DEFCON Year New Generation: Leigh Barton

Chapter 3

After several hours flying, the USMC C-130J Super Hercules finally landed in Wuhan, where the plane carrying the delegation was already parked at the side of the runway. As Leigh and Darnell dismounted the C-130J through the ramp with the rest of the team and their equipment, they saw the US Secret Service and US Diplomatic Security agents armed with SR-16 carbines and SIG-Sauer P229E2 pistols already waiting for the team on the tarmac next to several cargo planes which had been used to carry the armored SUVs used by the American delegation.

Leigh and the rest of her team then opened the crates and took their equipment including body armor, ammunition, grenades and canteens before packing up their M4A1 carbines and loading their rifles up. As the USSS and DSS agents escorted the officials to their SUVs, Leigh and her team boarded the JLTV that had been unloaded alongside their equipment before the motorcade drove away.

As Leigh drove the JLTV to lead the motorcade, Darnell was at the passenger station with the radio while Dunning was manning the roof-mounted Browning M2A1 machine gun. LaRue, Tores and Marquez were all in the rear of the vehicle, weapons ready. Leigh looked through the windshield and noticed how local civilians seemed to ride their motorcycles with little regard for road regulations while honking constantly.

"The fuck." Leigh swore, getting Darnell's attention.

"Yeah. Constantly honking. Looks like the factbook was right." Darnell said.

"Not only that, but they seem to look at us as invaders. But we saved their red ass from the Chinese during World War III." Dunning concluded.

Leigh nodded, knowing her teammate was right, since both of them knew the Allies had been, quite ironically, been helped by none other than their sworn enemies to win World War III, since the leaders of said enemy countries had supported the reelection of then-President Biden, allowing him to lead America and its allies to absolute victory.

But now, the United States had to negociate a settlement with China about what to do with the Paracel and Spratley islands. And the US had a trick in its sleeve, since the Americans had many assets in the American-controlled archipelagos as well as Hong Kong and Macau, which had been taken during the invasion of China as part of World War III, for which China, Iran, North Korea, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Iran and Russia were responsible for starting in the first place.

Needless to say, Leigh and her team now focused on their protection duty when LaRue noticed something was off in the streets. Acting quickly, he pointed the roof-mounted HMG at the windows, spotting a sniper and firing the M2A1 at said sniper, killing the latter with a short burst.

Just as the motorcade sped up after the JLTV, more gunmen armed with QBZ-191 rifles and AK variants opened fire on the armored vehicles, inflicting minor damage. However, Darnell put his virtual reality headset on before linking up his tablet to a suicide drone, which he flew thanks to said tablet before crashing it into the hidden gunmen, killing all of them. Tores then linked the vehicle with another suicide drone before flying it towards another barrage he spotted before crashing the drone into the barrage, blowing apart all of the gunmen at the barrage.

Knowing that the US Military massively used cheap suicide drones to overwhelm frontline enemy defenses to lay the groundwork for any massive offensive, whether said drones were launched from other bigger UAVs, manned aircraft and helicopters, warships, ground vehicles or even boots on the ground. Now, the squad was using drones to protect a motorcade under attack.

After the JLTV-led motorcade finally reached a safe area not far from the meeting point, Leigh assessed the situation and realized none of the officials had been injured thanks to being sat in armored SUVs. But Leigh and her team knew this wasn't over yet as they drove the motorcade to the rendezvous point with the local police escort.

Leigh knew someone would like to start another war even after America and its Allies' victory at the end of World War III in August 2027.