April 12, 2050 - 08:35
Nam Dong, Vietnam - Xuan Loc Abandoned Town
Pvt. My Phan
"Hey, I see the relay point up ahead!" My relayed it to her entire team.
My's car was leading the convoy, and she could see a group of soldiers and vehicles ahead bearing the Black Angels Division logo.
She was then promptly met with a chorus of sighs of relief. It felt like an entire wave of suffering and tension was beamed directly into My's ears.
"Yeesh, it wasn't that bad… I think." My said, seemingly unperturbed.
"Well, you're… you. We have common sense, and normal feelings and appropriate reactions to the situation." Enzi cried.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"
"You know what I mean, girly."
"Man, are you saying I'm weird?"
"Relatively, yes." The quiet Katya added.
"Said the one who has a per-day word limit of 621 words."
"It's my choice to be asocial. Same as you choosing to be you."
"Waooooow, and here I thought we had something special between us." My flirted. She could definitely hear a slight sigh from Chisato in the comm, but she chose to ignore it.
"The only thing special here is you." Katya sassed.
A jumbled cacophony of "Ooh" blasted through the communication channel before Peter put a stop to the banter.
"Alright, that's enough of that. Prepare to get out and resupply our vics. Help with the repair and get the wounded treated. We can't stay here for long. I want us out of this place in 30 minutes."
"Yes, boss," everyone replied.
Long brought the car to an empty spot and parked it. All the other vehicles also piled into the abandoned town and found whatever space to park.
My could see the damage from all the vehicles in her convoy. Shattered windows, steaming engine blocks covered in smoke, missing wheels. She wondered how they were going to fix all of this, at least to a point where the cars could move again.
She didn't have to wait long; a stream of soldiers brought out tools and materials for a quick repair from a supply truck she hadn't seen before. Seems like the PMC prepared for all types of situations and made sure there were enough materials in case of an ambush.
"Logistics win wars. That sure is accurate." My mumbled to herself before grabbing her weapons and hopping off the SUV.
April 12, 2050 - 08:56
Sgt. Peter de Santos
Peter waited patiently as he watched the convoy leader scream and yell into his communicator at what Peter assumed was some poor sap in VinaSec's intel department.
"How the FUCK did you guys miss an entire ambush?"
"... Well, clearly you IDIOTS didn't do a good enough job; otherwise, we wouldn't be ambushed by some crazed bandits trying to get their hands and dicks on our products!"
"... I've had enough with you. Put someone who's in charge of the intel; I want to talk to someone who has a brain!"
Peter frowned. This whole situation was a hot mess from the beginning. Shabby intel, haphazard plan full of holes, no reinforcement, and not enough men or equipment. The bandits clearly knew that they were coming, and had even prepared RPGs and a whole fleet of motorbikes to chase. Definitely not achievable by some independent bandits trying to grab some light pickings from unsuspecting travelers.
He didn't know how VinaSec's internal system works, but one thing he knew for sure was that this was a major fuckup and someone's getting booted, or worse. None of it mattered to him, his crew, or his company. As far as Peter was concerned, they did their job to a T.
Peter focused back on Trung's conversation.
"... What?... Leak?... How the f… Never mind, we'll worry about that later when the mission is done. There are only a few more kilometers before the products get to their destination."
Seemed like the conversation was done. Peter guessed that someone leaked VinaSec's intel and now they were paying the price.
He shelved the thought. His wage was good, but not good enough to stick his head into a whole conspiracy, let alone one happening in another company.
Trung stopped talking and slammed his radio on top of a munition crate. Peter took it as a sign to step forward, and he did. He faced the pissed-off Trung and offered a salute. Trung did not salute in return.
"What?" Trung scowled.
"We should be done with the resupply soon. I've sent the birds ahead to scout for any more ambushes. We should be ok to continue the last stretch of the road."
"Yeah whatever, I'm too tired for this shit." Trung waved him off and walked away without another word.
Peter stared at the old man's back until he disappeared into his beaten-down and hastily repaired Humvee.
"Asshat."
April 12, 2050 - 09:40
Pvt. My Phan
The rest of the trip was not as eventful as an hour before. The convoy traveled through the mostly empty street, occasionally encountering groups of travelers or shippers heading to and from Hue.
They kept up their caution, just in case any of those groups were up to something funny when they saw a beaten-up convoy passing them. You never really know if someone was desperate enough to try to rob an armed convoy.
Just like before the ambush, My was bored yet again. With nothing to do and nothing suspicious, My could only resort to bothering her girlfriend and her other close friend with her antics. That was until she saw the city walls approaching on the horizon.
Huế city, formerly a capital city until the end of the Second World War, was a center of culture, education, commerce, and tourist attraction during peacetime, and a bastion against the Global Eastern United Nations (GEUN) forces, mostly against the old glory that was the People's Republic of China.
Vietnam saw signs of an incoming war, and in its infinite wisdom, the government poured all the money it could into fortifying its defenses and military. Hue was one of those efforts, and it paid off significantly for the Vietnamese military and government. Unlike the (also) former capital city of Ha Noi and many other major cities north of Vietnam, Hue was able to defend and hold itself against the unrelenting "Red Tide" that was the combined force of China, Russia, and North Korea. Most of its accomplishment could be attributed to the existence of the "Mini Great Wall of Hue."
That was all My knew about Hue and the seemingly long wall surrounding the greater city limits. It had been a while since her last history lesson with "Uncle Victor", before Harrison's squad was broken up and all of its members promoted to leadership positions. Last that My remembered, Victor was in charge of some major operations on the border of Vietnam and the new Democratic Coalition of China.
'Hmm… I should ask Harry how Victor and Kat are doing…' She wondered to herself.
The "Mini Great Wall" loomed ever so bigger as the convoy approached the city.
It wasn't anything fancy like the actual Great Wall, no fancy design or glorious history to pair with. It was just a 6.5-meter-tall, 3.5-meter-thick wall, made of reinforced concrete and structural steel. The only special thing about it was that people said it was infused with the hope of peace and the unbreakable will of the Vietnamese people. My was half inclined to believe in that story, with no other reason than that it just sounded cool to her.
My's SUV quickly approached the checkpoint set up just outside of the main gate.
The checkpoint was already filled with soldiers, guns, and vehicles, all ready to get violent if necessary. As if that wasn't enough, there were also additional guns and artillery mounted on top of the wall. My would say that it was a tiny bit overkill, but considering the ungodly amount of crime all over the world, this was appropriate.
The vehicle came to a stop in front of a group of soldiers. One of them, a young captain, judging by the rank patch on his shoulder, walked up to the Long's window. The others behind the captain had their weapons in low ready.
Long rolled his window down and offered the captain a friendly smile.
"How are you doing, Captain?"
"Doing ok, better than you boys, it seems." The captain replied while glancing at the battered state of the whole convoy.
"Yeah, we got hit in an ambush near Nam Dong. Lost one of our men."
"My condolences." The captain lowered his head in respect.
"Eh, what can we do. Risk's part of the job. We do get paid handsomely for the risk." Long shrugged.
"The wage part, I do envy. The risk, not so much."
"Yeah, same."
The captain then took out a tablet and typed on the machine. He signaled his men to perform an external check on the vehicles before turning back to Long.
"Alright, let me see some papers."
Long nodded and showed the captain the paper he had prepared beforehand.
The captain checked the papers, then his tablet, and after a few more glances between the documents and the vehicle inspection team, he gave Long the papers back.
"Everything checks out, for now. Head to the scanner in front of the gate."
Long nodded and maneuvered the vehicle to the scanning area. All the other vehicles followed behind Long and stayed in a neat line. My looked around to check what device they were using to scan the vehicles, but she couldn't find anything visible nearby.
That was until she looked up at the gate. Mounted under the gate was a few panels of scanner that blended well into the shadow. It was different from the scanner My had seen before at the HQ, but if it worked similarly to what she knew, it could accurately scan all the vehicles in a wide area, form 3D models of all the vehicles, identify all of the vehicles' information, and their occupants. It then verified the volume and checked for suspicious material or contraband not listed in the manifesto.
That was what My was taught, though how the scanner exactly works, My didn't know, or more specifically, she didn't care to learn about. Egghead jumble mumble wasn't exactly her style.
After a quick 30-second scan, a nearby speaker informed the convoy that the scan was clear and that the convoy was allowed to proceed to the city.
After a painful 4 hours and 35 minutes, the mission was deemed an acceptable success.