Long Xuyen, Vietnam.
Captain Lu Phen Doc lowered the phone in his slightly shaking hands, the Radar specialists had just called in, the entire region to the south, from Thốt Nốt stretching all the way East until the ruins of Cao Lãnh had turned into a dead-zone. All attempts to read the area resulting in nothing but haunting white noise. That kind of loss of communication, paired with the practical monsoon outside, could only mean one thing, invasion.
And he'd allowed Lao to run headlong into it.
He quickly moved to the military radio he kept in the next room, shooing one of the nervous operators out of his chair as he flicked to the Commanders channel. "Commander? Commander Lao do you read?" Please respond, please.
"Captain?! Little busy here! trying to drive with four people in the cab at 102 miles per hour! Last pothole nearly sent me through the roof!" The Captain grinned briefly before sighing in relief, Lao always got a smile out of him, with her terribly American-accented Vietnamese.
"I do hope you are not en-route to pick up Chitose's 'spy.' Our radar has gone silent in the Southern regions, a major Abyssal incursion is likely in-bound. It seems they have grown tired of our continued presence so close to Ho Chi Minh City." Luckily most of the population was gone already, either North into Cambodia, or Northwest towards the Capital. There were only roughly sixty-thousand people that currently called the place home, including the military forces, a far cry from the some three-hundred sixty-eight-thousand plus at the outset of this...War.
"We got Radar contact before we left, fairly certain they spotted us as well, but they never sent anything after us. There were a lot of them, Captain."
"How many?"
"Yes."
That was not comforting. If New Jersey had emptied her docks to commit to this attack... There was no way that she would be absent. They would not be able to beat them back, merely hold, for a time. Captain Lu came back to the matter at hand as the Commander continued.
"I'm heading back, Chitose wasn't lying, in a manner of speaking. Her spy showed up, a Heavy Cruiser and... Light Battlecruiser in tow. She's definitely a Nuclear Submarine, sir, only..."
"What is it? You only hesitate like that when you think I will be angry with you." Last time had been when the man had caught the girl mortar fishing, when she was supposedly doing paperwork in her office. Not that he had cared, but the tone had been the same.
"She's an Abyssal, sir." What.
"What?" From the radio he could hear Pham Ngu Lao curse as the truck she was in plowed through something.
"Abyssal nuclear submarine, Ohio-class, spy, friendly. From what she said Jersey blew up her house and is currently trying to murder her violently after discovering she was spying for Chitose, sir. The ships she was with? Also Abyssals, a Ri-class, like what was in the report, and some abomination Georgia put together out of spare parts." The Captain blinked at that, he hadn't read Lao's report that was still sitting on his desk, afraid of what skullduggery he'd find and have to pretend not to know. Now he was regretting it. He gathered himself, anything Lao would bother to drag back into his city was something he could deal with, as long as she MADE it back.
"You know what, I don't care what she is, just get back into the city as fast as you can, I'll be issuing deployments after this as well as evacuation orders, when you come into town you will move to the jetty on Lý Thái Tổ street, we need those ferries protected if we want the people out of here." If the new 'friendly' Abyssal ships were of aid in the battle, lovely, if not... At least Lao would be close enough to the Eastern evacuation point to get away. The Commander confirmed his order before signing off.
The Captain quickly changed channels to the general civilian frequency and thought of what to say, this would be blasted on loudspeaker throughout the entire city. Though only parts of it were actually populated. "Get the sirens going! and get me more runners on the way out!" He yelled at the operator standing behind him, the man wasted no time in fleeing. The Captain finally leaned into the mic.
"All Citizens, an Abyssal taskforce is encroaching upon the City, leave your homes and gather at the nearest rally point, do not gather personal belongings aside from bare essentials, leave any pets, and do not use personal transportation, the military transports will soon arrive at all designations to pick you up, to any Citizens living North of the Kenh Rach Gia canal, Mỹ Hòa, and Mỹ Bình, you will be transported into Châu Đốc, where you will be further processed" They would be likely be sent deeper into Cambodia, the Capital city, Phnom Penh, was a major stopping point for the refugees from Southern Vietnam and Eastern Thailand. "All Citizens of Mỹ Xuyên and Mỹ Long are to be driven by ferry into and up the Mekong River, this message will repeat." He pressed the necessary buttons to make it happen as three men in standard PAVN uniform came into the room, saluting, they awaited his order.
"You, contact Lieutenant Dwei, tell him to organize the KamAZ trucks for the evacuation here, you, get hold of the ferry Captains, we don't have much time, have them take every available boat they have, if they need more crew tell the Commander's boys to fill those hulls, and gather at the jetty in Mỹ Long." The two men scrambled to obey as Lu turned back to the radio, he raised 'Colonel' Van Pham Ji, current chairman of the Air Force Veterans Club.
"Colonel Van Pham Ji, do you read, over." There was a fumbling noise as the radio activated.
"Yes? Captain Lu? You don't call me a Colonel unless you need something, we heard the broadcast, where do you need us?" Captain sighed in relief, the old man was actually a retired Colonel from the Peoples Airforce. He'd managed through different charities and close ties with the military to purchase several decommissioned and dis-armed MIG 21's. For use by veterans of the club in formation flying on Air Force Day. When Ho Chi Minh City was taken, The Captains superior, Major 'Hamburger' Hwang, had had a deal put forward by the club. The MIG's could be recommissioned and armed, using the club's personal airstrip supplanted by military supplies quickly flown in. On one caveat, other than any actual Airforce that would eventually show up (They never did) they could only be flown by members of the veterans club and people they trained and vetted. With most of the actual Airforce's 935th division pilots wet smears on the ground at the time, the Major had agreed, as the old men were the only ones with the training to teach and fly the old jets regardless.
"We need your men running a CAP over the City, they usually open up with artillery, but we both know those bombers wont be far behind." The Captain could hear Pham Ji's muttered curses, the man, already in his late 70's, had flown in defense of the HQ when it fell, and he had lost several old friends there, he knew just as well as the Captain what kind of storm this would be to weather. "You'll likely have more friendlies this time aside from the Commander, we got a new Seaplane tender, has over twenty planes, should help."
"I'll tell the young ones, we'll be up in 15... good luck, boy." And he was gone, that left Lieutenant Chinh.
"I trust you heard the announcement?" Lu said upon reaching him.
"Yes, I've been reading the men in on the plan we made up for this scenario, still not sure about this 'junk force' foolishness."
"It doesn't have to work for long, its merely to keep them off the ferries until they are away, no one would expect you to actually hold.
"Well, I'd feel much safer in with the T-55's"
"Why? They are going to be shot at with Naval cannons."
"So are we! at least then you could always drive away!"
"Look, are the ZSU's in position, or not?"
"Of course not! We just got the damn alert! they are on the way, they'll have several skyboxes planned out within ten minutes, the old AZP S-60s are ready as well on Cồn Phó Ba, just got off the horn with the non-com there. Any specific directions to watch for?" The Captain thought for a moment.
"If I was a betting man, they wouldn't bring their aircraft down the same river as the main assault, they will likely fly in from the East, probably from the Ho Chi Minh Cities's airstrip, the MIG's are going up soon, so we'll know from visual confirmation soon enough."
"I'll get them ready to reposition then, just make sure to direct the irregulars, I'm not babysitting them again."
"Got you, over and out."
Captain Lu sighed as he leaned back, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He got up and moved back into his office, waving away the last man back to his post before coming to stand at the window as men streamed past, many were carrying the man-portable Fagot and Konkur recoilless rifles to set up, though many were still carrying small arms, good only for annoying Abyssals, at most shooting the golden BB that would find its way into a pilots head. One of the few old American M113's rolled by, carrying munitions and men as it carried on towards the docks, it was followed by two Chinese Type 59-I Battle Tanks, useful against destroyers, with their 4" HEAT rounds, but incapable of surviving anything thrown back at them, they'd have to practice the old 'shoot and scoot' game today.
They all would.
