NOVEL SIMPLE Arc 0 - Chapter 7 - Explosions
As the entire western front tried to figure out what had caused the explosion, Thea continued to scan the horizon for targets.
After another twenty-odd minutes, she got lucky.
Once again, she managed to spot a single man with some low-tech binoculars. This time around he was towards the eastern side, further away from her.
“Private Thea here, I spotted another scout bearing 153, same getup. Low-tech binos, no weapons. Asking to confirm?” she pinged the nearest squad leader. She wasn’t sure if the one she had spoken to before had moved or not, but she was about to find out.
After a few seconds of silence past the initial confirmation ping, she got her answer.
“Nice to meet you, Private Thea. My scout doesn’t see anything over there, you’re positive on the ID?” a new SL answered her coms.
“Yep. Still in my sights as we speak, SL. If it’s cool with you, I’ll just take the shot. He’s about 2.1km out, but that ain’t a problem. If you could just let the command channel know that the freaks are up to something, that’d be great. This is the 2nd one of these scout guys I've spotted this past hour,” she replied with a hint of exasperation.
‘How in the void are these UHF scouts not seeing these freaks? They’re straight up standing out in the open!’ she silently cursed in her own mind.
“Do it. Good hunting, Private,” came the confirmation from the SL.
With the confirmation given, Thea could finally get her warm-up kill, if nothing else. She once again settled into a comfortable position and aimed right at the upper jaw of the enemy scout.
She pulled in her concentration towards her own body, the weapon and the scout and started breathing in an equal rhythm. Between two breaths, she started squeezing the trigger. However, before the shot went off, she found herself stopping again.
‘What…? What is wrong with me? Is it because he looks real…? That can’t be, I’ve literally killed people in real life before. Sure it was self-defence, but still… Never really affected me..?’ She was beginning to fear that she might have a mental blockage of some kind, that prevented her from pulling the trigger on the UHF’s enemies. She could NOT let this happen!
With renewed vigour, she once again slowed her breathing, focusing her utmost on getting the shot just right. As she was about to shoot however, the scout’s head snapped back and he crumpled lifeless to the ground on top of the hill.
“FUCK. WHAT THE FUCK! WHAT IS THIS SHIT, FUCK!” she angrily whisper-yelled in her foxhole, punching the red-brown dirt at the sides in frustration.
How did she manage to lose two sure-fire kills to other people?
Why was she suddenly unable to pull the trigger on some easy tags?
She was frustrated beyond belief, so she opened her coms and pinged the SL once again.
“SL, someone else just got that scout. Can you figure out where they are? ‘Was one hell of a shot.” She’d figure out where that other sniper was, so in case she found another scout, she could tell whether they’d be able to take a shot or not before calling it in.
“Sure, one sec,” came the brief reply.
As she waited for the answer, she looked through her scope again, scanning the horizon for any potential follow-up scouts. She NEEDED that warm-up kill. Everyone knew you did better after a warm-up.
For a fraction of a second, she thought she saw something whizz by her scope. A black shadow, going vertically into the air, but when she tried to look up to follow it, she saw nothing.
Shaking her head slightly she focused on the opposite hill-top again. ‘I’m really fucking losing it. Get yourself together Thea, you promised #1, meanwhile you’re just fucking around in your foxhole doing fuck-all. You haven’t even gott-’
Another massive explosion suddenly ripped through parts of the UHF’s fortifications, throwing Thea to the floor of her Foxhole once again.
Around three minutes passed, as Thea carefully scanned the horizon for a follow-up attack, but once again, nothing happened. Then, she heard her com ping.
“Listen, Private. The guy who got your man? That explosion was at his place. Don’t think he made it, sorry to say. Figured you’d wanna know,” came the sombre explanation from the SL.
Thea felt a pang of irritation go through her. First the guy stole her kill, now she couldn’t even outdo him anymore? What is this unfairness!
Maybe she could still outdo the first guy who stole her kill though. After all, she had lost two scouts, not one…
But suddenly, it struck her, as all the information fell into place.
The scouts. They weren’t getting the intel with the binoculars.
They were decoys!
Mild panic crept up to her throat and she sat down in her foxhole to calm herself with some deep breaths.
‘Before I make any wild accusations, let’s calm down a second. I’m upset. I’m irritated.’
After around a minute she had regained full control over her body and mind.
‘Alright. Let’s analyse this thing…
What do I know: Two scouts, two explosions. One of the explosions was at the more-or-less exact location of the sniper that got one of the scouts.
What do I not know: Did the other explosion occur at the first sniper's location? How are they doing it.
Overall, I need more intel… and quick.’
“SL, Priority Request. Can you figure out which sector got the first scout I reported?” she pinged the previous SL on her coms. She specifically used ‘Priority Request’ in her message and hoped that Old Man James’ information was still viable today.
An immediate ping of confirmation once again proved Old Man James’ wisdom. The SL hadn’t even bothered to ask about the reasons for her odd request. Old Man James had told her that in the UHF, a “Priority Request” was something akin to a cheat-code when it came to communications.
Upon receiving a priority request message, it had to be handled with absolute priority, even above standing orders from superiors. It was a supremely powerful tool that allowed extremely efficient intelligence gathering and distribution, when it was of paramount importance to get it done quickly.
Likewise however, if misused, priority requests would land you in a court martial faster than pretty much anything else. Even friendly-fire incidents had more leeway than the misuse of a priority request.
Privates were not taught about priority requests, for many obvious reasons, but they could still use them, if they knew about their existence.
It only took a minute for the SL to get back to her. “Private, the sector of the sniper that got the first scout blew up in the first explosion. I have to ask, what’s with the priority request?”
With her assumptions pretty much confirmed, she jumped out of her foxhole and ran towards the SL's current position inside the trench to her right. It took her only a couple of seconds before she arrived in front of him.
“Sir, I need you to take me to the closest command staff, ASAP.” While the SL could not see her face underneath her helmet, he could definitely hear the determination in her voice.
“Leave your weapons here, Private. Follow me,” he answered after just a few seconds of deliberation. The command for her to leave her weapons was likely as protection, as he did not really know Thea. She could be a spy from the Stellar Republic, for all he knew, trying to assassinate their local command staff.
Dropping all her weapons as fast as she could, she followed the SL, who was jogging through the trenches at a brisk pace. Thea actually ended up falling slightly behind despite running at full speed, which surprised her a great deal. She had considered herself as an extremely fast runner, but her perception of what was normal was quickly changing.
‘Holy shit, how is this guy so fast? He’s not even breaking a sweat!’ She was so surprised, that it even blew away some of the anxiety in her chest, which had started to gather after her earlier realisation and the confirmation thereof.
It took them just three minutes to get to a well-hidden forward command bunker. She had to admit that she’d never have been able to find this place without the SL’s help.
As they entered the rudimentary hole-in-the-ground turned command bunker, the SL immediately stepped in front of Thea and presented a ramrod-straight salute.
“Squad Leader Kellerman here to escort Private Thea to make a report, Sirs!” he announced before stepping aside and gesturing for Thea to step forward and make her report.
Thea did her best UHF salute and looked at the three commanding officers inside the bunker.
All three of them were males in their late 50s, if she had to guess, with salt and pepper hair in various states of hairloss. Two of them wore Lieutenant rank emblems, while the one in the middle of the three was clearly a Captain, as he wore the same style of uniform that she had previously seen worn by Captain Sable.
“Captain, I have reason to believe that these explosions we’ve been subjected to were caused by the Stellar Republic and..-" Before she could finish her report, the Lieutenant to the left of the captain interrupted her with a sneer.
“By the Emperor, who let this idiot Private in here? OF COURSE it’s the Stellar Republic! Thank you for the fantastic report, that was really worth interrupting our future planning for,” the ageing man sarcastically stated.
“That’s enough, Lieutenant Ormir! Let the Private finish her report, we can get our planning done right after. Not like we have much to do anyway when everything’s at a void-be-damned standstill,” the Captain interjected.
“... ahh.. Thank you, Captain. As I was TRYING to say, it is likely in retaliation to our snipers taking out their scouts. I was the one that reported the previous two scouts, but due to pure luck… or.. I guess bad luck for the others…? I didn’t end up being the one that pulled the trigger on either. The first scout was killed by a sniper, who was in the sector where the first explosion happened. Squad Leader Kellerman checked this for me just a couple minutes ago.”
As she continued giving her report, the Captain’s face drew grimmer and grimmer, while Lieutenant Ormir’s face turned slightly ugly, as he started to realise the importance of her report.
“The second scout was killed by a sniper in… ehh…” she struggled to remember.
“Sector 14-B. Sorry, Private. I never did mention the sector to you, as I figured it wouldn’t be important,” Squad Leader Kellerman helpfully interjected.
“Ah, right. 14-B. The explosion happened in the exact same sector. Due to these two instances, I have reason to believe that the scouts are not gathering intel via their binoculars, but with their heads. As in… literally their heads. Baiting snipers to shoot them in order to triangulate their position. I’d advise a halt on all sniper-activity targeting these scouts for the foreseeable future, until we can figure out what is going on.”
After finishing her report, she took a deep breath, as she had spoken very quickly in order to get everything out before the annoying Lieutenant interrupted her again.
“That is quite the report, indeed. Fantastic work, Squad Leader Kellerman and Private Thea.” He nodded an acknowledgement in their direction, before turning around.
“Lieutenant Ormir, issue an immediate cease-fire on all scouts fitting Private Thea’s description. Until we figure out what is causing these explosions, we cannot risk the possibility that she’s correct, even if her evidence is anecdotal at best. Get it done,” the Captain commanded with a stern voice, that allowed no room for arguments.
Despite his antagonism towards Thea at the start, Lieutenant Ormir immediately got to work at the command bunker's communication system and issued the appropriate orders to the right people, rapidly going through the entire Theta Outpost. The information was apparently being transmitted to the central and eastern fronts as well.
‘At least he’s competent at his job, even if he’s an asshole…’ Thea concluded in her mind.
“Private… as you seem to be the only one that has been able to connect the dots, if your guess is correct, that is, do you have any further information that can help us narrow down this issue? Any idea what might be causing these explosions?
"We found no indication for what might have caused them, outside of some explosive compound. But we have no idea how they managed to get the explosives to the right place in such a short amount of time,” the Captain said as he turned towards her once again, with a serious look on his face.
Thea stopped for a second to think.
She had given all the information she had been able to confirm and collect so far about the scouts, the snipers and their connection with the explosions.
The only thing she hadn’t mentioned in her report was the weird shadow she saw. Or.. thought she had seen.
As if feeling her apprehension, the Captain stepped a little closer and said in a lowered voice:
“Listen to me, Private. Whatever you think you might have, tell us. Even if it’s nothing substantial or confirmed, we’re all shooting in the dark right now. It’s better to work off of an idea that’s flawed, than sit around and do fuck-all while our guys outside are being blown up.”
Hearing the Captain’s words, she no longer hesitated and described the shadow she had seen. How it had vertically risen in the blink of an eye, but when she tried to follow it, it was nowhere to be seen.
“Hmm… a shadow going vertical…” the Captain mused to himself as he fell into thought.
“Not a lot to go on… Say, how large was this shadow, Private?” the third man of the command staff finally spoke up.
“I can’t be certain, but based on the size of the scout I had been tracking at the time, I’d say around half. So… maybe around 80-90cm in length? It could be way larger however, if it was a lot further from the hill than a couple hundred metres.” She tried her best to answer the Lieutenant’s question, with the little information she had at her disposal.
“Very well. Thank you for the report, Squad Leader Kellerman and Private Thea. If there’s nothing else, you are dismissed. Return to your posts and keep up the good work. If you find anything else, do not hesitate to come back.”
With those words, Thea and Kellerman left the command bunker. Once outside they started on a brisk walk back towards their respective spots.
“Well then. Didn’t think a priority request from a Private would end up as such a big deal, but good fucking work, Private. Figured I’d end up having to file a court martial on you, when it came through the coms, but glad it was worth my time, ha!” Kellerman jokingly said with a chuckle.
“Thanks for trusting me on this, SL. I’ll make sure nobody sneaks up on you and your squad, as payback,” Thea teasingly retorted with a wink.
She enjoyed Squad Leader Kellerman’s company.
He was a good man, from all that she had observed so far.
She hoped he’d be able to get through this simulation alive. Even if he was an NPC created by the simulation, Thea felt that he had a certain level of “real”ness to him, that she was not accustomed to from her previous gaming experiences.
On their way back, she spent some additional time carefully observing the UHF marines around them and recognized that absolutely none of them seemed to be run-of-the-mill AI.
There was no character in this simulation, that she could see, that did not act as a fully fleshed-out human. Once again she was awed by the quality of the Deep-Dive Simulation.
Usually there’d be some simpler AI routines used for non-important characters, such as these UHF marines. They’d be considered extras in any other video game or production.
But the Deep-Dive Simulation didn’t seem to require this workaround, it simply seemed to simulate every character with a seemingly infinite number of actions…
She arrived back at her foxhole around ten minutes later. She had a brief conversation with Kellerman’s squad as she thanked them for watching her weapons while she had run off to the command bunker.
She felt like the squad that Squad Leader Kellerman was a part of was good folks. If possible, she’d like to try to keep them alive. She had managed to acquire Kellerman’s com information, so she could ping him whenever necessary, if something came up.
Once she settled back into her previous position, she started scoping out the horizon with her DMR again. This time however, she had a silent hope that she would not find any Stellar Republic scouts at all.
Contrary to her hopes however, she immediately managed to spot a scout, nearly directly opposite of her position. Silently cursing to herself, she activated the com in her armour.
“SL, I got another scout here. Bearing 90, roughly 1.2km out.”
“Copy that, cease-fire still in effect. Continue observations. Let us know if the freaks do anything else or you spot more of ‘em,” came the immediate reply from Kellerman.
While she was aiming at the lone scout, she suddenly had a thought.
‘Why did I not shoot the previous two scouts…? If I had done so, I would have died from the corresponding explosion…!’
A chill ran down her spine, as the weight of her own actions bore down on her. She tried hard to put herself in the same situation again, in order to try and recollect her state of mind and why she had not pulled the trigger.
However, after more than five minutes of trying, she gave up in frustration. She couldn’t get back into that same state, no matter what she tried. Short of nearly shooting another scout, she’d not find the answer.
‘I wonder if the Deep-Dive Simulation is helping the ‘Players’ in some way…? It does seem kind of unfair to insta-kill you based on something as simple as doing your job, after all…’
This seemed like the most likely option to her. Outside of the simulation itself halting her finger, she couldn’t think of a reason that would stop her from doing so…
With that mystery cleared up for the time being, she returned to actively scanning her surroundings and the horizon beyond. She’d look into it with Thomas after she left the simulation. For now, she needed to earn some score!