I blinked the crud from my eye and slowly cracked my neck as I pushed myself off the office wall. The offensively bright morning light came pouring in through the office windows. I glanced at my wife, her head on my lap, her hand tightly clutching my other arm. Around the office lay her family, sprawled out in their sleeping bags and crummy soviet field blankets.
We were on the 4th floor of the TraPac administration building, the one my little soviet platoon had secured last night. Though holding the building and keeping the undead out? A very difficult thing. Several of those mutant monsters and hundreds of normal zombies had tried three times to storm the building. I'd burned through a shitload of ammunition, summoned more and gone through that too.
I slowly extracted myself from unde my wife and silently crept to the window, looking down on the hellscape that was the parking lot. Bodies littered the ground, though thankfully none were any of the soldiers or survivors. But the burnt stench of charred flesh pervaded the air. A couple flamethrowers bought at the last second had kept the zombies from storming the building's lobby.
I grabbed my AL from the office desk and crept out of the office as the sun slowly rose over the distant mountains surrounding the LA metropolis. A series of notifications appeared in my view.
'Quest complete, survive the first night of the apocalypse. Reward, 1,000xp, motor rifle infantry squad equipment.'
'Quest complete, keep the survivors in your care alive until the second day of the apocalypse. Reward is calculated as a percentage of survivors kept alive. 29/29 Alive. Reward, 1,000 xp, AK-74 (30)'
'Killed Zombies 253(walkers), 78(runners), 5(tank): rewarded 790 Credits, 3,950 xp. Please view the shop to use your credits.'
'You have gained 5950 xp, 9,260/5,000 xp needed for your next promotion.You may be promoted, accept promotion? Yes, No.'
I sighed and walked to the office across the hall, slowly opening the door. I walked over to the desk, the stains of blood still evident from its previous occupants' fate. There were a few pictures, a couple small children and one of a happy family, likely never to be reunited. I smiled ruefully as I flipped the frames down.
I heard a cough behind me and I turned my head as I laid the rifle on the desk. Ivan stood in the door, rifle slung over his shoulder. "Sir, we held them back last night, no casualties on our end, lot of bodies in the parking lot though."
"That's good." I replied as I motioned for Ivan to close the door. I'd need a few people I could trust, Ivan had been reliable so far, might as well.
"There something you want to talk about, Lieutenant?" Ivan asked after the door clicked shut. I glanced at the notification and pressed yes.
'5,000 xp deducted. Congratulations Junior Lieutenant, you have been promoted to Senior Lieutenant! You may now command up to a company of soldiers and their vehicles as well as gaining access to a support platoon. HQ grants you 50 credits for your progress.'
"I'm not entirely sure how this system works Ivan, just a couple days ago I was a random soldier, just doing my job. Putting in the bare minimum I needed to go home. Now I'm a senior Lieutenant, a rank I've never heard of before." I looked at the sergeant. He maintained a professional look to my little story.
"I'll do what I can to help sir." Ivan replied evenly.
I smile wryly. "Good, I'll be counting on that, this system of mine, I'm not sure how it works but the more of the undead that are killed by us, the more experience I get, giving me further promotions which allow me to spend the credits we gain to get either more soldiers, equipment, or supplies."
"I need a second in command, I'd like you to take the role." I said as I parked my scrawny rear on the desk.
"I'd be honored to accept Lieutenant."
"Good, because we have some things we need to start worrying about, food and water being the big ones." I said with a grin.
"There was a shopping center we passed after leaving the school." Ivan mused.
"The Food 4 Less? We'll have to raid it for supplies. But we should probably expand the unit, at the moment I can command up to a full company and a support platoon, whatever that entails."
"In that case sir why not stick to doctrine?" Ivan proposed.
"I'm not familiar with Soviet doctrine Ivan, merely US doctrine." My reply had Ivan give me an uncomfortable look.
"Lieutenant, since I'm now your second my squad should become the command squad, George, Joseph's, and Erik's commands can be expanded into their own platoons, add a machine gun platoon and we'll have a true motor rifle company." Ivan replied with a small smile. He walked over to the window and looked at the walls of shipping containers.
"Walk me through what we'll need to reach that…" I said as I opened up the store and started flipping through some tabs.
"Each platoon will need an additional two squads, so six, we can get the extra men later, we'll also need an additional six BTRs for them, and the machine gun platoon will need another six heavy Machine guns and an additional two BTRs for them."
I scrolled through the tabs, adding everything to the list then added a couple extra crates of ammunition for the soldiers. I then checked my balance and hit purchase.
'You have purchased Motor rifle squad (6), MG team (6) BTR-60PB (8) ammunition crates (20). Deduction of 560 credits. Please select a suitable location for your troops.'
I cursed silently as I jogged out of the room and down the hall to the stairs, Ivan hot on my heels I skipped steps as I rushed downstairs. I rushed out of the lobby to the surprise of several soldiers and ran up to one of the firing positions at the edge of the parking lot. A bluish square appeared in the vast boulevard.
I smiled as the light flashed and the vehicles appeared, soldiers saluted and I quickly waved my hand. "Relax! Move those damn Vic's and supplies in here yesterday!"
The soldiers rushed to comply with the command, the BTR crew climbing unit whir vehicles and drove them into the humble little compound as the infantry grabbed their equipment and the extra supplies and began carrying them inside the lobby.
I called the nco's now platoon sergeants over and briefed them on their impromptu promotions. Dividing the assets amongst them as we went, the machine guns we put in their own little platoon and had them set up around the parking lot. The survivors slowly woke up and started looking at the large number of soldiers moving purposely about. I glanced back at them before turning to my newly minted platoon sergeants and Junior lieutenants.
"Remember to disseminate the story to the soldiers, we are Legion private military company, we are not affiliated with the United states in any way. Not that I think it likely that any of the survivors speak russian, but it's best if all our people are on the same page." I said to a chorus of yes sirs.
"With that being said. Erik, Joseph, gather your platoons, and we're going to raid a nearby grocery store for supplies. George, your platoon will remain here to maintain security." I said and the new lieutenants nodded and started carrying out their new orders.
I sighed and looked down at the officer's uniform I was now wearing, the dull khaki of the soviet troops a far different sight than my previous uniforms. The three small stars of a Senior Lieutenant on my shoulders. I touched the holstered makarov in my belt and watched as the company moved about me with a professionalism that I chose to imagine my former commanders would have envied.
Something about looking the part to inspire the men? I tugs at the collar. They probably wouldn't give a flying squirrel if I strode out dressed in damn beach attire. I waited as Erik's platoon quickly mounted their vehicles and started staging to move out while Joseph's platoon formed up behind them and Ivan had his squad place my BTR in the middle of the convoy. The lieutenants came to me, asking for a route. I sighed and pulled my phone from my front pouch and pulled up google maps, quickly showing them a route. With nods they briefed their drivers and the platoons mounted up.
I gave Erik a nod and strode over to my BTR and clambered aboard while the lead BTR drove out of the compound, a few soldiers operating the gate. I clambered up to the top of the BTR and opened one of the ceiling hatches, dropping my legs in and watching the convoy turn right out of the parking lot and then right onto the boulevard.
By the time my BTR started turning onto the boulevard the lead BTR was taking a left turn onto Island Avenue. The convoy rode the short distance to the small grocery store, the BTRs making a crude semi circle around the busted primary entrance. I climbed out of the hatch and dropped to the ground as the platoons dismounted their vehicles and started spreading out. Erik dispatched a few squads to start clearing the store. I walked through the doors, busted and mangled by the Honda Accord that had embedded itself in the self checkout. I stood for a moment under the fans, enjoying the cool air and a brief respite from LA's brutal summer heat.
"Lieutenant! There's some survivors in the offices." A corporal shouted as he waved me over. I walked over, a soldier gesturing for me to enter the employee only area. I pushed against the door and heard muffled talking coming from two of the offices nearby. A glance at the plagues outside revealed them to be the managers and HR offices.
I paused for a moment before speaking. "Is there anyone in there?"
"Yes! Yes!" An excited voice came and quickly a pair of eyes peered through the shuttered blinds of the two offices.
"Have you come to rescue us?" A soft voice asked with rising hope.
"We'll take you with us if you'll cooperate, though I assume that'll require you to barricade your doors?" I replied and I quickly heard the tell tale sounds of desks being shoved aside. A half dozen employees walked cautiously out of the offices, two men and five women.
"Are you with the police? The military?" One of them men asked upon seeing my uniform. I shook my head.
"No, my organization is not affiliated with the government in any way." I stated as a couple of the soldiers offered some water bottles and snacks to the survivors.
"Will you take us with you? I'll do anything, don't leave me here." One of the younger women begged, desperation in her eyes as she practically offered herself.
"I'm married." I held up my hand, my ring glinting in the harsh light. Worry creased their faces before I could continue.
"That said I'm not going to leave anyone to the undead unless they give me reason to." Relief washed over them as they clutched the food.
"Now, if you'd help my men clear out this store? We're gathering supplies. We have more survivors at the TraPac building." I said while looking at the survivors. A round of determined nods went around. I nodded and slowly held up my hand, a faint popping sound coming from outside. I quickly left the office and rushed outside. Several soldiers had fanned out across the parking lot.
The faint sounds continued, now more recognizable as what they were… gunshots. Ivan gestured me to the northwest end of the parking lot. "Lieutenant! There seems to be some survivors to our north."
Casting my gaze up the long and cluttered road I could see several dozen men running towards us, occasionally stopping to fire off a few dozen rounds at the horde, screaming and cussing at each other as they did. "Get some fire on those zombies. Try to keep those fucks alive while your at it…"
Ivan started shouting and his squad rushed over, the BTRs engine roared as it followed them they quickly started laying fire into the growing horde behind the little rag tag group. They scattered and dove to the ground as the BTR's heavy machine gun opened up, spewing hot lead at the zombies shuffling around and scrambling over cars.
I watched as a notification appeared in the corner of my vision, tracking zombies being killed. I looked down the other main streets and nearly cursed. These damn things must be attracted to noise. I directed the other BTRs to move to positions to cover the roads, meanwhile Joseph started dispersing his platoon around the parking lot to create a sudo perimeter.
Those men up ahead scurried into a house, the zombie swarm following them as they barricaded the entrance. Ivan directed his machine gunners to keep the swarm off the house, firing shots from his rifle as the swarm continued to close in. I summoned myself a rifle and bandolier of magazines and started joining in.
I grit my teeth, moving down the line, passing out ammunition and occasionally adding my own to the mix. The sun beat down upon the growing piles of expended cartridges, making the fighting positions a treacherous position to move around. But slowly the press slowed, less zombies seemed to be joining the horde. I stopped and looked around, seeing Erik's platoon also spread around the edges of the parking lot, the survivors we'd rescued rushing about with magazines clutched in their arms as they handed them to the soldiers. A notification suddenly filled my view.
'Killed Zombies 458(walkers), 124(runners): rewarded 1,288 Credits, 6,440 xp. Please view the shop to use your credits.'
'You have gained 6,440 xp, 10,700/20,000 xp needed for your next promotion.'
I waved the notifications away and headed over to the survivors. They slowly picked up that the shooting had died down and slowly gathered around each other. "Thank you for helping my men."
"It's not like we could have done much else…" one of the women replied. Gesturing at the soldiers slowly moving from their positions, putting an extra round in the zombies that didn't look as dead as the rest.
"Maybe… but we take care of our own, get some water in you." I replied. Before gesturing for my Lieutenants to join me.
"Get a squad from your platoons to load up as quickly as we can with whatever they can cram in the vehicles. We'll walk back."
"Sir, we're dangerously low on ammunition, we've taken almost everything from the vehicles that we brought along." Joseph said.
I kicked the half empty crate at my feet. "Distribute this for now. Instruct the troops to use a bit more trigger discipline in the future."
I oversaw my orders being carried out, soldiers loading the supplies with the survivors' help while Ivan took a team and went to see if that other group had survived. That he returned with a dozen grimy guns and a handful of magazines for the weapons told me what I needed to know. I glanced at my watch as the vehicles started to form a much shorter convoy and the platoons spread out along the length of the convoy. The survivors were boosted up on top of the BTRs where they sat, often failing to start a conversation with the vehicle commanders.
It wasn't a fast trip back, the BTRs rolling forward at a walking pace as the infantry walked ahead, checking corners and houses for ambushes. The occasional zombie was found, a counter appearing in the corner of my vision again.
I took the opportunity to observe my new surroundings for the foreseeable future. To the immediate south was h the cargo terminals, to the north was the sprawling metro area of Long Beach, beyond that was the concrete hellscape of the city of angels. To the east was at least another forty miles of concrete hell before hitting some mountains.
There was nowhere sustainable within at least sixty miles. At least as far as a permanent location was concerned. Considering those mutations we'd seen yesterday I didn't like the odds of trying to leave LA by road… the BTRs might be more armored than my wife's Honda… but that wasn't saying much when the damn thing went straight through the side of a building like it was nothing. I had potentially millions of these damn zombies between me and anything I'd want to deal with.
Entering into the compound I looked up at the TraPac building with a feeling of dismay. There's no way this place will last forever. I passed along instructions to the lieutenants to get the supplies inside and the survivors situated before I headed back to the offices. I slumped into one of the vacant chairs next to my wife, her family looking at me with concerned looks.
"Andrew, what's going on?" my wife asked after her family asked me something in spanish, my blank look being her prompt to translate for me.
"I don't know darling… there's so much…'' I sighed and looked at the door as a soldier knocked and stuck his head in.
"Lieutenant, Sergeant Ivan wishes to speak with you on the roof." I nodded, letting him know I'll head up soon and turned back to my wife.
"Who are these people Andrew? How do you know them? Why do you speak Russian? Why can't you learn Spanish if you're bilingual?" my wife started interrogating me.
I held up my hand and slowly ran back through her questions, ticking them off as I answered them. "My soldiers, don't know, it hurts my head…"
"Rude." she said, looking hurt at my last reply. I threw up my hands in exasperation, as if she didn't know that already…
"Look Ver, I don't know alright… I'm trying to figure it out as I go… but right now I'm just playing it by ear. I don't know… We raided the Food 4 Less for food and water, so we'll be good for the next few days. I'll probably have some of the men start clearing out the nearby blocks of zombies and look for more supplies." I said, slowly looking at her family, her siblings understood and were silently translating what I'd said into Spanish for their parents, not that they didn't know English, just that their grasp on the language was poor at best.
"You owe me cuddles." my wife pouted and I gave her another exasperated look.
"When's my back massage?" I countered with my annoyance being obvious in my tone.
I took a deep breath and sighed. "I'm sorry, Veria, I'm just… There's a lot on my plate right now."
She nodded but she looked to be on the verge of tears. I scratched at the stubble on my chin before I slowly stood and headed for the door. "I'll try to make my meeting quick okay?"
I didn't wait for a reply as I left, closing the door behind me. I walked over the roof access and headed up, opening the door to the roof. Ivan was leaning against the railing, staring out over the concrete hellscape. He straightened and gave a salute as i stepped outside. I waved him off and gave him a disapproving look.
"Lieutenant. We've run into a problem…" Ivan said as we both leaned against the railing and stared out at the midday haze over the city.
"We have little ammunition, there's no real defensible location, we'll have to improvise one… there's not much we can do to stop zombies just clambering over that fence…" He gestured at the chest high fence around the building's parking lot.
I looked down at the crowded parking lot, the BTRs lined up against the fence, soldiers reliving the soldiers on guard to rest. "There's not really anywhere with a good wall to hold them back… we'll have to make one."
"Sir, if I may… How does this system of yours work exactly?" Ivan asked.
"Well, I can summon soldiers, equipment and supplies in exchange for credits i gain by killing the undead, killing the zombies also grants me xp, which once I gain enough of, I gain the option of taking a promotion. And get the privilege of having a larger force under my command.
Ivan looked down at the vehicles arrayed around the compound. "Lieutenant, I'm not sure exactly how your system describes the forces you can command, but this is a full motor rifle company, you'd have to be a Captain or preferably a Major to command this in the army, but you're a Senior Lieutenant. So it's safe to say the scale is heavily skewed…"
"That's a fair point Ivan…" I said as I followed his look, even the army I had served in would have a Captain in this position… I opened the system and started going through the various folders again, I'd probably overlooked something…
"How much more of this xp do you need for the next promotion Lieutenant?" Ivan asked after a minute of contemplation. I skimmed through my notifications until I found the one I was looking for.
'You have gained 130 xp, 10,830/20,000 xp needed for your next promotion.'
"A bit more than nine hundred… though it appears the standard zombies give about ten experiences… so give or take several hundred zombies…" I replied after doing a bit of math in my head.
"Your last promotion granted you up to a company's worth of soldiers… you formed a platoon…" Ivan mused silently.
"Indeed…" I said as we gazed at the ad-hoc motor pool below us.
"Lieutenant, why don't we have one of our platoons sweep the port facilities behind us? They'll probably find a hundred zombies or so, and it'll clear our rear for the time being…
"George and his men can do that at 1400…" I replied after some thought. There wasn't really any harm to it. And all that'll mean is there will be less zombies to deal with later. We could also use those containers as a makeshift wall… we'd just have to figure out how to move them…
"Sir, almost all of the soldiers don't have names, they'd like you to give them one." Ivan remarked. I thought about it for a moment.
"They can pick whatever names they want." I replied. Ivan just shook his head.
"Negative Lieutenant. They want you to name us, like you did for me…" his reply almost had me groaning until I remembered I could just use a name generator, going through lists until we found ones we liked…
"Alright, we'll do that in the lobby, cycle through the squad's starting with the support platoon." Ivan nodded with a small smile. We parted ways, I headed back down to talk briefly with my wife again before heading down to the lobby. I found her alone in a different office, sketching on some notebooks.
"Hey Ver…" I quietly knocked as I entered.
"Andrew…" she replied as she looked up. I almost immediately started telling her everything, but… I looked at this woman I loved with all my heart. This wonderful girl had asked me out… but she couldn't keep a secret to save her life, and I didn't much trust her family either… not considering the way they treated my wife at times.
"Ver, you probably have a mountain of questions…" I said quietly.
"Let's go through some of those while I have some time…" my wife slowly set her pen down and looked at me.
"What's been going on Andrew? Who are these people, what are they doing here? Why do they act as if you're their commander?" My wife asked after a moment.
I sighed and sat on the edge of the desk and summoned the system screen, poking at it a bit until I pulled up some of the information pages. But positioning them so my wife could see only had her giving me a blank look. I sighed and tried to think of another way to explain it…
"Think of it as if I'm playing a video game… I or those under my command kill zombies, I get rewards and can use those to get food, troops, weapons… but it's all real, and I'm not the only player…" I trailed off as I looked at the list again.
Alive:unknownAliveAlive:(Trevor Reichenbacher):unknownAlive:unknownAlive:(Andrew Riechenbacher): Union of Soviet Socialist Republics 1990Alive:unknownAlive:unknownAlive:unknownAlive:unknownAlive:unknownAlive:unknown
The names had moved around… it's probably updating in real time then… so there's two other users out there that have surpassed me, most likely focusing on culling the hordes. My wife gently poked my shoulder.
"What's on your mind?" She asked, worry clearly etched on her face. I grabbed my phone and called my brother again. It rang twice before the call picked up, a groggy reply answered.
"Andrew? What's going on?" I looked at my wife before addressing my brother.
'Notification Alert. Rival update activated, gain insight on your potential rivals for system rewards, conversely make allies of them for lesser rewards.'
"Open your system…"
"What?" Trevor's voice filled with alertness.
"Just shut up and do it, navigate to the system tab, under users, scroll to the bottom. Who's on the list?"
After a quiet moment he replied. "Myself… and you… I just got a notification…"
"The rivals update?" I asked, my brother. There was a sharp exhale from his end.
'Rival found(Trevor Reichenbacher). Reward 500xp, 1,000 credits, discover more about your potential rival to gain more rewards.'
"You just get that?" I asked, my wife looked at me in confusion as my brother hmmm.
"You're out in LA right?" My brother asked.
"Indeed, you still in Manassas?" I replied.
"Yeah, we're holding up in the school down the road from the house…"
'Rival update. You have discovered the operating base of a potential rival! Sudley, Manassas. Reward, 1,000xp, 1,000 credits.'
"You got the reward for that one?" Trevor asked.
"Yeah, I did…" I mused for a moment…
"What's your company look like? And what's the nationality?" I asked after a moment…
"British… I got far more than that… two mechanized infantry companies and an anti air platoon. You?" He replied.
'Rival update. You now know the composition of your rivals forces! Reward, 3,000xp, 500 credits.'
'Rival update. You know the equipment of your rival's force, Reward, 1,500xp, 500 credits.'
"I have a Soviet motor rifle company." I said slowly, trying to figure out what was going on… was my brother a higher rank than me?
"No anti air? The Harpies not been bothering you much?" Trevor asked.
"Harpys? No, I've not encountered anything like that…" I silently gazed over the LA skyline, not seeing anything flying above the air. I'd have figured with the higher population density of LA I'd be ahead of my brother as far as the system would be concerned.
"How much did you get out of our little chat?" Trevor asked.
"Almost 6k in xp, and half that in credits…" I replied.
"Huh, it must scale in size to the command you have, I got half of what you did…" my brother replied.
"Look, i'm not far from my next promotion, I'll try calling again tomorrow… I don't know how long the cell network is going to last though. Just keep everyone safe alright?" I said quietly.
"Alright, you do the same…" he replied before terminating the call.
'You have gained 6,000 xp, 16,830/20,000 xp needed for your next promotion. 3,000 credits awarded, please view the shop to spend your credits.'
I grinned, we'd gamed the system a bit, and gotten our rewards out of it. I quickly planted a kiss on my wife's forehead. "I'll be back. I'm going to help clean out the terminal, see if we can use the containers to make some walls."
She pouted as I left, though not stopping me. I took the elevator down. The doors opened to the lobby for me to see a whole platoon of soldiers standing there, organized roughly into a line. A petite woman in a Lieutenant's uniform stood at the front and saluted. "Senior Lieutenant, machine gun platoon reporting."
I quickly remembered that I'd told Ivan I'd name everyone and fumbled for my phone as I waved my hand for them to relax. "I'm pretty bad at coming up with names… so I'll be using a name generator to give me a list we can choose from." I replied a bit despondently as I scrolled through the familiar blue home page. Selecting the one I wanted I looked at the Lieutenant in front of me.
"That being said, if you don't like the first name I suggest you can say so, I'll look for another one. That being said… how does Natasha sound?"
The woman looked down, slowly sounding out the name before looking at me, a twinkle in her eyes. "I like it sir, I am Natasha."
And so I spent the next few hours, the soldiers slowly coming up to me near the reception desk, me giving them an option, occasionally we'd pick another. The soldiers would leave chatting excitedly, conversing in excited voices. Slowly I made my way through the entire company. I really tried to be respectful about it the whole time, but by the end I was all but telling the last few what their name was without looking at them.
For the last thirty minutes a counter had been slowly trickling upwards, as Geroge's platoon was clearing the terminal. The number was much higher than I expected when I stretched and walked into the parking lot, the distant crack of gunfire echoed from the terminal.
A few soldiers had been tasked with using some forklifts to move the containers and they'd been placing them on the outside of the fence of the parking lot. Adding a makeshift eight foot high wall and another detail was going through and making a makeshift barrier atop that for the soldiers to man. As I climbed up the ladder I watched as a soldier took aim down the street and fired off a few rounds. A zombie that had come shabbling from a building a few blocks away jerking several times before collapsing.
I frowned as I looked at the limited fighting positions, little more than some cinder blocks set up around a few mats so soldiers could fire prone. It would do for now… but this would have to be improved. I opened my system and pursued a few categories, looking for combat… there… Saper squad, 50 credits… wait there's a version of the squad that's only 40 credits…
I bit my lip, this'll have to wait until I get that promotion but judging by the ramshackle fortifications… it'll be a much needed investment. I spoke briefly with the soldiers on duty before heading back into the building. I went to the store room and summoned crates of ammunition, shoving them to one side for the soldiers to easily access later. I informed Natasha about the new ammunition to distribute before I grumbled and gathered Ivan and the command squad before heading into the terminal.
As I walked up to the wharf and stared out across the west basin and the container ships docked along the other wharfs the kill counter stopped and flashed.
'Killed Zombies 318(walkers), 57(runners) mutants 1(tank): rewarded 817 Credits, 4,085 xp. Please view the shop to use your credits.'
'You have gained 4,085 xp, 20,915/20,000 xp needed for your next promotion. You may be promoted, accept promotion? Yes, No.'
'20,000 xp deducted. Congratulations Senior Lieutenant, you have been promoted to Captain! You may now command up to 3 companies, an additional 4 support platoons and 4 aviation assets.. HQ grants you 150 credits for your progress.'
'Quest issued (series quest). Establish a survivors camp and have at least 250 survivors under your care, Reward 2 Mi-24v helicopters. 31/250.'
I mused for a moment then opened the system's store. Might as well try to… wait…. I read through the force roster it displayed for my command, and there was no support platoon… apparently the mg platoon was an organic part of the company? Odd… I'll look into the Soviet organization properly later though…
I slowly went through the catalog, slowly adding various squads to a roster to form a basic motor rifle platoon then duplicated it so I'd max out my company limit… apparently I could only add six more, a pretty credit too… 1,172 credits but casting a glance at my balance… 6,417.
I smiled to myself and chuckled. I started browsing through the catalog and called Ivan. "If you could add 4 platoons to augment our forces, outside of more motor rifle platoons, what would you desire?"
"Well sir, we don't have much in the way of logistical personnel… perhaps a logistics platoon with a dozen or so vehicles?" Ivan offered after some thought.
I nodded and started looking for the relevant personnel and added a dozen Gaz-66 trucks to the list. I mused as I thought about it for a moment, remembering I was thinking about those combat engineers earlier and added them, gave them some BTRs.
That brought the new total to 1,727 credits… I mused for a moment and slowly felt my calling in my old job calling to me and I flipped a few tabs and added a mortar platoon. We'd… there's really no reason to have any now… but what if we did? It was really just a precaution, though i'd rather have a battery of howitzers but what good were those going to be here? I had a terminal port… though I'd probably use the new companies to expand a few blocks away from it… secure some actual living space…
I found myself scratching at the stubble on my chin as I looked over the interface and almost hit purchase before I paused, my finger a few inches from the 'buy' button… something just felt… off… like i was missing some critical piece of machinery that would just make the force feel soviet in its nature… that would give the feeling of the inexorable red steam roller.. No… steam roller… rolling on. I sighed and opened a tab I hadn't thought someone in the apocalypse would ever need to look through. But somehow, looking through the little pictures it just felt right. I spoke quietly with Ivan, going with a budget but still quite a powerful platoon and looking over my list, a total of 2,337 credits and hit purchase.
A massive bluish red circle lit up the wharf and the dull rumble of engines filled the air. Soldiers stood before their vehicles, snapping to attention and offering salutes. A thunderous echo nearly drowned out the idling engines. "Ready to serve Komrade Capitan!"
I offered a salute and took in the soldiers as the purchase notification faded away. Before me was that platoon. Nine soldiers wearing black uniforms with shortened AKs stood at attention between the two new motor rifle companies, but what drew my immediate attention was their vehicles.
A dull, olive drab and mottled browns decorated the steel beast. It stood tall, as if trying to impose its superiority… I smiled wryly as I looked at the three tanks in the middle of the formation. I'd probably have been far more impressed if I'd never had the privilege of seeing far more modern American armor up close… granted that was at NTC… but the T-72 in front of me was still quite the impressive sight.
I smiled, now I have some assets, I'll be able to easily start expanding into the nearby blocks. Maybe I'll start being productive in the rebuilding of society?