[Earth II] The Dunes of Yesterday

by **Layarteb** » Sun Jun 07, 2020 8:13 pm

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Wednesday, November 27^th, 1991 | 07:00 hrs [UTC+2]
Eastern Mediterannean Sea | 18 nautical miles from Gaza
31° 35' 48" N, 34° 2' 25" E

What had been discussed only yesterday as simply a pair of aircraft overflying the Old Walled City of Gaza had turned into a sizeable package by the time it got down to the Andrew Beckwith in EASTMED. The package had ballooned from a pair of F-14B Tomcats flying the TARPS run to sixteen total aircraft committed to the mission, not including the E-2C Hawkeye that would be flying on station within range of Gaza protecting the carrier battle group. The Hawkeye would also be directing the mission since it had grown in complexity. Aside from the two Tomcats flying the run, there would be two additional F-14Bs flying combat air patrol around the region, two F-18C Hornets equipped for SEAD, four F-18C Hornets equipped for armed reconnaissance, two HH-60H Sea Hawks for combat search-and-rescue, and then two F-14Bs and two F-18Cs on Alert Five with air-to-air and air-to-ground ordnance as a quick reaction force.

The mission template was still relatively the same. The TARPS-equipped F-14s would fly into Gazan airspace, overfly the Old Walled City, and exit. If the Gazans engaged the aircraft with surface-to-air missiles, the F-18s would zoom in and destroy the sites whether they launched or not. If the Gazans launched Mirages, the F-14s would zoom in and shoot them down. If a plane were shot down, the HH-60s would attempt to go in and rescue the airmen while under the protection of the entire package. If the worst should happen and Layartebian aircraft need reinforcements, the four Alert Five aircraft would launch and make for the Gazans coastline at high speed. They were roughly 125 nautical miles away, which meant they would be there in around fifteen minutes from launch. The Hornets were on the catapults with the Tomcats waiting just behind the jet blast deflectors.

The entire package had launched in waves and flown to a holding point roughly eighteen nautical miles off of the coastline of Gaza, which was where the aircraft presently held. Early warning radars from Gaza pinged their RWRs with every sweep of the skies but the radars were just searching for that was what they were, search radars. Fire control radars, such as those for SAM and AAA sites were quiet as was activity around Gaza International Airport, where the Mirage IIIs were based. Even communications around Gaza were quiet, as noted by passing satellites overhead that were linked directly to the command center aboard the Andrew Beckwith.

The E-2C Hawkeye flying today was aircraft number 203 and so its callsign was BOSS 203 while the F-14s flying Tarps were 501 and 512. They took on the callsign designator of SCOOTER. The other assorted aircraft all had their own callsigns too, a designator followed by the aircraft number. So when the mission clock officially began, the air control officer or ACO aboard BOSS 203 called out over the radio, "SCOOTER 501, you are cleared for mission." The flight leader acknowledged and from there, the Tomcats flying the TARPS run dropped to 4,000 feet, and the pilots began to fly towards their designated target. HUD symbology told them the precise route to fly to maximize photo quality. They had little more to do than to simply fly to the symbology on their HUD while the RIO did all of the photographic work.

While they did, everyone with access to the radio frequency waited with bated breath. If the pilots or the RIOs reported anything untoward, the rest of the strike package would zoom in and do what they'd been armed to do. Feelings were mixed. Some of the pilots wanted to release their ordnance and destroy hostile targets while others wanted to return to the carrier and nothing more, not necessarily because they were afraid but rather because they were more cautious about the risks of combat. The CAG and the higher officers of the battlegroup wanted nothing more than a smooth and uneventful run. They didn't want to explain why naval aircraft bombed targets in Gaza or worse, why another airman - or more - was missing and presumed captured. It was bad enough that Powers was a POW, the navy didn't want to lose any more of its pilots.

Coming over the coastline, the two Tomcats kept in a loose formation. The weather was clear, and why wouldn't it be, given where they were. Gaza was small enough that they could easily see their target before they came over the coastline. Turning to keep the target within the flight path, the Tomcat pilots hit their afterburners as they came overhead of the Old Walled City, not because they needed a boost of speed but rather to let their fellow aviator know that they were there. The roar of the Tomcats coming overhead was so deafening that anyone not awake would be and Powers was certain to hear them, even if he were buried underground in a bunker. He wasn't and he certainly heard the Tomcats, pumping his fist subtly as he lay on a cot in his prison cell.

Communications lit up around Gaza as the Tomcats came overhead and the fighters continued their flight path to the southwest, flying past one of the country's water treatment plant and its southern radar site before crossing over Khan Yunis to overfly an army camp and another water treatment plant to the south. The turned along the border and came up just on the Sinai side, passing a militia camp and the airport before turning back to the north. This time, they flew the length of Gaza, once again hitting their afterburners as they passed the Old Walled City. The rest of their flight, they captured virtually every major military target with their cameras before finally passing over the northern border, where they turned back for the Mediterranean Sea.

They'd made a lot of noise but their RWRs stayed quiet. If they were being targeted by man-portable systems, they didn't know it. Given their flight altitude, they'd normally have dropped flares as a precautionary measure but that was strictly forbidden for fear that it would endanger civilians on the ground. Any of the smaller, point defense systems never so much as activated their radars though any infrared sensors would have easily tracked the Tomcats without giving away that they were operating.

Finally crossing back over the coastline, the Tomcats made one more pass but without their TARPS gear functioning. They were just off of the coastline and they came down the length in full afterburner, shaking the entire coastline of Gaza before turning to the west and rendezvousing with their strike package that was now beginning to change their waypoints for the carrier. They'd all recover shortly thereafter, one after the other, with only the E-2 and the two F-14Bs flying CAP remaining airborne to protect the group from enemy fighters.

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by **Layarteb** » Sun Jul 12, 2020 7:50 pm

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Monday, December 2^nd, 1991 | 09:00 hrs [UTC-5]
Layarteb City, New York | Fortress of Comhghall
40° 41' 28" N, 74° 0' 58" W

Chairman-General Mark Moore was the last to enter the War Room and when he did, the door was shut and secured behind him. The War Room was a SCIF or Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility. What that meant was full and total electronic and physical security in the room. No signals entered but more importantly, no signals exited the room. Gathered was the 11-man National Security Council and at the head of the table was the Emperor who'd only just sat down as Chairman-General Moore entered. Moore took the podium at the front of the room just off to the side of the projector screen, which was displaying a map of Gaza. "Good morning everyone," he began when everyone had settled down and he'd removed a classified folder from his satchel case. "We're here to discuss final preparations and the initial battle plan for RED DRAGONFLY, which is due to commence at 01:00 on December 8.

"OPFOR in Gaza consists of eleven thousand and eight hundred men arranged in a traditional 3-branch military along with a militia. The military consists of approximately nine thousand men with the balance in the militia. The standing army is under control of the Khouri leadership while the militia is under seven different commanders with an approximately headcount of four hundred men per commander.

"Gaza has air, land, and sea assets consisting of twelve Mirage IIIE interceptors, sixteen Gazelle helicopters, and four Pilatus PC-3 trainers, four La Combattante IIa coastal patrol boats, and light armored vehicles, APCs, IFVs, and medium tanks. Their surface-to-air defenses are largely short-range, low-altitude systems designed to be mobile. We've already had a brush with these so I am sure you're familiar with how capable these systems can be when in trained hands.

"OPFOR in the Sinai is much looser defined. Overall, we're looking at approximately ten thousand men under the control of the Touma clan and twice that under the control of the Hajjar clan. The Touma's control the south and the Hajjar's the north. If you look at the map behind me," the projector shifted to the next slide. "This line, roughly where Highway 50 and Highway 55 run denotes north from south. The Sinai is largely desert and unoccupied but these dots signify small, medium, and large population centers. Our focus is on Arish in the north and Sharm El-Sheikh in the south. These two cities are where most of the population lives and where the two clans have their bases.

"The structure of forces in the Sinai more resemble warlord armies than in Gaza, which has a professional, standing military. We're looking at unprofessional troops, largely equipped with light weaponry. This is not to say that we won't encounter armored vehicles or tanks but merely that they are not a dominant object within the clans' military forces. The main surface-to-air threat comes from should-launched missiles. There are no air or naval forces to contend with in the Sinai.

"While H-Hour is set for 01:00, we are aiming to execute two decapitation strikes at precisely 00:50 using Nighthawk stealth fighters positioned in theater. The Nighthawks will deliver Paveway-guided bombs onto the residences of the two clan leaders in the Sinai. We were considering a similar strike in Gaza but the Khouri's are using Powers as a human shield and we cannot risk it. Following the execution of these strikes, naval aircraft and cruise missiles will sortie towards targets at Gaza and the Sinai. Initial strikes will be navy only - with the exception of the Nighthawks - while follow-on strikes will be conducted by the air force. Any questions so far?"

"Yes I have two," the Emperor said, "the necessity of using Nighthawks?"

"Sir we want to ensure that even the British are not aware of the strike. We've been flying the Nighthawks nightly in case of spotters, purposely keeping them out for upwards of four hours, which is the approximate duration of the to and from distance for the mission. Our deceptions, if they've been discovered, will seem 'routine' to any watchers."

"Second question then, do we have eyes on these two residences? What is our abort plan?"

"Sir if I may take that one," spoke Minister Bryant of Defense. "We have two ground teams consisting of two Delta operators and two intelligence operatives each in the Sinai. We've already inserted the Delta operators as of dawn this morning and they will be able to provide real time intelligence to the whereabouts of our HVTs."

"What is their cover?"

"Journalists sir," Minister Lawrence Dunn of Intelligence said.

"All right continue please Chairman-General."

"Sir, thank you, initial cruise missile and strike sorties will focus on hardened targets and air defense units. The success of our initial strikes will determine when we can commence the ground phase of operations. We are aiming to have ground units in Gaza within two hours. Paratroopers will assault and hold Gaza Airport, SEALS will assault a media station so that we can control propaganda on both radio and television, and Delta operators will assault the fortress with the purpose of rescuing Powers.

"By dawn, we will commence landings with marines via amphibious maneuver and air assault. These landings will take place under the full cover of close air support. We are anticipating resistance, necessitating significant resources be directed to these landings. In order to properly gauge the level of resistance, Ghost Recon will be inserting men along the shoreline via submarine at approximately 23:30. Personnel are presently in theater."

"Another question," said the Emperor and Chairman-General Moore nodded to him. "What is our exfil plan if they should be discovered?"

"We have Harriers on standby for launch along with attack helicopters. The primary exfil plan is to get back to the sea but should that not be an option, we will attempt a helo extraction under the cover of Harriers and Cobras. Using low-level reconnaissance imagery, we've identified several key hide sites that they can use. Operatives from intelligence will be confirming said areas are safe prior to the launch of our forces. Radio check-ins will be made prior to our men coming ashore." Seeing that this was what the Emperor wanted, Chairman-General Moore continued. The map shifted to show Gaza again and he would spend the next twenty minutes focused on the ground plan for Gaza before switching over to the Sinai and going into detail there. Because of the larger size and inhospitable terrain in the Sinai, there would be considerable "travel time" to account for when dealing with timetables. The estimates that Chairman-General Moore shared hovered around fourteen days for the Sinai and seven for Gaza but this was merely the average of a range. If Gaza fell quickly it might be seventy-two hours. If it became a bloody fight street-for-street, they could be looking at three to five weeks with upwards of five years of counterinsurgency operations. Likewise, the Sinai could be over in seven days or two months, it all depended on what level of resistance the OPFOR offered and how committed the Empire was to capturing both territories.

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Monday, December 2^nd, 1991 | 19:00 hrs [UTC+2]
El Arish, Sinai | Arish
31° 6' 57" N, 33° 47' 14" E

The dirty, light brown, 1984, Volkswagen Type 2 van turned off of the paved road and onto a road made of hard, flattened sand. As it did, the engine began to putter loudly, and the driver looked around with a smile. "We stop here," he said to his two passengers as he brought the van to a halt. "It's there," he said, pointed to the walled compound just three hundred meters in front of them. Though, if anyone was looking, they would see his gesture as a gesture of frustration. The driver was the twenty-year-old Nassef Hafez, owner and operator of Hafez Van Tours, as advertised on the side of his van - in both English and Arabic. He opened the door and came around to the other side. The van had three doors, two for the driver and the front passenger, and a sliding door for the rear passengers.

Reaching underneath the seat, he pulled out a toolbox. A few brochures slipped out as well but he stuffed them back into their holder, a cloth bag. The brochures advertised that Hafez had been in business since 1985 and that he conducted as many as fifty tours per year. If you unfolded the brochure, you would find a map of the Sinai with a few visited sites marked by dots, which included the faraway Saint Catherine's Monastery, a six-hour drive from Arish. An asterisk next to the location signified that it was an overnight trip, giving tourists two, full days at the monastery. The two passengers in the rear had seen the brochure but they weren't interested in the monastery, they were interested in the 2.5-acre compound. Earlier in the day, thousands of miles away, when Chairman-General Moore mentioned Delta operators in the Sinai, these men - and two others - were who he was referring to and Nassef was the intelligence operative.

His cover was perfect. Moreover, the fuel cutoff switch that he'd installed in his van made for a convenient and explainable excuse for stopping wherever he needed. If anyone was suspicious, they could come over and try to start the van themselves only to find that it wouldn't start. Nassef would make a show of tinkering under the hood. In the process, he'd flip a second switch underneath the hood that would resume the fuel flow. Anyone trying to start the van would find it would start at that point. It was a perfect setup and Nassef had done the work himself.

"How long do we have?"

"Ten minutes tops," Nassef answered, "we don't want to overstay our welcome."

"Roger," responded the Delta operator. When they and Nassef first met in the airport, they introduced themselves at Steven and Carl, though these weren't their real names. They had all of the equipment a photojournalist would need and they go through customs easy enough, though a small bribe helped them along the way and since they weren't carrying weapons there was no need for any extra security screening. They were simply two British photojournalists, as per their passports.

Once they'd made contact with Nassef, he'd taken them around the city to give them a lay of the land. They had other reconnaissance objectives to meet. During the trip, Nassef explained that there were special compartments in the seat backs and the seat cushions. There were three pistols and a MAC-10 in the seat cushions and a CAR-15 in the compartment behind the first row of seats. There were plenty of magazines too. Normally, Nassef used these compartments for his patrons, who could hide their valuables while on tours. Yet they'd really been built to hold firearms for a situation such as this one. Neither of the Delta operators went for the guns but they knew precisely where they were and how to get to them.

Now, the two Delta operators sat in the back of the van with their cameras held up to their eyes. They had long, telephoto lenses and they were photographing the compound. The high-speed film and the f/2.8 apertures of their lenses meant that, even at night, they could take clear enough photographs of the compound. They would get more in the daytime when they occupied a small house barely one hundred and fifty meters from the front gate of the compound. The roof of the house would give them a commanding view over the compound's walls and, if they were lucky, a view right into the bedroom of Khaled Nasrallah, leader of the Hajjar clan, so named for their ancestors. Yemen smuggled its arms through the Sinai to Cyprus until the establishment of C-FOR and it was through that smuggling operation that Nasrallah and the Hajjar clan received the power to consolidate their hold in Northern Sinai.

Snapping away their photographs, the two Delta operators made some notes as well in the compound. It was sizeable, the diameter being one hundred meters square. Within the walls of the compound there were five structures. The largest was the main residence at thirty meters wide by seventy meters long. It was also the tallest at three stories. There was a structure in each of the eastern corners, one serving as a guest house for the compound's staff and the other as a security annex. Then there was an auxiliary structure along the northern wall where tools and utilities were kept and managed. The fifth and final structure was the barracks. The barracks was different from the security annex in that the former held a sizeable staff of soldiers and the later held a separate, backup system for the security controls of the compound. A ground assault would require a lot of men, which was precisely why the air force wanted to put a pair of 2,000-pound Paveway III bombs through the roof of the residence building, turning it into a complete mess of rubble.

"It's far from small, you think two bombs are enough?" The Delta operator who identified himself as Steven said, jokingly. In the back seat of the van, Carl laughed.

"Might need an entire B-52's payload to take that place out," he joked back. "On second thought maybe a low-yield nuke might be enough."

"Yeah but who's going in there to drop it off? I stopped being a Green Beret a long time ago," Steven said, referring to his time with the Green Berets. He'd done four years with the Green Berets, including one year on a Green Light Team. The Green Light Teams were the elite of the Green Berets. Their entire job was to insert behind enemy lines, likely in the Kingdom of Italy, with a 60-pound, 1 kiloton nuclear bomb. They had a specific target and they would be required to insert the bomb and protect it until it went off, which meant it was a one-way mission. After a year in a Green Light Team, Steven had moved onto Delta Force, the elite Tier One unit for special operations. That was six years ago. Carl had been in Delta for only two years but he was no rookie anymore. He'd come from a recon outfit in the marines. He wasn't special forces, like Steven was, but the recon outfit wasn't the same as the regular infantry. They both had plenty of experience under their belts, which meant that they were the right men for this job. The team operating in Sharm El-Sheik was similar in experience and longevity in the unit.

What these two men focused on doing was observing the compound ahead of them, using their cameras to zoom in on specific details. They weren't sizing it up for a ground assault though, they were sizing it up for an airstrike. Still, they needed to capture specific details with which to send back to headquarters. As they did so, Nassef tinkered around under the hood and when he wristwatch beeped at eight minutes and nine seconds, he flipped the switch, and shouted around, "Hey can you give it a try?" Steven moved up to the driver's seat and gave it a go and the van started. With a triumphant clap, the two Delta operators added to the show. Nassef shut the hood and returned the toolbox. "Get what you need?"

"Yes."

"Good, let's get a move on before someone makes a phone call."

"You got it," and off they went, to the safe house that had been procured for them.

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by **Itailian Maifias** » Tue Aug 25, 2020 1:33 pm

A Handy Reference Tool

Major Christian Nicolson
Outpost Greenshade, Acting Commanding Officer of 1^st Battalion, The Durham Light Infantry, 14 Division
Captured Compound, Tonisí(Al Jazair)/25 km southwest of Alexandria, Egypt (30°40'45.78"N, 29°18'10.94"E)
September 2, 1989; 1420 Hrs [UTC+2]

Christian’s eyes darted to the left, the immediate space just thirty meters from him exploded in a column of flame and debris, the shockwave of the mortar round hitting him square in his chest and sending him straight to the concrete floor. His vision as a cross between the blurred input and the incredible pounding and spinning in his head, he felt like his brain had been put on a incredibly fast spinner and then placed in his skull. He was sprawled on his back, his hands trying to blind grope out for where his rifle had fallen before he recovered, and remembered he had it tied across his torso with a leather strap. The rifle was laying just off of his chest, and he collected it and brought himself to his feet, the sound of gunfire and bullets flying like angry bees immediately rushing in as his hearing slowly was restored, the ringing slowly being replaced with the melodies of close quarters gun battles. He crouched over slightly and stepped over the crumbled remains of the southern perimeter wall of this residential compound, his eyes briefly jumping up to the British flag flapping in the steady winds of the day, slightly pockmarked with the signs of battle like the men who carried her but ever more defiant and standing proud as they.He rushed over to the central building, taking notice of a few soldiers already inside of it using it as a shelter and firing port, and he climbed up a series of sandstone stairs built into the side of the building, the perimeter half-wall chewed thoroughly by high caliber round impacts. On the roof, he noted his two machine gun teams had em-placed themselves, using the roof for cover and an raised base of fire, while further back his fire support coordinator was using a rangefinder to communicate with his radioman. "Serjeant Dennel, give me a sitrep of the battalion!"

Christian shouted at his radioman who nodded at the request, Christian taking a knee next to him, occasionally aiming down the sights on his rifle while he listened to the answer, finding a black shape that was firing towards his position which caused him to center the reticle of his sight over the center of the mass and pull the trigger three times, until a fine red mist and a nudge on his arm caused him to turn and look at the paper map that Serjeant Dennel was balancing on his knee, gesturing to articulate current unit positions "Major, the entire Division is fully engaged along this line, General Fairbairn has committed both our own and Whittemore's brigades into the assault on Alexandria. The entirety of our battalion is currently engaged all throughout this town of Tonisi, while 2nd Battalion is two and half klicks to our west trying to secure the town of Falastin and 3rd and 4th Battalion are less then two klicks to our northeast sweeping the farms there to secure a secondary approach into Alexandria proper. Whittemore's brigade is advancing from El-Alamein along the coast, but both of our units have found themselves engaged with what divisional command believes to be a consolidated remnant of the 1st Egyptian Division, as well as the 3rd."

"Right here, along the primary MSR into Alexandria is where we are meeting the fiercest resistance. We need to secure this town to enable us to set up a firebase here from which to direct further assaults. Right now, we're encountering well positioned defenses and heavy garrisons supported by hidden armor pieces, or infantry fighting vehicles. Langdon's company is reporting 22 causalities, first company is reporting 29 and second I have been unable to raise, they are our primary lead in the assault to secure Tonisi."

"How the hell did Langdon lose 22 men?"

"Counter battery fire sir, the Egyptians had him dialed in pretty well and good, managed to land a few shells on one of his shell carriers causing the whole thing to go bang. We've lost two of his 155mm guns to the fire."

Christian nodded and studied the map briefly "Any updated orders from Colonel Krauss or DIVCOMM?"

Dennel shook his head "Negative sir, last word I had from REGCOMM was two hours ago, just repeated the order to secure Tonisi with all due haste and with any available means."

Christian nodded and pointed west "Right, here's what we're going to do then. Radio 2nd, 3rd and 4th Battalion, and get Colonel Royce's staff command in as well. Have our two artillery attachments coordinate an directed sweeping strike, starting from the A5 MSR, and terminating in the northern half of Tonisi. Prioritize fire with the 225mm guns for scatter effect, lighter guns for higher volume of shells I want the whole area saturated with fire. That amount of fire should catch them off guard, so see if you can get 3rd and 4th Battalion to push harder and we'll renew our assault."

Dennel nodded "I can do that Major, but that kind of coordination is going to require REGCOMM to sign off - wait one, I can que them in."

"Novel 1-2 to Novel Actual, proposed fire package in que, over."

"Novel 1-2, Novel Actual, send it, over."

"Novel Actual, Novel 1 Actual advising we coordinate a joint brigade fire mission involving both iron rain units. Initial strike at A5 MSR 13 klicks to the north, following a 22 degree trajectory sweeping south terminating at Tonisi northern half, break."

" Continued advisement would see right flank push hard immediately following, to collapse with center and left on mop up, over."

Minutes of silence ensued, while the radio would crackle with static or noise from another network that would bleed through. After what felt like forever but was more then likely only five minutes, a radio reply was returned "Novel 1-2, Novel Actual, negative on proposed fire mission, maintain current orders, secure Tonisi with all due haste."

Dennel repeated the answer to Christian who swore at his colonel's refusal to coordinate a heavy artillery bombardment. "Dennel, first company's mortars in position?"

"Affirmative sir, reporting on callsign Novel 2-5."

"We'll take this the harder way then, have them deploy a smoke screen across the road the bisects the town about two hundred meters to our north, and immediately follow with a HE bombardment sweeping in from the north and ending at this road. At the end of their bombardment, brief radio signal and I want all companies pushing an assault forward to secure the remainder of the town."

Dennel nodded "Affirmative Major, standby."

While Dennel distributed the orders across the company and battalion radio networks, Christian moved up next to the MG team, using the raising of the roof's wall as a rest for his rifle and watching the tracer fire from his men go out, briefly observing their positions from where he could see and returning fire at Egyptian targets when he saw them. For a time, he set his rifle down and pulled out his binoculars and quickly swept across the northern half of the town that was still under Egyptian control, silently marking certain positions where he noted a concentration of force from the Egyptians and then relaying these positions to Dennel so the mortars could target them. While first company only had eight mortars, Christian hoped that the heavier half of its complement (the 88mm mortars) would help open up some of the more denser areas in the town to allow for greater effectiveness from the lighter mortar's shells. He watched as there was six explosions across the dividing road which was visible from his perch, and the white smoke that slowly began to spread, covering the entire road within sixty seconds. He tapped the gunner on his left "Get ready", and the volume of gunfire slowly died as the British held their fire for a moment, though a few on both sides continued to fire through the obscuring smoke.

Approximately forty five seconds afterwards, the first of many shaking explosions began rumbling through the north end of town, and Christian watched as a rolling wave of dirt, brick and fire cascaded through the Egyptian-held parts of Tonisi. Within seconds of it ceasing, the brief quiet that it had instilled was quickly broken as the British companies began pushing forward, and the gun battle was quickly resumed. Christian beckoned to Kneib and the machine gun team to follow, and they quickly rushed down the stairs of the building moving forward with the rest of their assault. Christian guided them out of the compound, and their pace slowed as they carefully moved through the white smoke, pausing for a moment as they took each corner of an alley, or door way. Occasionally they would find an Egyptian soldier, and quickly eliminated the threat with a burst of fire from someone's weapon. Fifteen minutes of this plodding pace, before they reached a particularly troublesome house that had a team of Egyptians positioned inside at the ready, and had caught Christian and his team by surprise, which earned Christian a bullet laceration across the arm before a well placed grenade and quick gun duels from himself and Kneib silenced the opposition. As Christian quickly moved through the main room of the four room house, he noticed a internal staircase and motioned to Kneib to lead, quickly falling into place behind him. The second story was empty of any hostiles, but they quickly found a door that led to the roof. The machine gunner quickly got to work and found a good over-watch position where they could use their bipod to great effect, while Christian took a moment to tighten the bandage on his arm and squawk over his radio to Serjeant Dennel "Novel 1 Actual to Novel 1-2, maneuver status, over."

"Novel 1 Actual, Novel 1-2, good reports from all company CO's, we've pushed OPFOR to the periphery or out of Tonisi all together, over."

"Novel 1-2, excellent re-purpose Novel 4 Actual for search and destroy on our rear and then radio REGCOMM, let's get a resup-"

Christian's words suddenly dropped off as a searing hot pain filled his whole body, a brief white flash and then the whole world went dark.

by **Layarteb** » Wed Sep 02, 2020 8:22 pm

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Monday, December 2^nd, 1991 | 20:00 hrs [UTC+3]
Al Hudaydah, Yemen | Al Hudaydah Airfield
14° 45' 52" N, 42° 59' 17" E

Henrik dropped his cigarette onto the sandy tarmac and snuffed the still smoldering butt out with his boot. From where he stood, he looked out towards the nearby city of Al Hudaydah, the port city that had been founded in the 1400s to serve as a vital trade link. Now, almost six hundred years later, little had changed but the population and the architecture. It still served as a major port for Yemen and it was through Al Hudaydah that 70% of the country's commercial imports traveled. One of the most important exports, coffee, went almost exclusively out of Al Hudaydah. It was for this reason that the port was under intense scrutiny by the Imperial Layartebian Navy since it was widely believed that illegal arms exports from Yemen departed from Al Hudaydah and the ILN was right to believe this because it was true.

However, Henrik wasn't standing on the docks but rather at the tarmac of the disused Al Hudaydah Airfield. Once an important fighter base to the Yemeni Air Force, the base had been decimated by cruise missiles and Layartebian fighter aircraft in 1988, when Operation IRON GRIZZLY was launched. The Yemeni Air Force had never recovered and they hadn't bothered to rebuild the base save for the necessary patchwork to fix the runway and the taxiways. Aircraft shelters still existed merely as piles of torn and twisted rubble of concrete and whatever their contents had been at the time of the strikes. The scorched, charred, and otherwise indecipherable remnants of fighter jets and cargo transports still occupied their final resting spots prior to being set ablaze or blown up by guided weaponry. Not fifty meters from Henrik's position was the carcass of a MiG-21 Fishbed that had been torn in half by a 500-pound, laser-guided bombs. The crater still remained, the blackened steel of the Fishbed all that remained to identify it as such.

Since Al Hudaydah Airfield had been rendered unusable in 1988, it transitioned from an airfield used by the military to one that was used infrequently by smugglers, such as Henrik, only Henrik didn't necessarily work for a criminal organization. His paychecks came direct from the Yemeni government, like so many others helping the government smuggle weapons and drugs out of the country and around the world. The Yemeni government had in its employment a few dozen smugglers who operated aircraft, vehicles, and ships and they got paid a percentage of their cargo's value as well as where they took it. For the smugglers, this made weapons and khat that much more lucrative, especially when brought to areas in the region. Since the ILN had shown up in the Red Sea, Henrik's wages increased over seventy-five percent simply because the cargo was that much more valuable.

Henrik was the captain of his crew, four men (including himself) who operated an aged but still capable, Antonov An-10AS transport plane. That plane was being loaded not one hundred meters away in the only hangar to survive the airstrike on the base. Luckily, it was also the largest, so the An-10 fit perfectly inside of it. How it survived no one knew, especially when the smaller shelters around had been reduced to indecipherable chunks during the onslaught.

The cargo today was extremely valuable. Henrik was transporting 24,000 pounds of small arms and khat. The added khat, though it wasn't much, would boost their profit on the load nearly three-fold than if they were just transporting small arms. It was because where they were going, khat was in high demand thanks to the Layartebian presence and near universal assumption that the Layartebian military was about to launch military action in the region against Gaza and potentially against the Sinai too. Henrik was rooting for the conflict, knowing that it was good business for him and his men who were a mix of ethnicities. Henrik was Cottish but his co-pilot was Peruvian. His loadmaster was from Africa - a country he couldn't ever remember - and his navigator was from somewhere in Southeast Asia. He didn't much like his navigator, but the man spoke six languages, so he was useful to keep around if just to intercept radio traffic and translate for them.

Seeing a flashlight wave, Henrik took it as his cue to get back to the aircraft where his loadmaster was watching the final pallet of goods being loaded into the cargo hold. "All here?" Henrik asked when he got there, taking the clipboard from the man.

"All here boss, I'm just going to double check these ties. I don't like this crew much, they're lazy."

"Make sure it's tight, we get a load shift and we're in the drink. We're flying too low for that shit."

"You got it," the loadmaster climbed onto the ramp as the forklift backed out of the cargo hold. The driver had a lazy look on his face and a cigarette hung out of his mouth, nearly half burned down but in dire need of being knocked against something lest the ash fall onto his shirt.

Henrik looked over the manifest and replayed the words his loadmaster had spoken to him about the tiedowns. They were going to be flying really low and any load shift would mean an unrecoverable shift in the aircraft's center of gravity. They'd be in the water before they knew it and none of them would survive. He let his loadmaster do his job before he bothered to talk to "Abdul," the Yemeni official who'd come to oversee the transfer of cargo. He'd had a dozen and one dealings with Abdul before and Abdul always tried to stiff him, to keep some money for himself. He was disreputable but who wasn't in this business?

"All right it's all here, sign off on it," Henrik said, showing him the clipboard.

Abdul looked at it and the sum at the bottom, "I think it's wrong, I should check it again."

"Abdul you checked it twice. You're a cheap crook who's trying to steal from me. You want to make money go fly a fucking plane. Now sign this so we can get out of here."

"Ah Henrik, my friend," he smiled, his rotten teeth black from the khat chewing he did every day. His breath was worse. It smelled like garlic, onion, and a rat's asshole. "Fine, I sign, you honest."

"Yeah I honest," Henrik answered. Abdul signed and Henrik tore off the receipt and handed it to him. Abdul got the yellow slip, Henrik would keep the white, and the customer would get the pink. It was simple and it was business. Henrik took the clipboard under his arm and walked back to the plane. "Close it up and let's get out of here." He shouted to the loadmaster who gave him the thumb's up as Henrik passed him in the cargo hold. Before Henrik got to the cockpit, the rear ramp was already rising.

"Good to go?" His co-pilot asked and Henrik just grunted as he dropped into his seat. He handed the clipboard back to the navigator without any pleasantries and began to go through the startup process.

"All right, we've got a few destroyers out there. We're going to be a little lower than usual, no more than fifty meters. That'll keep us hidden well enough from their radars. Horizon calculations, all that shit, give us about a forty kilometers red zone to any warships." He said as he tapped the radar warning receiver on the panel in front of him. It would pick up the radar sweeps of Layartebian warships so he could steer away from them. Not more than a few minutes later, after his engines were running, Henrik was airborne. It was precisely 20:00 hours.

• • • • ‡ • • • •

Monday, December 2^nd, 1991 | 23:25 hrs [UTC+2]
Red Sea | ILS Halsey (DLG-23)
26° 24' 32" N, 35° 8' 46" E

The ILS Halsey (DLG-23) was steaming quietly in the calmness of the Red Sea about one hundred nautical miles southeast of the Sinai Peninsula. She was the closest Layartebian warship to the Sinai, acting as a radar picket and an air guard though against what no one knew. There was no air force in the Sinai nor anything that could resemble an air force there. The Halsey's crew spent their days training, honing their skills, and watching commercial jets flying at high altitude around the region. As a Leahy-class air defense frigate, the Halsey was one of the more capable vessels in the fleet when it came to air warfare. Fresh out of a §55 million upgrade known as New Threat Upgrade or NTU, the Halsey was equipped with modern weapons and sensors. Though the newer AEGIS-equipped destroyers were technically more capable, there were a lot of bugs and kinks to work out of this system, which meant that the Halsey was more a more reliable combat vessel.

The Halsey's main weapon system was the Standard SM-2 missile, which was capable of engaging aircraft, missiles, and even ships at low, medium, and high altitudes out to medium and long ranges. She had two, twin-arm launchers, each equipped with eighty missiles and she could fire one missile, per arm, every thirty seconds, meaning that in one minute, the vessel could put eight missiles into the air. She was, in this regard, highly capable. However, the Halsey's capabilities were largely underutilized in the Red Sea where there was no air threat. To the west were the British and the British were hardly going to attack the Layartebians. To the east was a big question mark but they too weren't going to do anything. Yemen, the only real threat in the region, no longer had an air force. Thus, the Halsey was a weapon system without an enemy in this conflict.

Though the Halsey's luck was going to change. She was operating "out of box" on this particular evening. This was a conscious decision by the captain of the vessel who believed that smugglers were keeping close to the Arabian coastline rather than venturing out into the deeper waters of the Red Sea for fear of stumbling into a Layartebian warship. It was being widely reported that Layartebian warships were conducting boarding operations on Yemeni-flagged ships traveling north in the Red Sea and despite the protests of the Yemeni government, the ILN was continuing to stop vessels to search for contraband. Of course, none of these boarding operations resulted in anything but that didn't mean the Yemenis weren't sending illegal shipments northward into the Sinai. They were just managing to evade the Layartebians.

Only tonight their luck would change. The Yemeni smugglers had to get lucky every time, the Layartebians only had to get lucky once. That luck changed at 23:25 hours when the thermal imaging camera on the forward mast of the Halsey suddenly picked up the very large and very hot thermal image of an An-10 cargo plane skirting along the water at barely wavetop height. It had just come over the horizon twenty-one nautical miles away and its course was going to take it within just five nautical miles of the Halsey to its port side. The call out from the CIC woke everyone up on this late evening and the aircraft was tracked as it flew inbound at a little less than two hundred knots.

The Halsey had an advantage in that the An-10's crew hadn't yet seen it. The Halsey was operating its radars in passive mode, picking up only the transponder signals from commercial aviation. It was doing this in an effort to catch smugglers and it worked though none of the Halsey's crew expected the smugglers to be in an An-10 and they knew immediately that said An-10 was smuggling illegal contraband simply because of how it was flying - very low. It was flying to avoid radar and it would have done so had the Halsey not been out of position.

In the cockpit of the An-10, Henrik and his crew were focused entirely on avoiding crashing. They were flying at fifty meters, holding the plane steady, keeping its speed in a precise and narrow band to avoid flying too fast for this altitude. The radar warning receiver had been quiet all night and Henrik had been lured into a false sense of confidence. When the thermal imaging camera of Halsey picked him up he never knew it. The vessel was too far away, and it was too dark for him to see it. In fact, he might not have seen it at all, had the Halsey not activated its radar systems, which it did when he was not twenty kilometers away from it. The activation sent his RWR into a fit of hysterics as it first registered the invisible sweeps by the Halsey's search radar and then the lock-on of the Halsey's fire control radar. The Halsey wasn't allowed to fire on the An-10 but she was able to get precise information on the aircraft, which activated the fire control radar allowed.

Henrik nearly jumped out of his seat as his quiet cockpit became a scene of enraged beeping and screaming from the RWR. "Shit! We're being painted!" He shouted as the fire control radar locked onto his plane. He nearly pushed the control yoke forward as a natural reaction to get low and avoid the radar but he was already low enough. He couldn't go down much more without risking crashing into the sea. "Nothing we can do about it," he said, looking around outside for the warship. He knew its direction but he hadn't yet seen its outline. He would, eventually, as they passed to its east. What he didn't know was that the Halsey had reported his presence up through the chain of command and his bearings were being calculated by otherwise bored sailors who suddenly had something to do. They would fix his destination before he ever reached it, knowing that smugglers tended to be penny pinchers and would fly the most direct route possible when able to avoid spending more money on fuel. Henrik was guilty as changed.

• • • † • • •

by **Itailian Maifias** » Mon Oct 19, 2020 8:37 pm

A Handy Reference Tool

Major General Ulric Fairbairn DSO MC
FOB 'Ibelin', Operational Command Headquarters, Operation Pink Falcon, Senior/Commanding Officer
Memphis, Egypt (30°40'45.78"N, 29°18'10.94"E)
September 2, 1989; 2155 Hrs [UTC+2]

Ulric ran his fingers through the slightly lengthened fading black hair that fell just above the ear on other side of his otherwise shaved head, using his other hand to gently massage either temple as his senior G3 aide, Captain Bailey Christensen, made yet another appearance into his office this evening, bringing an armful of reports and documents, as well as two white mugs of tea one of which she carefully set in front of Ulric in one of the few open spots he had left, nodding a thanks to her as he straightened himself up and took some sips out of the tea, appreciating the hot drink as it briefly refreshed him, dispelled the pull of exhaustion, and he took it with him as he stood up from the table serving as an ad-hoc desk and moved to join the captain as she worked over a large board that contained detailed map with unit markings and positions within the broadest AO, which at this point was the Upper Nile Delta where most of the British units were engaged as they made a dash for Alexandria, and down in the south around Luxor where a second front had been opened.

He briefly flicked his eyes over the unit positions that were slowly being updated as the captain who carefully consult a report, then make the adjustment, the only noise between them the loud drone of the floor fan set up in the corner and the sounds of the staff officers outside in the other rooms of the building, still working regardless of the hours. "Run me through the latest captain if you wouldn't mind."

"Heavy action is consistent still on our most forward positions, which are currently here in the vicinity of the settlement of El-Agamy. The North Staffordshire as you may remember conducted a direct assault along the coast towards Alexandria in an attempt to pull hostile troops from the lines within the Delta where the rest of it's division could advance. It worked briefly in the earlier parts of the day, but they have become bogged down in intense close quarters urban fighting, I believe I have a dispatch here from Colonel Braddock about engaging hostiles within 100 meters."

"Furthermore, it's sister brigade's assault across the delta has completely stalled out - they reached their furthest most point this afternoon having battled for control off outlying suburbs around Al-Jazair but they were briefly pushed back under a heavy counter assault."

Ulric nodded "S1 have an update on the overall enemy assessment?"

Captain Christensen nodded, shuffling through her stack of files before handing a multi-paged report to Ulric, who briefly examined it as she verbally summarized "They're upgrading their assessment of their defensive positioning, they're recommending bringing the entire division into a coordinated push forward. Particular reference is made to the issues Major General Giehl and his armor have faced as they pushed through Cairo and Heliopolis and entered Tanta, where they've become bogged down."

"Where's the infantry that is supposed to be supporting them?"

"Their second brigade only have trucks as their form of transport and the armor advanced out of position to press an assault against what was believed to be light targets. Furthermore, the local support we had for assistance in Memphis and Cairo is quite the opposite in Tanta and Giehl reports his units have made contact with near equal number of irregulars and Egyptian regulars."

Ulric nodded "Don't suppose you brought me any good news to salvage this day?"

"Well, the Temple Guard have reported they've secured all major zones of interest in Thebes and are setting up conditional bases out of which to operate. They have also reported securing a number of HVT's from the insurgency and have already done heavy damage to much of their infrastructure."

Ulric chuckled "Well, I suppose Giehl can rest easy, that southern out-flanking he was so damn worried about is never going to get here."

He briefly checked his watch "RAF still have their staff here?"

"Aye I believe so, I think I saw a captain briefly dozing in a back room."

"I believe we have enough cards on the table to execute Plan 3, let's get the crew together."

The captain nodded and they both proceeded out of the office and into the wider room where a number of tables had been thrown together, the area serving as a large office for the various staff officers supporting the theater command in the operation. Although the time of the evening, still had a large number of its officers present and they were quickly called together as Ulric stepped towards the western wall where a replica of the map that Captain Christensen had been updating had been maintained as well. "Good evening, thank you all for working through your shifts to see this out. As we know, today's plans did not bear the fruit we hoped, and there will shortly be 831 new grieving families back home in the isles or the continent. However, their sacrifice to get us where we have made it can not be wasted, and we are close to forcing an end to this war."

"The assault forward has stalled, and as we have discussed throughout the last 72 hours, we must maintain it's initiative and not give any chance to the Egyptians to remuster, therefore it's time to enact Plan 3. RAF Captain Gwerder, how soon can we anticipate execution of strike package D2?"

A shorter man half slumped in a chair cleaned up his posture as he was called out and stood up to reply "Does that mean we're waiving the rule on precision strikes near populated centers?"

Ulric nodded "If we don't, Giehl's division and the Staffordshire Regiment will become bogged down in intense urban fighting and suffer unneeded losses."

"We can have everyone airborne in three hours, executed in two."

"Get moving with your branch then please, we need that executed. For my own staff, distribute orders across the brigades for consolidation across the lines, we need to redeploy our efforts to focus on the center of our forward positions, here just 6 klicks from the limits of Alexandria - I want them to see the King's Colours when they wake in the morning."

As the staff members dispersed, Ulric stepped down and moved towards Captain Christensen, pulling her aside from the crowd "Captain, call Major Bähr, tell him we're a go on Operation Bloodlet."

Major Reiner Bähr
Team 2, 2nd Company, REDACTED
Moving towards the Alexandrian coastline, Mediterranean Sea (31°10'46.01"N 29°46'42.06"E)
September 3, 1989; 0130 Hrs [UTC+2]

Reiner sighed as he could hear the whispers coming his left and he briefly kicked the larger man "Shut it Jones, complete silence until we're in the AO, last thing we need is for us to be given away because you and Taube want to talk about Sheffield Wednesday."

Two quick apologies and the team once more resumed to silence, all six members that were huddled in the all-black speedboat that was speeding across the waves, all of their eyes forward on the horizon as it slowly creeped into visual range as the boat got closer and closer, and the tracers, columns of flame and explosions grew louder. Reiner checked his watch and saw they were two minutes ahead of schedule and looked back to the driver and tapped his watch, the young man holding up a single finger indicating they would be at their drop off point within a minute. Through a series of quick hand motions, this was communicated across his team and then the waiting resumed as they could but look on as the shore line grew closer and closer.

Accurate to their helmsmen's estimate, they were carefully guided onto the rocky beach that was littered with stones of varying sizes and trees with willowy, draping branches which helped to obscure their drop off. They quickly disembarked and immediately formed up into a single column, Reiner leading the way as he made sure to keep his EM2 trained forward, privately hoping the rest of the insertion would remain this quiet. Among the deep darkness of the evening, the six forms clad fully in black; not just uniforms, but equipment including weapons as well, slowly emerged from the beach and navigated through the brush into the first of many settlements that made up the whole of outlying Alexandria. They would travel carefully navigating past the walled compounds and abandoned, shuttered storefronts ensuring to move quickly with speed but also adhering to a pre-selected route that hopefully had no onlookers, or curious civilians.

Within twenty seven minutes, they had traveled three kilometers and were now inside Alexandria proper, the building denser and far more ornate but Reiner could see war was still having it's effects; bombed out shells of buildings were sporadic, fires of burning debris or discarded items were nearly on every corner and debris filled the streets. They maneuvered down a back-alley just six minutes from one of Alexandria's most popular beachfront hotels and made their way stacking up on the door of a some business; a cursory look to the front façade revealed a Morrison's sign. A stack was quickly formed on the door and Reiner nodded at Corporal Hendry who produced a device from his front rigging that looked like a large fork with a box at the end, inserted it into the key of the door and a brief spark could be seen as a jolt of some watts was forced through the lock, disabling it's electronic security measures. With that disabled, within thirty seconds, Reiner, Taube and Hendry were proceeding inside while Jones, Martell and Ferber proceeded to point Alva which was beverage shop across the road. Entering the store, the three-man team moved quickly as they dropped their NOD's down as the power was evidently off or cut, and ensured each room was empty before Taube moved to blockade the front door completely and Reiner was joined by Hendry as they moved into the second floor, moving towards the windows that opened to face the northern road and the street the store sat upon. "Bristol, Frost Actual, we are at Noble point, awaiting the target."

A quick reply came through the earpiece in each soldier's right ear "Frost Actual, Bristol, acknowledged, advise once secured, out."

Soon Reiner found himself clearing clothing racks and shelving units out of the way as he set up in the northern window, briefly looking down the barrel through his mounted sight on the top rail and then moving back as he observed Taube and Hendry moving into position. "Frost Actual, Ember Actual, we've reached Courage, in position"

"Ember, Frost, acknowledged, sit tight and hold, ETA on target based on intel package is 25 minutes."

A brief whisper from across the room "So, what's the plan on how we're taking them down now that we're here?"

"We're going to stick with the main plan unless it goes sideways. Martell will have placed the charge in the roadside twelve meters past the northern corner of this store and their own; with all this artillery fire and jets buzzing around, I sincerely doubt they will hear the discharge - it won't disable the vehicle but it will blow the tire on the lead, which will be enough to halt the convoy and force them to stop in the box between our halves."

"Pump, dump and scoot?"

Reiner shook his head "Negative, Bristol wants Singer intact and talking. We'll provide overwatch fire, second half will move in from ground level to secure, make sure there is no surprises. Speaking of that, is that jammer of yours all set up?"

Taube jerked her thumb over to the small box that she had removed from her backpack and assembled on the floor "Active and functioning, no radio communications will foul our plans."

"Excellent, then just maintain trigger control as we trained and we'll be in and out just as we've trained. We'll make for initial exfil, we'll only divert for Bronco if it's compromised."

With this, the conversation was brought to a conclusion and they resumed a silent vigil - no cars were seen in the entirety of the time but after ten minutes the sound of the sky itself crashing upon their nearby vicinity caused Hendry to briefly look around, doubling to the eastern windows as the sounds of heavy contact grew close "That going to be an issue Major?"

"Negative, probably that Commando hit we were advised of, we're near their AO. Hopefully it doesn't spread too close, I'd hate to have to reset the trap on this hunt."

The radio crackled to life "Frost this is Ember 2, we have as convoy heading our way southbound on the MSR, PID on target."

"Headcount Ember 2?"

"Three vehicles, older continental luxury, PID on 5 guards may be more windows appear obscured driving at moderate speed, they are slowly increasing, out."

"Right well, this will prove fun. Remember, not one round until my command."

Within the next eight minutes, the yellow light from the headlights of the lead vehicle became apparent and Reiner for the first time began to notice the anxiety beginning to build but he distanced himself from it and returned his focus onto the road, watching carefully as the cars speed down the asphalt until suddenly there was a jerk and the lead car swerved far to the left, practically crashing in the storefront along the side of the road. "Set"

The single word was spoken by Reiner as slowly the slamming of a number of the car doors as most of the guards dismounted, some moving to examine the lead vehicle and the others slowly moving to secure the road and form a loose perimeter. Reiner quickly counted six, which included all but two of the drivers which remained in their cars "Mark your targets, Hendry secondary focus drivers"

A click as the weapon was made ready

"Execute"

Brief clicks were heard as suddenly all six of the guards dropped over instantly, each with a brief shower of crimson mist as final announcement of their life; immediately Reiner refocused on the second vehicle and fired six rounds into the windshield until he saw the glass turn red, and he noticed one of his team members on the ground had already secured the final driver with a knife. "Frost Actual, we got Singer."

"Roger Ember, move to our door, we're exfilling now. Bristol, this is Frost Actual, be advised Singer is secure, we're moving to Cherry."

Quickly Reiner recovered his weapon and moved towards the stairs leading back to the ground floor, Taube following just a step behind and with the bang of an exit door, Hendry had rejoined them from the roof. It would take the three soldiers less then three minutes before they were walking back out the road they had come from, where Jones had a taller man with a black hood over his head and manicles around his wrists and ankles slumped over against the wall, Jones picking the man up as Reiner and the others walked out "Package secure boss, the needle worked well and no issues. Should be awake by the time we drop him off, Martell is just sweeping the floor. "

"Roger, Martell, let's move."

The remaining members of their team slowly filled in, and Reiner briefly looked over his shoulder as the team jogged back down the road, watching as the cars were engulfed in flames that slowly spread "No one but ghosts were ever here."

by **Layarteb** » Sun Dec 06, 2020 6:37 pm

• • • † • • •

Tuesday, December 3^rd, 1991 | 01:05 hrs [UTC+2]
Bir Gifgafa, Sinai | Birgifgaga Air Base
30° 24' 43" N, 33° 9' 14" E

Henrik had been over land for some time now. Keeping the An-10 at low altitude, he used his own instincts and a set of night vision goggles to navigate the rough terrain of the southern Sinai. At first, he skirted the mountains lands to the east, flying alongside them out of his starboard window but that could only last so long. He didn't want to fly over the Gulf of Suez for fear of raising the alarm of the British, which meant that he needed to fly nap-of-the-earth in an ancient cargo plane with the aid of only his flying instincts and his night vision goggles. Conversation in the cockpit, which had been casual until then, dropped off entirely and Henrik's co-pilot let him fly. Now they were closing in on the airport and Henrik would need to pop up just enough to get into a proper descent for landing.

Henrik was wary though that his discovery by the Layartebian warship meant the ILM was looking for him and they were. An E-2C Hawkeye operating further south in the Red Sea redirected northwards almost immediately but it could only get intermittent readings on the An-10 largely due to its slow speed and its low altitude. The Hawkeye's radar, which was optimized for picking up low-altitude targets, was suffering some difficulties with the otherwise slow speed of the An-10. The radar was optimized to track anti-ship missiles and low-flying bombers. Still, the large radar cross section of the An-10 did make it trackable. Positioning was also in Henrik's favor. By the time the E-2 managed to get close enough to start getting better track, he crossed over the peninsula and into the Sinai where the ground clutter, which was vastly different over land than it was over sea, helped him hide.

E-2s operating north of the Sinai were looking as well but the vast length of the Sinai, from end-to-end being almost 250 miles, meant that the radar on the E-2s operating north and south had to fight distance as well as terrain. End of the line, the An-10 was lost and Henrik hoped he could stay lost but he also knew that the pop up would be dangerous and for the right reasons. The higher he flew, the further away he could be detected, especially as he lost the ability to mask his presence in the terrain. Given that the Sinai lacked a cohesive military, which included aircraft and air defenses, nothing could stop an E-2 from flying over the territory, and Henrik was hoping that the Layartebians would remain cautious and not wish to risk such an important - and expensive - aircraft. He was right in that regards, no E-2s would be flying over the Sinai but they would be flying close enough.

"We're coming up on the pop up," he said aloud in the cockpit. Looking through his night vision goggles, he could see the airfield in the distance, "Make the radio call."

"Was just thinking that," his co-pilot said as he turned the radio to a frequency he'd memorized. "Echo Zulu, this is Tango Whiskey, we're at the IP," there was nothing but static. He tried again but received static again, "Probably asleep at the radio knowing them."

"Probably, don't try again. We'll just come right in and land."

"Fine with me," the co-pilot said as he oriented himself for landing. Henrik would be landing but it was his job to call out altitude and speed so that Henrik could focus on the runway. They would be landing without the aid of ILS or even lights, which meant that Henrik had to give his entire focus to what he could see and wearing night vision goggles only made it that much more difficult. "Range to waypoint is five kilometers," the co-pilot said and Henrik nodded from his seat. He slowly eased back on the flight yoke and the An-10 rose from the ground and up to an altitude of around 1,000 feet. He didn't want to go any higher. The climb helped slow the plane down and he was just a little above his optimal descent speed when he leveled off on the yoke. From there it was going to be a smooth landing downwards. He increased the throttles as he called for gear and flaps, counterbalancing the added drag on the aircraft from doing so. It was as they did that their radio sparked to life, "Unidentified aircraft, Bir Gifgafa, identify yourselves!"

"Holy fucking idiots," Henrik shouted, "just tell the entire world where the fuck we are why don't you!" He said as he kept his focus, "You answer them so they shut up!"

"Echo Zulu! Echo Zulu! This is Tango Whiskey! Do you confirm?" The radio operator, clearly an amateur or simply undisciplined took a few moments before he responded back with a confirmation. It was already too late. The radio transmission was out into the skies and it was picked up by the Imperial Layartebian Navy. The complete break it operational security meant that the navy didn't need to do much analysis. The Hawkeye trained its radar towards Bir Gifgafa, a known airfield, and tuned up the power. The An-10 was almost immediately detectable and the sweeps of radar began to alert Henrik's radar warning receiver.

"Jesus those fucking amateurs! Look!" He yelled as the RWR began to beep at him, "There's an E-2 out there and it's got us."

"Do we abort?"

"No! Can't! Fucking idiots. We've got to land," he said, "focus on speed and altitude, it's too late now. Maybe we can hide out and takeoff tonight and get out of here."

"Got it," the co-pilot began to call out speed and altitude. A few moments later, he was down and taxiing into a hangar. There would be a lot of yelling and a near fistfight shortly thereafter as Henrik ripped into the base's radiomen and their commanders. The militia that controlled the airbase was hardly disciplined and - as they suspected - the radioman had been asleep, alerted only when a proximity warning in the tower told them of an approaching aircraft. Rather than having the tower staffed - as they should have been - no one was there. The radioman heard the alarm from his station lower in the tower only to run up, see the alert, and call out to the plane. In doing so, he gave away every bit of secrecy.

• • • • ‡ • • • •

Tuesday, December 3^rd, 1991 | 23:09 hrs [UTC+2]
Sharm El Sheik, Sinai | Sharm El Sheik Airport
27° 58' 43" N, 34° 23' 28" E

"Well here's to hoping this works," Henrik said as he pulled the flight yoke and aligned himself with the runway at Sharm El Sheik Airport. The day had been intense in Bir Gifgafa and Henrik had made two phone calls via satellite phone to his backers in Yemen to protest the idiocy of the Sinai militia. By mid-afternoon, the situation was brought to the attention of none other than Khaled Nasrallah, the head of the Hajjar clan and de facto ruler of the Northern Sinai. It would take several more phone calls between him and Yemen and Suhaim Mifsud, the elderly leader of the Touma clan, and de facto ruler of the Southern Sinai. Suhaim, in his eighties, was hardly a person with the stamina for these kinds of discussions, especially with Khaled who was three decades younger. Khaled had considered - on more than one occasion - taking advantage of his counterpart's age and invading but knew that the Touma clan retained the backing of the Yemeni government. The Hajjar clan might have been more powerful one-on-one but not against a coordinated response from Yemen, even in their fractured, bleeding, and wounded state.

In the end, Henrik proposed an egress that would allow him to overfly the runway at Sharm El Sheik and pretend to be a civilian airliner flying from Sharm El Sheik to Yemen. In that way, he could escape through the Red Sea and the prying eyes of the Layartebians. His An-10 could spoof a civilian transponder code, which would prevent the Layartebians from engaging. It would require cooperation from the Touma clan, which controlled the airport, and in the end, he got it. Flights would be halted after 22:00 to allow for the overflight and resumed at 06:00. There was a regularly scheduled, late night flight, out of Sharm El Sheik but it went to Dubai. It was decided that this flight would be canceled due to "mechanical issues with the plane" announced at very last minute to allow for Henrik to make his escape. Given the buy in from all three parties, there was going to be a considerable money exchange from the Hajjar's to Yemen to Touma but it was the only way for them to continue their relationship with Yemen unchanged. Otherwise, they were looking at being cut out of the arrangement with Cyprus. It had been a rough day thusly.

It was a good plan had it not been for one problem. The Layartebians were listening to every word of it. They had Khaled Nasrallah under surveillance and that also meant tapping into his phone. It wasn't too hard to get to the other phones as well for the satellite phones used by Hajjar, by Touma, by Yemen were all models that the Layartebians could easily tap into and they did without mercy. So, when Henrik went for his maneuver over Sharm El Sheik, an orbiting E-2C Hawkeye picked it up and tracked it. There was no way to visually identify the An-10 flying over the airport because the Layartebians didn't have any agents or assets in the area. They wouldn't need them though because Henrik gave them enough.

As Henrik leveled off, his transponder squawking his false, civilian code, he settled into a false sense of security. He maneuvered out over the Red Sea and leveled off at 33,000 feet. He set his speed to 340 knots and stuck to his own flight plan. Both his speed and the deviation from the regular flight plan further proved to the Layartebians. Still, this wasn't enough and so thermal imaging was involved. When scanned with thermal imaging, the unmistakable form of the An-10 was visible, hardly the civilian jetliner that should have been squawking this very code.

The green light was given thereafter. In the Red Sea, the ILNS Halsey (DLG-23), which had maneuvered closer to the Sinai coast sprang into action. On its two, twin-arm launchers were four surface-to-air missiles, two RIM-66D Standard SM-2MR and two RIM-67C Standard SM-2ER missiles. Those launchers swung now from their forward and aft directions all the way to starboard. The An-10 was within range of both the SM-2MR and the SM-2ER missiles but its slant range and heading made using the SM-2MR non-preferable and so the SM-2ER missiles were given the firing solution.

In the cockpit, Henrik's first indication that the plan had failed came when the Halsey's powerful radars locked him up, directing a considerable amount of radar energy his way. The second indication came over the guard channel when a radio operator from the orbiting Hawkeye ordered him to divert and be taken under escort to Socotra. Fighter jets were moving northwards but they wouldn't take the aircraft under escort until it indicated such. Henrik didn't answer nor did he direct his co-pilot to do so saying only, "They're bluffing. We're squawking a civilian transponder. They just got lucky."

"Do we answer?"

"No, we don't have to because we're a civilian jet. They can keep calling," two more calls were made, both of which they ignored. It was then that his radar warning receiver suddenly changed its pitch. No longer was there a long pause in between the beeps as the scans of the Halsey's search radar swept across his plan. Instead, the beeps changed to rapid as the Halsey's fire control radar illuminated the plane. It did so because in that instance, the two SM-2ER missiles were fired.

Propelled by a solid-rocket booster for the first 7.5 seconds of its flight, the SM-2ER missile was truly a deadly system. The missile itself was identical to the SM-2MR, just benefiting from the booster, which gave it the range extension. As that booster was exhausted, it staged away, falling towards the sea while the rocket of the missile took over and kept propelling it towards the An-10. It was moving at just over two thousand knots and closing the distance between the An-10 and itself at a rate of one half of a nautical mile every second.

Henrik knew what this meant. He didn't know precise what was targeting him only that a missile was inbound. The An-10 was hardly a fighter and it didn't carry any jamming systems or even chaff or flares. He was entirely defenseless. All he could do was increase the throttle rate and put the missiles to an advantageous position, forcing them to keep turning and run out of propellant and energy. It might have worked had he been further away but the missiles had plenty of power left and they came within distance for their proximity fuses to activate, sealing the fate of Henrik, his crew, and his plane. The warheads on each missile fused properly and detonated. In the sky, the fireball was visible for miles upon miles upon miles and in that rapid instance, Henrik's An-10 was shredded and blown to pieces. The flaming wreckage would crash just off of the coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It would be the end of Yemeni smuggling via aircraft into Sinai but it was also a catalyst and a casus belli to contribute to Layarteb's soon-to-be war against the Sinai, which was just four days away from being launched.

• • • † • • •

by **Itailian Maifias** » Sat May 15, 2021 2:25 pm

A Handy Reference Tool

Major General Ulric Fairbairn DSO MC
FOB 'Ibelin', Operational Command Headquarters, Operation Pink Falcon, Senior/Commanding Officer
Memphis, Egypt (30°40'45.78"N, 29°18'10.94"E)
September 3, 1989; 1115 Hrs [UTC+2]

Ulfric hastily drained the last of his coffee as he watched Captain Christensen re-enter the large briefing room, quickly placing the latest reports in front of the various collection of officers that were all seated around the table, most of them members of the general staff or like Major General Giehl and himself, the highest commanding officers in the whole operation; while Ulfric eagerly awaited news of progress from the front, he did happen to notice Giehl consistently leaving to get get yet another cup of coffee. It wouldn't take long before his G3 made it to him, and he eagerly took the paper report directly from her, quickly scanning over the contents of the pages. "General Giehl, good news from your men, appears once Captain Gwerder's jets flew over, we really opened up the way for the 7th Division."

Giehl nodded "The airstrikes were coordinated with the help of specialists on the ground using laser-guided designators, which allowed us much greater precision in coordinated strikes, allowing us to clear up specific hotspots quickly and advance rapidly. Colonel Foster is adamant they will have all points-of-interest under our control by 1400, he reports that organized resistance is crumbling rapidly and in the face of the heavy airstrikes, much of the would-be pseudo-insurgents have fled the field."

Ulfric quickly turned and studied the operational map "That'll put most of your division in a position to secure the remainder of the eastern Delta with plenty of daylight left; Alexandria is still the prize, however. Latest reports have us where Captain?"

"The plan was executed perfectly; of particular note, the Commando raid that was supported by a forward thrust from elements of the The Royal Horse Guards proved highly effective, most of the city has been without power since 0400, most than three quarters of the most important freeway or bridge connections have been destroyed, mostly by RAF strikes though the Commandos need considerable damage themselves. Following their raid, we have secured a number of essential VIP's, the most prized being the Egyptian top commander, Strategos Apollon Stefanidis. According to our intelligence, he was the last remaining of the three Strategos in the Egyptian military, we were able to confirm from captured Egyptian sailors that their naval commander went down with their carrier that the Navy sunk, and their Air commander was captured by SAS elements during coordinated seize-and-hold operations on airfields throughout the Nile Delta. Furthermore, in light of the heavy airstrikes, under the plan's outline all forward elements advanced and many of them have made considerable gains, and as of 1325, members of the York and Lancaster Regiment were within visible range of the Palace District. We're deploying considerable resources in the areas we've already captured in a mop up attempt, and we've so far captured more than 2,000 Egyptian prisoners, and through the ones we've debriefed already, we estimate remaining resistance in Alexandria to be incredibly minimal. Overrun Egyptian positions outside of Alexandria were found to be nearly completely bereft of ammunition and other basic supplies, and I can't imagine it's any better in the city."

General Giehl cut in "What's the next, pound them with jets and artillery till the 'Pharaoh' comes out with the white flag or send every gun in and storm the place?"

Ulfric shook his head "Neither are desirable, we've done enough damage to the city, the War Office will not be happy if we start indiscriminately blasting areas with heavy civilian presence, and storming the place no matter with how many guns or vehicles will undoubtedly result in a large loss of life. Have we had any recent contact from Admiral Leroi?"

"Yes, the Hermesis currently sailing to join the blockade of the city's harbor that was initially put into place at 1045 by Heron and Pandora, although they've already had a flight of birds coordinating to deny any airspace presence to anyone we don't like in that region."

Ulfric flicked through some paper reports in front of him, his eyes quickly scanning the information presented to summarize what he recollected from earlier parts of the meeting "G3, clarify for me here, what is the estimated remaining OPFR force comprised of?"

"Best estimates from the interrogations of both the captured VIPs and the POWs we have secured have led us to believe that the city is primarily defended with the remnants of the 1st and 2nd Egyptian divisions, both whose organizations at present is tentative. 1st Division was the primary OPFOR that we faced about initial entrance into the theater and they have sustained significant losses; determining precise figures is tough, but we believe based on interrogation intelligence that the Egyptian leadership folded the 3 Division into the other two as a way to refill the ranks and replace losses - 3 Division was their only heavy division being their main source of armor and mobility, and most of the tanks were destroyed the pincer movement from 7 Div that saw us take major AOs such as Memphis and Heliopolis. Overflights and ground spotters have confirmed sighting a number of Chieftain tanks still flying Egyptian colours, but they've been smart and making sure to keep them mobile so the RAF can't ram a bomb down their hatches, so we'll more then likely have to deal with them on the ground. "

Ulfric snorted "They can hide them under buildings all they want, I don't think they'll be able to hold off the assault."

A planner down the left side of the table spoke up "I'd agree, best estimates indicate we're facing approximately seven, maybe eight thousand armed defenders and an undetermined amount of irregulars; as previously mentioned, low on ammo, food, and morale. I believe our final push as we've discussed we'll clear the city out."

Ulfric held up a finger "Then it's settled. As soon as the entirety of 14 Division is in place as well as Giehl's second brigade, all form will assume an encirclement of Alexandria and execute an assault forward, with individual target assignments. Ghiel, have your staff coordinate the recently arrived The Blues and King's Own Hussars, they were coming in from the Levant since Monday and we're going to use them to clean up the east, our control around Damietta and outlying regions is shaky at best and we can't give any ground for seeds of a future insurrection to grow. "

Major Christian Nicolson
Room 213, Lesauvage Medical Center, JFB Ramon
Negev Desert, the Levant (30°46'48.82"N 34°40'0.76"E)
September 10, 1989; 1045 Hrs [UTC+2]

Tick....tick...tick...

The faded brown color of the sandstone buildings briefly flashed in his head. The khaki colors of Kneib's vest as he kicked the door in, then the grey jacketed riflemen who immediately appeared, as if summoned...

Christian groaned and rolled his head from side to side as few times, trying to blink his eyes in between the pain that was only increasing as he awakened; the heat in his lower torso felt like someone had begun a fire on it. As he opened his eyes, he took notice of the blue curtain that was pulled open around the windows to his left, the massive runways slightly visible beneath the heavy activity of the lifters of any kind, and helicopters that were arriving or leaving the base. He rolled his head right and noticed through the open door the blur of nurses and medical personal as they ran back and forth, and he began to break everything down in his head as he tried to piece together where he was.

Within a few moments a nurse with sergeant stripes on her sleeves walked through the open door, a small white smile apparent beneath the pulled back auburn hair "Good morning Major, it's a pleasure to have you back with us."

Christian attempted a nod, and took a moment to find his words "Thank you...sergeant"

She nodded and briefly began checking some of the machines around his bed, and then took up the chart at the end and began reviewing it and making notations with her pen "I'm sure you have some questions, so I'll do my best to answer them. What's the last thing you remembered?"

Another moment of fumbling around in his head, loose fragments of memories "Uh, we were in Egypt...some village? I was with Corporal Kneib and Serjeant Dennel, we're were ordered by the regiment to advance, I had to improvise they wouldn't give us the artillery we needed."

A series of quick nods "Mhmm, indeed. Well, the chart here says that was last week, September 2nd. Looks like you had a nasty encounter with the wrong end of a Egyptian mortar shell. Doctors here took care of you though don't worry, we were able to remove most of the fragments, though you'll probably have difficulty breathing for the next few weeks, you broke three of your ribs and fractured your arm when you fell through the roof you were on."

Her words he heard, but they fell on deaf ears, just added to the mess inside his head, but he tried to focus "Uh, okay. What happened to my men? Did we take the town?"

A smirk this time "I would say so Major, General Fairbairn oversaw the raising of the King's Colours in Alexandria just two days ago, they say the war is over. That 'Pharaoh' Nicholas, Nikolas, whatever the Greeks spell it as, died in the assault apparently. Time for us all to get back home."

Christian tried to sit up but she rushed forward and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, the other hitting some buttons on the side of his bed "Take it easy, try not to move too much you've got alot of healing still ahead of you; use these little buttons on the side here, they'll raise or lower the bed. "

She adjusted his bed so it was at the position as if he had been sitting or leaning backwards in it and he noticed there was a table on his right, with two boxes, one hardened and of black leather, the other of some crimson velvet. He pointed with a finger and she took a moment but realized what he was looking at, she picked up the black box as she spoke, revealing the silver enameled cross and the red and blue striped ribbon affixed to it "The base commander Lieutenant General Tasse came by a few days ago with some of his staff, had a small little ceremony but the doctors didn't want to wake you. Seems that the War Office deemed your actions especially meritorious. 'For actions that modeled the virtues of honor and military prowess, and for extreme bravery while leading his men in the combat, His Majesty Daniel the First, you know how the rest goes. I'll go get one of the doctors for you, he can explain how the healing process is going to look like for you."

And without further ado, she marched off with his chart tucked under one arm, looking to flag down one of the attending physicians while he felt the gears in his head struggling to make sense of everything going on.

by **Layarteb** » Sat May 15, 2021 4:11 pm

• • • † • • •

Thursday, December 5^nd, 1991 | 08:30 hrs [UTC-5]
Layarteb City, New York | Fortress of Comhghall
40° 41' 28" N, 74° 0' 58" W

Less than twenty-four hours earlier, the world watched as Lieutenant Mike Powers read a "confession" in the dank basement that had become his prison. He looked exactly how anyone would expect a prisoner of war to look. He was gaunt and wearing the same filthy flight suit that had been on him when he ejected. His face bore bruises of torture and he was clearly under duress, which he smartly indicated as he'd been taught and instructed. In the past, POWs would blink - usually through SOS - to indicate that they were under duress or being tortured but it was too obvious and too well known so when Powers began his speech in front of the video camera he used that knowledge to distract his captors from the real message. The blinks he made were picked up almost immediately and the men behind the camera quickly swept in and delivered a beating. Powers recomposed himself and arranged his feet, hands, and fingers the way he'd been taught and that very purposeful arrangement conveyed the same message others had in the past, that this statement was not of his own. So while he read the statement, claiming to have committed "war crimes against the people of Gaza," what he was also saying was "Get me out of here!"

The video was the first direct evidence of Powers still being alive since his ejection on November 23, some eleven days ago. In those eleven days, Powers had been tortured for information about Layartebian war plans and he held out as long as he could before he gave whatever information he had available, not that any of it was useful, in fact some of it was downright deceitful. Then he'd been tortured for the sake of torture, further breaking him down just so he could be trotted out in front of the camera and forced to read a statement "of his own words" - as the narrator claimed - to the people of the world, decrying the Empire of Layarteb and its "malicious plans for Gazan annexation."

Gaza was going to be annexed, there was no doubt about it but hardly out of malice though it didn't matter to the Empire's would-be detractors. They heard what fit their own inclinations and nothing else could matter. In the Empire, the appearance of Powers sparked anger and fury at both the Gazans and the Layartebian government, the former for being - as the polls showed - "barbaric and cruel" and the latter at not mounting a rescue operation. The average Layartebian, as educated and he or she was, simply didn't understand the finer points of military strategy. Launching a rescue operation of Powers, while considered, would have led to not only more prisoners of war but unnecessary casualties on all sides of the fight. The Empire wasn't willing to lose four dozen men and leave hundreds of civilians dead to rescue Powers prematurely. They had a plan for his rescue but it could not begin until H-Hour, which was drawing close.

When the National Security Council met, this rapidly became the topic of discussion. The first question the Emperor had, which he put directly to his Minister of Defense, Alan Bryant was very simple, "When can we launch?"

Bryant, who had been the Minister of Defense since 1987 knew this question was going to come but he also knew that he didn't have to sugarcoat the response. The Emperor, being a man of the military, wasn't one to launch prematurely but he also wanted to know the truth. He and Chairman-General Moore discussed the status of the Empire's forces before they reached the Emperor's office that morning and, based on the information both had been given, they were in unison in their response. "No less than forty-eight hours sir and no more than ninety-six."

"What are we still waiting on for those forty-eight?"

"Supplies sir, we're still building up the matériel we need to launch sustained operations against Gaza. We have supplies en route presently and those will be on hand and ready within forty-eight hours."

"Do we risk our operations if we launch before then?"

"Not really sir," Chairman-General Moore announced, "but I would hazard not to do so unless we had a direct reason to believe Powers was due to be executed. As of this moment we have no confirmation. They'll want to put him on trial, even if its just a charade. It's for their 'PR' sir."

"Okay noted, what is our optimal time?"

"H-Hour is currently set for 02:30 on Sunday sir," answered Bryant. Silence filled the room as the Emperor ruminated over the options. Optimal launch time was only a few days away but at the same time, the Emperor had a major crisis on its hands with Powers' televised confession.

Facing as difficult a decision as any human being could, the Emperor stuck to his gut, stuck to what his advisors were telling him, and said, "We'll stay the course for H-Hour but we need to ratchet up the intel on Powers' captivity. If we get any indication that he's about to be put in front of a firing squad, and we can avert it, we will go."

"Yes sir," came the general assent around the room. Thousands of miles away, a pair of A-5s were launching off of the catapult for a high-speed pass over Gaza. The navy wanted Powers to know he wasn't alone and the best way to do that was to fly overhead at 500 knots. There was the threat of surface-to-air systems but, the navy was also operating persistent jamming offshore during these flights and they had reactive strike packages ready to go. For the Gazan leadership, shooting down another plane might have been a prize but at the same time, they didn't want to waste their few assets. They knew about the reactive strikes - the navy announced it very publicly on purpose - and they knew precisely how fast they could respond. They might fire off a missile, might bring down a jet, but they were guaranteed to lose the launcher or the entire site rapidly.

• • • † • • •

by **Layarteb** » Sat May 29, 2021 8:55 pm

.:.
Chapter I
‹‹ Lightning ››
All of the evidence was just laid out right there
and we kept looking past it to the beyond...

• • • † • • •

Sunday, December 8^th, 1991 | 02:10 hrs [UTC+2]
Hatzerim, Israel | RAF Hatzerim Northwest
31° 15' 36" N, 34° 38' 33" E

T

he complex otherwise known as RAF Hatzerim was one of the largest airbases in the Levant. Consisting of two base areas, RAF Hatzerim had three runways, none of which was under 1,800 meters in length. The base itself could hold well over a hundred aircraft and it was rumored that the British kept nuclear and chemical weaponry at the base in secure, underground shelters. If there was any base to keep them, Hatzerim was perhaps the best candidate. However, insofar as both the British and the Layartebians were considered, Hatzerim's prime usefulness lay in its proximity to the Gaza border, which was just less than twenty miles away. Being so close, it was an ideal point for the Layartebians in what was to be soon known as Operation RED DRAGONFLY, the military operation against Gaza and the Sinai.

RAF Hatzerim was going to play an extremely crucial role in RED DRAGONFLY but specifically a suboperation of the war, which was titled BLACK DRAGONFLY. BLACK DRAGONFLY was a two-objective operation: the rescue of Lieutenant Mike Powers, ILN from captivity and the elimination of the Gazan leadership, both of which were reported to be in the same location, the Fortress of Gaza in the Old Walled City. Powers had been kept there largely because of the fortress' prison facilities but also because he was being held as a human shield. Once RED DRAGONFLY began, Layartebian leadership believed that the Gazans would remove Powers from his cell and practically tether him to the hip of Jalal to continue his purpose as a human shield. Eventually, Jalal would have him executed, when he outlived his usefulness.

The Layartebian intelligence community didn't know if the Khouri brothers would stand and fight or if they would flee. Psychological profiles suggested both outcomes. They weren't known to be cowards but they weren't known to be fearless fighters either. Insofar as the intel was concerned, their elimination was crucial, regardless of what they did. This was precisely why the Layartebians had approached their British counterparts with the request to use RAF Hatzerim to launch a special operations raid against the Fortress of Gaza, the most heavily defended site in the entire state of Gaza. The British had acquiesced but the agreement was limited in nature. The Layartebians could only base and launch aircraft related to the raid and once the raid was concluded, they would need to depart. For the Layartebians, while not ideal, this would get the job done. Battle plans would have to be altered, specifically moving up the capture of Gaza Airport but if the Layartebian military was anything it was dynamic and capable of repositioning itself to carry out operations effectively.

The Layartebian contingent for BLACK DRAGONFLY had flown into RAF Hatzerim under the cover of darkness little by little over the course of the past two weeks, a plane here, a plane there, and so on and so forth until the entire force had been assembled and what a force it was. It involved two special operations and two regular units. From the ILAF was a single AC-130H Spectre gunship, which would provide close air support during the operation. From the ILN was a quartet of AH-1W Super Cobra attack helicopters, which would also provide close air support during the operation. It was necessary to have the gunship and the attack helicopters as the former could provide pinpoint fire against foot mobiles but the latter was better equipped to take out light armor that might come to support the operation. In addition, the former would orbit at over 10,000 feet while the latter would operate much lower, providing a psychological element to the operation.

JSOC provided the last two units. The main assault force would consist of 200 members of the 1st Special Operations Group, otherwise known as "Delta Force" and they would be carried to and from the target by twenty-eight helicopters belonging to the 11th Special Operations Group, otherwise known as the "Night Stalkers." Those helicopters included eight AH-1F Little Birds equipped with unguided rockets and Miniguns to provide yet further close air support for the assault element, which would be carried on twenty MH-60A Black Hawks. Each Black Hawk would carry ten men, eight of whom would descend to the ground via fast rope to conduct the assault. The remaining two would stay aboard the Black Hawk to provide - you guessed it - more close air support. Combined with the Miniguns operated by the door gunners, the two men would provide sniper cover. If there was one thing BLACK DRAGONFLY didn't lack, it was air support. However, how much air support could be levied in the confined quarters of the Old Walled City remained to be seen. Luckily in their favor, the area immediately surrounding the fortress and its walled property was relatively open, enough that the gunships could keep hostiles at bay but this was only in the immediate distance to the target.

The plan would see the entire assault force split into forty, four-man elements, the basic fighting unit of Delta Force. Twenty such elements would enter the fortress and leapfrog over one another with two objectives, locating the POW and the Khouri leadership. The remaining elements would establish blocking positions around the exterior of the fortress to protect those inside. Some would land on the roof and clear it of hostiles, taking up positions to fire down on the enemy while others would land on the ground, clear positions of hostiles, and utilize them against the enemy. If they did this successfully, they would be able to provide 360° coverage from the ground and the roof while also taking over several heavy machine gun emplacements and sandbagged positions. Reconnaissance had shown that the fortress was well-defended against a ground assault, likely too well defended; however, it was only marginally defended against an air assault. Delta lived and breathed in the realm of "air assault" and so they mustered as many men as they could for this.

Occupying RAF Hatzerim Northwest, which had a single runway but significant tarmac space for the Layartebian contingent. Aware that it might be under the careful observation of spies, Layartebian aircraft had been taking off at irregular intervals for the past few days and flying to the east - away from Gaza. This morning the would do the same only, once they flew out of earshot and view, they would turn and head to the north and then down into Gaza. It meant a total flight distance of fifty nautical miles, flying east of Be'er Sheva, north of Rahat, and north and west of Netivot, a big loop away and then back to Gaza. While there would be some variation in the routes, all of the aircraft would form up north of Netivot, which the exception of the AC-130, which would fly its own separate course and cross into Gazan territory slightly ahead of the force to establish its own station. The AC-130's entry into Gazan airspace would coincide with the navy putting fighter aircraft on patrol to shoot down any Mirages but also electronic warfare aircraft to jam surface-to-air systems, radars, and communications.

At RAF Hatzerim, the first helicopters took to the skies at 02:10, those who would fly the longest route. They would be taking off in four groups over the next few minutes with two attack helicopters and five Black Hawks per group. The AC-130H Spectre would take off in between groups two and three, getting aloft and airborne, using the time between the groups to climb to its orbiting altitude of 12,000 feet, out of the range of anti-aircraft guns and just out of the reach of MANPADs. As the lumbering transport took off and climbed, its gun crews were preparing for action, readying themselves and doing their pre-engagement checks. Everything was functioning and would be functioning perfectly as they crossed into Gazan airspace a few minutes later, under the cover of jamming noise and fighter aircraft.

• • • • ‡ • • • •

Sunday, December 8^th, 1991 | 02:25 hrs [UTC+2]
Eastern Mediterranean Sea | 37 nauticales from Gaza
31° 49' 5" N, 33° 48' 24" E

Two hours earlier, four F-117A Night Hawks barreled down the runway at Souda Air Force Base on Crete and took to the night skies, flying out into the Aegean Sea before turning northwards. Anyone who happened to spot the Night Hawks would see that they were flying north and west, which was the opposite direction from both the Sinai and Gaza. It would have been hard to keep following them as the sleek, black jets climbed to an altitude of 35,000 feet and stayed over the water, crossing west, behind the island of Crete, before turning south. They stayed together for a total of one hundred and fifty nautical miles before they broke into two, separate groups. One group headed east while the other assumed a more southeasterly course. The two groups would hit orbiting KC-135 Stratotankers somewhere over the Eastern Mediterranean, before continuing onwards.

What made their flight unique was that it was in complete - and total - radio silence. The Night Hawks arrived at their tanker waypoints at a precise time, acquired the tankers visually through their night vision optics, and moved in to refuel. The boom operators, unaware of the mission of their "customers" - as they were called - pumped a prebriefed amount of fuel into each of the Night Hawks before they slipped away into the night again. For the Night Hawks, there were no sudden or sharp movements, no steep bank angles away from the tanker like fighter planes often did. This was because to do so would significantly increase their radar cross section and negate their most important feature, low observability on radar or simply their stealth.

They would continue onto their waypoints, the first group vectoring towards Gaza and the second towards the Sinai. These four Night Hawks would unleash the opening shots of RED DRAGONFLY. It would not be cruise missiles or even the assault raid being carried out by Delta Force but rather these four jets armed with laser-guided bombs, two apiece. They'd arrived secretly in Crete, flying in and only at night. There was no doubt that their presence at Souda wasn't a secret but the government wasn't acknowledging it or why they were there. If pressed, the government would simply deny any knowledge of the whereabouts of its F-117A Night Hawk stealth fighters. It didn't matter necessarily if anyone knew they were there or not, it was just part of an overall strategy of obfuscation concerning military operations. Neither the Sinai nor Gaza had any means to defeat the Night Hawks and, in fact, the Night Hawks might have been seen as "overkill" due to the nature of the defenses of both localities. However, their use was important to the campaign because they were the only aircraft that could be guaranteed to strike without warning and that was crucial.

Operating under the callsign Shadow 01, 02, 11, and 12, the two groups had high priority targets. Shadow 01 and 02 were headed to Gaza and their target was the power plant while Shadow 11 and 12 were heading to the Sinai, where their target was the home of Khaled Nasrallah. The mission was arranged in such a way that both strikes could occur simultaneously. Shadow 01 and 11 would hit their IP first and then strike their individual targets while Shadow 02 and 12 followed not two minutes later. The aircraft needed that separation to further enhance their stealthiness. The Night Hawk was a stealthy aircraft by itself but two aircraft in close proximity meant the possibility of presenting a single "large" radar target - large being very relative in this case.

Leading Shadow 01 was Lieutenant Colonel Jacob "Ham" Frederick, squadron commander of the 75th Tactical Fighter Squadron, which was one of two operational F-117A squadrons in the Empire, the other being the 191st TFS. Only the 75th TFS had deployed to Crete and with only a partial force of eighteen out of twenty-four aircraft. Any more was deemed unnecessary given the limited scope of the enemy's defenses. As squadron commander, LTC Frederick had the prerogative of leading the first operational strike of his squadron and he did so with gusto, being directly involved in its planning. Now, as he passed through the IP, he gradually turned the aircraft to the north, keeping his bank angle slight to avoid presenting a large radar signature. He looked at his RWR, which he'd used to watch the radar returns of friendly aircraft and ships operating in the Eastern Med, none of which had seen him as he and his wingman flew past them.

The target was just eleven nautical miles away and he quickly acquired it with his forward-looking infrared camera. If there was any target worthy of his payload, it was the Gaza power plant. Built in 1963, the power plant had a generating capacity of just over 1.6 gigawatts, enough to power the whole of Gaza. It did so through three generating units all of which used either fuel oil. The biggest of these units could generate just under 1 gigawatt of power. It was the perfect target for his 2,000-pound GBU-27 Paveway III bombs.

As he crossed the coastline, the navy jamming began. F-14 Tomcats leading alpha strikes were only minutes away from crossing into Gazan airspace and no one had any clue that these two F-117s were about to turn the lights out in Gaza. He would drop the two bombs fifteen seconds apart, giving enough time to lase for the first bomb and then for the second bomb. The first would be targeted against the center power unit, distinguishable by being underneath the middle chimney stack. His second bomb would be targeted against one of the other power units. His wingman would take care of the third power unit and the facility's control building, thus destroying the power plant in its entirety. While this would ultimately lead to massive rebuilding costs for the Empire, which had been discussed, analyzed, and debated, it would plunge the entirety of the state into a blackout, especially since British power companies would be instructed by the government not to provide backup power, yet another deal worked out between the British and the Empire.

Around the time that LTC Frederick pickled off his first bomb, the Emperor hung up the phone with his counterpart in London, letting him know that the operation was underway. If the man hadn't known based on the activity at RAF Hatzerim he would find out that secondary confirmation shortly. Twenty seconds later, with the second bomb in the air, LTC Frederick activated the laser on his aircraft. The Paveway III bomb corrected its course and homed in on the spot of energy. Ten seconds later, it made impact. The bomb itself had originally started out as the BLU-109, an unguided, hardened, penetration bomb designed to cut through concrete shelters and other hardened structures. By being mated with the Paveway III guidance kit, the BLU-109 became the GBU-27/B Paveway III. As a "dumb bomb," the accuracy of the BLU-109/B was only as good as the dropping aircraft's CCIP or CCRP system. As a Paveway III, the accuracy of the GBU-27/B was approximately one meter in ideal conditions. LTC Frederick's bomb struck two meters away from his laser spot, hardly a cause for concern. Penetrating through the exterior wall of the power plant, the bomb went through the open space between the wall and the power unit before its fuse activated. When it did, the 530 pounds of Tritonal detonated with the force of 556.5 pounds of TNT - hardly significantly more - but enough to ravish and obliterate the power plant's large unit. The explosive force ripped through the interior of the power plant at a speed of over 4 miles per second, tearing apart equipment, and causing massive structural failure. The fuel oil would even ignite causing secondary fires but that would be minimal in terms of the damage to the operating power unit that suddenly tore itself apart. There was no hiding it anymore, Gaza and the Empire were at war as a massive fireball lit up the skies over Gaza. Fifteen seconds later, a second one lit up as LTC Frederick's second bomb smashed through the wall and exploded above the second generating unit.

For LTC Frederick, the success of his hits meant that the power plant was offline and irreparable but it also was the first time, in combat, that he used the Night Hawk to drop bombs. It was a celebratory moment though the pilot, professional in nature, did not allow himself much elation. He focused on exiting hostile airspace safely, gradually turning to the west and watching his RWR. The bay doors had been closed shortly after the bomb dropped and by now his Master Arm switch was back into the safe position and his laser off, though he continued to watch the target through his display, though now tracking it through his downward-looking infrared camera or DLIR. He wanted to ensure that his wingman, Major Brian "Fang" Jasper hit the target as well. They were observing radio silence so the only indication would be the successive explosions of MAJ Jasper's bombs.

LTC Frederick wasn't left to wonder for too long. On cue, two minutes after his first bomb hit, LTC Frederick watched as a third, massive explosion rocked the already burning and smoking power plant. There wasn't much left of the third generating unit by then but the bomb tore apart whatever did remain and caused a massive structural collapse of the building, reducing it to a pile of burning rubble. Then, on cue, the fourth bomb of the attack sliced through the control office building just one hundred hundred meters from the main power plant structure. Significantly smaller than the power plant itself was, the office barely survived the kinetic impact. The explosive force of the Paveway III blew it to smithereens, leaving only a foundation and nothing more. Like LTC Frederick, MAJ Jasper turned off target and exited hostile airspace.

It was mission success for the two pilots and a surprise to the navy pilots flying inbound on the alpha strike. None had been briefed on the power plant strike and though many pilots wondered what would happen to it, they assumed it would be struck by cruise missiles; however, when they saw no cruise missile sorties on the initial attacks, they didn't know what to think. Most adopted the position that it would be struck later or left alone for humanitarian purposes. Now that they saw it erupting in flames, they could only wonder who struck it. They'd learn much later on that it was the Night Hawks of the 75th TFS and that the F-117s had passed through the navy's battle sphere without being detected, something the insufferable air force pilots (at least in the navy's eyes) would laud about in the O-Clubs and victory parties much later.

• • • • ‡ • • • •

Sunday, December 8^th, 1991 | 02:30 hrs [UTC+2]
Eastern Mediterranean Sea | 5 nautical miles from Gaza
31° 24' 21" N, 34° 11' 14" E

While the F-117s were the first aircraft to strike Gaza, the first massed air attack would be launched by the navy's aircraft of Carrier Air Wing 14 (CVW-14) of the 15th Carrier Battle Group, the Andrew Beckwith. Called an alpha strike in navy parlance, the attack would consist of thirty-two aircraft of CVW-14. There would be sixteen attackers supported by fourteen other aircraft and their target was Gaza Airport and the air defenses around it. It was for good reason that Gaza Airport was the initial target for just five minutes earlier, as the navy aircraft neared the Gazan coastline, Juggler 104 called out over the radio, "Enemy launch activity detected, bullseye 1-9-5, for 10," which meant that enemy fighters were taking off from that very same airport.

The components of the alpha strike included six A-6E Intruders armed with four GBU-12D/B Paveway II bombs a piece, which would target the aircraft on the ground, ten F-18C Hornets, with two GBU-12D/B Paveway II bombs a piece, which would target the aircraft on the ground as well as air defense targets of opportunity, all sixteen aircraft forming the attack package. Supporting them would be eight F-14B Tomcats flying escort in four pairs, four F-18C Hornets armed with AGM-65 Mavericks and Rockeye II cluster bombs for flak suppression, two F-18C Hornets with AGM-88 HARMs and Rockeye II cluster bombs for Iron Hand, an EA-6B Prowler flying jamming, and a KA-6D Intruder near the tanker for refueling. A second KA-6D Intruder was waiting on the catapult in case the first one needed to be replaced along with a pair of F-18C Hornets equipped with a mixed air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons load for support. The carrier's HH-60H Sea Hawk was airborne for plane guard duty, operating near the carrier while a pair of HH-60H Sea Hawks were operating closer to the coastline to pick up any pilots who ejected over water.

Leading the alpha strike were the two F-14B Tomcats of VF-117, Inferno 306 and Inferno 310. As the lead pair, they had first dibs on enemy aircraft and upon hearing the call that enemy aircraft had taken off, the two Tomcats went in to engage. Operating in pairs, the Tomcats would fly in such a way that the lead pair engaged enemy fighters, the middle two pairs stayed with the strike force, and the trailing pair covered their egress. It would ensure the bombers always had air support though the F-18C Hornets flying inbound were carrying some air-to-air ordnance with which to defend themselves if the need arose. The Intruders carried no air-to-air weapons of any sort.

The RIOs of both Tomcats activated their radars upon hearing the call from Jugger 104 and dead ahead were the bandits, four pairs of them, meaning eight fighters were airborne. As the Mirages came off the deck and moved to attack, they spread out, making it easier to separate the groups and identify just how many were airborne. The aircraft were moving at a good rate too, accelerating under afterburner and closing to missile range. Each of them had taken off with their typical air-to-air loadout: two R550 Magic Is and one R530 Matra. The Magics would be used in dogfighting but could only be fired on the rear hemisphere of the target where the infrared signature was clearly visible while the Matra was an all aspect, semi-active radar homing but an ancient missile. The Magic I was a capable missile whereas the Matra was massively outclassed. However, against the more agile, better-equipped Tomcats, the Mirage IIIs stood little chance. For starters, the Tomcats carried eight missiles, not three, and their radar was significantly more powerful. In addition, the Sparrow missiles of the Tomcats had more than three times the range of the Matras and the Sidewinder missiles were all-aspect.

Calling out the bandits, Inferno 306 and 310 divvied up the targets. Behind them, Inferno 302 and 308 had been given permission to break off from the bombers and join the engagement owing to the large number of incoming fighters. With a weapons free call given, the Tomcats spread out their two pairs and locked up the bandits. At fifteen miles, the first Sparrows were fired, one from each Tomcat. Additional were fired when two failed to track almost right out of the gate. The end result was the rapid destruction of four of Mirage IIIs.

With their RWRs going haywire, the Tomcats moved into a dogfight, now on even terms with their aggressors; however, they still had an advantage. Inferno 306 and Inferior 310 launched another Sparrow each and watched them guide in and destroy two additional Mirage IIIs at a range of four and six miles, respectively. Inferior 302 went to Sidewinder and launched a missile at a Mirage III shortly after it launched its own Matra, a missile which failed to ignite and simply fell away harmlessly. The Mirage went down as its port-side wing was sheered off from the Sidewinder's blast. That left just one Mirage III and while it would have fallen to Inferno 308, the Mirage was maneuvering for a shot on Inferno 306 and so, like any good wingman, Inferno 310 pulled hard into the turn, acquired the Mirage III at just three miles ahead of it, and launched a Sidewinder. The missile failed to track though but a second one had little trouble, slamming into the tail of the Mirage IIIE, giving the navy eight kills in barely two and a half minutes with no losses of their own. In all, eight Sparrows were launched for six of the kills and three Sidewinders for the remaining two. The Mirage IIIs got off only three missiles, all of them R530s, one of which failed to ignite and two of which were either jammed or simply failed to track. The short range of the Matra R530 meant that by the time a good firing solution could be had, the Mirages were well within missile range for the Tomcats.

Whether or not the remaining four Mirage IIIs were operational was never determined. The alpha strike rolled in minutes later. The Iron Hand F-18Cs moved out front and using their HARMs and Rockeye IIs, went after the mobile air defense units, specifically the SAMs. The four F-18Cs assigned to flak suppression went after the AAA units, targeting the 23-millimeter, 37-millimeter, and 57-millimeter guns protecting the airbase. As they did, the A-6Es rolled in next, acquiring the aircraft on the ground with their targeting pods. The remainder of the Gazan Air Force never stood a chance and were destroyed in place by the guided bombs of the A-6Es and the F-18Cs. In a little over ten minutes, the Gazan Air Force was relegated to an inoperable force with eight fighters shot down and four destroyed on the ground along with all sixteen of its helicopters and four trainer/light-attack aircraft. The airport itself sustained only minor damage and chiefly to the tarmac areas where the aircraft were parked. Virtually all of the air defense units around the base had been neutralized. With the alpha strike completed, the aircraft egressed out of hostile airspace and headed back for the carrier. Some would need to hit the tanker as they waited in rotation to land. No aircraft sustained any damage and the Gazans didn't even have the opportunity to put any SAMs into the air, making for a very lopsided engagement.

• • • • ‡ • • • •

Sunday, December 8^th, 1991 | 02:30 hrs [UTC+2]
Old Walled City, Gaza | Fortress of Gaza
31° 23' 12" N, 34° 19' 24" E

The lopsided engagement over Gaza Airport wasn't the only happening at 02:30 when H-Hour hit. With the Night Hawks well clear of hostile airspace and headed back to Crete and the alpha strike consuming the Gazan military's attention, the main assault force of BLACK DRAGONFLY had already crossed into Gazan territory. Out in front, the sensor operator of the AC-130 had identified several targets around the perimeter of the fortress that they could engage with the 20-millimeter Gatling guns. On the ground, the droning of the AC-130 had been heard but no one knew what it was. Before anyone could react, the sky suddenly lit up as tracer fire from the AC-130 in its pylon turn suddenly appeared and slammed into the ground with devastating effect. With short bursts, the two M61A1 Vulcan cannons let loose deadly streams of tracer fire, tearing apart the flesh of those on the ground who manned the gun emplacements. This naturally turned everyone's attention to the sky though the troops defending the fortress largely scrambled for cover rather than shoot what they couldn't see.

As they did, the AH-1Ws were beginning to engage their own targets, chiefly a number of 37-millimeter and 23-millimeter anti-aircraft guns placed around the Old Walled City. Using their TOW missiles and cannons, the Cobras would make quick work of them and their crews while also searching for any armored units that could threaten the force. Two armored personnel carriers outside of the fortress had been identified by the AC-130 but neutralized quickly with the 40-millimeter Bofors cannon aboard the plane. At 02:29, just before the first GBU-12s were landing at Gaza Airport, the AH-6Fs buzzed over the fortress, firing their Miniguns at the rooftop positions and at any troops that were exposed. Able to see through their night vision goggles, the pilots had an easy time picking out the troops, especially those on the fortress' roof. Though they were taking cover from the AC-130, they were easily exposed to the AH-6Fs and rapidly torn to shreds. Right behind the AH-6Fs came the main assault force.

The MH-60As flared at precisely 02:30, arriving on time. Door gunners provided covering fire, letting a steady stream of bullets rain down upon anyone not killed by the AC-130, not killed by the AH-6Fs, and still exposed. Delta leaders released the straps holding the fast ropes in place and slide down either side of the helicopter. In seconds, all of the men were on the rope with minimal spacing and the moment the last man hit the ground, the remaining Delta snipers in the helicopters released the ropes, freeing the helicopters of them as hindrances. The snipers would then assume their position at the doors, sitting on the fuselage floor to steady their aim. Throughout the entire process, the door gunners kept firing away and the AH-6Fs continued to make their strafing passes. It was simply too much all at once for the enemy to do anything about and the Delta operators were on the ground without incident, precisely on cue.

The MH-60As went into an orbiting pattern thereafter, with five aircraft providing close air support, orbiting at just one hundred feet, while the rest moved up to a thousand feet to provide overwatch but also to stay out of the way. If any down below took fire and was damaged or ran out of ammunition, it could be replaced by others.

On the ground, as they'd rehearsed, the forty Delta elements moved into place. Those landing on the roof conducted a rapid sweep. There were a few troops still alive and they were rapidly cut down. Those who appeared to be dead were shot with additional rounds as safety so as to ensure no one stood up and shot anyone in the back. Delta wasn't taking any prisoners either. In less than two minutes, the roof was clear and the twenty operators assigned to the roof took up their positions with some manning the wall and others collecting weapons and ammunition from the dead. They had plenty of ammunition but if there was one thing you couldn't have too much of it was ammunition and guns. Amongst the dead lay a bevy of RPG-7s, RPKs, AKMs, two sniper rifles, and even two PK machine guns, all of which would come in very handy. On the ground, sixty Delta operators fanned out and did the same, killing those still alive and ensuring those who were dead remained dead. They too would man the enemy's positions and collect weapons and ammo from the dead. They had a similar assortment of weapons though they also had four heavy machine guns in their possession, which would be extremely useful against infantry.

The remainder of the force, eighty men, entered the fortress. Twenty would move to the basement to rescue Powers while forty more went after the Khouris. The remaining twenty would cover their backs. Moving quickly, leapfrogging over one another, the teams moved so fast and with such precision that the ill-trained Gazans stood no chance. The Gazans lacked body armor, they lacked the kind of discipline and training that the Delta operators had, and most of all, they lacked coordination. However, what they lacked they made up in numbers and fearlessness.

• • • † • • •

by **Layarteb** » Mon Aug 09, 2021 6:12 pm

• • • † • • •

Sunday, December 8^th, 1991 | 02:27 hrs [UTC+2]
El Arish, Sinai | Arish
31° 6' 57" N, 33° 47' 14" E

Master Sergeants Mark Armstrong and Will Brown had been in the same position for closing on nine hours now. Underneath a camouflaged blanket, they'd lain as still as possible on the top of a windswept sand dune just 840 meters away from Nasrallah's compound. The sniper-spotter team had first identified the spot on their initial reconnaissance of Nasrallah's compound the prior Monday. A few passes by it and stake outs at various other spots showed them that the spot they'd chosen was not a spot that would attract much, if any, attention. Still, they arrived only after the sun went down and dared not move since they'd gotten there, shifting only slightly when they needed to take a piss into one of a series of holes they'd scooped out of the sand for just that purpose. Insofar as weapons, the two Delta operators had only a semi-automatic sniper rifle, a carbine, and their pistols between them. Both had night vision goggles and a nightscope to observe the compound. Their mission wasn't one of assault but rather to observe the compound and provide ground designator for laser-guided bombs from Shadow 11 and Shadow 12, which were rapidly closing on the target.

In the darkness of the Sinai night, the compound wasn't well lit. There were no exterior flood lights or search lights to illuminate the entirety of its perimeter. Rather, there was intermittent light over a doorway or above a gate, nothing more. The two Delta operators had watched the interior lights go out slowly from 22:00 to 23:50, when the last of the lights was extinguished. Since then, none had come on and as the clock walked away from midnight, the activity of Nasrallah's personal protection detail waned. At last count, there were only two men patrolling the exterior of the compound and only at twenty-five-minute intervals. They'd just completed their last round not ten minutes ago, not that they were equipped with the right optics to see the two Delta operators, who watched the entire place in the green glow of their nightscope.

Armstrong was the sniper of the two and as such, the main part of the mission fell on his shoulders while Brown would work the radio. That radio cracked to life at 02:28, two minutes before Shadow 01 and Shadow 02 began to drop their bombs over the Sinai. The short communication between Shadow 11 and the ground team gave an accurate time on target or TOT and the instructions. Shadow 11 would drop first and drop on the laser spot of the ground team. Shadow 12 would target the smaller of the two larger structures. The combined force of four, 2,000-pound bombs would be enough to level the entirety of the compound and, with it, Khaled Nasrallah.

The need for ground designation for this mission was unique. Typically, the Nighthawks operated completely independently to enhance their stealthiness. Even radio communications could help identify their position to a skilled enemy and betray their stealthiness. Had the target been anywhere other than the Sinai, a ground team wouldn't be used; however, the Sinai lacked any capability to detect the aircraft let alone engage them. Furthermore, it was important to ensure that Nasrallah was at the compound when it was struck, and that verification could only be achieved by a ground team. Armstrong and Brown had been sent in to reconnoiter Nasrallah's compound so it was fitting that it would be them who also destroyed it.

Now, just two minutes after the Gaza Electrical Generating Station was being torn asunder by Paveway III bombs, Brown's radio headset cracked to life, "Sageburner, Shadow 1-1, approaching RP."

"Shadow 1-1, Sageburner, verify code."

"7-2-1-9."

"Verified, go for release."

"Copy, coming down," silence filled the air and then a few seconds later, "TTI 2-5 seconds, spacing five."

"Roger that Shadow 1-1, we got it from here." Brown answered before whispering over to Armstrong, "Lase it."

"Lasing." Armstrong answered a moment later as he squeezed the trigger on the AN/PAQ-1 and shot an invisible laser beam out from the unit to Nasrallah's house. They'd put the beam right where they believed Nasrallah's bedroom to be and with the accurate of the Paveway III bomb, there was no doubt they would kill the man. True to the counter, twenty-five seconds later, the first bomb pierced through the roof of the structure at just over Mach 1. Its fuse detonated a microsecond later and tore the building to pieces. The second arrived only five seconds later and completed the destruction. Between the two bombs, the combined explosive force was equivalent to 2,550 pounds of TNT. Nothing remained of the building from the two bombs and less than three minutes later, the smaller of the two buildings, which had been badly damaged by the shockwaves and debris of the first bombs, was flattened.

After that, nothing remained but a smoldering, burning heap of rubble. The compound's walls had been blasted apart as had all of the structures there. Vehicles inside had been thrown about and set ablaze. Everyone inside had been killed by either the explosion, fire, or blunt force trauma. From high overhead, the DLIR of each Nighthawk showed the battle damage assessment of the compound, an assessment that would be used to state definitively that Nasrallah had been killed for no one could survive the sheer destruction to the site.

For both Armstrong and Brown, their assessment was the same. As soon as the bombs impacted, they were packing up their gear and getting ready to leave. Without a doubt, Nasrallah's men would be arriving and they could begin to scour the area for a ground team. The last thing these two Delta operators wanted was to be outnumbered by Nasrallah's men who would surely kill them.

• • • • ‡ • • • •

Saturday, December 7^th, 1991 | 19:35 hrs [UTC-5]
Layarteb City, New York | Fortress of Comhghall
40° 41' 28" N, 74° 0' 58" W

The war had already begun in both Gaza and the Sinai. Layartebian warplanes were dropping ordnance onto enemy targets and Delta was working their way through Gaza's fortress in order to liberate Powers as well as eliminate any of the Khouri leadership inside. Yet, to the Layartebian people thousands of miles away, all was calm and peaceful. War was to be expected of course but nothing official had yet been announced. The press didn't need anything official to being running headlines on 24-hour news stations or interrupting programming to state that war had begun. Reports in Gaza and the Sinai had reported on explosions from aircraft and the noise of helicopters around the Old Walled City of Gaza. On Cyprus, reporters had been gagged from reporting on aircraft taking off but now they were beginning to phone into their bureaus to say that hours ago, aircraft had taken off en masse, as they had multiple nights before.

Shortly after 19:30 local time, the Emperor's press office sent out an urgent note to all networks that the Emperor would be addressing the nation at 19:35. On cue, from his office, the Emperor appeared on the country's television screens, impeccably dressed as he sat behind his desk. No one else was in front of the camera but undoubtedly there were others behind it. "Ladies and gentlemen of the Empire, good evening," he began, "I come before you this evening, interrupting your television and radio shows to announce that the Empire of Layarteb has commenced offensive combat operations against both the State of Gaza and the combined territories of the Sinai Peninsula.

"Our objectives against these territories are righteous and just. First and foremost, we aim to remove from power the Khouri clan, the Touma clan, and the Hajjar clan, who cooperate to ship illegal arms into Northern Cyprus. Second, we aim to liberate the people of these lands from their tyrannical warlord leadership and bring to them liberty, justice, and emancipation from fear. Thirdly, we aim to rescue Lieutenant Mike Powers, who is currently being held captive as a human shield by the Khouri brothers who cowardly murdered their father and plunged Gaza into despotic chaos. Fourthly, we aim to bring law, order, and prosperity to these lands, ensuring security and safety for both the Suez Canal and the Empire of Britannia. Fifthly, and lastly, we aim to demonstrate to the leadership of Northern Cyprus that the Empire is committed to the status quo on the island of Cyprus and implore the leadership to reengage with C-FOR and the terms of the 1982 Ceasefire Agreement.

"The Empire will continue operations until these objectives are met. It is our intention to minimize civilian casualties as the people of both the Sinai and Gaza are not our enemies nor are they our targets. We will target both military and crucial infrastructure targets necessary to ensure a quick and expedient success, following which, the Empire is committed to providing as much humanitarian aid as is needed to sustain the populace of both lands until all services can be restored.

"I implore the citizens of both of these lands to seek shelter, whether in their homes or in bomb shelters that may be available. Our aim is for a quick and decisive operation and a rapid end to the fighting to ensure a smooth transition. Remember, our targets are the leaders and murderous warlords who lord over these lands. These people will not hesitate to use civilians as human shields and their defeat must be rapid lest they put innocent people into harm's way to save their own cowardly lives.

"Thank you and good night," the Emperor said, signing off on his speech, having announcing to not only the Empire but to the entire world that the Empire was in fact bombing the Sinai and Gaza. In Northern Cyprus, the message would have been received loud and clear as a warning. If Kemal Munishi wanted to continue to operate outside of the ceasefire agreement and lie to C-FOR, he was going to meet a similar end. He knew it and he knew precisely what this meant for his flow of arms. He was none too happy.

• • • • ‡ • • • •

Sunday, December 8^th, 1991 | 02:40 hrs [UTC+2]
El Arish, Sinai | Arish
31° 8' 36" N, 33° 49' 41" E

The ILN had two carrier battle groups in the Med and while the 15th CVBG was focused on striking targets in Gaza, the 16th CVBG was focused on striking targets in the Sinai. Normally, these carriers would rotate on and off station every twelve hours but for the opening round of strikes, the navy needed every airplane in its deployed arsenal. For the ILS William Turner (CVN-73) and Carrier Air Wing 17 (CVW-17), that meant 92 aircraft in total, of which 74 were classified as combat aircraft. In the initial waves, EA-6B Prowlers of VAQ-75 would fly over the peninsula jamming enemy communications while F-18C Hornets of VFA-30 and VFA-39 struck targets throughout the Sinai. There wouldn't be much to do for the F-14B Tomcats of VF-22 and VF-69 as the Sinai warlords had no aircraft. Still, they maintained a BARCAP around the fleet, flying patrols just in case some mysterious threat materialized.

Throughout all this though, the true winners of the morning were the A-5D Strike Vigilantes of VA-41. With the first wave of strikes, eight aircraft were flung over the carrier deck, six with GBU-10 Paveway II laser-guided bombs to be dropped on military targets around the coastline, targets that weren't designated for TLAM-C sorties. Two aircraft however were carrying a combined eight of the Empire's newest weapon, the AGM-84E Standoff Land Attack Missile or SLAM for short. The missile had only just entered service months earlier and had yet to be used in combat though in testing it proved itself to be extremely accurately. The missile itself took the airframe, propulsion section, and warhead of the anti-ship AGM-84 Harpoon. To this, it swapped out the active radar guidance for the imagine infrared (IIR) seeker of the AGM-65F Maverick, the navy's Maverick. It also had the datalink from the AGM-62 Walleye so that the missile itself could be guided by the launching aircraft. Underneath each of the two Strike Vigilante's was a datalink pod that could communicate via radio to the missile.

The two aircraft, Charger 509 and Charger 511, were barreling towards the Sinai coast at over 500 knots and at an altitude of 18,000 feet. At that altitude, the distance to the horizon was over 140 nautical miles and the range of their missiles only 60 nautical miles, more than enough distance for them to turn around and still be able to provide a line-of-sight for the radio datalink. They wouldn't be launching the missiles that far away anyway, instead they closed to within 30 nautical miles before they launched, still well beyond the "airspace" of the Sinai - again not that they could threaten these aerial beasts.

The four missiles fell off their pylons with a few seconds spacing between them. Once in the air stream, their turbofan motors ignited and propelled the missiles forward. One motor failed and the missile simply fell into the sea but seven others progressed onward, dropping down to near sea level where they would fly through a series of waypoints before converging on the target. As soon as the missiles were gone, the two A-5s turned around and headed back for the carrier, the datalink pod transmitting to the missiles flying in the opposite direction. The WSO in each aircraft would operate those missiles and on cue, at 60 seconds to impact, the WSO's took control of the missiles. Through the IIR seeker, they could see their target in the far-off distance some 8 miles in the distance. The big, tall building they were heading toward, served as the military headquarters of Nasrallah's warlord army. It had once been a hotel but the warlord had confiscated it for his own purposes. Against the onslaught of seven missiles, it wouldn't stand a chance.

Targeting the missiles against the structure, the WSOs virtually piloted the missiles into their target. There were three smaller structures at the site and each of those took a single missile. The 488-pound warhead was more than enough to level the structures with a single hit. Two missiles would go into the main structure, striking roughly midway between the center and the two sides. The remaining two went into a secondary structure. All-in-all, five structures were hit by the seven missiles and the warheads fused perfectly. Combined with the unparalleled accuracy of the missile, the military headquarters was devastated. The explosions tore through the floors of the primary and secondary structures, blowing out windows and setting ablaze everything inside. Both would suffer partial collapses as the fires raged and the structures grew considerably less sound. Not everyone inside would be killed but there would be no using the military headquarters for its purpose thereafter. The fires would rage and devastate the entire compound. Rubble and the structural instability post-strike would hinder any firefighting efforts.

The strike itself was executed almost flawlessly, save for the one missile that suffered a motor failure. The missiles themselves had struck within just one meter of their aimpoints, better than the Paveway II bombs dropped by the other A-5s, which could only muster six meters at best, not that there was significant difference between six and one considering the size of the warheads employed. VA-41 would prove though that the SLAM missile was indelible to the navy and in the future, follow on variants would increase both the range and the size of the warhead while also improving the ability of the missile to be flown through waypoints and be retargeted but that was years upon years away from this very moment when the two aircraft barreled down onto the deck of the William Turner and taxied to their designated spot to be refueled and rearmed for the next wave of sorties.

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by **Layarteb** » Sun Sep 11, 2022 5:36 pm

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Sunday, December 8^th, 1991 | 02:38 hrs [UTC+2]
Old Walled City, Gaza | Fortress of Gaza
31° 23' 12" N, 34° 19' 24" E

If there had been one thing that Powers had observed in his captivity, it was that the discipline of his captors left much to be desired. In his cell, he noticed that guards largely fell asleep after midnight and virtually ceased any patrols around 01:00 and did not resume for at least six or seven hours, depending on the day. Elsewhere, he noticed that guards were largely nonchalant or unserious about their duties, preferring instead to listen to soccer games on the radio or goof off by playing cards, dice, or chattering to themselves over a cigarette. He wondered if there were any guards protecting the outside of the fortress and what their discipline levels were if those inside were an embarrassment to military discipline.

Thus, he was working on something of an escape plan, at least until he heard the beating of rotors. Despite being in the bowels of the fortress, the sheer size of the Layartebian rescue force was enough to shake the entire building. The unmistakable aural signature of Black Hawks told him that his need for an escape plan was no longer necessary. Though tortured, beaten, starved, dehydrated, and overall weakened by his captivity, Powers felt a surge of adrenaline as his sleepy captors were startled awake and frantically rushed to meet the incoming commandos. Counting them as they ran past his cell, Powers was surprised to see so many rushing to their deaths and as the gunfire grew louder and closer, he noted that fewer and fewer were running, though he could still hear their panicked voices echoing off of the stone walls and floor.

Powers, eager for rescue, moved into the far corner of his cell and laid down on the floor, lest a ricochet catch and seriously wound him. Putting his hands over his ears and closing his eyes, he was in a good position when Flashbang grenades went off near his cell, having been thrown down the stairs by the incoming commandos. The stun grenades had achieved some sort of desired effect. Within the confines of the stone corridor, the sound echoed off of everything and took on an amplified effect. The bright, blinding lights of each detonation were largely ineffective though due to where the hostiles were positioned. Still, the noise itself was disruptive enough and the Delta commandos found their targets easy prey. After a few more carefully placed shots, everything went quiet and for a moment, Powers found himself wondering "who won" until he heard, "Lieutenant Powers! This is Delta Force, identify your location! We are here to rescue you!" It was repeated once more before Powers, his ears ringing, managed to shout simply the words "in here." "Move away from the door and get on the ground," a Delta commando shouted and seconds later, two even more deafening explosions shook the room and door fell inwards.

Four Delta commandos rushed in, each one scanning the room for hostiles, aware that Powers might be held as a human shield. It took mere seconds for them to scan the entire room and shout "Clear." Powers was hauled up to his feet, given a cursory check by the lead commando, and very quickly turned around and ushered out of the cell. "We've got to move fast. You stay within the element and keep down. We're getting you out of here sir." One of the commandos ordered and Powers immediately complied. Flanked by no less than twelve commandos and then by a further eight more, Powers was walked up the stairs and out of the Fortress where they met the remainder of the forty-man force.

Outside, he was shocked and amazed to see the sheer level of devastation that had been wrought by the helicopters and the Spectre gunship. Orders were given into the radio and the entire 40-man team, along with powers, hunkered down for a minute before moving down the street. They had to move two hundred meters to a clearing for the pickup and it would be the longest two hundred meters in Powers' life. What he didn't know was that the entire time, the force was under the protection of five Black Hawks, two Little Birds, two Cobras, and the Spectre. As they moved down the streets, the helicopters and the Spectre engaged everything ahead of them. The unit moved slowly though, stopping often while the route ahead of them was cleared. Shots were taken at the group but fire returned quickly and effectively. It would take them almost fifteen minutes to move those two hundred meters but they managed to do so with minimal casualties. A few men had been hit but they continued to move, protecting Powers, leaving countless bodies in their wake. Upon arrival at the LZ, Powers and several wounded commandos were thrown into a Black Hawk, which quickly lifted back off, stood on its nose, and raced out of the Old Walled City. Several RPGs were fired ineffectively at it and the other helicopters during the course of the rescue and in just under two minutes, the helicopter was beyond the border with Gaza and on the way back to RAF Hatzerim Northwest.

Within the confines of the Old Walled City, the Delta commandos secured the LZ and waited for their brethren to come. Forty men were still inside of the fortress searching for the Khouri leadership while the remaining eighty men continued to hold positions around the fortress on its roof and around its perimeter. Anyone who managed to slip through the sheer firepower of the helicopters and Spectre overhead found themselves rapidly gunned down by the superior firepower and marksmanship of the Delta commandos. Ultimately though, this part of the mission would prove to be a failure. The Khouri leadership was nowhere to be found inside of the fortress and while some intel was secured, the mission was largely a dry hole, forcing the Delta commandos to the LZ where they would load up on the Black Hawks, protecting one another from hostiles though, largely by then, the enemy had been sufficiently suppressed that there were only a few pot shots here and there at them instead of the kind of fire they took upon insertion.

With only the mission to rescue Powers a success, the commandos flew back into Israel and to RAF Hatzerim Northwest, where they'd staged. They would regroup there and wait on standby for the ground assault to begin unless they managed to get a positive ID on the whereabouts of any of the Khouri's. For now though, it was the air force and the navy that was getting center stage in the fight.

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Sunday, December 8^th, 1991 | 02:40 hrs [UTC+2]
El Arish, Sinai | Arish
31° 8' 36" N, 33° 49' 41" E

The military situation in the Sinai was one of a vastly different nature than in Gaza. For starters, the control of the peninsula was split along the Cross-Suez Highway, which ran from Suez in the west to Taba in the east. Everything north was under the control of the Hajjar clan and its recently deceased leader. Everything south was under the control of the Touma clan. Both clans concentrated their military power within the major population centers, Arish for the Hajjar clan and Sharm El-Sheik for the Touma clan. Beyond that, their influence was largely of an indirect nature. Both clans were largely made up of multiple, independent militias and each militia controlled whatever slice of the peninsula was theirs. Though affiliated together, each one operated on their own wavelengths and by their own needs. This disjointed situation meant that the Layartebian military would face numerous, small militaries instead of one, cohesive military.

Regardless, the Hajjar and Touma clans lacked any of the sophistication of the Gazans. The main elements of each clan had some light armor in the form of old tanks and APCs but nothing more. They had no artillery outside of mortars and no other heavy equipment whatsoever. For the smaller, more independent elements within each clan, the technical was considered the main fighting vehicle. Neither clan had any aircraft saved for a few helicopters that were probably more dangerous to the occupants than they were to the Layartebians. The best they had for air defense were a handful of SA-7 or Strela-2 SAMs and some manually aimed anti-aircraft guns. The guns were largely concentrated around their main, military and leadership targets, and thus would be easy prey for Layartebian aircraft equipped with guided missiles and bombs. The Strela-2s would be a threat to helicopters but little else, so long as Layartebian aircraft stayed above 10,000 feet, which they would.

For the Hajjar clan, disarray fell in the moment that Nasrallah was blown to pieces. The explosions woke the entire neighborhood and volunteers, as well as militiamen, would frantically dig through the rubble looking for their leader, whose body would be in such a mangled form as to make it nearly unidentifiable. News of the destruction of the house moved fairly quickly through the clan's leadership but what anyone was expected to do about it came as a mystery, especially when bombs and missiles started to tear through targets around Arish. Every leadership building had been targeted in the fire wave and the combination of air-launched bombs and missiles and ship-launched cruise missiles ultimately overwhelmed the disorganized clan within the first few minutes. Communications went offline, military encampments set ablaze, and leadership targets were reduced to rubble.

In the Southern Sinai, the Touma clan found themselves under a lighter but still effective bombardment. Smaller in nature, despite controlling more territory, the Touma clan did not suffer from a decapitation strike like their northern compatriots. However, Sharm El-Sheik saw an onslaught of cruise missiles and air-launched weaponry that rendered communications, command, and control virtually useless. Up the coast of the Gulf of Suez, Layartebian warplanes and missiles strike what few command-and-control targets existed. Unlike in past campaigns, the Layartebian military didn't target certain infrastructure targets such as power plants in the Sinai. The clans were largely militias and would not suffer from such strikes. Since there was no air force to worry about, the airports in the Sinai were largely left alone tough several helicopters were blown up on the ground at El Arish International Airport by a flight of A-6 Intruders carrying GBU-12 Paveway II smart bombs.

For the Imperial Layartebian Navy, striking the main elements of the two clans would provide uneventful and almost routine in nature. Fighters and attack planes were given targets and they simply flew to them, dropped their ordnance, and returned to base to rearm, refuel, and strike another set. Within twenty-four hours, there would be a fraction of targets remaining, mostly thanks to weapon failures or pilot inaccuracy. Follow on strikes would render every major military target within the Sinai rubble within thirty-six hours. From there, the navy would simply fly strikes against targets of opportunity, specifically of the smaller militia elements, simply to keep a presence in the skies over the Sinai. The war plan called for a simultaneous invasion of both the Sinai and Gaza so it would not be until ground forces were ready to attack Gaza that the Sinai would receive the first Layartebian tanks and infantry.

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by **Layarteb** » Tue Mar 28, 2023 4:42 pm

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Sunday, December 8^th, 1991 | 06:10 hrs [UTC+2]
Eastern Mediterranean Sea | November Station
32° s59' 30" N, 32° 30' 39" E

The first strikes conducted on Gaza had been effective. Gaza Airport was out of commission and, with it, the only fighter defenses the country had. Cruise missile sorties had taken out radar sites, the only FM radio station in the nation, and had struck militia and army camps from the north to the south. Multiple anti-aircraft systems had been knocked out of commission by the navy's fighter and attack jets. Now, with the second wave about to launch, the Andrew Beckwith again turned into the wind and began to vomit fighter and attack aircraft off of its deck. The aircraft of CVW-14 were going for the next round of punishing strikes against Gaza, this time focusing on the northern targets, of which there were four: the military command headquarters, two water treatment plants, and the Gaza port. Multiple sites in the north had already been struck by cruise missiles, including eight which had gone into the military command headquarters with good effect, though two had been shot down by anti-aircraft units positioned at the site.

The military command headquarters was the biggest of the targets. It would be hit by a combined force of four A-5D Vigilantes carrying four, 2,000-pound bombs a piece, four F-18C Hornets carrying cluster bombs and Mavericks, and two F-14B Tomcats carrying iron bombs. It was determined that the Hornets would go in first, using their HARMs and Mavericks against anti-aircraft units protecting the headquarters in its immediate vicinity, dropping their cluster bombs on any targets their HARMs and Mavericks failed to destroy. Each aircraft would only have two missiles a piece due to their heavy weight but could carry four cluster bombs a piece. After them, the Tomcats could go in, dropping their four, 1,000-pound bombs against two structures that were located in the southwestern portion of the thirty-one-acre campus. It would be up to the Vigilantes to mop up what was left afterwards, using their laser-guided bombs to strike the remainder of the targets. If anyone were left standing, they would be targeted by another round of Tomahawk cruise missiles due to be launched before the third wave.

As those ten aircraft got aloft, they formed up in their groups and began to circle the carrier, having been the first off of the deck. Other aircraft followed and within minutes, all of the aircraft for the northern strikes were aloft, formed up, and on the way to their targets. To maximize effectiveness, they formed up together in various groups and then pressed onto the targets as one, massive, airborne, strike force. With the threat of enemy aircraft neutralized, the onus fell more to ground attack but the navy wasn't taking chances and still had four Tomcats aloft flying BARCAP in two areas, one to the south and one to the north. Those Tomcats, armed with Sidewinder and Sparrow missiles, were flying high and maintaining a long, lazy orbit pattern, keeping themselves close enough to respond rapidly but far enough that none of the ground-based SAMs could reach them.

For the Gazans, the military command headquarters, was a major target and worth defending. They had four SA-8 Gecko radar-guided and two SA-9 Gaskin infrared-guided units protecting it along with another half-dozen Zu-23-2 anti-aircraft guns. In fact, these SA-8s had shot down the two incoming cruise missiles. One had been shot down before it reached the beach, crashing into the water a few hundred yards off shore. The other landed almost within the perimeter of the compound, having been taken out by a unit much closer to the command center. Because Gaza was so small, it was barely over one nautical mile between the perimeter of the headquarters and the beach. The Vigilantes and Tomcats, coming in from medium altitude, could drop their bombs before they ever crossed the beach. It was the same for the water treatment facility, which lay directly to the north of the military command center.

At the military command center, as planned, the Hornets rolled in first. The four aircraft had split into two elements. Those with Mavericks moved ahead and pressed on the attack, utilizing the IIR sensors of their Mavericks to distinguish anti-aircraft vehicles amidst the background. They were mainly looking for the SA-8 and SA-9 systems, being that their altitude was too high for the Zu-23 guns to reach them. That being said, if they spotted any of the guns, they would be marking the area for cluster bombs. As they came within range, their own radar emissions were picked up by the operators of the SA-8 and SA-9 systems. At the opportune time, those systems became active again though on the SA-8s had the reach to get the Hornets but in doing so, they exposed themselves to the HARM-equipped Hornets flying behind them and once those SA-8 radar emissions came up on screen, the pilots engaged. Lighting their afterburners, the pilots put their aircraft into a climb and launched their missiles. Coming off of the rails, the HARM missiles arced upwards into the sky and then tipped over and began to come down, having been fired from close enough range that the missiles themselves would not need to cruise very far.

Enemy SAM operators, unaware of what was coming for them, continued to press on the attack. Before the HARMs hit, they managed to get a few missiles off of their rails but those missiles were effectively jammed by the Hornets' ECM systems. Three of the SA-8s took HARM hits and were destroyed, two of whom had been engaging the other Hornets and one which was trying to get a good firing solution. The fourth HARM, having gone wherever it pleased, missed by a wide mark on the fourth SA-8. Still, its position was estimated and the Hornets with Mavericks soon located it, firing one missile into it, which did not miss. Unlike the HARM, the Maverick locked onto a target by its infrared signature. The HARM homed in on the target's radar emissions, a less reliable way to target than infrared.

Disrupting the defenses around the headquarters we crucial to the success of the mission and the SA-9 launchers, mindful that the Hornets were too high up to reach, did not break cover. Instead, they remained quiet, targeting the aircraft with their electro-optical and infrared systems, both of which were passive and would not alert the Hornets to their being in use. As a result, neither of the SA-9s could be targeted and of the six Zu-23 guns, only two were found and hit, the rest remaining hidden beneath camouflage. They would never fire a shot in anger during this attack.

When the Tomcats came in, they did so from over 20,000 feet. Diving on the target and bombing by CCIP, they released their bombs before ever going below 12,000 feet, pulling up quickly to avoid doing so. Dropping all of their bombs in one pass, the Tomcats rapidly departed the area while the Hornets, still looming overhead, conducted the BDA for them. Their bombs had hit and caused significant damage but there were still targets remaining, which fell to the Vigilantes, coming in level at 22,500 feet. With their LANTIRN targeting pods, the Vigilantes each picked a target at the site and, coming overhead in level formation with decent spacing, dropping their bombs, two per target just to ensure maximum destruction and to cover in case one of the bombs' fuses failed. In each case, the fuses worked and the 945-pound, high-explosive warheads detonated after the bombs penetrated their targets' roofs and exterior walls. The explosions were devastating but still not enough to reduce the entire complex to ruins, a testament to just how much it took to destroy buildings. The Vigilantes, having never crossed the beach, would press on with a second attack. In doing so, they flew away from the target to their IP about twenty nautical miles away and turned back in, maintaining 22,500 feet. WSOs in each aircraft locked up their next targets with their targeting pods and set up the bomb release parameters. On cue, the CCRP system told the pilots to release their bombs and they did. Once again, the aircraft turned away slightly as the pod continued to target the target. Lasers were fired to keep the bombs on target and once again, eight-for-eight hits. The military headquarters was destroyed. A few more Tomahawks would still be launched at some auxiliary buildings but the target was in ruins. Elsewhere in the north, similar strike packages took out the two water treatment facilities.

The Imperial Columbian Navy had equal success against the Gaza port. Though protected by man-portable missiles and anti-aircraft guns, navy Hornets remained even further away. Tomahawk strikes against the port had damaged several of the structures but left four, fast attack boats unscathed. Only one of the boats was serviceable at the time but it would have been hard pressed to put to sea and even then it would have done little against the Columbian fleet operating 135 nautical miles off of the coastline. Whether they died by missile, bomb, or naval gunfire, they didn't stand a chance. Flying in at low-level, a quartet of Hornets, each targeting a different vessel, released their AGM-84E SLAM missiles within seconds of one another, turning away. They fired two missiles per aircraft and then guided them in via datalink against the four ships. One missile would be more than enough to sink any of the fast attack craft but, in a world of redundancy, no less than two would be fired. Minutes later, those missiles hit to expected effect.

The navy's proximity to the area of operations certainly meant that it would be leading the way but the navy only attacked in waves, leaving about four hours between the waves. For flight crews, this was enough time to refresh themselves hitting the bathroom and having a drink or a small bite to eat before the next briefing and for the maintenance crews, this was enough time to rearm and refuel the aircraft as well as check out any potential problems reported. On these long days, they would do three or four of these cycles before the carrier rotated off station, generally spending about twelve hours on duty and twelve hours off duty. It was a hell of a workout but its what won wars.

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by **Layarteb** » Fri May 26, 2023 8:21 pm

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Monday, December 9^th, 1991 | 08:20 hrs [UTC-5]
Columbia City, New York | Fortress of Comhghall
40° 41' 28" N, 74° 0' 58" W

As the Emperor entered his office, and everyone present shuffled to their feet, he quickly waved for everyone to sit down. Checking his watch, he shook his head, "My apologies for being late, my prior engagement overran. We're already late so let's skip all of the pleasantries and get right to it. What is our status in the EASTMED?" He said, borrowing the navy's official designation for the area of operations or AO.

The floor was handed over to Minister Alan Bryant of Defense who was seated next to the country's highest ranking military officer, Chairman-General Mark Moore. "Sir, offensive operations began yesterday at 02:25, when a flight of F-117s struck Gaza's main power station. Since then, combat operations have proceeded largely according to plan. The Gazans had a few aircraft airborne at the time of the commencement but these were defeated in a very pitched battle with the navy. Before our fist wave of airstrikes were completed, we neutralized all airborne and aircraft. Air superiority was claimed a few hours later as the last of the main operating surface-to-air systems were destroyed. In the Sinai, the situation was much more pitched as there is no real organized air defense or air resistance there. Our biggest threat there is manually-operated anti-aircraft guns and shoulder-launched missiles.

"We're roughly thirty-five hours into these operations, at this time; and in that time, we've established approximately eighty percent success on Tomahawk strikes and sixty-five percent success on aircraft strikes. Success, in this regard, being the definition of whether or not the target requires a follow-on strike. While these numbers might appear 'low' they are in line with prior operations and what we would expect. Numbers are higher in Gaza than the Sinai due to the nature of the targets. In the Sinai sir, we're dealing with loose militia units, so we're talking mobile targets and few and far between major targets.

"Retasking is happening today along with further airstrikes to remove secondary targets throughout Gaza and the Sinai. Almost all of the primary targets were hit and damaged yesterday and are expected to be neutralized to satisfactory amounts by the end of today. Our plan remains to commence the ground invasion in Gaza beginning at 02:00 tomorrow, with the insertion of advanced reconnaissance units to capture several HVTs we believe are at the airport and the main radio station. Amphibious units will commence their landing at 06:00 followed shortly thereafter by paratrooper units at the airport. Our objectives in the Sinai tomorrow are to secure the beachheads, the main port, the airport, and continue to strike targets of opportunity as we shift from pre-planned strikes into close air support missions.

"In the Sinai," he continued as the Emperor, who hadn't yet interrupted, listened intently. "We will continue our airstrikes against targets of opportunity throughout the region. Our aim is to degrade militia units significantly before our ground invasion is set to begin on the eighteenth. We will strike at Port Said and continue to secure the area in the north and down to Sharm El Sheik in the far south."

"Do we have any intelligence whatsoever on the status of Gaza's leadership?"

[I]"Well sir," spoke Lawrence Dunn of Intelligence, "signals intercepts are significant. We believe that the leadership has largely scattered throughout Gaza taking refuge with trusted military commanders. None have yet attempted to flee, which is why taking the airport will be critical. The British have assured us that the border with Israel remains closed but we cannot expect the same out of the Sinai border. Right now, that border has become a major refugee crisis and it would be easy for the Khouri's to slip through undetected. Reports are that no one is crossing into the Sinai without bribing the militia officials manning the checkpoints on the other side. The Khouri's have more than enough money to do so with relative ease and we expect that there are tunnels as well that can be and are being used to bypass the corrupt officials manning the border checkpoints."

"Powers, what's his condition?"

"Recovering sir," Chairman-General Moore answered, "he's been reunited with his air wing and is currently under medical evaluation aboard the ship. Doctors have suggested he was tortured but not significantly enough that he cannot return to active duty, from a physical point of view. We're having psychological evaluations done as well, per protocols."

"I'm sure he would be more than happy to drop bombs on the heads of his captors."

"I bet sir."

"Last question I believe, since I'll review the briefing deck here shortly after this meeting, what are our present losses?"

"Overall very good sir," the floor went back to Minister Bryant, "across all operational units, we have seventeen aircraft that have suffered inflight, mechanical issues but all successfully recovered. Nine of those have been returned to flight duty. Insofar as we can ascertain, no aircraft have been damaged by ground fire though some aircraft were engaged by triple-A and surface-to-air missiles."

The Emperor looked at his watch and nodded his head. A folder had been laid out in front of him for review and he would review it later. It contained summaries of after action reports, BDA assessments, selected reconnaissance and BDA photographs, and figures on success rates and ordnance expended. It was largely high-level detail so it skimped on many of the finer points but, then again, thirty-five hours of combat operations could fill an entire novel.

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[Earth II] The Dunes of Yesterday

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