章節 41: AREN'T WE COMRADES?
"What the hell..." cursed Karl, looking at the environment of the command base.
The base is placed on a giant mass of ice, separated from the ridge they are hiding in by a few trenches with barbed wire and robot sentries. The base is essentially a peninsula, surrounded by the icy Antarctica ocean from 3 sides—back, left and right.
The main base facilities are hidden in the lowlands in the ice, out of sight to the cadets who can only see the external defences.
"We can't laser guide like this..." muttered Erika.
Sean looked at the timer that appeared on their HUDs. Entering Day 2, the instructors have remotely activated timers on their Exo-suits.
Karl had copied the enemies' IFF tags after the 4 had ambushed a group of Special Recon soldiers when they infiltrated, allowing the 4 to sneak through all smart systems undetected. The 4 had travelled extremely slowly nonetheless to stay hidden. They only have 10 hours left to complete their objective and head to the evacuation zone. There is no time for them to recon and find another target.
2 numbers also appeared on their HUDs, one denoting the number of cadets eliminated, the other denoting the number of cadets that have passed.
Currently, these numbers are 41 and 17 respectively.
"23 cadets fighting for 11 slots," commented Sean.
Helicopters and drones took off from the airbase within the base itself, flying over the 4 cadets.
"I can see 35 enemies," said Sean.
"Great, now what?" asked Erika.
Clara suggested that they infiltrate in through the trenches and find a spot to laser guide. Karl refused, saying that given the sheer scale of the robot sentries, they will be busted immediately. After all, by now the 38th Group Army would have detected that there are 4 duplicate IFF tags, and would have placed a hostile alert on them, making their scheme useless.
Erika then suggested that they cause an explosion and use it as a diversion. Karl rolled his eyes.
"35 enemies, unless we attack with the strength of a company, one explosion is not going to make it," he retorted.
Sean pointed to the ocean.
"We can infiltrate in from the ocean," he said. "Our Exo-suits can supply us with oxygen and some propulsion."
"ARE YOU NUTS?" exclaimed Karl. "Swimming in sub-zero degrees? Not even Exo-suits can ensure that you won't lose heat! You are risking hypothermia! YOU CAN DIE IN THERE!"
"Worth a try," said Sean, digging out his MRE from his backpack, pouring water into the heating bag. The MRE started to warm up, thanks to the chemical reaction of CaO and water.
He handed Karl his SCAR-H rifle. "You have the best shot among us. My rifle is good for all distance engagement, use it, to cover me."
Karl paused, at Sean's nudging he agreed, exchanging rifles and magazines.
Clara tapped Sean in his shoulder. "I will go with you," she said.
They then unloaded their rifle grenade drums from their Exo-suits and handed them to Erika and Karl.
Sean and Clara helped themselves to the MRE to gain some energy. They shared it with Erika and Karl. Both declined, saying that they need it more.
Clara and Sean sealed their assault backpacks with a waterproof bag and sprayed their bodies with the waterproof spray.
They headed to the ocean, slowly stepping inside, turning on the pressurised system of the Exo-suit, which can last for 1 hour, more than enough for them to swim to and back.
The downside is that to sustain the oxygen supply, their Exo-suits cannot heat up their bodies as efficiently as before. This, plus swimming in the icy cold Antarctica waters really put them on the verge of freezing to death.
Sean swam forward rapidly, not daring to stop in order to ensure that he will not freeze.
Clara on the other hand, is starting to pass out from the cold. The crack in her armour is causing water to flood in, taking heat away from her body fast.
Sean noticed that she is starting to sink, immediately swimming towards her, hitting her in the helmet in an attempt to keep her awake.
"Did instructor Nanami-San debrief us for bed..." muttered Clara.
"No," said Sean, realising that she is losing consciousness and starting to talk in gibberish. He followed along with her narrative, attempting to wake her up.
"The instructors have blown the emergency gathering whistle, they have started a new round of torture against us," said Sean.
Clara suddenly hugged him to recuperate energy. "Why is it so hot in here..." she muttered.
Sean is alarmed. Feeling hot in an extremely cold environment is a sign of hypothermia.
They need to get out of the water fast.
"You're going to be eliminated from the course, because you're a weakling who can't bear the icy waters of Antarctica and quit," said Sean, using his acting skills to say the sentence with as much spite and disdain as possible, trying to snap her out of her state.
That worked, Clara instantly snapped out, releasing her grip on Sean and swam forward rapidly. Sean grinned, swimming after her.
The 2 quickly arrived on shore, jumping around slightly to warm themselves up. Clara checked the crack on her armour, dismissing it for now.
Sean aimed Karl's HK-416, looking through the red dot sight.
Sean struggled to hold the rifle comfortably. "Why is his build so f***ing hard to use?"
"Why is his build so f***ing comfortable to use?" said Karl, excitedly fiddling with Sean's SCAR-H at the other side.
Erika saw that they had successfully infiltrated in, readying herself.
Sean and Clara sneaked in through the trenches carefully, ensuring that they avoid detection.
They reached a clearing that overlooked the command base's main facilities, camouflaging themselves in the ice.
"Ok, all clear, we got a perfect shot," said Clara, setting up her laser guider, keying in the numbers "100, 9, 4, 23" inside, to denote that they are the ones that made the strike.
She aimed the device down, illuminating the area below with a laser that cannot be seen by the naked eye, while Sean covered her back.
The stealth bombers of the 211th Fighter Brigade patrolling nearby received the rough coordinates of the laser guider, and swooped in, avoiding detection of the SAM units.
Once they are in range, they opened their bomb racks, revealing laser guided bombs which received the aiming data from Clara's laser guider, following it.
The bombers released their payload, and soon the entire command base below them are blown up, giant puffs of yellow smoke rising into the air.
"NICE!" exclaimed Sean, fist bumping with Clara. Karl and Erika saw the successfully destroyed alert in their HUD, grinning from ear to ear.
"Yes!" exclaimed Erika, her cat ears moving up and down excitedly.
"What are you, a cat?" teased Karl.
"Meow," said Erika jokingly. All of them laughed, including Sean and Clara who heard it on their radio.
(Airfield)
"Motherf***er!" cursed Maia, seeing the notification on her HUD that the main command base was destroyed. She is together with the rest of Squad Artemis, eliminating a group of cadets that tried to strike to home airfield of the 814 Fighter Brigade.
Aya sighed, "we are having fun here and they got blown into the sky. I guess that the 38th Group Army needs to seriously re-evaluate their strategies."
"On the bright side, Big sis, " said Nanami, ushering the eliminated cadets away. "We got 10 here."
"13 cadets left to fight for 10 slots. Let's see if they can make it in time, or not get eliminated. After all, 28 is the maximum number we will intake, it is way above the amount the Tier 1 units actually need." remarked Aya.
(Evacuation Zone)
Franz clapped his hands slowly, commending the success of the cadets in dealing such a major blow.
He turned to Bryan and Xiao Tian. "Lieutenant General Zhang is going to be so crossed when we see him in the eliminated personnel area," he said, ridiculing the commander of the 38th Group Army.
Xiao Tian chuckled. "He deserved it for underestimating the cadets. Who asked him to deploy all of his units out and only leave a company at their command base?'
Bryan laughed. "He owe us a drink now."
"Numbers 9, 23, 4 and 100 had really outdid themselves here," said Xiao Tian. "But let's see whether they can make it out of the encirclement that they will face, and arrive at the evacuation zone within 8 hours.
Franz noticed that there is a group of 10 cadets approaching the evacuation zone. He smirked, alerting Herbert to give them a welcome party.
(Near the evacuation zone)
"SH*T!!!" cursed Albert, stepping down on the all-terrain vehicle's accelerator, while Vera sitting in the back seat fired the MANPAD on board.
Albert, Vera, Louis and Ariel had destroyed an enemy SAM site together with 10 other cadets after they got separated, completing their objective. 4 of them were eliminated by tanks when retreating. Their speed advantage from stolen vehicles did not last long however.
3 attack helicopters from the 38th Group Army's aviation brigade had found them, pursing them relentlessly.
The attack helicopters fired rockets at them. To make it worse, Herbert and other Tier 1 operators opened fire on them from the side, raining them with gunfire.
A rocket landed beside a vehicle, eliminating 3 cadets.
"THAT'S NOT GOOD!" screamed Albert. The surface to air missile from Vera's MANPAD flew directly at a helicopter, only for the helicopter to deploy flares and detonate the missile before it hit the helicopter.
"ARIEL, DO YOUR OLD UNIT NOT HAVE ANY SENSE OF MERCY?" screamed Albert, who is extremely stressed now.
"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?" snapped Ariel, sitting beside Albert. Her Tier 2 unit is the Special Recon Brigade of the 38th Group Army.
She ducked, bullets whizzing past her, opening fire on Herbert's group 50m away with her AUG A3 SF.
Her rifle soon locked empty. "I am out of ammo!" she yelled.
Vera handed her her rifle, allowing Ariel to continue shooting.
Louis helped Vera to reload the MANPAD, firing 2 shots. This time they managed to "shoot down" a helicopter. The other cadets on the third vehicle managed to eliminate another one.
Herbert aimed his FN Minimi light machine gun, taking out the third vehicle, eliminating the cadets onboard, leaving only Ariel's group of 4 left.
Louis fired the last shot from their MANPAD, which was unfortunately deflected. To make things worse, a rifle grenade blew off one of their wheels, causing Albert to lose control, crashing into a pit.
Louis launched all of his smoke grenades, covering them in the smoke.
"Pathetic," sneered the gunner of the attack helicopter, activating heat signature detection, firing a rocket once he found the cadets in the smoke.
"Everyone, get down!" muttered Ariel painfully. She raised her sprained arms into the air, channeling Cosmic Energy.
A giant energy wave is emitted above Ariel, detonating the rocket just as it was launched out of the helicopter, eliminating it. The impact also shook the helicopter violently, the shocked pilot barely managing to stable it, making an emergency landing when he smelled the circuits burning in the cockpit, hurrying out with the gunner, both still shocked and in disbelief at what just happened.
Not only was the helicopter downed, Herbert and the Tier 1 operators also got instantly floored by the energy outburst. Herbert clutched his head in pain, ears ringing. Even though his Exo-suit ensured that he will not have any injuries, the blast still seriously disoriented him, as if someone detonated a flashbang grenade right in his face.
"That must be number 31..." muttered Franz.
Bryan shuddered, shocked at her horrifying magic power. Of course, there is no way that he will know that this after Ariel had controlled herself.
Ariel immediately pulled her still stunned friends up, the 4 huddling together towards the evacuation zone.
(Command base)
"MMPH!" protested a soldier as Clara and Sean manpiled him. During their retreat, the 2 ran headfirst into an enemy soldier. They immediately pinned him down and restrained him before he can alert the others, during which a fight broke out.
A puff of yellow smoke rose from them.
"Who's smoke?" asked Sean, checking himself and Clara.
"Mine," said the soldier, raising his hand.
"Good thing we didn't shoot," said Clara. "Otherwise we would be exposed!"
Clara and Sean then stared at the giant puff of yellow smoke.
"Yeah, but this smoke sticks out!" said Sean. "RUN!"
They bolted, just in time as shots are fired on them.
"Guys, we need that fire cover!" radioed Sean, firing an illumination flare into the air.
Among the ice, Erika readied her grenade launcher, firing. Karl also followed suit.
The rifle grenades did not delay their pursuers for long. The 2 returned fire, eliminating a few pursuers, but they kept their chase.
Karl rapidly aimed Sean's rifle, taking out enemies close to Sean and Clara, while Erika continued popping rife grenades.
A suicide drone landed behind Clara and Sean, prompting them to jump down to avoid the blast.
"AHHH!" Clara screamed. Her left ankle hit a piece of jagged rock, breaking the cracked armour and badly wounding her ankle. She clutched her ankle in pain.
"What happened? You ok?" asked a concerned Sean, seeing her like this. Clara used her rifle to hold herself up, limping forward, while Sean covered her.
"This way, hurry!" yelled Erika. She and Karl had moved forward after seeing that Clara wounded herself. Erika fired her last rifle grenade from the under-barrel grenade launcher of her SG-552 rifle, then firing her rifle at the pursuers.
Karl and Sean returned each other their rifles and helped Clara, while Erika covered their backs. They used their last smoke grenades, forming a smoke wall that separated them.
A suicide drone came flying at them.
"LOOK OUT!" yelled Erika, pushing Clara, Karl and Sean down. The drone exploded right on top of Erika. A puff of yellow smoke rose from her body.
"Erika..." muttered Karl, shocked to see her eliminated so abruptly.
Erika shrugged. "Pretty ironic for a explosives expert to be eliminated by an explosion, don't you say?" she remarked dryly. She collapsed onto the ice. "Finally can get a good rest...." she said, laughing and crying at the same time, breaking the hearts of her comrades.
Sean gritted his teeth, moving forward with Karl and Clara, knowing that they do not have time to "grief".
The platoon pursuing the cadets stopped chasing at their platoon commander's orders, they then rounded up Erika and notified Franz that one more cadet is eliminated.
"Why did we stop, sir?" asked a soldier. The platoon commander sighed, looking at his watch.
"4 hours left to evacuation zone closing, at the speed the 3 of them are moving in, they won't make it in time. Let's not be cruel to them," he said.
(3 hours 30 minutes later)
"Almost here, come on!" said Sean, as he and Karl pulled Clara together. They can already see Franz and Bryan looking at them in the distance at the evacuation zone. Their load now extra heavy as their Exo-suit batteries are close to depletion, greatly affecting their ability to bear loads.
By now, there are 20 cadets that passed the mission. While there are still 8 slots left, time is running out, and more groups of cadets appeared around them, all barely standing, staggering forward with all of their strength.
This means that it is now first come first serve, whoever that reaches the evacuation zone before the time runs out passes.
"HURRY UP!" roared Franz with a loudspeaker. "YOU HAVE HALF AN HOUR LEFT!!"
He then uploaded a list into the cadets' HUDs. "Here are the numbers of those who passed! Want to see your number on the list? HURRY THE F*** UP!"
"They made it," exclaimed Sean, heartened to find the numbers of Vera, Ariel Albert and Louis on the list.
"And so shall we, come on!" said Karl. "7 out of 28, let's go!!" he roared.
"Hold on!" encouraged Sean, grunting as he and Karl pulled Clara forward with them.
Clara pushed them off her. "You 2 won't make it in time! Let me go! I beg you!" she screamed. Sean stubbornly held on to her nonetheless, wanting Clara to fulfill her wish of wrapping up her childhood at last, especially when they are this close.
"Move! What happened to your never say quit attitude?" exclaimed Karl.
Just then, some cadets sprinted past them, running at full speed. Karl looked at the time. There is only 15 minutes left.
After some deliberation, he made a painful decision.
"Sorry," he muttered, dashing forward.
Sean's heart sank. If this was an actual combat scenario, Karl had essentially abandoned his comrades to die.
Shaking the thought off, he grunted, carrying Clara on his back, moving forward slowly.
"Karl had already ran off, there's only 13 minutes left, why the hell are you still holding on to me?" roared Clara. "LET ME DOWN!" she yelled, not wanting to drag Sean down. "Are you stupid?"
"Remember our promise?" retorted Sean loudly. "I am not going to let you down! You will be 1 out of 28!"
Clara finally understood what Sean wants. "You want to carry me into the evacuation zone within the time limit so that I can be selected?!"
"ARE YOU A MORON? NEITHER OF US CAN MAKE IT IF YOU DO THAT!" roared Clara, insulting Sean in an attempt to anger him into putting her down, not wanting Sean to lose her chance due to her.
"I BEG YOU, PLEASE PUT ME DOWN!" she roared, hitting Sean.
"PUT ME DOWN!"
"PUT ME DOWN!"
Karl's swelled his eyes as he ran, fighting his urge to turn around.
Sean ignored her, holding on tightly to her right hand, preventing her from sliding off.
"Don't you want to return to mend things?" asked Clara.
"I don't mind going back to assemble Mechas!" said Sean. "Don't you want to wrap up your childhood and finally be at peace with yourself?" retorted Sean, refusing to let go.
"We are so close," grunted Sean. "Does it matter if I help you one last time? Aren't we comrades?"
Clara laughed bitterly. "We are not comrades," she said, reaching for her yellow smoke dispenser.
"We are friends," she said, pulling it, releasing yellow smoke into the air, holding it beside Sean.
Sean froze, releasing her. He did not expect her to quit.
"I QUIT!! YOU HEARD THAT? I QUIT!!" she roared at the instructors, limping.
Franz and Bryan looked away, trying not to cry. Karl's tears rained down from his cheeks.
The tough and never-compromising Clara said the first ever "I quit" in her military career, for the sake of her friend.
"RUN, SEAN, RUN!" exclaimed Clara, throwing her smoke dispenser at him.
Sean screamed, running forward. There is only 5 minutes left. He forced every muscle of his body to work while they screamed at Sean to stop.
Miraculously, he soon lead the cadets, tied together with Karl and another cadet numbered 250. Karl is sandwiched in between the 2 of them.
The timer on their HUDs now read 50 seconds. The 3 are almost reaching the evacuation zone.
Suddenly, a gunshot rang out on Sean's left. Sean turned, shocked to see Karl's Exo-suit emitting a yellow smoke.
Karl stared in disbelief at number 250, who has his pistol raised and smoking.
This happened too fast for Sean to react. He and number 250 crossed into the evacuation zone together, just in time as the time is up.
Number 250 fell onto the ground, celebrating his success, until an angered Sean tackled him down, raining blows on him.
"LET GO!" he yelled, pushing Sean off. "What's the matter with you??"
Sean laughed, feeling that his IQ was spat on. "WHY DID YOU SHOOT HIM? AREN'T WE COMRADES!" he roared, flames forming around his body, ready to shoot them at the cadet.
"We're competition!" snapped the cadet. Angered, Sean threw his fireballs, which were promptly intercepted by Franz and Bryan with an ice wall.
"That's enough!' snapped Franz. Bryan ripped off the cadet's number tags. "You're eliminated!"
"WHY?" screamed the cadet.
"BECAUSE YOU AREN'T WORTHY!" screamed Franz. "You are a bloody Lieutenant and yet you did something as disgusting as deliberately friendly-firing?"
"WHERE IS YOUR SENSE OF COMRADERIE?!" roared Franz, reprimanding him. "I don't care how good you are, but you shall never have a place in the Tier 1 units!"
"Why is he in and I am not?!" screamed the cadet, pointing to Sean. "WE ARRIVED AT THE SAME TIME!"
"Because he did not shoot his comrade in the back!" yelled Karl, storming into the evacuation zone, beating up the cadet with Sean until Reza stopped them. The cadet roared that Franz and Bryan are being biased.
Finally. Bryan had enough, knocking him out with a wind punch. Karl kicked the cadet's body, venting his anger.
"I know it's unfair to you," said Reza. "But you are eliminated before reaching the zone. I am sorry."
Karl nodded slowly, pulling off his number tags. As someone who had manipulated his comrades and dehumanised them to get what he wants, he finally got a taste of his own medicine.
He followed Reza and the medics who had carried Clara in on a stretcher. Clara grinned at Sean, congratulating his success. Sean smiled back at her in return.
"Hey Karl," said Sean, calling out to his strongest rival.
"I hope to see you next year," he said.
Karl smiled, nodding slowly as he turned to leave with Reza.
創作者的想法 
MOSS3000
MOSS3000 And we wrap up the training stage!
Sean finally returned back to UNSSD as a Tier 1 operator. But he is not going to have it easy, especially when it comes to mending things with his siblings in Squad Artemis.
Not to mention the ramifications of a strange piece of intel which he will uncover in the Iberian Peninsula that forever changed the course of his life....
Stay tuned!
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