I stood at the end of the taxiway. Several trucks waiting behind me with some of my officers milled around quietly as we watched the triple seven slowly taxi to a stop. A ramp was being readied for when the aircraft halted. I watched quietly as the plane eased to a stop. Ivanov coughed quietly as the Spetsnaz readied themselves to look their best.
A few soldiers stepped from the plane first, quickly descending the boarding ramp. They took up positions at the bottom of the ramp. A few people exited the plane and I felt deep in my gut, seconds before that damn system prompt appeared before me, as my eyes locked with hers as she walked onto the ramp.
'Notification Alert. Rival detected in vicinity. Gain insights for system rewards.'
'Rival update, rival's faction discovered. Federal Republic of Germany. Reward 200,000xp, 150,000 credits.'
I watched as she descended the ladder, eyes not moving from mine as we sized each other up. She was tall for a woman, about five nine. She wore formal business attire, a white blouse and a deep blue jacket and that tight knee length skirt that went with it. Her heels clicked annoyingly on the tarmac as she walked, her long hair blowing almost widely behind her as her piercing hazel eyes continued to stare at me until she stopped a few feet away.
"Welcome to Los Angeles, I hope your flight didn't suffer any difficulties?" I asked, slightly bowing my head as she smiled, shaking my offered hand.
"The flight was pleasant. I look forward to our cooperation A." she replied, then her face briefly scrunched.
"Got a notification?" I asked. She nodded, looking somewhat annoyed. I gestured towards the SUVs we'd pulled from a parking lot and fixed up for her arrival.
I helped her passenger seat before walking around to the driver's seat and starting the car. A pair of soldiers, one of mine and one of hers ducked into the back seat. "Andrew Reichenbacher, feel free to call me Andrew."
"It is a pleasure to meet you Andrew, I am Li Fung, please address me as Li." I waved away the notification that sprang up and nodded.
"So Li, What are you hoping for out of our meeting? An agreement? Pact? Alliance?" I asked while turning onto the highway.
"I hope to gain another ally for the Pacific Alliance, formal or informal." she replied with a small smile.
"Hang on, let me give my brother a call real quick…" i pulled my phone and fumbled till I speed dialed my brother.
He answered fairly quickly, gunfire and explosions in the background. "Trevor, remember last night when I mentioned L was coming for a visit?
"Yeah? This better be important, I'm kinda busy…" he growled, a thunderous blast echoed, nearly drowning everything out.
"Sorta, she's curious about an alliance with us, and I wanted your input before I just commit half of Nato to the eastern pacific." I said calmly while I waited for a reply.
"Yeah, go for it… I don't give a shit." he cursed.
"Cool, just wanted to keep you in the loop." I hung up and returned my phone to my pocket. I glanced over at Li.
"You catch all that?" I asked.
"Your brother? He is another user?" I nodded as I got off the highway, driving for my headquarters.
"Yep, second in the rankings." I chirped as I pulled the suv into a parking spot.
"If he is second… then you are…" she whispered quietly as we piled out. I took a few steps towards the building before turning around, soviet banners fluttering softly in the sea breeze behind me.
"Andrew Reichenbacher, Commander in Chief of the Soviet Armed Forces, at your service." I proudly declared. To her credit she merely nodded, her face nearly unreadable as we walked into the building. I had security get her and her guard clearances before we went upstairs to the war room as several of my officers walked past me, nodding greetings.
She gazed around as we entered the war room, Ivan was setting some coffee on the table. He gave me a small nod before leaving the room, aside from the two soldiers we were the only ones in the room. We sat at opposite ends, I reclined in my seat, gazing at Li Fung as she tasted the coffee.
"Are you the leader of your alliance?" she asked after a minute of silence, placing her mug on the table.
"The North American Treaty Organization… It's more of a partnership between my brother and I. We share intel and resources but being so far apart, our battles are mostly fought by our own forces, though we've had some joint operations in the past…"
"Myself and the Australian, Jake. our alliance is almost in name only… we do not have the resources to truly… collaborate, myself because of my commitments in Malaysia, Jake, due to his inability to gain large amounts of xp in any reasonable quantity." she said after a bit, it looked like she wasn't particularly happy admitting it.
"Alright Li, what do you want from me?" As things stand I have a lot on the table in deployable assets." I tried offering her a reassuring smile.
"Assistance… perhaps a joint camp, so we may complete that quest…" she smiled slightly.
"Joint camp?... oh… I completed that quest months ago…" I recalled the quest she had mentioned, yeah… Trevor and I had done that. She deflated considerably at that, so that had been her largest bargaining chip, try and use the prospect of a hundred million credits to get a commitment in east Asia… not a bad plan, i'd take that deal even now. But with no real way of knowing if I was going to get that reward for doing it a second time without the quest active? No… not without something else for me to gain or at least offset the cost of doing so.
"Lets…" her voice faltered as a system notification appeared in front of me.
'Quest Issued! Joint Operation (Red Comet), user [Andrew], in conjunction with user [Fung], jointly operate a force of at least [6] Divisions in the liberation of the Manila Metropolitan area of undead. Additional requirements, users must personally command forces during joint operation. Reward 80,000,000xp, 80,000,000 credits. Optional condition if objective is completed prior to June 6th 2025 an additional 70,000,000 credits will be awarded.'
I sighed, putting my face to my hand. "You know… its almost like someone is manipulating this system towards their own goal…"
"It is… oddly suspicious that we received this quest moments after… you might be onto something…" she replied.
"Let's put aside the question of outside interference for now… the Philippines… Thats a mighty long way from here, what kind of forces do you think you and… J? How much do you think you can muster for this?" I asked, giving up on trying to recall her ally's name.
"I suppose we can try brining Jake in…" she murmured
'System alert! Quest amended! Quest Issued! Joint Operation (Red Comet), user [Andrew], in conjunction with users [Fung] and [Ellis], jointly operate a force of at least [6] Divisions in the liberation of the Manila Metropolitan area of undead. Additional requirements, users must personally command forces during joint operation. Reward 80,000,000xp, 80,000,000 credits. Optional condition if objective is completed prior to June 6th 2025 an additional 70,000,000 credits will be awarded.'
We shared a raised eyebrow… someone really must want this quest to happen. Putting the continued meddling of whatever or whoever was behind this for now…
"Jake may be able to spare a division's worth of troops, I am not sure… I might be able to spare two… maybe only one." Li said, gritting her teeth a bit. She had a bland expression on her face, but there was an almost pleadingly hopeful shade to her eyes that I would fill in the remaining four needed slots.
I leaned back… overseas… across the pacific… most of the army groups had their orders… The 2nd combined arms army was working on securing the full peninsula for the Union, 7th assault army and 8th army group were staging north for the green light to move into Cascadia… 4th shock army, 5th and 6th army groups were waiting on orders to cross the Colorado into Arizona. The 9th airborne army was way out in Oklahoma…
That left the forces staying in California… 1st Guards army… they were a reserve force, they'll stay put. 11th Polish shock army was too wrapped up in the siege of Las Vegas to be redeployed anytime soon. That left me with three choices… Joseph's 3rd Shock army, Zerifrov's 10th Naval army, or Muller's 12th Volksarmee Group.
Zerifrov's 10th army was the easiest to deploy, and being a naval infantry army… they'll go… so now it was between choosing which of the others will go… Joseph or Siska Muller. The composition of their armies were basically the same… I grabbed a coin and tossed it. Looks like the 3rd army will be staying behind.
"If you don't have the troops available we can push back the timeline, the additional reward is only something nice to get if possible." Li tried reassuring me. I chuckled for a moment.
"Oh, no that's no worry, I was just having a bit of difficulty deciding who to send. I'll have orders cut out for deployment by cob tonight. Once we source some ro-ros we'll get them on their way."
"You'll need to get back to Singapore, start preparing for my troops to get there in a few weeks, start clearing staging areas and the like for preparatory drills." I said.
"You are a man of action… how many soldiers are you sending?" she asked, a small smile on her face.
"10th and 12th armies… probably two hundred thousand personnel before I start thinking about the naval detachment I'll send along with them." Li gaped for a few moments before sighing and nodding.
"I suppose that is the difference between third and first place. You can casually send entire armies halfway around the world without worry while I become anxious about sending them across a small sea." she grinned as we stood, shaking hands. She left to make a return flight while I started preparing orders, calling Zerfirov and Muller to give them a heads up about their upcoming South Pacific Vacation with me.