Story [Issue 25] The Base: Recording the proposal mission

[Ilia.ArchangeI 6,785]

Part 1 | Part 2

Archie clapped his hands together, and watched as the white dust cloud dissipated slowly into the air. Brushing the powder off his uniform, he glanced at the giant blackboard in front of him with pride. "Records" read the large title at the top of the board, decorated with as much graphic brilliance as drawing with chalk would allow. This little project of his was only a few months old, but scores of impressive achievements already adorned the columns therein. It was situated in a discrete corner of the Base, and yet it was never deserted. All the soldiers from around the camp would come once in a while to see any changes in the records, or even submit their own.

The judging committee of the Records had dealt with a ton of submissions in the past. Some excellent, some... well... not so much. It was all good when the records were along the lines of "most paintball hits in 10 minutes", "most soldiers in one room", or "highest human pyramid". Unfortunately when records such as "most hours spent in solitary confinement" and "most suspensions received" started appearing, the committee would just die of laughter, or otherwise want to go hide in some hole.

At one point even a couple Peacekeepers, Hamster and Fed, who were wearily eyeing the board from a ways off, had a discussion about these records:

"I should have a record for most badges turned orange" Fed laughed.

Hamster lifted an eyebrow and looked at his colleague. "That's only because I hide the original badges, and leave a single orange one. Looks more tidy."

Fed put on a mock angry face and stared at Hamster. The other pretended not to notice.

Meanwhile Goldilocks (probably called so due to his long blonde curls) and Archie watched this exchange with much amusement. It was rare for Peacekeepers to publicly confront each other, even if it was just for fun.

Things became even more interesting when some genius mind submitted a so-called "parkour record", of most flips made jumping out of an airplane, before activating the parachute. Everyone knew that technically parkour was about conquering heights, but everyone called it parkour anyway. For days after the record was submitted, countless soldiers signed up for skydiving lessons just to see if they could beat the record. Some succeeded. But after a handful of broken arms and legs, fractured ribs and head injuries, the submissions stopped coming in. Good timing too, as no one could beat the latest record of 10 back flips (utilizing the recoil of a fully automatic machine gun for maximum spin effect) and a seamless landing. Pretty sure he was dizzy for the entire duration of the following week.

---

Whether or not this daring genius was a member of the Flyparks was not certain at the time, but he may as well have been. The Flyparks, by the way, were the only parkour squad allowed at the Base, and for good reason. It was extremely hard to execute fancy maneuvers in battle, while being fully effective in the military aspect. Thousands of young enthusiastic soldiers dreamed of parkouring as their focus in battle, but only the best of the best became a part of the Flypark squad.

William, the hardened leader and experienced parkourist (both in-tank and otherwise) had spent years building the foundation for the Flyparks' existence. He first demonstrated his skills in a foreign encampment across the mountains, and then convinced the authorities of the Base to allow him to create such a squad. And so far no one regretted this decision. Hundreds of soldiers found the enthusiasm and desire to excel in their duties, thanks to the example of the squad.

But everyone has their worst moments, this squad included. As part of their engagement strategy, the Flyparks created a new project to allow soldiers from the entire Base to set assignments for the famed acrobats. The idea was great, but the initial attempt to complete such an assignment was less than smooth.

"Using only the MMT3 hull and ISD3 turret, ascend to the highest building in the Base." William read aloud at a squad meeting. "That, my friends, is our first assignment." He folded the piece of paper and glanced up from face to face, studying the reactions of the members.

Gobi didn't look concerned. "Shouldn't be hard, the watch tower isn't all that high, and we can maneuver any hull with decent skill."

Will shook his head silently. Though he didn't want to discourage the squad, he knew this wouldn't be easy. The MMT3 hulls were nearly the heaviest in existence, and the ISD3 turret gave no recoil at all, which would make things very difficult. Not to mention that the watch tower was over 4 times the height of the MMT3.

"We will do our best." he said at long length.

Things went pretty much as he expected them to go. Building a high enough platform made solely of MMT3 hulls was hard in itself. When that was done, the entire tower moved, an inch at a time, towards the watch tower looming overhead. Slowly, twisting, turning, swaying side to side, the tower came to a halt.

"Magane, I need you to drive back a couple inches, and accelerate on my mark." Will yelled across the noisy radio.

"Roger that, boss." Magane yelled back.

As the lower tank backed up, the entire tower swayed back after it, nearly falling over at one point. Will cringed, and Blake let out a gasp. Gobi just laughed.

"Archie, are you ready?" Will broadcasted again.

"Yeah, Will, I've got a good angle from here." Archie wasn't much into parkouring, but he was handy with a camera, and so when most serious assignments came along, he preferred to be behind the lens.

"Go!" The leader's voice boomed across the headsets of the tankers.

The tower twitched forward like a wave, throwing the front of the upper tank high into the air. It stood on its tail for a few seconds, and came crashing back down on top of the tower. Will wiped a bead of sweat off his eyebrow and smiled a little. But it wasn't over yet. Now the hull must be fully pushed onto the watch tower. Slowly it climbed, higher, higher. But then the inevitable happened. Magane's tanks started slipping sideways from the movement of the tower.

"Magane, what's your status??" Will yelled again.

"My tank can't hold the weight of the other four!" Magane shouted in frustration.

"My tank is slipping too." Gobi pitched in helplessly.

Will knew it was over. Though his tank was halfway up the tower, his engines didn't have the power to pull the tank up on their own. He needed the support of the others, and the others were falling. He tightened the belts around his chest, and braced himself for what would come next.

Being inside a falling tank was no big deal, it happened all the time. The hull was specially reinforced, and if the tanker was strapped in, he would only feel the tremors and not get hurt. That fact didn't make it anymore pleasant.

In a single moment the tanks came crashing down in one big pile of hardened steel and disappointment. But the Flyparks would never give up. That is, after all, why they were the elite.

"Not to worry" Gobi chuckled, "we can easily do this with a WSP3".

Everyone consented, and after cleaning up the mess, they gave it a second try; sure enough the lightweight hull easily ascended the guard tower, and Will grinned at the view around him with utmost pleasure.

"Mission accomplished!"

Somewhere in the distance a familiar voice could be heard yelling "Hell yeah!!" and everyone smiled when they heard it. Mia. The latest addition to the squad, a fiery and determined girl, brave as brave could be, and one to never take "no" for an answer. But that came along with some recklessness, and often Archie would find himself running to what he calculated to be her landing position. With rugged gracefulness she would land into his arms, look up into his eyes and giggle.

---

Ah yes... Mia and Archie, a story of their own. Dating was always frowned upon by the Administration. Soldiers needed to be focused, to commit to their duties, to excel. And, well, love was just too much of a distraction.

As far as the normal tankers, they were probably just jealous. Girls were few and far apart at the Base, especially ones with such a rich character. Insults and taunts became a daily event for the young couple, and as a result they were warned to be careful and keep their affairs to themselves, out of public eye.

But the peak of it all came when months later Archie's proposal idea involved painting a graffiti on the front of the biggest building at the base, accompanied by blaring music and fireworks. The result was a shocked and delighted fiance, an abundance of congratulations from friends, more insults, taunts and curses from jealous people, followed by orange badges, warnings and solitary confinement. Quite the event that was, with a hundredfold increase of haters for the couple.

But hey, they didn't care. They never did.

---

In their spare time they would participate in the artistic endeavors of the so-called Creague.

The Creague was an ancient initiative of several players from the Military Headquarters, namely an excellent artist called Teerdy. He decided to unite all the creative minds and form a group of people with the goal of creating beauty.

Slowly but surely this idea spread to the Base as well, and not long after the Creague appeared here too. Archie, always the video guy and an aspiring artist, was quick to find his place in the Creague, and knowing the gibberish spoken at the Headquarters, he was quickly accepted.

Like the Flyparks, the Creague was searching out elite artists who were really dedicated to their work. One such soldier named Shade soon came across their path.

Shade was a sculptor of sorts, taking large chunks of clay, plaster or even limestone and carving out amazing models. But his favorite, as expected, was making tanks. He'd make them all shapes and sizes, with all manner of weapons, real and imaginary, full of detail and always with a perfect finish. His work was the talk of the camp.

Archie, as curious as he was, decided that this was the next thing he would master. And so he set out looking for the right material to begin his carving mission. It wasn't hard to find limestone in the mountains surrounding the Base, and he soon returned with a sizable block of it. No tools? Not a problem. He found forks, knives, spoons - anything he thought could yield interesting results.

Days passed, and Archie wasn't seen or heard of around the Base, except for the unceasing scratching and banging coming from his barracks. Though some knew what he was up to, no one knew what to expect. Some things Archie excelled in, and others he failed at miserably. But since this was related to art in some way, surely Archie would get the hang of it. Or would he?

In the morning of the fourth day a small crowd of soldiers gathered around the entrance to his barracks, having heard that Archie will be presenting his masterpiece. They watched with bated breath as the handle turned, and the door slowly creaked open. From the darkness of the shadows came a slow and steady breathing, as a foot appeared in front of the door. Slowly, ever so slowly, Archie's figure appeared, inch by inch, revealed by the rising sun. Archie's hand was up in front of his face, sheltering his eyes from the bright light. Dark bags adorned the underside of his bloodshoot eyes; his hair resembled that of the famed theoretical physicist. But there was an aura of accomplishment about him, and a sense of completion.

The crowd gasped as he pulled his second arm out from behind his back, and it was... a tank. A small lime-stone tank. One side of the tracks bigger than the other, with a large crack through the center of the hull. An entire half of the turret was chipped off, and any possible detail was hidden by the scratches covering the entire surface of the tank. Archie grinned.

For a second there was silence in the crowd, but in an instant it turned into a jumble of laughter, exclamations, sighs of adoration (and disappointment), and, of course, applause. Archie didn't really care though, it was his work, he had put his heart and soul into it, and he was proud.

Shade walked casually out of the crowd, and patted Archie on the back with a reassuring smile. "With time, my friend. With time."

To be continued...

 

Edited July 31, 2017 by Hexed

[r_davinson46463a0 147]

Wait a minute...this happend in real life right? :p

[l.Godmode_0N 636]

haha nice.....

[Tofu 6,773]

u reporters are amazing!!!!!¡¡¡¡

[Guest Maserati]

didnt read the other parts but still good  ;)

[MA3CTPO_HA_XAHTEP 832]

Very nice, good job! :)

[r_Mia1 8,513]

 

But hey, they didn't care. They never did.

True story :) <3

[AngeIs.And.Demons 1,988]

Archies love story  :wub:

[williew 1,999]

Read it already a few times and I love the story :wub:

[Eragon 13,876]

Cool logo. But a bit much pixels. As for the story. Everyone has their own imagination and see it different ways so I won't judge it

[EatYourMeat 27]

(Gulp) in love?? With Mia? Ahahaahahaha!!! Dream on buddy! nice article though . Fun to read!