This world was mostly grassland—vast, endless grassland. Sure, there were the occasional abandoned villages or towns scattered here and there, but the open fields stretched as far as the eye could see. Grasses swayed gently in the wind, dotted here and there with the occasional tree. Slimes and corrupted creatures roamed aimlessly, but they rarely lasted long when they wandered into range of my autocannons. Unlucky bastards.
The group was seated in the back, waiting and preparing for the battle ahead. One thing I liked about this setup was how much easier it made my job. Instead of having to juggle both driving and firing the autocannons myself, Elene had taken over weapon control. It was a relief to focus solely on driving for once, knowing a more capable hand was manning the guns. Still, I opened the door bordering between the hatch to our cabin and the inside interior of the IFV.
“Contractors’ vehicles are sure as hell something else,” Alice said, resting her hands on the cold steel wall of the IFV. Her voice carried a mix of awe and curiosity. “I’ve heard stories about them, but experiencing one firsthand… it’s just weird.”
“I know, right?” Mira chimed in, leaning back against her seat. “The interior’s bigger than it should be. What’s the right term for that? Non-newtonian? Non-borean?”
“Non-Euclidean,” Alice corrected with a smirk.
“Yeah, that’s the one,” Mira said, snapping her fingers. “It’s like the rules of space just don’t apply in here. Seriously, how does this even work? I have been in some contractors’ armored vehicles before, but to understand how one works is another thing entirely.”
“And the inventory, don’t forget about that,” Alice added.
“Yeah, that too. How the hell can I carry 500 kilograms in a fictional inventory? That’s insane on its own,” Mira added, shaking her head with a faint smile. As a former logistics officer, it was no surprise she appreciated this particular detail more than most. The sheer convenience of it was enough to make anyone in her position jealous.
I kept my focus on driving the IFV, the steady hum of the engine and the wide expanse of grassland making for an oddly peaceful journey. Slimes and corrupted creatures dotted the landscape, but nothing worth slowing down for. Meanwhile, the conversation in the cabin kept the atmosphere light. It felt strange, yet refreshing, to be working with a group like this—a new team, new personalities. Friends, maybe. Time will tell.
The plan itself was straightforward enough, at least on paper. Elene had hammered it into our heads multiple times: do not engage the automata until the auto-mortars are neutralized. According to her, if we so much as entered a ten-kilometer radius while those mortars were still operational, the IFV wouldn’t last five minutes.
Step one was simple: launch the two Switchblade drones to take out the auto-mortars from a safe distance. Once we confirmed the mortars were destroyed, the real fight would begin—a two-pronged assault on the automata outpost.
The team would split into two groups, as usual. Alice and I would stay in the IFV, drawing attention from the automata and providing cover fire. Meanwhile, Elene and Mira would infiltrate the chaos, slipping through the crossfire to locate and hack the command automata. With the command unit under our control, the remaining enemies could be neutralized quickly, minimizing the risk to everyone.
Elene and Mira had clear advantages for this kind of operation. Elene, with her uncanny stealth and tactical precision, was practically a walking definition of a “stealth tank.” And Mira? Well, her abilities were still a bit of a mystery to me, though I couldn’t deny their effectiveness. Curious, I asked her about it as we rolled toward our destination.
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“I’m an engineer with healer characteristics,” Mira explained, leaning back in her seat. “Think of me like Alice, but with the ability to heal both humanoids and machines.”
I glanced at her through the rearview mirror, raising an eyebrow. “So you’re saying you can patch up the robots and us at the same time?”
She nodded casually. “More or less.”
“Not as better as I am, though,” Alice added.
“True to that, I’m just a jack-of-all-trades here, well, now, I’m between you two,” Mira answered, referring to both me and Alice.
Alice then continued, “It should be a piece of cake. I could heal this IFV while you shoot the guns, should be easy enough.”
Our conversation was cut short as we arrived at the designated launch zone—a desolate patch of grassland surrounded by nothing but wind and distant horizons. Elene motioned for me to bring the IFV to a halt. I hit the brakes, and the vehicle rumbled to a stop, its engine idling softly.
“Open the ramp,” Elene ordered.
I reached for the controls, and with a low hydraulic hiss, the back ramp of the IFV lowered to the ground. Mira wasted no time. She hopped out with practiced ease, her boots crunching against the dry grass.
Without a word, she reached into the air, her arm vanishing momentarily as though she’d plunged it into a black void. A second later, she pulled out the massive disposable drone launcher, a cylindrical tube that looked more like a supersized mortar. The weapon was bulky, unwieldy, and far larger than anything a person should have been able to carry, but Mira made it look effortless.
She carried the launcher a few steps away from the IFV. Finding a stable patch of ground, she drove the tube deep into the dirt, pressing it firmly into place with her boot. Once satisfied, she pulled a tablet from her tactical rig, its screen lighting up as she powered it on.
“Launching drone,” Mira announced. The drone shot out of the tube, streaking into the sky with a sharp whoosh that was audible even from the inside of the IFV.
Mira positioned another tube on the ground, driving it firmly into the earth just like before. This time, she didn’t rush the launch. Instead, she waited for two minutes, letting the cooldown between deployments pass as she monitored the system on her tablet. When the countdown reached zero, she hit the launch command. The second drone streaked into the sky, its sharp whoosh cutting through the stillness.
Alice pulled out her own tablet as the drone disappeared into the distance. With a few quick swipes and taps, she synced her controls to the device. “I’ve got it from here,” she said, her voice filled with quiet focus as she took command of the drone.
Meanwhile, Elene stepped out of the IFV, her boots hitting the ground with a soft crunch. She approached Mira and, with an effortless motion, summoned a JLTV from her inventory. The large vehicle materialized in front of her like a ghostly mirage solidifying into reality—a sleek, rugged four-wheeled vehicle.
“Good luck, you two,” Elene said as she climbed into the JLTV’s driver’s seat. Mira followed her without hesitation, jumping into the passenger side and securing her gear. The engine roared to life with a low growl. “We’ll be standing by,” Elene added as she shifted into gear. The JLTV sped off, kicking up a faint cloud of dust as it disappeared over the horizon, leaving Alice and me alone at the launch zone.
Alice stayed focused on the drone feed, her tablet screen displaying the live POV from the drone’s camera. Curious, I leaned over her shoulder to get a better look. The screen showed the drone flying low over the desolate landscape, its adaptive optics giving a sharp, tactical view of the surroundings. Ahead, a military outpost came into focus—a heavily fortified position surrounded by metal barriers and patrolling automata.
Alice expertly maneuvered the drone, weaving it through the air toward the target. The screen zoomed in as she guided it toward a weapon emplacement nestled within the outpost. The auto-mortar was massive, its bulky form encased in thick armor plating. The drone hovered for a split second as the targeting system locked on. Then, the feed went black as the drone detonated on impact.
A second later, Alice grinned, satisfied. “Alright, that’s one hell of a welcoming party dealt with. Let’s get moving.”