"Alright Morzhovy, you have a hell of a lot of explaining to do," the commander growled.
"Sir," Ivan replied, "what would you like to know first sir?"
"First off," the commander said, "I want to know about the walker. If your information satisfies me, I won't bother about the silo fiasco. Got it?"
"Sir yes sir," Ivan yelled. "The walker was cloaked, apparently the EU has taken our original advances in the IT-33 and improved upon it. There were no telltale signs of the usual humming noise nor were there any shimmering in the air. For all practical purposes, the EU has perfected the cloaking device."
"Dammit," the commander muttered, "that means this entire op is slated for failure. If the EU can land a walker behind a fireteam at silos, then there's not a damned thing we can do. How the hell did you manage to recognize the walker?"
"I know the sound sir," Ivan replied, "I was part of Migration and Deception. I was also there at Treblinka before the Coalition was formed. Not to mention two tours in Belgrade and Minsk at the opening of this war."
"Impressive record Sergeant," the commander noted, "But apparently not impressive enough to save all your squad. Although you're doing better than Delta. Word is, the transport that went down to retrieve them got smeared. We haven't heard from either of them. They're as good as dead."
"Sir, requesting permission to perform rescue mission!" Ivan exclaimed.
"Denied," the commander said, "we need you here, besides, your squad needs some R and R. Once Epsilon comes back from silo one, we'll assign their team engineer to your squad. I heard their machine gunner knows how to work those silo consoles so they won't be needing their other programmer."
At the commander's suggestion, Tanya's arm stiffened while Heliang shot her a knowing look.
"Don't even think about it," she whispered.
"Oh, too late," Heliang smirked.
"Alright," the commander's stern expression softened. "Go see your sniper in the infirmary."
"Sir," Ivan said, "requesting permission to speak."
"Granted," the commander replied.
"Sir," Ivan said, "My fallen teammate Kush Arya died nobly in face of overwhelming odds. He was determined to protect the squad, sacrificing his life to help us located the cloaked walker. In accordance to military protocols, I believe he is at grounds for an Order of the Lotus Banner."
"I'll consider it," the commander said, "but don't count on it. The Order of the Lotus Banner is a heavy award, I'm not sure if the brass upstairs is willing to heap the honor onto a normal foot soldier. Now get out of here."
"Understood sir!" Ivan replied, repressing the grief in his voice.
"Alright, let's see Zhang Yi," Heliang pulled Ivan towards him. "Also, we need to make sure Tanya and that engineer's rooms are at least two corridors away. I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of creaking bedsprings. Hell, I could use a decent nap."
"One more word and I swear to your gods," Tanya growled menacingly.
"Sorry kiddo," Heliang smiled, "I'm an atheist."
"You got the point I was making," Tanya replied as the three entered the infirmary.
The infirmary was a sickly sight. The groans of the wounded filled up the room. Half the beds are bloodsoaked. The medics were scurrying around, yelling for blood and plasma. Three men were in such bad condition that the medics gave their sidearms to them and said to take care of the pain themselves. Three shots rang out and three men were carried out of the infirmary.
"Jesus, Joseph, and doggy-style Mary," Heliang breathed. "Where is Zhang Yi."
"Right there," Ivan pointed. "I recognize that arm from anywhere."
"How so?" Tanya asked. "Anything we should know about you two's sex life?"
"Ha ha," Ivan replied sarcastically. "No, we were both at Treblinka before the formation of the Coalition. You might want to ask him about it. Be sure to not use the words 'tank', he's still pretty bitter about it."
"Wait a minute," Heliang piqued, "Wasn't Treblinka the battle where the Eurasian Alliance broke apart into the EU and Russia and where the East Asian Federation lost a strategic victory that led to the formation of the Pan Asian Coalition?"
"Bingo," Ivan smiled, "That's where Zhang Yi and I met. He was the leading tank officer for the EAF. Turns out he was also a crack shot with the sniper rifle. Nearly killed General Vladomirovic if the man didn't move his head to the left at the last second."
"Wait, he used to command tanks?" Heliang asked.
"Yep, you mean you never notice how he's always eyeballing the Nekomatas?" Ivan asked back. "He wants to be sitting in the command seat, where he belongs. But Military Command replaced all the EAF officers with Russians to ensure loyalty. Bit of a damned shame if you ask me. He led a column of light assault tanks that took out almost two columns of the old Vladimir tanks."
"Couldn't he apply for a transfer?" Tanya asked. "He has the qualifications."
"Nope," Ivan replied, "his military records showed that he used to be an officer of the EAF. The highest rank he can attain now is corporal. Besides, we're having trouble holding onto China and Japan as it is. Too bad most of our technology comes from there. I seriously didn't think I'd survive my encounter with Zhang Yi."
"What happened?" Tanya asked.
"Let's wake him up," Ivan laughed, "you can ask him yourself."
The three made the way to the tankist turned sniper. Tanya sat down on the bed, rummaged through her medicine kit, and found a stimulant. She injected it into Zhang Yi's arm, and a minute later, he opened his eyes.
"Aw hell no," he coughed, "I got the other end."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Heliang asked.
"This can't be heaven," Zhang Yi replied, "You're here."
"You think you're dead?" Ivan smiled.
"Might as well be," Zhang Yi smiled back, "my damned legs feel useless. Pain's everywhere. And I think I still feel the bullet."
"You big baby," Heliang shook his head. "The bullet's removed, you're fine."
"Except a shredded liver, eighteen broken bones, and seven severed arteries." Tanya read his charts. "Not too shabby, at least I managed to patch up your arteries before transferring you up here. Otherwise you'd be dead."
"I guess I owe you one," Zhang Yi replied, mischief twinkling in his eyes. "How about after I get better, we meet up in my quarters for some genuine thanks."
"No." Tanya's answer ended the conversation on an awkward note of silence.
"So," Ivan broke the ice, "Zhang Yi, your squadmates want to hear the thrilling story of when we first met. Care to indulge them?"
"Oh jeez," Zhang Yi groaned, "They want to hear how I pointed an empty pistol to your head?"
"Oh that's not the whole story," Ivan laughed. "Remember what happened afterwards?"
"Vividly," Zhang Yi replied, "You knew the pistol was empty."
"Yep," Ivan said, "didn't take too much to disable you and take you prisoner again."
"Hmph," Zhang Yi scoffed, "At least I still managed to get a shot off."
"Nearly killed the general," Ivan laughed, "Too bad he turned."
"You try hanging on a ledge by your fingertips and sniping," Zhang Yi retorted.
"How'd you get yourself into that situation?" Heliang asked incredulously.
"When I first got captured after my tank broke down, I tried to break out but the guard would be constantly watching me. So in a stroke of brilliance, I broke my dinner plate, pissed him off since he had to pass me my food by coming into the cell." Zhang Yi replied, "So as he came into the cell to deliver my food, I snapped his neck. Then I took his clothes and got out. Didn't help that the only language that I knew was Chinese."
"Then how did you communicate?" Heliang asked in Chinese.
"Didn't need to," Zhang Yi replied in his native language. "Most of the guards don't talk. I snuck out to the armory, it really helps that they have pictures on their warhouses. Once I got inside, I grabbed a sniper rifle. As I was leaving, somebody stopped me and said something, couldn't understand a word of it at the time."
"Let me guess you shot him?" Heliang asked.
"Nyet," Zhang Yi relapsed into Russian. "I swun my rifle like a bat at him and took off running."
"You know," Ivan interrupted, "I think the mark is still there on my head."
"Hell," Zhang Yi laughed. "If you didn't come after me when you got back up, I would've had a clear shot into the general's head."
"Yeah, forced him to jump down a ledge," Ivan explained. "He just sort of hung there, before I could get out my pistol, he took a shot. Damn he was fast."
"What happened afterwards." Tanya asked, absorbed by the story.
"He jumped," Ivan replied. "Bastard threw himself down the ledge, grabbed the piping and swung into the comm tower. Killed nearly everyone in there until he ran out of bullets. That's when I showed up."
"You were lucky," Zhang Yi replied, "I killed three more with my bare hands before you showed up. You kicked down the door, and next thing I knew I was looking at the barrel of an assault rifle."
"And you decided to provoke a standoff," Ivan smiled. "Good thing neither of us had our guns loaded."
"Yeah, you're a good guy Ivan," Zhang Yi replied as he closed his eyes. "Good enough to keep the guards from killing me when I got back in prison."
"Well, that's that." Ivan said to his squad as their friend fell back into a deep slumber.
"Kind of want to hear what really happened at Treblinka." Heliang muttered. "Only thing I could find in the records was that it was the first battlefield deployment of walkers and the battle that formed the PAC, apart from that, nothing."
"That's story for another time," Ivan said. "Let's get topside, I think Epsilon is due back soon."
"Bet Tanya'll be happy," Heliang laughed.
He got a swift punch to his right solar plexus.