The Jeager Project

CH. 01: 3R's Story/Activation

THE TARGET WAS IN A SLIGHTLY CUMBERSOME AND EXTREMELY BIZARRE LOCATION. "That's strange. The location data should be correct... W-whoa!" 8S exclaimed, losing his footing in the sand and catching himself as he fell forward. 3R issued a short warning to be careful. "It looks like there aren't any enemy signals in this area," observed 3R. Recently, there had been many violent Machines appearing in the desert area. 3R and 8S had come to the desert military post to exterminate the nuisances. The local resistance that protected the desert had given them specifics; now they planned to leave for an extermination mission. However, their informant was nowhere to be found. There was no mistake as to the meeting point. Moments before, a soldier they had run into told them, "Our comrade is waiting near the rocky area ahead." Boulders poked out from the sand, and there were layered cliffs surrounding them. There was no mistaking that this place was "the rocky area," and this was a dead end, so it couldn't be "ahead" either. "Pod. Give me the map data once more..." As he was asking support pod 042 to recalculate their coordinates, 8S raised his voice. "3R, look over there! "Heeeeey! Can you hear me?" 8S exclaimed, waving his hand at a silhouette. No response. Was 8S's voice not reaching them? No, at this distance it must be. They must have seen 8S waving his hand as well. If they weren't replying there must be a reason why. For example, maybe they were unaware that the JeaGer squadron had been assigned to eliminate the Machines, and they were being wary. Or perhaps they were in such a bad mood that they didn't want anything to do with anybody else. Unlike the JeaGer squadron, who were forbidden from experiencing emotions, this could very well be the case with a resistance soldier. "If we go this way it will be faster," said 3R. 3R built up speed and leapt onto a boulder. 8S followed, slightly lagging behind her. From down below it was hard to tell what the individual's gender was, but it was a female soldier wearing a long hood. She introduced herself, saying, "My name is Jackass. Nice to meet you." She had an unexpectedly friendly voice. It seemed like a bad mood wasn't the reason for her unresponsiveness. "I've heard the details from the leader. You've come to wipe out the Machines, right?" 3R nodded her head. "Then we've got to open the sealed entrance," Jackass said this with a hint of amusement. 8S asked suspiciously, "By the way, why are you in such a weird place?" "Oh, this? Well..." Her lips tightened into a smile. Right then, an explosion shook the area. A hot gust pushed through from the direction of the shockwave. As the clouds of sand settled, the previous dead end was revealed to give way to a narrow path. That was the entrance to the desert. Jackass added, "If we were caught up in that it would be dangerous, no?" When Jackass had said "open," she had meant blow it open with an explosion.

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"She's a violent person, isn't she?" 8S mumbled and sighed as they walked along the narrow path, a faint burning smell lingering. While she was taken aback by Jackass's methods, 3R didn't think she was as violent as 8S made her out to be. If an explosion was necessary to open the sealed path, that must mean that the seal had been heavily fortified. Jackass was doing her job well. "It's not a problem," said 3R. Maybe the reason why she had ignored 8S's call was to lead them away from the explosion. In hindsight, by being ignored, 3R and 8S had moved to Jackass's location. That meant she had accomplished her objective with minimal effort. Of course, she could have just been playing around, which wouldn't be too hard to believe. "We obtained the intel on the enemy. She's already given us all the information we need." The recent Machine outbreak was happening around an abandoned and dysfunctional pipeline. It was unknown why Machines had taken a liking to such a thing, but it was convenient. If there was a clear destination, there was no need to search the vast desert. It was not the first time 3R had visited the desert area. She was well aware of how troublesome the desert could be. Despite multiple visits, it was not a place that she could grow to like. On top of that, the desert area and its surroundings had had their fair share of misfortunes. Visiting the place brought back various memories of such misfortunes. "It seems like we're close," said 8S as he lowered his voice. The enemy signals were getting closer. The sensor in the goggles flashed red to show the proximity. But there was no enemy in sight. Wherever they looked, there was only the color of sand and the occasional rust-colored pipeline extending into the horizon. All of a sudden, the sand burst up. A black mass flew out with a harsh metallic sound—a Machine. The Machines had been waiting in ambush beneath the sands. Their cylindrical bodies creaking, five Machines charged at the trio. Small and bipedal, they were a common Machine type, but they had all tied rags to their bodies and were wearing strange planks that almost looked like animal faces—as if donning clothes and wearing masks. Bracing her feet against the unstable surface of the sand, 3R pulled out her military sword. Then 3R realized something else. The Machines' appearance was not the only thing out of the ordinary. "Ki1l..." A voice, if it could be called that. It was clearly different from the mindless noises that Machines usually made. "Destr0y...the enemy..." "Words? The Machines are speaking?" said 3R. There was no time to think about it. She sliced through the bodies that approached rapidly, flailing their appendages. The bodies, with shabby rags flying from them, fell back with a screech. More Machines rushed in from behind. While she was fending off the second wave, the fallen Machines from the first wave picked themselves up. Hits like those they'd suffered weren't going to keep them down for long. 3R swapped her sword for a larger one, and leapt into the air. Using the momentum generated by her attack arc, she slammed her weapon into the spherical head of a Machine. JeaGer androids have an approximate weight of 150 kilograms. The wooden mask split in half, and the metal head flattened into a semi-spherical shape. One down. Pulling out the large sword that had been lodged into the enemy's head, 3R flung it back down