"Good morning, Vietnam! Welcome back to AFVN, with your host, Army Specialist Zack Johnson. Our APO here is, and always will be 96309. If you send a song request to that number, we will pick the song that you've requested from the gallery, put it into the radio, and play it on the air. Turn your volumes up, cause we're going to rock your morning. Giving it to The Rolling Stones with their one heck of a song: Gimme' Shelter. Enjoy, boys."
The morning radio rang through the base, livening up the once quiet lands of the Khe Sanh airfield. The morning sunrise had just happened, giving the tropical lands some light. The morning mist was still present, masking some parts of the large landscape. Marines, pilots, and rangers alike scattered throughout the field of the base, just doing their daily routine morning exercise. Most of them were up and about, chattering with each other, having fun, getting ready for another day of shelling from the NVAs, and what not.
Well... but not all of them were having their daily routines. USMC Sergeant Major Liu Li Wen, the de jure leader of the 222nd's Bad Company's second detachment squad was just watching the morning activities of the base from hangar three's observing balcony, second floor of the said place. Aside from the morning exercises, he could also see several M48 Patton tanks as well as their M67 'Zippo' Flamethrower tanks rolling on the ground, accompanied by some jeeps as well as scouts from the main force.
Moving on to the large airfield, the young man's eyes moved aside to watch some Northrop made F5 Tigers from the VFMA-314, also known as the Black Knights, taxiing on the runway, awaiting their time to do their sortie, of course, to patrol the surrounding airspace of the base, and report in if there's anything good to be noted, such as more mortar crews, an NVA battle formation, or so on. The fighters soared into the still rather cloudy skies, reaching a neck-breaking speed in just a couple of seconds.
Finally, the multiple helicopters, ranging from transport, gunship, attack, and others. The choppers were flying in a large formation, heading west. Probably to support the firefight that had just broke up at the western clearings. Several Chinooks, Hueys, and Cobras were littering the air, and polluting the quiet morning with their loud whirring rotor noises. NVA Flak guns were already firing at the air, trying to slow the choppers' advance. It seems like their morning activity did not only wake up the Americans alone.
With a tired sigh, he went back inside the hangar. Most of the girls were still sleeping at that time. Most, but not all. As soon as he closed the door, he could hear several clanking sounds, a familiar noise of his dad's tools getting examined. The marine walked downstairs, only to see Flying Lieutenant Charlotte Elwyn Yeager, a Liberion, or American, in this case, tinkering with a wrench while walking towards the lone fighter/bomber of the US Air Force's 118th TFW, The Chinese Hammer.
He knew that sooner or later, the girls would be attracted to the Phantom II... but not this soon.
"Morning, Flying Lieutenant Yeager." The marine chirped, exhaustion evident in his dry voice. "Sleep well?"
Hearing the sudden greeting, the orange haired girl turned to face the source of the voice. She gave out a small smile when she identified the person was Liu all along. "Mornin', Sarge. Yeah... I guess I was just tired, that's all. Anyway, I could ask you the same question. Did you get some sleep? You look like a wreck." She tilted her mouth to make a slight frown.
Liu raised an eyebrow. "Didn't sleep. I can't, anyway."
An amused look crossed Shirley's face for a split second, before her face deflates back to normal. "Jeez... you know that's not good for your health, right?"
"Hmph, I've had countless of sleepless nights here. I don't mind staying up for another." He replied, whilst walking between her and the jet fighter plane.
"So, Liu, you're also a Liber- American, right?" Shirley questioned, looking at him with her crystalline blue eyes. "How come you don't look like one?"
"Mixed heritage." Liu replied plainly, not surprised at the question. "While I was born and raised at the United States, my mom's a Chinese, dad's an Indonesian, so I'm pretty much a weird mix between the three." By the time the young marine had finished his last sentence, he was in front of his conversational partner. "That would also explain my grammatical mistakes while speaking in both English and other foreign languages, and also my minimal words of choices. I may sound like an American, but I'm still learning to actually become one."
This up close, Shirley noticed something that she had found a bit interesting, and funny at the same time. "Heh, Liu, I know that you're the shortest in your group, but I've never expected you to be this short. You're even shorter than me!" She pointed at the Asian marine whilst fighting a suppressed giggle.
Liu blinked, before actually noticing that she was right. He was indeed slightly shorter than her. "Sh-shut up... I know that I'm a midget, especially for my age. It's only by a centimeter too. No big deal."
A laugh escaped from her lips, and it lasted for a few seconds. "Relax, Sarge. I'm just messing with you. Besides, you also look like you're still sixteen, so... yeah, no big deal."
"Sixteen is an exaggeration, Flying Lieutenant." A hollow chuckle erupted from the marine. "But, still, you're like the seventeenth person who said that to me ever since I got transferred here. By the way... what are you doing this early... with a wrench in hand... and walking towards the Phantom?"
Shirley frantically hid the wrench behind her, although to no avail. She sheepishly smiled at the shorter sergeant. "Oh... whoops, you caught me red handed." She admitted. "Don't worry, Liu. I won't do anything to that precious fighter of yours. I'm just checking out its characteristics."
Liu tilted his head. "Huh? What for?"
"Know the specifics, wings, engines, pretty much the physical stats of the plane itself." The Liberion shrugged, giving him a lazy look. "I'm just trying to learn something new from your world's aviation. And, hey, at least it's also made by the United States, too, right?"
A small grin was visible on Liu's face. "You got it on that one, Flight Lieutenant."
Shirley sighed. "Sarge... seriously, just stop calling me Flight Lieutenant. We're both Liberions- I mean, Americans, and you're older than me. No need for formalities now. Just call me Shir, or Shirley like the others."
"I'll try to get used to it, Flight Lieu-... Shirley."
"Well, you better. Cause it really feels awkward when someone calls me by my rank." She smiled at the fellow American soldier. "Well, back to the topic, I guess. Right, although I'm still pretty new to all of these techy things, I feel like our Striker Units are falling behind from these jets of yours. Since I have this feeling that tells me that we're going to stay here for a while, I think it wouldn't hurt to just... upgrade our Units as well, right? You know... just for worst case scenario?"
"Uh-huh...? But you said that your Striker Units are equipped with 'Magical Engines' that would only react to a Witch's magic, right? How the hell are you going to do that?" A questioning look was shot over from the sergeant. "It's not like our fighters are controlled with our own fighting spirit or something."
The orange haired girl smirked confidently, spinning the wrench around with only her two fingers, much to Liu's astonishment. "Heh, then that's where I come in. I'm a mechanic back at our world. I could probably do something with some of the engines and gears from your fighter and make us a new Magical Engine for our Striker Units. Besides, I want to have a taste of what real jet engine feels like. I can already imagine me, dashing in the skies with one of those."
"Uh, sorry to say, Shirley, but I don't think you can tinker with the Hammer. Dad would be angry at... well, all of us. Although I don't really mind it, but I'm sure he will." Liu answered, feeling a bit guilty at the same time. "There's a few spare parts for the Phantom, though... you can probably do your magic with those things for now."
"No, no, that's no problem, really." Shirley shrugged yet again. "But thanks for the tip, though. I'll be sure to check them out."
The US Marine nodded, before grabbing his goggles and his cap from the nearby table. "Good. Well, I'm gonna be off, now, alright?"
"Where are you going, Sarge?" The girl asked, already motioning for the spare parts at the left hand corner of the hangar.
"Just to meet with some friends, squads and what not. Probably go talk to my dad to regarding this. Because... you know, we need to sort this thing out ASAP." He plopped the gloves back to cover his hands and his reflective goggles to protect his brown eyes.
Shirley just gave a thumbs up. "Yeah, yeah, I got you, Liu. Have fun." She replied from her newly set up workplace. "Oh, and... if you can, bring us some chow too, will ya?"
"Make sure that no one comes out of the hangar, then I'll make sure that you'll get your ration." Liu said, half-jokingly. "...Put some pants on too, please."
Although the girl's face was turned away from him, he could already see her grinning widely. "Deal. No promises on the second one, though."
Khe Sanh, mess hall area. Soldiers from the Armed Forces would gather here every single day to get themselves a new set of meal, or just to chat with the other soldiers to just pass the time. In this very place as well, sits the three other men of Bad Company's second detachment. Marlowe, Haggard, and Sweetwater were still talking about yesterday's events in a hushed manner, trying their best to not let the words spread to the rest of the base.
And in cue, Liu entered the canteen, looking like he could just drop down and sleep instantly right over there.
"Sergeant Shortstack!" Haggard, having noticing their detachment's CO walking in first, exclaimed, making the rest of the squad to look at him as well. "Hey, over here, Boss!"
Halim snapped back out from his drowsiness, blinking several times to focus back on his surroundings. He walked over to the rest of his small squad and sat down to face them. For several moments, there was just silence between the four, Liu had his own reasons to keep his mouth shut, that said, he's tired, while the rest of the marines were just waiting for their sergeant to open his mouth first regarding their situation at hand.
Sweetwater, seeing enough of the silence cleared his throat whilst sliding a tray of filled with B-Type rations to his CO. "Have some chow, Sarge. It's on our tab."
The Asian-American marine only stared down at the tray as if they were filled with poison. It was an expected reaction, seeing how most soldiers hated the garrison's rations with all of their might, almost to the point that they'd rather eat dirt than the base's food. "Uh... thanks. But I think we'll need more for the girls back at the hangar, though."
"You okay there, Sarge? You look like you're going to pass out... like right now." Marlowe asked, noticing the same tired look from the sergeant from last night.
"I didn't sleep." Liu answered whilst dropping his head to rest on the table. "I can't actually sleep with all of these crap crossing my head."
Sweetwater perked his head up. "So, they're actually staying at your dad's hangar? How're they doing?"
"Exhausted. But they'll live." The NCO replied drowsily. "Shirley seems to be doing just fine, though. They'll probably need to get nourished soon... we need to get ourselves some MCIs from the cafeteria. Or, for better standards, some garrison's A, B, C, or K type rations should do."
Haggard scoffed. "I don't think the girls would like these crap, Boss."
"They're serving us shit. like... actual and literal... shits." Sweetwater took a deep gulp of disgust while staring down at his own ration.
Marlowe laughed half-heartedly at the statement. "As much as I'd hate to admit it, you're right on that one, Sweets."
"Anyway, Boss, what are we going to do with them now? We can't just... hide them forever in your dad's hangar, right?" Haggard asked, rubbing his shaven beard to give out a thoughtful pose.
"I'm planning to meet my dad to plan the next step anyway. The old man said that he knows this guy from the CIA. That's probably our best bet for now." Liu answered, still not bothering to raise his head from the table. "Where's Lieutenant Redford, by the way?"
"Out scoutin' for new members for the 222nd." Sweetwater responded, playing with his square framed glasses. "We can't really fight them NVAs back without some more members in our squad, right?"
Liu sighed. "How about Ghost Rider? Have anyone heard of him?"
"He's out on patrol with the rest of the Vulture Squadron." Marlowe replied. "The 1st Cav's been busy since early morning."
Well, they did got a point. The US Armed Forces have been taking in some heavy losses, thanks to the NVA's hit-n-run and guerrilla tactics they've resorted to use for the last few months, during the massive Tet Offensive. The results that came back from every single engagements weren't pretty. Lots of dead bodies, and even more wounded being carried into the base. As a result, the anti-communist forces decided to use their fighters to maintain air superiority as well as shoot or burn down any strategical places of the NVA without having to waste any more lives from the ground forces.
Casualties are still unavoidable, though. Realizing the plan to muster their air forces, the NVA responded by strengthening their anti-air defenses as well. To just get in or out of the Khe Sanh air base can be considered pure luck due to the massive flak fires. Now, imagining that all of the Witches that were in hangar three were all pilots... Liu suddenly shuddered at the thought of a worst case scenario that would happen if... if...
Almost gagging his insides out at the thought, he suddenly became sick. "Guys... I'll... I'll have to pass the chow." He shoved the tray away from him. "Get ten more trays ready to be delivered to the hangar, alright? I'm just... gonna go and visit my dad."
"Ooah." The marines cried slowly, standing up from their seats and go back to the waiting lines to get themselves the needed rations.
Liu shot them a look of gratitude. "Thanks, fellas." With that one last empty smile, the 2IC skipped off elsewhere, not really noticing a person that's following him.
"Well, time's a wastin' fellas, let's go." Haggard pointed to the line-up with a thumb over his shoulder.
Tjandra Buntoro was just strumming his acoustic guitar, familiarizing himself to the song Gimme' Shelter that's played through the base's loudspeaker. A lit cigar was seen on his lips. Some smoke escaped through his mouth and nose, polluting the tent area with the stench of the smoke. A sweet, classic tune hummed throughout the area. The middle-aged mechanic nudged his head up and down several times, absorbing himself into the rock music from The Rolling Stones.
"Pa?" A young voice entered his ears, causing the adult to stop his little performance. The senior mechanic raised his head, and spun it around, scanning his surroundings. His dark brown eyes fell upon his own son, Halim, walking towards him while wobbling slightly, his exhaustion getting the best of him.
Tjandra smiled at his kid. "Mornin' Halim. Did you get yourself some sleep?"
"You're like... the third person who asks me the same question, Pa." Groaned Liu, running a hand down from his black hair down to his cheek. "And to answer your question... y-yeah... I did get some sleep." He lied, not wanting his own father to worry about him. "Although it's only for a few hours."
The said adult shot him a questioning glare. "Really?"
Liu shrunk himself, realizing that he had been caught lying. "...No." Grumbled the marine. "...Happy now?"
"No, son. I'm not happy when you're forcing yourself this far out." The Indonesian mechanic said sternly. "I'm worried about you, especially when it comes to this-"
"I know, dad...!" Liu said with a bit of a raised volume, but he turned it down again with a sense of guilt for cutting his parent mid-sentence. "...Dad... I'm also worried about the matter, that's all... this is bigger than me, you, and all of us. I'm just... concerned for them. Both my squad, and the Witches." He answered quietly, with his head facing downwards.
Tjandra exhaled loudly, but a small smile was etching his lips. "That's my boy." He ruffled his son's hair, and to Liu's surprise, he also handed his acoustic guitar to him. "Hold this for me for a while, will ya, Halim?"
The mixed descendant marine tilted his head to the side, with his mouth also slightly gaping open. "Eh?"
"I'll be going to meet a friend of mine, just for a minute or two. You just stay here and guard the smokes, will you?" The man chuckled dryly to himself, walking away from his son.
Liu was left alone, still somewhat confused at his father's rather strange behavior this morning. He's not the type to suddenly socialize with people. Besides, it was crucial for them to meet up with the CIA or MAC-V-SOG member they can trust to finally finish the complex problem. For a minute or two, he just stood there in silence, holding the guitar with his left hand. He wasn't feeling so sure on what to do next with his father gone for a while.
"...Got a little sappy there, huh, sergeant?" A sudden young, and feminine voice chimed from his back.
The marine immediately froze, his feet rooted themselves into the solid dirt ground, and his whole body tensed up when he heard the familiar voice. "Oh... shit..." Liu muttered as a cold sweat ran down from his forehead. "F-Flying Officer Hartmann...?" He asked, with his face still facing forward.
"In the flesh!" She chirped cheerily. "...But how many times do I have to tell you... just call me Erica."
Instantly, Liu turned his back around in a hasty manner to confirm his suspicion. Much to his surprise and horror, his honed ears weren't lying to him, as it was also proven with his goggles-protected brown/amber eyes. The Karsland Witch, Erica Hartmann was indeed standing right behind him, with her usual grin. She was wearing Liu's scout cap he had left at hangar three, and she had replaced her black WWII era Luftwaffe uniform with a simple set of male's mechanic's clothing, complete with a pair cargo pants.
"Erica!" Liu exclaimed loudly in his surprise. This action earned the sergeant some questioning looks from the other bypassing soldiers around the area. He promptly hovered his hands above his mouth to silence himself. Berating himself for shouting loudly in reflex, and after making sure that the stares dispersed themselves again, he pulled the younger girl closer to him, so that she could hear him within his whispering range "Wh-what the fuck are you doing here...?!"
The Karslander herself flinched when his free gloved hand pulled her shoulders closer to him, but judging her reaction, the Witch shrugged it off. "I'm bored, and there's nothing to do back in the hangar. You've said not to touch the plane anyway, so I decided to follow you."
"F-follow me?! You were following me all the way from the hangar, the mess hall, and finally here?!" The marine questioned, still dazed at the image of the Karslander in front of him.
"Well, it's not like I know the base's layout by default, right?" She answered nonchalantly. "Nice place, by the way."
"Wh-wha...?" The young man had a dumbfounded look at her answer. "N-nevermind that, how'd you get out from the hangar?! I told Shirley not to let anyone out, and I thought you girls were still sleeping!"
"I got through the back door...?" Erica answered with a lazy shrug. "Oh, her? She was busy doing something with the hangar's spare parts, so I've decided not to disturb her and her work. And no, I can't sleep. The sleeping bags were too soaked for me. While I'm not very picky on what I'm sleeping on, and I'm pretty much a heavy sleeper, it was just too wet for me. I'll get even more soaked if I lay myself down there."
Liu sat both of them down on a wooden chair, facing each other. "So you didn't sleep?"
"Nah... I can't." She answered, sounding a bit exhausted, also yawning in the process.
The Asian-American sergeant of the USMC calmed himself through some deep breaths. "O-okay... but how'd you get those clothes?"
The blonde puffed her cheeks in an unsatisfied manner. "Do you really think that I'm stupid, sergeant?" She rolled her black eyes, signifying a hint of her irritation. "I may look young, but I'm not that naive. I know it's dumb to just walk out of the hangar without any sort of disguise. I found these clothes on the hangar while I'm just looking for anything interesting. Oh, and I'm also borrowing your hat for the time being."
"I have to thank God that she looks like a freaking boy, safe for the high-pitched voice..." Murmured the Bad Company's second-in-command. For their credit, Erica actually looked like a guy in those set of clothes. Excluding her face, her short blonde hair and the borrowed cap really helped herself to blend in with any other soldiers. Her more feminine features were also well hidden under the slightly baggy attire. One would only think that she's another mechanic at a random glance. "N-no, it's not like that, Flight Officer. I'm... I'm just surprised."
Slowly, but surely, the grin returned to the Karslander's pale face, signifying the success of the reasoning for the marine's defense. "...Erica, sergeant." She corrected.
"R-right... Erica." Liu repeated her words, before letting the silence to take over between them.
"...Well..." The Witch trailed off, staring towards the skies. "This is pretty awkward..."
"Correction, this is pretty depressing." Groaned the marine, placing the guitar down, and crossing his arms.
"MAKE WAY, MAKE WAY!" A random ranger shouted, gaining the attention of everyone nearby. "WOUNDED COMING THROUGH! GET A STRETCHER READY!"
In a trance, Erica perked her head up to see what's happening. "Hey, what's going on-"
She could never finish her sentence nor see the chain of events that're unfolding, as her black eyes were quickly covered by Liu's hands. "Don't look." He commanded emotionlessly. "Don't ask... just... don't." He added the order.
Liu was literally saving the younger girl from an emotional breakdown, as in cue, a group of soldiers carrying dead bodies, with most of them in a horrifying condition. They're either burned, or mutilated into pieces. The wounded were not in the least better condition. The injured soldiers that were carried to the infirmary were in critical conditions, as some of them were already legless, armless, burned, or just wrecked into pieces.
"MY LEGS! I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS!"
"GOD, HELP ME! GOD, PLEASE, HELP ME!"
"JESUS CHRIST, THE PAIN, IT'S FUCKING KILLING ME...! ARRRGGHH!"
"WH-WHERE AM I?! WHY CAN'T I SEE A THING?!"
"IT BURNS! IT FUCKING BURNS!"
Multiple screams of pain and agony were shouted the group of wounded soldiers of rangers and marines alike. Just by hearing their pleas made Erica's already pale skin to pale even further, while Liu's own tanned skin turned as white as sheet as he saw the terrifying image. His hands that were hovering above the Karslander's eyes trembled greatly. Nausea was building up inside him greatly, also turning his stomach inside-out, causing the sergeant to cough up.
After the group passed the tent areas, Liu let his hands to drop from the Witch's black eyes. To his surprise, Erica was bearing a cold face.
"...Does this happen daily in here?" She asked quietly, no emotion was present on her face, and she was just looking straight into the sky.
The Asian marine bit his lower lip at the question. "...Not in a daily basis, but it happens pretty often."
"I see." She answered, nodding once.
The marine looked away from the Witch. "God give 'em piece... they'll need it... we all will need it in times like these." He muttered quietly, gritting his teeth. "...Sorry."
"Why are you apologizing?" Erica asked, still sounding a bit cold. "...You know that this isn't your fault, right?"
The sergeant looked up to the flak-polluted skies. "...I just felt like it." He answered, with no emotion left in his tone except from the coldness that his face radiates. "...Sorry." He repeated.
The blonde haired Karslander motioned her black eyes to the marine without actually turning her head to him, an uneasy silence built itself a wall between the two.
"...I stood in front of a mirror and always resented myself." The sergeant said suddenly in Japanese. "...Within these days I spent forgetting how to live."
Erica blinked at the sudden cryptic statement, but she kept her mouth shut, which was kind of rare for the usually cheery and loud witch.
"A Japanese song's lyrics." Liu answered the unasked question. "...I forgot the title, but it was so deep, that I've memorized its Kanji."
Erica's grin promptly returned, although it started with a small one. "Well, look at you... getting depressed and all... you're going all random up to the point where you're just spouting random lyrics. Are you sure that you're fine, sergeant?"
The Bad Company's second-in-command scowled at her lightning-fast recovery at the very mentally depressing situation. He knew that he was just being random, but what for? Has his stress finally took the better of him? The sergeant dropped his head, but a hollow chuckle also escaped from his mouth. "Heh... no one is fine once they're on the 'Nam, Flying Offic-" He paused mid-sentence to see the blonde Witch's correcting look. "...Erica."
A small but satisfied smile formed up on Erica's face. "Well, you can talk about yourself if you want."
Liu's eyelids stuttered slightly at the proposal. "Excuse me?"
The Karslander nodded. "Yeah, talk about yourself! I've been wondering about your squad, your ability to speak in different languages or what not."
"This is going to take a while..." He hesitated, shooting her an uncertain look.
"Don't worry. I don't have anything to do anyway. Besides, I'll need to learn more about this world if I'm to live here for a while, right?" Erica smirked, retorting the reply that could potentially lead into an argument between the two.
Liu sighed, before clearing his throat to begin his long story. "Let's start with myself... I suppose you already know my name, right? Just call me Liu, no need for formalities. As you can see, I have a mixed heritage. Dad's and Indo, mom's a Chinese, while I was born in America. That would also explain my bad English and my minimal lexical knowledge. I'm twenty-one. Will be turning twenty-two this year. Born in the 46, which kinda... makes you older than me, if you're not counting in the whole time travel thing." He said dryly.
"Not in this case, though." The girl giggled quietly, almost giving out her feminine voice to the crowd of soldiers passing by. After a slight glare from the marine, she slapped herself mentally. "Whoops, sorry."
He just raised his hand, signalling that it's not to be concerned. "During the World War II era, like in 1943 or so, my dad fought for the Indonesian army, serving as a mechanic and a pilot for the roughly established Indonesian Air Force, of course, with a stolen plane from the Japanese. Oh, and for your information, yes. Japan, or Fuso, in your world, indeed invaded our country. My dad told me the stories about they killed countless of our men and women without any hesitation. Any movement to support our country's independence, even if it was just a song about it were considered a threat, and the Japanese military wiped them out."
The Karslander Witch winced slightly at the thought. "Sheesh, I wonder how Miyafuji'll react to that." She said to herself, sounding almost a bit sad.
"It all happened over twenty years ago, so I guess there's no use crying over spilled milk. For me and my family, there's no bad blood us and the Japanese. During the war, my dad somehow found my mom, a Chinese woman that only came to the country as a tourist when the Japanese suddenly invaded Java, about to be raped by several Japanese foot soldiers. The old man almost sacrificed himself to save my Ma. They fell in love and got married just a few months later. Indonesia's declaration of independence happened on the 17th of August, 1945, I think... and that's just a few days after the Americans dropped their atomic bombs... twice, on Japan's soil." He explained.
"Wow, Miyafuji is NOT going to like this part of the story." Erica frowned, also pouting with an amused face.
Liu sighed. "That's why I refrained from telling you girls the part of our story, the Indonesian-Japanese conflict. But that's all history now. After the war, my whole family decided to move to the States. I was born there just a year after. Our small family is doing alright, I suppose. Although I'm an only child, they're already satisfied with me alone. My parents got a decent job, my grandparents were happy, I got myself into a prestigious school. After a while, dad decided to quit his job, and joined the military, though. Since then, he has served the US as a mechanic, and sometimes, a flier for their planes."
A confused look crossed her face. "Then, how'd you end up here, out of places? I thought you said that you had entered a pretty good school back in your country."
"I was just getting there. Now, when everything seems to be going fine for us, war broke out in the far East. That's when we heard about Vietnam. My dad got transferred here first. I decided to quit school, much to my mom's disappointment, and take up military courses. To be honest, I almost got myself kicked out due to my short height. You wouldn't find any other personnel shorter than me in the force. I'm even shorter than Shirley." He admitted. "Although I finally got accepted because the USAF thought that I was nimble... (I guess) I kinda feel bad for myself for saying that."
Erica snickered. "A height complex, like... seriously?"
"N-no! I-it's not like that!" Liu denied quickly, embarrassed about the whole talk regarding his height. "A-anyways... I got accepted into the military, and got myself enlisted as a marine. That's all thanks to my dad. He must've pulled in some strings from the brass to let me in. I was trained to be a scout, hence my minimal protection and medium-long range weapons. I got transferred here ASAP to help the Anti-Communist Forces with all of the shit that's going on."
"Ahh... I see..." Hummed the Witch, pouting in deep thought, letting the new stream of information to flow inside her head. "What about your squad, though? I could hear you saying the name 'Bad Company' more times than I could count."
The name of his squad rang inside the Asian's head for a few times. "Right... the Bad Company. Its official name's actually the 222nd Army Battalion. Pretty weird, huh, since Army was supposed to be for ground forces, while we're marines? Well... the 222nd are mainly composed of young, inexperienced, and poorly trained soldiers, deemed expendable, only to be used as cannon-fodders at the front-lines, or to be used as a patrol dog for the base. This one sorry excuse of a battalion holds the highest number of mortality here because of said reasons. Most new guys would have to go through this battalion first before actually getting transferred to the main force. Most guys would consider a transfer order to this battalion as an instant ticket to hell."
"Wait... you just said cannon-fodders." The blonde haired Karslander/German soured her face a bit. "Please tell me that I just heard that wrong."
"Nope... The Bad Company were indeed cannon-fodders." The marine replied, also sounding a bit irritated on his own. "Now, moving on to the details, I think I got myself a pretty unique squad. Marlowe, Haggard, and Sweetwater. I think you've known them by now, Marlowe especially. Well, it's pretty much a weird mix of soldiers, seeing how I'm a scout, and occasionally a field medic, while the rest of my squad are a bunch of soldiers with a weird set of weaponry. Marlowe holds the M16 along with the flamethrower. He's our man if we need to clear the crowd, especially with his M9. Sweets is our guy who always gives us the suppressing fire needed. They guy's pretty much a weapon junkie and a genius when it comes down to tactical deployment. Haggard... well, he blows stuff up, drinks beer, shouts random things, repairs our vehicles, blows stuff up, curses something about the NVAs, and then blows more stuff up. Typical for a hot-blooded Texan. Our CO is lieutenant Redford, the African-American soldier. A good guy all around, and a skilled soldier on the field. But he's also a loud and foulmouthed man when he's back on the base."
"That's a rather... interesting mix, to say the least." Erica mused. "...But I still can't believe that your country's using a very primitive tactic in this war."
Liu scoffed. "Look who's talking. Your world is sending under-aged girls to fight against the Neuroi things." He replied sarcastically.
She merely shrugged. "Hey, desperate times calls for desperate measures."
An empty nod, almost robotic, was given from the young man as an acknowledgement. "Right..." He trailed, looking back to the skies. "Anyway, about how I know a bunch of other languages? Well, you can say that I learn a lot while I'm in school, plus, my Ma and Pa can actually speak Japanese, thanks to the Japanese Invasion on Indonesia. I learned a lot from them too, I know the Indonesian, Malaysian, and the Chinese language by default, since it's more like a family thing. In total, I know about... how many languages...? Eight, I guess... Indonesian, Malaysian, Chinese, Japanese, just a bit of Russian, German, French... and... oh, Italian as well."
Erica was shifting her body uneasily after the statement. "E-Eight languages...?"
Liu nodded. "Yeah, but I'm still learning how to actually speak them in a proper manner, cause, you know, I'm-"
"Halim!" An old voice called out from the distance causing the boy to tense up immediately, while Erica just looked confused.
The soldier shot his body upwards. "Shit..." He spat in reflex. "Dad's coming back. He'll be mad if he sees you walking around like this." said him hastily. "You need to hide, and fast."
"E-eh? What are you talking about, Sarg-" The younger Witch could never really finished her sentence as she was pushed into the nearby empty tent by yours truly. "WAH!" She yelped, almost causing several heads to turn in surprise.
"S-sorry! Just stay here for a while, alright?" Liu was also quick to apologize for shoving the girl into the vacant tent, before turning back to his father, with an innocent look plastering his face. His father wasn't alone, though. Tjandra was walking back into the tents with another man, early-to-mid-adult. He's Caucasian, with a roughly thin shaved head and beard, chocolate brown eyes, and his set of attire was more sophisticated than most of the marines or rangers in the area, obviously signifying his high rank.
"Hey there, kid. You were talking with someone just now?" The mechanic asked.
"N-no...! Well, yeah, but only with a friend...! E-ehehe!" Halim stammered back, laughing awkwardly whilst rubbing the back of his head.
His father raised his eyebrow suspiciously at his son, before he deflates back to introduce the new man beside him. "Well, whatever... anyway, boy... meet Captain Alex Mason. He's the guy that could help us with the situation at hand."
The boy shifted his eyes to fall on the man called Mason. Two bars of connected silver stripes were present on his collar. He did a small salute to the higher ranked officer. "An honor to meet you, sir. Sergeant Major Liu Li Wen, 222nd Army Battalion."
"At ease, sergeant." Mason raised his hand. "I've been informed by your dad here that you're having a trouble with something. I've been informed up to speed, and I think get the situation. You're saying that these Witches are fighting another alien life form, and somehow ended up in here?"
Liu nodded sternly. "Yes, sir."
The captain immediately hummed thoughtfully, but a quite uneasy look was also present. "And... you want them to be kept out from the public's view?"
"If possible, yes, sir."
"That's gonna be a hard thing to do..." Muttered Mason within an audible hearing range. "...Words can go fly around pretty quickly around the base. I only know a few CIA operatives in the base too. Although the two of my friends are serving the SOG, I doubt we'll make a difference."
Behind those reflective goggles, the Asian marine's slender eyes narrowed themselves even further. "I know the well of the inevitable risk, sir. But for now, we just need to keep them secure and away from the eyes of the public, and if possible, the US government. I could only fear the worst if they found them out here and now." He spoke quietly, also shuddering. "Especially when we're fighting a losing battle..." He added in a bare whisper.
"...I understand your concerns, but I still need more information regarding these girls to form a solid alibi for them." Mason replied. "Are they being hostile to you?"
"We can't really confirm the situation yet, sir, considering how they just came into this world yesterday, but of 'em is a Russian. The rest, were from Germany, The United Kingdom, USA, Finland, Japan, Italy, France, and so on. Most of the group were from the European continent." Liu explained. "Rest assured, they're not hostile. Not even the Russian girl. In fact, she was attacked by the NVAs during our first encounter."
"They were attacked as well?" The captain asked, almost disbelievingly. It's unusual for an NVA to just attack the Russian forces, a USSR, no less! "I see... truth be told, I can't really do anything with only my position to cover them. Sure I can get the CIA and the SOG to keep their mouth shut for a while, but for how long 'till the word reach the states? We know that we can't avoid that one, so we need to at least plan this thing even further."
"...Something that could make them invulnerable, at least from the base's personnel if words're to really go out ..." The young marine thoughtfully muttered to himself. "...Although most of them were already high-ranked by default, some of 'em are still... maybe if we can just enlist them onto something that could at least give the guys here a second thought before going in..." He continued. And finally, as if a metaphorical light bulb went on inside his head, the sergeant snapped his fingers. "Military Assistance Command, The Studies and Observation Group." The words left his mouth plainly.
The two soldiers blinked at the statement.
"What about the MAC-V, sergeant?" Mason asked, curious about his plan.
"We enlist them there." Liu commented flatly. "Therefore, we could provide them some sort of immunity from the base. I mean, since the group itself was already a Black Operations unit, I doubt the base would ask so many question regarding the topic, and they'll do what the SOG asks. So, by doing so, we can stall the inevitable at least for a bit longer. Hopefully, they'll make it back to their own world by then."
"A good idea... but can we really do that? I mean... the guys would have lot of red tapes to cut before actually letting us in."
"Then I'll cut those red tapes for you, Captain Mason." Liu answered firmly, maintaining his straight face. "I'll also take full responsibility of their and my squad's actions. No one is to blame if anyone decides to charge for this matter."
Tjandra, after being silent for a while, finally nudged himself closer to his short son. "Halim? You know that you're being-"
"I know." Liu replied coldly, cutting his father mid-sentence. "That's the exact reason why I'm even proposing this idea to you guys."
"...Truthfully, I don't know if I could do that, sergeant." Mason mused emotionlessly. "But it IS our best chance if we're to give them some cover. I'll see what I can do about it. For now, you go gather the girls, and get me the dossiers. I'll handle the paperwork, and I'll also see if I can't get the SOG to squeeze in a few more butts."
The marine's eyes widened for a bit, although, it remained unseen by the others, thanks to his goggles. "R-really?"
"Hey, I owe your dad my life. I can't see why not." The Captain gave a slight smirk to the young soldier, but the next second later, his serious look returned. "Just get those dossiers ready by the next three days. We'll need to move quickly."
"Yes, sir." Liu gave a full salute to the superior officer. "Thank you very much for your assistance too, sir."
Mason returned the salute back to the marine. "As you were, Sergeant Major." With that, the captain marched off someplace else. Leaving the two Asians alone.
"Holy crap, Pa. You actually made a friend with HIM?!" Liu was barely able to contain his excitement. "I was just speaking to a CIA agent!"
Tjandra only smirked at him. "Well, let's just say, Mason and I go wayyy back. I'll tell you our stories when the time comes, alright? For now, you'd better go back to the hangar." Told the mechanic, pulling out another stick of cigarette from his breast pocket, and lighting it up. "I have to go to the main airfield to help the other maintenance crews with the repair efforts for the C-130. One of her wings are crippled by enemy AA, and we'll need to get her back up into the air immediately."
"Uh... sure." Liu nodded, a bit awkwardly.
"Don't be so hard on yourself, son." The adult messed his son's hair up. "At least you're doing the right thing here." He walked away, puffing the cigarette to produce some smoke.
Liu only watched as his father once again left him again. "Yeah... I hope I'm doing the right thing." He muttered, before shifting his eyes to the right. A supposed-to-be empty green tent entered his eyes. "You can come out now. Coast is clear."
The Karslander suddenly burst herself out from the tent, coughing loudly, and maybe a bit too dramatically. "Eugh...!"
"You okay in there?" The Asian-American raised his eyebrow at the shorter girl. "...You're not going to puke... are you?"
Erica glared upwards at the marine. "As if! But there's too much smoke inside the tent! It was really hard to breathe."
Liu looked towards the vacant tent. It was his dad's. "Oohhh..." He sighed.
"Don't you 'oohhh...' me, it's not funny!" Grunted the Witch, crossing her arms, and puffing her cheeks red.
"I'm not teasing you, Erica. I thought that my dad would not smoke inside his tent, since it's bad for his health... but nooooo..." He grumbled, also a bit displeased at his father's smoking habits. "I might... no, I REALLY need to talk to him about this."
"Whatever you say, Sarge." The girl shrugged. "So... what are we going to do now?"
"The only thing we... or maybe I could do... go back to the hangar and get me some info for the dossier." Liu jogged lightly to the general direction of the hangar. "You comin', Flying Officer?"
"It's Erica!"
"Whoa, Missy, calm the hell down!"
"Jeez, take a chill pill, will ya?! Are you having your time of the month, girl?!"
"C-Captain, please calm down! We only as much as you do!"
"I don't care! If something happens to her, I'll hold you three responsible for this!"
"WHAT?!"
Both Liu and Erica stopped before they reached hangar three's back door. They could hear some frantic chatters from the inside. Three of them sounded like an American, while the last female one, sounded a bit accented, but it sounded like an European. Both of the young soldiers outside the hangar exchanged uncertain glances at each other. Looks like the Bad Company's second detachment had themselves locked in an argument with the 501st.
"Trude's not happy, I assume..." Erica muttered, a slightly uneasy look was present on her face.
"Oh damn... that doesn't sound good." The 2IC of the said squad tensed up. "You think we should head in?"
The blonde Witch only nodded once, the grin on her face now replaced with an uneasy smile. "S-sure..."
With an uncertain nod to each other, the sergeant of the USMC placed his hands on the door that leads to the back room of the hangar. He slowly turned the knob in a clockwise turn, and pushed the metal door open. The rusty hinges of the door produced a rather loud grinding and creaking noises, and the door slides to the inside. The two pair of young soldiers walked in at the same time, only to see the 222nd and the 501st, having their eyes turned over to them.
Liu noted that the marines under his command were doing as ordered. He counted about eleven trays of assorted food of the base's ration on closed trays, stacked up on each other. But that things aside, they could also see that the Marines and the Witches were this close to the point of conflict. On of the girls, Captain Gertrud Barkhorn was evidently angry. Her teeth were gritting against each other, and the marines were pushed back to the defense. The rest of the Witches were also present.
"D-did I miss something?" The sergeant major asked.
"BOSS!" ; "SARGE!" ; "SHORTSTACK!"
"FRAU!" ; "FLYING OFFICER!" ; "LIEUTENANT!" ; "HARTMANN!"
Came the collective response of exclamation from both of the group. Mixed expressions were seen from the two different sides after seeing their soldiers walking in at the same time. The Bad Company's members however, were mostly washed over with relieve, seeing their CO had came in at a the perfect time. The Witches, though... were mostly confused at seeing one of their members wearing a baggy set of clothes.
Out of anger, Barkhorn immediately took a step forward. "Frau... step away from the marine."
"I-it's good to see you, Trudy!" Erica said nervously, smiling awkwardly at the superior officer.
"I said step away from him." The fellow Karslander said with no emotion, and her tone ice cold, shoving the blonde girl from the slightly taller marine, the twin-tailed Witch stepped forward to the slightly dazed marine.
Liu himself was confused to the bone. "Captain Barkhorn, ma'am?" He asked, still oblivious at the focused anger directed at him. "Is something the matte- WAGH?!" He yelped, as his uniform's collar was suddenly grabbed by the brunette.
"You!" Gertrud growled, venom can almost be literally seen in her tone.
Liu blinked uneasily. "M-me...?" He squeaked, his voice sounded nearly thrice as high pitched.
"What did you to her, you filthy Liberian?!" The Captain promptly angrily tightened the grip on the marine's collar. The racial comment made Shirley to form a frown in the corner of the room, while the rest of the Bad Company winced a bit.
"Wh-what are you talking about, ma'am?!" The marine managed to stutter the question back, now fearing for his own life, for the one who grabbed him had some strength to even pull his head upwards, also forcing the sergeant to look down.
"Do I really need to repeat myself, Sergeant Major?!" Trudy pulled herself close to the sergeant, almost ready to punch him square in the face. At that distance, one could even see the brown eyes beneath those reflective goggles, twitching in great uneasiness.
Liu himself, feeling new to the whole situation, especially with a girl's face close to his own, forced himself to look away, closing his eyes shut, and could feel a bit embarrassed himself. A pretty rare sight to see for the marines, considering that the usual Abnormal Survivor seen on the field was usually quiet, cold, steely, commanding, and stoic. But for him to show such flustered, scared, and so out of character reaction was surprising, maybe even comical to his subordinates.
"...I-I...!" China breathed out, but nothing came out, the confusion taking the better of him.
"Trude, calm down, and put the sergeant down, now!" Minna's commanding voice suddenly echoed through the room, causing the heads to snap to her.
Responding to the Wing Commander's orders, the Captain releases her grip from the marine, letting him go. The sergeant coughed up some of the choked oxygen in his lungs. He also held a hand on his neck, the force that the Karslander had used to grab his collar wasn't exactly the smoothest thing in the world. He was sure to be feeling a bit sore over that for a couple of hours. A bit of red was also visible on his face, although, it was unknown whether it was due to the lack of oxygen, or the embarrassment he was feeling.
"I... I didn't do anything to her, Captain, I swear...!" The USMC quickly spoke, holding a hand up to defend himself from another potential assault.
Seeing the still tense situation, Erica laughed nervously. "E-ehehe... he's right, guys! I was kinda bored, so I decided to sneak out from the hangar. But believe me, the place is huge! Although not as grand as our base, it's still really cool for a base's standards!"
"Frau... you're in for some deep questioning later." Gertrud shot the younger girl a cold look, almost sadistic. "You also owe us some answers, Sergeant Major."
In an instant after the order from the Flying Lieutenant, Liu's face deflated back to his usual stoic expression. "C-certainly, Captain." Although his voice was betraying his calm posture. "...But now, I have something important to tell you girls regarding your stay right here."
"And what would that be, Sergeant Wen?" The Japanese Major asked, her face neutral.
"It's about..." He trailed, before a loud growl erupted from one's stomach.
In cue, everyone turned to their attention to Yoshika. The young Witch rubbed her own stomach, while giving out a sheepish, but shy smile to the group. "S-sorry."
Liu's lips simply formed an empty smile, as per usual. "...Well, we can discuss this after the meal. As you can probably seen here bring up some trays filled with our garrison's rations. Pick whatever you like."
Haggard promptly kicked the party up by whistling to get the other's attention. "Take your pick, girls! They're made by Khe Sanh's 'finest'!" He stressed the word 'finest' with a bit of a sarcastic remark.
"We won't be responsible for any explosive diarrhea, though!" Sweetwater added, motioning towards the tray.
Marlowe simply chuckled at the antics of his other squadmates.
The girls, having heard of the word 'food' immediately scooted over to the set of stacked trays. Each of them took a set of warmed up meals into their hands without thinking, probably due to their starvation. The Witches opened the trays to see an assortment of food greeting their eyes. Most of them were left unsure, and they were just staring at the meals at their hands, as if being hesitant to just dig in. The 501st exchanged glances with the Bad Company, who in turn, only gave them a shrug back, prompting them to continue on.
The only who was actually playing with the meal was the Brittanian, Lynette Bishop. "It... it doesn't have any smell." She sniffed at the food, trying to examine its properties.
Yoshika raised an eyebrow at her friend's comment. Before diving a fork into the spaghetti, rolling it up into a nice set of fold, and placed it in her mouth. Munching the food for a couple of seconds, her face turned a bit green. With force, she gulped down the food. "It's... it's tasteless too...!" She informed.
"These things looked like they're pre-cooked." Lynette mashed her dried food, before just grabbing a hard-tack from its packaging.
"It's because they are indeed pre-cooked, lassy." Haggard replied, smirking. "I won't be surprised if they taste bad."
"Or stale, for this case." Sweets laughed heartedly, but still in good humor.
"It was expected from our garrison's rations, by the way." Marlowe took another packaging of his own hard-tack from his pocket. He bit into the cold and preserved biscuit with a slight grunt of displeasure. "But we soldiers can't really complain about it. Since we don't really have a kitchen area here. Sure, we have one, but the guys at the base were just too lazy to just cook their shit up."
"Ironic, isn't it?" The glasses-wearing machine-gunner hummed sarcastically. "Well, it's a soldier's life here at Khe Sanh."
The bearded. foulmouthed bombardier pulled a moderate-sized beer bottle out from his coat, afterwards, shocking almost everyone excluding Sweetwater. "You boys and girls are welcome to take a shot from there, though. I've figured that you all would need something to at least dull the already tasteless taste of the food." Haggard slammed the bottle on top of a crate, like he's actually declaring it.
Liu stared at the bottle, still disbelieving the sight. "How the hell did he get that...?" He pointed at the bottle. "W-wait... don't answer that. I don't want to know where and how did you get it."
Truth be told, an image of Haggard threatening the kitchen hands, demanding for a beer with his 870 Combat in hand, while an M67 Frag on his other hand was visible inside the NCO's mind for a few seconds. Shuddering at the horrifying thought, the marine ultimately pushed all of those negative ideas away from his head, by actually banging his head left and right. He just had to lead this squad filled with misfits, not counting Marlowe in, of course. But... for their credit, he didn't regret it.
A tired look finally washed over the 2IC's face. "You know what, Hags? I'll just take a shot or two. I just need to sink this feeling out of my head for a couple of minutes. Anyone here got a cup or somethin'?"
"Got it covered, Sarge." Sweetwater tapped at the few glasses on his side. He pivoted to his left to grab one small glass and toss it at his CO.
"Thanks." Was Liu's robotic reply, sounded automated too. He caught the small glass gingerly with his free hand, before moving towards the beer bottle. Haggard dispensed the light-golden to brown liquid into the cup without actually being ordered by the Asian marine. Giving a slight nod of gratitude towards the bombardier, he sat back on his chair. For a couple of while, he did nothing but to just watch the girls and marines alike, chattering like an actual family.
For some reason, he felt warm. He had longed to see the sight of soldiers, just relaxing, blowing off steam, and talking like they're some sort of long-time friends. The marines of the Bad Company seems to be particularly interested at Shirley, which Liu hypothesized because of her large bust size. To their shock however, Shirley herself was daring herself, by occasionally pressing her breasts together. While Haggard and Sweetwater were about to pass out because of their nosebleed, Marlowe, being a more preserved one, scooted away from the girl before the situation builds up.
Liu found himself staring back down at his alcoholic drink. He wasn't feeling sure about the whole thing. He chuckled pathetically to himself. He knew that he was growing at least of stress inside him that could potentially lead him insane. His PTSD was growing, and rapidly. Although the constantly horrifying image of the Second Indochina Conflict numbed his sense humanity off, the nightmare still remains, and would haunt him forever. He knew that his sanity was close to just snap, and his transfer to the mental ward could be inevitable, but at least, it could be slowed down with this.
The sight of a second family. Like a closely, and nicely knit friendship.
At least the good times lasted while it did, cause it's about to grow down under quickly, true to Perrine's dropping mood.
In frustration and probably disgust, the Frenchwoman/Gallian girl, shot her slender body up. "Excuse me, Sergeant." She piqued, obviously feeling irritated.
"Hmm?" Liu absentmindedly raised his head from his drink. "Is something troubling you, ma'am?"
"As in the matter of fact, yes, Sergeant. Something IS indeed bothering me." She spoke elegantly, her French accent flowing freely in her speech. "Do you think we're some kind of dogs or animals to you?"
The marine blinked. "Say what?"
"Yes, you heard me right, Liberion." Perrine glared at the NCO. "Do you think that we're some kind of peasant to you?" She repeated her question, angered. "Why are you serving us this kind of food?! It's tasteless, moist, and hard! Hmph, I could not even call these 'things' food...!"
Liu frowned a bit at her protest. "Erh... that's what we soldiers usually get in the field, so..."
Unsatisfied by his answer, Perrine's anger only became more intensive. "Well, we Witches certainly deserved better than you drunken barbarians! You call these rations?! Heh, I think lieutenant Hartmann over there could even cook better than these... trash."
"Hey!" Erica shouted from the corner, having heard the mention of her name in cooking. "I resent that!"
"Drunken barbarians...?" The Asian-American sergeant raised an eyebrow, repeating her somewhat hostile words quietly. "Uhm... Je Suis Desolle, Madame." Liu spoke with a very rusty French, mixed his usual, slightly funny Chinese accent. "But, still, as you can see, what we're having here could be said as a luxury. We're much more fortunate than the guys over at the Forward Bases. Their living standards are much worse than-"
Perrine actually stopped to stare at the sergeant when he had actually spoken in her native language, but her opinion of him hasn't improved even by a single bit. "Still, are you expecting us to just survive with these kinds of food?! You've already forced us to live in this filthy, run-down place, and you're now serving us this?!"
Feeling that his patience has been thinned out by a bit, Liu sighed tiredly. The young soldier ran a hand down from his eyes to his cheek to give out his exhausted state. "...Not to mention saving your lives back at the jungle yesterday." He gave a light, sarcastic snort. "Please, ma'am, you just have to understand. We're doing everything in our power to ensure your safety too."
Still somewhat unsatisfied with everything, the Gallian was about to retort back, but then Mio raised her sheathed katana between the two, catching them off guard by surprise. "Alright, that's enough you two. Especially you, Perrine. I don't need a fight to break out right here, right now." The Fusoan Witch glared at the two conflicting soldiers, also making sure that her command sounded steely as well.
The said Gallian huffed at the command, but for some reason, her eyes sparkled a bit in... admiration? "Yes, Major Sakamoto." Perrine relented from saying any more of her harsh words any further to the marine, but she managed to shot him a one last sharp and dark glare, filled with distrust, irritation, disgust, and anger.
"I love you too, kid." Liu deadpanned, noticing the glare from her. "And for the record... this is my first time drinking. I don't usually drink alcoholic beverages, even when I'm off duty."
The silent anger was proven too much for Perrine as she just stomped away from the area. "Ugh... for the love of..." Muttered the girl, fixing her crooked glasses after her furious blurt out.
"E-erh..." Liu's eyebrow twitched upwards, he was just to turn his attention back to the beer he had in his hands, before he's approached by three Witches, namely Minna, Mio, and Gertrud. He did a slight salute with his two fingers. "...How can I be of service, ma'am?"
"I thought that we should talk about the earlier explanation you've promised, regarding the 501st's stay, I mean." Gertrud was the first to speak up. "I'm sorry about my earlier actions... you know, one's concerns towards each other could be..." The Karslander trailed off, looking a bit apologetic to the sergeant.
"Say no more, Captain Barkhorn. I get it." Liu hollowly smiled, with no signs of emotion radiating from the said smile. He made it just for reassurance, his face then turned stoic as usual. "Yeah... about that..."
"What about it, Sergeant Major Wen?" Mio asked, a bit uneasily. "Has something happened?"
"Well, something DID happened, Major Sakamoto, but, I don't know if this is for the better or for the worse." Liu said cryptically.
Minna narrowed her eyes at him. "Care to elaborate about it, sergeant?"
"Certainly, ma'am." Liu said without looking to the Wing Commander. At least, not directly. "You know the reason why am I keeping you guys in here, out from the other's sights, right?" Silence. "I'll take that as a yes. So... I was kinda introduced to a CIA agent, a long-time friend of my dad. He said that he could help you girls out. But we're going to need your dossier."
"What for?" The red-haired Karslander questioned.
"... Well, it's mostly to keep you from public's reach, at least giving you all some sort of immunity from the wrong hands." The only Asian marine explained. "Long story short, we're kinda enlisting you girls to the United States Armed Forces' Military Assistance Command - The Vietnam's Studies and Observation Group. Abbreviated MAC-V-SOG."
Mio looked at the sergeant with her untrusting, unpatched eye. "You mean that Black Operations group you've mentioned yesterday?"
Gertrud clicked her tongue, annoyed. "...You signed us up without our knowledge? We are to enter a completely different command?"
"You better have a good reason for this, Sergeant Major." Minna said cautiously. "...And also, choose your next words carefully. Because, as far as we're concerned, we Witches are not going to do your dirty work just so we can stay here. We need to get back to our own world. ASAP."
Liu was gritting his teeth under his mouth. It was never easy just blurt out the bad news to them. "As I've said before, it's just purely for your own safety. Although the CIA and SOG works independently, the US government would usually not ask any question. Sure, it would raise suspicion, but once you're in, what you wish is their command. I assure you, ma'am, the girls would not be conducting any Black Ops. You have my word for it. The title was just merely for show, nothing more, nothing less."
The three Witches stared at the marine with an unreadable expression over their faces.
"...When do you need these dossiers, Sergeant Wen?" Minna finally asked.
Liu was still uncertain due to her still unreadable look. But it's for their own good too. "In three days time, Wing Commander. No need to rush it."
"We may need some time to think about this, though... it's not like we could just accept everything that's going on over here." Mio added, while Gertrud just looked at the marine, with a bit of... pity?
"Take your time, ma'am." Liu respectfully gestured his free hand to them, letting them to go talk to themselves.
Having at least a weight off from his back, the USMC sergeant sighed deeply. He eyes darted back to scan the back room of the hangar for anything that could catch his eyes. Most of his men were already getting comfortable chatting (or hitting) on the girls of the 501st. Perrine, although still a bit sore from before, was at least forcing herself to down the military-grade rations while talking to Erica and such. Everything was just... normal.
But not all of them.
On the corner of his dark amber eyes, he saw that the girls that were developing the early PTSDs were just sitting at the corner quietly, not really doing anything, not even eating. Although some of the Witches and the marines tried to talk to them, they just kinda withdrew themselves out. They were the Finnish and Russian Witches, in which Liu never really caught their names. Sure, they seems to be doing... fine...? But they're obviously not being themselves.
Out of self-pity, and the knowledge of having the same stress disorder, Liu took two left-over trays from the nearby table, and quietly walked over to them. Their reaction to the approaching sergeant differs from each other. While the Russian girls seems to look a little mellow, the Finnish Witch immediately assumed an alerted position, standing between the smaller and younger gray haired girl and the US Marine, as if still not trusting him. The PTSDs are growing. And he would need to defuse it.
"Whoa... easy there..." He said reassuringly. "I'm just the delivery boy here." He joked dryly. After seeing no reaction from the two girls, he sets the tray down in front of them and just sat there on the ground trying to break the ice. "So... I've noticed that both of you haven't eat anything since our arrival here... so... here, I guess. Sorry in advance for the taste, though."
The two Witches stared at the closed trays for a few seconds, before actually pulling them into their hands, but refrained from saying anything.
"So... I didn't really catch both of your names during last night." Liu spoke. "Pardon me and my bad hearing... but hey, no harm done when meeting new people, right?" The sergeant gave a slight empty smile.
"...Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen." The girl with the long, silky pale white hair was the first one to go, although hesitantly.
"Sanya Litvyak." The other girl with the jade-green eyes was the next one, although her voice seemed much more shy, withdrawn, and reserved compared to her friend. She sounds like she's the more quiet type of the Witch. Liu found himself staring into this girl's particular eyes for more than a second for some reason.
"Right, Eila, and Sanya." He nodded, trying his best to maintain his empty smile, just to reassure the girls that he's not going to do anything stupid for them. "Well, I have to say, Eila... you saved my bacon yesterday, so I owe you my life."
Eila looked at the ground. "I was just protecting Sanya..." She answered bitterly. "I never wanted to kill that man..."
"Hey... it's okay." Liu placed a hand on her shoulder, in which she almost swatted it away, but her action was no more than a flinch at the hand contact. "First kills are never easy... but hey, at least you saved two lives, both mine, and Sanya's over here. Two birds in one stone."
"...Still!" The Soumus Witch almost retorted back, if it wasn't for the Orusian girl's concerned look for the soldiers.
"No... he was right, Eila. I have to say that I'm also in your debt Comrade Sergeant Major..." Sanya trailed, trying to find his correct name. "Wen... was it?" Her quiet and hushed voice peaked up.
"Bingo." Liu chuckled, before clicking his fingers. "Hey, what about if I tell you two a story? Just for fun, and I think that you two will love it."He lied. It was merely his attempt to stem the growth of their stress. Without awaiting any other response, he decided to start his story. "Well... it's about me..."
The story was mainly telling the marine's personal life, also retelling his past experiences as a student back in the States. He had revealed that he was just like Sanya back then. He was a shy, reserved, and timid student back at his school, mostly because of his racial differences. He was unsociably awkward as a student, and he did some clumsy things while he's still young. He told them the more embarrassing part of his life, in an effort to liven their mood up. This seems to be working, as seen the looks on their faces have at least changed, cause of their currently absorbed state on the story.
"...And then Mark yelled to me 'DUDE, YOU'RE WEARING A SKIRT!', heh, I couldn't even go home from school that day..." He laughed deppreciately to himself, which also earned him a small round of giggle from the girls, much to his relieve. "Oh, wait, it goes even better after this. Now, Lucy was just walking down the road when..."
Sanya noticing something behind the marine, looked a bit surprised. She pointed out her index finger to his back. "Sergeant Major... uhm..."
"What is it, Sanya?" The Asian blinked, before something crept up on his back. This caused the marine to pale significantly. "I-is something crawling...?" He squirmed quietly.
Eila also looked a bit surprised at this. "It's... it's... her, Sergeant... you might want to turn around."
"E-eh?" Before he could even react to that, he could felt his long, sword-like machete being pulled out from its sheath from his upper left shoulder, the force of the pull was so hard, Liu lost his momentum and fell back flat on the floor. He was slightly dazed after the fall, but after several blinks, his eyes met the mischievous face of Francesca Lucchini, a Romagnan Witch, also the youngest of the 501st, having only aged about thirteen or fourteen.
"Hey, look at this, guys! The Sarge also has this cool sword!" She began running, showing the sharp properties of the melee weapon to the rest of the group, let it be the USMCs or the Witches. "Look, Major, it looks pretty similar to your sword too!"
"H-hey, give it back! That thing is not just for show!" Liu demanded, standing up and giving chase to the girl.
"You have to catch me first then! Come on!" Taunted Francesca, already sprinting through the hangar with her fast feet, also flashing him a toothy grin.
"I-I'm serious here! That thing could cut you if you're not careful!" The scout yelled, annoyed. The chase invited some good laughs from the group, Liu consciously noted this, and it was good. They were laughing, and it was pure from their heart. Even Eila and Sanya were giggling loudly at his clumsy attempts to catch the Italian girl. The girls would need this. The marines would need this. He would need this. They all would need this.
Still, there's one thing for sure, though.
Liu Li Wen's sure as hell, he wasn't going to drink the waiting beer at the other table soon enough.
For What It's Worth
Third Chapter: Morning Madness
Quote of the day:
"GIMME' SHELTER!" The Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter, 1966 [Song]
Author's Notes:
Erh... after a while, I finally bring you the third chapter of my work, done in a literally half-sleeping state. And wow, this is a pretty long chapter, isn't it? It broke through the 10000 words wall.
Not really much to explain here in this chapter. Just more and more character and plot development, also describing a bit of more detail of Liu's history and the Bad Company as well. Now, I'm sure that I've told you guys this before, but I'm sorry in advance for any OOC, especially for Erica. I know that she's a good sleeper, but for reasons, and etc, etc, etc, I decided to just... cut it out, just for this chapter. Now, I also mentioned that Shirley have begun her tinkering with the Phantom's engines. In short, yes, I'm kinda trying to blend the tech from the Striker Units and the more modern fighter planes.
Oh, and sorry for anything that seems out of place, like the VFMA-314 Black Knights' getting issued with F5 Tigers. F5s weren't actually issued to the fighter wing, in this chapter, it's just purely for aesthetical purposes only. I have to say loads and loads of sorry, for everything that seems to be out in this chapter. You've probably noticed them more than me, since it's past-midnight when I'm actually writing this author's notes... to be honest, I don't even know what am I writing...
But yeah, sorry. Sorry if the pacing's too fast, Sorry if it's kinda unrealistic, Sorry if the character interactions were just stupid. Just kill me, seriously.
Thanks for reading guys. Hope you enjoyed the story so far.
Traesto :]