April 11, 2050 - 07:23
Da Nang, Vietnam - VinaMed International Hospital
Cpt. Harrison Armstrong
Harrison pressed the elevator button and watched the doors close in front of him. Since he was the sole occupant in the elevator and his destination was the 17th floor, He took some time to look at the mirror wall and adjust his shirt and tie.
If he were allowed to do things his own way, he wouldn't have dressed in a proper but uncomfortable outfit. Alas, he could only suck it up and follow the code. He was used to it anyway.
A ding echoed in the elevator before the door slid open. Harrison walked out into the hallway.
It was quiet, eerily so. A few nurses and doctors were still in the corridor, but most of it was empty since there was still half an hour left until visiting hours.
Harrison felt uncomfortable and apprehensive as he walked down the clinically white corridor. The sterilised air and the cocktail of medical alcohols and chemicals permeated the very air he was breathing.
Bad memories, he thought. He preferred to stay away from all hospitals if he could, but a job is still a job.
He stopped in front of his destination, room 1738.
He slid the door open and stepped inside.
"Good morning, Miss Tien," Harrison said in his broken Vietnamese accent.
Tien nodded and offered a smile to Harrison as he approached her bedside and grabbed a chair to sit down.
"I see you're much better now. You recover fast."
"Thank you. The doctors and nurses were very attentive, and the medicine helps too." Tien answered.
"That's good then."
Harrison briefly turned away from Tien and grabbed a few pieces of paperwork from his briefcase.
"Well then, Miss Tien, I have a few questions I would like to ask you regarding your… incidents."
As soon as he asked the question, Harrison could see Tien become visibly uncomfortable, her face contorted at the slight mention of what could be the most traumatic event in her life. Harrison understood that feeling all too well.
"I know that you would like to never mention this incident again; however, your cooperation would be greatly appreciated, as it could help us bring the criminal to light and deliver justice to them. It would also put all the other victims and their families at ease." Harrison gently urged the girl.
There was a moment of silence between them, as silent as it could be with the constant beeping and humming of the bedside monitor. Harrison could see that the girl was struggling with her own thoughts and emotions. He didn't blame her.
After a hot minute, Harrison received his answer.
"I will try my best… please ask me anything."
"Thank you for your cooperation, Miss Tien. First things first, when and how did you get kidnapped by the criminals?"
"I…I remember that I was partying in a club along with my friends. We were just doing what everyone else was doing, dancing, having fun, getting hammered… You know, just having the time of our lives."
"I see."
"And then… I was quite drunk… when a guy and his friends invited us to have fun and drink with them. I didn't think much of it back then; all of it sounded legit at the moment… well, as legit as my drunk self could ever rationalise. We went to his private booth, had fun, drank alcohol, danced, drank more alcohol, had some… well… substances…"
Harrison could tell the regret and disappointment at herself in her voice.
"And then what happened?"
"... I guess… I guess I was too drunk and passed out… and… the next thing I remembered, I was tied up and stripped of my clothes… then they put me in that prison… they… they did a lot… of things…" Her voice was getting shaky, and her eyes teared up as she was retelling her memory.
"I see… I'm sorry to have reminded you of such a painful memory." Harrison offered a tissue that he always carried in his T-shirt's pocket.
Tien took the tissue and offered an appreciative nod at Harrison before cleaning herself up and wiping her tears away.
"It's… ok… I'm not there anymore…" Her voice was still shaky, but slowly regaining her composure.
"Yes, yes, you're safe now. You, your friends, and the other people that my daughter's squad had saved."
Tien was surprised when he mentioned his daughter.
"Your… daughter?"
"Yes, her name is My. I do believe that you two have talked before, if I remember correctly."
"My? She is your daughter?" Tien was baffled.
"Adoptive, yes, but still my daughter. She's a strong woman… a little bit reckless, but strong nonetheless." Harrison clarified.
"Ah… well, She's sweet."
"That she is." Harrison chuckled before shuffling his paperwork. "Let's return to the questions before I leave you to rest."
Tien nodded.
"Well then, what club did you go to when the incident happened?"
"It was the Nova Oriental nightclub."
"I see, and could you please describe the person who offered you free drinks and drugs?"
"Ah… um… I think he had a strong central accent. His hair was smooth and styled backward… I don't remember what it was called. And he wore a very distinct leather jacket."
At the mention of the leather jacket, Harrison suddenly remembered something that My pointed out to him. He shuffled through the paperwork and picked up an evident picture and showed it to Tien.
Upon seeing the picture, Tien's face turned into one of pure disgust before it slowly morphed into a pained chuckle.
Serve you right, She whispered, but Harrison could tell what she was saying based on her expression alone.
"Yes, that was the man."
"Thank you for the confirmation."
Harrison then put away the paperwork and stood up from the chair.
"That is all the questions I have, for now. Based on this information, We'll investigate that club before we continue further with the escalation. Once again, thank you for your cooperation, and I hope you recover quickly, both physically and mentally."
Harrison patted her hand before walking toward the door.
Just as he was about to walk out of the room, Tien spoke up.
"Please tell My that I'm grateful for her help. Without her, I wouldn't… be here."
Harrison turned to look at Tien. Her face was that of someone who was truly thankful. He smiled back.
"I will."
April 11, 2050 - 08:30
Da Nang, Vietnam - Black Angels Division Training Facility
Pvt. My Phan
"Damn, you look tired as hell. Someone keep you up last night?" My teased when she saw Luna's appearance.
Dishevelled hair, bags under her eyes, thousand-yard stare. Luna had all the typical symptoms of someone who was purely running on hatred and caffeine.
"I wish, but no, I had a bunch of paperwork last minute that I had to get it done. Something something your new mission." Luna growled, more so at her predicament than at My's tease.
"Dang, you work too hard… Well, if you need someone to keep you up at night in a good way, I'm always open~" My continued her flippant manner.
Luna didn't even entertain My's antics.
"My, give her a break!" Chisato chimed in and grabbed My by her shoulders and guided her to her seat.
All the others also grabbed their own seats and started small conversations before the briefing started. Luna tapped her tablet before turning on the projector and turning off the lights.
"Alright, let's get this over quickly. I need more caffeine, or I will actually end someone." Luna grumbled.
"Don't drink too much coffee, it'll ruin your beauty." Max kidded.
Unfortunately for Max, Luna was definitely not in the mood for some lighthearted jokes, or god forbid, flirtings.
"Max, I swear to god, I will turn your handsome face inside out."
Luna gave him a death stare as an ultimatum, which was very, VERY effective, as everyone, including Max, gulped and sat up to take the briefing slightly more seriously.
Once everyone settled, Luna stopped the death stare and started the briefing. The slide showed a picture of a hospital and its company logo.
"Yesterday, we were contracted by a company called VinaMed, a subsidiary of VinaGroup."
A few hands raised up amongst the group.
"For anyone who is still ignorant of the local situation, VinaGroup is Vietnam's largest conglomerate. Basically a superpower, a huge player in the Southeast Asian Union."
All the hands were lowered.
Luna sighed before continuing.
"Anyway, VinaMed will be transporting a huge amount of medical supplies from Da Nang to the nearby city, Hue. Usually, this large amount of medical supplies would be transported by armored trains. However, much to our luck, a portion of the railway was covered by a landslide. Whether it was a natural cause or a manmade one, that is still to be determined, but those medical supplies must get to Hue on time. That's where we come in."
Luna paused her briefing since Enzi raised his hand.
"What's your question, Enzi?"
"If I remember correctly, VinaGroup has their own mercenary and security division, right? Why us?" Enzi asked.
"Good question. According to what the client has told me, their security personnel have been stretched thin due to the rising pirate and bandit attacks in the whole Southeast Asia region as a whole. VinaGroup is a huge conglomerate, and such huge conglomerates are usually proud of their own capability to protect their assets, so I wouldn't doubt that they would have tried to resolve the situation by their own hands."
"Got it."
Luna changed the slide to a new one, this one showing a sizeable convoy of ten highly armored trucks. It might have seemed overkill to deliver medical supplies in such a vehicle, but with the rampant amount of crimes all over the world, having an armored truck was basically industry standard, if a company wanted to deliver something intact.
"These are our protection targets. Ten 'Armadillo' trucks, lined with enough armor to shrug off anything up to .50 cal AP. The only negative about these trucks is that they don't have their own defensive armaments."
Upon seeing the images of the Armadillos, Kasem made a catcall whistle.
"Kasem, stop being horny for a vehicle!" My teased.
"Said you. You have your interest in people; I have my interest in the mechanical." Kasem fired back.
There was a brief staring contest between the two; however, Luna was much too tired to give half a fuck about it.
"Wait, if they want to get their supplies to Hue in time, why not use air transport?" asked Long.
"Ok, first of all, flying costs more, obviously. Secondly, they wouldn't risk using air transport when they might get shot down by a bunch of dudes hiding in the jungle with smart homing boomsticks."
"Oh, got it." Long sounded slightly embarrassed for asking a question. He was consoled and patted on his back by My.
"So we escort them by ground vehicle?" Asked Peter.
"Yep." Luna offered a simple reply and changed to a new slide.
The new slide showed two pictures. The first picture, labeled "VinaSec" underneath, showed a fleet of Humvees, armed with a variety of high-caliber machine guns, automatic grenade launchers, and Active Defense Systems. The second picture, labeled simply with "Black Angels", showed a fleet of up-armored civilian SUVs, the kind one would see in a presidential motorcade, most armed with miniguns and high-caliber machine guns. Two of those vehicles were not armed at all, and instead were labeled 'Advanced Electronic Countermeasure Vehicle'.
"Damm, they modified their Humvees to have ADS? Why don't we have those on our vics?" Kasem asked.
"I don't have a good answer to that. You'll just have to make do with what we have." Luna answered.
"Hmm… That's reassuring."
"The good news is, you won't be leading the convoy. We're basically just backup for the main VineSec guys, and with our convoy size, hopefully that would be enough of a deterrent to anyone who would be dumb enough to try." Luna reassured them.
Peter then chuckled before adding to the conversation.
"Which is most of them. Why else would they be doing crimes?"
"Well, I did say hopefully. Anyway, our Heaven's Hounds squad will be deployed, along with another two squads, to assist with escorting the convoy. You'll be divided into three groups, two groups of three and one group of four, per vehicle. Of course, you'll get the fun vehicles with the guns instead of the boring AECVs. That would be for the specialist squad."
Luna turned off the projector and turned on the light again.
"Any questions?"
There was a hand in the air. It was My's.
"Yes? What's your question, My?"
"Is it too late to tell you guys I don't have a driving license?"
There was a chorus of face slaps.