Bored soldiers like gossips - an Operation Hungry Walrus narrative

Bae Sangwook knocked lightly at the door. “May I come in?” He actually knocked at the door frame, since the door of the small office was long lost. The tiny room was just a space in the corner of the warehouse the Wolves learned to call “HQ” in the past few weeks. The opposite corner is the “tech-bay”, where Terbish and Bora were tending the Blue Wolf and the REMs lies recharging. The bottom right corner was used as an emergency room: not many beds, sadly never vacant. Last corner was entirely occupied by ammos, weapons, gear and other supplies. The rest of the space was almost entirely covered by cots and sleeping bags, each soldier took a fair share of personal space since the Task Force was small and the space was more than enough. This is probably the only comfort these men got in the past three weeks. Despite that, morale was high.

The voice of Tang Shun came from the inside. “Please, come in, take a seat.” The interior was dim-lighted, only the screen of the comlog offered a little lightning. On the far side, the Daofei suit of armor stood against the wall, the white coat hanging beside it, waving slightly at the flow of air. The sergeant was sitting at the rusty desk, reading something on the comlog. Bae sat on the crooked stool and waited to be heard. This was the most quiet place in all the warehouse, all the sound from the outside came muffled. It’s true what they said “silence is Tang Shun's ever-present companion”.

“Is the inventory report ready?”. The Dafoei broke the silence. His voice was grave, deep, but not loud. Yet perfectly understandable.

“Yes, I sent you that this morning. I don’t have much to add and consider, I don’t know why you asked me to come here…” Bae began to doubt that he had done a good job.

“We lost momentum.” The man retrieved the inventory list and distractedly read it. “What is the Wolves’ preeminence?”

“Scout, recon, seek and destroy, if I remember correctly…” Bae answered.

“Yes, you do. For its chain of command, supply chain and specific training, the White Banner is inefficient in sustained combat and attrition. That’s what the Invincibles excel in.” Tang Shun explained. “What I need from you is an opinion.”

“An opinion?” Bae wasn’t aware that the lieutenant accepted opinions.

“Did I stutter? What do you think, are we still combat-effective?” He asked.

Bae gulped, but composed himself quickly. “Well, given the data, line troops and mechanized sections are still good. Heavy support and scouting units suffered major losses and may need up to a week to recover. Spares, munitions and supplies were restocked recently.”

“Those are brilliant evaluations, yet not opinion”. His deep brown eyes now watched him, sternly.

“Well, I might assume that it would be safe to stick to perimeter control and escort tasks for at least two weeks. Otherwise our lacking sections could be taken over by the Shentang Headquarter. This means the end of the autonomy of the task force.” He hoped this was enough.

“That’s exactly what we are going to do.” Tang Shun relaxed a little. “It is imperative we find a way to remain effective in this theater. There are other interests for us here, beyond our duty.”

“Yes, we know the stories…” Bae spoke without thinking and immediately regretted it.

“Which stories?” Tang Shun asked, inquisitively.

“Well, I… we… I don’t know…” Bae stammered.

“You think I’ve not heard of them? This Task Force being a private service for an influential diplomat,  the ties between the commanding officer and a notorious Huangdi vigilante, the smuggling of nessium stopped single-handedly by a bunch of valorous, an incompetent NCO mysteriously disappeared…” Tang Shun enumerated all the theories. “Bored soldiers like gossips”.

“I must say that, well, that… that are all, well… fantasies?” Bae stammering hasn’t ended yet.

“Some of them are true. The other not. We serve the StateEmpire, all the rest has no importance whatsoever.” An embarrassed quiet followed. “You can go now. Send the report to Shentang as soon as possible.”

Bae stood and walked toward the door.

“You did well. Keep up the good work.” Tang Shun said, while getting back on reading on the screens.

“Thank you, sir”. Bae left the office and entered the chaotic space of the warehouse.