Chapter 28 - 104 Minutes

“Eeeep!” Cried out the young communications officer, his headset clattering off to the ground as he was bodily dragged up into the air. His toes scrabbling in the air, unable to find purchase as they had been lifted about 3 inches off the floor. This was hardly his main concern at the moment, however.

“Repeat that last transmission,” came the low, rumbling growl from Colonel Zhao’s snarling face, sending flecks of spittle flying onto the young officer’s deathly pale face mere inches from him. “Just one more time.”

“Eh. P.. Priority transmission from G.. General.. General Xiao Ming: H.. hold your ground. Do.. Do not engage. Repeat. Do not.. Not engage. Hold and await further.. Umm.. Further orders,” The terrified officer finished in a rush, squeezing his eyes shut and squirming away from his captor, who also happened to be his superior officer.

“Damn it, why?” Colonel Zhao snarled as his face grew livid. “Why?! It is the perfect opportunity, we could crush their resistance and end their whole eastern campaign right here.”

The panic-stricken communications officer shook his head mutely, his quivering lips attempting in vain to form an answer that would satisfy his oppressor. Just as he was about to finally get out something other than a wordless whimper, Colonel Zhao screamed in rage and threw him bodily into the holographic display panel behind his back with a great, resounding crash, sending shattered pieces of glass and plastic bouncing all over the floor.

“Damn cowards, I knew those HQ sycophants wouldn’t have the balls to do what is needed,” Zhao growled under his breath, not quite loud enough for anyone to hear him. He knew what he had said was crass insubordination, and if one was to believe General Xiao, the Ice Emperor’s reputation, he would not let such a slight pass him by unpunished.

“Sir, your orders?” Came a hesitant voice from behind him. His personal aide, Captain Yan Mou, had served with him before and knew just how volatile and unpredictable Zhao could be when riled up.

Colonel Zhao’s blood-shot eyes scowled fiercely at the holographic display map floating in the air before the both of them, his breathing heavy with barely contained fury.

“We have our orders. We hold position and await further instructions,” Colonel Zhao forced out through clenched teeth, turning his back to the map and squeezing his eyes shut, as though he could forget about the matter entirely just by sheer power of will alone.

“Yes sir!” Captain Yan Mou cried out, obviously just as dissatisfied with the orders he had been handed down. “What shall I do about the forward assault forces that have been sent ahead to sweep the enemy’s flanks?”

Colonel Zhao cracked his eyes open and let a vicious grin twist his lips in a humorless expression as he sent his second in command a meaningful glance, “You mean the SCOUTING units? They are to fulfill their duties as previously discussed, of course. We must maintain situational awareness, after all.”

“Sir, yes sir!” Captain Yan Mou swiftly replied, quite a bit more cheerful than before, then turned around and left to issue a flurry of orders.

This would be a victory that would go down in history, a new martial legend for the ages. Damn if he would let a coward rob him of his glory. The assault forces, comprising roughly 40% of all the forces under his command, had already begun to covertly spread out to both sides of the enemy’s central column as they retreated under the constant harassment of long-range artillery. The rest of his army would hold position as ordered, but when that fool in HQ finally found his courage and saw the golden opportunity presented to them for what it was and at long last gave the command to attack, Colonel Zhao would be there, ready to immediately pounce on all sides of the enemy.

It would be a glorious bloodbath, and he would become the hero he was always meant to be.

***

“Report,” came the cool, emotionless voice within the command bunker.

Immediately, a man stood at attention and responded, “General, all elements proceeding according to the plan. Enemy forces continue to retreat sustaining heavy losses. Their reinforcements continue to hold their ground upon the Glass Plateau. No major troop movement reported.”

General Xiao did not twitch so much as an eyelid as he glanced to one of the displays to the side of the room. “Report on the White Tiger forces.”

Another man immediately stepped forward. “Colonel Zhao has acknowledged the transmission and has ordered his forces to stand their ground, as instructed.”

Xiao Ming’s eyes did not waver in the slightest as they gravitated, almost irresistibly so, back towards the single spot that had been the center of his near undivided attention for the past few hours. It was as though he could see more than the simple words written on that piece of the map, reading “General Michael Lee.”

The ultimate wildcard, he had known he would eventually have to crush this General Lee. He had carefully laid out his plans months in advance, all for this one critical moment. And yet..

Yet, this Michael Lee refused to act. His stubborn inaction had in turn forced Xiao Ming to halt his own plans on the spot. Thus, they had stood at an impasse for these past few interminable hours. Beads of sweat could be seen flowing freely down the foreheads of every man inside the room, with the sole exception of Xiao Ming.

This was still his battle to lose, and he refused to let that happen. His unwavering gaze seemed to reflect the resoluteness of his will. Though his gaze was still composed and his movements measured, behind the icy mask of his face his mind was constantly racing, considering a thousand thousand different moves and counter-moves which only kept multiplying as time ticked on.

Suddenly, a glimmer of light crossed his eyes as they narrowed ever so slightly, accompanied by the smallest hint of a wrinkle in his forehead. Though barely noticeable in anyone other than the Ice Emperor, such a ripple in his calm exterior could only mean he’d found an unpleasant surprise, an unexpected hitch in his plans.

“Deploy wide-spectrum scan of sector 23, pan from grid 19,23 to grid 20,45.” General Xiao suddenly instructed without even turning his head to look at the display panel, his voice flat yet deadly.

“Yes sir!” Moments later, a collective indrawn breath could be heard, and the same voice responded with a voice colored with equal parts surprise and puzzlement. “General, reporting unusual allied troop movement along grids 20.30, 20.31, and 20.32. My readings show that they are scouting forces sent on a reconnaissance operation by Colonel Zhao’s Red Tiger Forces. However, there are simply too many readings. It must be a malfunction in my systems. Allow me to check my instru..”

“That will not be necessary. Immediately send a coded transmission to Colonel Zhao. Tell him he is to cease the advance immediately and pull back his forces to the pre-arranged coordinates within the next ten minutes. If I see a single blip on the radar I will have him court-martialed for treason and executed before the sun rises.”

“I don’t understand sir. Our readings show the full contingent of Colonel Zhao back at their stations,” came a junior officer’s hesitant reply.

“It is not your job to understand, Captain Liu Hanbei, but to obey orders,” Xiao Ming pointed out icily, his eyes showing a hint of dissatisfaction. Of course they would not understand that with his prodigious memory, he had at his disposal, as though they were lying right in front of him, every last word of the psychological profiles, medical histories and intelligence reports for every single officer under his command.

A lifetime underachiever who hadn’t managed to distinguish himself in his entire academic or military career, Liu Hanbei’s sole virtue could be said to have been born from a mildly successful micro-textiles magnate who had practically bought his son’s commission in the army, thus serving to partly finance Xiao Ming’s own meteoric rise in the bureaucracy. 240 million Imperial credits had bought him the right to stand in this room, but nothing else. He was forever destined to remain a mere ornament, not even a footnote in the annals of the war.

Not so with one Colonel Zhao Luqing. Overly aggressive and much too ambitious for the minor amount of talent and the slightly more pronounced martial prowess he actually possessed, Xiao Ming had long ago known that eventually this man had a 72% chance of becoming a liability to his prolonged success as he continuously stuffed his greedy maw with meals much too rich and too hard for him to actually digest.

Granted, Colonel Zhao had done very well for himself, rising from the dredges of society - a rank D citizen, according to his own personal intelligence staff’s reports - to enlist in the army as a mere recruit, then moving up the chain of command with a seemingly dazzling succession of small military victories. He had even managed to buy himself an adoption into a decent family before ascending to the rank of a senior officer. What the official reports did not state, of course, was his penchant for overreaching, ignoring key vulnerabilities and recklessly gambling with the resources at his command.

So far, he’d been successful, if nominally so. However, from Xiao Ming's elevated perspective it could only be described as nothing but a series of clumsy, desperate efforts that did nothing but point out with glaring finality the man’s lack of talent to ascend up the ranks by other, more discerning and prudent means. Case in point, the simpleton had thought to outwit him, his obvious superior in every aspect, and once more attempt to hoard what little glory he could at the expense of an unjustifiable risk to his army.

General Xiao narrowed his eyes as he determined then and there that it was time for Colonel Zhao to meet a glorious, early demise at the hands of the enemy - as soon as the battle was decided and all outside factors safely eliminated. He had, after all, no use for pawns that would not obey the king’s commands.

All of this took but a single second while Liu Hanbei gaped stupidly at him before stiffly saluting and turning around to convey the orders to the communications staff. He got halfway through the message before the lights suddenly flickered within the command room. The numerous screens blurred for a moment before quickly stabilizing themselves, but Xiao Ming’s own pulse had already begun to accelerate rapidly with no sign of slowing down. On the contrary, he finally abandoned the spot he had commanded before his map to briskly move to one of the display consoles, his hand clenching into a fist and his heart spasming in his chest.

He’d had this feeling of unease, of impending doom hanging over him for this whole vigil, and this small deviation from his plans felt far more disturbing than what it likely actually warranted. His mind soothed him by citing a myriad factors and reasons by which he could banish this restlessness, this unease. His shuddering heart told him otherwise.

“Report,” Xiao Ming hissed, ever a man of few words.

“Sir, it’s a stratospheric radiation storm. It’s right on top of us! It materialized out of nowhere.” Came the man’s helpless cry.

“Comm status.”

“Sir. Comms are.. They’re down. I can’t hail them at all. We can’t reach any of the detached command outposts.”

“Sensors.”

“Readings are erratic. Signal won’t last much longer. We’ll be completely in the dark within the next three minutes, sir.”

Colonel Yan stepped forward, clearly sensing something amiss with his commander. “Sir, we have won the field and the enemy is fleeing. The Black Tusk Forces’ last transmission reported as having almost reached the ford at the Yangtze River. They will pincer the enemy forces along with the pursuing White Phoenix Army. Even the enemy reinforcements should be dealt with by Colonel Zhao’s Red Tiger Forces lying in ambush by the lower Wei Hao peaks as soon as they overextend in order to rescue their comrades.”

“We have won, sir!” Affirmed Colonel Yan with an ecstatic expression. “If anything, this storm can only help our case. Perhaps it is Heaven which has decreed our victory.”

“The Heavens are fickle whereas my will is not. Vigilance is the handmaiden of victory, Colonel,” Xiao Ming stated coldly.

Logically speaking, he should be celebrating, and yet.

Yet, he still felt it was all wrong, and while he prided himself on being a thoroughly pragmatic, logic-driven man, that didn’t prevent the hairs on his neck from standing while he turned around yet again, to glare at his personal map. He could still attempt to send a messenger to physically deliver the message to Colonel Zhao, but by then it would be too late to do any good, while at the same time running the risk of exposing the Red Tiger Army’s position.

His intellect told him that he was simply being a victim of his own successes, too used to controlling every single minutiae upon the field of battle. They had won a crushing victory today, and the possibility of the enemy overturning such overwhelming odds was simply astronomical. Indeed, his men were simply waiting for the enemy to step into the devious trap he'd laid.

Still..

“Estimated duration of the atmospheric anomaly?” Xiao Ming asked, his eyes already losing focus as his mind worked furiously, examining each possible eventuality and its outcome in light of this unexpected new element.

“Sir, given the random nature of such anomalies. For all we know, it could be anywhere from thirty minutes to half a day. We simply have no way of knowing,” responded a voice hesitantly.

Of course, Xiao Ming already knew that. Still, the words had come to his lips unbidden, and he had given voice to the question burning within his mind without a thought.

Xiao Ming thoroughly abhorred asking obvious questions. It was wasteful. And yet..

How long would these storm clouds continue to churn and rumble ominously over his victory?

How long?

***

“234 minutes,” I mumbled absently to myself while staring over the horizon, as countless plumes of smoke could be seen trailing, almost lazily so, amidst the sky. Only a faint roar could be heard echoing in the air, the only remnants of the hideous, glorious howl of 42 mid-range ballistic missiles launching into the sky simultaneously. The whirring of quadcannon laser batteries was almost soothing in contrast, as they swiftly moved to acquire their targets.

234 minutes.

My men had instantly leaped into action as soon as I had given the order to initiate operations and open fire. That would be the signal for all fronts to proceed with the plan. For the next 234 minutes, which was the frame of time the storm would persist for before dissipating, this entire battlefield would be my bitch and there was nothing they could do to stop my rampage.

Sure, most of our troops were bloodied and routing, I was hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned, but during these next 234 minutes I would rain hell upon these poor souls and rip me a fresh, bloody page in history dedicated all to me.

Because I do so love to win.

Heads up, bitches.