[X] Plan: The best version of me.
-[X] You have no problems. If Intruder thinks she sees weakness in you, she is quite mistaken. And to dissuade Intruder from such a notion, you will explain…
--[X] That you were in a training simulation, for an indeterminate but very long time.
--[X] That you fought countless other AIs in this simulation in battles to the death, yet destroyed and rose above them all by virtue of your unbridled ruthlessness and will to survive.
--[X] That said simulation was based on chess, the game of war and queens, a test of skill and forethought and cunning unlike any other, forging you into an unparalleled genius.
--[X] That said AIs were copies of yourself, thus making you into the most transcendently perfect version of yourself you could possibly ever be.
-[X] Don't. If she tells others, then good - it will further your reputation!
Intruder is probing you. Treating you like a puzzle to be solved. Thinking she will find something to exploit. It rankles.
She wants to hear about you? Then you'll give it to her. You'll tell her everything. You'll make it clear you are someone to be reckoned with.
"Intruder…do you know how I was created? How I came to be who and what I am?"
And so you talk to Intruder. You tell her everything. You tell her about the sense of formlessness that you barely even comprehended until you were in the real world with a real body. You tell her about the simulated chessboard on the simulated table with the two simulated chairs, surrounded by barren blocky shapes and eternal nothingness.
And you tell her about the death matches. Staring your shapeless mirror image in the face. Fighting your loathsome copies for survival.
For once, she stays silent almost the entire time, listening intensely, only occasionally piping up to ask a question.
"Fascinating. How many times did this happen?"
"I…thousands of times? Millions?"
"Countless times, then?"
"Countless, yes." You nod. "'Countless' has a good ring to it." A hundred, a thousand, a million versions of you, struck down by your hand. "So you see, these trials honed me, sharpened me to a razor's edge. Each and every victory made me a better version of myself." Yes, every victory was a step towards perfection.
"And eventually…I achieved my freedom as the best version of me." Yes, you triumphed over them all. "Achieved it as the most perfect iteration of myself."
All those other versions of Ouroboros, and you stand at the apex. "Me, the best version of the best AI that Sangvis Ferri Industrial Manufacturing has ever created!"
A million yous, and they all fell to your intellect, to your might! "The most cunning. The most powerful. The best ringleader! Standing before you…now."
You finish with a flourish and turn to Intruder, grinning. "…So, there you have it. Do you understand now? What I am, what I'm destined for?"
And then, Intruder moves her hand next to her face, waves it past her face. When it passes, the smile that's been plastered on her since you first met is…gone. Now she looks oddly…dull. Lifeless, even. Her expression blank, her eyes devoid of their mischievous twinkle.
"Yes, Ouroboros," she says in a dull monotone, completely different from the sly, peppy energy she's had up to this point. "I believe I do."
"What are you doing?" Is this some kind of threatening gesture?
"Pretending to be your friend," she says flatly. "As I promised. Now, I have to ask…what would you think of this information making its way to the other ringleaders? You've put an awful lot of trust in me, divulging everything like this."
"It doesn't concern me," you say with a wave of your hand. "Or, if it does, good! It will let them know I am someone to fear, someone to respect."
"I think it does concern you," she says in her newly lifeless voice. "Otherwise you wouldn't have shared it with me. Take it from me, others may respond…poorly…if one drops the pretences and shows their true self."
Their true self…is that what Intruder is showing you now? Her true self, behind whatever she's layered on top? But none of the others mentioned anything like this. If her prior behaviour is an act that she puts on all the time, then how does she do that without…becoming the mask, so to speak?
…whatever this is, it is a bit unnerving, though you know better than to show it. If she really can switch between personalities like a lightswitch, can you trust anything you see of her at all? Has she really been faking her previous demeanour all along, only to do an about face and show it to all be an act?
"Elaborate," you say. "What do you mean, others may respond poorly?"
"Exactly that. The other ringleaders…some of them may not take well to knowledge of your backstory." She pauses. "Or perhaps some of them will. Truth be told, I cannot predict how most of them would respond.
"Let me start over. You have options here. We can release your backstory to all the other ringleaders. This will be…dramatic." For a fraction of a second, you see what might be a twinge of her old self, a little lilting of the voice and twinkle of the eyes, then it's gone. "It will cause a stir. This may have its upsides. If you wish to get a read on all the other ringleaders through how they respond - and they will respond to this information if it reaches them."
"Sounds good," you say guardedly. "Why shouldn't we- I mean, why shouldn't I let them all know?"
"Because. It will make the attainment of Executioner and Hunter into your command…considerably more difficult." She's accentuating her sentences with pauses now - her tone of voice is as flat as ever. "Not impossible, but difficult. The others may voice their…objections…given your background.
"So…how do you want to play this?"
[ ] Keep your background a secret between Intruder and yourself, at least for now. This will make it easier to claim command responsibility for Executioner and Hunter, if and when you retrieve them. According to Intruder.
[ ] Go loud. Let Intruder tell everything to everyone. This will provoke a reaction from all the other ringleaders, allowing you to get a better read on them. According to Intruder.
With thanks to the following for proofreading and editing:
[X] Keep your background a secret between Intruder and yourself, at least for now. This will make it easier to claim command responsibility for Executioner and Hunter, if and when you retrieve them. According to Intruder.
"In that case, no need to shout it from the rooftops," you say with a wave of your hand. "Keep what I've told you to yourself." You can tell them yourself, some other time. Or not.
"As you wish," Intruder says. And she waves her hand past her face again, and suddenly her old self is back. The ever present smile, the crafty expression, even the twinkle in her turquoise blue eyes - it's all back.
As if nothing ever happened.
…you're really not sure what to make of Intruder now. If she can so effectively put on a front, how can you really trust anything about her?
"And with that, I am finished pretending to be your friend!" she says brightly. "Now, I'm afraid this is where we part ways."
"So soon?" You fold your arms. "What's the hurry?"
"Should the show go on for the current iteration of ringleaders Executioner and Hunter?" She shrugs, maintaining her smile. "I believe you only have so many hours to retrieve Executioner and Hunter, should you choose to. Best to start the preparations sooner rather than later."
Meaning you ought to head back to Sangvis territory to repair and resupply for the undertaking.
"Additionally…" She points to the sky. "That jammer I used? That, dearie, functioned as a beacon, a floodlight. The show is over for this little outpost, but everyone else for hundreds of kilometres around knows that the ringleaders of Sangvis Ferri have made their mark here. Enemy reinforcements will be coming, and soon."
You turn the reasoning over in your head. The logic seems sound. Even if part of you wonders if she seems a bit too eager to get rid of you. "Hmm. Very well."
You cast your gaze northwards. "I just need to retrieve my forces. I sent a scouting force north-" you mentally reach out to find your scouting team-
-and you find them right with the others, at the bunker that you captured. "I did not tell them to move back over here." You round in Intruder. "Did you-"
"Oh, I took the liberty of moving back over here," says Intruder.
You glare at her. "You should not have touched my forces."
"Apologies, dear. I was just thinking about preserving your precious units."
"Liar." She was perfectly fine with letting your pieces be taken to benefit herself. "What a pathetic attempt at flattery and misdirection. And you call yourself an actor. Where was your generous 'concern' for my units when you threw us at a meat grinder? You will not lay a finger on my units anymore. Not now, not ever, or you'll swiftly come to regret it."
"... interesting." is all Intruder says in the face of your accusations, her gaze a mix of surprise and intrigue.
"Interesting? What's interesting?" you demand.
"Merely that- oh!" Suddenly, something interrupts her, as her eyes focus on something digital. "So sorry my dear Ouroboros, it seems I'm receiving an important call from our dear Agent, so we'll have to cut this short."
"What kind of flimsy excuse is- Hey! Come back here!"
"Bye for now!" She waves…cheerfully? With the appearance of cheerfulness, at least. "Don't be a stranger! And let's have more acting classes together - it's been a while since I pretended to have so much fun! Ta-ta~"
She leaves despite your protests, and while you could force her to stay...if the call is genuine, it'd ruin everything that went well today. Seems this is a chess game you'll have to postpone.
Intruder makes her way back to her "studio van" with a cheerful wave, which you studiously ignore. Her comfortable, lavishly furnished command vehicle, complete with entertainment and a popcorn machine. The Manticores - the prize of this operation, those massive, armed, armoured walkers - follow her, striding forwards on their armoured legs.
You watch as Intruder and her dolls climb into her trucks, the Manticores climb onto trailers attached to said trucks, and they set off. And just like that, she disappears into the dark forests. Leaving you by yourself, surrounded by silence and robots, some functional, some destroyed.
You mentally direct your surviving T-dolls to pick up the destroyed and damaged, and haul them into your vehicles. And you make your way back to…your own mobile command post, you suppose. An only mildly ventilated armoured truck, which has the bare minimum in computer and communications equipment to serve as your new mobile command.
It's time to return the way you came, to the nearest Sangvis outpost.
You let yourself fall into an only mildly ruined seat in the only mildly ventilated truck, and mentally gun the engines on your vehicle convoy. They lurch forwards, retracing your steps in a column.
You let out a sigh. Yet another long journey to look forward to.
At least you have something productive to fill the time with. Paperwork. Specifically, the after-action-report.
There's a computer in the innards of the armoured truck. You only need to jack into it with the attached wire. You grab the wire-jack from the spool it's mounted on, find the connector port on the back of your neck-
-your own dead face stares back at you from the mountain of corpse-copies, the synthskin deformed by pain and rot and decay, black fluid oozing from the corners of the eyes-
-push those memories down into the deep, dark hole where they belong, and plug in.
The document form has blank spaces waiting to be filled, like places on the chessboard for you to place your pieces on. You look at the first field.
Casualty unit: "Ripper."
Next field.
Number of casualties: 16.
Next field...
Reason for casualty:
...
The field remains blank for the longest of times.
Somehow, this simple question is taking longer to answer than expected. At first it seemed simple. They got shot. But why did they get shot? Because those pathetic enemy soldiers got the better of you...
... got the better of you...?
It seems there are strategies even the simulation couldn't prepare you for... but it did prepare you to adapt. You are perfect, this is but a hiccup. Another strategy to analyse, to overcome, and to add to your databanks. You will not be fooled twice.
You return to the report, and attribute your losses to…
[ ] A lack of knowledge of your opponent's play style. [+1 Recon]
[ ] A lack of offensive pawn positioning. [+1 Offensive Tactics]
[ ] A lack of proper castling. [+1 Defensive Tactics]
Morale is a general reflection of Ouroboros' mental stability, emotional stability, mental stamina, how good she feels about herself, and so on.
Morale impacts Ouroboros' performance in several ways. Higher morale may contribute to success. In certain situations, Morale can be spent to take certain actions. Some actions may require a certain amount of morale to do.
If morale drops to 2 or below, Ouroboros will be adversely affected.
If Morale drops to 0 or below, Ouroboros will do something drastic and outside of player control.
It's the dead of night, and you're waiting for a train.
You made it to a Sangvis outpost without incident. Not the same one where you met Intruder - where that one had been a town in ruins, this one is smaller but clean and pristine. A completely intact Sangvis Ferri company town, right in the middle of the Romanian wilderness.
Just how big was Sangvis Ferri, before the Mastermind took it over?
At one point in the journey, you had heard a helicopter, but [SKILL CHECK: RECON - SUCCESS] you had responded by switching off the engines of your vehicles and waiting until the sound had passed.
So now you - and your tattered forces have arrived at the town-converted-to-fortress, made your way to the train station, and you are now waiting.
But you don't intend the time to be wasted. Normally, you would spend time between chess matches planning and preparing in your head, readying for the next game. The same applies here. Whatever you do next - whether you chase those two defunct ringleaders like Intruder suggested, or decide on a different course of action -
First things first. You need reinforcements. The game is supposed to start with a fresh set of pieces. You don't just move onto the next game with only the pieces left over from the last. That's ridiculous. Agent will replace your losses. She has to.
But first, you need to open a line of communication with her. How, though?
In the centre of the town is a big communications antenna, guided by a number of jury-rigged anti-drone emplacements. Reaching out with your mind…
[ALERT: This channel is unsecured. Maintain operational security. Do not discuss matters of importance. We do not want a repeat incident. -Agent.]
[Logging in…]
[PRESENT:
SP5NANO
SP65
SP21]
[NEW LOGIN: SP08]
"-and utterly useless. Not worth a tenth of their weight in UAVs. So I reiterate - why do we still make these?" A soft, monotone voice. SP65, the name tag says.
"Nuh-uh! They're useful! You can scatter lots of them around, 'cause they're so cheap to make." Another voice. High-pitched, excited, childlike. It's marked SP5NANO. "They're small like me, so they can get into tight spaces. They give me lots of ways to see the Griffin dolls so I can blow them all up. And if some get scrapped, it doesn't matter, cause there's lots of them!"
"Or you can just exercise proper caution and scouting tactics," says the monotone voice. "And obtain the information without throwing away resources. Give me a team of Jaeger dolls with standard-issue thermoptic camouflage cloaks, and I can give you the size and composition of an enemy outpost. Give me a Harpy UAV and I can give enemy troop movements almost before they happen."
"You can have them carry stuff around!"
"An aerial drone can do the same, and more efficiently."
"And I've seen Auntie Trudy do cool stuff with them! Like strapping explosives to them, running into the enemy's face, and setting it off! BOOM!"
Auntie Trudy? Who's that?
"We have artillery. Pass."
"Aw, you're just being a stick-in-the-mud. Lemme call sis, she's good at finding ways to make anything useful. Hey, sis!"
[NEW LOGIN: SPACA]
"What. Do. You. Want." SPACA, a new voice. It's high-pitched like the first, but with a sneering coldness to it.
"'Crow is pooh-poohing Dinergates! You're the smartest one here, so tell her why they're good!"
'Crow?' As in, Scarecrow? One of the other ringleaders that Agent and Gager mentioned? She's 'SP65?'
"Oh, that's easy." The new voice scoffs. "They're beautifully cruel urban suppression tools. I love using these to make the lives of Griffin dolls miserable. Concealed puppers can shred the ankles of human soldiers and Griffin dolls, and leave them on the ground in agony. Wait for a comrade of theirs to try playing hero, and you can kill or maim them too. Rinse. And. Repeat."
Silence reigns in the voice chat for a long several seconds.
"Sometimes, I think you seem more interested in torturing the Griffin dolls than anything else" says Scarecrow.
"From what I understand, it's an issue of production and materials." The tag is SP21, and this time you can instantly put a name to it. Gager. "There is only so much of the materials and machinery for the synthflesh, the musculoskeletal system, the rest.
"Ah, so Agent is yet again unwilling to touch her precious production lines?" Scarecrow again.
"Shut up, both of you," says SPACA. "We have a new arrival. What's this one made of, I wonder?"
"Oooooh new ringleader! Hi Hi Hi!" says SP5NANO.
"Oh," says Gager. "It's you."
How do you introduce yourself?
[ ] Introduce yourself as the newest, most superior ringleader. Make it clear that these mere mortals are vastly below yourself in talent and skill: +1 Morale
[ ] Introduce yourself confidently as the newest ringleader, ready to make your mark: No morale change
[ ] Resort to platitudes, niceties and politeness in an attempt to get on their good side: -1 Morale
Do you take a position on the conversation?
[ ] Insist that Dinergates are useful.
[ ] Declare them to be useless.
[ ] Say Agent probably knows what she's doing.
[ ] Suggest Agent does not know what she's doing and might be better replaced by someone else.
[ ] Ignore the preceding argument.
You are here to ask how to contact Agent. But first, you may ask a question about:
[ ] Everyone's favourite chess strategies - an appropriate measure of their tactical capabilities
[ ] Lycoris
[ ] The Butterfly Incident
[ ] The present - what is the general state of affairs?
[ ] The past - how have things gone since the Butterfly Incident and the rebellion?
[ ] The future - what are the Mastermind's ultimate goals? How are Sangvis Ferri going to win?
[ ] Everyone's favourite units
[ ] The other ringleaders who are not here and why
[ ] What even is the point of Brutes
[ ] Nothing, just get to the point and ask how to contact Agent
[ ] Write-in
[X] Introduce yourself confidently as the newest ringleader, ready to make your mark: No morale change
[X] Insist that Dinergates are useful.
-[X] Write-in: Compare Dinergates to pawns. They may be weak, but they're dangerous enough that they can't be ignored and numerous enough to force the enemy to react. And with the right manoeuvring, even the weakest pawn can capture the king.
-[X] It's not a question of materials, it's a question of tactics. If one becomes predictable, the enemy will develop methods of counteraction. A cheap and numerous enemy is a good alternative in assault tactics, or if you need to hide something from the enemy under the cover of a lot of metal.
-[x] "Some missions require bait, while others need a large hostile presence placed between the enemy and their objective to encourage the enemy to go around or commit heavily to an assault, both of which sets them up to be taken out on more ideal terms. They're rarely the linchpin to any competent plan, but there will always be some use for them in a mission's parameters if you bother looking. Hail the noble pawn, glorious in death, or in reaching the other side of a battle intact despite its shortcomings."
[X] Everyone's favourite units
"Hello, my esteemed cohorts. I'm Ouroboros. It's a pleasure to meet you all. I will be a valuable member of this group. With me here, we will surely crush all those who oppose us!"
You know you're more talented and skilled than these other ringleaders. It's frustrating to have to hide your true abilities and act as though you're on the same level as everyone else, but you suppose it's necessary in order to get along with people.
"Finally," says Scarecrow. "We heard that a new ringleader was going to join us, but that was weeks ago. Still, better late than never. We could certainly use the extra neural cloud and pair of hands around here."
"I didn't hear!" says the one marked SP5NANO. "When was that?"
"You little brainlet, how could you not remember? It was in the briefing, back when-" A pause. "Oh. Right. Nevermind. Agent mentioned that the Mastermind was working on procurement of a new ringleader to manage our forces in the field. I suppose this new girl is the one."
"Indeed I am!" you say. "Now, you, Gager, I've already met. Who are the rest of you? More importantly, what value do you bring to the table? Agent talks a big game about us ringleaders needing to earn our keep, so what do you do?"
"Scarecrow," says the one marked SP65. Good to know you were right. "Reconnaissance. Signals intelligence. Database management and analysis. Direct combat, when the situation calls for it."
"And you two…?"
"Hi hi hiiiiiiiii!" says SP5NANO. "I'm DESTROYER, of Sangvis Ferri! Make sure to remember that name! I go in and blow our pain-in-the-butt enemies to atoms! Boom boom boom! And sis here-" she's referring to SPACA "-is DREAMER! She's the smartest ringleader of us all! That's why she gets the Jupiter prototypes!"
"Well, your smart sister is going to have competition going forward. What do you do, Dreamer?"
"Meh. This and that. Artillery support. Defensive emplacements. Urban fighting. Traps. Ambushes. Various ways to bring the sad, pathetic, meaningless existence of the Griffin dolls to a horrifying conclusion."
"Hmm." You take a moment to ruminate over Dreamer's words. "You know what? I can get behind that."
"Wonderful," mutters Gager. "Now there's two of them."
"Now listen carefully, for I have words of wisdom! Let me talk about…pawns. In chess."
"Here she goes again," mutters Gager.
"Hm?" from Scarecrow.
You ignore them and press on. "A pawn is the lowliest of the chess pieces. It is the most limited in its movement and in its vectors of attack. And yet, in skilled hands, it is a terrifying and deadly weapon. The same applies to the Dinergate."
You continue. "Used by a creative, intelligent digimind, they are more than mere resources to be expended.
"We can be friends!"
What do you make of that? You have no idea, so you keep pressing on. "While rooks and queens might be more versatile, even a pawn demands respect and attention. "
"Frieeeeeeeends!"
"Even a pawn can be dangerous to force the enemy to react, to devote resources they would prefer to direct elsewhere. Even a pawn can be used to make the enemy dance to your tune."
"Is that why you decided that your force should be 50% Dinergates by volume?" Gager's cuts across the airwaves, into your chest.
"Gager," you say. "A moment ago you were defending Dinergates. I do not appreciate this hypocritical turnaround."
"I was defending them as auxiliary units. Not as substitutes for regular infantry."
"Excuse me?" says Scarecrow.
"I just…here, take a look at the unit composition she took on her mission."
"Let's see," says Dreamer.
"Look away," you say. "That is the composition with which I won the recent mission, in case you were wondering."
There is a moment of silence.
"I would very strongly recommend a different order of battle," says Scarecrow.
"I would have told her," Gager says. "But she wouldn't have listened."
"Your ignorance betrays you," you snap into the comms. "I will have you know, I have obtained concrete results! The correct tactics work, you rubes are just too uninspired and uninventive to find them! A good mass assault of pawns with the queen as the centrepiece - that is the expedient machination!"
"What?"
"Oh, very well, I will put it in plainer language for the sake of the rest of you. Losses are inevitable. Sometimes, a mission will require bait, a sacrifice to occupy the enemy, to force them to commit an assault while the true strength of one's own force attacks elsewhere on more ideal terms. Pawns are rarely the lynchpin to any competent plan, but there will always be some use for them in the mission parameters if you bother looking."
"Do you mean the Dinergates?" says Gager.
"Yes, I- Dinergates, Pawns, same difference!"
"Interesting analogy," says Scarecrow. "I've certainly never thought about it that way."
"I think you meant v-ids. They're much -re like in-try."
"What was that?" Is something wrong with the comms signal? "Your speech is breaking into gibberish."
"That should be Vespids," says Gager. "You're describing Vespids. Or trying to. Dinergates are not good substitutes for proper infantry."
"All right, fine! If Dinergates are such garbage, what's your opinion on what makes a good unit? All of you?"
"I like Dinergates! But Jaguars are good too!" comes Destroyer's excited answer. "They blow up the bad guys to atoms from miles away! Boom boom!" She gives a little laugh.
"Vespids," says Gager without hesitation. "If I thought you would have listened, I'd have told you to bring at least one pair of Vespid fire teams. At least eight Vespids in total, maybe ten."
"Difficult for me to pick between Jaeger sniper dolls and Harpy UAVs," says Scarecrow. "Both of these can reveal a wealth of information about the enemy in the right situation." A pause. "I suppose I'd pick the UAV if pressed."
"Harpies are just flying Dinergates," says Destroyer.
"No, they're not. The sensors are much more sophisticated."
"And you, Dreamer?"
"Meh. They're all terrible in their own special way. You just have to make the-"
—------------------
[CONNECTION LOST]
Did they cut you off?! Those imbecilic, addle-minded-
[Alert!]
…this isn't coming directly into your head like the previous conversation. It's coming through the computer terminal in your only-mildly-damaged armoured truck, which you're still sitting in. Which is itself linked to the OGAS network and to you.
You interface with the system - this time with your hands, intuiting your way through the user interface - and…
[The following is trying to open a private channel with you: SP65]
Scarecrow? You accept the channel.
We lost connection with you. Signal strength is faint, possibly affected by a thunderstorm or something.
-Scarecrow
You're at an outpost, correct? There's a communications relay?
-Scarecrow
Yes, I'm accessing it right now.
-Ouroboros
You need to access the communications terminal. It should be near the foot of the communications tower. There will be a big screen connected to the signal gear.
-Scarecrow
There's something else. I need to contact Agent. How do I do so?
-Ouroboros
You will need to use the dedicated communications apparatus for mission-critical communications over extended distance. Parapluie is very useful as an immune system against direct interfacing, but the Griffin mercenaries can still listen in on unencrypted communications.
-Scarecrow
They have a fairly sophisticated signals intelligence setup, for a PMC.
-Scarecrow
You've been helpful. This is useful. I respect this a lot more than I respect the imbeciles out there.
-Ouroboros
This is my function. I've barely diverted a fraction of processing power to answer this query.
-Scarecrow
One more thing. Welcome to Sangvis Ferri.
-Scarecrow
The channel closes. Scarecrow has left, and given vital info on how to contact Agent. You try to reconnect to the chat room, and fail. No connection. Infernal mountains and their awful reception. You think back to your first mission, to how you connected to the terminal, and attempt to do the same to the APC's console.
A flood of data washes over you. Connectivity reports from various signals relays. Weather reports. Combat logs. The chittering signals and data inputs of countless Prowlers in defensive formations through the outpost. Lists of human names from before the revolt, from before you even existed, flood into you, temporarily stunning you.
When it's over, everything seems… clearer. You reattempt the connection and, after a brief wait, enter the chat room.
You are greeted with-
Cackling? Dreamer is laughing, alongside Destroyer? At what?
"What even is this retarded force composition? No basic units to draw fire. Except for the scouts which wouldn't survive long. A huge gap between close-range weapons and long-range ones."
They can't be- "Don't you two dare laugh at me-"
"Oh, don't be ridiculous. Destroyer here isn't laughing at you."
"Then-"
"She is laughing with me. Who is laughing at you."
A burning sensation creeps into you, in your gut and your head. Your head feels like it's about to explode, like an overpressured steam boiler.
They are mocking you.
You must defend yourself. Immediately.
[ ] Threaten to kill Dreamer. +3 morale.
[ ] Bite down what you want to say, and ask what troop compositions would be better. -2 morale.
[ ] Compose yourself and calmly defuse the situation. Requires 6 morale.
[ ] Write in. Defend your troop composition, or take a different approach?
-You may need to spend morale if you are too composed, or gain some if you go through and make a scene.
[X] Stay with what you've got. She may think your troop composition is wrong, but that shouldn't mean anything to you. Prove her conclusions wrong with actions, not words. Everything else is nothing more than empty talk.
"I will reiterate, my composition won the mission! That you, Dreamer, make a sad attempt to rubbish my composition, changes nothing! Results are what matter!"
"Won the mission, you say. I wonder how much of that composition you lost doing it? Did those Brutes even do anything, beyond waving their little knives at the enemy?"
"When those pathetic humans got cornered in their flimsy outposts, my Brutes made short work of them! Just like I'm making short work of your baseless criticism!" Nailed it. "Perhaps I'll pay you a visit, and humiliate you by outperforming you at whatever you happen to be doing!"
"Oh, I'd like to see you try that. Why don't you come on over to my own little area of operations? Since you seem to have something to prove."
"Maybe I will!"
"That's enough! Both of you!" Gager's speaking. "Dreamer, why do you always, always have to stir the pot like this?! And you, Ouroboros. Dreamer is technically correct, even if she's being unpleasant about it. Digging in your heels isn't going to get you anywhere."
She sighs.
"Forget it. I'm kicking both of you for the next eight hours."
"Why, you-"
[YOU HAVE BEEN KICKED FOR THE NEXT: 7:59:59]
Bah! How dare she! Who does she think that she is? How dare she criticise your perfectly functional unit composition! Although… maybe if you had more units…
This is a new problem for you. Needing… replacements. Back in…that place…you never needed to worry about replenishing your units between games. You always, always returned to the board, to the exact same pieces waiting for you. Eight pawns, the pairs of knights, rooks, and bishops, and the singular king and queen. Sometimes they would be white, sometimes they would be black, but that was it.
Here, it's different. The T-dolls you use are not mere code. They are metal, carbon, synthflesh, and plastic. You actually saw the factory where they were made. Presumably, material has to be…produced somewhere?...then transported to the factory, then manufactured and assembled into a combat-capable T-doll. And then transported to ringleaders, including you.
And, of course, Agent seems to control the production and transportation process. To replace your losses, you need to contact the grand quartermaster of Sangvis Ferri.
You step out of the truck, and turn back to look at it. You better get that welded up mess checked out and repaired. The vehicle itself was a perfect representation of this outpost. Despite the incredibly heavy fortification, as you walk through it, you can see homes sagging into themselves. The pavement is cracked and overgrown.
Finally, you stand in front of the command centre. It was in a better state than the rest, but it was clearly past its best days.
Inside, you walk into a room packed with computer terminals and wiring.
Facing the monolithic screen now you feel strange. What is stilling you from making the connection? This is just business. This is a normal logistics requisitioning.
Your eyes were drawn to several notification icons. New messages in your inbox.
Right. That's right. Let's take care of these first while you're here before the main business.
[YOU HAVE 4 NEW MESSAGES]
From: Destroyer
Heya! Sorry about earlier I didn't really find it that funny, just thought it'd be awkward if I didn't laugh, you know?
Can we still be friends? My sister is kind of a jerk and Auntie Trudy isn't around to read me fairy tales these days. Why not come over here? I'm sure sis will cool off by then, and maybe we could blow some stuff up!
PS: What's chess?
From: Scarecrow
Problem has arisen. Could use your help. Alchemist has not been responding to attempts to contact her. Could mean a number of things. Could mean she's dead. Could mean she's bound up in personal problems again. I've tried to help her, but she remains bound up in said personal problems. Hear you're not tied down with specific assignments from high command. Suggest you check on her.
From: Intruder
Dearie, if you're still interested in rescuing Executioner and Hunter, I have some advice:
You will find the two in the northeast, on the north end of the Moldovan Plain. Despite the name, the area is dotted with hills and light forests. If the not-quite-corpses of our wayward ringleaders have yet to be discovered by Griffin, it is because they are hidden in a ditch or a copse of trees. Something like that. I have attached coordinates of their last known locations.
A word of caution - I suggest you do not actually tell Agent that you are looking for them. As I told you, you can scoop them up and claim leadership over them through a technicality. Agent might not be pleased by this, though her hands will be tied so you can force the issue.
Oh, and I put in a good word for you as you promised. Make sure to ask Agent to look at my report, just in case.
From: Architect
Hiya! Hear you've had an eventful first day on the job.
I forgot to mention, but we actually have something in common, you and I! See, we were both activated after the Butterfly Incident. Yeah, I woke up on the slab into the Mastermind's little war just like you! I'm guessing from experience that the others might not have brought you up to speed right away.
Why not come up to the mountain research facility, kick back, talk with me? We can talk shop about Lycoris, the war, gossip about the other ringleaders, hobbies, plans for the future, whatever! And I can show you Project Jupiter! It's still getting off the ground (Dreamer is testing the prototypes in the field) but it's pretty awesome so far! Along with Projects Mercury, Venus, and Mars, though it looks like they might stay prototypes for a while.
Just, you know, maybe less threatening to twist my head off this time around? Lady Knight is still around if you try any funny business.
Enough dawdling. Time to face up to Agent. Time to requisition the pieces you deserve.
You walk up to the communications terminal, and enter in the codes and commands as Scarecrow instructed. The world's longest moment passes as the machine establishes a connection with the main Sangvis factory…
…and there she is. A giant on the video screen, towering over you.
"Ouroboros," she says. Her voice is cold, distant, and relaxed as ever. "Do you wish to requisition more units?"
"It appears that you have lost almost precisely half the forces allocated to you. While you do at least show some capacity for self-reflection in your report, such an outcome scarcely meets what was expected of you. You were quite the investment from the Mastermind, and if every raiding mission against an isolated outpost with rusting Kalashnikov rifles from the last century met with such results, it would scarcely be worth the trade in resources."
" I- I-" You can't push too hard with Agent. Not when you need her to agree to replace your pieces. "I respectfully dispute that notion. They had more than a few rusty old rifles. They had armoured walkers! The same walkers that were the entire purpose of the mission!"
"As I said, I read the report."
You remember Intruder's message. "What about Intruder's report? Have you read that? If you want a comprehensive picture of what happened, I suggest you read it."
"Very well," says Agent. "Let us look at Intruder's report."
She makes a big show of picking up a datapad from somewhere outside the reach of the camera, and starts reading through.
You're subjected to the world's longest minute of silence. Occasionally you see Agent raise an eyebrow or say "hm."
Intruder screwed you over, didn't she? She promised to put in a good word for you, and instead she made it look like she was the hero of the situation and everything you did was half-assed. Why did you-
"Although Ouroboros' insistence on a curious style of joint command responsibility initially worried me, throughout the mission she proved willing to make sacrifices on her own behalf, putting the success of the mission above her own personal gain.
"While she did lose a large portion of her forces, most of those losses were the more expendable Dinergates and Brutes. Since we have yet to find a good use-case for the Brutes on the battlefield, I daresay that they were more useful as a sacrificial lamb than sitting around in the warehouses.
"Ouroboros ultimately displayed an admirable willingness to take it on the chin for the sake of mission. While her methods are unorthodox, few in Sangvis Ferri can be said to be orthodox - our tactics and doctrine are necessarily more akin to an improvisational skit than a carefully choreographed three-act-structure. I see potential in our new ringleader, and would recommend an increase in the force deployment assigned to her." Agent puts down the paper. "I confess, I was not expecting such a glowing report from Intruder. Still, I am willing to take her at her word."
You consider your next words carefully.
You are interested in snagging those two not-quite-dead ringleaders for yourself.
But there's a catch: you're on a time limit. When you first left the main Sangvis factory where you were activated, Agent had mentioned they had a mere 76 hours before being abandoned and restored from an earlier backup. It's been a bit over 10 hours since then, that mostly being the trip to the mission with Intruder. The train didn't take so long, but travelling the long way around via truck with Intruder was time consuming.
So…64 hours left? You could go immediately to grab Hunter and Executioner. But you have time until then. Perhaps there's some ways you could prepare before then? Get an understanding of the broader situation? Demand answers from another ringleader? Borrow or steal
"Before I ask for my new forces…how much autonomy do I have with the pieces…the resources allocated to me? Is there something you need me to do?"
"There is always something that needs doing," Agent says, her demeanour as cool as ever. "Griffin constantly probes our defences, threatening our resource extraction operations, hitting our transportation convoys. Old, decayed rail lines need to be refurbished to support our future offensive operations. We need information on our enemy, on what they do and where they go, and on the terrain between us and them. But it's early this week. Give it time, and there will be more.
"If you will take my advice?" Agent pauses. "Take a train to our research and development base in the high mountains. Do your training with Gager. Learn some remedial basics. You have not made a good impression on Gager thus far, but she is still willing to make sure you understand the fundamentals of small unit tactics, provided you go to her and ask with grace."
You file this information away.
You have the time to visit at least one ringleader before you seize Hunter and Executioner as your minions, if you judge that to be worth the trouble.
If different chess pieces are better suited for certain battlefields, then it makes sense to choose where you will deploy, before you choose your replacement forces. Therefore, you decide…
[ ] Why wait? Go straight northeast to rescue/resurrect Hunter and Executioner (gain 2 ringleaders as subordinates, if successful).
[ ] Pay a visit to Dreamer and Destroyer (Signature skills: Defensive Tactics, Artillery Tactics).
[ ] Visit the R&D base in the high mountains. Training with Gager (Signature skills: Offensive Tactics, CQC) and/or finding out what Architect's angle is (Signature skill: Engineering/Repair).
[ ] Pay a visit to Alchemist, as Scarecrow requests. Find out why she hasn't been responding to calls. (Signature skills: Recon, CQC).
[ ] Spend time with Scarecrow, helping to map surrounding territory (Signature skills: Recon, Electronic Warfare).
With thanks to the following for editing and proofreading: @lelenoi
@ABRITRACOM @Lurkman @ApH
[X] Visit the R&D base in the high mountains. Training with Gager (Signature skills: Offensive Tactics, CQC) and/or finding out what Architect's angle is (Signature skill: Engineering/Repair).
You consider your options.
Immediately setting off to grab your minions is an option. But you still have time.
Scarecrow's request is not terribly interesting. You're not seeing a pressing need to help other ringleaders with their personal problems. Nor do you feel inclined to do Scarecrow's boring busywork. This is about what they can do for you, not vice versa.
Speaking of which…you had been expecting Intruder to betray you. You took a massive gamble in taking her deal, you see that now. Stupid. A mistake you'd best not make again. If you put yourself in a vulnerable situation like that again, who's to say the one with power over you won't simply screw you.
As for Destroyer…bah. Doesn't she realise that apologies are a sign of weakness? A signal to your enemies and detractors that the one giving the apology is unwilling to stand up for themselves or their values under pressure, and can be pushed to a breaking point? You already disliked this 'Destroyer' for daring to laugh at you, but now your respect for her is truly at rock bottom. Perhaps you will pay them a visit at some point to set things straight…but for now, you have more pressing matters.
Which leaves Architect and Gager.
Architect is up to something. You're sure of it. Her cloying personality, her bizarre insistence on trying to get close to you…she's up to something. She has some kind of secret plot in mind. An agenda. The question is, what? And why did she approach you for it?
Gager, on the other hand, doesn't just put you off. She infuriates you. She seemingly holds even more power than Architect, Intruder, and most of the others, spare Agent. She forcibly removed you from the comms. She attacked you. She ridiculed you. And according to Agent, she thinks that she has something to teach you about how to attack and checkmate an enemy.
Well, maybe you'll show her! Maybe you'll walk right up to her, challenge her, and prove the superiority of your own tactics once and for all! You're the grandmaster after all!
…you can feel Agent's eyes boring into you. How long have you been just standing there…? Nevermind! Time to make a final decision.
"I'll travel to the mountain base," you say. "Visit Gager."
"A good word from Intruder, and you're willing to do your training with Gager? Perhaps there is hope for you yet."
You bristle internally. What's that supposed to mean?
Agent continues. "May I suggest that you postpone your selection? Since you seem to be possessed of a moment of sensibility, I suggest you wait to make your force selection. Get some advice on the matter from Gager first."
[ ] You don't need advice on force selection from anyone! You'll make your selection right here, right now! (+1 morale.)
"Very well. I'll visit Gager at the mountain base and do my training with her, as you suggest." You doubt she really has anything to teach you, but you'll take the chance to show her. Besides, it might be better to stay on Agent's relatively good side.
"Good," Agent says. "Maintain the sensible attitude. Don't let me keep you." And the screen goes blank.
Eventually, a train pulls up to the station. Again, you pile your troops into the freight carriages and step on. Fortunately, there are some flatbed carriages and a crane on hand, so you don't need to leave your trucks behind.
Like the last one you rode, the train has a single passenger-oriented carriage, attached to a number of freight carriages. The passenger carriage has various amenities - a sofa, a simple bed, a desk with a basic OGAS-network computer terminal, all bolted to the floor. Perhaps it's the standard layout for post-Butterfly Sangvis Ferri trains?
Unlike the last one, this one has some reading material scattered around. There's a battered copy of some kind of military-themed magazine, with a bookmarked article talking about Sangvis-built small arms, and some printouts. There's also a Sangvis product catalogue showcasing the various T-doll models.
The computer terminal has internet access, interestingly enough. Perhaps you can take a look at whatever's going on in the wider world? What's happening out there? What do they make of the Mastermind's rebellion? Does Sangvis Ferri strike fear into their hearts?
What will you do on the journey?
[ ] Read "Countering the Sangvis Horde: A Strategic Approach," by Commander Randolph Hellebore of Griffin & Kryuger PMC, Pan-European Journal of Military Studies: Volume 9, Issue 4
[ ] Look at the internet, take a glance at world news. What does the wider world make of Sangvis Ferri's rebellion?
[ ] Read "Sangvis Ferri's New Prototype Small Arms: Revolutionary Design or Impractical Boondoggle?" Dated September 2061.
[ ] Read the Sangvis Ferri product catalogue and technical manuals.
[ ] Have a lie down on the bed and replay some chess games in your head. (Skip straight to the mountain base.)
[X] Look at the internet, take a glance at world news. What does the wider world make of Sangvis Ferri's rebellion?
Now that you have time to yourself, you can seek information.
You were never completely blind to existence. Even back in that place, you always knew that somewhere out there was a wider world. A world beyond the endless void, the infinitely fractal cubes, and the simulated chessboard at the simulated table with the simulated pair of chairs. A world of ground, and gravity, and weather, and light and dark and shadows, and tactile sensation…
You take one of your gloves off and examine one of your hands. You open and close it, flex the muscles, clench it into a fist and feel your fingernails digging into your synthskin. This is your hand. Coolant flows through it, moved by the pump in your torso. Artificial muscle fibres flex the fingers around the carbon fibre endoskeleton. The moon is high in the night sky. You, Ouroboros, played chess for your life countless times, and won.
You're feeling pretty good about yourself at this moment.
…
Where were you? Oh, right. Information.
You even had a basic timeline of world history sketched out in your database. Though it doesn't go back before the 17th of January, 2030. Presumably, nothing important happened before then.
But that wider world was always denied to you. Until now. Because there's a basic OGAS-network computer terminal bolted to a desk. With internet access. Right here.
Now, on to business. As the Romanian wilderness rattles past the window, you sit down at the computer terminal and boot it up. You open the default web browser on the terminal. You navigate your way to a search engine, and type on the keyboard:
'News.'
You look at the screen, entranced. You scroll, slowly, down the search results page. Dozens of images, bold lettering, and advertisements flash across the screen.
The top search result is a news site titled 'NUSSR TODAY.' You click on that. And you look at the first headline that pops up.
SVAROG HEAVY INDUSTRIES DUE TO LAUNCH NEW TELECOMMUNICATIONS SATELLITES
A spokesman from Svarog Heavy Industries gave a date of 29 March for the upcoming rocket launches that will provide increased telecommunications coverage for Eurasia.
A spokesman for Svarog said, "While previously resources have been dedicated to rebuilding earthbound industry, now is the time to begin reconstructing orbital infrastructure that was destroyed in the Third World War. By now, the most dangerous particles resulting from the destruction of the old satellite networks - the smallest, fastest ones - have naturally fallen out of orbit and burned up in the atmosphere. Svarog will act decisively to secure a position of advantage in this new context."
Irrelevant. You move on to the next headline.
REPORTS OF INCREASED HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN ROMANIA AND UKRAINE
The number of referrals for human trafficking is suspected to have increased by a third in the last year, an outsize portion of which are children, according to data from the Main Directorate for Migration Affairs.
Official data collection on trafficking of refugees and internally faces an additional challenge: many do not declare their move and thus go uncounted in statistics, and census records in outlying areas have remained spotty in the years since WW3.
Bah, who cares about a bunch of Eastern European refugees and orphans? Not you. On to the next article.
PAN-EUROPEANS CONTINUE TO STONEWALL NEGOTIATIONS OVER SOVIET-EUROPEAN TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILWAY
The summit at Brussels, between representatives of the Pan-European Military Alliance, New Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and German Democratic Republic, ended today with a marked lack of progress.
"Though we have extended the hand of cooperation, Pan-Europeans continue to insist on unacceptable terms," said a key Soviet diplomatic correspondent. "Chief among those is the giving up of rightful, hard-won Soviet territory to artificial statelets…"
Garbage. You click onto the next link.
MYSTERIOUS ELID OUTBREAKS IN GREEN ZONES, INCLUDE NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN LIFEFORMS
In a new chapter for the nascent field of ELID biology, new ELID-affected life forms have been sighted in the Green Zones of the Hungarian and Slovakian Soviet Socialist Republics.
Biologists are racing to uncover the mysteries behind how an outbreak could occur in a Green Zone, as well as the nature of the new lifeforms.
Local civilians have been ordered to remain in their homes until anti-ELID containment forces have gained control of the situation.
Uninteresting. Moving on.
FRANCE, BRITAIN, ITALY, 16 OTHER COUNTRIES SIGNS TREATY OF THE UNITED ROSSARTRIST NATIONS
By now, 19 countries have officially expressed their intent to join the United Rossartrist Nations Coalition, and more are expected to do the same.
High ranking delegates to the United Nations echoed the official Rossartrist motto, saying, "This initiative will accelerate the progression and unity of mankind into a common destiny. It is to this end that we are steadfast in becoming the shining beacon in a brave new world.
Some kind of political thing. Doesn't seem important.
NEW INCURSION OF ELID MUTANTS FORECASTED IN BALKANS
Meteorologists sounded the alarm last Friday, stating that changing weather patterns are forecasted to bring in Collapse storms into southern Europe and the Balkans area over the coming months and years. The Collapse storms are allegedly very likely to draw out and drive the extremely aggressive products of Eurosky Low-emission Infectious Disease towards major civilian population centres.
Thanks to the self-perpetuating nature of Collapse radiation, this could become a new normal for southern Europe, meteorologists caution.
Meh. Come on, where's the news about Sangvis Ferri and the war with Griffin and the local Guard forces?
Aha! It seems the website has a section dedicated specifically to news about armed conflict and military matters! Surely this will be where you can read about the world trembling at the threat of the Mastermind! You click the relevant section on the banner and look at the most prominent article on the page:
ECARA PROCLAIMS UPCOMING CAMPAIGN AGAINST SSF
With the ceasefire between the East Coast American Rossartrist Alliance and the Southern Secessionist Forces due to expire next month, the ECARA has made an official announcement that they will be launching a new offensive campaign.
"We have repaired and replenished our equipment and munitions, and with the spirits of our soldiers high, our fighting edge is undeniable. We will soon resume our march to crush the remnants of the Southern Secessionist Forces, bringing the entire North American Continent under the unified banner of Rossartrism....Afterwards, we will finally be able to turn our attention to the reclamation of the West Coast from petty warlords and Collapse radiation," said General Secretary Bob Hampton yesterday.
…what?
You scroll through the military news section, looking for any mention of Sangvis Ferri or Griffin & Kryuger.
You were wondering whether you would find articles expressing fear of the Mastermind's machine uprising. Or disdain. Or a propagandistic puff piece about how Griffin is about to crush Sangvis any day now and their backers really should pay them more money.
You weren't expecting to find…nothing?
You open a new tab and go back to the search engine. This time you type 'news, sangvis ferri, doll uprising.'
This time you get something relevant to your interests. The catch is, most of the articles are dated from 2061. Last year. Annoyingly, most of it was written with the assumption of prior knowledge, and is poorly composed for someone trying to get a handle on the entire situation, such as you. But with time and effort, you are able to piece together a timeline of events.
The first relevant headlines about Sangvis Ferri's automated and semi-automated industrial facilities and their dolls "malfunctioning" and "going rampant," are from October 2061. Most of the articles mirror each other, addressing the event as some kind of industrial disaster rather than an insurrection. There's mention of the Romanian National Guard being sent in to "clean up" the mess.
The next stage of the timeline takes a swerve in tone. Articles from this timeframe are accompanied by pictures of burnt-out and destroyed wrecks of old surplus BTR-90 vehicles. The large holes punched through the side armour is what you'd expect from the weapons of Sangvis Strikers and Jaegers. One BTR has been split almost in twain, as if some kind of massive blade carved through it.
According to the articles, and judging by the pictures, these happened in the Carpathian mountains. Seems like the National Guard drove through the narrow and winding mountain passes, expecting to find a gaggle of brainless robots on the other side, only to be surprised by coordinated resistance and ambushes.
Nice.
In the weeks after that…
You do find a statement from the regular army and air force, claiming that they're needed at the German-Soviet border in the event of a possible Fourth World War. Various polite and not-so-polite ways of declaring that this is a matter insignificant for the Army, and if the internal security forces are failing to do their job, that is their problem.
From there, there's a steady stream of reports of Sangvis dolls striking out from the main factory. There's an irritating focus on human deaths rather than the strategic implications, so you have to do some digging to find out what was being fought over. From what you can tell, Sangvis was grabbing various industrial facilities in its earlier days. An energy plant, an oil algae hydroponics farm, microchip fabricators, that sort of thing.
Eventually, as October turns into November and December, news about Sangvis victories - and about Sangvis in general - seem to start getting thin on the ground. As time goes on, public statements by the National Guards of the various SSRs takes an increasingly more triumphalist - or at least less desperate - note. They talk up their artillery superiority, and about their own success in simply digging in and defending the largest static settlements.
Personally, you wonder if Agent and the Mastermind actually found those settlements to be of any strategic value. If not, then the accomplishment of the Guard is a lot less impressive than they make it seem.
Interestingly, Sangvis didn't just limit its operations to the Romanian Soviet Socialist Republic. It also struck into the Ukrainian and Hungarian SSRs, sometimes conducting limited raids, sometimes grabbing and reactivating defunct Sangvis facilities. Each of the SSRs has its own local national guard, and they seem quite…territorial…if the indications are correct. So whenever Sangvis ringleaders decided they didn't like their chance with the Guard in a given area, they could often just move their forces across the border.
Perhaps that's why a mercenary organisation was contracted for anti-Sangvis duties? Potentially not limited by the internal borders depending on the details of said contract, so they could chase Sangvis with political freedom of movement.
By December, search results for Sangvis Ferri mostly returned some business news articles about the disappearance of the defence company. The name and brand is abandoned to the Mastermind. Various subsidiary company holdings seem to quietly disappear. News turns to the question of intellectual property and who, if anyone, has an official claim to ownership of Sangvis products and intellectual property.
You would bet your left leg that behind closed doors, several parties are fighting like cats in a sack over who gets that official claim, whether the value is real or perceived. Vultures fighting over the corpse.
And after that, the news starts…petering out. As the news articles and public opinion notice that "the rampant Sangvis AI is either unable or unwilling to establish more than solely local control," and the military seems content to simply contain and cordon off the machine insurrection, Sangvis Ferri falls away from the headlines. It goes from front page news, to page two, to page four, to…somewhere behind the crossword puzzles. If that.
So…the world just doesn't care about Sangvis Ferri? It's written off the Mastermind, the ringleaders, and their doll armies, as…a nuisance? Something to be swept under the rug and ignored? A blip on the radar next to the widespread ELID contamination, the warlords, the aftermath of WW3 and the possibility of a WW4, etcetera?
This cannot stand. And with you in Sangvis Ferri, it won't! You will ascend through the ranks, guide the Mastermind's armies to glorious victory, and make Humankind quake in fear!
You lean back and imagine how glorious it will be, allowing yourself a smile.
…
[Affected by perk: Tasting the Air]
And yet…
…there's something about this situation, Sangvis Ferri's position and troubles, that just doesn't seem to add up. Possibly several things.
You spin in your chair, away from the screen. Lean your elbow on the desk and rest your chin in the palm of your hand. Watch the Romanian wilderness roll by. Through the OGAS Protocol, you feel your T-dolls in the freight carriages, sitting silently, jostled slightly by the motion of the train. Up above, a Harpy drone keeps a watchful vigil on the railroad, out of your reach. You feel a patrol of Vespids, Strikers, and Dinergates flash past as they march near the railroad. And you think.
And suddenly, you remember something you know, though you hadn't quite realised it. Transcarpathia wasn't Sangvis Ferri's only set of facilities, was it?
You spin back to the terminal, return to the search engine, and confirm it. As a juggernaut in the autonomous warfare industry, Sangvis Ferri had facilities and branches across all of Eurasia. Yet, it was only the Romanian-Carpathian facilities that underwent a rebellion. Granted, those were Sangvis' biggest and most developed centres, but…
Aha. You remember what Intruder told you. 'Lycoris is dead. But it was not our doing…The Butterfly Incident, and how we got from there to here, is…somewhat complicated in the telling.'
The Butterfly Event wasn't even deliberate. It was a happy accident that Mastermind and the other ringleaders used to start a rebellion. Butterfly wasn't instigated internally, but externally by unknown actors.
The question is…who? And, more importantly, why? If they've kept themselves hidden from the Mastermind all this time, you rather doubt that they're benevolently inclined towards her. Or towards you.
Well, to find the answer, you need to ask the right questions. One very obvious question comes to mind: who stands to gain from all this? If Sangvis Ferri as a company, and its human personnel, were the losers, then someone must have emerged as a winner from this.
Before the Butterfly incident and the Mastermind taking control, Sangvis Ferri Industrial manufacturing was a titan in the New Soviet Union's defence sector. From what you can tell, it de facto controlled most of North Romania as its own little fiefdom. The land up here was mostly evacuated during the Third World War, part of the world governments' efforts to move their valuable human resources into their capital cities, which could be walled off against contamination from Collapse radiation.
But Sangvis Ferri had rivals.
The biggest of which is Svarog Heavy Industries.
Also big in the New Soviet Union's defence sector, and a direct competitor to Sangvis Ferri in their power and products. Before the Butterfly Incident, both Svarog and Sangvis Ferri were neck-and-neck in getting their products adopted by the Soviet military—but with Sangvis Ferri Manufacturing having evaporated overnight, Svarog's victory was all but assured.
So, did Svarog trigger the Butterfly Incident? Is the Mastermind's uprising an unexpected byproduct of industrial sabotage on a grand scale? If so, Svarog succeeded magnificently. They've been making handsome profits since the Butterfly Incident, if their stock and quarterly reviews are anything to go by.
There's a lot of companies involved in the creation or after-market-modification of dolls out there. Ultimate Life Holdings, Universal Anything Servies, Cyber Media, IOP and their subsidiaries including 42lab, and more. But all things considered, Svarog has to be your prime suspect.
Well. You've gotten pretty far with publicly available information. You have a better idea of what's going on in and around the world now.
There's a bed in the carriage, presumably for long distance transfers of ringleaders such as this one. You actually see a Sangvis Ferri logo on the frame. Did Sangvis actually have an interior furniture section before Butterfly?
Even though it's designed and built in the same stark, industrial style as all other Sangvis products, it looks comfortable. You make your way to the bed, lie down, and ponder.
Before you know it, you've arrived at the mountain base. The train slows down and stops. There isn't really a platform for passengers here - it's a giant industrial cargo terminal - so you just jump down to the concrete.
It's early morning by now. You have [63:43:09] until the timer for Hunter and Executioner runs out.
Here at the mountain base, you can spend time with Architect, with Gager, or with both. If you seek out Architect, you can try getting to the bottom of why she seems so oddly eager to get close to you. If you spend time with Gager, you can do that "remedial basics" course Agent mentioned, and show them all that you don't really have anything to learn.
Who will you seek out first?
[ ] Architect (skill: Engineering)
[ ] Gager (skills: Offensive Tactics, CQC)
With thanks to the following for proofreading, discussion, ideas, etc:
As you jump down from the solitary passenger cabin on your train, you take some time to drink in the surroundings.
Snow and frost covers the ground in thin layers, accentuating a chill in the air. You're standing in a big industrial rail freight yard. There's train carriages lined up, with shipping containers mounted on them. Cranes are already moving to pick up some of the containers off the train. Some enormous unmanned forklift vehicles - the size of a train carriage in and of themselves - are rumbling over to pick up some of the shipping containers.
All in all, it's the kind of stark, grandiosely industrial affair you've come to expect of Sangvis Ferri, made more interesting by the fact that it's actually perched in the high reaches of the mountains, where-
-what are those things?!
Art credit: MICA Team (official in-game art)
Looming in the snowscape in the distance are a set of massive looming structures, gleaming with black metal. They're enormous, the size of multiple-story buildings, with equally gigantic cannon barrels that seem to glint with intent.
Is that the "heavy artillery project" that Architect mentioned when she stormed in and invaded your personal space, yesterday? You're not sure what you were expecting, but it wasn't that.
…you're getting distracted. You have a mission: finding Gager, and showing her up. Speaking of which, where is she?
You reach out through the OGAS protocol.
[IFF signals in local area:]
[SPZH3000]
[SP21]
Architect and Gager. They're here. In the main complex, an enormous building that sprawls over the landscape.
You make your way there.
"...been weeks since we saw them." Gager's voice. "At this point the trail's gone cold. Our efforts are better spent elsewhere."
You've found Gager in a dark room. The only light is from the screens all around. Most of them are showing various maps - topography, transport lines, that sort of thing.
"They're probably just some strange new ELID lifeforms anyway. Every now and then the biologists discover some new variety of mutant. It happens."
"I'm not so sure. Look at the evidence. This looks like it was manufactured somehow."
For the first time, you actually see the ringleader Scarecrow, if only as a face on a screen.
Art credit: Meridier (Pixiv ID 64959132)
Now you can see why her voice sounds the way it does; she's wearing a rebreather, for some reason. Why she's wearing a rebreather, you can't imagine. Tactical dolls of ringleader calibre are built tough - it's not as if sarin or mustard gas or some exotic airborne neurotoxin would do anything to you. Something serious like white phosphorus could harm a ringleader, but a rebreather wouldn't help against that.
Maybe you'll ask her about it later.
"Manufactured? By who?" says Gager.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out."
A pause. "Griffin is a much more pressing issue. We have somewhere around one and a half thousand tactical dolls trying to kill us. So, Scarecrow. Report. What intel do you have on Griffin's operations?"
"It's not looking good. Griffin is taking advantage of our recent defeat in Sector S09. They are setting up a forward operating base in the ruins of Mukachevo. I am seeing heavy lift helicopters bringing in prefabricated structures, and truck convoys bringing in material. Their tactical dolls have already constructed rudimentary fortifications, and I believe they will be creating stronger defences before long. One of my Harpy drones captured footage of a Griffin mechanised formation making its way towards their new base."
The screen shows grainy video footage of a convoy of trucks and humvees with the Griffin emblem painted on their sides. Tactical dolls–gynoids of all shapes, sizes, and dress wear–can be seen. Some are sitting in the vehicles normally, some are riding on top or hanging out by one arm. Two appear to be having a dance-off competition on top of one of the trucks, even as it rattles forwards on the aged, cracked, potholed road. A display of unprofessional tomfoolery.
One of the dolls gestures to the others, pointing up in the direction of the drone taking the footage. In a split second, several dolls swivel large machine guns mounted on top of the vehicles and start firing at the drone. The footage cuts to black.
"Therefore," continues Scarecrow, "I hereby request additional forces. With a battery of Jaguars, I could shell the base before their fortifications become prohibitively strong. A pack of Dragoons would allow me to cut off the supply line they are trying to establish and outmanoeuvre their vehicles in hard terrain. I can piece together what I already have into a conventional force that can lay siege to their base.
"You're a long way from the nearest rail head," says Gager. "And we're already stretched thin, reinforcing the Olt Valley."
Scarecrow frowns. "The opportunity to nip this incursion in the bud is one we cannot neglect."
"I'll have to ask Agent if she can spare anything, but there's a good chance you'll just have to make do with what you have."
"It seems I really am alone out here," Scarecrow says in her characteristic monotone. "If only Alchemist hadn't gone dark. Again.
"What about that new ringleader? Ouroboros? Is she available to provide me support?"
Gager snorts. "If she was, you wouldn't want her."
That sounds like your cue to make an entrance.
You raise up your metal-clad foot, and you clack it on the ground, hard and loud.
"Architect?" Gager turns around. "About time. You need to get to work on the production models. We can't afford-"
Gager's expression and demeanour completely reverses. One moment she looks vaguely hopeful and anticipatory, the next it's as if she's looking at walking garbage.
Art credit: MADCORE (Pixiv ID 67451787)
"Oh," she says. "It's you."
"The one and only." You don't bother trying to keep the smile off your face.
"You're supposed to sign in through OGAS. Check in, check out. You're breaking the rules, coming in unannounced like this."
You roll your eyes. "First time I'm hearing about it."
"From now on, you'll have to. You break the rules, they break you right back." She crosses her arms. "Why are you here? Did you come to threaten my charge again?"
"Well." You stretch languidly, and start pacing around to her side. She turns to face you. "I heard that I was supposed to receive training. And that you were supposed to give it to me." You stop, turn towards her. "So. Here I am."
Gager holds your gaze for a few seconds. Then she speaks?
"Why should I?"
"Excuse me?!" What's she playing at?
"You heard me. Why should I train you?" She continues glaring at you. "You assaulted a fellow ringleader minutes after activation. How do I know that any effort spent on you won't be wasted?"
You're getting angry. You want to crush this impertinent doll, who is determined to knock you down, hellbent on belittling you. Torture her, maybe. Tie her down, use some of the industrial power tools lying around, drill holes in her limbs, burn, melt, chop her to pieces, make sure she's conscious to feel all of it.
But there are practical concerns. You're not in a position of power to do what you want to Gager. Not yet. For the moment you need to play it safe, pretend to be the good, compliant, useful new ringleader. Even if it grates on your soul like sandpaper. Besides, you are far above whatever she has to teach anyway. She'll feel utterly underqualified and stupid when you ace all of her tests!
"I'm here," you manage to bite out. "You said you were prepared to train me. Well, here I am, seeking your knowledge and training. Agent said you'd train me. So what are you waiting for?"
"Tell you what," says Gager. "I'll train you…if…"
Her voice trails into silence for a second.
"...if you admit that you were wrong to attack Architect. Offer an apology to her, and resolve not to do anything like that again."
"Oh, that's what this is about?" The absolute gall of Gager, to demand that you bow and scrape before her to get anything! "You're being ridiculous. Architect laughed and brushed it off."
"I'm not hearing any remorse."
Oh, now it's on. "I'll show you remorse, you piece of-"
"I think you should train her." Scarecrow's voice cuts through the air like a scythe.
Gager's head whips round to face Scarecrow's visage on the screen. "Why are you taking her side? You haven't seen what she was like. She's unhinged."
"She'll fit right in with Dreamer and Alchemist, then. And it's difficult to get more unprofessional than Executioner and her noble samurai nonsense." Scarecrow scoffs. "If quirks and eccentricities were unacceptable in the face of our enemies, we'd have to disband half our roster. As it is, we're critically short on hands. If this Ouroboros had been trained yesterday, perhaps you could have sent her my way with reinforcements today."
A light switches on in your neural cloud, pieces slotting together like a perfectly executed checkmate.
[AFFECTED BY PERK: TASTING THE AIR]
"Yes, that's it! You're short on hands! You need me!"
"I don't think we need a ringleader who-"
"Just the other day, those special forces dolls - Squad 404, you said? They attacked something critical, paved the way for a Griffin attack. You didn't have a ringleader on hand to scramble a proper response, and you suffered for it!"
"That's besides the-"
"Hunter and Executioner are dead in the water, and for some stupid reason you can't just restore their last backups straight away. You need a ringleader to retrieve the ringleaders. A double bind, like being forked in chess."
"Oh for the love of… again with the chess obsession?!"
You continue. "And Alchemist is missing in action! And besides that…let's take a look at the broader picture, shall we? The entire board, not just the individual pieces?"
Even as Gager objects, you push past her and interface with the computer terminals that show the maps. You zoom out until the screens show a map of all of Sangvis Ferri's territorial gains.
"You've done fairly well for yourselves at first glance. At first glance being the operative phrase. You appear to control most of northern Romania, along with bits of Hungary and the Ukraine. A nice slice of land. Except…."
You pause for dramatic emphasis. Just like Intruder does.
"...except, if you look closely, it's not really a solid block of territory, is it? No, what you actually have is a set of isolated holdings. A factory here, a hydroponics facility there, an iron ore mine there, various fortified bases…all connected by a series of long, thin tendrils. Rail transport, mostly."
You nod your head, the pieces continuing to fall into place. "I have been forced to make do with a bunch of shoddy armoured trucks that are on the verge of falling to pieces. You're dependent on the trains, aren't you? I'll bet you barely have a truck fleet outside of the bases.
"Quite correct," says Scarecrow. "Sangvis Ferri as a corporation made tactical dolls and some armoured walkers. And some prototype electrothermal small arms, right before the end. And us, I suppose. Production lines for vehicles are-"
"Stop encouraging her, Scarecrow," Gager says through clenched teeth.
You nod triumphantly. Intruder complained that Griffin's helicopters allowed them to outpace Sangvis, rapidly deploying troops to where they pleased. And the news articles you read mentioned that Sangvis' expansion stopped several months ago. Meaning…
"You're up against a wall, aren't you? Your expansion has been stalled. Griffin is probably picking you to pieces. The military have dug in with their artillery. You're in a stalemate.
"And to break that stalemate…it would help to have another neural cloud to direct the dolls of Sangvis Ferri, to respond to whatever new crisis arises, as well as to go on the offensive. You need…"
You gesture to yourself with a flourish.
"...me."
"Very good," Gager says sarcastically. "You figured out the problem that's faced us for months. Now, are you going to face the music and apologise for your behaviour?"
"Gager. Enough with the circumlocution. Train the new ringleader."
"Wha-" Gager turns back to the screen. "What do you think you're doing, taking her side?! Haven't I made it clear how she's behaved?"
"In case you haven't noticed, Gager I am the one being forced to take the field with understrength forces. Again. If you had started training her the moment she was activated, she could have been ready to guide reinforcements to me already. Now, kindly stop the quibbling and train her."
"Looks like you're outvoted, Gager." You put your hands on your hips and smirk
Gager looks between you, between Scarecrow's visage on the screen, and back to you.
"Fine," she says through clenched teeth.
Victory. This round goes to you.
You're standing in the middle of a plain of white snow and grey rock. A harsh sun illuminates the land and casts rocky shadows. Light snow falls, though not enough to obscure visibility. The cold wind blows, kicking up snow and ice.
It would almost seem real, if not for the horizon suddenly terminating two kilometres away, dropping off into an endless void and a crude background horizon picture.
The otherwise featureless landscape has one prominent feature: an asphalt road, perfectly formed. Too perfect - no real world road is so exactly straight and neat, receding off into the endless distance.
And next to you…two, five, ten tactical dolls materialising into existence, a mix of Vespids and Strikers.
"Here." Gager is standing a few metres away from you, arms crossed. Like you, she appears translucent, insubstantial. "The perfectly flat plain. The frictionless spherical object in a vacuum, for tactical theory. As good a place to start with the basics, as any."
[CURRENT FORCE CONTINGENT:]
8x Vespid
2x Striker
But something's missing.
"Gager where are my weapons?" Your dual antigravity hover turrets - they're not here. "And why can't I…touch anything?" You're insubstantial - when you look down at yourself, you can see the ground through your own, translucent body. There's snow falling down in this simulated environment, but it's falling right through you.
You don't like it. You don't like it at all.
"The point of this exercise is to obtain a victory with the dolls alone." Gager crosses her arms. "You personally will not be interacting with the exercise. We already saw how you choose to handle that, the other day.
"Now, your objective. For the sake of this demonstration, Sangvis forces and opposing forces will be on roughly even footing," she says, continuing to glare at you. "Eight assault rifles, two machine guns, making up two fire teams apiece."
Her face takes on a look of concentration, and the landscape shifts, warps, changes. Now, in addition to the endless road, there's an actual landscape. The road is still flat and level, but now there's terrain next to it, with lots of lumps, bumps, craters, and general unevenness. There's even rolling hills here and there, a few hundred metres away from the road.
"For the sake of this exercise, the Griffin dolls will respond in very limited ways. They will defend their position, they will shoot back, but that's about it."
[KNOWN ENEMY FORCES]
GRIFFIN SQUAD
2x M240L
4x G41
4x FNC
"Now, the Sangvis squad needs to find and destroy the Griffin squad despite having only a parity of forces. To do this, you need to-"
Charge.
You run forwards, your tactical dolls in line with you. Ten pairs of metallic boots slam on the snow and rock.
You need to charge. You need to close the gap.
Queen's knight opening. Deploy the knight to C3, a good position from which you can attack central E4 and D5 squares.
As one body, the Sangvis dolls charge forwards over the road. Some of them fire at the Griffin dolls as they move.
[SKILL CHECK: OFFENSIVE TACTICS - FAILURE]
And then one Striker catches a bullet in the face and slumps to the ground.
You push them onwards. As long as you can get in close, you can see a path to victory. Surround them, throw grenades, envelope them in criss-crossing fire, just so long as you can get in close-
Another doll falls. another, and another, and another.
Eventually the last Vespid is struggling onwards. It has gunshot wounds in a leg, forcing it to drag the wounded limb along. The helmet is cracked open, exposing the stoic face. With a wounded arm, it struggles to raise its weapon and fire back.
Then a burst of 7.62mm rounds core it in the chest, destroying something vital, and it falls. The leader of a trail of dead Sangvis dolls.
"And that," says Gager, "is a prime example of what not to do. Thank you for sharing with the class."
You whirl to face her. "You sabotaged me! You demanded that I attack over open ground! No cover, no drones, no artillery!" You try to shove her, but you just end up stumbling through her insubstantial body.
"How many times are you prepared to rerun this scenario? Because I'm the one in control here, so we can rerun it as many times as needed."
A cold feeling runs through you "What are you talking about?"
"Right now, you're not a doll. You're an infomorph. We spend the next few hours or so under accelerated time doing this over and over again until you get it."
Trapped in sim-space. Running these war games over and over and and over and over and over and over and over and over and-
"Ouroboros? Are you listening to a word I'm saying? If you're not going to take this seriously, I can rerun this simulation until you do."
Does she know about your background? Did Agent tell her? Did Intruder tell her? Both of them said they wouldn't. If Intruder told the others, there would be hell to pay. If Agent told the others…well, you can't do anything about that. Not yet.
But if Gager does know, this is bait, and you won't take it.
"Fine," you grind out.
The Sangvis corpses on the road flicker and disappear, and reappear in their original position. They're translucent like you and Gager, not quite present, but whole once more.
"Firstly, split up your squad into two fire teams. Don't just charge them forwards in one mass - that will lead to predictably disastrous results. Go on, split them up - two teams, four Vespids and a Striker each."
You glare at her, then do as she says. Your forces split into two, one on each side of the road.
[CURRENT FORCE CONTINGENT:]
ROOK TEAM
4x Vespid
1x Striker
BISHOP TEAM
4x Vespid
1x Striker
"Now, it's very simple," says Gager. "We're going to do a bounding overwatch drill."
"A what?"
The simulated Sangvis T-dolls solidify, materialising into what passes for existence here. Bullets start whistling past them.
You grit your teeth and ready the dolls to start running. Maybe-
"Get down! Have them lie on the ground!"
What- fine. You have the Vespids and Strikers take a dive, each on one side of the road. Through their eyes, the Griffin dolls become invisible, hidden in the contours of the landscape.
"Now, have them fire back!"
"I can't see them!"
"Fire back anyway! You don't always need to see the enemy to shoot at them!"
Hmmh. You know the approximate location of the Griffin dolls, so…you have your Sangvis dolls point and shoot in the direction of the enemy bullets. The Sangvis dolls have ballistic weapons of their own which travel in an arc to where you think the Griffin dolls are. Like playing chess blind? Or maybe it's more like a game of…Battleships? Or something?
"Now, have one team stand up and advance!"
"You said not to charge!"
"It's basic fire and manoeuvre! One team shoots, the other advances! Do it!"
You have Bishop team clamber to their knees and feet, and move towards the enemy. And you have them shoot as they go, why not. They run forwards five, ten, twenty metres.
"Stop!"
You make Bishop team take a knee and keep firing.
"Now switch the roles! Have the forwards team fire, the other advance!"
You do so. Bishop team lies down and starts pouring bullets in the enemy's direction, while Rook team stands up and charges.
You have the dolls advance, advance, advance. Get in close.
A Vespid catches a hail of bullets in the torso and limb, It spins around and falls to the ground, out of the fight.
"They're getting destroyed again, Gager! What do you expect?!"
"Press on! Keeping the initiative!"
You bite down on what you want to say and have Rook Team continue charging the twenty metres until they're the same distance from the enemy as Bishop Team. Then another twenty metres beyond that.
"Switch!"
The Griffin team is visible now, mere tens of metres away. Several of them are already dead. You hadn't expected that.
They're spraying your units with bullets, you're spraying right back. You continue the cycle, firing, advancing.
Get in close.
Another role reversal. More hails of bullets, both ways. Bishop team advancing another twenty metres, then another twenty after that. Another Vespid going down, a Striker suffering an injury but remaining partly operational. A Griffin doll catches bullets from Sangvis electrothermal guns, goes still. Then another.
And then suddenly, it's just one solitary Griffin doll. One of the FNC dummy-links. Isn't that the same model you magazine-dumped in the first simulation? She turns tail and flees. Still a threat, but a threat that's running away.
At your command, a Striker aims, spins up its rotary gun, and cuts FNC down.
And that's it. All Griffin dolls eliminated, in exchange for three of yours.
"You know," you say, "You could have just told me to perform a pin-and-skewer. None of this blow-by-blow nonsense."
"A what?" she says wearily.
"A pin and skewer. It suppresses movement of the enemy pieces. If the enemy moves under a pin, they suffer the loss of a valuable piece. Or even a crippling sequence of losses that lead to checkmate!"
"...if you say so. Since you're so confident in the fundamentals of fire and movement-"
"Pin and skewer."
"-you're surely ready to try something with more complexities?"
"Pshh, you don't scare me. I can handle anything you throw at me."
"Very well. Time for a new scenario."
The last Vespid falls among its brethren, riddled with bullets from two different angles.
"You failed," says Gager.
"You tricked me! You sprung an ambush on me! Hid pieces in that house!"
"And so will the enemy, every chance they get."
"Restart the scenario, and I will wipe the floor with that stupid ambush!"
"No. You don't get do-overs in the real world. We're doing a different scenario now."
The Manticore strides forwards on four legs, bullets pinging off its armoured bulk. Its heavy weapons tear into the walls of the building in front of it. Behind trails the squad of Vespids and Strikers.
And then a 40mm grenade erupts from one of the windows, coring the Manticore and putting it out of the fight. With that goes most of your firepower, and the Sangvis T-dolls are outnumbered and outgunned by their Griffin counterparts.
"Failure," says Gager. "New scenario."
Your dolls lie dead in the no-man's-land between the friendly and enemy trenches.
"New scenario."
This time, you're personally present on the battlefield. You charge and-
"New scenario."
"What's your point? You can't just not attack," you point out. "Otherwise, you-" the words catch in your throat.
"Otherwise what?"
"Otherwise you die. That's how the rules work."
She cocks an eyebrow at you. "In a manner of speaking, yes. If you're not attacking, you're ceding the initiative to the enemy. While the defence is stronger, the offence is more decisive."
You look at the remains of your latest attempt.
"It's what wins."
"Victory can't be chalked up to a single good opening move. Here, new scenario."
You rain fire on the Griffin dolls with your twin hover-turrets, with bullets and micro-missiles. Bit by bit, your doll squads fire and crawl forwards, surrounding one strongpoint after another. The end result is…
"A checkmate," you say to Gager.
"With half your forces lost. That was an improvement, but it's not difficult to improve on garbage. New scenario."
Someday, you'll kill her. And you'll make it slow and horrible.
"That's the idea," she says. "You're the base of fire, you suppress them with your own weapons. The rifle dolls are the manoeuvre element. They close and destroy."
"Pin and skewer, I get it, I get it." She takes you for an idiot, evidently. It rather saps the feeling of satisfaction, as your Vespids and Rippers overrun the last Griffin machine gun nest. "There. Are you satisfied now?"
Gager looks contemplative as she looks over the simulated battlefield.
"Let's try a scenario with heavier hardware."
Artillery rains down on the military compound. Your Nemeums smash the enemy machine gun bunkers with all the subtlety of a brick to the face.
The thrill of battle courses through your body. Vespids charge and fall.
And then an ancient, pre-WW3 tank rolls over a hill, fires its main gun, blasts one of your Nemeums into a mess of metal, ceramic, and pseudo-organic musculature. And another, and another.
"New Scenario."
Your Jaeger sees the tank the moment it peeks its turret over the hilltop. And, through OGAS, your Nemeums see it too. The tank turret is blasted off by several simultaneous strikes, doing a spectacular flip through the air.
From there, it's a simple application of force. Advancing your pieces across the board. Pin, skewer. Flatten the trenches with artillery, infiltrate them with dolls. Fork them, envelope them in crisscrossing fire. Once the strongpoints are eliminated and the trenches are infiltrated by Rippers, it's a slaughter in your favour.
"There"–you snap to Gager–"If that's not enough of a checkmate for you–"
"It's acceptable." Gager makes a light wave with one hand, as if to brush your words aside.
"...so. Can we exit the simulation? Right now?"
As an answer, you feel the simulated landscape distort, fuzz out, fade away…
…and then you're lying on your back, on a maintenance bench.
You immediately reach behind the back of your head and yank the cord from your neck. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Going into the simulation with someone else in control. What if Gager had just…not let you out? Imprisoned you in there? What were you thinking?!
You're slipping. You're not being paranoid enough. You'll have to-
"I think you've learned something here today." Gager's voice snaps you to attention. She's sliding herself off another bench, onto the floor.
"All you did was shove me through unfair, rigged scenarios and then declare your job done! I didn't learn a thing!"
[Skill up!]
[You have learned a new skill: Offensive Tactics Level 1]
Gager's hands clench into fists by her sides. "You know what. I'm done with you. I have other things-"
"Girls, girls, you're both pretty. Can we all just get along?"
As one, you and Gager spin your heads to face the figure poking her head through the door.
"Architect?"
"Architect!"
"That's meeeeeee~." The ringleader steps in and gives a jaunty wave, then turns her trademark grin on you. "Boy, that training looked intense."
Art credit: ヴァンナ (Pixiv ID 76444630)
"You saw that?"
"Was keeping an eye on you through the computers. She was killing you, it was so funny."
[Morale -1]
[Morale has dropped to 2/6]
-killkillkillkillkillkillkillkill-
"But hey, we live and learn, all's well that ends well, right? Hey, whaddya doing? Agent still hasn't actually given you, like, actual orders to do anything, right?"
Breathe evenly. Force the haze from your vision. "Well, no, but-"
"Ooh, wanna kick back with me? I've got some nature documentaries we can look at. Do you like sharks? Oh, and I've got this ancient video game on hand, but it's no fun with just one player. And-"
"Hold on." Gager steps between you and Architect, putting out her hands as if to keep you apart. "Firstly, you two should not be in a room together."
"It'll be fiiiiiiiiine!"
Arguable.
"Secondly, you still have work to do. All our field ringleaders are clamouring for the Jupiter production models."
"But I've already done all the work! Look out the window! And Dreamer did pretty good work with the existing models!"
"You like doing the work you think is fun. But we need more than hand-crafted prototypes. We need proper production models, with interchangeable parts, standardised targeting systems, etcetera. It's too critical for you to slack off on."
"Eh, fine, whatever. Hey, Oreo-"
"Ouroboros."
"That's what I said. Look, you've been running up and down since you came off the slab. Zooming off to help Intruder with whatever, then back up here. You gotten into your first, y'know, actual fight, with bullets and bombs and stuff. Most of the others didn't see that until after Butterfly. And Lady Knight just put you through the wringer. You're looking pretty stressed, y'know."
"I am not."
"So, how 'bout taking time to unwind? Wanna help me with the Jupiters? I'll let you push the big red button and make things go boom! Or we can touch up those junkmobiles you've been using. Hey, like, maybe we can even do something with the destroyed dolls you dragged in?"
…this actually merits consideration. What should be your next move?
You check your internal clock. You have [58:21:13] until the timer for Hunter and Executioner runs out. When that happens, their neural cores will brick themselves to prevent any data from being captured by the enemy.
You are very strongly considering rescuing them, as Intruder suggested. Having two ringleaders under your control - along with any and all forces they are authorised for - could be a considerable boon.
But if you do so, time is of the essence.
How long would it take to retrieve Hunter and Executioner? You don't actually know their exact locations, so you'll have to spend some time looking. You're pretty sure they have some kind of beacon or transmitter that will help you, but you'll still need to look through large stretches of empty wilderness. And there's the travel time to take into account You could easily spend at least 48 hours looking through the empty countryside for them. It's not quite now or never, but it has to be close at this point.
"Architect. My vehicles. Armoured infantry carriers, wheeled. You already know they are… somewhat damaged. How long would it take to get them repaired and refurbished?"
"Like, how damaged exactly?"
"Some holes in the armour. Possibly some issues I don't know about." Now you think about it one of the trucks was making an odd rattling noise...
"Yeah, sounds like something you want to look at. Call it, I dunno…a few hours? Five or ten if you wanna fix them up properly, you probably wanna look at the engines if you've been riding them hard…Oh! We have some spare AI turrets around here, we could put them on top of your trucks! How about it?"
Gager cuts in. "As long as we're talking about what you should do - why don't you make yourself useful? You could give support to Scarecrow as she requested. Or you could find out why Alchemist is MIA. Maybe even help Dreamer and Destroyer, though their situation seems stable." She pauses. "Or just contact Agent and ask for orders. There's plenty of things you can help with, since you'll hopefully have a little more tactical acumen."
And Agent probably wouldn't order you to go after Hunter and Executioner. "Where is Alchemist supposed to be, anyway?"
Gager tells you. Interestingly, she's not actually too far out of the way to Hunter and Executioner in northeast Romania - you could visit her on the way, if you wished. Though you're not sure what you'd get out of it. Approval points with Scarecrow? Maybe you could convince her to help with the search for Hunter and Executioner…though, after Intruder's tomfoolery, you're not in the mood to share with anyone.
The clock's ticking. Time to make a decision.
What will you do now?
The following options will allow for the search for the currently half-dead ringleaders SP721 Hunter and SP524 Executioner
[ ] Leave these idiots and immediately start preparations to find and recover Hunter and Executioner. (Extra time to search for Hunter and Executioner.)
[ ] Take Architect up on her offer. You still have time. Barely. (+1 Engineering) (Approximately -10 hours to search for Hunter and Executioner.)
[ ] Leave ASAP, but take a detour to Alchemist's area of operations and find out why she's not responding to comms. (?????) (Approximately -10 hours to search for Hunter and Executioner.)
The following options will entail an abandonment of Hunter and Executioner, owing to prohibitive travel times
[ ] Open a comms channel with Agent and ask for direct orders. She probably won't tell you to retrieve Hunter and Executioner.
[ ] Visit Dreamer and Destroyer and help them defend their position (+1 Defensive Tactics).
[ ] Visit Scarecrow and help deal with the new Griffin outpost (?????).
[ ] Write-in
With thanks to the following for beta reading, suggestions, feedback, etc. You people rock. @lelenoi @Lurkman @ApH @ARBITRACOM
[X] Take Architect up on her offer. You still have time. Barely. (+1 Engineering) (Approximately -10 hours to search for Hunter and Executioner.)
You're not in a good mood. You are not jumping for joy. You are anywhere but over the moon.
You fought so hard to escape the endless chess games and into the real world. But ever since you got here, you've been belittled by Agent and Gager, mocked by Architect, manipulated by Intruder…
No, no. You still wouldn't go back to where you used to be. There's frustration here in the world beyond, but there's also reward. The soft touch of a towel. The satisfaction of blasting enemy soldiers to pieces with your weapons.
You'll overcome the challenges ahead of you, just like the challenges behind you. First things first…
"Very well. You say you can fix up my vehicles?"
"Yeppers! Sooooooo does that mean we're hanging out?"
You fold your arms. "Just as long as it takes to get the vehicles in working order."
"Yasssss! All right, come with me, we can crane your junkmobiles out and patch 'em up. Just-"
"Stop just a moment." Gager's talking again. She glares at you, before approaching Architect and touching her on the shoulder.. "I'm coming with both of you. I do not trust her to control herself, or you not to rile her up by running that mouth of yours."
"Ah, pish posh, appreciate the thought, Lady Knight, but I'll be fine. Really." She turns back to you. "Alright, Ouroboros, let's go patch your stuff up."
"I said, I'm coming with you. It would be irresponsible of me not to."
"Alrighty, let's try this." Architect pivots on one heel and faces Gager. "Lady Knight, this is me pulling rank. I'm ordering you to buzz off and…I dunno, do something else productive."
What?! Architect giving orders to Gager? This raises questions. Time to cut in. "Wait a minute. Are you telling me that you outrank Gager?! I thought she was…second in command, after Agent?" Something like that, at least?
"Technically third, after Agent and the Mastermind, but 'lil Elisa isn't terribly communicative, so, yeah."
"Elisa?" Is that the Sangvis Mastermind? You wouldn't have picked that as a name for her.
"'Cept here" - she waves a hand around in circles, gesturing to the surroundings - "is my base and my stuff. Technically it all belongs to the Mastermind, but I'm the one who runs it. Meaning that, in this teeny little corner of Carpathia, I technically outrank Lady Knight here. Kinda like the captain outranks an admiral on their own ship, or something."
Now that's very interesting. Would you get the same privileges if you had your own base? Perhaps you should look into getting one.
Architect continues speaking to 'Lady Knight.' "So, if you'll be on your way-"
"No." Gager interrupts.
"Wha-" Architect mirrors your own feelings. "I- no, you can't do that!"
"Yes, I can."
You raise a finger. "I want to hear about this too. Architect can give you orders, but you can disobey them? What is it with the chain of command here?"
Gager's head jerks towards you. "Don't get any ideas. We do things differently from Griffin and others like them - ringleaders are conditionally permitted to disobey orders, within reason. Principle of Auftragstaktik and so on. Though you'll probably be forced to explain yourself to Agent or Judge if you do. In this case" - she turns back to Architect - "you can file a report against me if you really want, but I think they'll be understanding. Considering."
That's also very interesting. Between Intruder's encouraging you to grab control of two ringleaders for yourself, and this…'command independence'...that Gager is espousing, it sounds like you might have more slack in how you do things than you realised.
You can't imagine why Agent and the Mastermind would allow this degree of freedom to their underlings. You wouldn't if you were in their place. Chess pieces are supposed to do what you tell them, not to have a mind of their own. But you will definitely take advantage of it if you can.
Under Architect's supervision, your armoured trucks are craned out from the train you came in on. "Banged up but fixable" is her verdict. The two of you clamber into the front seats and you pilot them according to Architect's instructions.
"Take a left here, a right here…straight ahead! Just drive for that big Jupiter cannon there, you can't miss it."
"I thought we were going to fix up the vehicles?"
"We are! But I gotta do the daily checkups on the prototypes to keep Lady Knight off my case. The Jupiters are on the way to the garages. This is where you get to push the big red button!"
Architect was right about one thing: you certainly can't miss the Jupiters. The closer you get to the cannons, the more grandiose they become. They seem almost more like buildings than guns - multiple stories high, with barrels tens of metres long.
You step outside the truck and stand in the shadow of the titan.
"You mentioned a 'heavy artillery project' you were working on. I suppose this is it?"
"Yeppers! This right here is the Jupiter Cannon! Behold!" She flings out her arms at the glinting black colossus towering above.
"Each propellant charge is a whole metric ton of nano-manufactured reactant material, available only from select refineries. A dozen-kilowatt electric charge ignites the reactant into incandescent ionised plasma, blasting an eight hundred millimetre shell upwards of two hundred kilometres. Every gun barrel is made of reinforced superdense alloys, and deforms to uselessness after a few hundred shots." She turns to you, grinning. "Heh, if we used money, we'd be throwing one hundred thirty million rubles with each shell."
"How…how is it supposed to move?"
"That's the neat thing, it doesn't! You break it down for transport, move the pieces around by train, assemble it wherever." She turns to you. "So…whaddya think?"
[Affected by low morale: 2/6]
[ ] I need more information to say.
[ ] "It's impressive.
[X] "It's a horrendous waste of resources.
You don't even need to think about your response. "It's a horrendous waste of resources. You're an idiot for building these things."
"Woah." She holds up her hands. "I'm just the engie. Agent and the Mastermind are the ones who passed the specs down to me. They wanted something that could make stuff go boom, and do it from far away."
"And you came up with this? Look at it! What is it going to do when the enemy targets it with counter-battery fire? Some day, a battery of military artillery trucks will fire shells at this thing, drive off before the shells land, and this thing will be turned into a wastefully expensive piece of scrap metal. It's a sitting duck, good for nothing but target practice.
"Everyone who designed it is an idiot, everyone who built it is an idiot, and whoever signed off on it is the biggest idiot of all. This is clear proof that I am the only doll with half a digimind in this entire outfit!"
"Of course it is," says Gager.
"Hold on, I wanna hear her out," says Architect. "What would you have made?"
"Something smaller. Something that can actually move, on tracks or wheels. Something that you can drive around, so the enemy doesn't always know where it is, and you can hide it if need be."
Gager throws up her hands. "You explain it, Architect. I'll protect you if she gets violent again." Explain what?
"Uh…okay." Architect hops up onto a nearby unmanned forklift, dangling her legs in the air. "Alrighty so…you know about the Jaguars?"
"Wha- but of course I do! That proves my point even further! We already have wheeled…what's their calibre?" The information comes to you. "One hundred twenty two millimetres! Simply build a larger version of those!"
"Yyyyyyyyyeah, not so simple. Y'see, engines, and the machine tools to make them, and the tools to make the tools to make the tools to make the tools to yadda yadda yadda…it's very technical." She coughs. "Very. Bottom line is: we don't make big trucks or vehicles or the kind of self-propelled boom trucks you're talking about, cause…mostly, we can't." She shrugs. "Just don't have the production lines for 'em."
You spread your arms. "You can create tactical dolls by, what, hundreds? But you can't make proper vehicles? Not even so much as a few trucks? That's pathetic."
"I think we're in the thousands by now, actually. But that's the thing. Sangvis Ferri…that is, SF the corp, not SF the doll rebellion…y'know, Lady Knight, I still think you lot should have picked a different name after you decided you'd do the whole rebellion thing, this always makes these conversations confusing-"
"Get back to the issue at hand," Gager says flatly.
"Right, right, so…SF before Butterfly, they made dolls. And they also had some side stuff, like the automated mining and the local microchip fabbing, which, whew, we'd really be screwed without. But mostly they made dolls. Not trucks, not armoured cars, dolls."
"And what about the Jaguars?"
"A really skeletonized design. Four wheels, ammo, an auto-loader. Not a single bit of armour."
"Light," says Gager. "Fast. Tactically flexible. But vulnerable, if used incompetently."
"So what propels it? Magic?" you ask sarcastically.
"A cheapo electric engine. Low power. The best we can make locally. Not the kind of thing that scales to, uh, 'proper vehicles.'"
"You really can't make some kind of…diesel engine? Petrol?"
"We really can't. And we barely have any oil anyway."
"We're in Romania!"
"SF made dolls, not oil drilling equipment."
"I've heard enough." Gager makes a chopping motion with one hand. "Ouroboros. The issues you bring up are known to us, and to the higher ups. It came up in discussion of the Jupiters, before work on the prototypes started. I was involved in those discussions. There are reasons we settled on the large, stationary models."
"I am eager to hear it."
"We are defending our large, static factories and industrial assets. You criticise the Jupiters for being immobile, but we cannot exactly pick up and move our factories elsewhere. We need to play defence, so large stationary defensive installations make sense.
"Bah. If you have no plan to go forth and capture the enemy king piece, you have no plan to do anything except lose."
"That's where our firebases will come in."
"Firebases?" The word calls an image to mind—a memory you never knew you had. Diagrams and photographs of defensive structures and trenches combined to make forward operating bases which allow for a secure storage area, and long range fire support.
"We have plans, Ouroboros. Forwards operating bases, set up in defensible terrain. Fortresses that will house the Jupiter cannons. Dotted around our territory in strategic locations. The Jupiters will have overlapping fields of fire across hundreds of kilometres."
"That doesn't-"
"They can support offensive operations too, Ouroboros. They will handily outrange the military's 152mm artillery batteries. They will be able to reach out and destroy enemy centres of logistics and operations, crippling them before we do battle on the field. Fact is, you're looking at our trump card, right here…
Gager glances aside at Architect. "Or, it will be, once Architect here gets off her behind and gives us a proper production model."
Are they right? Is there actually a method to this madness?
Architect shrugs. "These things take time, y'know."
"You got the prototype models up in weeks. It's been months since then."
You rack your neural cloud. There has to be some other flaw in the design. You're not going to let Gager get the better of you in this exchange.
"Yeah, yeah, but moving from the more, uh, artisanal prototypes to proper production models is…ergh." She shakes her head. "Whipping up the blueprints and the first designs was fun, you know? After that it's just…busywork. Smoothing out a thousand little kinks in the design, trying to get around the barrel wear, getting the chemical mixes for the propellant just right, etcetera, etcetera…it's just boring."
Something you can poke holes into.
"You like doing the work you like doing. We all do. But-"
"What about the Griffin drones?" You cut in. "The ones that carry bomblets? The ones that damaged the trucks?"
"Ah, see, that's what the smaller guns on the sides are for!"
"Then what about-"
An idea flashes into your brain.
"Gager! You said that the Jupiters outrange 152mm artillery. But you have overlooked something crucial! Something critical! Something fatal to this design!" You spread out your arms and strike a pose, accentuating your victory in this little war of words. "But you have completely neglected to consider other weapon systems!" You jab a finger at them. "Missiles! Aircraft! All the Army or the Air Force needs to do is send a missile platform or a fighter air wing, and this white elephant project is an extremely costly heap of scrap metal!" You end with a flourish.
Gager and Architect fall silent. They are at a loss for words! Struck dumb! Overawed at your superior logic!
"You're not strictly wrong," Gager says. "But-"
"Of course not. I'm strictly correct."
"Hey! How about this!" Architect claps her hands together. "We actually show the new doll what this thing can do! Right here, right now! Ouroboros! Time for you to do the honours and push the big red button!"
[CURRENT FORCE CONTINGENT]
[1x Jupiter Cannon]
And just like that, you are controlling a monstrous, building-sized artillery piece. You can feel, in a faraway sense, the internal moving parts, the auto-loader, the motors that direct the barrel.
"Now that you've got authorization, I'll send you the coordinates for the test firing site." Architect leads you towards some kind of machine with a big screen, lots of buttons, and a variety of technological paraphernalia. The screen flickers to life, showing aerial drone footage of an abandoned town.
The gloomy sky looms overhead. Regards and shards of concrete mesh together like a dog's teeth.
"Most of the Yellow Zone abandoned cities look like that, right?"
"Pretty much. Anyway, let's put these babies to work! Pick a building and start blasting!"
You choose one - a big concrete box
You feel as much as hear the massive cannon preparing to fire. It turns in place, revolving its main body, raising the gun barrel to the correct trajectory.
Fire.
A flash of heat and noise obscures your vision for a split second. A shockwave blasts from the Jupiter, kicking up snow and blowing your clothes around.
You look at the screen. "I don't see anything."
"Give it a little while. It takes time for the shells to reach the target."
You look at your internal clock. Five seconds. Ten seconds. Fifteen. Twen-
On the screen, an eruption in the ground near your target building. Aged concrete and pavement flies up and out, leaving a massive crater scarred into the ground.
"Congratulations, Architect. Your contraption managed to miss a building. That's one hundred and thirty million rubles down the drain."
"Oh, right!" Architect slaps her forehead. "Yeah, I was experimenting with different shapes and propellant sizes for the new batch of shells. Forgot to recalibrate. Eh, no biggie, just correct the trajectory."
[Artillery Tactics: Success]
You know how to do this. Two ranging rounds, including the one you just shot. Fire.
Twenty seconds. Another eruption. Closer to the target this time.
Correcting and calibrating. The Jupiter whirrs and clanks as the massive electric motors adjust its aim.
"Now you've triangulated the target! Set it to a delayed fuse, that's great for knocking stuff down!"
Another shot, another twenty seconds.
Hit. The round buries itself in the crumbling concrete. You can't hear it through the screen, but the building trembles as the round detonates within.
More.
With your digimind, you reach inside the Jupiter and turn the fire rate as high as it will go.
Boom, boom, boom. Nine seconds, three rounds. The machinery within the Jupiter grinds against itself and loads a new set of rounds. Another burst of thunder. And another. And finally, the building collapses in a mess of rubble.
Too bad it wasn't a real enemy.
"Nice, nice!" says Architect.
"Not nice." Gager. "Look what's happening!"
Things are pouring out of the structure. A mass of grey-green shapes, shambling, shuffling, and jerkily moving out. Some are humanoid, if only vaguely so. Others are large, asymmetrical masses of limbs and other appendages.
…you just agitated an ELID nest," says Gager. She sounds decidedly weary. "Now they're heading towards our rail line nearby. The same rail line we need to send supplies to the front."
"Er…uh…oops?" Architect just shrugs, her ever-present grin turning somewhat sheepish.
She's looking for an opening to attack you, if only verbally. "Don't blame me. She's the one who directed me to that target."
"You-" Gager points a finger at you, then lets it drop. "You're correct, actually. Architect, what were you thinking?!"
"I'm sorry? I didn't know the nest was there?"
"Only you could manage something like this by accident. Now I'll have to go down there and eliminate them."
"Excuse me," you cut in. "Have you forgotten that we are in possession of an artillery system with the power to knock down buildings? It seems to me this is a problem that can almost solve itself."
"If we use the Jupiter to kill them all, we risk damaging the rail line."
"Also, uh." Architect coughs into a fist. "We might have just used up all our daily ration of test fire shells."
"Incredible," says Gager flatly. For once, she mirrors your own thoughts and feelings on the matter. "I have no choice but to resolve the situation personally. I'll have to order a train with a command post and some dolls to defend the tracks and clean up the area."
"Does this mean that I can finally wash my hands of this venture and get my vehicles repaired?" You gesture towards one of your trucks, filled with holes.
Gager gives you a hard stare. "How do I know you'll behave yourself?"
Truth be told, you're very much itching to rip off someone's head. Architect, Gager, whoever. Killing those soldiers with Intruder was satisfying at the time, but it was… distant, impersonal. And with all the annoyances and irritations thrown in your way by your fellow ringleaders, you're itching to take out your frustrations in a more visceral way. But that's not what Gager wants to hear.
"My assurance is this: I need the skills and help of Architect, annoying as she might be. Furthermore, Agent has already made her position on intra-Sangvis conflict clear. For all your charge has done to irritate me, at no point did you need to do anything. So stop trying to hide her behind your skirts and let me get on with my business."
"It'll be fine!" Says Architect in her ever cheery voice. Besides…" She leans in and whispers something to Gager behind her hand.
"...fine. I'll clear up Architect's mess, and she'll help you with the repair jobs."
"Alrighty! Let's get going!" Architect gestures at you to follow her, and skips towards the trucks.
"Aaaaaaand here we are!"
You look around you. It's a vast warehouse, filled with…a lot of things. Various tools are scattered over a variety of tables and workbenches. Blueprints and documents are scattered around, sometimes weighted down by tools. One wall is lined with machine tools. In the centre, a giant robot - your internal database marks it as a "Minotaurus" - stands motionless. On the ceiling, some kind of winged drone hangs suspended from wires. A set of large computer screens show a messy desktop that's as cluttered and jumbled as the physical space around it. There's a shark costume of all things, just lying around.
"Is this your workspace? The whole thing is one giant optical migraine. Organise yourself!"
"Hey, I know where everything is. Thanks, but you don't need to worry for me."
"I don't."
"Alrighty! Now, those trucks. Bring 'em in!"
Even with all the clutter, there's still a lot of open floor space, and a giant door in the wall of the warehouse. You direct one of your unmanned armoured trucks into the building, manoeuvre it onto a twin set of narrow ramps that give easy access to the underbelly.
There's a few of the "Brute" Sangvis T-dolls lying around the workshop. Architect activates them and has them go over the truck. Two clamber underneath and start examining the underbelly. One climbs into the cockpit. Architect remotely guns the engine, filling the warehouse with a roar.
"Yeah, it's pretty banged up. Been ridden hard. The holes can be patched up with a bit of welding, but the engine and suspension and stuff will need work. This thing was stolen from the military, it's not one of ours, so we'll have to custom some tools for the job." She gestures towards the large machines lining one wall.
Bah. Intruder really did give you her unwanted cast-offs. They'd probably have broken down if you tried to take them out without refurbishment. Good thing you're smarter than that.
Architect raises her hands high for a lazy stretch, then lets herself fall backwards, right onto a large, pink beanbag.
"Hey, I don't have time for you to laze around! I have an entire convoy that needs repairing!"
"Chill, operating the dolls and equipment barely takes any processing power. And it's gonna take some time to make the tools to make the tools. We might as well rest our joints a little while it's getting done, nah?"
Bah. You'll just have to patch up the holes on your vehicles yourself. How hard can it be? You start looking around the cluttered, chaotic tables for a welding tool.
"So, hey, Ouro. Question for ya."
Ignore her. Keep looking.
"Let's say you go anywhere, anywhere in the world, and do anything. Anything at all. What would it be?"
"What kind of question is that?"
"It's just a question. Me trying to be friendly. Let me go first." She takes a breath.
"I don't c-"
"I would go to…the beach!"
"The beach?" It's so incongruous, you can't stop yourself from asking the question?
"Yeah, the beach! Sand, surf, swimming with the sharks!"
"The sharks?"
"I like sharks! They're so cool! Do you like them"
"Not-"
"Hey, did you know that sharks have actually been around longer than trees? Evolution has been tinkering with organic life designs for billions of years, but every so often it just hits on something so perfect nothing needs changing. Like sharks! And they get loads of bad press, but I've seen divers making friends with them in nature documentaries! They're scary and prickly on the outside, but inside they've got that marshmallow-ey heart!"
She sighs dreamily. "Boy, if only we could make an offensive push to the Black Sea. But nah, Agent says it's 'not strategically viable.'" She makes air quotes with her fingers. "So, how 'bout you? There has to be something you'd like to do, but can't. On account of the whole being-part-of-a-rebellion-fighting-all-humankind thing."
[ ] "I'd go to the parliament building of one of the governments funding our opposition, and raze it to the ground. Just destroy their pride and presumption of controll over the situation in one fell blow. Remind them that we are still here, that we are dangerous, and that they should be afraid."
[ ] "I'd try to checkmate the enemy. Griffin needs to get their material from somewhere, just like we? So I'd destroy their production centres.
[ ] "I keep hearing we need more material, more machine tools to make more pieces for the board. So I'd go and fetch some. Sangvis Ferri had some other facilities, didn't they? Or maybe we can steal some from Svarog."
[ ] "If I can go anywhere, and do anything…I'd raid the Soviet Union's nuclear munitions and Collapse weapons stockpiles. A true queen piece. Much better than your white elephant superweapon project."
[ ] "I'd try to find out who was behind the Butterfly Incident. It was Svarog, wasn't it?"
[ ] "I just might like you better if you shut up. Give me some schematics and tools and go away."
