An Outsider

Fire Gun

"Ensign, it's the Captain calling us, we can finally go back to our unit."

Lucio's id had received the objective for today's march last night, and they were to try to rejoin the large force of three squadrons moving slowly ahead at 3pm, so the time was tight and the speed would need to be fast. Marching in the middle of the jungle was actually difficult, and to keep moving at high speed would inevitably create a great deal of commotion that could easily invite danger. The officers of the 3rd Squadron chose the more suitable route, which was the road on which Griffin rejoined Confidential 1, and which had been prepared in the past and was considered relatively flat and easy to follow.

To be honest, when Lucio saw the soldiers in full armor, men and women lined up neatly according to their height, there was a very strong feeling of dissonance in his heart, he still didn't have the habit of being in the military all the time, he was used to seeing all female fears or all male fears. It seemed to take time to get used to it.

Lucio, taken aback by his enthusiasm and somewhat overwhelmed, returned

Before he could ask, he heard Rogue, sitting next to his, take the initiative to explain.

Lucio also gave a brief account of how "he" had experienced the Battle of the Bulge four years ago, using information he had just found out. There was a detailed description in the column of his military achievements, which provided Lucio with first-hand information. Even so, everyone was still asking questions, and Lucio was sweating profusely, unable to cope with them. When he got back to his tent, he washed up and lay down on his bed, still having heart palpitations.

The start-up screen on the mask is the Federation military insignia, rotating 360 degrees and then flickering, and then a barrage of regular data begins to be generated on the mask by the male. This includes oxygen indices, geographical coordinates, bearing pointers, message dialogue windows, etc. There are also many features such as heat-sensitive view, ingress targeting assistance, and mech piloting assistance that require the use of the bracelet id to be completed.

Lucio looked in the direction he pointed, and saw a female officer about his height standing straight in the doorway of the car, with a camouflage shoulder patch with the rank of second lieutenant. Before he could get close, the man's excited voice came over the headset.

The female officer was none other than Nola Franks, the other lieutenant of the left wing, Lucio's partner and Alfredo Mclaughlin's right hand man. Lucio couldn't see his face because he was wearing a helmet, but he had seen his picture in his profile before and knew that he was a Chinese-born female officer with short black hair and dark brown eyes, not very pretty but with decent features, a small black mole at the corner of his mouth being his most distinctive feature. He was outgoing and cheerful, with a rather flamboyant temperament, which was a big contrast to Lucio's personality.

There are several camps of people who do not exist in the army, the first being the chaotic camp, whether chaotic good or chaotic neutral or chaotic evil, people who do not follow orders are anathema to the military. Secondly, Neutral Evil is also not allowed in the military, such a person is considered to be in the category of a shit-stirrer who would do wrong in the disciplined forces. Orderly Evil requires strict vetting to enter the army and undergoes regular psychological evaluations, the equivalent of having their brains watched, and only a small percentage of people from this camp exist in the army.

"Seeing that you were sound asleep, Dr. Aelita wanted you to sleep a little longer and instructed us to wake you up at 8:30. I didn't expect you to be awake now." The nurse replied.

Nola Franks exchanged a few more pleasantries with Rogue, when Alfredo Mclaughlin's voice blared through the trio's headphones.

By about 3:50 p.m. Lucio, sitting in his armored vehicle, received an all-army message that the bulk of the three squadrons had appeared on the radar and would rendezvous in five minutes.

Lucio followed behind Rogue, running fast all the way to the front of the line. First running past an armored vehicle, then leaving behind a neatly lined up line of mechs, the narrow road, but five meters wide, was already filled by the group, still gravel underfoot. The vegetation on either side had been cleared out, but it was already overgrown. The scene was still quite spectacular as it ran this way, winding and stretching, looking out all in military green camouflage, like a giant steel dragon lying still in the middle of the primeval forest.

After about half an hour or so of waiting, the car moved, and Lucio heard Ensign Lillian's voice coming from his helmet's headset.

Alfredo Mclaughlin, of Chinese descent, is 36 years old and has been in the army for 18 years, not having attended a military academy, but having come up through the ranks. The three squadrons are indeed divided into factions, led by Lieutenant Gill, who has mostly American officers and men under his command, known as the "academy". Alfredo Mclaughlin was the leader, and the majority of his men were of Chinese descent, known as the "experienced" school.

As Lucio entered the makeshift dining tent, he was met with the sight of soldiers crowding in to eat, sitting on the floor and standing, the tent filled with a smell of white boiled eggs and brisket that definitely didn't qualify as good. Everyone wolfed down their food, unable to finish everything in the next second.

After about two or three minutes of running, the road turned, indicating that they had run into the road where the larger group was. Lucio had a good idea that this was probably the command vehicle of the 3rd squadron. In the back of the command head vehicle, an empty mech was pulled, the style was different from both Ares 1 and 2, it looked very beautiful, and the color on its body was silver and white. Those who could have such high-end mechs were bound to be no ordinary soldiers, and Lucio guessed that this was Trevino's seat.

By the time he assembled his own powered exoskeleton and weapons and stepped over the creaking hydraulics to the main square, the army was largely assembled. The mechs were boarding one by one, as were the armored and transport soldiers. Rogue waited for Lucio in a prominent spot, and after a brief greeting, led Lucio to an armored vehicle.

"Oh, good." Lucio thought to himself, how sweet of Sergeant Logue to take the initiative to tell his this. Probably anxious to see his sitting impassively in his seat.

"It's good to be back." Trevino returned the military salute, his voice sounding much gentler than it had on the radio. The car was spacious, and two other men stood beside his, one none other than Lieutenant Gill, the other a male nervous officer of medium build, an Asian face with a short, flat head, firm lines and a hard beard on his jaw.

Lucio's heart jumped at the words and thought for a moment, remembering that Nola Franks' profile said he wasn't from the Orderly Neutral camp. He was from the Neutral Good camp, which was not as good as Orderly Neutral in terms of discipline, but was considered one of the camps the army was geared towards recruiting.

"The lieutenant doesn't care." Nola Franks swore, then grumbled, "You order-keeping neutrals are just too stereotypical, relax."

"Ensign Lucio, and Sergeant Logue, please step out of the vehicle and come to the front of the line."

"Trouble for the Lieutenant." Lucio said politely.

Lucio had had a difficult time getting through his second night in the world. At the campfire, he was the star of the show, and all the young faces of the soldiers, male and female, of all colors, stared at his with wide eyes, as if they were looking at his for a million different reasons. If it weren't for the female medic, Alita, and Sergeant Logue on his right and left, he would have been carried straight to his feet. Instead, as the right wing sub-squadron's yokel big, Lieutenant Gill was watching the action with interest, not at all self-conscious about helping Lucio to share his worries and relieve himself. The two ensigns, Lillian and Lyon, did the same, leaving Lucio very helpless.

The march was tedious, and not being able to talk and move around at will, Lucio sat bumpy in his seat the entire time, to the point of drowsy valley sleep. In a daze, he heard orders coming through his headset again, this time from Ensign Lyon.

Trevino, the Yankee Grand of the Third Squadron, was of American descent, also a military academy graduate and rumored to have a very close relationship with Lieutenant Gill, so the academy was considered the superior unit in the Third Squadron and was more highly regarded. But Alfredo Mclaughlin's left wing was no slouch either, and Chrissie was smart enough to know what checks and balances were and to keep a bowl of water even.

Lucio gossiped in his mind as he followed Alfredo Mclaughlin, who was striding behind him.

"They coupled with enthusiasm..."

"No, it was my lack of command, it was chaotic and it's my responsibility that you and Rogue were scattered." Alfredo Mclaughlin said, "You guys lost your mechs, just seat the lead armor on the left flank. It just so happens that Nola Franks is waiting there, so you guys rush to meet up with the vulcan, he's worried sick about you guys."

Following that, the man took a big step forward and gave Lucio a hard hug.

The soldiers around Lucio all neatly removed the mask that had been lifted over their heads and pressed it just below the right side of their necks, Lucio followed suit and did the same. When the button was pressed, a data stream interface appeared on the mask and the ventilator began to supply oxygen, emitting a slight "buzz" like the sound of an overhead micro-fan in Lucio's house in the summer.

Logue got up as soon as he heard that, opened the door of the armored car and jumped out. lucio vulcanized after him, just to hear Logue's excited voice ringing in his headphones.

They met Captain Terrence Trevino, the top officer of the third squadron, in the command head car. It was a beautiful woman with long black hair and brown eyes, tall, even a little more than half a head taller than Lucio. He looked young, but just standing there briefly, he exuded a powerful sharpness, worthy of the commander of an ace division.

"Oops, I have a private chat channel open, just the two of us talking, no one else knows."

"Is it really okay for the two of us to take up a private chat on the channel like this?"

What's going on?

Thus the four camps of orderly good, orderly neutral, neutral good, and absolute neutral make up the vast majority of the army.

"Sorry... Uh... It's been a confusing couple of days..."

"Lucio reporting!"

When he finally calmed down, he hastened to salute Lucio in acknowledgement. in the spirit of chilly small talk, Lucio asked his

Alfredo Mclaughlin nodded and stood at attention to indicate that he was ordered. With that, he stepped away and walked over to Lucio and Rogue, reaching out and patting both on the shoulder, he took the lead in putting on his helmet and going to open the pneumatic hatch of the command head car.

"Ali, how was it? Spent the day in Jill's group."

These, all of them, were messages Lucio had gotten from gossiping with many soldiers during the campfire last night.

I didn't expect the stoic and serious looking Lieutenant Lu to speak in a manner that would warm the heart. He led the two of them to the left flank near the lead armor and pointed to a female officer standing near the armored car.

It seems I'm so used to living a comfortable life that I'm all cunning up, this is not good ...... He secretly prodded himself, then glanced at Logue and saw that he had already taken a bite of the last kibble into his mouth and was giggling at himself, Lucio shook his head breathlessly.

"It's 12:10 p.m. Fix a half hour and eat lunch. Sentry rotation, first fifteen minutes, Lillian's shift, second fifteen minutes, Lyon's shift."

"Armoured convoy about to leave the pass. Attention all armoured soldiers. Helmet masks closed, breathing apparatus on. I repeat, armoured convoy about to leave the pass, all armoured soldiers, helmet masks closed, breathing apparatus on."

The first thing you need to do is to get into the body of a celebrity, and the level of attention is simply too terrible. It is not a good feeling to lie to people, especially when these people are his comrades, the ones who depend on each other for life and death. Lucio, a straightforward girl, felt a little guilty inside. But he is not a strong psychological quality, adjusting his mind is only a matter of seconds, and did not take it too seriously. It was a lie to save his life, and his life was above all else, so he could be forgiven.

That was some time, Lucio was surprised when he saw the soldiers in the armored car wake up from their groggy valley sleep as if they had been hit with basal blood, quickly jumping out and running outside.

"Ensign Segovia, good morning, did you sleep well last night?"

On the way here, Lucio hadn't seen where the target item they were escorting was, and he didn't know what exactly that classified munitions material was that was worth such a toss from the Ace Division. It just made sense to arrange the research base outside the seven city-states, many military research projects carried great danger fear, and the test base would definitely have a large number of casualties in case of an accident if it was in the middle of the city-state. If the test bases were located outside the city states, there would definitely be a lot of casualties in case of accidents.

The car paused for five minutes and still didn't start, the soldiers didn't move Daphnia, but doubts arose within them. After about another minute, an unfamiliar female voice came over Lucio's headset.

I'm really getting special treatment acct, Lucio smiled, and began to neatly pack his things around himself. He didn't really have much carry-on luggage, his marching bag had been lost along with it because it was stored in the mech bay. All that was left around was this uniform, the power exoskeleton and a few weapons were stored in the armament tent.

"Of course I'm enthusiastic, you're a heroic icon. It's just that Jill mostly has the same intention of pulling you in."

Not far from Lucio, the small white female soldier sitting across from his was also eating, and Lucio finally got a good look at his, a good looking girl with short light blonde hair, not too old to have joined the army. He ate with bruises, and the Monsignor dunked, and unsurprisingly choked and coughed. lucio kindly went up and patted his on the back, and he got even more agitated and coughed so hard he couldn't stop, and tears came out of his eyes. lucio looked amused, and left his alone, waiting for his to calm himself.

It didn't take long for the larger group to start moving. The entire third squadron, after this mishap, finally rejoined after a great deal of trouble to continue the journey back to the city and complete the trip.

Of these, orderly neutrality and neutral goodness again make up the vast majority, with people like orderly goodness, who are inherently rare, being the kind of people with high moral values and personal heroism, being either very popular or very annoying in the force. And people who are absolutely neutral seem to be sort of transparent and non-existent everywhere they go. But it is also possible to have better relationships left and right.

Lucio awoke with a start and reacted for a moment before returning.

"What's your name Acme?"

Once dressed, he was done picking up and simply washed up with water, there was not much to be said for being on the march. With that done, he went to the mess tent for breakfast and received his rationed lunch pole rations for the day. Two loaves of bread as hard as rocks, a hard-boiled base egg, a sealed packet of ready-to-eat brats, Lucio also received a separate marching canteen filled with water, a marching bag with some emergency items, and a bundled blanket. These were all left for Lucio by Lieutenant Gill, who had come to say hello personally.

Only because they were in the middle of a mission, everyone was serious and didn't open their mouths to chat freely. Their helmets were interfaced with their officers in real time, the right to switch channels was with the officers, and soldiers could talk to their designated peers or subordinates individually, or they could turn on group call mode, but they would be disciplined if they casually occupied the channel chat.

Lucio couldn't help but give him an extra look, for he was his own top lieutenant, Lieutenant Alfredo Mclaughlin, the squadron leader of the Left Wing Sub Squadron.

"Alright, time to get in the cars, time to get in the mechs, we're about to leave, we'll talk about what we have to say when we get back to the city."

He woke up at eight in the morning, by which time the base was already bustling with soldiers packing their bags for a new march. No one woke his up, Lucio was the only "patient" left in the medical tent, the rest of the wounded soldiers had been moved out. All the marching beds had been refolded, and two nurses were gently removing the curtains. When Lucio woke up, one of the nurses blushed and smiled.

"They are all from Lyon's squad, and will be on sentry duty in fifteen minutes, and will have to rush to dinner. Come with me, Ensign, and I will show you to the temporary dining tent."

"Rogue reporting!"

"Oh... Good morning, thanks for asking, slept pretty well." Lucio said back, then continued, "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"

"It's okay, it's fine now." Lucio said soothingly.

Alfredo Mclaughlin said without looking back, "Mak, Rog, there was a large element of luck for you guys to make it through this danger. The encounter with the swarm was supposed to be bad luck, and coming back from the dead is considered a blessing among misfortunes, and I'm sweating for you guys."

It turned out that the strange female voice had just been that of Terrence Trevino, which sounded rather cold and stern.

The only thing he got out of the evening was a little insight into the cultural life and  world of the soldiers of the Federation. This was by and large the case with soldiers from ancient times to the present day. When marching outside, with so much danger and unpredictability, the soldiers  stress was enormous. If one didn't find a chance to relax, one could easily break down. The Federation's military discipline is very strict, soldiers are never allowed to do any kind of yellow, gambling or drug behavior, violators will be court-martialed and sentenced to jail, serious will be deported or executed. Soldiers mostly do a variety of games to reduce stress, or turn on the id to listen to music, watch movies, sing military songs together, fight together to cut fighting skills, etc. Tonight's campfire was not really very relaxed, there was still discipline in place, mostly singing military songs and letting everyone talk to each other, connect and release stress. Many people mentioned their families and fallen comrades, and all cried.

As a result, the next second, the signal to assemble came, and Connie hurriedly lackadaisically returned the uneaten food to his marching pack, then put on his helmet and ran out the door. The soldiers poured out in a flurry, and the switch of shifts followed by the soldiers rushed in, another gobbling scene, and at the moment Lucio was only halfway through his meal, which was already the fastest he could go.

The so-called temporary dining tent is an inflatable tent of 50 square feet, three in total, which can be set up in less than a minute. The doorway has an air valve to insulate against radiation exposure and harmful gases. Inside, there is a constant supply that allows soldiers to temporarily rest their helmets to eat.

Lucio didn't take that and turned to.

At three fifty-five Lucio felt the car pull up and they finally rejoined the larger group.

The armored vehicles of the Federation army were not much different from the time before Lucio crossed over. The armoured vehicle of the third squadron looks very similar to the American Stryker armoured vehicle back then, but has a substantial increase in overall nervous performance indicators. 450 hp, 8-wheel engraved crystal reaction power, 2.8 m wide, 2.7 m high, full camouflage. the one Lucio and Logue are in is an infantry carrier that can carry 11 infantrymen including the driver.

After that, a large number of green markers can be seen on the mini-map, forming two green ribbons on the map, as if the geese were in a herringbone formation, slowly approaching.

Without further ado, Alfredo Mclaughlin and Nola Franks logged into the mech bay again, and Lucio and Rog got into the left wing lead armored vehicle, this time with just the two of them in the vehicle, and three with the driver in front.

Both men saluted Trevino at the same time, and by now they had removed their helmets, as oxygen was supplied in the command head vehicle.

Sitting in the hard seat in the powered exoskeleton was really not that comfortable to say the least. The vehicle wasn't very spacious, with eight other armored infantrymen from the right wing of the force crammed in, in addition to Lucio and Logue. These armored infantrymen, also known as mech reserves, were mech soldiers who had gotten their mech pilot combat license, but were still in the internship stage. They fill in when the regular mechs are unable to pilot when a situation arises. Typically, they sit in armored vehicles and participate in missions as armored infantry troopers. This state of affairs is very similar to Lucio and Rogues at the moment.

In the middle of the march, Lucio once again fell into a drowsy state, his body was still not fully recovered, and he was very tired from the long march and the constant weight on his body, so his  state was not good. But before he could fall asleep, he heard Nola Franks' voice over his earpiece.

"My name is Connie and I'm a corporal." The female soldier replied with a red face.

"Lt. Lou knows about Acme, he has higher authority than us." Lucio said back.

This was the life of a soldier on the march, and Lucio, who was used to suffering, was not too surprised, and found himself a corner, took out the food, and began to eat as well.

"How's that, are you better? I heard you were poisoned." He added.

It looked like the armored car compartment itself didn't have the ability to purify the air, the air pressure was the same as outside. So once the soldiers sitting inside the vehicle left the atmosphere of the Griffin, they had to rely on their own oxygen devices to breathe. This was also done to make it easier for the soldiers to get on and off the vehicle, to reduce the trouble caused by the change in air pressure, and to strengthen their resilience in case of an unexpected situation.

Ten men, seated halfway between the two columns of the carriage, Lucio sat closest to the driver's seat, and Logue sat next to his. Opposite his was a small white female nervous soldier, wearing a helmet, the lower half of his face buried under his breathing apparatus, his dataflow mask turned upwards, revealing the upper half of his face full of boyishness, and his blue eyes staring curiously at Lucio. In fact he wasn't the only one, several other soldiers were also glancing at Lucio.

Lucio and Rogue followed, exiting the command head car, and as the door closed, Lucio took one last glance inside and vaguely saw Lieutenant Gill come up to Trevino's ear, the two of them in a state of intimacy.

"Lai! You're finally back! Why didn't you even contact me, and you didn't answer even when I sent you a message?"

Lucio had not slept well this night, and though he had fallen asleep, his dreams had been so light and strange that he had only felt that he had had a very long and very strange dream. But when he woke up in the morning, he could not remember anything.

Out of the dining tent and down the road towards the gravel square. The soldiers were methodically dismantling the tents, and the small Griffin base station was a busy place. By the time Lucio arrived, most of the soldiers had already finished assembling their exoskeletons and were on their way to the main square to form up.

The car began to lurch as Lucio sensed it was out of Griffin and driving through the mountainous jungle. A small map appeared on his helmet visor with a long string of green dots representing the right flank sub squadron on the march. There was a blue triangle in a patch of green, representing himself. The long string of green was now moving slowly across the map, giving the impression of a slow march, but in reality the lower left of the visor marked the speed of the march, and they were now marching at about 90 kilometers per hour and accelerating, which was already considered in the category of a brisk march.

"Yolo! Your love is back, hurry up and take his to the team, we'll be leaving in a few minutes." Kris inclined his head to Alfredo Mclaughlin.

After lunch the march continued. It was faster this time, with the large force hurrying along the not-so-spacious road, making a loud roar through the jungle. It was worth noting that the mechs were not moving forward at a run. All of the mechs were in driving mode, with their joint bent as if they were sitting on their knees, and the small bony part of their joint flipped out of the wheel, so that they could move forward more swiftly. The mechs move forward quickly and are much more agile than the bulky armored vehicles.