Nail - 6

 The old bunker of the Special Warfare Command was crowded as ever. Mosses and molds were flourishing on stone walls to the degree that if it were not during wartime then junior officers of the command headquarters would be running go and fro with buckets and sponges in their hands trying to rub them off so that the commander and other high-ranked officers would not be upset with it. Nobody seemed to care about them now. Even though almost six hours had passed since they had moved in, not everybody seemed to have settled, since the narrow corridor was full with officers wandering around, finding people, files, pens, and even passwords, as if they knew that counterintelligence officers were too busy right now to care small security breaches. Old ventilators and generators hummed loudly through walls and ceilings, eating up everyone’s voice, which was already in the level of hollering. Some recognized Han and saluted, but needless to say, she was bewildered by so many distractions so that she could hardly reply. She wanted to know where the commander was, but nobody seemed to know, and it seemed that for now, even his exact position was confidential. Pass the crowded corridor, Han decided to walk to the Information Control Room, which she knew was somewhere around here. Getting there cost her several minutes and a few light bruises because she had never been to the place before and neither had everyone she bumped into. She finally reached an entrance, consisting of two large metal safe doors with the red sign saying “ZONE OF CONTROL”, guarded by a military police Captain with several armed soldiers. The captain recognized Han and saluted. The soldiers saluted, following him. At that point, Han was already murmuring words she composed to render the commander less angry than he was supposed to be at Han’s late arrival that even giving them a nod was a big effort to her. The Captain, who was slightly older and much more experienced than her, didn’t care much, since no high-ranked officer who walked through that door today was in sound mind.

Han’s single row of ribbons above her chest shined brightly under the light of the control room, as she politely but with haste walked into the rectangular room, like a part-time delivery man reluctantly and carefully stepping into a luxurious mansion, in which he did not fit, carrying packages to be delivered. And indeed, they were all there, the Transport Battalion commander, the Administration Battalion commander, and the Military Police Battalion commander, so far from the command headquarters, and brigade generals from each special operation brigades, four of them in total, and finally, at the far end of the table, the Special Warfare Commander, Lieutenant General Lim. Everyone had already changed in their army jackets and pants. The commander gestured at Han to be seated. A staff was at the front of the room, pointing with a stick at the largest screen with the continental map, on which red, yellow, and green symbols were drawn. The major’s face was frozen and his mind was having a hard time assembling words into meaningful sentences, probably less due to unknown enemy’s attack than the star-spangled insignias dancing in front of his eyes. After Han exchanged a brief greeting with the officers, the major continued to talk.

“Unit 22 cleared the capital west sector without combat. The air force sent out a message that the 41st air recon squadron is patrolling the air sector above the 3rd and 5th highway. According to the DoD briefing of 5 AM, there is no evidence so far to specify the enemy or their metho...”

The commander did not let him finish.

“What do you mean by that? The shells are still stuck on the grounds. Anyone could just glance at the craters and point at the origin.”

Now the poor major was digging through his pile of secret transmissions he got during the last hour, which was about a feet thick. It was not his plan to find something in there in front of five general officers. Thus, after a second, his political sense stopped him from doing so. He just decided to reconstruct something from his memory.

“The arties have already identified every origin of attack through their forward observers and radars, according to their reports. However, all of the below-sea-level units, including our teams, are on their watch at strategic points, so the investigation is taking longer.”

“As they should be!” The commander yelled, not so loudly but strong enough to make Han’s teeth shiver. “It's again the air force lazy on their duty, and our teams got blamed for it. Could you repeat what the air recon guys have done so far, major?” 

“The air recon squadrons are using floodlights to cover terrains unreachable by foot, but they are negative at their ability to spot anything underground.”

“Absolute retards…… I don’t understand ‘em.” The commander glanced at the brigadier generals, who all nodded eagerly, giving remarks on their bad experience with the air force. Han followed them, though quite reluctantly. To eagerly agree with her superior’s opinions, often to a ridiculous degree, was one among many skills Han had to learn since she joined the military. But every time she employed the tactic to dodge the commander’s sharp eyes, she could not help but feel that it was against her nature to do so.