Nikke: Goddess of Victory Novel Adaptation

[Vol. 1] Chapter 003: Full Squad

Once the team of Commander, Marian, Rapi and Anis had resupplied at a nearby ammo cache left behind by some mass-produced Nikke, they began their trek through a city in disrepair and got to talking to fill the dead air. The first thing Rapi asked was the Commander's name, since she had forgotten to ask for it earlier. His name was nothing special. A completely normal name that didn't stand out. Rapi turned to Anis who, surprisingly, seemed to be the brains of the operation. Anis had done her research, it's how she knew who Marian was. She kept all relevant data available at a moment's notice and had done her best to remember as much of it as she could. After double checking some files, Anis stated that their current commander, the young man walking with them, had only graduated from the Ark's military academy a day ago.

"You only just took up your post?" Rapi asked in an almost monotone voice. There was the smallest hint of venom in her words. It was the first time she had expressed some amount of emotion towards Commander and it was hostile.

"Is something wrong with that?" Commander asked, confident in his ability to read his Nikke at this point. Especially when they were so simple. Rapi was the serious type. She was probably questioning if he was capable of completing the mission and getting her back to base alive.

"I wasn't expecting you to be a complete amateur, is all. You may be the only one left but I may have jumped the gun in assigning you as our commander."

Once again a conflict was brewing between Commander's Nikke. Marian took offence to the one in charge being called an amateur. Considering it was his first mission and he had survived this long meant he was doing something right. He seemed to understand his position as commander. He exuded confidence to raise morale and was keeping this team together through giving them an objective to chase. The one thing Commander wasn't doing much of right now was commanding Nikke in battle, but that was only because they hadn't come across any substantial threats where his larger view of the battlefield was necessary. When that time came, Marian was sure he would succeed.

Rapi quickly reneged on her statement, understanding that Marian was defensive of Commander. The last thing Rapi wanted was in-fighting between fellow Nikke. "Since you're our commander now, let me fill you in. Forty-six hours ago a Nikke squad operating in this area ceased all communications. We were the search party responsible for locating them."

Now things were starting to make sense for Commander. The rendezvous point Marian led him to wasn't a location to meet-up with any old squad. Rapi, Anis and their previous commander were the original search party. So everyone on BA-01 was back-up for Rapi's squad. But then, why were there so many people aboard the helicopter? The Central Government wouldn't usually send out a team of a dozen people just to find a missing patrol. That was evident in the fact that just three people were sent on this mission at first. It was as Anis said earlier, something about this whole situation was fishy. There was more to the story. Were the Central Government aware of a large Rapture threat in this part of the city? Was the plan to have this larger than normal encounter and kill the powerful Rapture?

"We were heading for the lost patrol's last known location." Anis picked up where her friend left off. "But the coordinates died with our other commander. I don't suppose you know where we're going, do you? Because right now we're just walking in the general direction of the magical vanishing patrol."

"Sorry, I haven't got any coordinates."

"Figured." Anis sighed, slumping over. "We're probably going to be stuck out here for another few days then. Great."

"I have the coordinates." Marian said rather matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, why would you have them?" It was such a surprise that no one really accepted it. That was until Anis realised what her fellow Nikke said. "Wait, you have them?!"