“I would say you’re recovering nicely. I wouldn’t leave the camp for a day or 2 at least.” Doc noted.
“Well, that’s…” You began before getting cut off.
“Great! Time to meet the Bossman!” Amber exclaimed while grabbing you like a baby.
“Combat unit! Be careful with him, he is only human after all.” Doc noted. Amber pouted at being chastised again but PLOP dropped you in a wheelchair anyway. She wheeled you out of the tent. At least you are now able to take in some fresh air.
“Here I am pushing you around… again.” Amber grumbled. “This better not become a thing. This is the work for a Labor Unit.
“So, she doesn’t seem to like you.” You tried to change the subject.
“Who? Doc? Yeah, there’s a metal rod shoved where the maintenance units can’t see it with that one. It doesn’t like that I always stop by the medical tents whenever I’m around.” Amber explained while smirking.
“So why do it?” You ask as Amber pushes you slowly toward the center of the camp. It’s not the best place, just a bunch of quickly assembled prefab buildings and tents, but they look like they've been here for a long time.
“Because it’s fun! Do you know you breathed 14,223 times since you went unconscious?” Amber said.
“Uh… Amber, were you watching me and counting my breaths the whole time I was asleep?” You now feel more than a little creeped out.
“Oh no, of course not!” Amber defended herself. Then she leaned up to your ear and now you could definitely hear the sultriness in her voice. “Or was I? Guess you’ll never know Romeo.” She whispered.
You didn’t know whether the chill up your spine came from the cold air around you, what Amber claimed she did, or her tone of voice.
“Heh heh heh…”
Then you heard Amber giggling.
“You should see your face! HA HA!” The robot girl stopped in her tracks because she was laughing so hard.
“So you didn’t.” You concluded.
“Just… psh… take one second to think about it.” Amber clamped a hand over her mouth and tried to hold back her laughter while she waited.
You did think about it. Standing there watching you for 18 hours would be easy for a Valkyrie, they only needed to spend a couple of hours recharging a week for most units, though some had much longer battery life. For 18 hours Amber would just have to stand there and count, except when…
“Doc.” You realized. “If you had tried, Doc would’ve shown up and chased you off.”
“Ding ding ding! Bingo! Let’s give the Lieutenant his prize!” She leaned over and gave you a kiss on the cheek. It was surprising just how real that felt, it reminded you of your mother kissing you on the cheek. But then again, this Valkyrie was old enough to be your grandmother. You were too flustered to say anything more, which was probably the point.
Soon you stopped in front of a prefab building bigger than the rest.
Thunk thunk thunk
Amber knocked on the door. “Yo! Bossman! Open Sesame!”
Thunk thunk thunk
“Amber, how many times have I told you it’s Basmen?” The door opened and a heavy-set man was standing there. He was black with a military buzzcut, had enough muscles to bench press a truck, and an obvious cybernetic arm and eye complete with a scar around the other. You hadn’t seen a real human the whole time you’d been here. You had almost expected him to be a Valkyrie, or alternately an Einherjar or Einnies as they were informally called, their male equivalent. However, the cybernetics and especially the scar convinced you otherwise.
“Wait, who’s… the Federation boy?” Basmen asked and Amber nodded.
“Mr. Basmen I presume?” You asked.
“Lieutenant Commander Neal Basmen. Come on in.” He goes inside and Amber wheels you in. You head through a command center with various consoles showing the surrounding area and people, mostly Valkyries, manning them as a jumble of orders flies through the air.
Basmen led the two of you into a room with a desk. Various photos hung around the walls, a couple of file cabinets near the desk, and the Great Kingdom of Alba’s flag adorning the back wall.
“You may wait outside Amber. Outside the building that is. I know how good your ears are.” Amber nodded and (thankfully) left without a word. Basmen was visibly relieved as she left.
“Your… uh… combat unit seems to be a handful.” You noted.
“Yeah, Amber can be a hassle. Especially when she’s off duty. She gets bored and pulls pranks or hassles Doc over in the med tent.” Basmen looked you in the eye. “And that’s on her good days. Word of advice: Don’t ever piss her off. Even if she can’t shoot you, she WILL get even.”
“Amber might be annoying sometimes, but she’s a damn fine unit.” He looks at the expression on your face. “That is not what I meant Lieutenant.” Basmen sighed. “She’s far older than any other units I know of, and she’s a genius in everything combat because of it. Consider yourself lucky you didn’t have to fight her. She would’ve killed your mass-produced Valkyrie in less than 5 seconds and taken you prisoner.”
You swallowed nervously, now you’re very much glad the Federation is neutral.
Basmen shrugged. “If Amber were human, she’d easily have hit the top military ranks a long time ago. Not that she would” Basmen sat at his desk. “Sit at a desk or back at a base barking orders anyway I’d say. Amber would stick to the battlefield like glue and never let go. The Mantis Empire calls her the ‘Angel without Mercy’ I think, the Cobalt Collective the ‘Harbinger of Death,’ and there are others. Amber loves collecting those kinds of titles.”
You nod despite the lump appearing in your throat. “Well sir, I think Amber said you had something for me to do.” You decided to sidestep that conversation for the moment and move along.
“Right. Your Valkyrie unit. As I’m sure Amber informed you, we don’t do charity around here, but I don’t really need that much from you. Except for one thing.”
“We were tracking you as you entered our airspace. You were sent here after a crashed transport and crashed yourself. Mantis Empire shot you down.” Basmen leaned forward, not threateningly, but he was a large man. “Now, all I want to know is what the Federation wanted so badly that they’d throw away 2 perfectly good transports?”