NationStates Jolt Archive

75 miles Southwest of Leningrad: 0531 Hours

Commisar Anatova took a drag on his cigarette and handed it to another soldier. He put his legs out of the side of the helicopter and looked down at the green countryside passing beneath him. Much of the land was covered in mist and the sun's first rays were just peeking over the horizon. There was the occasional cottage or small village, but there was no activity. In fact, the only sound one would here for miles, except for the wind would be the sound of the helicopter's rotors. If he had looked north, he would've seen the Northern Mountains looming in front of him, but he had no interest in seeing them, as he would be cursing their very existence in a few days.

He looked over his shoulders at his men. A few of them were sleeping, and some of the others were shivering and rubbing their arms in a fruitless attempt to create heat. Unlike the Commisar, they were from the south of Hattia, and they weren't used to the extreme cold that pervaded everyday life in the north.

He peered off into the distance and saw the dark silhouette of a castle on the horizon. That was their destination.

A few minutes later, they flew over the castle. It was an impressive sight. 3 layers of walls, hundreds of towers and many guards patrolled the walls, even at this time of day. The castle itself was made of dark gray stone, quarried from the mountains centuries ago. In the center of the castle stood the keep. It's smooth stone walls would offer no foothold to any would be assassin and stretched at least 200 feet into the sky. The black portcullis stood ready to slam shut, keeping out an attacker and the thick oak doors would prove quite an obstacle to anyone.

In the City States period of Hattian history, this was the home of the Lords of the North, when the three cities of Haton, Leningrad (At the time, New Anstov) and Severnaya competed for domination of the nation. Now, it functioned as the headquarters of the Commander of the Home Guard in the north.

The helicopter sat down in the courtyard, kicking up leaves that had falled from the trees that nearby. Anatova and his men marshalled out and ran up to the door, anxious to get away from the cold. The guards at the door saluted and motioned upwards. The portcullis rose with a grating metallic noise. They were guided by a guard through the twisting passages towards their barracks. Once they arrived, a few went to sleep on the beds, while others went and watched TV. There was nothing to do now but to wait.

tag, bleh why do I think Hattia's gonna be Capatilist?

Tag. Nah, comrade Hattia's to good for that, Rose!

Yeah, I'm gonna finish off the capitalist rebels, so I'll be even more socialist...

Yeah, I'm gonna finish off the capitalist rebels, so I'll be even more socialist...

OOC: We call em Corpies in TIOR

Deng Yuanpei checked his rifle. It was loaded and ready. The G-14/Bx was the newest and most advanced rifle in the Scarlet Empire and this would be its first major combat test-run. As the side-door of the combat helicopter opened up, he looked at the rest of his team and smiled. The Edolian contingent of the operation was looking good. He was in direct command of 11 other men, with another team of 12 under his indirect command. Each team consisted of three men with heavy G-14/Bx rifles, two with the lighter G-14/Ats and two medics, each armed with G-14/Ats. Two soldiers held G-15/3 grenade/assault rifles and one brave man from each team carried a light flame thrower in addition to his light G-14/At. Finally, two men on each team carried demolitions charges and an extra supply of grenades. These were the Rabid Gerbils –Edölia’s most feared fighting men. As the two teams rendezvoused on the ground with the groups from Hattia and the Island States, Deng turned to the Hattian commander. “What’s the plan, comrade? Are we ready to kick the shit out of these fascists once and for all?”

Anatov grinned, Oh yeah... He took a piece of paper out of a pocket and handed it to the Edolian, Our orders, directly from the Minister of War...



Situation: Rebels firmly entrenched in the mountains. Constant raids for the last 50 years and at one time a full scale civil war. The city of Leningrad is under constant threat and now with support from our USR comrades, you will eliminate this threat.

Intel: Rebel numbers: 7,000 + (Estimate)
The tunnels and mountains are rife with traps, hidden bunkers, etc.
The rebels generally use whatever they can scavenge, so expect AKs, RPGs and other common Hattian weaponry.

Objectives:
1. Aquire map of tunnel exits.
2. (Secondary) Eliminate rebel leaders.



Included with the paper was a 50 year old map of the tunnels, which was the most current one the government had, and pictures of several known rebel leaders.

"Unfortunately, that is the most we know. This is going to be tough but we will succeed. Most of them are either members of the old noble families and their cronies. Very few of them have ever had formal military training either.

"Who can stand against the best the USR can muster. The Red Hammer, Rabid Gerbils and the Fighting Swordfish."

He then noticed the Edolian's outfits, which most Hattians would consider very light. "Umm, Comrade Yuanpei. You guys might want to bring a few extra coats along, if you think it's cold now, wait 'till we get in the mountains at night.

"Comrade, we not only hope to kick the shit out of those capitalist sonsabitches, we hope to kill them swiftly and, maybe if their luck is with them just once, painlessly. However, with the stuff we're bringing to the table, they'll only have the former," A Colonel of The Island States' First Special Operations Division [1st SOD] replied to his Edolian comrade. He was in command of the 4 Special Forces Platoons now in Hattia, each making up 12 men (one of them including the Colonel). Each man had at least a IAR-3A3 assault rifle, using 7.62mm ammunition, a 9mm pistol, a full kit of winter/mountain gear and frag grenades/extra clips. Two men of every platoon had a laser designator and a laptop computer (with gear to convert the laser coordinates to GPS coordinates by analyzing their location with the laser information). "I am Colonel Stanley, top of my class from Special Operations School and Commander of the "Fighting Swordfish" Division. And you are?"

"I am Commisar Anatoly Leningrad Anatova. Hattian Special Forces, Red Hammer 3rd Division, 92nd 'Mountain Warriors' platoon. Killed my first man when I was eight, slit his throat. Honored to meet you." Anatova grinned...

Captain Deng smiled to the Hattian. "Don't worry about us. These Legionary combat suits are well-insulated. Once we put our helmets on, we'll be almost completely protected from the elements. Furthermore, microfilimants along the inside of the suit keep us at comfortable temperatures." He paused. "Enough of the pleasantries though. I'm here to tell you what we've got. I'm afraid that our team isn't as large or as heavily equipped as the Islanders... but I think that you'll find we'll be damn useful. I'm bringing 23 of Edölias finest. We're from the most elite groups in the Empire, and considering everything, that's quite a bit. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I'm damn proud of my men, and I don't expect that there's much they can't do. Each and every one of them is an expert in hongquan and can fight with gun or sword at close or long range. We don't have any snipers with us, but we expected mainly cave fighting, which our boys will be superb at. Put us where you need us and we'll do what needs to be done."

The Commisar nodded, "We will be leaving as soon as our choppers get here..." As if on cue, the sound of rotors reached their ears. About 40 seconds later, several large helicopters sat down in the courtyard. "We need to hurry, I don't know long any of us will be able to last at night, even with those suits you've got. We've got a long climb ahead of us." He then shouted something to his men and ran over and jumped in the helicopters. Along with the pilot, there were 4 men manning miniguns. There were also several attack helicopters hovering above the castle.

The two Edolian teams boarded the transports and placed their helmets on their heads, allowing easier radio contract between the groups. "Alright men," Captain Deng addressed the groups, "we'll be playing this almost completely by ear, so as of yet, it's unclear how this is going to go. We may have to reorganize the teams, but most likely they'll stick like this. I'm going in commanding Team Hammer and Lieutenant von Krust will be commanding Team Sickle. Let's make the Empire proud."

[Tag. Is there any place for me to join in?]

OOC: Sorry, not really. Though once we've got the maps we are looking for, feel free to send your pilots for some target practice...

[I wouldn't mind testing out some DEPs, they'd be perfect for the mountain tunnels.]

Colonel Stanley looked at 1st Platoon while he addressed them in the helicopter. "We're going into a very bad situation. The rebels in this region are dug in and have a lot of combat experience in this kind of terrain and climate. If we get stuck up here for nightfall, we'll have to build our own shelter. The gallon of kerosene you all carry is enough to burn in your mobile heaters for a short time, and we will only use those when I or your officers instruct you to. Lock and load." The men loaded their clips and chambered the first bullet. "Good luck, gentlemen. Remember: we want to get in and out, no bullshit games of hide-and-go-seek in these goddamn tunnels. Also, if you are near a tunnel opening and our bombers carrying thermobaric bombs come in, you may want to start running, but it may not do you any good. See you on the ground."

"Here they come!" said the Commisar as several attack helicopters streaked past towards the destination. "They are going to attack the area like normal and cover our approach in..." As he was saying this, the choppers fired off a barrage of missiles and chaingun fire towards the tunnel entrance. "Those attack choppers can go higher than us, we are gonna have to set down on a ledge somewhere and climb up..."

The helicopters approached a wide ledge under the destination. They got close enough for the men to jump out, but the rotors were only a few feet from the side of the mountain, any gust of wind could cause disaster...

"Turn on your suits, guys. said the Commisar to the other Hattians as he jumped out of the chopper into the knee deep snow. They all pressed buttons on their belts, activating their battlesuits, showing them their location from a GPS, ammo in their gun and various other useful things. Some of the Hattians looked up at the ever darkening sky, a sure sign of a storm on the way...

"We're dropping into a combat zone! Pilot, take us in low and slow!" Colonel Stanley yelled. The helicopter began to slowly crawl above the landscape, staying 20 feet above the ground. "Everyone into the snow drift! MOVE!" The special forces soldiers jumped out of the helicopters with no parachutes, plummeting into the soft snow below. The men shook off the daze and cold, grabbing their guns and scanning all points around them... they were now practically on their own in the Northern Hattian Mountains... and a storm was coming in fast.

Agent Dimitiri Sokolov of the Hattian Internal Intelligence Agency looked over the new arrivals rather suspiciously, which wasn't unusual. A man and a woman passed rather close by him, the man's accent obviously wasn't Hattian. The accent was way off. He looked up from his newspaper and watched them walk off. He folded his newspaper neatly and put it in his pocket. He stood up and followed them carefully at a distance...

-------------------

Anatova slammed his pointed boots into the steep mountain wall. The wind was picking up, and if they were caught on that ledge during a storm with no cover, they had about a 10% chance of survival. He and his men had done this many times before, and begin to scale the wall. After about 25 minutes, Anatova reached the top first and pulled himself onto the ground on his stomach.

Scanning the area in front of him with his gun's IR scope, he saw several figures rushing about, obviously they knew of the helicopters, but they probably would never know that he was there. He continued lying on his stomach, covering the other's climbing.

Sokolov climbed in his black Sedan, government issue to all Field Agents of the HIIA. He shifted the car into gear and followed them out of the parking lot.

Once they were out onto the road, he pulled out the reciever for the car's attached megaphone. With a certain menace in his voice, he said in the peculiar accent of Northern Hattia, "Asno menelo akanafor!"

"Alright boys!" Deng Yuanpei yelled into his radio as the helicopter doors slid open. "This is it! We're going into the hot zone! I want every single soldier to be on his lookout for enemies. We've got air support until we hit the caves, but after that, we're on our own. Let's make Edölia and the USR proud!” Checking his gun’s ammunition, the Edolian captain leaped from the helicopter, catching himself in the snow and rolling for a few seconds. His gray and white camouflage blended him in nicely with the powder being kicked up by the helicopters. “Leftenant von Krust: I want your Team Sickle to cover our approach as we make it up the cliffs. We’ll be moving in some hundred meters to the West of the Hattians. You’ll keep them from picking us off from the cliffs while we scale the top. We’ll take the ridge and give you the cover necessary to join us.” As the soldiers formed up into their groups, the captain addressed the whole group. “Many of you have not seen combat, and I am sure that you believe that to be a disadvantage. I won’t lie to you. It is. But you’re serving in perhaps the best military in the world, and we’ve done a damn good job of training you in what to expect. Now let’s scale that cliff. Who are we!?”
“The Rabid Gerbils!” the cry came back. Captain Deng smiled. The capitalist scum wouldn’t know what hit them.

---

Off the coast of Hattia, some 500 kilometers West of Leningrad, an Edolian taskforce floated in the Haven Straights. The aircraft carrier and Rabid Gerbil rapid deployment forces were waiting for the command to move out. At a moment’s call, some four squadrons of super-fast fighter/bombers and 900 of Edölia’s finest were prepared to assist in the assault on Hattia’s rebels.

---

*Ratatatatatatatatatat* The bullets flew past the Edolian captain’s head. As the Hattian rebels let loose a storm of lead, he unslung his assault rifle and clicked off the safety. Taking aim, he fired off a couple of rounds. The 5.8mm caseless rounds blasted out of the gun’s chamber. A rebel fell. Around him, he could hear the sounds of other Edolian soldiers returning fire. Checking the cliff, he saw more Edolians making their way up. A quick glance around told him that no casualties had been taken… yet. “Let’s keep it tight boys. He pointed to a group of soldiers. “I want you, you, you and you,” to cover the group. The three of you” –he gestured towards another group- “will move along the left flank. The rest of us will take the center, crawling up. Let’s gain some ground. I want to see this quick and bloodless.” He dropped to the snow. “Now let’s go!”

---

“How are we doing?” Albert von Tusk watched the progress from his control room on the NPB Nena, one of Edölia’s new Levithan/E heavy battleships. As the flagship on this small task force, it and its command staff was responsible for coordinating Edölia’s military operations in Hattia.
“Things are looking good sir. Team Sickle is taking the ridge now. We’ve got all 24 troops up there. So far there haven’t been any casualty reports and it is believed that the rebels are taking heavy casualties.” Colonel Robürn von Erbërn handed Albert von Tusk the first page-long report from the observers covering the military operation.
“Excellent work Colonel .” The Edolian general took the slip of paper and placed it on his desk. “Let’s hope that we keep doing as well as we have been. I want Captain Deng to meet up with the Hattians and the Islanders once the ridge is secure. And get me into contact with our partners’ commanding officers. We need to make sure that this is coordinated as it can be.”

The rebels panicked, they had never expected to get attacked by troops on the ground. Some dropped their weapons and ran off, while some others regained their nerves and retreated towards the cave entrance. Several men rushed out of the entrance with RPGs slung over their shoulders, while one had a drawn sword, obviously an officer. Anatova released his rifle and it slid back towards his waist as he drew his sword and pistol. Quickly shooting the 2 RPG men in the head and chests. He let out a scream and rushed the officer, feinting to the left, he brought the sword over and decapitated the officer neatly with a slash to the right.

He dove behind a nearby rock as the tat-tat-tat of a PK machine gun began to roar out towards him from the cave entrance. Pulling a grenade off of his belt, arming it and waiting for it to 'cook', so it wouldn't get thrown back at him. After a few seconds, he tossed it towards the cave. There were a few quick scream and then a loud pop. As the rest of the Hattians crested the ridge, the remaining rebels retreated wildly out towards the north.

Anatova picked himself up and looked with satisfaction on the battlefield, "This is how I like to see it done boys..." His head snapped to the right as he heard someone wimpering over behind a rock. He sheathed his sword and quietly snuck over to the rock. There was a man lying there with an AK and lacking part of his right leg. He put his pistol on the top of his head, "How are you today, Comrade...?"

----------------

Sokolov climbed out of the car. He had 2 rather large revolvers, slightly visible from under his black trenchcoat. He approached the car and looked at the occupants. "Meneland bast clokshest Hatschonam?"

"Climb!" Stanley yelled as the Fighting Swordfish made their way up the ledge. "This ain't no Sunday picnic like Basic was! Get your asses up the mountain!" The special operations troops climbed the ledge quickly, their guns shouldered with their packs. They had a pistol they could reach if they came under fire, but that was it. None of the Fighting Swordfish had been hit yet, but once they entered the tunnels, that would probably change.

As the last of the machine gun fire died down, Deng Yuanpei shouldered his rifle and checked over the squads. He was pleased to see that no one was injured. Looking over the cliff, he saw the last of the Islander troops coming up. "A bit late, aren't we, comrades?" He waved to the Hattian commander. "What's the next plan, Hattia?" he called out.

Anatova turned his head and shouted, "Medic Bakunin!" A rather short man, who was currently looking through the rebel's corpses for maps and such ran over to Anatova, "Yes sir?" Anatova looked towards Marc's stump. Radio one of the choppers, look after him until he get's here, we will be in the cave. Give him some morphine." Bakunin saluted, "Yessir!"[/i]. He put his arm over Marc's shoulder and helped him into the clearing. Once they were there, he withdrew a syringe from his pack. With great skill, he put it into Marc's arm and tied bandages over the stump to help slow the bleeding. Once that was done, he radioed over to the helicopters.

One of the helicopters nearby flew over and sat down. Bakunin picked up Marc and put him inside. "It's only a 20 minute flight to the hospital, good luck." He grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled on it, he then attached it to Marc's clothes via a safety pin. "Keep that on you..." He then handed a similar looking piece of paper to the pilot and rejoined his squad.

Anatova heard the Edolian shouting to him, "Let's get into the caves before that storm kills us all. Hurry up comrades!" he shouted back and waved towards the Edolians and Islanders. With that, he led his men into the mouth of the dark cave and waited...

---------------

"Ah, it's not a problem..." said Sokolov in a rather heavy accent. "I stopped you because we generally stop foreigners when they enter the country because many think that they have immunity from our laws." He withdrew a small book from his coat. "Here are some laws that you should know about, we don't grant immunity for foreigners after all, and we don't want you to go around breaking the laws. Now, please excuse me for a minute, I need to check the ID"

He turned and walked back to his car. He put the ID in a device and called up his home office. (Translated from Hatti) "Comrade, I need you to run a check on this ID. Check through our foreign records..." After a minute, a voice came through on the phone. "It all checks out, one is a Hattian that has been abroad for a while and the woman is his wife, an Edolian..." Sokolov thanked the man and got out of the car again. "Well, it all checks out. Keep your eyes open, some of those rebels have been seen in the area." He handed the card back and began to walk back, He stooped over and slipped a small device behind the licence plate. He stood up and shouted towards them, "You had some debris on your licence plate, that'll get you pulled over again. Farewell."

He walked back to his car. He climbed in and opened his cell phone. "Please keep track of that beacon, I'm still suspicious."

As the Islanders approached the cave, a Lieutenant opened his pack and removed a green marking beacon and tossed it by the entrance. It would mark the position of friendly forces for about 15 minutes, long enough for an orbiting satellite network to pinpoint it and make sure that if the bombers did come, they wouldn't kill their own troops.

"Come on Comrades! We were last up the mountain, let's be first into the caves! Lieutenant, roll in a flashbang!" The Lieutenant unclipped the flashbang grenade from his belt, pulled the pin and threw it into the tunnel entrance while the Edolians and Hattians backed off for a second.

Leningrad Public Hospital

Marc was rushed off of the helicopter and into the emergency room. After a few hours, they had staved off infection and plugged the arteries that were causing most of the bleeding. They had also taken mesurements of his leg and had ordered a prosthetic. After all of this was done, they rolled him into a room to let the anasthesia wear off.

Agent Sokolov had been having a busy day. Once he got back to the Home Office, they had sent him to question this guy. The nurse who was checking up on Marc every few minutes said he would awake in a few minutes or so, so Sokolov took a seat in the corner of a room and began to read a magazine...

----------

After the flashbang went off, the Hattians went in. They turned on their NV and advanced quickly. The point man, a young soldier from Haton gasped as he felt a wire snap. Before he could react, a sharpened metal pole flew out of the wall, impaling him through the chest. He fell to the ground with a gurgle...

"Holy shit!" Colonel Stanley yelled out as the Islanders were sprayed with blood. "Medic! Get up here, now!" A medic ran forward, knelt down to the Hattian soldier, and closed his eyes.

"He's dead, sir."

"Alright men, Infrared goggles on from here on. Does anyone have a rubber ball, a nail and some string?" Stanley asked.

The Edolian captain eyed the Hattian corpse for a second. “A trip wire. Nasty.” Turning on his infra-red sight, he turned to his troops. “I want every soldier to be on guard. We should be able to see these things well enough with our IR turned on, but just in case, I want men to travel spaced.” He switched his radio frequency to that used by the commanding officers from the three groups. “These caves are too narrow and too dark for us to put so many men through all together. It’s tactical suicide. Are there any other cave entrances that we could take?”

Northern Mountains

"Yeah..." He pulled the map out of his pocket, "Circa 50 years ago, the path splits up into 3 different tunnels. I suppose we will have a better chance of finding what we are looking for if we split up..."

He withdrew his sword from it's sheath and held it out the side of it in front of him. "We better be a bit quieter, sound will echo a bit of a way."

He turned quickly as he heard beeping from the entrance of the tunnel. "Shit!" Anatova pulled out his rifle, grabbed the sleeve of his rifleman and made quickly for the tunnel entrance. "Private Tolstoy, take them down" he shouted, pointing towards the retreating figures. Private Tolstoy leaned up against the side of the cave and balanced his HBR-4 30.06 rifle. Aiming down the scope, he quickly attempted to place a 30.06 round in each of their chests while Anatova fired back with his rifle.

--------------------

(Translated from Hatti)

"Commander, tunnel 515A has come under heavy attack, heavier than usual. We haven't heard from Officer Karstov since he left." Commander Rastislav stroked his short beard. "Send up some people to make sure we are still secure..." He then went back to his plotting...



A 'Mole' tunnel travel vehicle quickly sped through the tunnels toward the tunnel exit that had come under attack. The sputtering engine, powered by whatever the rebels could steal made a lot of noise, but it's immense speed made up for that, plus the rebels knew these tunnels like the backs of their hands...

--------------------

Leningrad Public Hospital

Putting down his magazine and smiling, he replied in Hatti, "I am Agent Sokolov from the HIIA. I'm here to ask you a few questions. But first, I'd like to take your fingerprints. Once we are done here and you are rehabilitated, you will be released as long as you cooperate."

"Medic Bakunin, hurry up and get out here. Private, go tell the others to go on ahead." The Private ran back into the tunnel to tell the others while Bakunin came up to the exit. Seeing the 2 figures in the snow, Bakunin gasped and rushed over to them. Private Tolstoy was a good shot, and Bakunin didn't even have to look at the man to see that he was dead, but the woman was still mumbling, even though her stomach was torn up by the heavy round. He kneeled down beside her. "Calm down, it's gonna be alright... shhh..." He didn't give her morphine, because it'd slow her heart rate and probably kill her. "Anatova, hold her down...

The Commisar ran over and held her down with his strong arms. Bakunin reached in the wound, searching around for the bullet.

He drowned out the sounds of the woman's screams as his fingers sorted through her innards, there was dark red blood all over the snow around her and on the Medic's uniform. "Aha!" he said as his questing fingers felt metal. He quickly removed the bullet and began to stitch up the hole in her stomach.

She would still need to see a doctor soon but it would keep her alive long enough to make it to the hospital.

He radioed the hospital, the military chopper would be out to the mountain soon...

------------------------

Leningrad Public Hospital

"Good, I wouldn't want to have to use some of our more unsavory methods to get what we want." He stood up and withdrew a small machine from his bag. Walking over to the bed, he took Marc's hand and placed his thumb on the machine. "Now, while that is processed. Are you a citizen of the Soviet Socialist Republic?"

"Does anyone else hear that?" Lieutenant Sharp of the Islander group said. In the distance, the rumbling of a vehicle approaching could be heard. "Colonel!"

Colonel Stanley moved forward, waving a machine gunner forward. The machine gunner deployed the tripod for his M2 Browning .50 and began to watch down the tunnel.

The Mle arrived at the tunnel entrance. The driver stopped at the sight of people standing in the tunnel.

He shined his flashlight on the men. "Shit! Let's get out of here.

He turned the Mole around one hundred and eighty degrees and tried to speed off back down the tunnel while the 2 men in the back blindly fired towards the Islanders.

Sokolov withdrew his cell phone as it began ringing.

"Agent Sokolov, we've run those fingerprints through the system. It came up with the name Marc Ravel from Barentsburg in addition to Mikhail Rochev. Apparently he died some years previously."

Sokolov replied, "I see... Thanks...

He hung up the phone and put it back in his coat.

"Well, Marc Ravel, it seems someone on your side did a shitty job of covering their tracks. Now that we've got that cleared up. What were you doing with the rebels...?

------------------

Bakunin finished with the stitching as soon as the helicopter arrived. He lifted the woman up and put her in the helicopter. As soon as she was secured, it lifted up and whisked her back off towards the city and he headed back to his comrades...

Sokolov smirked, and said,

"Hmm, well do you know what the previous government would've done to you? Either you would've been beheaded on the spot or you would be being tortured right now.

"But I don't feel like a political debate. So, are you working for any foreign agencies such as Barentsburg's intelligence agency? The quicker we get what we want, the quicker you get to go home..."

"Hmm, well I would ask them if I knew who they were. Now, I also believe we have just captured 2 others on the mountain, it wouldn't suprise me if they were working with you. Since you aren't going to make it easy for me, I'm not going to make it easy for you."

Grinning rather wickedly, he reached into his coat and withdrew a vicious looking curved knife. "Now, how about I persuade you to talk with this?"

"Thank you, I believe that is all I need to know. For your information, I'm actually not allowed to use knives and such..." He grinned and continuted. "Once the doctors say you are ready to go, you can leave. But do not attempt to reach the rebels again, you will be followed and you will be shot on sight if you try. I bid you good day...

With that he turned and left the room...

Haton: Embassy Lane

Several cars, emblazoned with the insignia of the HIIA arrived at the Barentese embassy. 12 HIIA agents climbed out. They approached the gate, one holding up a search warrant...

"Return fire!" Stanley yelled as bullets whizzed past his head. The machine gunner opened fire, spraying the tunnel from side to side, then aiming right at the vehicle. A stray round stuck the Colonel in the arm, just missing the bone. Another struck the Lieutenant on the top of his helmet, deflecting harmlessly into the top of the cavern.

<<OOC: Sorry. I’ve been out of it… too lazy… dunno.>>

As the bullets ripped through the tunnel, the Edolian troops threw themselves flat. Captain Deng switched to the all-frequency and began yelling in Edöliai, Hatti and Islander. “Get back! Get back! Make way for the flame!” Hearing the sounds of confusion on some of the other soldiers’ faces, he took the liberty of jumping backwards, towards the entrance of the tunnel, pushing an Islander soldier to the side and holding him there. The other man struggled for a moment, but Captain Deng held him just long enough for an Edolian soldier to get by. Switching to the commanders-only frequency, he spoke quickly. “We’ll want to split up our teams as soon as possible. Closely-packed troops fighting in tunnels are just asking to get eaten by attrition.”

Andrë von Operist steadied the nozzle of his weapon. “Give me cover!” Two other Edolians with the grenadier specialties moved forward to support him. They began firing 20mm HE rounds towards the Hattian rebels in the tunnel. It wouldn’t do much damage, but it would keep their heads down. Andrë hit the ground as he moved forward. He just needed a little bit more space. A bullet ripped through the chest of one of the grenadiers. Shit. Machine gun bullets from the Islanders behind him and the rebels in front of him flew over his head. This is really not my day he thought. Another five meters… He was low to the ground, so there wasn’t much chance of a bullet hitting him. That wasn’t the problem though. His main fear was that a bullet would hit the large pack he carried on his back. He shuddered to think what that would do to him. Two meters. A flying shard of rock ricocheted off the plexiglass in his helmet. The bullet had just barely missed him. Wonderful. Just a little closer. It sounded as if the fire from the rebels was intensifying. He smiled slightly. That would just make his job a little bit more satisfying. “Alright boys.” He was speaking to the Edolians. “Get cover and turn off your IR. This is going to be nasty. Translate captain.” He waited for Deng to translate it into Hatti and Islander.
“All set.” The voice of his captain sounded in his ear. Switching the radio to outside broadcast, the Edolian smiled. Sometimes he loved his job. Thinking back to the little bit of Hatti he had learned at the Academy, he yelled towards the rebels. “For the People! Death to the enemies of the revolution!” Sitting up so that he was kneeling on the floor, he pulled the trigger on his nozzle. The light was blinding and as the flames roared out of his tube, he smiled. Killing fascists felt good.

--

Back in the Scarlet Palace, Erik von Blätterschplitt had just heard some rather disturbing news. “Are they sure!?” he demanded. “Good fucking God,” he swoe, sitting back down. In his youth, Edölia’s Impërator had been able to manage massive fits of rage, but at 76 –old, considering the incredible stresses that his job placed on him- Erik von Blätterschplitt was having difficulty managing the emotion.
“Yes sir. The Hattians are almost positive.” Horton von Cräset, the Impërator’s newest aide paused for effect. “All the Barentese ID records that they have access to point to this guy being an agent.”
“Shit, Horton.” The Impërator sighed. “This could be bad. We could be looking at a major split within the UnAPS if this gets out, not to mention a possible war.”
“I’m confident, sir, that the Scarlet Empire and the USR would have no difficulty wiping the Barentese from the face of the Earth,” von Cräset replied helpfully.
“Fucking hell!” The Impërator leaped out of his seat again. “You’re missing the whole fucking point!” His aide took a few steps backwards. “I have worked for thirty fucking years to build up UnAPS and to unite Haven into an alliance, rather than a bunch of squabbling states. I am not going to see another fucking inter-Haven war, even if we have the capacity to fuck the Barantese up the ass in two fucking days.” The Impërator didn’t often swear, but sometimes, his aide thought, he was capable of quite a string of obscenities.
“Yes sir.” Horton dipped his head in a show of humility. It wasn’t good to have the Impërator angry with you.
“Alright, damn it,” the Impërator sat back down in his chair and wiped his forehead. It was covered in sweat. “Well,” he said. “I want to get the Hattian General Secretary on my vid-phone immediately. Connect us.”
“Yes sir.” The aide pulled out a long, black object that looked rather like a remote control. He pressed a few buttons. “Check your vid-phone sir. We’re connecting to the Hattian government phones now.”

In the Tunnels...

"Shit! Medic!" Stanley called out as he reached into his medical kit, pulling out a bandage and wrapping it around the bulletholes in his arm. The blood oozed out slowly, making Stanley a bit more confident that it didn't hit a major artery. "Medic!"

The Medic crawled up, disconnected the Colonel's sleeve at the shoulder, and began applying sulfa to the wounds and using a better bandage to cover the entrance and exit wounds. "You're damn lucky, sir. That bullet passed right through you." He handed the Colonel a bottle of Vodka and opened his kit further, pulling out a penicillin shot. "Are you allergic to penicillin, comrade?"

"I've been given many shots of that shit in my lifetime, I think I'll live," The Colonel replied. The medic wrapped a rubber tourniquet around the Colonel's arm, pulled the stopper off the shot and slid it into his arm swiftly. He hit a vein, shooting the antibiotic into the Colonel's bloodstream.

"You'll be feeling a lot better, especially after you have a few shots of the Vodka."

------------------------------------------
In the Presidential Meeting Room:

"Are you sure the Hattians correctly identified this asshole?" President Newman said to The Island States' Chief Represenative to the USR.

"It was a pretty accurate identification against Barentese records," Chief Represenative John Asherton replied. "The Edolians were given this information some time ago, and I will bet you they aren't happy."

"How the fuck are we supposed to respond to this? Our UnAPS Represenative is the fucking General Secretary for fuck's sake! If we retaliate against the Barentese, we'll have a UnAPS Civil War! Millions will be dead, countless people homeless and our economies ruined beyond repair! Get me the Edolian and Hattian leadership on the phones right now!"

"But sir, our Edolian comrades are already trying to get ahold of our Hattian Comrades!"

"I don't care if you have to break in on their conversation, get me through to our comrades!"

Haton: Embassy Lane


"Okay, everybody stay still, if you are seen trying to destroy something, you will be tried for espionage!" shouted the senior Agent. The Agents moved quickly through the building, grabbing every electronic storage device and putting out on the courtyard.

A rather large black van arrived. Several men climbed out of the back of it and began loading the computer equipment up. Everything would be returned once the Red Hacker corp was done searching through them.

One of the Agents entered the room that Kerensky was in. He saw the fire axe in his hand and the smashed hard drives. "What the hell? You are under arrest for Espionage!" The Agent took out a pair of handcuffs and moved to restrain Kerensky while saying his rights while other Agents took pictures of the room...

"You have the right to remain silent...
You have the right to a fair trial...
You have the right to fair treatment in prison...
You have the right to defend yourself in court or accept a lawyer's councel..."


--------------------

Executive Building: Haton

Prime Minister Andropov was having a large day. It's not a good thing when you find out an ally is supporting a rebellion in your nation. He reached over and took a big swig of vodka from the bottle on his desk. A button on his desk lit up, he pressed it and his secretaries voice came out of a small speaker on the side.

"Mr. Prime Minister, President Newman wishes to speak with you immediately..."

The Prime Minister sighed, it had been a long day...

"Patch me through to him..."

He activated the viewscreen and picked up his phone and waited for it to connect...

"Hello President Newman, Imperator von Blätterschplitt, I trust you are doing well?"

--------------------

In the Mountains

The driver of the vehicle took several bullets in the back and flipped over the handlebars, sending the Mole flipping over the side. The other 2 men in the back were crushed instantly.

"Bloody hell, they are gonna know we are here! Double time!" shouted the Commisar. As they moved forward, the cave split up into 3 tunnels.

"Well, what a coincidence, three tunnels, three teams. We'll take the center, good luck comrades and watch out for traps. I'll see you on the other side...

The Hattians lunged forward, quickly disappearing into the darkness...

--------------------

"Commander, the scouts sent haven't reported back in. They should've been here ten minutes ago..."

Commander Rastislav grinned, it had been a long time since he had killed any of those damn Reds himself. It looks like he would have a chance today.

"Bring me their commanders, alive...

He then hit a red button near his desk...

--------------------

Klaxons blared in every rebel base nearby. Hundreds of men began making their way up the tunnels towards where the intruders would be. Most didn't have the advantage of NVGs or modern firearms, but they knew these tunnels well...

"Good afternoon, Prime Minister Andropov," President Newman began, speaking Hatti as best he could. He had taken it in college, a course few took due to the complex language that was very different from the West Islander he grew up with. "We have heard your country has identified Barentese agents having been in your country. We wanted to know what your country was prepared to do in order to confirm Barentese involvement in your rebellion, and what you are planned to do when this current situation in your mountains is over?"

--------------------------

"I will bet you they're sending more vehicles, Comrade Colonel," Sgt. Parker said to Col. Stanley.

"We need to use AT missiles if we're going to survive in here," Stanley said. "Go talk to our Hattian comrades, see if these tunnels could survive a shock like that. Hurry!"

"We interrogated the prisoner that was captured in the mountains and he cracked pretty quickly. We've got another one, but she is in critical condition right now so we are gonna wait 'till she gets better to talk to her..."

"This is a very sensitive situation because if it gets out that Barentsburg was supporting the rebellion, I fear that there will be attacks on Barentese nationals within the Republic. We've decided to release the prisoner for this reason, not to mention we would get dragged into an invasion of Barentsburg and we don't want a civil war in Haven."

"Now, once the rebels are eliminated, we are going to establish several military bases in and around the mountains to prohibit another rebellion from springing up. We'd be honored if The Island States and Edolia would help us in this task. Not to mention that we are gonna be building that railroad through the mountains..."

-----------------

Northern Mountains

Anatova heard the Islanders talking over the radio, he quickly replied. "These caves can take it, they were chiseled out of solid rock. Now, once we get farther in, you are going to have to be careful about it..."

"Comrade Andropov, we would be delighted to maintain a permanent military precense to keep another rebellion from boiling up. With the new hyperrail lines coming through, we will have no problem bringing in the equipment, resources and personnel necessary to establish a permanent camp. However, we may want it in a warmer area, or all our soldiers will freeze to death!" Newman smiled as he lit a cigar, blowing the smoke high into the air.

-------------------------------------

"Roger that, Comrade Anatova. Men, get your AT-4s ready, we're going to hit whatever is coming in with all we got," Stanley said as he whinced from the pain of his arm.

Andropov chuckled, "Well, that cold toughens up you foreigners pretty quickly. If it is a major concern, we could locate the base near Petrograd on our common border. Its the warmest major city in the country."

"Sounds good," Newman replied, signalling over his Chief of Staff. "I will get my Chief of Staff on the planning immediately."