Brothers in Arms: Journey Through the Unknown [ONHOLD]

Chapter 3: Bringing the Fight to Them

*2 weeks later, Times Square, 1044 Hours*

"My fellow American, I come before you here today to give my utmost regard about the heartbreaking incident in New York City." President Darrel Horton's image was zoomed in as he continued his speech. Evan turned on the volume of his tablet so he could hear the announcement clearer.

Despite his attempt to listen to the broadcast, his crew was intentionally creating plenty of rackets around the tank. At the back of the engine deck, Junior was banging away at something with his hammer or wrenches. Maybe the kid was trying to clear out the turbine engine's air filtration system. Meanwhile inside the turret basket, Gunnery Sergeant William Connly rustled a long chain of ammo belt feeding into the coaxial machine gun. Finally, Lance Corporal Oscar Woods was busied fixing the M240B into a better position at the loader cupola.

"Leftenant, could you pass me another ammo box in the bustle rack?"

Evan peered down at the cupola to see his gunner already finished with the previous belt and ready to receive another one. It was always a hassle to feed the coaxial machine gun with ammunition since the tank hogged around like ten thousands of 7.62 mm bullets. Regardless of the mundane preparation, they had to perform their duty one way or another, and this tank was like their second home. They gotta do everything to keep this old girl happy.

He silently grabbed one ammo box from the bustle rack and dropped it into the turret. Will received his gift and returned an appreciated smile, "Thanks, mate. Oh, by the way, what are you watching up there?"

"Our Commander in Chief is making a speech. Sending his regards to all the victim and their family, providing the background knowledge, and the future plan he have for our country. You know, the usual stuff. Oh, he also hint we'll be invading their land soon."

Evan looked around Times Square and the place was filled with nothing but soldiers with their military equipment. He could not believe two weeks ago this place was once the hot zone of the battle, and now all the mess was clear out and barely any remnants of the battle were shown in Times Square. Even all the body bags and huge chunks of concrete debris were removed and the area was spotless like nothing bad happened in the first place.

Most personnel presented in New York City were Marines. There were some groups of people from the National Guards and the Army, but those guys were here just to keep things competitive between the services. From what he heard through rumors, it was the top brass decision to put the Marines as an initial invasion force, so they were able to mobilize much of their troops including heavy equipment and logistics. Or maybe it was some patriotic nutjob who wanted the Marines to do the heavy lifting.

"According to Mr. President, the world beyond that Gate is called Lystyn in our tongue. L-y-s-t-y-n. The people who attacked us belong to a country named... Hatson Empire. Hatson as in hat combined with son. They are sort of like a superpower over there."

"How does he know all these things?" William asked.

"That question is way above my pay grade. How the fuck should I know? Probably the CIA and NSA interrogated the living hell out of the POWs. They must do something to get through the language barrier."

"With our current technology, it's not that hard to record and process out their language piece by piece. If they have a number and a writing system, it would take some time but manageable in the end."

"Did I hear an interesting conversation going up here?" Junior out of nowhere sneaked upon their back and poke his greasy head right over Evan's shoulder. "Come on, I heard somebody said Lystyn. So what should we call them? Lystyn-ian?