"What a beautiful place for our first match!" Kimberly comments while placing some ammo cans onto the back of a transport truck with the help of Ramirez who is organizing all of their supplies for their operation.
”It’s a shame I can’t seem to get away from stacking boxes, even in VR.” Ramirez says in a dry humorous tone. As he pushes some boxes into the back of the transport truck.
”Hah. You’re always such a downer, Rami.” Kimberly chuckles as she lifts another crate up to Ramirez.
Meanwhile, Tomio and Fio are overlooking their rugged Tablet alongside Emi at a small airstrip sounded by dense woodlands and a little log cabin by the side. They are discussing an approach to their advancement. "We're going to have plenty of discrete coverage from enemy UAVs assuming they use any." Tomio points out as he marks the forested areas on the tablet. "The roads are going to split into two pathways, one leading up to a small village on the northern road and a logging camp on the south road, right after a civilian gas station. Do you have any preferences, Emi?"
"Hm..I think the girls and I will take the road south. We can secure the longing camp and set up defensive positions, protecting our southern flank. I can split my squad into two so that someone can patrol the center forest area between the village in the north and the logging camp in the south." Emi traces her route in a blue path and then splits another path from the logging camp. "That way, we can deny a point of entry from a parallel here, assuming you hold onto the village. Do we have any idea where the enemy squads might attack from?"
Tomio looks over at the map on the tablet. "It should obvious that they are coming from the opposite end of the map. This is not a very complex area for a battlefield. I have to assume their starting somewhere on the docks west." He highlights and entire area close to the sea on the west. "What did you pick your reinforcement perk? I am going with artillery strike just in case we run into any armor."
"I am going with AI parachute infantry." Emi explained to Tomio further. "If we take any significant loses, I don't want to be outnumbered in a firefight."
Tomio can see Emi is a little concerned from her serious tone and look on her face. "I am sure we'll do just fine Emi. Oh and try not to stress out too much, this is just a simulation after all.
"Hm? Me? Stress?" Emi laughs nervously. "Oh...no no no...I don't think I'll worry...too much at least."
"I'm sure you're going to do just fine. If there's any trouble, call us on our radio channel and we'll figure out something if we have to. Our objective is simple. Deny the enemy access to our airstrip, eliminate the enemy if we can't beat them into a surrender, and watch out for some of the civilians roaming around. I can already see Hikari and Chiara are getting along with one over there." Tomio smirks points over to the cabin where Chiara and Hikari are talking to a young guy selling some wool beanies, hand-knit headgear, trapper hats.
"I love how cute this beanie looks." Hikari gushes as she buys a black and red knitted beanie from the salesman at the cabin.
"It's one of the finest Swedish caps for a fine lady such as yourself. It looks very good on you, Japanese girl." The young Swedish NPC salesman suggests as he brings out more hats for Chiara to look through.
"Aw thank you! It's perfect. And we get to keep these, after the match?"
"Of course. Anything you buy on the battlefield or elsewhere will go into your inventory. These fine headwears are exclusive this battlefield and nowhere else."
"I have to get one too Hikari...Oh...how about this one?" Chiara picks out Viking style ladies fur cap. "It kind of looks like a Crockett cap without the tail. I love it."
"A fine choice there. It'll keep your head warm and comfortable. Would you like to buy it?"
"I would be crazy not to let this one slip by." Chiara notes as she transfers some credits to the NPC.
"Hey! Try not to waste all of your credits on cosmetics you two!" Emi snaps out to Chiara and Hikari. "We're here to fight Kraken and Glam Squad, not to do some shopping. We're about to depart soon so make sure you both are all geared up."
"Aw..." Hikari and Chiara both sigh as they return to Emi with their new hats. "Uh...where's Mai?" Hikari asks Emi.
She’s looking for some transportation we can use. Speaking of which, I see them coming."
The girls look over from the trees as Mai pull up on the airstrip and drive down towards the group in a UTV ultralight off-roader. Emi can see it can seat up to four passengers which is just enough for her and her squad mates. The passenger seat next to the driver hosts a Kulspruta 58 Light Machine Gun which is mounted towards the front with a ammunition belt. "Fio paid for the mountable machine gun beforehand. We owe her one." Mai mentions once she disembarks from the passenger side.
"Nah, don't worry about it Armadillo Squad." Fio casually flaps her hand. "It was basically spare change expenses anyways. "I figured it'll be good to give your vehicle a fighting chance."
"We appreciate it Fio, Thank you." Emi places her hand on her heart and nods her head. "Will you and Tomio's squad be fine in your transport van?"
"We'll be okay. We aren't going to use the van for anything once we are in the village. We're going to fortify inside the buildings anyways."
"I see. Well then, now that everyone is here, we can begin our operation once we are given the go ahead right?"
"Our heads up display will let us know when the battle can commence. We can't leave spawn until the enemy teams are ready too. It seems like they are still in the planning stage like we are, so we just have to wait."
"So does that give us time to buy more..."
"No Hikari." Emi answers sternly.
"Don't tell me she bought those cosmetic gimmicks?" Mai glares at Hikari and also at Chiara and crosses her arms. "Fancy head wear holds no tactical advantage what so over."
"But the cosmetics are a limited time, Mai." Chiara caresses her own fluffy hat.
"So?" Mai shakes her head in disappointment.
"Look alive everyone, the enemy team is ready. The match will officially start in 10 seconds. Let's do this." The girls of Armadillo Squad get into the UTV with Emi as the driver, Mai as the gunner, and Hikari and Chiara riding in the back seat. Tomio and his squad get on board their transport truck and start the engine. Their heads up display has a count down from 10 to 0 indicating when the match will start. When the countdown reaches 0, the message "Weapons Hot, get ready for combat!" flashes before their eyes and the two squads drive off into their planned routes. Emi's UTV bounces around on the rural gravel road as they drive into a wooded area south of where Tomio and his squad will be driving towards.
While Emi is driving to her destination, she calls Tomio over the radio. "How's the ride so far Emi?" She can hear Fio's voice calling through her radio.
"She rides like a dream. We're about to approach the gas station, we'll be at that longing camp in no time."
"Good to know, So far we haven't seen the enemy yet, Everything is going according to Tomio and your plan."
"Copy that Fio!" Emi finishes the call as she focuses her attention back on the road. Mai starts whistling which gets on Hikari nerves.
"You shouldn't try to do that Mai, you're not very good at it."
"Oh yeah? You have a better idea to pass the time while we're on our road trip?" Mai scoffs from the front passenger seat. "Please tell me your million dollar idea Miss Spends-A-Lot!"
"Mai. Stay focused on that MG, we're not driving to Tomio's, we're driving in a war zone." Emi suggests to Mai.
"As far I know, the enemy is on another planet. It'll be a while before we even see them." Mai her hands on the machine gun and pretends to mow down combatants with it while they drive. "Pew....pew....pew....man, wouldn't it be so cool if we could like, drive all the way to their base and just drive circles around them while I gun them down?"
"I thought you knew better than us that it won't play out that way no matter what?" Hikari interjected while she looks out at the vast forest they drive by."
"I'm just saying, maybe they should make these maps a lot smaller. But that wouldn't be very realistic wouldn't it? Say, what are we calling our operation anyways?"
"Is that really necessarily too?"
"We need to have a cool operation name Hikari or we're not going to be authentic you know."
"Then just call it operation "Mai's a Cheapskate" and call it a day." Hikari suggested, taking a jab at Mai's Ego.
"Why you little..." Hikari laughs at Mai's expense.
"Tomio already suggested Operation Nordic Wind. So that's what we are going by. But the operation name can change if things get better or worse." Emi noted feeling a bit uneasy about how mundane this trip is so far on the UTV. "At least that's what he told me."
After a few minutes, the UTV slowly comes to a stop at the girl's first destination. It's an area clear of trees for the moment, a single gas station with two pumps at most where Emi pulls over near. The girls dismount, ready their weapons and search the area. Emi aims her M4A1, using the UTV as cover as she scans around the surrounding tree lines while Mai stays seated with her machine gun. Hikari and Chiara search around the gas station on the exterior and the interior. All of the contents inside the gas station are cleared and look like they haven't been stocked in ages. It's in a bad state of repair as the interior ceilings have rain water dripping from the roof onto the floor, some glass windows are broken in, and yet there's no sign of the enemy anywhere.
"The gas station is clear!" Hikari calls over the radio.
"I'm not seeing anyone else around either." Emi notifies over the radio. "Tomio, are you at the village yet?"
"Nearly there Emi. We haven't run into any of the squads yet. I just hope they haven't reached the village before we do. You should head towards the logging camp as soon as you can."
"Copy that, we'll be heading out. Stay safe Tomio."
"You to Emi. Stay frosty for us. I don't feel good about what the enemy has in store for us."
We'll be ready for them. You can count on that." Emi ends her communications with Tomio. "Alright girls, we have to keep moving." She gets back into the UTV with Mai.
"Shouldn't we construct some defenses around this perimeter beforehand?" Mai suggest to Emi as she starts the engine.
"We are already wasting time by stopping here in the first place. We need to secure the logging camp so we can set up our defenses there. Chiara! Hikari! Let's go!" Chiara and Hikari run from the gas station and get on board the UTV before Emi presses her foot on the gas. They drive into another area of dense forest which will lead them into the longing camp.
Several minutes had gone by and as Emi drives, she relies on Chiara to keep track of their location on the map. "We're almost there Emi. We'll be approaching the camp very soon."
"Thanks Chiara...uh...hang on a second." Emi puts the UTV to a stop. in the middle of the road.
"Hey Emi...what's going on?" Hikari looks confused at Emi for stopping so soon.
"Shhh....be quiet." Mai whispers harshly to Hikari. “I think Emi spotted something...everyone dismount."
Emi gets off the driver seat and moves towards the right of the road into the tree line as she advances forward, carefully and quietly. She lowers her rifle so that it slings over her plate carrier while grabbing a pair of binoculars from her backpack. She takes cover behind a thick tree, her feet careful not to rustle the dead leaves engulfing her boots on the ground as her eyes peak through the binoculars. "It's not looking good, girls. The logging camp has company."
Emi hands over the binoculars to Mai who looks through them. She can see the logging camp is being patrolled by two masked mercenary soldiers wearing plaid shirts and tactical plate carriers. Another hostile is positioned behind a sandbag barrier with a FN M249 SAW but is wearing a different kind of uniform from the other two with a woodland camouflage fatigues, a gas mask, and a PASGT Helmet.
I recognize those two Emi. They are from Kraken PMC....and that machine gunner must be from Glam Squad. Damn. That equipment look incredibly vintage."
"That's rich coming from you, Mai." Hikari whispered sarcastically from behind.
"What are we going to do Emi?" Chiara asks while looking through her own binoculars.
"They're clearly expecting us, but so far it doesn't seem they have spotted us. We might be able to achieve the element of surprise. Let me just check on Tomio first." Emi puts her binoculars down and pulls out her handheld radio.
"Tomio, we got company. The enemy is occupying the logging camp, there's about three of them."
"That's not good, are you sure you're capable of taking them on. We're at the village already and we still haven't seen any signs of Glam or Kraken Squad.
"It's only three of them and four of us. I think we can out flank them and overpower them. It has to be worth a try."
"If that's what you think, just stay on your toes. It appears they aren't being aggressive."
"Understood." Emi then directs her orders to her squad. "Listen up girls. They don't know we are close by. We can still get them through the element of surprise. Mai, use that fragmentation warhead and eliminate that machine gunner. Hikari, you watch her back in case they open fire on you. Chiara, you're with me. We're going to flank them from the side. We'll use the forest to conceal our movements, but we won't attack until you take out that MG with your rocket, Mai. Are we all onboard?"
Hikari, Mai, and Chiara nod in unison.
"Alright, let's show them how Armadillo Squad fights."
Emi and Chiara split up from Mai and Hikari, heading east. Mai grabs a fragmentation rocket from her RPG bag and loads the warhead into her RPG-7. "Hikari, try not to stand behind me this time."
"Yeah. I'm not making that mistake again." Hikari moves away from Mai and hides behind a fallen tree trunk large enough to provide cover on Mai’s right side while she rest her AN-94 over the edge so that she can get a clear view of the enemy through her sights.
"Mai, we're in position. We got a view on their flank." Emi calls through the radio.
"Perfect. On your signal Emi..." Mai aims her RPG and adjust for 100 meters as she directs her red dot sight over the machine gunner positioned behind the sand bags.
"Let them have it, Mai!!!" Emi shouts over the radio.