SAFU

The day crawled on. Allison and the others did periodic check-ins to keep alert and to make sure they weren’t going to be met with any counterattacks. There was a small attempt by a roving party of light vehicles before the sun went down. A few Luchs AFVs rolled up on the town, but all that had to happen was for Charlotte to point her large cannon in their general direction to get them to hightail it out of there. Since then, there was little happening. Hideo hadn’t called out Allison over the radio for her outburst and behavior yet, so she thought he was waiting until after the debrief. Praise in public, punishment in private. Leadership 101. It still didn’t make it any easier on her. She wanted to rip the bandaid off and get on with it. But no, she would be kept waiting for now.

The garrison forces arrived an hour after sunset. Franziska called them out before they arrived when she had been contacted. Bundeswehr units arrived in their own APCs along with troop trucks. With that underway, the team marched back across the Rhine and back to the base. Allison periodically checked her status with her arms as well as giving them a visible inspection. The frangible rounds from the Gepard AA guns were designed to fragment and shear apart on contact. This maximized their impact and damage on aircraft that were made of lighter materials and were more reliant on their structural integrity to fly, but weren’t very effective against ground vehicles that were made of much stronger metals. She had been very lucky, but her right arm felt a bit sluggish. It’d be out of action for at least a couple weeks for repairs. It would be anyone’s guess as to what she would be doing for that time, but Kitchen Patrol (KP) was not off the table in her mind.

Ever since Europe had gone under with the release of the bioweapon, NATO lobbied for France to turn back over its bases to facilitate a large-scale operation in reclaiming Western Europe from the infected. Heavily pressured both internally and externally, French leadership eventually gave way after the alternative of constructing many more new bases on the beautiful French countryside was proposed. At the risk of the country becoming even more overrun, France folded and rolled back De Gaulle’s policy of refusing NATO military integration in its borders. Since then, many NATO bases were also re-accommodated for AEGIS while allowing the Germans to make a few of their own.

Allison walked in through the gates with the rest of her team and headed for the motor pool. The deactivation process began with her taking the rest position at her designated spot. The computer systems were slowly brought offline and the ARES deactivated, cracking the back hatch open to allow her to exit once she opened the casket. Waking up inside the casket was always harrowing the first few times. Some demi-machina never got used to it. Awakening encased in a dark void that was claustrophobic and stifling as air filtered in to allow your body to keep breathing was not natural in the slightest. It took most of them a few months to get their nerves under control fully when they came to. As the doors slid open, Allison pulled her arms and legs free. She was being careful as her body had gone to sleep like it was designed to do. Doctors likened the condition to sleep paralysis, which induced night terrors. Thankfully, there was not any risk of that as the minds of the demi-machina were preoccupied with other things.

The plugs were slowly pulled out and placed back where they belonged. Her joints and bones popped as she worked her fingers and toes to get the feeling back in her body. With as many years as she and the others had been doing this, it was a faster process now. Especially with-

“You damn neuro-junkie!”

Especially with help from the crew chiefs. One of which was currently standing over her. She couldn’t see the woman, but she heard enough play in her voice to tell she wasn’t angry, just disappointed. She had brought the ARES back with damage and that meant more work for them. Allison held her hands out. The crew chief grabbed her wrists and unceremoniously yanked her out of the casket. Maybe she was a bit more angry than Allison thought. The crew chief steadied her onto the ladder staircase and walked her down it. She looked at the woman. Tall. Lean. Wore a pair of coveralls in woodland camo with an American flag on her shoulder. Her nametape read “KAUFMAN.” Her red hair was parted and swooped down over one of her eyes. Definitely not regulation, but Allison got the feeling that the woman didn’t care. Especially with how many stripes she had on her. She was a Sergeant First Class. The “Motor Sergeant” in charge of the whole motor pool.

“New girl goes out on her first mission and gets banged up. Color me surprised.” She bemoaned in her slight Southern drawl.

“You should’ve seen the other guys.” Allison retorted through her groggy mind.

“Oh yeah? What kill marks are we putting on your unit?”

“One SPAAG. One AWC. One IFV.”

“No shit? What was the AWC?”

“Weisel.”

Kaufman laughed, the first genuine one Allison had earned from anyone since she got here.

“Oh man, I don’t know what’s funnier: you wanting that on your ARES, or that some idiot was dumb enough to try to go against you in it! Tell me, what did it have?”

“TOW launcher.”

“Well, yeah. That’s about right. Still, them raider types ain’t too bright now are they?”

“Been trained up by the deserters of the old Bundeswehr units that didn’t make it across the Rhine, most likely.”

“Yeah but it still can’t account for actual experience.”

“No. No it cannot.”

“What’s your name, cablehead?”

“Corporal Allison!” Hideo called out.

Allison looked up from where Kaufman was holding her and saw her team leader with the others. Perhaps the month in SIQ was catching up with her now, as they all appeared to be already free of their Post-Link Malaise condition. There were a few nicknames for it: “Neuro Stutter” or “Sync Slump” or “Synapse Fog,” but Allison always called it “Mech Lag.”

“That’s for me, Sergeant. I gotta run.”

“No you don’t. You take it easy on your way over there, y’here me?”

“Yes, Sergeant.”

Kaufman let Allison go and watched her steady herself. Her body had lost its vertigo condition, but things were still coming back to her in pieces. She walked over at an even pace and fell in behind the team. Hideo didn’t say anything as they marched into the base. They took their seats, got their debrief, got a nice pat on the back for destroying rogue MARS units being used by the raiders, and were told that they were going to be standing down for the next day to recuperate. Colonel Duchamp also singled out Allison and told her that since her ARES was damaged in the previous engagement, she would be doing remedial training until it was ready again. She didn’t protest.

The team left the operations center and headed back to their barracks. Before they went in, Hideo stopped Allison at the door after Charlotte, Carwyn, and Franziska entered. The three of them pretended not to notice and kept going as usual while Hideo pulled Allison off to the side around the building. She had been waiting for this moment. Dread. Anxiety. Impatience. Many things swirled around inside her, but she kept it locked down and looked up at Hideo.

“What happened today?” he asked.

The question could’ve been genuine. It could’ve also been a trap. Was he trying to gauge her head or get her to admit to insubordination? The mind games with officers were always the hardest because they could flip on you in a second and leave you feeling like your promotion ceremony was a sham that was made so they wouldn’t be embarrassed by your conduct. She didn’t know what was going to happen so she met the situation head on.

“What do you mean, sir?”

Hideo’s brow furrowed, and Allison knew it was the wrong thing to respond with. That being said, it was also getting him to show his hand.

“I mean about the engagement. You know that ARES units are vulnerable when they’re alone.”

“Yes sir, I know.”

“So why did you break off from Carwyn to engage?”

Allison wanted to do a great many things at that moment. She wanted to bite her lip. Scream. Shout obscenities. Walk away. Her gut knotted up. But she had to keep her lid on in front of her superior. Show him that she wasn’t just some Fucking New Girl (FNG).

“I assessed the situation at that moment and made the call. I took the initiative to engage the enemy on their turf and brought the fight to them.”

“And you left Carwyn off on his own.”

There was the knife.

“And in doing so, endangered yourself, him, and the entire team’s tactical disposition.”

And there was the twist.

“What was your main role in your previous team again?”

And that was just an extra kick to make sure she was still focused.

“I was a shock trooper, sir.” Allison answered.

“So you ran the pointman position a lot, didn’t you?”

“Yes sir, I did.”

“Did you do a lot of solo engagements?”

“Sometimes the mission requires you to put your-”

“Answer the question, Allison.”

“Yes sir, I did make engagements with the enemy without any immediate backup as was required of me at times.”

“I see. I think I’m getting the pieces now.”

“Sir?” Allison asked, caught off guard.

“I read your file. Your last mission was a right bloody cockup and you were somehow the only one to make it out alive. Now I don’t know how you managed to do that and I rightly don’t give a rat's arse. You’re here now, and the powers that be have granted you another chance. But you’re under my command, and I’ll not have you running amok whenever the feeling grabs you, is that understood, Corporal?”

Allison bit her tongue and stifled any sort of comment that would be seen as snarky. It wouldn’t do her any good with the new team. This was getting handled with kid gloves. Next time it’d be getting Better Education And Training, as the Drill Sergeants put it.

“Understood sir.” Allison said.

“I know you probably have been wanting to get some revenge since then so I’ll overlook this incident this once. Let it happen again and you’ll be up the creek, as you Yanks so often say.”

“Roger that, sir.”

“Dismissed.”

Allison saluted. Hideo did not return it and instead walked past her and headed into the barracks. She sighed, letting out some of the tension she’d been holding in the whole day. She knew she deserved it on some level, but part of her also wanted to tell Hideo to stick it. The jury was still out on that decision though, so she opted instead to retire to the barracks. A shower would be in order, as would getting her rack all done up and ready to go. The rest of the team spent the night finishing their card game, ate a delivered meal from the mess hall, and then went lights out. Allison didn’t speak to them as she carried out her business. There was a lot left to be desired with the unit cohesion, but it was only the first day. She still had to worry about her down time ahead of her.