Mercenary's War

Gao Yang was invited into Nate’s command post.

The command post was very simple, but very tidy. Recently the civil war in Ukraine had been pretty lively, especially in Donetsk. Being able to keep a tidy place showed that Angel’s situation wasn’t bad; at least they still had the leisure to keep things clean.

"Have a seat."

After solemnly inviting Gao Yang to sit, Nate sat down opposite him. Then he laced his ten fingers together, put both hands on the table, and said in a low voice, "You said you’ve got good coffee?"

Grinning, Gao Yang said, "I remember I just gave you a lot of coffee not long ago. You already finished it? There’s something I’m really curious about—purely curious—don’t tell me you can’t even afford coffee now? It can’t be that bad!"

Nate said calmly, "We have a lot of people. Coffee, this kind of great stuff that can keep you awake, is even more useful in wartime. It’s just that in any place with long-term fighting, coffee—this nonessential item—is going to turn into a luxury. And bringing in coffee, which is expensive and useless for combat, through front lines and blockades isn’t really necessary."

Gao Yang exhaled and sighed. "That’s tragic. You really are too broke to drink coffee."

After he spoke, Gao Yang suddenly acted like he’d just remembered something serious, and said gravely, "Crap! I didn’t bring you any sugar!"

Nate’s eyebrows twitched a few times, then he lifted his head with a bit of pride and said, "Sugar I still have..."

Gao Yang smiled in relief, then stretched his hand toward Nate and said, "Actually, when Wizard went to Yemen last time, I should have had him bring more coffee back."

Nate nodded, very much in agreement. "Yeah, should’ve had him bring more back."

Gao Yang wasn’t in a hurry to get to business, and Nate refused to bring it up first, but they couldn’t keep talking about coffee forever just because that had been the opening topic, so the two of them quickly ran out of things to say.

After they stared at each other for a while, Nate finally said, "My time is precious. Tell me why you’re here."

Gao Yang still didn’t rush into the real topic. He said casually, "How are things here? Everything going smoothly?"

Nate shook his head. "That’s none of your business, so you can start talking about your business now."

Just then Rebrov finally brought the gift: coffee packed in six small tins. After Rebrov set the coffee on the table, Gao Yang reached out and said, "Have a taste. Supposedly it’s all the best coffee from Yemen, used to supply the Shah Royal Family. Now that the war’s started it’s been intercepted by the Houthis Armed Forces. Same grade as what I gave you last time. Should be, anyway."

Nate picked up a tin, opened it, and sniffed carefully, then immediately nodded. "Very good!"

He went down the line smelling all six tins one by one, then picked up two of them and smelled them for a long time. In the end he looked at Gao Yang and said, "Very nice coffee. It’s just... a bit too little, isn’t it?"

Gao Yang gave a slight smile. "Try it first, then we’ll talk."

Nate slowly put the lids back on all six tins, then said evenly, "Actually, I prefer coffee from Jamaica. Yemeni coffee doesn’t really match my taste. These are fine, each with its own characteristics, with a unique flavor from the place of origin. So these coffees are rare because of where they’re from, and special because they’re rare, but that doesn’t mean you can just say they’re truly that good."

Gao Yang laughed. "Rarity is value. A unique flavor and limited yield—that makes it good, very, very good. When you can taste something others can’t, that’s top-shelf coffee, even if it’s not the flavor you’re most used to. It’s like a tea drinker running into an extremely rare famous tea—how could you not at least try it? The logic is too simple; you can’t bluff me on this."

Without showing it on the surface, Nate and Gao Yang had already gone through a round of sparring. Nate didn’t say anything more, he just shouted, "Wizard, make coffee. This one."

After Wizard nodded at Gao Yang and then carried off all the coffee, Nate kept the same posture and said in a low voice, "Now you can tell me why you’re here."

Gao Yang waved his hand. "No rush, we’ll talk after we’ve had coffee."

So Nate stopped talking, and Gao Yang just killed time with small talk about how the weather was nice today and so on.

The coffee came. Nate took a cup and waited for Wizard to fill it for him. He closed his eyes, took a deep whiff, then took a small sip.

"Why aren’t you putting in as much sugar as usual?"

"Any coffee loses its proper flavor if you put in too much sugar. First time tasting it, you obviously can’t use too much."

"Oh? Since you know that, why do you usually dump so much sugar in your coffee?"

"None of your business."

Gao Yang chuckled, picked up his cup, took a sip of coffee, then looked at Nate. "So, how is it?"

Nate let out a long breath and said gravely, "Not bad. Very good. Now you can tell me why you’re here. Hoping to use coffee to force me to make concessions is impossible."

Nate exposed Gao Yang’s reason for insisting on finishing the coffee before talking, but Gao Yang still wasn’t in a hurry. He put down his cup, then said to Nate, "I need an artillery unit. Real good artillery."

"You’ve got a platoon of artillery. For you, there’s no need to be in such a rush to expand your artillery so soon, is there?"

Gao Yang spread his hands, looking helpless. "They were wiped out."

"Wiped out?"

"More or less, yeah, basically wiped out."

"Either they were or they weren’t. What’s ’more or less’?"

"Only four people survived. Everyone else, along with all the equipment, got taken out by a single cluster bomb."

Nate’s eyebrows twitched a few times involuntarily, then he said quietly, "That really is bad."

Gao Yang spread his hands. "So I’m here asking you for artillery again. Don’t get the wrong idea, this isn’t a request, it’s just a notification. It’s easiest to get them from you, that’s why I came. If you don’t give me people, I can still throw money at it and easily find enough artillerymen who are both excellent and numerous. You know that perfectly well."

Nate said blandly, "Then why bother coming here?"

Gao Yang shrugged, looking totally unconcerned. "To see you, my old friend. And bring you a gift while I’m at it—what you’re drinking right now."

Nate rolled his eyes. "We’re not friends, much less old friends."

Gao Yang leaned back and pointed at Nate. "You said we’re friends. Out of your own mouth. Get this straight, it’s not like I’m desperate for you as a friend, but I have to remind you that you might be going senile early—could be you’ve come down with Alzheimer’s ahead of schedule."

Nate realized that when it came to trading barbs with Gao Yang, he didn’t seem to have the upper hand. So, a bit sullen, he finished his coffee and said irritably, "Hurry up and talk business. I don’t have the patience to bullshit with you."