“Joshua! Chiara wants to speak to you!” Vicky knocks on the side of a M2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle where Joshua is doing some maintenance on the M242 Bushmaster chain gun. He pops out from the open cockpit, throwing his gloves which have been soiled with gun oil and dirt.
“Chiara? She…she wants to speak to me?” Joshua stammers nervously as he peaks down to Vicky from the cockpit. “Did I do something to offend her?”
“Don’t be silly, Joshua.” Vicky laughs full heartly. “She wants to ask you for a favor. Maybe it’s a date.”
“Hey...don’t tease me like that.” Joshua shakes his head. “I...I haven’t even known Chiara for that long.”
“Yeah, but you’re part of the team. That has to count for something right?” Vicky places her hands on her hips. “Don’t worry, Chiara isn’t going to bite you. She’s just asking for your help. You’re a squad leader. A leader shouldn’t be scared to...well you know...lead.”
“You’re right, Vicky.” Joshua sighs and hops down from the Bradly. “But in the meantime, can we do something about this IFV? This vehicle needs a lot of work. I can see why Zander gave it to us for free. There’s no way I can bring this vehicle back to life for the Mil-Sim Parade on Thanksgiving weekend.”
“Ramirez and Kimberly have that covered.” Vicky waves her hand. “Don’t stress about it, Joshua. You’re not a mechanic.”
“That may be true but who else is going to try to fix this? Mai is always busy with her engineering classes or shooting her SKS.” He crossed his arms and leaned against the vehicle. “It’s like Armadillo Squad isn’t taking this seriously. Only those who had made the bracket in the tournament can participate in the parade. What will our enemies think of us when we don’t even have our team in order?”
“You really need to ease up, Joshua.” Vicky reassured him. She hands him a clean rag to wipe the grease off his face. “As an aspiring politician, you’re going to deal with a lot of stressful situations. You have to have a cool head to handle it. But could be honest for me for a moment, Joshua.”
“Of course I would, Vicky. You’ve been my friend since Freshman year.”
“Do you seriously want to be a political science major?”
Joshua takes a moment to consider his major which he had insisted on doing since his days in high school. He recalls those moments where he would stand by his dad’s side whenever he would attend town hall meetings. He heard nothing but complaints and scandals one after the other. “Why couldn’t they just try to fix these issues the city is having?” It is a question he’s been asking himself ever since. “What if I could be the one to do something for the better of society.”
“I don’t regret my choice, Vicky.” Joshua answers confidently. “I want to make changes to society, and make the world a better place, even if I can only do it from my city. Even if…” He sighed again, the weight of his own ambition burdening his shoulders. “I have to overcome my anxieties to accomplish it. If I can’t do it. Who else would?”
“That’s my boy.” Vicky raised her hand to high five Joshua who laughed lightly and returned the gesture. “You have nothing to worry about right now. Go find Chiara and let her give you the details. She’s at the training grounds behind the hangar.”
“Thanks, Vicky. I sometimes wonder how you can be so positive and easy-going.”
Vicky's tone gets serious as she answers Joshua. “I’m not oblivious to my hardships. You and I both know how the world can be. But you know nothing is scary if you have faith. Chiara was able to overcome her doubts. You can too.” She pats Joshua on the back, giving him a gentle backrub. “At the end of the day, Emi said this all for fun. So relax and enjoy yourself while you still can!”
“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” Joshua smiles and fixes his hair to look less messy. “Okay...time to go. Wish me luck, Vicky.”
“She’s just asking you to do a favor, Silly.” Vicky chuckles lively. “Don’t sweat it.”
Joshua exits from the side door of the hanger, making his way to the back side which is quite a distance considering the size of the hanger. Around the corner, he witnesses a group of recruits firing at steel targets with aimed semi-auto fire. The are arranged in groups of four armed with 22LR AR15 training rifles. These are absolute beginners without a doubt. Their postures are still adapting to the proper form of firing, and when Joshua walks over to the table to inspect the training rifles, he notices they are mostly made of polymer and feel incredibly lightweight compared to a standard M4 or even his own FN2000 Bullpup. He spots Chiara who is helping a recruit with her rifle. She’s patiently showing her how to position her finger on the trigger. "Not on the pad, not on the joint. Right in the crease. Relax and gently pull. You don’t want to lose your point of aim.” Chiara looks different. Joshua notices Chiara dressed in a black skirt, and coyote brown fatigues and combat boots. She has a new twin ponytail hairstyle and he can’t help but notice how much cuter she became from the last time he saw her. Not wanting to interrupt, Joshua walks over and stands there awkwardly, biting his lip as Chiara instructs the recruit with shooting fundamentals. The recruit nodded, took aim, and fired a much more controlled shot. “Nice work! Now keep on practicing. You’ll be an expert in no time.” Chiara notices Joshua standing by, a little surprised by his presence but relieved that he is present. “Oh...Joshua. Good to see you. I need to talk to you for a moment.”
"Vicky said you wanted to see me?" he said, his voice a little too formal. He gestured vaguely at the recruits. "Looks like you've got your hands full. I hope I’m not interrupting."
“Oh...not at all.” Chiara stammered nervously. “But we need to go somewhere a little quieter…”
“A...are you sure? I mean...will recruits be alright if you leave them for a second?”
Chiara nods her head. “That’s what I wanted to talk about with you.” Joshua follows Chiara as she walks away from the range where the gunfire isn’t as loud. She turns around and holds her hands together in a relaxed but somewhat nervous fashion in front of her. “I’m going to be out for a while. The squad and I are doing something that Mai is insisting on us trying within Mil-Sim Story. Something about a custom server and pike and shot.”
“Hm. That’s not something I was aware was a thing for this game.” Joshua noted. “Sounds...interesting but I would know much about Pike and Shot other than the guns for that sort of warfare are...primitive.”
“So Mai is really taking us back...that far.”
“Any rhyme or reason for doing that with your squad?”
“Not really.” Chiara shrugs. “But Mai wants us to check it out. It’s going to be a team building exercise that might make us better in the tournament. I honestly don’t know what to expect.” She looks at Joshua and gets to the point. “I know you have experience as a squad leader from what Emi has told me. Do you think maybe...you can help the recruits while I am gone?”
Joshua, a little shocked by Chiara’s request, blinks for a moment but understands the reasoning behind her request. “Well, I wouldn’t say I’m inexperienced. I lead Vicky, Trevor, and some other people as a squad leader since I’ve started playing. But I don’t have the combat experience that your squad or Longhorn Squad has with the tournament.”
“Well...they don’t have to be tournament ready.” Chiara added; twiddling her hands nervously. “But they need to be uniformed, equipped, and ready as our more experienced recruits to go on missions and eventually ready for the military parade coming up in a few weeks.”
“I don’t think that’s impossible for me to handle.” Joshua offered his hand to Chiara. “I never trained newbies, but I’m willing to give it a shot if you seriously think I can do it.”
Chiara smiled, her cheeks blushing as she looked at Joshua’s hand. She reaches out and shakes it. “I know you can do it, Joshua. Vicky tells me you’re a wonderful squad leader.”
“And you don’t think she would be lying?”
“Not in a million years.” Chiara lets go of his hand. “Thanks, Joshua.”
“Hey, if there’s anything else you need from me, don’t be afraid to ask me, Chiara.”
“I’ll still be around occasionally to check on the recruits. They have a lot of respect for me. I’m sure they’re going to love you too.”
“Now that’s just too much, Chiara.” Joshua blushes. “I mean…you’re pretty amazing too…”
“Aw…thank you…I…I honestly don’t know what I can say.” Chiara chuckles, feeling a little giddy inside.
“Ha…well to tell you the truth…me neither.” Joshua returns the friendly awkward replies. In any case, have fun, Chiara. Maybe we can… “
“Hm?” Chiara tilts her head.
“Actually…n…nevermind.” Joshua stops himself from say anymore, feeling it’s not the right moment to ask.
Chiara catches up to Emi, Hikari, and Mai. They are waiting for her outside of the gates of the base. Some recruits open the chainlink fence gate and let her through. “Sorry about the wait. I’m ready to go.”
“Awesome.” Mai exclaims. She sends a private teleportation request to Kayla who is now on her friend list. When she gets the server address in return, she forwards it to Chiara, Emi, and Hikari. “You all see the link now? Make sure you have the custom servers enabled.”
“Yeah...that’s the one you’re talking about right?” Emi looks at the server list in her hud. “Sci-fi, Alt-History, and Water Guns? I never noticed there’d be so much variety on these servers.”
“I know right? But we’re doing the Historical Armory Server. Trust me, you girls are going to love it.”
“You better be right about this, Mai.” Hikari groaned. “Well...it’s not like we got anything better to do on the weekend.”
“Oh believe me.” Mai looks over at Chiara and then to Emi who she winks to. “I think we’ll find a few surprises along the way. For now, we have to meet the historical advisor. She’ll get us on the right path.”
“Say no more.” Emi nods. “Let’s do this.”