Shortly after arriving at the recruit's tent, Dante and Nadia barely get the chance to remove their PEGs before they are both startled by the wailing of a siren. Shortly after it sounds, the other recruits are also awake and getting dressed into their PEGs. No longer than a minute later they are all lined up by their beds, and Cassie enters the dorm.
“On me,” She orders, passing a weary glance to Dante and Nadia before walking back out.
The recruits fall into single file and follow her outside the tent. As they exit they are met with the sounds of loud drilling and dozens of vehicles rummaging across the camp. Dante looks across the collapsed tents, over to where the main tent was- the one that housed the arena, cafeteria and communication centre.
“It’s all gone,” Dante mumbles to himself.
“Packed away,” Cassie corrects him.
“Why?” Taydo asks.
“Is something wrong?” Julz asks.
“You’ll be briefed by the Commander,” Cassie says, marching them toward a group of humvees idled near what was once the main gate.
As Commander Preston comes into view, he finishes giving orders to the remaining squads of Operators- O1 and O3. A few hand gestures from the Commander and Dante can already tell that he’s in a more serious mood.
“Julz,” Commander Preston calls out, turning his head to the approaching recruits.
“Yes, sir?” She says, lining up in front of him with the other recruits.
“You’re with O3,” He orders.
“Yes, sir,” She nods, before passing Dante a brief glance and following behind the two squads of Operators heading towards their blacked-out humvees.
Operators usually do their thing in the dead of night, but with two hours or so of darkness left, he must be sending them out on a last-minute mission. Sending Julz with them also caught Dante off guard- he isn’t so sure what to think. But, both squads of Operators went along together, so she must be safe.
“Alright recruits,” Commander Preston says, taking a deep breath, “Squad two-nineteen is relocating. It has come to our attention that the drive we acquired two days ago had malware on it that gave the Krix our position,”
“The OWS has suggested that our new base camp be positioned to the southeast of old Vi. About a three-day journey. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir,” The remaining recruits chant.
“The silver lining to this all is the fact that we discovered the location of a Krix server- For those of you who may be unaware, a server is the inspiration to our Outer-Wall System, in that it can strategize, co-ordinate and mobilize entire armies,” Preston adds. “This Krix server is positioned on the North East of old Vi. A few days upon arrival, we will be joined by Squads Two-eighty and Squad Five-four-two. Refer to your HUD if you would like to read the OWS mission brief yourself,”
The recruits nod their heads after the information dump and Commander Preston squints as he glares at each of them. “Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” They all respond.
“Good stuff,” He concludes before heading to the truck, “We’re on overwatch,”
The recruits follow suit, and head for the overwatch truck behind Cassie. As Dante steps into the back of the truck, the glow of the monitors glares in his eyes- prompting him to close them while they adjust. But, in that moment- Dante realizes just how tired he is.
When they open, the monitor in front of him displays an orbital view of the camp and the route to their new site.
“We each have about three,” Cassie says, “You and I will take an extra two,”
“Alright,” Commander Preston responds, “Allocate the units,”
_OVERWATCH: ALLOCATING UNITS
_ID: DANTE FORST
_ALLOCATION: UNITS 3,4 & 6
“Uhm, what are we-”
“Get some shut-eye,” Cassies cuts off Nadia, “I’ll wake you and Dante in about two hours,”
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“Is this the same overwatch system as the one at the Academy?” Taydo asks, familiarizing himself with the controls.
“Somewhat,” Commander Preston responds, “Newer models take a few years to reach the Academy,”
“Why?” Taydo asks.
“The OWS is an A.I.,” Preston says, “It updates itself so we don’t exactly know why. Most techs think it is always beta testing here and backing up finalized builds at the Academy,”
“Hmm,” Taydo mumbles, “Is it alive?”
“Who knows,” Cassie grunts, “Who cares? Quieten up so the others can rest. I’m going to need them focused,”
“uhh- yes, Heir,” Taydo hesitantly nods after a brief flicker on his screen.
“You heard her you two,” Preston chuckles, “Time for bed,”
“Yes, sir,” Nadia and Dante confirm, before using the subtle recliner built into the seats.
The Overwatch system, Dante’s mind echoes. Memories of the Academy come to mind as he rests his eyes. Strategy and coordination were never his strong suit, but he wasn't bad either. He always got a higher grade when he was taking orders rather than dishing them out. He’s interested to see more of Cassie's strategic side- From what he’s gathered so far, she’s all about the high-risk, high-reward game.
After giving it a whirl in the arena, he’s caught a glimpse at the method to her madness.
Not to mention it’s worked out in a more stressful scenario than this, so he shouldn’t be under too much pressure.
----------------------------------------
“You’re not watching your flank,” Madam Liiv chides with her arms crossed as she watches over Dante’s shoulder at the central computer in the overwatch lab.
“I need two gunners to the North,” Dante says, standing in the centre of a podium where the rest of class thirteen circles him. Each of them has a computer of their own and is coordinating a set of allocated units.
“Which ones, Sir,” Kassian queries.
“Ahh-” Dante stammers as he stares at an overview of the battlefield on his command hologram, “Units twelve and thirty-one,”
“Copy that,” Kassian and Pete confirm in unison.
“Our shields are at thirty percent,” Julz calls out.
“Shit, how much time till extraction?” Dante asks.
“Three minutes,” Tiffany says.
“We need to push,” Mich scoffs, “Just because it's a defensive sim doesn’t mean we can’t use offence,”
“Out of line!” Madam Liiv yells at Mich.
“It doesn’t mean we can’t use offence, Sir,” Mich corrects himself.
“We hold,” Dante says.
“Bad idea,” Madam Liiv chirps, before the hologram in front of Dante blinks red, accompanied by the rest of the lighting in the overwatch lab.
“What happened?” Dante turns in a panic.
“They got through the Northern shield with a drill beam, Sir,” Julz says.
“Gunner units Twelve and Thirty one are down, Sir” Kassian adds.
“My troops are under heavy fire at the East shield, they can’t hold it,”
“Fall back and tighten up defence on the gem,” Dante orders.
“Yes, sir,” The rest of the class chants.
“Time on evac?”
“One minute forty, Sir,”
“It’s going to be tight,” Dante says.
“No it won’t,” Madam Liiv grunts with her unimpressed, Siberian accent.
“How many Units have we got?” Dante asks, ignoring the usual trash talk that Madam Liiv always dishes out- regardless of how well you’re actually doing.
“Two on me,” Kassian says.
“One left,” Pete adds.
“Three on me,” Mich announces.
“One left,” Tiffany says.
Damn, that’s less than a sixth of what we started with, Dante’s mind races as he tries to think a way out of his situation.
They’re taking fire from all directions. Northern and Eastern shields are down. They've got three ground troops, one gunner, two Zo’ans and a gravity truck. They’ve studied scenarios where more has been done with less than what he has now.
And those were in real life.
The gravity truck will probably only get one more pulse off before it is taken out, considering it was positioned to the North, and won’t move quick enough to regroup in time.
But, that pulse can buy him about twenty seconds.
“Load up another gravity pulse,” Dante orders.
“It won't be able to regroup if it-”
“Just do it!”
“Copy that,” Tiffany says before adding, “One minute fifteen,”
“Copy,” Dante says before looking to Mich, “Still want to go on the offensive, Mich?”
“I thought you’d never ask, Sir,” He grins before mobilizing his remaining two ground troops and one Zo’an.
Mich has always been the best at the Overwatch sim, he’s always been obsessed with strategy board games so it’s no surprise he’s gotten this good. Dante barely manages to keep two units alive by this point in a sim when anyone else commands, and he usually performs best when Mich is leading.
Maintaining those three units for this long might be Dante’s saving grace.