That reminded Senior Colonel Mahindra of another sight that the liberators of Paris would have found remarkable. Down each side of his regimental column were arrayed ranks of saffron-robed Buddhist monks, their alms bowls turned triumphantly right side up. Most of them had emerged from the safe houses where they had been in hiding since the failed Saffron Revolution two years before to walk beside the tanks, giving the M-41s the aura of a divine crusade. The few monks that hadn’t been forced into hiding had made their rounds with their alms bowls turned face-down, implying that the favor of the gods had been withdrawn from the country. Now, they too had their bowls turned right side up.
“Any trouble?” The radio crackled with static but the contralto voice was unmistakeable.
“No ma’am. We came out of the portal at Mingaladon Airport, formed up and drove straight in. No trouble at all, except the number of flowers on my tank are giving me hay fever.”
There was a snort of laughter on the other end of the radio. “If that’s your only problem, I’ll have to try and find you some more. That might be difficult.”
“No problems here ma’am. The only fighting going on is the local population hunting down the white-shirts.” The white-shirts were the members of the USDA, the Union Solidarity and Development Association whose uniform was a white shirt and green pants. They’d been named the white-shirts in deliberate reference to Hitlers brown-shirted SA and fulfilled much the same function. Street thugs whose sole role was to beat down any opposition. They’d done that with enthusiasm but now the boot was on the other foot and those that could run were doing so. A lot hadn’t made it, the mobs after their blood had cornered and killed them. The lucky ones had been lynched, the less fortunate had died bloodier deaths. All too often with their families beside them. Payback was a bitch.
“What are your people doing about that? Other than collecting garlands of flowers.”
“I have my armored cars patrolling the cities, if they see any fighting, they break it up and take the USDA people into custody. We’re holding them at the Inwa Hall, temporarily at least. We could use some help there, my people aren’t policemen.”
“I’ll get some White Mice down to you as soon as I have some available. Until then, do the best you can. And take care Colonel, we’re lucky we didn’t have to fight our way into the city but things can still go sour. Also, be advised Third of First is crossing the Aung Zaya Bridge, that’ll put them behind you covering your rear. First of First is crossing over from Syriam, that puts them on the other side of the Nga Moe Yake river. There shouldn’t be conflict but be aware of blue-on-blue.”
“Yes Ma’am.” Mahindra thought for a moment. “May I ask, where do we go from here?”
“North towards Naypyidaw of course. But we need to regroup and re-organize before pushing into Northern Myanmar. We’re all over the place at the moment.” There was a brief pause. “There’s no serious opposition anywhere, we’re just rolling through. The Myanmar Army is collapsing like a house of cards. Be advised, the invasion force they sent into our territory has surrendered to the Ninth Infantry. For all that, don’t drop your guard and don’t let your people do that. I’ll have more movement orders for you in 36 hours. Until then, make sure Yangon is secured.”
Command Complex, Naypyidaw, Myanmar
“We need help, we need it now. This war was Michael’s idea.” Senior General Than Shwe was furious. He might not be the ideal general as envisaged by the profession of arms. In fact, most competent generals regarded him as a semi-trained butcher rather than a military officer. That being said, he had enough military knowledge to recognize a disaster as it unfolded around his ears. Almost superstitiously he touched his ears as the thought occurred to him. He didn’t want them decorating the Thai general’s key chain.
Gabriel looked disparagingly at the human. “You were keen enough to launch the attack when it was suggested. No hesitation at all as far as I can remember. And you were pleased enough when it looked like you were winning.” And you were very quick to follow Michael’s suggestion. Now, Kim Jong-Il, he’s being much more cautious.
“Michael told us that all the Thai troops were in Hell and that the border was weakly-guarded.” Than Shwe looked at the map on the wall. In some ways, his lack of conventional military experience was a minor assistance in trying to understand what was happening to his country. A trained, competent staff officer would have expected to see a situation chart that looked like a tide flowing over the border, reaching into the Myanmar heartland, fingers advancing where resistance was weakest, being held back where the defenses were holding out. The problem was, the rules had been changed out of all recognition. Instead of a tide, the map was covered with spots, apparently isolated but in fact connected by links that led back to Hell. Each spot would appear and then spread outwards until it joined up with the others. Conventional defenses were pointless. Set up a defense around one area and the spots would appear all around it, isolating it and leaving it to wither. Looking at the map, Than Shwe guessed that it would not be long before those spots started to appear around Naypyidaw.
“And it was. Your troops advanced far in the first few days.”
“Against border guards. If that was all, we would still be there. But the Thai had regular forces and deployed them quickly.”
Actually, it appears they brought them in from Hell. Which means that the human commander must have realized that Heaven’s fingers were behind this whole affair. With shock, Gabriel realized that Michael-Lan had been out-thought on this one. The whole idea of these human wars was to force human countries to bring back their armies and split up their alliance. Instead, the human had recognized the gambit and used elements of his army to destroy this invasion. In doing so he had convinced all the governments whose troops formed part of the human army in Hell that if they faced trouble, they wouldn’t just have their own army to protect them, they’d have everybodies. So the human alliance was stronger, not weaker. Damn the humans. They were good at this.
“What would you have Michael do?” The question was asked gently.
“Support us. Send us aid, troops, equipment. We are loyal to Michael, it is time for him to be loyal to us.”
“We cannot, will not, fight a human army head-on. Not yet. They must be weakened first. You must do the best you can.” Stupid people. Believing your loyalty to the Angelic Host is enough to win our loyalty to you. Our loyalty is to ourselves, you do not merit it. You are servants for us, nothing more. Gabriel swept his wings forward and strode from the room. He had to make a trip to Korea and find out just why Kim Jong-Il wasn’t moving.”
Suwon Palace, North Korea
“Four months! You’ve been moving troops around for four months! Just when are you going to move south.” Gabriel-Lan hammered his fist on to the table.
Kim Jong-Un didn’t even blink. “And what do you know about mechanized warfare? How many armored units have you commanded in the field?” Gabriel jerked back slightly, not expecting the response. He opened his mouth to reply but the Korean cut him off. “That’s right, none. So how dare you tell us what we need to do and when we should move.”
“But…”
“But me no buts. We have 15 armored divisions and the same number of mechanized units to move to assault positions, almost fifty infantry divisions to do the same with. Three and a half thousand tanks, same number of infantry combat vehicles, seventeen and a half thousand guns to move. Do you think any of that is easy? Each of those units has to have a supply line. Do you know how many tons of supplies a tank division needs per day? Or a mechanized division? Or an artillery division? Those supply lines can’t cross because if they do, the traffic jams will ensure nobody gets any supplies. Amateurs talk tactics Gabriel, professionals talk logistics. Launching an assault of this size takes months of preparation. We’re professionals, keep out of our way and leave us to do our work.”