Economic Warfare (Closed, TG for invite)

[Mokastana]

¡RETCONNED!


OOC:

This is happening at the same time as Operation Plowshare. This thread will cover the events in Mokastana, and Operation Plowshare will cover the events in Yaroslav.

IC:



Port City of Nazca
Peruvia, El Sur de Gran Mokastana(Suria)
Mokastana
People's Unified Federation

Locke and Keye was a new player in the Federation, a Private Military Company brought in for the invasion of Yaroslav. Currently they were stationed in southern Peruvia, a province of the nation of Suria. Within a few weeks they had set up temporary bases on the border, rented offices in major cities such as Lima to spread influence, and found port partners to begin bringing in their supplies. As their mercenaries worked with the Federal army on planning the attack south, Locke and Keye began to look inland.

From the outside, the People's Unified Federation looked like an easy target. The Surian countryside was very rural, although the port cities had the industry and modernization one would expect from a Dienstani influencer, small towns further inland might have dirt roads and local police patrolling by horseback. Many town existed only because of the local factory, and many of those factories were owned by small families, rather than a large multinational corporation. Not that those weren't present, but even Montana Incorporated was rather hands off in the countryside. On the surface, it looked ripe for the taking.

Then the issues began popping up.

It started when L&K tried to bring in the Baliwani Trade Corporation, only to be hit with miles of red tape. Trade companies were significantly limited in their ability to set up in the PUF, limited to domestic and those hosted from allied nations only. Even those allowed were limited in their ability to impact the Federal economy.

Then came L&Ks desire to purchase as much local infrastructure as they could. At first, they managed to buy a few armaments factories, but many were still government owned, Montana owned or other the owners turned down their purchase and investment opportunities. Most would rather sell end product, than sell them the ability to manufacture themselves.

Attempts to buy out civilian dockyards were met with bureaucratic runaround. Laws regarding docks and ports in the Federation were complicated and clearly skewed in favor of the local governments. Even privately owned dockyards were regulated at the whims and desires of the Federal Department of Coastal Guard. L&K couldn't buy any, but the Department of Coastal Guard approved a contract for 10 year access, between L&K, and a local port business owned by the DeLeon Family.

Naturally, the frustration came to a head. Local businesses had refused to speak with them, instead pointing them to offices hundreds of kilometers away, all to get permits to even speak with them. Federal red tape was everywhere, their desire for a 99+ year lease on a port was cut down to an insulting low 10 years. So it wasn't long before the DeLeon family had received a verbal threat from a planted employee, warning them to continue the lease for 99 years, or else. They chose to ignore the threat and instead restated the law is the law. In response, a commando team raided the DeLeon office, subduing or killing guards, and murdering the Patriarch's nephew. The DeLeon family agreed at gunpoint to continue their working relationship with L&K for the 99+ years, regardless of Federal limits. It would be up to the family to deal with Federal red tape. L&K then cleaned up the scene of evidence, destroying CCTV footage and other traces of their activity.

As the funeral was planned, the Patriarch sent his daughter, her husband, and their children to Lima for their safety, or so he claimed. After arriving in the city, the couple visited another influential family, the Acosta Family. The Acosta Family Villa was a large homely complex outside of the city. Although not as impressive as the Montana or Lomengo family homes, the most influential Cartel of southern Peruvia did well for themselves. DeLeon had occasionally moved product for the Acosta family, as did most ports on the Mokan coasts, therefore, the DeLeon was under the protection of the Acosta family.

L&K had broken a cardinal rule of the Mokan grey market. Killing a family member should only be done in total war between families, when all other options have been exhausted. Killing family members to send a message, or as a start of war, only showed the rest of Mokastana you were not to be trusted.

As of now, the Acosta Family Cartel was at war with a foreign PMC.

[Cochlea Attenum]

Gasdani Province, Acadia
12:35 PM, Sunday
L&K Headquarters

Chairman Kayman Cratillo, founder of L&K, was not a very pleased man today. His businesses had seen success in several nations, and had seen an avalanche of victories hit them in Monavia. The Locke and Keye Corporation had many influential positions in Monavia and with the banks in Lamoni, and had a significant presence in Acadia and Palmyrion. The rapid, snowballing success rate of L&K had stood relatively unopposed, save for the occasional interdiction by the Crimson Dawn Security contractors from Lamoni.

The atmosphere that the Mokastani 'DeLeon' family company had just pushed into the air was one that smelt rotten to the noses of Cratillo and his company staff. Nobody was fooled by the paper mache farce that had been presented to them. It was certainly not that the Mokastani people were willing to work and just suffered from bureaucratic inconsistencies and complexities, but that instead the Mokastani were simply trying to keep L&K from finding a way to work with them.

After a long board meeting though, the decision was made. Baliwani was ordered to set up an office in the DeLeon port, and seize one if the warehouses as a BPSD outpost. This decision was backed fairly strongly by the rest of Baliwani staff, as it was predicted that the Mokastani police departments would soon get involved if the DeLeon family ratted out the L&K commando team that had been sent to enforce the threat issued to the family. Baliwani's President, Hugo Atswana, was not too thrilled about being entrusted with the suppresion of a much larger department of opposition, but nonetheless he knew well it was something that had to be done.


Peruvia, El Sur de Gran Mokastana(Suria)
Mokastana
People's United Federation
9:00 AM, Monday

The Baliwani Trade Corporation's cargo ships were filling the DeLeon docks as shipments of goods and armaments were sent to Mokastana from ports in Acadia. The office building set up in the port city was already well-guarded by the BPSD, which had been bolstered with local private security contractors to number a total of eight hundred task soldiers, each armed with a mix of Acadian and Mokastani armaments. A warehouse in the cargo docks was converted into a military outpost, known as Point Alpha Grey, in which six hundred more BPSD officers stood on standby in the case of a serious situation, all armed with heavy equipment curtesy of L&K Arms.

The local police department, which would normally have been a serious stoppage for any plots enacted by Baliwani, was quickly subdued through the same greywater tactics often employed by L&K branches. Baliwani funds were funneled into the local brass, and several police stations were restricted with hastily-drawn contracts with placename companies, which muted the police presence in the area considerably and made the Baliwani armament of the port partially a legal action. Nonetheless the Baliwani Trade Corporation was skeptical at best in the belief that this would work, as it was not a general belief that a loose agreement would prevent the police from action if ordered by the Mokastani government.

The BTC however continued with their standard procedures and business in Mokastana, with several markets opening up in Mokastani cities within Peruvia, and consumer goods being sold across the board. The recently-purchased factories now being managed by BTC began in earnest to produce the products being sold locally, to ease in the production and sale of assets without endangering large profits from overseas importing.

[Mokastana]

City of Lima
Peruvia, El Sur de Gran Mokastana(Suria)
Mokastana
People's Unified Federation

Gabriel Acosta, Patriarch of the Acosta Family, the Acosta Cartel, and Acosta Industries, invited the representative of Fear-Claidheimh LLC to his Villa outside of Lima. The Mericans were great mercenaries, hell, thousands of them were already employed by the Federal government as it geared up for the invasion of Yaroslav. However, Gabriel needed mercenaries a few steps away from the Timocratic government, for plausible deniability of course. Not that he didn’ already have a sizeable army on his payroll, but Gabriel was not in the habit of underestimating his opponents. Six commandos teams would be hired. With the objective of securing the DeLeon family still in the Port City of Nazca, with full permission to cause as much havoc as they wished on the way out.

---

City of Lima
Peruvia, El Sur de Gran Mokastana(Suria)
Mokastana
People's Unified Federation

A day later, Gabriel would be in downtown Lima visiting an old friend, Colonel Lieutenant Nathaniel Mavere, commander of the local Federal Police Garrison in Lima. They would meet in a private room in a public cafe, exchange pleasantries and drink coffee. While outside Cartel men and Federal Police stood guard, tensely measuring each other up, but maintaining the peace. Inside Gabriel and Nathaniel would discuss the importance of maintaining the peace in Lima and surrounding areas, and the troubling issues with new foriegn enterprises. There was no talk of the DeLeon nephew that was killed, as that murder investigation was officially closed by local police. Still, Nathaniel was no fool, and knew that the DeLeon’s were under Acosta protection. Retributions would be had, and it was best for his officers to stay out of the way.

“Gabriel,” Nathaniel warned, “I know something big is coming, the Acosta Family did well in the past keeping their conflict resolution quiet. Against a PMC force, I don’t expect things will stay quiet. Remember, what we don’t see we can’t intervene on, but violence in the street will bring down the Federales hard. The last thing they want is a resurgence of the Drug War, and they will bring down the hammer to prevent that.”

---

Port City of Nazca
Peruvia, El Sur de Gran Mokastana(Suria)
Mokastana
People's Unified Federation

The local police were subdued, but not due to the questionable actions of the BTC, but because they recognized things were going to turn south soon. The veterans and leadership had spent their early years fighting the Drug War in Mokastana, back when the Cartels fought the government for control of Suria. The street had ran with blood, military units and Cartel tanks exchanged fire in the streets, as the police fought to secure the lives of civilians caught in the crossfire. Now another player had entered the game, a foriegn mercenary group had killed a cartel member and taken over the city, it was only a matter of time before the streets ran with blood again.

The first retaliation would be in the jungle highways between the small DeLeon port city of Nazca, and the smaller towns inland. The highway to Lima was heavily policed, but these rural highways were mostly left to local marshals. Oddly enough, Federal Police were unusually absent. A BTC truck carrying manufactured goods from the Port to market crossed a bridge, only to find the farming truck in front of it to slow to a stop and turn to block the bridge. Behind the truck, another truck stopped and turned to block the highway, armed men stepped out, and offered the driver of the BTC truck the chance to die, or give up the truck. Either way, the truck would be taken further down the road, opened, filled with gasoline, and burned. Dozens of other BTC trucks would face similar fates, all on the same day. Drivers who fought would be machine gunned down, and their trucks destroyed by grenades or gas, whichever the attackers had on hand.

The message was clear, BTC was no longer welcome in Mokastana.

[Cochlea Attenum]

Port City of Nazca
Peruvia, El Sur de Gran Mokastana(Suria)
Mokastana
People's Unified Federation
1:00 AM, Tuesday

It was quiet that night.

It was dark out, early in the morning, the moon just starting to set. Moonlight bathed the street in Nazca that sat in front of the DeLeon office building, cars lining the streets as all the family members were in their meeting. The streetlights were on, giving a little extra illumination, but today they were shining dimmer than before, the charge to the lights a little bit lower than before.

Pedestrians walked up and down the sidewalks, some of them talking on the phone and others simply going about their night, the early morning rather cool but welcoming to those outside their homes. Despite the occasional squad of L&K infantry, accompanied by their IFVs and MRAPs, life for the average Mokan citizen was rather normal. The soldiers never got involved in the goings-on of the locals, and sometimes children even got a candy bar from a passing patrol. Some mothers smiled across the way as they saw two soldiers who were handing out water bottles to a few homeless men on the street with smiles on their faces.

The strange sight in the street which had some civilians gawking, was the team of six soldiers, fully geared and moving swiftly, heading directly for the DeLeon offices. Each had heavy ballistic armor and NVG, plus a rifle, non-lethal counters, and zipties. As they moved down the street, teams of soldiers along the roadway made sure civilians staid away from the office tower.

The first sign of danger, was when the guards at the front of the door fell, bullets in their brains. That made the civilians outside panic, having just seen two cartel guys get shot without any form of warning. The front soldier then kicked in the door and moved in, and more shots were heard within the building as the soldiers entered. These shots were much louder.

Inside, several cartel guards with rifles and pistols shot back at the intruders but were very quickly shot and killed by the team, with two soldiers hanging back to mop them up and execute any wounded while the remaining four moved up the stairs swiftly, their weapons forward and lights now on. No more shots were heard until the doorway to the meeting room flung open.

"Get down on your knees! Get the fuck on your knees before I blast your fucking head open! Now!"

The lead soldier shouted this at a high volume as the men entered, guns raised and threatening as the four guards in the room were put down with ease. The four remaining DeLeon family members quickly got down, and one of them tried to pull a pistol. That man was lifted up by the lead soldier after being disarmed, and thrown through the office's window, falling down until he hit the pavement, crushed by the fall.

The remaining DeLeons were ziptied by the soldiers, and dragged out to the streets where they were thrown into the asphalt road, left there begging for their lives as the civilians watched. The commandos lined up behind the family, and then shot them all from naval to collarbone, and then from forehead to chin, ripping up their bodies with lead before going to each and dragging them to a mass grave in an alley dumpster, dumping them inside.

[Mokastana]

Far outside of the port city of Nazca
Peruvia, El Sur de Gran Mokastana(Suria)
Mokastana
People's Unified Federation
3:20 PM, Monday

Another truck, another roadblock. The Acosta hired guns knew the routine by now: motion the driver out of the truck, take the driver to the jungle and hold at gunpoint, inspect the truck and burn it. So it went. A few gunmen unlocked the back of the truck, more joking about the game tomorrow than the job at hand. When all hell broke loose, those two were the first to go. Machine gun fire tore out from the back of the truck as the spring pulled up the trailer door. The Cartel men, realizing it was a trick dove for cover and returned fire, but the mercenaries in the back of the truck were heavily armored. Bullets bounced off their ceramic plates and thick kevlar while their own rifles tore into the civilian vehicles and clothes of the gunmen blocking the street. A Cartel member pulled up his grenade rifle but was cut down in the nick of time. Unfortunately, the driver was executed in the woods for not telling them of the ambush, and soon the surviving cartel troops retreated into the jungle to regroup. In total 12 Cartel hired guns were dead, and the mercenaries took the now shot to hell truck back to base.

The escalation had begun. From now on, L&K trucks would not be inspected, just burned when they stopped, or shot to hell if they didn’t.

---

City of Lima
Peruvia, El Sur de Gran Mokastana(Suria)
Mokastana
People's Unified Federation
6:20 PM, Monday evening

Beatrice Acosta was our later than usual, getting some last minute shopping done with her youngest son, Benjamin Acosta. It was almost dinner time, and their Anuien chef Nguyen was cooking up lamb tonight, Benjamin's favorite. She put the clothes in the trunk of the large green SUV, parked with about 4 other green SUVs of the same make, model and window tint. Climbing inside, the driver and convoy would escort them back to the Acosta Villa, where Beatrice would show off her new outfit for the charity drive tomorrow night. Benjamin hated clothes shopping, but she knew why he really came, he spent quite a while chatting up that fashionista. Acosta men were such flirts.

The SUVs turned passed a car accident and down Calle Bonita, a beautiful little shopping boulevard with that one chocolate store she so loved, she was just about to suggest they stop when the first SUV exploded from an IED, immediately a sniper round smashed in the windshield, getting lodged in the second layer of bullet proof glass inside the car. Behind her, gunshots. She clutched her boy as the driver sped around the destroyed car.

"Car Bravo, attackers in rear."

"Car Delta, getting the package out. Charlie team is down."

"Falcon in the air, on route."

More gunshots rang out from around from around the SUVs, Beatrice looked back and saw Car Bravo blocking the street, shooting back at unknown attackers. Overhead a helicopter appeared with a door gunner spraying lead into whoever was behind them. Another explosion tore up the road ahead as a civilian car tried to get out of the fight but hit a bomb.

"Delta, pushing through!"

Two of the four SUVs raced away from Calle Bonita and towards the gates of the Acosta estate, where armored vehicles and gunmen waited to secure them and bring them in.

A failed assassination attempt, but one in Lima itself.

---

Port City of Nazca
Peruvia, El Sur de Gran Mokastana(Suria)
Mokastana
People's Unified Federation
1:20 AM, Tuesday

Hector hung up the phone on the new Matriarch of the DeLeon family, or what was left of it. His employer was safe in Lima with the Acosta family. Although an attack in broad daylight against her host family only spoke to the lengths L&K would go. As did the bloody mess in the dumpster in front of him. The whole DeLeon family, including women and children, massacred in the street like dogs. They weren't even an influential cartel, they were just an rich family that did occasionally deal with drug runners. Their private security wasn't meant to handle a private military, but there were those who could. Hector made another call:

"Sabrina, it's time. They fucking killed every DeLeon in Nazca, I'm staring at a dumper full of them. I spoke to the new Matriarch in Lima. She's writing a blank check to fuck with them. Hold nothing back."

He listened to the voice on the other line for a few seconds, with an occasional 'uh huh' and 'yeah' before interrupting:

"I don't care how much Locke and Keye offered you, they offered a similar deal to the DeLeons and look where that got them…. I can send you a picture if you need to see it better!…. Look, the Acostas are backing the DeLeon survivors. The war is on, do you want to be a target, or a friend?"

---

Federal Police Base, southern Peruvia
El Sur de Gran Mokastana(Suria)
Mokastana
People's Unified Federation
5:20 AM, Tuesday

The Regimental Headquarters of the Federal Police looked less like a rural police station, and more like an army base. Infantry Fighting Vehicles and Armored Personnel Carriers parked in rows, PPMVs (Pseudonaja Protected Mobility Vehicle) with machine gun mounts, towed artillery pieces, and attack helicopters dotted the base’s motor pools. As the sun began to rise on the command building, a meeting was being held between the Regimental Commander, and his officers.

“Good morning everyone. Unfortunately, this morning’s briefing is going to be a lot more work than the usual. Last night, we received word from the police in Nazca that L&K Mercenaries killed the DeLeon family in the middle of the night. Given the high PMC military presence in the area, they don’t want to make a move without backup. Which is where we come in.

However, as you are aware, L&K is a private military, on contract with the Federal government. That means they have armor and tanks and who knows what else. If we end up trading shots with them, we need to be ready. Therefore I am putting in a request for the Division’s Tank Battalion to move in to support us, as well as clear request for air strikes with the local air base, most of their sorties are flying into Yaroslav, but they may be able to spare a few planes for us if need be.

Despite that, we still need to go into Nazca this morning to restore the rule of law. Even if it was a few Mercenaries acting on their own, we need to remind the people of Nazca that the rule of law exists. Major Guitierrez, how many helicopters can be ready to fly in two hours?”

“I can promise you 11 Rocs, and 14 Buzzers.”

“Good, I also need the 32nd, 34th and 44th Companies ready to move out in their entirety in 90 minutes. Can you both do that?”

They all responded in their own time with “Sir, yes sir.”

“Good, the rest of your battalion, will be airlifted in via the helicopters. The rest of Regimen will need to be ready for deployment in two hours. Major Xipotl, if things go south, your artillery guns will make the difference between massacre and battle. I want your guns close to the city and ready to go, the 34th Company will escort you.

Gentlemen, this isn’t easy, but we survived the drug war with worse odds than this. If we are lucky, we can just storm their headquarters, find who ordered the murders and arrest them on the spot. If not, well, we'll shoot our way in, like always.”

---

Port City of Nazca
Peruvia, El Sur de Gran Mokastana(Suria)
Mokastana
People's Unified Federation
6:00 AM, Tuesday

As the Federal Police prepared their assault into the city, another one was already taking place. From the main road leading into the city, Humvees slowed to a crawl and blocked off all traffic heading into the city of Nazca, Behind them, a group of six IronHeart IFVs rolled towards the city. At the first blockade that tried to stop them, the IFVs would spread out and disembark, armed militia wearing helmets and body armor would take up positions, aiming combat rifles at the Mercanries blocking their way.

The loudspeaker on the one of the IFV’s would bark to life: “We are The Peruvian Defense Miltia, a Registered Private Militia with the Federal government. We demand these illegal checkpoints and mercenary patrols in the city cease immediately, surrender now, or you will be fired upon.”

[Mokastana]

Port City of Nazca
Peruvia, El Sur de Gran Mokastana(Suria)
Mokastana
People's Unified Federation
6:00 AM, Tuesday

The Federal Police had arrived on scene to the sounds of gunfire and explosions. Recon helicopters showed the mercenaries and local militias fighting outside the city. Armored vehicles and troops from both sides burned at a checkpoint, artillery guns from the jungle fired upon other checkpoints in the outskirts of the city. Both sides had set up their fighting lines, and traffic into and out of the city was cut off from the north.

Staying clear of the fighting at first, the Federal Police set up artillery positions and brought in the Division's full tank battalion, 32 LYA42 Wolfhounds. Unable to stop the fighting, the Regimental Commander contacted the air force and People's Federal Army, knowing more back up was going to be required.

First they contacted the Registered Private Militia on scene, known as the Peruvian Defense Militia. The PDM claimed they were attacked as they attempted to enter the city of Nazca. It had been their intention to restore order after the murder of the DeLeon family. With that contact made, the Federal Police attempted to contact the L&K forces via radio, and ordered them to stand down and allow Federal Police to occupy the city. If they agreed, the Peruvian Defense Militia would be ordered to fall back, if not, the Federal Police would be forced to aid the PDM in taking the city.

On a seperate, encrypted, channel, the air force was called in and a squad of FA-60 interceptors was keeping the sky clear of any aircraft. Fighter bombers were called in and would circle outside of the city limits, ready to pounce. The Police Regiment's 155mm and 105mm howitzers did the math to target what was believed to be the L&K military headquarters, and main barracks, in the city.

With luck, L&K would stand down, the police could act on their warrants to search L&K headquarters for information on the DeLeon murders, and nobody else would die today. However, that would be a shit ton of luck.