Girls' Frontline Fanfiction: Tsar of the Mountain

Weaving A Dream Eater

"We'll be at the Mountain shortly, Commander." The pilot's voice came over the headset Zeldri was wearing as he sat in the Black Hawk.

"Alright. A-545?" Zeldri turned his attention to the t-doll sitting across from him. "Make sure you have everything for when we get off."

"Roger." A-545 gave a nod and did a once-over of all her gear. As she did, though, her ears perked up and she looked out the window with a concerned expression.

"What is it?"

"Gunfire," A-545 responded and scanned the woods below.

"Ah," Zeldri replied nonchalantly as he looked out the window at the forest below, "Looks like they're in the middle of their drills."

"Drills?" Seeing Zeldri be so relaxed eased the tension in A-545, and she took on a more curious expression.

"You'll be running them too, so..." Zeldri said as he started explaining the situation to A-545.

***

"Echo, clear!" Makarov declared as her team took out the last target in their area.

"Done already?" MAC-10 complained as she reloaded her guns. "There aren't nearly enough targets in this course."

"It's about time and efficiency, MAC-10," Makarov chastised as she took the lead. "And, we're six seconds behind the previous team."

"I'm sorry," MG34 apologized as she was bringing up the rear of the group.

"Don't sweat it," Skorpion slowed down to stick with the MG t-doll. "What our leader isn't saying is that the last group was a bunch of SMGs. So, the fact we're only six seconds behind is pretty good!"

"A secret weapon is never slow!" OTs-12 declared as she marched behind Makarov. "I know exactly where I need to be and will get there when needed."

"Tch," MAC-10 clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"Enough, these courses are long enough without us taking the time to complain."

"Why did they leave Jericho and Mondragon in charge of these, anyway?" Skorpion asked as the team of t-dolls wove through the forest. "Those two are way too uptight to be allowed to design training courses!"

"It's because they're so uptight that they were," Makarov replied. "If we're going to properly defend the Mountain, then we need dolls like them making courses like these."

"..." The other dolls became quiet at the reminder of why Zeldri had instated these new mandatory training regiments. MG34 softly spoke to herself, "...I miss Kate."

"...I do too, MG34," Makarov solemnly responded. Kate was one of the human personnel who was stationed at the outside lot and would always give the logistics teams a warm welcome when they returned. She was also someone who died, gun in hand, defending the Mountain from Scarecrow. Makarov's grip tightened around her pistol as she declared, "Team Five, moving to Foxtrot!"

***

"But, we t-dolls already have the necessary combat data in our digiminds. Why make them physically run courses?" A-545 asked.

"Because having the knowledge of a subject and using said knowledge are two completely different things." Zeldri watched Makarov's team disappear into the woods as he continued. "You might know that the wind is cold, that gear is heavy, and that plasma burns. But, having the wind whip your face as you're carrying all your equipment while under fire by Sangvis forces?" Zeldri trailed off for a second as his last assignment with the military went through his mind. A gnawing pain crept through his leg. "That's something no amount of simulations can prepare you for. The more they can put into practice, the better prepared we'll be."