Therz would put aside her laptop, and stand up, right after she read an email. Maybe she was stressed though Carls, showing how she seems fast to get on her feet. « Who’s in charge there? » yelled Therz as she advanced further into the provisional command center. She definitely was stressed. A voice would answer, Brigadier Pate, which would make the Brigadier return to Therz as she get near him. « Brigadier, I want to be sure, as you seems to be the one appointed there, that you have a correct understanding of the situations. Here, we are currently playing the future of the Barnacle Prefecture, the possibility of getting back a territory which have been stolen to us since 206 years along getting the international recognition of Heyran Sovereignty. Therefore, I shall be tolerating no faux pas with the international community, am I clear? » she said, in the most stressed tone, she certainly received something very bad in her inbox, which was stressing her out!
The Brigadier wasn't pleased he didn't need a young politician hanging around undermining him in front of his men. He took Therz to one side, "Ma'am, until I am instructed otherwise this is a military operation. You want Barnacle then you need to let me get on with my job. The second you start talking to me like that in front of my men you undermine the operation. I'm trying to juggle the most complex aid operation in our nations history and so far the jobs getting done as well as possible in the circumstances. Now if you think any other officer can get in here and do better then by all means use the chain of command to replace me and I'll go home and enjoy a nice brandy by the fire while your getting wet and muddy here.....or perhaps not" he noted how Therz wasn't exactly attired for getting her hands dirty. "Now Ma'am I have an operation to run." He returned to his board where he had a young officer updating the map on the board.
"The Achkaerin teams are beginning to pick through the waste at their zone, Captain Carmen has radioed in. They've also the Lodjains 24 hours out."
"Excellent, mark it up" he looked at the map showing the relative positions of the incoming support. He looked at his watch, roughly 12 hours and they'd be here. He was considering having a coffee when the radio crackled into life, it didn't sound good.
"HQ this is Captain Boyer" the officer attached to the Morelanders sounded rather frantic.
"Was that gunfire?" the Brigadier asked as the radio operator put on his head set.
"Come in Captain this is HQ" there in the background again was the sound of what appeared to be automatic rifle fire.
"Sir, we've a problem. We were advancing towards a small village in the southern zone when we spotted what we thought were survivors. We approached and as soon as they saw the Heyran flag they told us to leave. I tried explaining and they opened fire, miracle I wasn't hit. Turns out their a small unit of Himeyaman Marines, about fifty guys we reckon, well armed and have some mortars" As if on cue they heard the sound of an air burst, "Holy Shit" Carmen blasphemed, "They said that this area is Himeyaman and that they wish Heyran forces to leave. What do you advice sir?"
"Hold on Captain" the Brigadier had taken hold of the microphone. "Therz you better start pulling some diplomatic strings." he turned back to the radio, "Hold tight we'll get back to you. Withdraw to a safe distance."
"Roger that sir" Carmen signed off and got to his feet and withdrew with his group of twenty Heyrans. "So Major Bradbury what do you suggest" he asked the senior Morelander officer from the Royal Medical Corps.
"Well first off I'd have loved to have a go at remaking that decision to not carry longs" she had a pistol in her hand, they were here on humanitarian operations and rifles didn't portray that image, the Intelligence Corps back home had said chances of a shoot out were "negligible" The Major was crouched in a ditch, everytime some seemed to move or peer out of cover a burst of machine gun fire filled the air. "What your boss say?" she asked.
"Brigadier Pate said to hold tight and withdraw to a safe distance" The Heryan captain had bristled slightly at the informality in the Morelander officers assessment.
"We can't, we've a hundred meters of open land to cover back to that tree line and we might as well have bayonets" Bradbury mused, "Screw it" She said nervously, she reached into her webbing and removed a large white triangular bandage, "Get your radioman to pass me his spare aerial" the Heyran radio NCO unstrapped the spare whip aerial and handed it forward. Bradbury tied it to the aerial and nervously waved it out. At first gunfire began and she twitched nervously as the rounds plucked at the makeshift white flag. Then there was silence and the sound of a Himeyaman voice. "If I get shot" she turned to Sergeant Keith who was just behind her, "I want you to get the Reds or someone to fuck them up ok?" Keith nodded and smiled at the dark humour as Bradbury took a deep breath and stood up leaving her pistol behind, she extended her arms out to the side, her right still clutching the white flag. She moved towards where the Himeyaman soldiers were and after she'd covered half the distance she spotted a camoflauge wearing figure coming towards her.
She meet the Liuetenant just in front of the tree line that had served as their cover. "Major Bradbury, East Moreland Royal Medical Corps" she said formally, the Himeyaman soldier saluted upon noticing her higher rank.
"Liuetenant Maksuda, Himeyaman Marine Commando" he said proudly.
"Were not here to fight you, we're on an aid operation. Word was the Himeyama government had withdrawn everyone here to deal with the state of affairs back home. Why did you fire at us?" she asked.
"My apologise" Maksuda gave a small bow, "It was our belief the Heyrans are coming to try and take the islands that we were born on. I grew up here in the village beyond the trees, so did many of us in my unit. We came here to see if anyone had survived..."
Before he could continue Bradbury interputed, "and have they? We have medical supplies, medical helicopters we can get."
"Thank you" he seemed relieved, "We have ten survivors we thought may need a hospital , another twenty we patched up and wish to stay. We would appreciate the help of East Moreland, but not Heyra" he said formally. "They wish to remove us, I know they would force all the people of the village onto the helicopters and then try to kill us for this land. I was born here and if needed I shall die here, on Himeyaman soil." he said firmly enough that Bradbury believed him. The two chatted for ten minutes before exchanging salutes once more before she handed over her webbing containing her med kit. She jogged back to her unit.
"Nice to see you Ma'am" Sgt.Keith handed her the pistol back. "What's the situation?" he asked
Bradbury turned to address Keith and Captain Carmen at the same time. "It's simple, they are refusing to leave the island with the rest of the Himeyaman military, group of Marine Commando's who grew up in the village beyond the trees, they've some casualties that we need to evacuate. They say they will not allow any Heyran forces into the zone, they also claim there are other groups like them around the islands that they've been in contact with. I've agreed with them that we'll send thirty Morelanders in to assist them with medical and aid operations. Keith your on that, get yourself a team"
"Yes Ma'am" he got up off the ground and began rounding up his team who disappeared off towards where only moments earlier they'd been getting shot at from.
"Carmen you need to let your boss know what's happening, its changed the situation on the ground quiet a bit I'd say."
Carmen took the radio hand set and called up Pate. Once the news reached him he called for Therz to be brought into the operations room. "Ma'am it seems we've a job for the politicians, we've groups of Himeyaman Marine Commando's dotted around the island, confirmed in one place. They say they will oppose Heyran military stepping into their territory and they've already openned fire on a Morelander lead patrol. Their officer negotiated what I guess we'd call a ceasefire, Morelanders will carry out aid operations but will not forceably remove anyone. So seems not all the Himeyamans did as they were instructed." he shrugged, "You need to find out where you want me to go from here." He turned back to his maps and lifted his own radio handset that allowed him to communicate with all the different zones. "This is Brigadier Pate, we have a situation. There are confirmed reports of the presence of Himeyamn Marine Commandos on the islands who have refused to return home. I suggest in any zone that used to be Himeyaman occupied units remove Heyran flags and Heyran units withdraw. Allow non-Heyran forces to make contact if you come across any of them. Do not start a fire fight, repeat no one is to open fire."
