Office of Nicolas Furia, Presidential Palace, Aragon, Langenia
December 2021
The most powerful people in Langenia were all assembled in one room, in one building, at the same time. They were members of the political class known as La Fuerza, active and former military, law enforcement, and intelligence officers that played influential roles in Langenian politics, including the President Nicolas Furia, Minister of National Defense Martin Gonzalez, Minister of Public Security Rafaela Velazquez, Minister of State Security Raul Gutierrez, and Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces General Antonio Juarez, all present at the meeting and making up the official body known as the Security Council of Langenia. Gutierrez and Juarez, the presenters, stood and took places at the front of the room. "Thank you all for coming," began the Army general, and nodded at his intelligence counterpart. Gutierrez began, "The reason we have called this Security Council meeting is concerning recent developments in a country we know all too well: Insaanistan.
"Intelligence on the ground from the Secret Intelligence Bureau and the Military Intelligence Directorate has reported on an increase in terrorist activity in the country. Remote training camps located out in the Maghrebi desert serve as bases for these groups which include the Islamic State, al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, and the Insaani Taliban. Furthermore, soldiers of the former DPRI army loyal to the illegitimate president Asim have reconstituted themselves as insurgents in a group called the Islamic Resistance Front. They are active in major Insaani cities like Muslimbol, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, operating as death squads and conducting bombings and shootings on Langenian and Insaani military personnel, Jundallah militiamen, and civilians. In addition, the aforementioned terror groups have issued ultimatums in videos and announcements calling on all non-Muslims and Langenian Armed Forces Insaanistan to leave the country immediately. If their demands are not met, they will launch terror attacks on Langenia and Insaanistan. It doesn't matter if they're bluffing or not, they must be punished and we must remain alert."
General Juarez took over. "In light of this, me and my counterpart Gutierrez request that you, our fellow assembled members of the Security Council of Langenia, notably you, Mr. President, approve immediate military action on these groups before the terror problem spirals out of control and heighten the alertness level of police forces and the National Guard here in Langenia. Minister Velazquez, your ministry is responsible for overseeing the National Police. I suggest police forces in major cities be alerted and on guard for terror threats."
Velazquez nodded. "I agree. I will inform the police chiefs to be on their guards in major Langenian cities, and have the Border Patrol conduct more strenuous patrols." Furia then spoke. "And I order the National Guard to deploy to bolster our defenses across the country. Also," he looked at the Defense Minster Gonzalez, "me and Gonzalez here approve immediate and swift military action on terror groups in Insaanistan. You know what to do, General Juarez." The grizzled military officer nodded. "Yes, sir. Expect the terror groups to endure military attacks from our forces in the next 72 hours."
Muslimbol, Insaanistan
A convoy of National Army of Langenia vehicles drove through the streets of the Insaani capital: VMTM utility vehicles, Huracan and Monstruo MRAPs, and Pachacuti-TA armored personnel carriers. Bored-looking Langenian soldiers could be seen, idly staring at the traffic passing them by as they drove to their destination. Then, they turned into another area of the city: a slum known for being a traditional hotspot for terrorist activity: communists during the first civil war and Daesh in the second. Now, it was an area know by SIB agents to be frequented by Islamic Resistance Front insurgents, who came out at night to terrorize the neighborhood and surrounding areas and during the day conducted terrorist attacks and ambushes. Above the soldiers flew an armed AT-20 drone and a pair of AH-64E Guardian attack helicopters to provide air support.
The locals stared at them as they passed by, wondering what the widely-seen-as-powerful-in-Insaanistan Langenian military could possibly want with their neighborhood. Then, the convoy stopped, military vehicles blocking off multiple streets and soldiers armed with assault rifles disembarking, while a few sentries remained behind to guard the vehicles. The Langenian soldiers walked for a few streets, and then approached a cluster of houses. The drone flew overhead, and the troops approached the door. And then...
BOOM
BOOM
BOOM
Breaking open the door with kicks and the butts of their rifles, the Langenians charged. "SECURITY FORCES, HANDS ON YOUR HEADS!" Armed Langenian troops stormed through the doors, rifles at the ready, searching the premises for weapons and people. They found both, and the interrogations began as a more thorough search of the houses was conducted. Although the captured men refused to talk, documents inside indicated that they were members of the Islamic Resistance Front, and these men were exactly who the Langenians were looking for in their efforts to stop the notorious group. Handcuffed and shoved outside, they were paraded in single file to the waiting Langenian Army vehicles and loaded into the large Monstruo MRAPs.
They were driven to Camp Mustafa on the outskirts of the capital, named after the deceased former president of Insaanistan, Mustafa ibn Sina Abu Jamal, a joint army base of the Langenian and Insaani forces. Here Insaani army soldiers received training, the base being an element of the program to rearm and retrain the Insaani military to fight terror groups forming on Insaani soil. Having learned lessons from the last time the Langenians instituted such a program following the first civil war, the Langenians now had more strenuous oversight of the weapons that were shipped to the North African nation to prevent them from following into enemy hands, and trained Insaani soldiers to remain loyal to one government and one government only: the Insaani government elected through the democratic process, to prevent the soldiers from being politicized like Asim had done last time. But anyway, the captured Islamic Resistance Front (IRF) militants were led in handcuffs to an area of the base called the stockade, and it was here that terrorists captured by the Langenians and Insaani security forces including the military, police, and Jundallah were held.
Then the interrogation began.
"Are you affiliated with the IRF?"
"What are you planning to do next?"
"Why do you believe in your cause?"
When the prisoners refused to answer, "enhanced interrogation techniques" were considered. But not used. That was for the high-ups in Aragon and Muslimbol to approve.
Tripoli, Libya, Insaanistan
An AT-20 unmanned combat aerial vehicle armed with a pair of M.250 air-to-surface missiles and a pair of BGL-62 laser-guided bombs flew over the city, searching for targets. Then, receiving commands from the pilot in an airbase in Langenia, it descended, homing in on an area of the city. Back at the drone's control center, a team of LAF and SIB personnel surrounded the pilot, watching the feed from the drone camera. The pilot directed the drone to fly over a compound in the south of the city close to the city limits, and looked at the SIB liaison to the mission. The SIB agent studied the compound.
"That's the one. That's the ISIS compound we've discovered on our intelligence. It's the one serving as their HQ for terrorist attacks on Muslimbol, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. Give 'em hell."
This time the pilot looked at his LAF superior, the military officer responsible for overseeing the drone strike. He nodded and spoke one word.
"Fire."
The pilot turned back to the feed. "Aye, sir!" And then, the pair of BGL-62 bombs were sent flying below, and the next thing the men saw was an explosion and the compound suddenly bursting into flames, rubble flying everywhere.
"Post-strike assessment," ordered the commanding LAF officer, and the drone operator made the drone overfly the destroyed compound. "We got it, sir. It's been destroyed."
"Good job. Now get out of there."
With that, the AT-20 UAV flew away, back to its base.
Skies over the desert of Libya
A squadron of EF-20 strike aircraft escorted by C-19 fighters flew over the Libyan desert. The commander of the mission, Lt. Colonel Carlos Fernandez, stared numbly at the sky and desert in front of him, reflecting as to why he had volunteered to deploy to Insaanistan from his squadron's base in Spain to support this mission. Sure, he had been feeling good after being promoted to Lieutenant Colonel from Major, but he regretted his life choices. Now he was here again, bored. He sighed, and then the AWACS came on the radio.
"Cormorán flight, you are approaching your targets. You'll see the Islamic State training camps soon enough. You can't miss them. They're the only thing in this isolated, god-forsaken desert for miles and miles around. And you'll see the technicals and men marching around chanting things too, if you keep an eye out. Understood?"
"This is Cormorán 1, roger, thanks for the heads up Hidalgo."
"No problem. Good luck. AWACS Hidalgo out."
They did see them, and Hidalgo was right. The camp was impossible to miss, and the EF-20s quickly got to work, unleashing their bombs while the C-19s conducted a combat air patrol. Bombs rained down on the camp and the Daesh militants' heads, causing explosions and destroying tents, heavy weapons, and vehicles. The job done, the Langenian warplanes flew away, back to their airbases in the north. While Fernandez was leading his strike on this particular Daesh camp, similar air, drone, and missile strikes were conducted across the Maghreb, striking al-Qaeda, ISIS, and the Insaani Taliban. But that was not all. The final part was yet to come.
