>>43641740
[2/2]

You sigh, leaning back on your Striker and looking around. Aurelia sips on her coffee by the road, bundled up in a trenchcoat, a wool hat, and a helmet as she waits for newcomers. Rascal and Greta were busy building some sort of snow fort. And Thorn as usual was still scanning the horizon.

Ugh, you’re going to die of boredom. You shake your head, walking over to Greta and Rascal. “What are you two doing?” you ask.

“We’re building a fort,” says Rascal as she drops down into the surprisingly deep foundation. “I mean, it’s not like Neuroi are ever going to come around here, you know?”

“Don’t assume that,” you gently say. Greta and Rascal look up at you, looking very sad. Morale was starting to plummet in your unit from the boredom. It hasn’t even been a week and you’re already approaching breaking point. Maybe packing alcohol would’ve saved the five of you. “Look, we shouldn’t wish for the Neuroi to come. But… don’t assume that they’re never going to show up. We’re still on their turf you know?”

Greta folds her arms, sighing. “Goodness. I only wish that we could go back to the Front with Captain Kelly and her girls. This business of maintaining the rear is absolutely horrid!” She kicks the snow a bit, grumbling. “I’m going stir crazy here!”

“I’ve had to deal with this for two years, two days is nothing. Just try and relax.”

Rascal looks down, then around the unfinished fort. “Did you want to help us build our fort?”

> “No.”
> “Fine. But this isn’t because I’m bored.”
> Other

>>43641743
>“Fine. But this isn’t because I’m bored.”

>>43641743
>“Fine. But this isn’t because I’m bored.”

>>43641743
> “Fine. But this isn’t because I’m bored.”

Those claws do look dangerous. Why hasn't the Kid learned to use them in combat?

>>43641987
Because they're very hard to fix if they get damaged, though that doesn't mean the thought hasn't crossed her mind. She's used them for a lot of things.

>>43641743
>> “Fine. But this isn’t because I’m bored.”

>>43641743
> “Fine. But this isn’t because I’m bored.”

> “Fine. But this isn’t because I’m bored.”

“Oh fine, fine.” You drop down into their hole. “This isn’t because I’m bored though. This is because I like a nice orderly fort. Now…” You look around. A simple three by three meter hole they’ve dug here. “Uh, did you have some sort of plan?”

“Nope,” says Greta.

“Foundation?”

“No,” says Rascal. She squints her eyes a bit. “This is a snow fort, not the White House. What makes you think we build these things with any kind of plan in mind?” Ask a stupid question, you get a stupid answer you suppose. Right, you’re going to have whip these two into shape then because this is the sorriest looking hole you’ve seen in quite a while and UGH DAMN IT, YOU’RE GETTING WORKED UP OVER A HOLE! You slap yourself on your head.

“Okay, how about we build some walls?” They nod, going around to pack up some snow for some simple walls. You really wish you could see more of Orussia, and not the huge wasteland of ice and snow you’re now currently in. Maybe once the war is over you can get to go to the western parts of Orussia. You start smoothening out some snow, then look up at Thorn. Still scanning. “Anything, Thorn!?” you yell.

She looks down at you. “Nothin’ new,” she says simply. Figures. “What about you, Aurelia?”

“Nope!” she yells. “Are you building a snowfort over there? How childish!”

Greta pokes up out of the hole. “How about you come here and I can build you a snow mausoleum for you!”

“Believe me, I would if I believed you actually knew what a mausoleum was!” Aurelia yells back.

Greta leans over next to you, narrowing her eyes and glaring at Aurelia. “What’s a mausoleum?” she whispers.

> “It’s a tomb.”
> Make up something wild.
> Go back to building the fort.
> Other

>>43642524
> Make up something wild.
It's for the best.

>>43642524
>Make up something wild.

>>43642524

> “It’s a tomb.”

>>43642524
> “It’s a tomb”
> Go back to building the fort.

>>43642524
>“It’s a tomb.”

>>43642524
>“It’s a tomb.”
Don't bully the Greta.

>>43642808
Not even a little?

> “It’s a tomb.”

You lean closer to her, whispering in her ear. “It’s a tomb.”

“Ha!” Greta raises her arm, pointing at Aurelia. “Hear that, Princess! It’s a tomb! I know what it is!” Aurelia waves Greta off, going back to staring down the road. “Yeah, you stare down that road, it’s all you’re good for!” Greta huffs, going back to picking up and packing up snow for the walls. “Think I don’t know what a mausoleum is, who does she think she is…”

Rascal walks over to you. “You know, Kid. I think being stuck around here like this is getting to us.”

“It’s only been two days. They said we’d be back on the front in about a week or two. We just have to suffer through it a little longer,” you explain. “Besides, you should be grateful that we can get any kind of rest, Rascal. You especially, you sleep like the dead.”

She rolls her eyes, folding her arms. “Hey, when you sleep, you might as well get the most out of it. It may not look like it, but I am the most alert and awakened person you will ever know.” Judging by the bags under her eyes and the somewhat glazed over look in her eyes, that’s only true from a certain point of view. Regardless, you’ll give her the benefit of a doubt. Rascal has been reliable, plus she hasn’t been trying to steal anything. Yet. It’s a good thing you don’t pack extra trousers, you already spotted her wearing Aurelia’s spares. Lacy black ones too. You go back to smoothening out the wall.

[1/2]

>>43643236
[2/2]

Thorn walks over, cup of coffee in hand. “Hey, Kid.” You look up, smiling at her. “I can see yer tapping into yer inner child.” You give her a very frank frown. “Come on. Nobody builds snow forts anymore. It’s all about snowmen! Hell, we could fecking replace Aurelia with a snowman and nobody will know the difference!”

“Would you please!” yells Aurelia. “It’s boring down here!”

“No!” you yell back. Aurelia whines a little. She volunteered after all.

Thorn chuckles. “Hehe, at least you’re taking it well, Kid.” You’re not taking it well. At all. “I must say, it’s really saving face that you’re taking a rearward position with grace and poise.” Grace and poise, more like silent seething resentment. “I’m proud of that.” She smiles happily at you.

> “… thanks, Thorn.”
> “That’s not exactly how I feel.”
> “I’m more proud of you. I thought you’d have exploded by now.”
> Other

>>43643244
> “… thanks, Thorn.”
> “I’m more proud of you. I thought you’d have exploded by now.”

>>43643244
> “… thanks, Thorn.”

>>43643244
>> “… thanks, Thorn.”
>> “I’m more proud of you. I thought you’d have exploded by now.”

>>43643244
> “… thanks, Thorn.”
> “I’m more proud of you. I thought you’d have exploded by now.”

>>43643244
> “… thanks, Thorn.”
> “I’m more proud of you. I thought you’d have exploded by now.”
Aurelia is learning the dangers of volunteering. It is an important lesson.

>>43643244
>“That’s not exactly how I feel.”
We are only dutiful on the outside.

>>43643244
> “… thanks, Thorn.”

> “… thanks, Thorn.”
> “I’m more proud of you. I thought you’d have exploded by now.”

“Thanks, Thorn. I’m more proud of you though. I’d have thought you would have exploded by now.”

She shrugs. “I would if I could. But that’d be a terrible example to the young ones. Hear that, Rascal?” She leans over, looking at Rascal dead on. “I’m making an example.”

Rascal says, “Of what not to do?”

“You-!”

“Quiet, quiet.” Rascal whistles, stepping away as she escapes the danger of Thorn’s wrath. “She’s just joking.” Thorn huffs, then takes a sip of her coffee. That old coffee machine at least still works. “So, anything to report beyond that?”

“No,” she says. “Seems like we are at the ass end of the war even though it’s only several miles west. I know we shouldn’t be wishing for conflict at this point, Kid. But it’s so difficult knowing that we reached the front… and we get cycled back here to bumfuck nowhere.” Language, gosh. “I’ll try to keep my tongue for ya, alright?”

“Thanks.” You nod to her, and she nods back as she heads back into the bunker. You check your watch, already past lunch by now. “How’s the fort coming along you think?”

Greta places her hands on her hips, grinning. “I think it’s going swimmingly!” She snaps her fingers, quickly pulling a piece of paper and a marker out of her blouse beneath her armor and beginning to write something. “Hold on…” She stakes the note outside.

CASTLE VON GRETA
AURELIA NOT ALLOWED

You and Rascal stare disapprovingly at Greta. “What?” says Greta. “She’ll ruin the décor.”

“Intentionally!” yells Aurelia.

> Take watchtower duty from Thorn, might as well give her a bit of rest.
> Keep improving the Fort. With any luck, it might be useful if an attack ever comes.
> Accompany Aurelia on her watch duty. She seems lonely.
> Other

>>43644087
>> Take watchtower duty from Thorn, might as well give her a bit of rest.

>>43644087
>> Accompany Aurelia on her watch duty. She seems lonely.

>>43644087
>Accompany Aurelia on her watch duty. She seems lonely.

>>43644087
> Accompany Aurelia on her watch duty. She seems lonely.

>>43644087
>Accompany Aurelia on her watch duty. She seems lonely.

> Accompany Aurelia on her watch duty. She seems lonely.

You climb out of the fort and sigh, walking over to a chilly and very tired looking Aurelia. “You know Aurelia. I have to say thank you for volunteering to be the checkpoint guard. I know it can be a little lonely just standing out on this road.”

“Please, this is easy compared to hunting,” she says dismissively. Judging by her shifting eyes and her slouched posture, she doesn’t seem to be taking it easy at least. “All I do is stand around, watching the roads, waiting for people to come. Sometimes a bird flies by or a plane. And…” She sighs. “Please don’t make me do this again.”

“We’ll go by rotation, you’ll do it again in the next five days.” She sighs deeply, relieved. You guess she can handle doing it again if it’s in five days. It’ll be like a regular starting pitcher rotation. “Any news from the front though?” She offers you her cup of coffee, and you take it and gently take a sip. The hot coffee immediately warms up your body just like that.

“Nope.” She shakes her head. “I swear, standing around here, you go nuts. And that little peasant Greta isn’t making things better.” She suddenly catches a snowball intended for her face. “Nice try, Greta!” She throws it down, and immediately Greta and Rascal duck down out of sight into the fort. “This is absolutely destroying my beauty, I could use a nap or something.”

[1/2]

>>43645132
[2/2]

“Yeah, not for another couple of hours,” you say. “But hey. I’m proud of you for volunteering. You got initiative. Isn’t that enough?”

“I guess. However…” She squints a bit, looking towards the horizon. “Do you see that?” Hm? You look to where she’s pointing. Some dark clouds, probably just a storm or something. “What is that, out in the distance. Do you have any binoculars?” You hand off your binoculars off of your beltpouch. “Thank you…” She glares through the sights, grimacing a bit.

“What is it?” If it’s Neuroi, that’s good news AND bad news.

She lowers the binoculars. “Hm. It’s too far,” she says. It’s way off to the south too. She places the binoculars in your hands. “I’ll grab my Striker and scope it out for you. I’ll be back relatively quickly.”

> “No. We’ll go as a pair. Safety in numbers.”
> “Alright, be back soon.”
> “Nah, don’t bother. It’s probably just a storm.”
> Other

>>43645146
>> “No. We’ll go as a pair. Safety in numbers.”

>>43645146
>> “No. We’ll go as a pair. Safety in numbers.”

>>43645146
> “No. We’ll go as a pair. Safety in numbers.”
Best this.

>>43645146
>> “No. We’ll go as a pair. Safety in numbers.”

>>43645146
> “No. We’ll go as a pair. Safety in numbers.”

>>43645146
> “Nah, don’t bother. It’s probably just a storm.”

> “No. We’ll go as a pair. Safety in numbers.”

“No, no, Aurelia. We better go as a pair.” She nods, understanding of that. Safety in numbers after all. “Mount up.” The two of you jog down the steps of the bunker, and find Thorn already beginning to doze off as she sits by the radio. “Thorn.” She perks up, looking to you two as you mount up. “Me and Aurelia are going to go investigate something in the South. You’re in charge until I get back okay?”

She gives you a thumbs up and a bit of a broken smile. Well, of course she wouldn’t want to stay awake longer. “Ya got it, Kid.” The magic speeds through your veins, summoning your familiar animal ears and tail. You and Aurelia roll out of the bunker and back out into the cold.

“Rascal, Greta, behave until I get back!” you yell. They give thumbs up, still fortifying their snow fort further. You and Aurelia then speed off to the south, towards that weird disturbance.

-

-

“It’s strange,” says Aurelia. “If it is Neuroi, they shouldn’t be this far east.” The two of you are at cruising speed, rolling through the frozen tundra. Maybe it would’ve been good to deploy in the summer or something. Still, those dark clouds are looming closer and closer as you close in. It must be at least five or six miles away from your Bunker. Not a far distance considering you can go as the crow flies without running into traffic.

“Keep alert. The Neuroi can still surprise us.” She nods, looking around. The two of you stop up however. The snow here has gotten thinner. Your tracks are actually beginning to get bogged down in the soft and melted snow. Plus, things feel warmer. What is going on? “You feel that?”

She opens her trenchcoat, smiling. “Means I don’t need this anymore!” You roll your eyes. “Wait!” She points ahead, then motions for you to crouch down. You lower the suspension and get low. “Look!” You take up your binoculars and peer through them. And what you see…

[1/2]

>>43645906
[2/2]

Thousands of Neuroi drones, marching under the cover of dark clouds. It’s not a Hive definitely, but… they’ve got everything. Superheavy drones, salvaged, some are even pre-war originals that you’ve only seen in the reels! These guys must have been hiding and managed to slip past the frontline. And if they did, they must have the Army outflanked! “My God,” you mutter. “We’re exposed.”

“There’s no way we can take on all of those Neuroi, right?”

“There’s no way the Army can take on all of those Neuroi.” You look at a rarely frightful Aurelia. “That many Neuroi units though… whatever committing to, they’re really committing. We could break an entire offensive if we stopped them.”

“You can’t seriously expect us to defend against that many units!” Aurelia complains. “I mean, I know we held fine at the Hill, and we assaulted the Cluster with relatively little fuss but… we had help then! We’d have to face these all alone!” The look on her face however betrays the fact that she knows you’re right.

How to approach this though?

> This close to your bunker, they’ll be sure to figure out you’re here. Roll back and quickly alert everyone.
> Fire off a few shots, get their attention, and run away. You could probably derail them right here and now.
> Other

>>43645918
>> This close to your bunker, they’ll be sure to figure out you’re here. Roll back and quickly alert everyone.

>>43645918
>> This close to your bunker, they’ll be sure to figure out you’re here. Roll back and quickly alert everyone.

>>43645918
> This close to your bunker, they’ll be sure to figure out you’re here. Roll back and quickly alert everyone.

>>43645918
> Fire off a few shots, get their attention, and run away. You could probably derail them right here and now.

Time to go for some hit and run.

>>43645918
>Fire off a few shots, get their attention, and run away. You could probably derail them right here and now.
They could be well gone by the time we alert everyone.

>>43645918
> Fire off a few shots, get their attention, and run away. You could probably derail them right here and now.

>>43645918
> Fire off a few shots, get their attention, and run away. You could probably derail them right here and now.

> Fire off a few shots, get their attention, and run away. You could probably derail them right here and now.

You stand up and bring your Thompson’s stock up to your cheek. “Aurelia, start running.” She blinks, then immediately bolts for it back to the base. You quickly fire off your entire magazine. The tracers fly right across the field and find their marks into a few drones. You think you even score a few kills there. But the minute they realize what’s going on, their marching column turns into a battle line. You turn tail and start fleeing, dropping your empty magazine and loading in a new one. “Run, Aurelia!”

Aurelia looks back. “Look out!” She pulls up her rifle and before you even turn and look, she fires. A Butcher falls right beside, dead. It explodes harmlessly into white mist. More Butcherbirds come sailing out of the thick clouds, aiming to bear down right on you. “Go, go!” She stops up, taking a few more accurate shots with her rifle. Another goes down as you speed past her. Once she downs her third kill of the day, she quickly follows behind. Over the slight hill you two were just on, the Neuroi start climbing and marching over in a frenzy.

Well, you’ve certainly got their attention now!

For the next five or six miles, you and Aurelia trade places on first and second place. You snipe down drones catching up to you, you speed away, you snipe away at more drones. It’s the little things that count, small ball, the hit and run. But once you reach back to base, you’re going to need to hunker down and weather the storm.

[1/2]

>>43646638
[2/2]

And by the time you do get back to base, Thorn, Rascal, and Greta are already in their Strikers. “Kid!” yells Thorn. She motions for Rascal and Greta to take cover, and they do immediately in their snow fort. Count their starts for thinking that’ll help. You and Aurelia brake in front of Thorn. “Where are they coming from!?”

“The south,” you report. “There are thousands of them, they either broke through or snuck through! Rascal!” She pokes her head up. “Get the word out to anybody nearby that we need help now!” She nods, leaping up with her small Strikers, and speeding into the bunker. “Greta, we need to cover her, she’ll be our center. Nobody goes in the watchtower though, that’s a deathtrap with this many Neuroi though.”

Thorn looks past. “Dear God.” All of you look back, to see the huge tidal wave of Neuroi drones swarming towards you.

“Yeah.” You look back. “We’re in for one long night.”

File: lMMAGb9.png (494 KB, 900x900)

494 KB PNG

>>43646655
Unfortunately, I have to end a little early tonight for family stuff. But hopefully I may be able to return tomorrow with another chapter of Star Wars perhaps. Next weekend's schedule is up in the air, we'll see. Hope you all enjoyed though.

Follow at: https://twitter.com/GermanSchteel
Ask at: http://germanschteel.tumblr.com/

See you next time.

>>43646681
Thanks for running!

>>43646681
Thanks for running, boss.

>>43646681
That's okay, it was fun GS. Night.

>>43646681
Thanks for the thread!