GATE:Thus The ARVN Fought Once More
Huế City, Federal Republic of Vietnam
"Damn, what did I miss?" Sergeant(Trung Sĩ) Đào Chí Vịnh had just arrived in the Vietnamese ancient capital of Huế City for the rest of the Hue Festival but due to his work in the Army he was a little late and missed most of the main events. The Festival consisted of a variety of traditional events such as dance performances, firework displays, concerts and so on.
Vịnh has always enjoyed these kind of Festivals because he loved culture and tradition but it also gave him a reason to get off work every year and not have to deal with anything stupid. He went down to a nearby concert along with some food and found a seat up on a nearby park. The concert was not far from the Citadel Walls which guarded the enclosure of the Imperial City itself.
As the concert neared the end, Vịnh was left disappointed by the fact that he got here too late and just wandered down the street towards many of the street attractions around him. As he tried to enjoy the small street performances, Vịnh could hear police radio chatter from a Police Officer nearby and sirens in the background. Further down the street he could see Police guiding large amounts of people into the Citadel to evacuate the street. Vịnh was confused as to what the Police was trying to do until he could hear a volley of gunfire all at once followed by screaming from civilians running in different directions. He also noticed flying creatures throughout the sky that he had never seen before picking up people with their claws.
Vịnh made his way down the street towards the Citadel until he was stopped by an Officer who was armed with a 1911 pistol. "Stop! It's too dangerous here!"
Vịnh noticed a strangely dressed man riding on a horse coming around the corner of a building holding what he assumed was a rifle, aiming for the Officer. The Horseman shot the Officer in the arm prompting him to drop his pistol as he rode past them both. Vịnh took this opportunity to pick up the pistol and waited for the Horseman to turn around and charge him before putting a '.45' in his chest which knocked him off his horse. Vịnh approached the Horseman and put two more rounds in his chest before he turned his attention towards the Officer.
"Are you alright?!" Vịnh asked the wounded Officer as he helped him up, putting an arm over his shoulder and started walking towards the bridge leading to the Citadel.
"You know… how to use that?" the Officer has lost a lot of blood making it harder for him to breathe and speak.
"Don't speak, I'm going to get you some help and figure out what the hell is going on…" He said to the fatally wounded Officer whilst carrying him down the street in one arm and pistol in the other. They both arrived at the Citadel walls just in time before this mysterious force caught up to them and it looked like they hadn't even reached the walls yet but they will soon. Unfortunately for both of these men, the first main gate they went to was closed off before they arrived. Before they could check the rest of gates, the Officer stood on his own two feet without Vịnh supporting him on his side and spoke again. "Wait, the gates… they probably closed them all... after the civilians were evacuated."
"There must be another way in..." Vịnh said
"There is but…" The Officer stopped his sentence and looked down past the ramparts and into the moat.
"But what?"
"We have to swim if we are to make it inside… through the sluice gates."
Vịnh held a worried look on his face but knew that they had to act if they were to have a chance at surviving. "Are you able to swim with that wound?"
"I can swim…that round in my shoulder is going to hurt a bit but I'll manage with an arm."
...
Inside of the Citadel...
A mass of people camped inside of the Citadel were all terrified. Some had witnessed people around them shot and killed, others taken prisoner and separated from their loved ones. The many Police Officers that are protecting the people inside were all jumpy, twitchy even. They would all be even more frightened when a group of people started screaming all of a sudden. The Officers all rushed over towards the screaming with their sidearms and saw that there was something moving around in the water near the sluice gates.
"Could they have gotten through?!" One Officer yelled out with his sidearm primed and ready just like the rest of the Officers.
Before they did anything rash, both Vịnh and the wounded Officer emerged from the water which prompted the Officers to lower their weapons and give them both a hand. Vịnh was a little shook up and slowly looked over to the wounded Officer after being pulled out from the water. "I thought you said you could swim?!"
The Officer who was laying on his back looked over at Vịnh and spoke one last time before being taken away for medical treatment. "Sorry… I swim better with both arms after all…"
Vịnh shook his head before getting up and began looking around. He saw frightened faces mostly but now was not the time to dwell on it. "Who's in charge here?"
"Second Lieutenant Bình is but who are you?" The confused Officer asked wondering what kind of man would swim his way in through the sluice gates to get into the Citadel.
"Sergeant Vịnh of the 18th Infantry Division, 52nd Regiment, now where can I find him?"
"You can follow me Sergeant." The young Officer offered, leading him to the Lieutenant in charge. Second Lieutenant(Thiếu Úy) Bình looked like any average civilian he would normally see with the exception of his unkempt hair. Like Vịnh, he was a bit on the lean side in terms of body build. He was talking to a few Police Officers about bolstering their defenses until the Army arrived. Vịnh approached him to get more info about the attack. "Sir, what's happening out there?"
Bình turned his attention to Vịnh to respond. "So you're with the Army too?"
"Yes sir, I'm with the 18th Division."
Lieutenant Bình was aware of the 18th Division's antics during the war and their Soldiers, they were undisciplined but motivated Soldiers who were known for their "Cowboy-like" behavior. "You're with the Supermen huh?"
"That's right sir…"
"Well i'm glad to have someone like you around." They both exchanged handshakes as Lieutenant Bình introduced himself to the Army Sergeant.
"Lieutenant Bình, 1st Infantry Division. We're in a tough spot right now, most of the Soldiers in garrison here were on pass for the festival so it will take some time for a our quick reaction force to mobilize and come to us. We have to hold out until then."
"Any idea where these guys came from sir?"
"Yeah come look over there, at the Flag Tower."
Across from the Meridian Gate was an open field of view of the fortified Flag Tower and a large Portal which looked like some kind of gated European stone structure where the Flag tower once stood and now has been reduced to mostly rubble, guarded by hundreds of the Foreign Soldiers that were similar to the one that Vịnh killed earlier.
"From what I can understand the portal we're seeing is a major one, compared to the ones outside of the Citadel which were much smaller and appear in greater numbers but this is the main one we should be worried about…" Bình explained, interested in the Portal's origins.
Vịnh then asked him about methods to closing the portals. "Well is there a way to close them at all?"
"The small surrounding portals that I've seen from here looks like they are disposable one-use type of portals only which means they collapse themselves once there is nothing left to send through."
"And the main one?"
"Well so far the larger one seems to have stayed open this whole time but it doesn't look like there are anymore of these guys coming through it to get here."
Just then, a large explosion could be heard as the pair started hearing a yell from a nearby Police Officer accompanied by the sounds of gunfire all around them. "They're coming in!"
The path to the famous Southern gate, the Meridian Gate, was at risk of being overrun as the Foreign Soldiers charged across open ground to reach the bridges that extended towards them over the moat. The gate itself was barricaded with a wide assortment of valuable furniture found from within the Palace itself but even that won't hold them for long. The small National Police force took to the Palace-like upper levels of the gate and fired upon the advancing Foreign Troops below. They easily cut down the charging men who fell in droves but it wasn't until many of them stopped in the back and began to form up in ranks.
One of the foreign Soldiers, an Officer by the looks of it, behind the ranks were giving them the orders to prep and fire in a foreign tongue. The men below fired at the the Palace which hit many of the Police Officers wounding them and even killing a few. Those who weren't hit were a bit more hesitant to fire back now with so many dead and wounded.
After the first few volleys had been fired, everything seemed to have stopped until the invaders cleared a path for what appeared to be their Commander. He began to address the Meridian Gate defenders in an unheard language but the defenders already knew what he was asking for. He wanted them to surrender. As the foreign Commander rambled on, Vịnh took a quick peek and saw an opportunity, a clear shot. He used the pistol that belonged to the Cop he saved earlier and shot the Commander before his speech had ended.
Vịnh was able to hit him in the chest and knock him over which prompted the foreign Soldiers to form up in ranks again and continued to fire back leaving the fate of their Commander unknown. Before long, the Soldiers opened their ranks once more to allow their Cavalrymen to charge at the Meridian Gate defenders as they fired upon them.
It wasn't until the the sounds of jet engines followed by choppers were heard which confused many of the foreign invaders. One chopper, a Huey flew over towards them with it's side exposed to the foreigners. The door gunner with the latest mounted M60E6 and proceeded to unload on them a barrage of hard-hitting 762x51 rounds. The invaders were torn to pieces, their morale dropped and they began to vacate their positions but they soon realized that their only pathway out was cut off by Armored V-100 Commando Cars which were accompanied by scores of Soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division as they encircled them.
"Drop your weapons, put them down!" The ARVN troops shouted aiming their M4 Carbine copies at the foreign troops who surrendered without any resistance. Few were able to escape through the other side of the Portal in time before being captured. Those who did put up any sort of fight were either killed or maimed by the ARVN Soldiers who discovered terrible atrocities all over the place, little by little and with each discovery only angering them much more than the last as they cleared every street, house, and building around in which the foreign invaders used to hide.
When the fighting was over, many went missing and many more were killed in what would be known as the 'Huế Incident'. All of the small portals around the city collapsed leaving only the larger Flag Tower Portal standing as well as the tattered flag of the Republic of Vietnam.
