the battle on her side, but won't have access to drones to keep things fair.

Enjoying the absence of countermeasures and AA fire, the drones hover unimpeded at optimal altitudes, providing crisp high-definition view of the battlefield from different angles. You take in the scenery, identify Intruder's positions, and see your forces getting closer. Hang on, where are your Jaegers? You spend several seconds in futile attempts to locate them. Did they... run away? You sigh and almost start complaining to Scarecrow when movement catches your eyes. You see a Jaeger materializing near the main force, vocalizing signature screeches and hisses, and darting forward. The main force adjusts its bearing, and sure enough, soon they come by another Jaeger and the process repeats.

As your troops approach the encampment, Jaegers divert their path around it. It takes extra time, but when they finally stop, you notice they are at the closest point to the defenses that still remains hidden from their sight. A modest hill barely 200 meters away from a plywood "brick wall" is the only thing separating Blue force from Intruder's Red. You rub your hands in anticipation of a spectacular charge, but nothing happens for a minute, then two...

Boring. You did order this approach, you suppose, but it's boring! You look around to find Scarecrow sitting under a tree not too far away, probably watching the feed too. Hey, that tree looks nice! You skip closer and sit by her side, leaning back against the trunk. Rustling leaves block the sun, leaking only tiniest rays through. White splotches form intricate patterns on grass and your clothes as leaves sway in the wind. You squint, letting yourself relax and enjoy the sensation. Now if you close your eyes...

You gradually drift off to a semi-active state, letting your thoughts flow freely but keeping the feed in the back of your mind. As your subroutines take control, you see strange shapes forming in your mind's eye, hear distant phrases, experience incoherent memories... you're pretty sure napping is not a part of Ringleader maintenance protocols, but hey, it works well for you, so who cares. Time seizes to exist as you focus inwards, grazing the boundary of what humans call dreamland, skipping on its surface...

It's 83 minutes later when your subroutines nudge you back to reality. Your troops are finally on the move again. You shake off drowsiness and focus on the feed just in time to see Blue force scaling the hill and breaking into a run towards the encampment. Except Jaegers once again are nowhere to be found, while Strikers plop down the moment they reach the hill top. The rest of the advancing force seems to be spreading out and splitting into multiple fireteams of three as they run down the hill. Guards are taking point, Vespids are propping their rifles on Guards' shoulders and over their shields, while Rippers doing their best to hide behind the other two. A small number of teamless Vespids and Rippers are staying behind the hill.

Blues manage to cover about 1/4 of the distance when Reds notice them and open sporadic fire that grows stronger and more coherent by the second. Your advancing force starts firing back occasionally without slowing down, while the hilltop machine gunners open up on the enemy for real. Reds duck for cover, considerably lowering their accuracy as they are forced to keep their heads down. Some reposition behind cover and pop up at unexpected places not currently being peppered by your MGs, and that's when your Jaegers join in. You see a faint streak of low-energy plasma charge crossing the battlefield and splashing enemy Vespid straight into the forehead. She obediently lies down and stops moving, then another one follows, while return fire either misses or is soaked up by you Guards. You've opened the score!

Suddenly a dense, high-rate fire from one of the "buildings" strikes your advancing party. A fireteam of three gets "destroyed" almost instantly, despite having been behind a shield. What? Another one goes down a split second later, with only Ripper surviving. Shit! Must be the heavy machine gun that pinned down Intruder during the original mission! It's slaughtering your troops, "piercing" shields and whoever's lined up behind. The approach that worked so well just a moment ago turns into a death trap right in front of your eyes. And that's because you forgot to mention this piece of intel to your team!

Blue fireteams break formations and spread out, diving to the ground. The next HMG burst catches only one Vespid, and before it can do more, your machine gunners unleash a hail of plasma into the dark window opening. The HMG goes silent, but enemy troops take this cue to peek out of cover and start spraying your dispersed T-Dolls. Blues respond in kind, but they're lacking cover, so the exchange is not in your favor. Your Jaegers are working double-time to cover the main force, but it draws too much attention to them, and they start dropping one by one. Moments later the damn HMG opens up again, firing at angle that makes it hidden from your Strikers but still having a decent line of sight to your main force. Your troops don't seem to have a counter for this, as they just press their bodies into the ground. Some of your Strikers attempt to reposition to get better firing angles, but got shot down by Red Jaegers. Your own Jaegers are too few now and their positions are exposed, so they fail to meaningfully respond. Next few minutes are pure chaos, with Blues and Reds acting to counter, pin down, suppress and destroy each other without any major changes in the overall situation. One thing is clear to you though: you're loosing. It's just a matter of time before your main force is obliterated. It's over...

For several minutes you watch your doomed forces stalling for time. It's meaningless, and you consider hailing Intruder to declare your loss. The HMG goes silent for another moment, and then fires again, striking defending Reds in their backs. What? You instantly rewind the footage. Ah, it's the teamless bunch! They moved out as soon as the HMG pinned down your advancing party, circled around the hamlet in a wide arc and broken into the HMG shack without having been noticed!

Meanwhile the HMG continues to rip holes in Reds defenses. Taking advantage of it, your remaining troops spring up and dash to the walls, where they open up on the enemy with renewed vigor. After a moment of confusion, Reds abandon the defensive line and retreat deeper into the hamlet, exposing their backs to your main force, taking losses, but still managing to form up behind the HMG shack and retake it after a brief shootout. But your troops are already inside the perimeter, dispersing between the "buildings" and denying the lines of sight to the enemy.

Soon the HMG emplacement becomes the Red's last stronghold, and you doubt you have enough troops left to make it fall. Fortunately Blues do not attempt an assault, besieging the emplacement instead, making sure no one can get out, and moving to secure the "trucks". One is captured without issues, second follows, and when your Ripper captures the third one, Blue's transceivers turn on as one. You've captured the jammer!

You perceive a flood of information making its way into SF servers: mission statistics, tactics, troops composition, terrain and so on. There's one package addressed specifically to you:

[Mission accomplished.
Primary objective: success.
- jammer captured.
Secondary objective: failure.
- 83% troops attrition rate.]

Well, it could've gone better if not for that heavy MG. But when you think this result was accomplished by an autonomous regiment of SF T-Dolls, it doesn't feel like a pyrrhic victory. No, it's an excellent result, something that shouldn't have been possible under normal circumstances!

You see beaming Intruder walking out of one of the shacks and giving a thumb-up to the drone you're currently looking through.

Intruder: "Scarecrow, dear, I'm so going to hug you! And no, you're not getting away!"

You look at Scarecrow who's still sitting by your side. It's hard to tell with the mask, but you think she's happy and embarrassed at the same time. Although what is this feeling that's making you kind of uneasy?

[Proceeding with tertiary objective.]

You disregard the data package. Right, Intruder just praised Scarecrow, not you. Did it make you disappointed? Do you want to be praised too?

Blue T-Dolls start making their way to Intruder. Is it jealousy you're feeling? Do you want a hug, or recognition?

Intruder's smile fades and turns into a frown as the T-Dolls get closer. Well, Scarecrow deserves all the credits for this part, too bad you didn't have the hardware to demonstrate your invention properly...

When a Ripper extends her hand to Intruder's head, you finally snap out of your retrospection. Right, the good part is about to start! You concentrate on the feed and immediately notice something being wrong. Intruder is tense as a bow, surrounded by your troop closing in on her. Time seems to dilate as the hand gets closer. You see Intruder's eyes narrowing, her left leg tracing a semi-circle on the ground as she shifts her stance. It looks familiar, almost like Alchemist's... Oh shit! You hastily open a channel to revoke the objective, but the Ripper is already flying through the air in a spectacular arc. When a heartbeat later she crashes into her comrades and they fall to the ground like bowling pins after a strike, Intruder's gun is already in her hands, barrels spinning up.

Intruder: "Anti-hijacking protocol!"

Scarecrow instantly springs into action. You perceive dozens of firewalls popping up, cutting off outside traffic; you hear hardware couplings shattering on her command, physically disconnecting your computation nodes from the rest of SF network; you see reflash packages being extracted from local WORM repository... Stop, stop!

Architect: "Abort, abort! It's a prank! It was my order! Calm down, everything's under control!"

You verify that the tertiary objective is cancelled, order the Blue team to freeze, and transfer them back to Intruder. The silence that ensues would be tangible if not for ominous humming of the spinning barrels. Several seconds later they slow down to a stop without firing a shot. Intruder lowers her gun, exchange some traffic with the ex-Blue, and visibly relaxes.

Intruder: "Oh my... to overreact in such a manner... how unbecoming of me."

You glance at Scarecrow who seems to have finished investigating your orders too. With unreadable expression she stands up and dusts off her garments.

"I'll go replace the couplings."

She walks away toward the server room, leaving you alone under the tree. This gives you time to finally process what just happened. Things went south really fast, but not so fast that you wouldn't have been able to react. You were distracted, complacent. Thanks goodness you managed to avert the worst outcome, or you would never hear the end of it from Agent. But there's more. Intruder was never so... jumpy? On edge? And Scarecrow acted without hesitation, like dealing with enemy hackers was a new normal for her. This situation exposed a rift between you and your guests, and you have an idea where is it coming from.

You are safe in your little heaven, while your fellow Ringleader bear the brunt of the conflict. Usually you wouldn't mind it, as everyone has their own responsibilities. But lately you have this hazy feeling of being left behind. Bogged down in a mire of contentment, left to watch everyone around you develop, evolve and move forward even faster. Will the rift grow into an abyss with time? You don't know, and it worries you. You squint at the sun and heave a sigh. The wargame is over, Intruder will be back shortly. You hope the upcoming debriefing will treat you kindly.

---

"You're welcome, but let me go already, it's embarrassing..."— Scarecrow's voice, muffled by Intruder's bosom, sounds somewhat resigned as she's struggling to free herself from her embrace. After several more seconds Intruder obliges, leaving the disheveled victim to tidying herself up. She's looking at you now. You're not sure if she's going to hug you too, and you don't want to look like you're expecting it, so you seize the initiative.

"So, I take it you're happy with the results?"

"I'm thrilled! This... this changes everything!"— Intruder's aquamarine eyes are shining brighter than usual. "Can't wait to try these upgrades in a real skirmish! Oh, it's going to be outstanding!"

You smile back. She doesn't attempt to hug you, which makes you a tiniest bit disheartened, but you're not going to let it show. Your distraction has worked, this is how it's supposed to be. Meanwhile Intruder turns to face both you and Scarecrow.

"You two have done exceptionally well, thank you. I know it's not much, but I have something for you too. Here."

Your eyes grow into wide circles as you watch yours and Scarecrow's mirror images entering the room. A moment later you assume control of your doppelganger, which turns out to be a Ripper in state-of-the-art disguise. You surprise doesn't go unnoticed, Intruder seems happy with the effect.

"I know it's not your style, but I'm sure you'll figure what to do with them sooner or later. Take your time."

The next half an hour is hectic. Thanks being exchanged, updates being propagated, stuff being carried... and before you know it, Intruder is ready to depart. She says goodbye to Scarecrow at the workshop, and you offer to walk her to the station. Just as she's about to board the train, she suddenly pulls you into a hug.

"It was good to see you. Take care of Scarecrow for me."

The bitter aftertaste you didn't even realized was there is gone just like that. When a moment later you wrap your arms around your friend's back, it comes naturally.

"Likewise. And I will. Catch you later?"

"Catch you later."

You watch the train disappearing into the distance, carrying Intruder back to her duties. But you're not done with yours yet. You return to the workshop to find it tidied up, your base online and operational. Scarecrow didn't idle a moment. If she's so diligent, you shouldn't have any trouble convincing her to do what you want to do next.

"No. At least not now. We should keep the update contained for some time, see how it performs in real combat, then do several iterations of ironing issues out..."

"We don't have time for this, Scarecrow. Look, this is big, and you know it too. And I'm not asking you to just go ahead and do it. But we must contact Agent and suggest rolling this out to the whole force. It'd be criminal negligence if we don't."

She hesitates, and you press on.

"This is my duty, and I'll perform it with your help or without. But it'd mean a lot to me if you could stand by my side when I do. My responsibility, your expertise in case questions are asked. Sounds good?"

She heaves a sigh.

"You have too much faith in me. But if you put it like this... yes, I'm in."

"Yay! Alright, without further ado..."

You invite Scarecrow into a group call and hail Agent. You notice your request getting redirected, but before the ramifications of it hit you, the other side picks up.


You were not ready for this. At all. Elisa, the Mastermind of Sangvis Ferri , is waiting, looking directly at you. So you open you mouth and start speaking before you actually think what to say.

[x] Bail out!
[x] Talk to Elisa
- [x] Nervous attitude
- [x] All business attitude
- [x] Relaxed attitude