“I struggled to understand. Quite frankly, one wonders if I even understood it all. But then and there, I had an inkling of the why. These two…were lost, pained souls I drove further apart.”
- Excerpt from Lieutenant Hans Hoffman’s Journal Entries.
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+++ Captain Adelyn von Wittenstein +++
Unknown
Adelyn struggled to understand what had driven Hans to such paranoid behavior. Ever since she found him, he’d been…withdrawn, his eyes and hands twitching every other moment. Right now, he was back on that “leveling up” shtick that he kept focusing on for some insane reason. Still, Adelyn didn’t block his efforts, letting her soldier do what he thought was best. Not because he was necessarily right, but because a plan was always better than no plan at all. Especially one coming from an ace like Hans.
Such was the vow she’d lived by, ever since she graduated from the officer’s academy. To always believe in the instincts of those who had seen the fields of war more than she did. As an officer, her goal had always been to give them direction, as well as tactical cohesion, and let her experienced NCOs and Lieutenants handle the rest.
In her experience, more autonomous platoons were more combat-effective. Unfortunately, she didn’t really know if the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th Platoon liked it. She didn’t know if her lieutenants viewed her in any sense of positivity for it.
Hell, many of the enlisted viewed her as a nuisance. Just another “Princess” for them to worry about when they were fighting in a life-or-death situation. And she didn’t want that. She heard that E Company’s previous CO had been…an extreme control freak, from what she had gleaned from her men. And they resented her for it.
E Company had been nothing but a shattered unit then, a supposed lost cause, and it had only been a matter of time before it was broken up and sent to reinforce other units’ ranks. It was slashed down to a third of its founding strength after the disastrous Battle of Aldorf, where the previous captain’s incompetence and the company’s role as the rearguard had resulted in utter decimation.
Lieutenant Hans Hoffman…had been alone when she found him. He’d been the sole survivor, and former commander, of 1st Platoon. She hadn’t yet learned enough about him, but she knew that it wasn’t the first time he'd left the battlefield as the last man standing.
It was why she allowed him much leeway under her command. He was one of the most highly regarded aces of the Southern Front after all, were it not for the fact that he was a penal soldier. And that was the same this time around. She was giving him much leeway to act again.
“Lieutenant,” she stopped her mech. Alizée, who was sitting on Adelyn’s lap, glanced up, before turning back to the display screens. “Why are we going this way? Didn’t your map indicate that the possible direction of a settlement is over there? We’re basically going back, while you do your…erm…wildlife hunting…”
Adelyn found what she and Hans were doing distasteful, to say the least. They had been randomly shooting these…strange, monstrous wolves, who otherwise presented no threat to them. If there was anything that Adelyn disliked, it was the needless death of anything. Animals included. It was why she was starting to feel disapproval of Hans’ latest actions.
Doubt brewed in her mind even as Hans continued insisting that it was necessary. Still, she didn’t want to obstruct her most competent soldier. Not in this situation. She really hoped that what he was doing had a reason. That it was justified. That it was right.
Otherwise, even if she didn’t want it, she would pull rank to reign him in.
“The point is, I don’t think this is a good idea. So why?”
“Tactical maneuvers, Captain.” Hans plainly responded. “We need to be ready before we go there.”
“I understand that you engaged a…‘demonic threat’, as you put it earlier, but Lieutenant…are you really sure? I see nothing. Not with my sensors. If for nothing else, if there really is a demonic threat, we should probably get moving quickly to find civilization. After all, what if going back and lingering around here might just attract their—”
“It’s hunting…nothing. Look, Captain. We need to be prepared. And I have reason to believe that a hostile being that’s with that thing may be hunting for us. We need to be ready to face it. And position ourselves in the last settlement to face it in familiar terrain.”
“That terrain isn’t familiar for me, Lieutenant,” Adelyn said.
“Captain…please, just trust me. And listen. I’m close to level five. This is the only way to a safe path out of this.”
“The only way? But we haven’t tried any other way yet.”
Hans’ mech returned to the dirt road, back in front of Adelyn’s mech. There was blood again on the front legs of his mech…most likely, he made use of his leg’s razors once more by pouncing on those wolves. Adelyn…felt a little disgusted by the imagery of it.
“...I wish you’re right about that, Captain.”
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
He turned away, back on the path to the place where he killed that first demonic entity, and Adelyn followed. Still, Adelyn’s mind was stuck on that enigmatic sentence of his.
What the hell does he even mean by that?
Adelyn looked down at Alizée, and the girl looked up at her with just as unsure of an expression.
See! Even a kid who doesn’t understand me is in agreement. Lieutenant…you’re being very mysterious.
+++
+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++
Unknown
Hans’ mech stopped in front of more night wolves. He had been hunting them like some blood-lusted maniac, but he didn’t care. All that mattered right now was reaching level five before the sunset. He looked at the display screens, as his targeting locked onto one of the night wolves.
0245 Hours.
He didn’t want to see that damned number again. If he wanted to see 0633 hours again, he wanted to see it on the next damned day. He took a deep breath, considering the likelihood of an ambush, switching between normal sight and thermal imaging mode again and again, as he surveyed his surroundings for any further night wolves nearby.
He found nothing, and focused back on this pack, as they continued feasting on what appeared to be a dead deer. Indeed…these beasts were apex predators. Enough that they could overwhelm even soldiers armed with firearms. And they certainly feasted on the other members of the Animal Kingdom as well.
He didn't blame them. Kill or be killed. Eat or be eaten. Again…just like him…they were just trying to survive.
He pulled the trigger, firing rapid bursts through the dense forest. Wails of pain emanated from the fallen creatures for a few seconds before deathly silence descended on the forest. Hans’s mech emerged from the shallow pit he’d used as cover, towering over the twitching carcasses.
A six-legged metal predator. A beast made by man to kill man, now let loose upon Mother Nature. Hans thanked the forest for its sacrifice, and read the reports from the [SYSTEM] as they appeared.
[TWO NIGHT WOLVES (LVL. 9) LIQUIDATED!]
[LEVEL UP! YOU ARE NOW LVL. 5!]
[PROGRESS TO LVL.6: 10%]
[AVAILABLE AP: 100 PTS]
[NEW MECH UPGRADE AVAILABLE!]
I did it.
He immediately pressed the red button to interact with the [MECH-SYSTEM PILOT ASSISTANCE INTERFACE], and it opened up. Hans went straight into the available upgrades and checked the two options presented to him.
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[UPG: EYE OF PARANOIA (TIER I)]
Description:
The mech’s sensors will automatically detect and track any demonic entities within a short radius of the user’s mech. Costs twenty (20) Arcane Points per hour at base rate (Subject to increase by Tier).
Tier I: Sensors will automatically detect and track all demonic entities within a fifty (50) meter radius from the user’s mech. Costs twenty (20) Arcane Points per hour.
[UPG: TRACE THE DOTS (TIER I)]
Description:
Unlocks specialized tracer MG rounds for the mech’s coaxials for anti-demon purposes. Further tier increase unlocks more specialized MG rounds.
Tier I: Unlocks ADI, MG24 (Anti-Demon Incendiary, MG24), and ADAP, MG24 (Anti-Demon Armor Piercing, MG24).
Requires [UPG: ARCANE AUTOFABRICATOR] for specialized bullet self-production. Costs arcane points during production.
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Then why the hell did you even give me the [UPG: TRACE THE DOTS] as an option?!
That was just a sense of BS! The damned [SYSTEM] just had to be a penultimate asshole. While Hans found that [UPG: TRACE THE DOTS] was something he could possibly use in this case, by virtue of it being a specific anti-demon weapons upgrade, he wouldn’t even be able to use it without a second upgrade.
Then again, it was also for his MG24s, which slightly reduced its usefulness. Granted, he imagined that a good burst of his MG rounds would do most damned creatures in, and Hans preferred using his MG24 coaxials whenever he faced anything that wasn’t a Petain MBT (he sometimes even used it on the vulnerable rear of Murat MBMs to set their fuel tanks on fire), he would still have found more use in getting a specialized anti-demon upgrade on his main gun, just like one of Adelyn’s current option.
Then again, [UPG: EYES OF PARANOIA] seemed like a good upgrade for him. An automatic warning system linked to his sensors that would detect any demonic entity at a fifty-meter radius would surely help him. That’d significantly reduce the chances of an enemy demon sneaking up on him.
While his sensors were good, a three-hundred-sixty-degree automated demon detection upgrade was something else. His sensors were front-facing—not three hundred sixty degrees. He had a ninety-degree sensor FOV (Field of View) on his turret’s targeting feeds and another ninety-degree sensor FOV for his driver’s viewing screens. That was a major limitation to his detection capabilities. Hell, even just the act of looking up and down was something many pilots found hard, as they needed to keep track of two screens in combat (most usually focused on the targeting feeds).
But it also meant that unless he turned his turret to his rear, or to his sides, those areas were effectively blindspots for him. So, he supposed [UPG: EYE OF PARANOIA] would be the best upgrade that he could take. The other one was simply not an available option, and while he would lament the fact that it was a wasted opportunity for another more useful upgrade that he could have as an option…there was nothing he could do.
He had to roll with what he had now. All that was left was to get Adelyn to pick the anti-demon munitions upgrade so they would be synergized as a perfect demon-hunting team for the time being. Hans could see it already…the dynamics of how they would work once they faced that thing.
Hans would be the eye, warning her of any attacks. He’d also most likely get the first shot. If it did not fall immediately from a direct hit of Hans’ 90mm MPAT…then Adelyn could fire her specialized rounds at its face.
They had a chance now.
Surely, he wouldn’t see 0633 again.
He’d have a bloody safe path out of this now.