NationStates Jolt Archive

DATRIA- In a matter of hours, a coalition of military and paramilitary forces took control of the Democratic Republic of Datria. By the end of the day, all government and media agencies were occupied by armed soldiers. The leaders of the coup are said to be high-ranking members of the military, who broadcasted a wide radio message at 0100 this morning.

Datria is known for its regional rivalries for some time. A small island in the West Pacific, Datria has been wracked by ethnic, political, and economic conflicts. A significant and powerful faction are the missionaries, both Christian and Muslim, who are gaining headway into the mainly shamanistic rural population. Maoist rebels often clash with these missionaries as well as official government forces. The military is outdated, mainly throw-aways from WWII to combat the Maoist rebels to no avail. The democratic government is rife with corruption, scandals, and intimidation. Many residents feel insecure about their government and turnout for elections is disastrously low.

This is apparently the key point of the coup. One of the soldiers, speaking to this reporter, said, "We are here to liberate Datria from fascism, communism, and corruption." Pressed on the issue, the soldier refused to clarify. This reporter was swiftly deported from the country through negotiations with the local embassy, who also fled Datria.

The radio message, spoken by General Maurice Okonkwo, broadcasted on a continuous loop on all local radio stations, "People of Datria, I am General Maurice Okonkwo. As of this morning, the Democratic Republic of Datria no longer is the ruling government of our beautiful land. The failures of our leaders to stop the corruption and violence forced us to take drastic action. In order to prevent further bloodshed, we declare the Democratic Republic of Datria to now be the Commonwealth of Datria. What we do now is for your sake. We will try and punish the leaders. We will seek out rebels and exterminate them. We will root our subsersive elements and destroy them. We will improve our economy. To improve our safety, we recommend all citizens stay in their homes for the next 48 hours. We expect all media outlets to shut down operations. All political organizations will also be expected to cease operations, until this crisis is resolved. Great strife creates great strength. For the Commonwealth of Datria!"

We currently have no knowledge of the condition or whereabouts of Prime Minister Jean Achebe or any other members of the current government.

OOC- I used to play NationStates a long time ago, when it just started. So, surfing the web, I found it again, and decided to join back in. I'm glad that there is an excellent and steady RP board going, and I hope that I will be fun to RP with.

Elizabeth Ann Freighter
West Pacific Ocean

The Elizabeth Ann would have appeared as nothing remarkable to all who laid eyes upon her. She was a short, small cargo vessel with a rusting superstructure and flying flags of the Commonwealth merchant marine. On deck there were several large containers and tarp covered areas for cargo containment.

However, not all on the high-seas is at it seems.

Within the main cargo hold the Royal Navy had installed sophisticated electronic surveillance equipment designed to intercept and decode radio transmissions among other types of intercepted EM transmissions. The Elizabeth Ann was actually a ship of the Office of Royal Navy Intelligence, which was tasked with gaining electronic intelligence on foreign vessels and coastal areas. Consequently it came as no surprise that while operating outside the waters of the small island of Datria that a radio transmission was intercepted, its contents encrypted and sent via secure satellite transmission back to the capital in Imperium.

Office of the Prime Minister
Imperium, Commonwealth Republic of New Britain

Alistair Tetley had been busy as of late. With Emperor Mikhail Barent falling ill, he had been forced to stop consulting with the Emperor as was the de facto practice in the Commonwealth. Instead, for the past several days he had been forced to rely upon solely his own wishes for the Commonwealth – which was quite a relief from the subtle-but-strong hand of the monarch. At this hour he had set up a teleconference between himself, his Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivan Valovich, and his Minister of Defence Daniel Blair. The three were discussing the information they had received courtesy of the Elizabeth Ann.

“Gentlemen,” Tetley began, “we need to come up with a firm policy on this coup. Ordinarily I am opposed to such undemocratic means of regime change – as you can see from our support to Colerica in reinstituting the elected government in Isla de Plata.” At this reference he noticed the smile of Blair, who had been arranging a massive military operation involving thousands of men to reinstate the former government. “However, between Isla de Plata and the Verdant Archipelago Territories, our Royal Marines’ deployment options are rather limited, as Mr. Blair has informed me. I am open to suggestions on how to deal with this crisis in our… well backyard so to speak.”

The elderly Valovich, a long-standing member of the government spoke first, as was customary to let the distinguished man speak first. “The Pacific Ocean, gentlemen, is our domain. We were founded by the British and Russians to serve as a means of controlling Pacific territories. We have since become an independent nation thriving on maritime trade within our own Pacific territories. We now have received word that a Pacific nation is in crisis. It is quite obvious that we must act. However, we are witnessing the coup against an ineffective democratic government, not one that merely is disliked by a radical faction. This coup was instigated by the military powers, and although they are armed rather pathetically compared to our mighty state, the solidity of their cause would provide a strong backbone we would need to break. I advocate, therefore, for a strong diplomatic and economic push to, if not reinstall the former government, to force free and transparent democratic elections throughout Datria.”

Blair smiled, “Ivan, surely you are not suggesting that our men and women couldn’t handle a small Pacific nation? How do you think we managed to colonize most of our territory? We annexed it all through sheer force. As Alistair made note of in his speech, we are now an imperial power seeking territory –“

Alistair felt the need to interrupt as Daniel corrupted his words, “No, Daniel, we seek to bring prosperity and freedom to the world in addition to economic benefits to this Commonwealth. If we can obtain territory in the process, so much the better, but that is not our first goal. Here, in Datria, our goal would be to provide an open market and transparent democratic government, as Ivan so eloquently put it.’

“But, sir,” Blair retorted, “you cannot deny the benefits of annexing another Pacific island nation into our fold. We gain more markets for our goods and services; and the Datrians would be provided with excellent military protection and the boost in their economy that they so strongly desire.”

“I agree, Daniel, however we cannot forget that we too are a democratic state. I agree with Ivan, it is best that we at least at first use words and money to attempt to better Datria. If they should desire a firmer role of this Commonwealth in rebuilding their nation, let them come to us. I’m sure that in time they will if nothing else see the benefit in maintaining close relations to a rather large Pacific nation.”

The debate went back and forth for another half an hour as dollar signs and deployments were contested, but eventually, the thoughts of Tetley and Valovich prevailed and the Commonwealth set forth on its path to bring security to Datria.

Encrypted Message to General Okonkwo

The Commonwealth of Azazia has become aware of developments on your island, and is quite concerned with the precedent being set for the development of democratic institutions. While we recognize the potential failings of the previous regime, we urge you to recognize the importance of open democratic elections to allow the people to voice their own discontent against those who are so failing in their basic responsibilities as leaders.

As such, we offer you our assistance in dealing with these insurgents and rebels and even in rebuilding your island’s economy in exchange for a timetable to return a democratic government to Datria. We hope you see the sensibility in these requests, as only open governments and the economic stability they bring can do enough to bring prosperity to your people, and thus end the strife brought on by a failed economy.

Ivan Valovich
Minister of Foreign Affairs

ZU: Oknokwo
VON: Das Sozialistische Republik von Buechoria
THEMA:



Dear General Oknokwo,

The Socialist Republic of Buechoria has heard of the troubles in your country, and we would gladly lend a hand in the creation of a stable, and hopefully a more democratic, government.

If any further assitance is required, please feel free to contact me. Buechoria will spare no expense to ensure your country becomes prosperous and strong.

Warmest regards,

http://img170.exs.cx/img170/5646/ericrechnitzsignature3ge.jpg
Eric Rechnitz
Premierminister
Das Sozialistische Republik Von Buechoria


ANLIEFERUNG CODE: 22325673-2383 FHG-L



OOC: My apologies if my response sounds similar to yours, Azazia.

ooc: absolutely no problem, it's more than likely that two governments could produce similar messages... don't sweat it, besides, yours looks cooler than mine...

The cell was merely an old room in a small village police station. The walls were old, rotted wood, with a single grimy cot to sleep on. The dirt packed floor was crawling with maggots and bugs, feasting on whatever the previous occupants of this cell had left behind.

They had moved him here to keep him away from Datria, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Datria. It was easier to interrogate him and to protect him if he was farther away from the corrupt businessmen, his main supporters. Besides, if he died, it would be easier to blame it on the Maoists in the jungle. Or, the Maoists would attack the village and kill him anyways. Either way, General Okonkwo would be satisfied with the fate of Prime Minister Jean Achebe.

Achebe fell to the floor, sobbing. His suit was ripped, and he was bleeding from his mouth. The soldier sneered at the old, sniveling politician before giving a quick salute to the General.

Okonkwo strode into the cell, confident and cocky as ever. He was not as old as his peers, maybe in the mid-thirties, with the simple olive drab shirt and pants that marked him as a military man. The beret he had, a new addition since the coup, was affixed with a yellow star, as well as a yellow armband across his left arm. The soldier wore the armband too. It was easier to tell who was with you and who was against you if your troops wore something bright and easy, like an armband.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Achebe pleaded, crawling on all fours, speaking in the native Datrian tongue, "I don't want to die. Don't kill me. I'll give you all my money! All of it! You can take all of my money and I'll just go away and never both you again."

Okonkwo frowned, his face grim, "You expect me to allow you to just leave? With all of the crimes you have committed against the people, against the country, against me?"

The General squatted down on all fours to look the ex-Prime Minister dead in the eyes, "I am going to have all of your money. I am going to drain every single penny that you and your lackeys stole from my soldiers and my people. And then you and yours will be put on trial, so the people can be ashamed at what they have created. Then you will die, and I will be in complete control."

Jean Achebe wailed, "I repent! I apologize! To Allah, please help-"

Okonkwo lashed out viciously, sending Achebe to the ground again. Achebe cradled his smashed jaw, sobbing violently. Okonkwo roared, "How dare you call your pagan god in my nation! How dare you forsake the spirits that raised you! Have respect for the gods, and for the spirits, for when I am done with you, they will be who you will answer to."

An aide crept quietly behind both the soldier and Okonkwo, a sheet of paper gripped in his trembling hands, "General, messages."

"From the other generals? What do they say?" Okonkwo stood, rubbing his fist.

"No sir, from other nations. In response to your...," the aide paused thoughtfully before finishing his sentence, "...liberation."

Okonkwo took the sheet, scanning quickly the pleas of other countries begging him to return to democracy. He smiled to himself. It was too early to return to good democracy. He had yet to consolidate his power from the other generals of the Datrian military, of which he was the fifth and youngest. When he had guarantees of his control over both business and politics of Datria, he would rewrite the Constitution to have political delegates elect the President each term. And then he would handpick the political delegates, giving him the Presidency year after year after year.

Okonkwo sighed, "Tell the other nations it is yet too early. We require more time to reform our electoral system and quash ethnic and political conflicts in the hinterlands. We might even have to rewrite our Constitution to prevent this sort of conflict to ever happen again. We would gladly allow other nations to establish embassies in Datria as soon as martial law is lifted."

"Sir, don't you think we should consult the other generals about this?"

"Oh, hogwash!" Okonkwo chuckled, waving his hand. "This sort of response is standard. The other generals don't need to be concerned about this. I am quite capable of handling all of these matters myself. Now go on and deliver the message."

"Yes, sir!" the aide excitedly left the room to pronounce the words of his leader across the world.

Okonkwo chuckled again, and turned back to the sniveling ex-Prime Minister.

Eric Rechnitz was in his office, the fingers of one hand poking the keys of his typewriter, while the other hand was grasping a cup of lukewarm coffee. It had been another long day at the Buechoria parliament and Eric was tired - He wanted to finish this paper, drive home, and sleep for a month.

"Sir?" An aide popped in the doorway of his office, in her hand a bundle of papers. "We've gotten a response from... Datria, I believe."

Grumbling, he gestured for her to put this papers on his desk as he reviewed what he had typed up. The woman walked up to him and left the stack of papers in front of him.

"You need to reply to this immediately, it's something about an embassy. Are you listening to me? Look at me when I'm talking to you!"

Rechnitz slowly gazed up from his paper to the aide.

"Mrs. Heinz, may I remind you that I am the Premierminister of Buechoria, not a baby. Why don't you give that to Karl?" He was referring to Karl Teuber, the minister of foreign affairs.

The aide stomped out of the room with the paper in hand. Eric watched with a grim satisfaction before turning back to the typewriter.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Imperium, Commonwealth Republic of New Britain

“Minister, an official response by General… Okon… owo?” The aide said stumbling over the unfamiliarity of the last name.

Valovich took the typed piece of paper and scanned the document. Apparently, they would need ‘electoral reforms’ and to ‘secure’ the hinterlands. There was no doubt in Valovich’s mind what this all meant. Of course, he did have to give this general credit, he had made sure it was appropriately disguised, in other words unable to be acted upon without appearing to be the instigator in aggressions. He placed the paper down on his desk, and called the Prime Minister back once more. Now came the tricky part.

Royal Navy Base Rykesgrad
Rykesgrad, Commonwealth Republic of Azazia

The HMS Argos was a slender monohull vessel, one of the new Type 52 frigates, designed with stealth in mind. Her angles and radar absorbent paints made it extremely difficult for advanced radars to pick her up, and it had been theorized by the Admiralty that the antiquated weapon systems employed by Datria would have an extremely difficult time in detecting her, let alone targeting and sinking her. Several hours after the meeting between Tetley, Blair, and Valovich, the decision had been made to dispatch a small sign of force that the Commonwealth wouldn’t welcome the presumed less-than-honest words of General Okonkwo.

The three men had all agreed that more than likely Okonkwo was doing nothing more than stalling for time to consolidate his control over the forces in the country. At this point, there were probably numerous factions within his own military that wanted to control the new government, and so the best time to create dissention would be now. However, with Okonkwo promising to return to democracy in the future, there was little the Commonwealth could do actively that would make it seem as of Okonkwo were acting fully in the best interests of his people.

And so the Argos had put to sea with her usual complement of 128 missiles. 64 of which were optimized for land-attack cruise missiles in this mission. The remainder detailed to anti-ship and anti-air missiles in case Okonkwo tried anything against the small ship. In addition to these missiles and the five inch gun forward, she had set sail with a twelve man team of special operations troops that could be deployed if the government thought it necessary to obtain hard proof of Okonkwo’s duplicity. They simply didn’t trust the man, after all, hadn’t their own government temporarily fallen prey to a military coup.

Encrypted Message to General Okonkwo

The Commonwealth understands your concern in dealing with ethnic and political conflicts within your own state. However, you must understand that we are most concerned that in time your reformed Constitution could be corrupted to give some individuals undue influence over the whole of the government. We strongly urge you to allow us access to your nation to assist you in formulating a new electoral process and constitution that will be most beneficial to not only your state, but to your people as well.

In advance of this assistance we have dispatched one frigate to monitor the situation in your nation and to provide on-the-spot assistance should the situation rapidly deteriorate.

Ivan Valovich
Minister of Foreign Affairs

Ooc: Datria, what would be the feasibility of sending in Spec Ops troops to rescue this Achebe and others who could testify to what is presumed to be Okonkwo’s desire to create a government for himself?

Eric Rechnitz picked up the ringing reciever and placed it next to his ear. "Rechnitz here."

"Dammit Eric, you did it again. Why are you so mean to your aides?" Replied a man who sounded like he was in his early 30's. It was Karl Teuber, minister of foreign affairs. "I was looking over the paper you sent me. Did you notice something odd about this Okonkwo guy?"

Eric gave a no in response as he began stacking some papers and putting them in a nearby filing cabinet.

Karl hesitated before continuing, "This guy is loco. He wants to 'punish the leaders' and exterminate the rebels. He's a nutcase Eric, and I don't think we can trust him."

We have to get some men in the country... but how? Rechnitz pondered as he placed the reciever on the phone. Then it struck him: a formal visit! Any official needs bodyguards, and maybe a few spec ops could pose as normal guards.

Eric began working away on his typewriter, producing a message requesting a formal visit to Datria, to strengthen relations. If it worked, then he would have no trouble getting some operatives into the country to find out what Okonkwo was doing behind the scenes.

OOC: Azazia, maybe if we both get Spec Ops into the country, they could stumble into eachother and work against/with eachother? I dunno.

ooc: if it's cool with Datria, i don't see why spec ops troops couldn't link up

In the depths of the jungle, a Datrian proverb went, only the snake and the tiger thrive. And so Okonkwo's most trusted advisor and the leader of the Maoists sat to talk.

Two peasants carrying Kalashnikovs escorted Lucas Umuofia through the rebel camp. It looked bustling, people scurrying this way and that, smoke from cooking fires and gunshots from target practice. Umuofia had seen dozens of these camps, always empty. It was the first time he could see one that hadn't been abandoned before he attacked it.

Umuofia suddenly found himself being thrust into a tent, where he stood in front of The Revered Leader. He had been fighting the Datrian government for decades, and those who had been close to him had long since died in combat. His real name lost to history, he was now only known as The Revered Leader.

Umuofia and The Revered Leader were equally surprised. Confronted with each other, they found their manner of dress to be exactly the same: olive drab shirt and pants, with black boots. Only Umuofia's yellow armband and The Revered Leader's sunglasses proved to be of any unique different between the two.

One of the peasants threw Umuofia's pistol on the table. The Revered Leader didn't seem to notice it. He leaned forward to speak, his voice old and raspy from years of fighting and smoking.

"You drive here alone, unarmed. You are responsible for the death of my people. Why haven't I killed you?"

Umuofia looked straight into his eyes, "You haven't killed me because you want to know what I have to say."

The old man looked surprised for a moment, then laughed. A raspy, disgusting laugh that ended in a coughing fit. The Revered Leader spat onto the ground and motioned for Umuofia to take a seat while the peasants stood guard by the tent's exit.

The old man grinned, "Alright, you have me. I want to know what you have to say. But why shouldn't I kill you afterwards? Besides, you are Commander Lucas Umuofia."

"Times have changed, sir. We are no longer being commanded by a corrupt government. We now command. We are the government. And we would like to extend an offer for truce."

"Truce!" The Revered Leader gasped, "Peace?! I haven't heard that word for a long time, especially from a capitalist puppet dog such as yourself. You are here to betray us!"

"I drove here alone, without any arms," Umuofia spoke calmly, assuredly, as Okonkwo wished, "because that was the only way I could speak with you right. You know I am valued by the General, trusted by the General. My words are the General's words. I speak for him because he knows you're right."

The Revered Leader's eyebrows rose slowly, "Eh?"

"The Maoists are correct," Umuofia repeated, "in their doctrine of fighting for an end to corruption and economic parity. The General wants to adopt many Maoist reforms of the political and economic system and he believes that you are the best man to help him with that. Your help can change Datria into the nation we have been fighting for."

The Revered Leader leaned back, "What if this is all a trap? What if you are trying to lure me, to kill me?"

Umuofia shrugged, "You are not the only rebel leader, you are not the only Maoist leader. But you are the most respected. If we kill you, someone will take your place. But if you and your army decide to help us accomplish our goals, that will be most effective."

"And what if I am trying to kill you? Why shouldn't I attack now, while the government is weak?"

"I say this to you now," Umuofia leaned forward, cold and stern, "that our political system is gone, but our military might has not faded. We have been planning this for a year. Every road from here to Datria is blockaded. Every bridge has been set for demolition. We have turned Datria into an armed fortress. Your attack would not succeed."

The Revered Leader nodded, "I will need some time to think on this."

Umuofia turned to the peasants, "I am going to reach into my pocket and take out a cell phone. May I?"

A peasant stepped forward and pointed a gun to Umuofia as he carefully dipped his hand into a pocket to produce a small cell phone. Even though this was a small, backwater nation, Datria had a significant gambling business. And with gambling, came tourists. Tourists meant that cell phones were needed to give them reliable communication with their homes. Even out here in the jungle, reception could be found if one was creative.

Umuofia slid the phone across the table, "Programmed into the phone is Okonkwo's private number. You can discuss with him more terms of the truce. I can say upfront that we expect your troops to either disarm or be assimilated into the Datrian military. We also expect you to be very public about your support for Okonkwo and the Commonwealth so long as the truce lasts. Is this acceptable?"

"Maybe," another coughing fit, "but this is the best offer I've heard ever. I will have to think about it, consult my people. Maybe we will accept, maybe not. It will all depend on how far Okonkwo is willing to go to embrace the great Mao and his Red Book. General Okonkwo is a good man. He knows the truth about money, about guns, about the hearts of men. I respect him. I do not yet know. But I can guarantee you that I will think on this, I will talk about this, and you may return to your city without harm."

Umuofia nodded, and stood to go. As he turned to leave, The Revered Leader rasped out one final statement, "And don't try to attack us. We will be gone from here before you reach your soldiers."

Umuofia chuckled good-naturedly, "Even if I did attack, I wouldn't expect to find you here three hours from now. You were a good enemy, Revered Leader. I hope to see you on our side in the days to come."

"You were also a good and challenging enemy. Together, I do not doubt that Okonkwo, you, and myself will make a powerful bloc to decide the destiny of this land."

OOC: Several points. Point A: The Datrian Navy is little more than tugboats with machine guns mounted on them, with virtually no radar. A stealth frigate would not be seen nor attacked. Point B: For experienced black-ops people, Datria will be a cakewalk. So long as they stay off the streets for the rest of the martial law (another day), and they blend in well, they will have no trouble. Point C: The Datrian military, fierce as it might look, is pretty flimsy. It is now prepared heavily against attacks from paramilitary forces from the jungle and uprisings in the city of Datria. An attack from another direction would probably wipe Datria off the face of the planet.

HMS Argos
Off the Coast of Datria

The sun had long since set on the Pacific, and its place had risen a crescent moon which illuminated the waves on the ocean off Datria. To those on the shore, at a far distance it could even be possible that the occasional dark object cut in front of the path of that moonlight on the far horizon.

The Argos was running dark in order to hide itself visually from the Datrian forces. Intelligence had provided a sketchy makeup of the Datrian Navy, at which the ship’s commander had literally laughed. However, a fool he was not and had ordered the ship to run dark in order to prevent its visual detection. He wasn’t so much concerned with the random patrol boat, for he would pick it up at long range, but he was concerned with a shore-based naval artillery station seeing his ship and throwing some heavy shells his way.

On the rear flight deck the rotors of a medium-sized helicopter began to spin up. Usually the helicopter, which appeared angular in an attempt to lower its own RCS, would be found with torpedoes or depth charges hanging from its sides. Tonight, however, the weapons were on the inside along with a relatively large six-man team led by Lieutenant Tyler Colair.

Colair had been active in the nation of Lindm over two years ago on a secret mission to recover a kidnapped prime minister. Through both luck and skill the combined forces of his own team and two other nations were able to find the woman and bring her back before she died from injected poisons. During the mission he had been a sergeant, but afterwards on the good word of the foreign officers, he was given a field commission and promoted to the rank of lieutenant. Originally he had also been a member of the Royal Star Marines, however, he had been selected to join the Royal Guard’s Elite Special Forces, also known as Epsilon Force. The men in his team were among the best in the whole Commonwealth, and although they had little intelligence on the actual makeup of Datria, he was convinced that they would still be able to complete their mission without incident.

He looked down upon his rifle one last time. He preferred the newer pulse rifles of the Royal Star Marines, but they were also heavy and sometimes bulky, and so he made do with the standard rifle of Epsilon Force, the AR-27 Battle Rifle. It fired a standard 7.62mm round and was generally capable of knocking down any opponent although this meant a heavy recoil and less accuracy in automatic bursts. However, in jungle fighting, he was hoping that its superior killing range would more than make up for its lack of full automatic bursts. And besides, his heavy-weapons man was carrying the team’s light machine gun and light-assault weapon.

He watched his men climb aboard the helicopter, and took with them their rigid inflatable boat. At a nice distance from shore, presumably outside the audible range of the helicopter’s rotors, the men would drop the raft into the ocean, then follow it down themselves. They would inflate the boat and then speed into shore away from the main city and infiltrate the country through the jungle. At most, they would be exposed on the beach for a minute or two. And in case of that, they had their sniper scoping out the beach and tree-line the entire way in.

Within minutes the helicopter lifted off from the flight deck and rose into the night sky, turned to the north and flew across the ocean towards its target. It took only a few minutes to get within range of the beach at which point Colair dropped his boat and motioned for his men to follow it. In 60 seconds the crew had the boat ready to go and everything was onboard and functioning. They waved off the helicopter which returned for its low-altitude flight back to the Argos and began to speed on into the island. Colair too pulled out his binoculars and began scouting the beaches for any sort of Datrian defences.

Ooc: Datria, I was thinking that my forces would land outside the city, then move through the jungle perhaps capture a small Datrian patrol, interrogate them, and then kill them with their own weapons, and through that and perhaps other encounters, find out the location of Achebe and then try and extract him. What do you think?

Okonkwo sat in the backseat of the car, arms crossed and the beret pulled over his eyes. He could hear the cries of his people as his aide drove past, thousands of beggars and cheap peddlers lining the streets. The latest Economist report had put Datria's baskets and trout as its most profitable export. Baskets and trout. Disgusting.

Okonkwo's car stopped at the military checkpoint, where the soldiers merely had to glance into the backseat before they waved him into the base. The military base in Datria was a converted military fort that a colonial power had installed a hundred years ago. The Datrians, unable or unwilling to build a new base, had just renovated this one. The advantage of this particular base was that it was designed to defend against uprising by large numbers with primitive weapons. It suited the Datrian military just fine, for the time being.

Okonkwo, however, wanted a new, modern base. If his economic reforms were pushed through, and at the current Datrian birth rate, it would be necessary to expand the borders of Datria. By force if necessary. A new, modern, powerful military would be needed to gain fresh territory to build factories and industrialized farms.

Okonkwo stepped out of the car, brushing dust off of his pants. As the soldiers around him saluted, he saluted in response, and marched into the base's main administrative center. Walking up a flight of stairs and down a couple of hallways, he casually strolled into the meeting room. The other four generals looked up at him in surprise.

Okonkwo was unsual among Datrians because he had a real education. Born in a high-class, wealthy Datrian family, Okonkwo had been educated at the University of Chicago. He had taken classes in history, political science, and economics. Filled with ideas of how to make his country better, he returned to Datria only to find that corruption and civil war was so bad that no major reforms could be done. He joined the military to end the civil wars, but he knew that a coup was the only way to end corruption. He was the first to suggest the coup to the other generals, and he was the one who planned it.

He knew that the generals hated him, but that was of no consequence. They got their positions because the local gangs supported their rise to power. Okonkwo was the only one who rose to power because he had the skills necessary to take it. He selected good subordinates who kept soldiers alive and won battles. He had the brains and the education to know how people think and how money worked. For that, the other generals elected him as leader of the coup.

Okonkwo knew that they hated him. They hated him because he was the only one who was smart. They hated him because he was the only one who didn't take orders from crime bosses. They hated him because he could win battles. They hated him, above all, because they were powerless against him.

"Gentlemen, shall we get to business?" Okonkwo sat down.

"We were just speaking about when we would arrest the members of the United Democratic Alliance, Achebe's party," a general mumbled, angry that Okonkwo had come late. "We are thinking that the sooner, the better. 50 soldiers, a few cars, we storm the office of the UDA. Take everything we want, arrest everyone who puts up the mildest resistance."

Okonkwo shook his head, "Too soon."

"Why?! Everything's going as we planned it!"

"We have no reason," Okonkwo smiled, taking a tone as if he was speaking to children, "We must have a legitimate reason to attack the UDA. People will see the attack, and people will know that we did it, and people will want to know why. Unless we have strong evidence of Achebe's taking bribes from the casinos, or something else, we cannot move against the UDA."

The other generals frowned, grumbled amongst themselves, but knew the answer: Okonkwo, like always, was right.

Okonkwo smiled handsomely, "What else?"

OOC: Achebe is the only member of the previous government outside of Datria. The other leaders are scattered inside the city, or are still free. If they are captured, they will be guarded in a police station or an occupied government building. There have not been many arrests yet, so most of the corrupt politicians are still free. Most foreign dignitaries and journalists have left. A captured Datrian patrol will be able to tell where Achebe might be located, but they would only know because of rumor. Maoists would know where Achebe is. And anything you're planning is fine.

A soldier in a grey uniform walked into the conference room of the parliament. He snapped to attention and gave a crisp saulte to the numerous officials surrounding the table. A general nodded and stood up, facing the soldier.

"And? Any reply yet from the Datrian government?" The general asked with a hint of sorrow in his voice, since he expected a no.

"No, I'm afraid not sir. However, our men have found out some startling news. Just as we suspected, there's been foul play with the former prime minister. We believe he's been kidnapped by Okonkwo's forces."

Nervous chatter erupted from the officials seated at the table. Eric Rechnitz stood up and banged a gavel on the table two times.

"Gentlemen, gentlemen, calm down." Rechnitz nodded to the private, dismissing him from the room. "We're faced with a terrible situation, but I'm sure we can overcome it. I believe Erwin, our defence minister, has come up with something." Eric gestured for Erwin to begin as he seated himself.

A giant display screen lit up, a map of Datria and vital information on it. "I've been working with our top generals and I believe we have a way into the country," Erwin said a he pointed to a picture of a boat off the coast, "Naval insertion. A five man team could probably get into the country via Zodiac and get some information out of a passing patrol on Achebe's whereabouts." Erwin cleared his throat and sat down.

Rechnitz spoke calmly, "Dismissed, gentlemen. Godspeed."

Off the coast of Datria
2:44 AM

The Zodiac silently made it's way towards the coast, inside five men wearing grey wetsuits, each equipped with a Stoner M63 assault rifle, despite the fact they expected little resistance. Soon they touched on a calm beach and jumped out, dragging the raft along with them and hiding it carefully in the jungle before continuing.

"One final weapons and communication check." Said the team leader quietly into his headset. The team inspected their weapons and headsets before continuing on. Approaching them was a Datrian rebels- "Perfect." thought the leader as they took cover behind some bushes.

As they walked by, the team lept out and within the blink of an eye, had the man on the group, disarmed.

"Where's Achebe?! Where is he?" Yelled the team leader as he pointed his rifle at the man's head.

OOC: This is one of Okonkwo's rebels, of course. I don't really care where he is, so any response is appropriate Datria unless you'd like me to make one up?

The Datrian military patrol had been scouring this area for hours, making sure the Maoist guerillas would not attack. So far, nothing. One of their members yawned.

"I'm gonna go take a piss."

He walked off, his gun slung over his shoulder. As he whistled to himself, strolling along the path, he heard something behind him. He stopped for a moment, to glance behind him, when he felt a strong arm grab his neck and shoulder and throw him to the ground. Before he could move, before he could let out a sound, he felt the cold barrel of a gun to his head.

"Where's Achebe? Where is he?!" the commando demanded. The accent was strange, and the soldier didn't answer at first.

"Where's Achebe? Where is he being kept?" the command repeated, pressing the barrel harder against the soldier's head. The soldier squirmed in fear.

"I...I do not know! I am not told these things! I only...I only hear from the leaders that he is in a village! To the north! I do not know the name, I only know this! Please, please do not kill me!"

The Jungles of Datria

Colair’s men had landed without resistance, which was quite fortunate as he had considered the insertion the most difficult task facing his team in the operation. He squatted to the ground and took shelter behind a small fallen tree branch, resting the barrel of rifle perpendicularly across, providing a limited range of fire while his men dug a hole for the boat and a small encoded transmitter that Colair could follow on his route to extraction. His XO crept up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder, it was time to move.

From here on out there would as little noise as visuals as possible. General Okonkwo wasn’t supposed to know anyone had been in-country until they and the presumed kidnapped PM were out-of-country. Colair’s datalink provided him with real time satellite observation of the immediate area, he could zoom in and out when he needed, allowing him to scope out enemy defences and troop locations at will. Several dozen meters ahead he could see a road that apparently led into the capital.

However, he didn’t like what he saw. Datria was clammed up like a fortress, the bridges and access roads were all heavily fortified, it would take a great deal of time and energy to even attempt to penetrate the city – and time was working against them. However, there were numerous patrols along the road, some small and some large. It was doubtful that they would know the exact location of Achebe, but if they found a significantly high ranking officer, or a soldier merely listening to the rumour mill, they could gain significant intelligence on his general vicinity. His course chosen, he made way towards the enemy troops, it looked like a cluster of four.

At a good distance, the team pulled out their binoculars and various scopes and began to scout the immediate area, determining the best way to approach the men from behind. Silently, they snuck up to positions behind the men and awaited the signal from Colair. As soon as his hand flashed the men all lashed out with heavy objects to the back of the heads of the four men, knocking them unconscious. Quickly their weapons were confiscated and taken back with Colair to a small recessed miniature cave they had stumbled across.

As the Datrian patrol awoke, they found themselves bound and gagged, though still in their uniforms. Above them stood Colair, his rifle pointed down at their collective heads. “Gentlemen, you need to live. I need to find Prime Minister Achebe. Since all of us here are soldiers, I assume you can appreciate your position if you refuse to help me. So help us, and we will help you. Of course, I can’t have you scream, so we will untie your one hand and you will write down the location of Prime Minister Achebe for us. Am I understood?” Colair made sure to be grammatically correct and punctuated his sentence with the audible chambering of a round, and the releasing of rifle's safety.

The interrogation was short, just the way Dirk Eckert, the leader of the spec ops team, liked it. Quickly, he knocked the rebel out with the butt of his rifle and instructed his team to take him. The men had no trouble lifting the man as they walked along a dirt path and soon, a bridge leading to the north where they were headed.

“Tie him up, quickly.” Dirk said as one of the commandos removed a long rope from his belt and wrapped it around the rebel many times.

“Good, now put him under the bridge.” They picked him up and crept under the bridge which was standing above a dried out river bed. Carefully, they laid him in the river and crept back up to the road. As long as he was under there, it was likely no one would find him. After ensuring that he was out of sight for the most part, they continued their trek north, on the lookout for any suspicious villages.

OOC: Note I didn’t gag him, so there’s still a chance for the rebels to find the team.

The Datrian patrol commander stared dead into Colair's eyes. This man was trying to thwart his general's plans. This man would take everything that the general had worked for and would smash them on the ground. His patrol and him would die rather than let this man take the Prime Minister to safety.

However...

The commander could see that Colair was not from Datria. His training, his weapons, his team, all of it were advanced far beyond even the best of what Datria could offer. These were agents of a power much greater than Datria, much greater than the general. There would be conflict, and there might be war. And the general would need every man he could get when the conflict with this power happened. Besides, the commander thought, these men would be cut to pieces before they got within ten feet of the Prime Minister.

The commander's hand free, he wrote, "Village police station. Name: Ojiugo. East three miles is a road goes north east into Ojiugo."

Finished, the commander locked eyes with Colair. The general needed soldiers, and being killed would just not do.

The Jungles of Datria

Colair read the man’s words and checked his intelligence, proving that there was at the very least a town in that vicinity, and one that either heavily populated or heavily fortified. More than likely he was telling the truth. Colair nodded and had the man’s hand bound once more.

Quietly, he led them all to the spot near the road where they had first been found, still bound and gagged. In short order everything would be back to normal. Almost.

“Now, gentlemen, as fellow soldiers, I am sure you can understand the need for operational security. So I thank you for your intelligence and I am quite certain that your future country will thank you for your contributions to this great endeavour.” At that point Colair handed off his rifle to his men and picked up one of the Datrian rifles. He double-checked making sure his gloves were still on, he hadn’t in fact taken them off, but better safe than sorry. He hefted the rifle in his hands, “a very nice design. I’m sure then that it will make this quick and painless.”

With that Colair released the safety and depressed the trigger, sending several bullets into one of the other four’s body. Colair made sure to do this burst slightly haphazardly, as if his fire had been rushed. Now seeing the fear in the men’s eyes, he moved to the next body and took another rifle and squeezed off some rounds, though this time he aimed a little higher ensuring that one of the rounds went through the head, spraying blood and brains along the road.

The third man he positioned adjacent to the commander, and then summarily shot his body with a third Datrian rifle. That left the commander.

“Sir, it appears as if you are dying for your country. In these last moments you may curse me silently, but know that you are dieing for the right cause this time. Not this façade of good government as you may believe.” With that, Colair looked the man in the eyes and trained the last foreign rifle well at the man’s head. He fired a single shot, killing the man relatively quickly he hoped.”

“Gentlemen, move quickly, free them and remove their gags, place the rifles in their hands. And if all goes according to plan it shall look like these two gentlemen had a dispute with their commander and shot him dead, and then were killed by the loyalist before he too was shot dead.” The men reacted quickly, and buried the cloth rags and rope in a small hole which they then covered quickly with dirt and foliage.

The men melted back into the jungle from where they had come, leaving behind what would hopefully look like growing tension in Okonkwo’s own ranks. But in the meantime they proceeded east-northeast towards Ojiugo, taking a direct path, staying off the roads that the commander had advised them to take.

OOC: A little background of Ojiugo before you go in.

Ojiugo was a small village of huts and buildings, surrounded by copious farmland. The farmland barely sustained the village, as farmers spent about as much time fighting the encroaching jungle and encroaching guerillas as farming. An old river, running out of the jungle and downstream, used to provide the village with fish to export to Datria. Recently, all of the fisherman had fled into the jungle to supply the Maoists instead of the corrupt democratic government. All that was left of the populace were old farmers and small family-run businesses.

The road into Ojiugo was an old dirt road, now blockaded by a jeep and several armed guards. The jeep was mounted with an old machine gun, prone to jamming but good against the Kalashnikovs of rebels. A high-powered spotlight searched across the open farmland to the southwest, where the road came into the city and where an attack was most likely to come.

About 75 extra soldiers were stationed in the town, 25 patrolling the farmland and outer jungle while the rest stayed in the town. The soldiers were well-behaved and cared well for the townspeople, who began to like the soldiers after the off-duty ones were ordered to help the farmers with their daily chores. The soldiers stayed in the huts and buildings themselves, as well as tents scattered around the village.

The police station where Achebe was being held was one of the few true buildings in the village. It had one main room, with three cells and one extra room for torturing rebels. 2 men lounged inside the station, while another two guarded the only door from the outside.

The patrols are concentrated away from the north-east of the village, where the village butts right up against the jungle. The soldiers have specific orders that if they come under attack by Maoists, they are to retreat south-west and return to Datria. They are not supposed to take Achebe with them, but rather leave him to the rebels.

Ojiugo was now, in Datrian terms, an impenetrable fortress. However, to a well-trained team of commandos(or two), it is only another nut to crack.

Private Message to General Okonkwo,
Datria

It has come to our attention that a coup d'etat, organized and executed by yourself, has removed the former government and left the military in control. We in Zarbia support these actions and would like to firmly establish a military ruled government in Datria. With your permission, we would sent troops to Datria as well as weapons and supplies for your own forces. As well, a meeting between Generalissimo Kuprin and yourself would be arranged.

We await your response,

-The Junta

OOC:Things Fall Apart was an amazing book!

ooc: so are you saying that the side of the village adjacent to the jungle is less defended than the side approached by the road? i just want to make sure i get this right so i don't sound like an idiot when i post...

OOC: Yes, the side adjacent to the jungle (north-east of the village) is less defended than the side adjacent to the road (south-west of the village). And it is amazingly simple and easy when you have a good book to draw cool, original names from.

Private Message to General Okonkwo,
Datria

It has come to our attention that a coup d'etat, organized and executed by yourself, has removed the former government and left the military in control. We in Zarbia support these actions and would like to firmly establish a military ruled government in Datria. With your permission, we would sent troops to Datria as well as weapons and supplies for your own forces. As well, a meeting between Generalissimo Kuprin and yourself would be arranged.

We await your response,

-The Junta

General Maurice Okonkwo laughed as the other generals nodded in agreement.

"This is wonderful, isn't it," one of the generals smirked. "He is offering us military and economic aid. With these supplies we can really carry out our will."

The other generals nodded as Maurice's laugh died down a bit.

"Oh yes, yes. With first-world arms, we can really push the Maoists from the jungles and plant ourselves as the true rulers of Datria! We can have real tanks and planes, with huge guns! Who cares about tanks and planes when you can have flamethrowers with good napalm? A real jungle war with real fire would drive those rebels right out!" the generals spoke amongst themselves excitedly.

Suddenly, Okonkwo's fist crashed down on the table, silencing the debate. The other generals looked at Okonkwo as if he was mad.

"Are you idiots?!" Okonkwo exclaimed, "Are you really saying that allowing another country to send troops and arms into our country is a good thing? Sure, he might be a junta man, but that does not mean that he is looking out for another junta. Maybe he just wants to put troops here to make it easier to conquer us with?"

The other generals paused for a moment.

"Have you ever thought about that, huh?" Okonkwo sighed. "You might have just given our land away to this Generalissimo without even thinking! You can't even get it out of your heads that the rebels aren't our enemies anymore!"

A general frowned in confusion, "Of course the rebels are our enemies. Who are we fighting, anyways?"

Okonkwo lowered his head and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Listen to me very closely. Why in the world would we want to continue fighting with the rebels? We are a different group than Achebe's rabble. They don't have to be our enemies anymore. Our enemies are Achebe's friends, and shouldn't that mean Achebe's enemies are our friends? We should be offering a hand of peace to the rebels, not attacking them and weakening our position."

"Listen here, boy," one of the generals stood up. "I don't know who you are talking to, but we have been fighting the rebels for years. They are our enemy. They are the only enemy this country has ever known, and we will continue fighting them because they are our enemy. This does not change. We might be different than Achebe, but we are not so radical as to run to the rebels the first chance we get! Get these dangerous ideas out of your head. The rebels are our enemies, we will destroy them. If the Generalissimo offers a good army to get rid of them, even better."

Okonkwo looked up at the old general, and lowered his head, "I am sorry. I am wrong to be so brazen to think that the rebels will turn around and love us so quickly. I understand your argument, and I apologize. We should continue to fight the rebels. We should accept the Generalissimo's offer. I will go now to draft it and carry your wishes."

The old general smiled, "You are young, and that is good. You have the fire to drive this coup. But we cannot go so far as to sacrifice everything we have fought for. Go."

Okonkwo stood up and left. As he walked down the hall of the base, his cell phone began to ring.

"Hello? Ah, dear Revered Leader! I have been waiting for your call! Yes, the generals are excited about having a truce with all of the rebels..."

Those old phonies would have to go, and soon.

The Jungles of Datria
Outside Ojiugo

Colair peered through the tree line across the wide open farmland. In the distance was the town of Ojiugo. Through his binoculars he could make out a single jeep armed with a heavy machine gun and supported by several soldiers. They had so far managed to elude the roving patrols this side of the jungle through the use of their real-time satellite info, which was for now letting them run circles around the town’s defenders. Things would be different inside, however; then there would be the true test of his soldiering ability.

Interestingly, there also appeared to be another group of soldiers approaching on the satellite data, five men – or women, he could never be sure, but he always assumed male soldiers – were approaching in a haphazard way. Almost as if they were moving from village to village. Probably rebel Maoists, but for now he still wanted to keep an eye on them lest they enter the operational area of Ojiugo.

Colair thought about his options, a frontal assault on the town would be disastrous. Thermal scans of the town provided over one-hundred warm bodies. Outside the town there were an average of twenty-five men on patrol at a given time. The displacement patterns put most of these twenty-five on this south-west side of the town, and north-east end was rather open. However, if he wanted to move in from the north-east he would need to move around the whole of the village. But perhaps it would do him good, for it would be night again soon, and his men could work better in the dark than these men. His team was equipped with thermal scopes as well as starlight scopes, and so they’d be having a much better time at identifying shapes in the night as targets, though it still wouldn’t be much fun infiltrating such a fortified position.

The town, was, however, well fortified given its primary mission – to repel rebel assaults. The roads would be the easiest way of trying to take the village, and so the commander had wisely positioned his forces as such. However, Datria wasn’t anticipating an elite special forces team infiltrating the town. The problem would be extraction.

There was always the last resort of attempting exit via the same route of entrance, but he’d rather not have to do that. It’d be a little too conspicuous if so many tracks were found. As it was now it would look – if even found – as if a patrol had swept through the jungle. But then again, it would still be hard to track them, they would see them coming from their eyes high above in the sky. As such, he had planned for some sort of helicopter extraction upon reaching a clearing in the jungle, and this town provided that real well. As armoured as the chopper would be, it would still be a bad idea to take heavy fire from that machine gun, so either way he wanted to assault the town he would need to remove that jeep from the equation.

Specialist Timothy Jenkins handled the squad’s heavy weapons. He had a light-assault weapon strapped to his back with four rounds in his pack, it was enough to take out a single tank or two armoured fighting vehicles; that was in addition to the machine gun he carried. Colair knew Jenkins from his days back in the Royal Marines, they had both served in the special operations branch before Colair was selected into the Royal Star Marines. The two had a good friendly relationship, and Colair knew if anyone could be counted on in the unit, it would be Jenkins. As such he crossed the small ditch his men had taken shelter in and worked his way over to him.

“Tim, you saw the distance from the tree line to the town, right?”

“Sure did, LT. Why, what’s up? We making a dash for it?”

“Hell no. When the time comes, would you be able to use your LAW against a target on the far side?”

“Of course, LT. It’ll be a tricky shot, but just give me some cover fire and I’ll be fine.”

“Brilliant.” Colair moved away and over to a flat stone he had found, he dug around and quickly found a harder, more jagged rock. He motioned for his team to circle up.

“Men, this is what we’re going to do. We’re assaulting a heavily fortified town. Probably over one-hundred foreign troops inside armed with rifles and probably a few machine guns. The heaviest emplacement that we can see is in that jeep with its rear heavy machine gun. That will be our first target, and Jenkins that will be your target. Now, for Jenkins to do his job I need you Ramiro,” Colair pointed to his squad sniper, “to provide cover fire. Anybody tries to fire back at his flash, take them out. It doesn’t matter that your quiet, it’ll probably look like a rebel night action. Which may in fact work in our favour.”

Colair quickly drew two circles, the inner being the town itself, and the outer the flat open farmland. “You see, the forest runs up to the town here, and we know this side is relatively weak. Myself, Kraken, Alvarez, and Humphreys are going to insert ourselves into the town from this point.” Colair drew some arrows, showing that while Jenkins and Ramiro provided fire from the south-west, the assault team would enter from the far side during their distraction/distanced assault. “The village police station is where we are told that the PM is being held. More than likely, it’s one of these buildings, probably this one with the higher troops concentration. That will be our first checkpoint, we will infiltrate and advance through the outskirts of the village and move into this town. At night, we will have the advantage of darkness, but the enemy will have the advantage of supporting civilian population and territory. Take no chances. We move in the shadows and stay out of sight, if we have to we’ll engage, but otherwise I want silencers on. That understood?”

The men all nodded.

“Now extraction. The plan is to call in to the Argos when we commit ourselves to the attacks. Within nine minutes the bird should be overhead and will hover here,” Colair pointed to the open farmland, “which is why it is so important that Jenkins take out that jeep and machine gun. Additionally, Ramiro, your task is to take out that searchlight atop that structure. The bird will be flying in on the dark, so we’ll need to go scopes to pick it up. Hopefully the Datrians radar won’t pick her up.”

“Sir, isn’t she a stealth bird?”

“No harm is hoping, is there Alvarez?”

“No, sir. But what about a backup plan?”

“Glad you asked. The only real plan we have is to get back to the boat and then take off to the frigate. We are operating in a foreign country boys, with very little support. The brunt of this mission is up to us. The frigate should be moving in closer to the shoreline, giving us some air cover, and if we need it her deck gun can be used as artillery support. However, then this stealth op becomes more of a conventional military rescue operation – and men, in my eyes, that will be a failed mission and you will all feel my boot up my ass when we get back aboard ship. Is that clear?” Colair watched as the men nodded. “Now look, it’s about a few hours from sunset, I want the assault team moving within the hour to its holding positions outside the town. We go in three hours before daybreak. Most people are either sound asleep or extremely tired. Another element in our favour. Jenkins, Ramiro, I want you to pay attention to your satellite data and stay undetected for the next several hours.”

Colair nodded and the team dispersed. Now he needed only to survive until nightfall.

The continuous loop over the radio of General Okonkwo's message ended suddenly. The following message was broadcast once, and then all radios returned to their regularly scheduled programming. However, no radio played any news or politically related commentaries. Old tapes of music, entertainment, and interviews were played again.

"Datrian people, you have heard my speak for the past 48 hours. My name is General Maurice Okonkwo. It is time to open our country again. The need for total martial law is over. Your radios will play again, your shops will open, and everything will be as it was. However, you might notice now that instead of criminals prowling the streets, a soldier will stand guard over your goods. Instead of laziness from your workers, you will see a soldier setting his rifle down to help you out. We are not here to occupy the nation. We are here to liberate it from the cruelty of Jean Achebe and his corrupt government. Even now, the corrupted elements of Achebe have been cleansed from our nation. Soon, you will see your old leaders standing in open court for the crimes they have committed. Soon, very soon. Good day, Commonwealth of Datria."

OOC: Bump and a note that if Achebe isn't extracted within the next RL 2 days, Achebe will be put on trial, and his fate will be left up to Okonkwo.

The Jungles of Datria
Outside Ojiugo

The night fell quickly across the Pacific skies, first enwrapping the lush jungle canopies in swirling impressionist paintings of majestic purples, crimson reds, and subtle blues, oranges and yellows. From the shores of Datria it would have been a most beautiful sunset as the day’s dying rays fell upon clouds drifting in over the island. Yet, six men chose not to watch the painting as it faded into its daily decay to dark midnight blues. They kept their eyes on tiny computerized screens, with its own bright blues, reds, and greens.

Colair moved several feet and watched as one blue circle moved with him. In front of him lay an entire village, with dozens of thermal and actual locations of individuals, yet as night came in the visuals became less and less reliable, leaving it to the thermal imagers high above. Yet with the clouds drifting in it would become more and more difficult for accurate satellite information.

To his southwest Specialist Tim Jenkins shifted some loose foliage to cover the small nest he had built for him and his machine gun. His starlight scope was beginning to become unreliable as the clouds shifted inward, possibly bringing rain – but he couldn’t be sure. Yet the jeep remained relatively stationary. On occasion it would be moved, but not too far, it was obviously considered highly important in defending the main access route to the village. But that wouldn’t be for much longer, in several hours he would send a rocket-propelled high explosive warhead into that jeep, blowing it sky high and disabling the heaviest weapon emplacement in the town.

The Citadel
Imperium, Commonwealth Republic of New Britain

Alistair Tetley drilled holes through his communications director. “No, we are not ready for a press conference regarding the new constitutional amendments. Parliament has them and I am awaiting word on the opinion of the opposite side of the aisle.”

“But, sir… the press is hounding me over your strategic goals. They’re all over us in terms of us becoming a heavy-handed totalitarian empire or a loose republic-like empire. I’ve tried to explain it away as best as I can, but they are clamoring for a statement from you.”

“Susan,” Tetley appealed to the middle-aged woman, her hair pulled up into a bun with a few strands across her face from the obviously stressful day. “Listen, I will address the press two days from now and we’ll –“

Tetley stopped as the Lord Admiral of the Commonwealth’s Fleets entered his office. The Lord Admiral (technically of the First Rank) operated as the head of the entire nation’s armed forces. Since the country was a maritime power it had been deemed appropriate to give the highest ranking position in the military to the most important and esteemed branch of the military – that of the Royal Navy. “Mr. Prime Minister, may I have a word.”

Tetley nodded, “Thank you, Susan, we’ll pick this up tomorrow. Have a good night.”

“Thank you, sir.” Tetley watched as she left, making sure that the door was firmly shut behind her.

“Admiral, the latest?”

“We’ll start with the easy news, that of Datria. Satellites have confirmed that our men are in position and just about ready to start the engagement. In fact, they should be commencing operations within the next thirty minutes. Unfortunately, it’s begun to rain out in the western Pacific and so they’ll be hampered with rainfall, but we are still expecting to have Achebe in our custody within the coming hours.”

Tetley nodded, “How are they extracting him exactly?”

“Plans call for a helicopter extraction, sir. We’ve deemed that the frigate’s own helicopter should be sufficient for the operation from the lack of any significant air and naval defences. Datria is equipped primarily with World War II era equipment – we estimate that a great deal of it may even be inoperable – and consequently we aren’t expecting much in the way of air defences. The helicopter is also somewhat stealthy and should there even be an operating radar we doubt it’ll be detectable.”

“Anti-aircraft artillery?”

“Sir, we have surveyed the in and out routes to be taken by the bird and ensured that the bird will be flying low enough on a set course to avoid any potential anti-aircraft fire. There may be small arms rifle fire, maybe even light machine guns, but it won’t be enough to significantly damage the craft.”

“How long until we know whether they’re successful?”

“My guess, sir. Within the hour they’ll have safely infiltrated the target area and secured the Prime Minister.”

“Excellent news, admiral. Now, onto the situation with Colerica…”

The Jungles of Datria
Outside Ojiugo

Colair stared at his watch.

Two minutes to go.

He inspected the silencer attached to his rifle and checked the magazine, it was perhaps the fifth time he had done so in the past thirty minutes, but he had been itching for hours to get this operation off. Another check of his watch showed a mere sixty seconds until the first rocket slammed into the jeep at the far end of the village. He motioned for his men to ready themselves and their weapons. With a firm flick of his wrist he clipped his thermal scope down into place at the front of his helmet. Instantly, difference in temperature from the cool air from the rain and the warm bodies of his men became visible. Their plan would succeed.

Specialist Jenkins placed his finger across the trigger and glanced down at his watch. He saw the timer count down and hit zero. It was time. He pressed into his throat to activate the vocal chord mic system, connecting him to Colair and the squad. “Rocket away.”

With that he retargeted the fuel tank of the vehicle and pulled the trigger and felt the kick back as the rocket motor ignited, pushing the tipped explosive warhead out of the jungle racing across the dark farmland, illuminated only in swatches by the giant searchlight. A few meters away the sniper Ramiro targeted the giant search light and threw a single round through the light. Quickly he shifted targets and set on his thermal scope, and began to target all the men on patrol in the farmland he could find.

At the rear of the village Colair too saw the clock hit zero and moved his hand forward, sending he and his men into the village. The thermal images put up many contacts, most within the small huts and buildings, but the few outside soldiers they could see, the four men lined up in their sights and fired a single shot to the enemies’ heads.

Ooc: I hope I didn’t take too many liberties, but hopefully that leaves you with enough room to RP their reactions

It had been a long day for Sergeant Claude Abame. He enjoyed the little time to nap in his cot before the next day, where inevitably the farmers would ask his troops and him to carry out another task. It was a little humiliating, but an order from the generals was an order from the generals.

A sudden explosion snapped him from his dreams, almost tumbling from his bed. He immediately grabbed his pistol holster, latching it around his waist as one of his soldiers ran into the hut. Sergeant Abame knew his orders, and he hoped that this was a mistake.

"Sir!" the soldier saluted, breathless. "The jeep is destroyed and the searchlight has been knocked out!"

Abame swore under his breath, "Alright, then. If the rebels have arrived, it's time for us to leave. I want everyone to pack up and retreat down the road, back towards Datria. Any resistance from the jungle is to be ignored, but I want advance teams to clear the way across the road for the rest of the column. Is that understood?"

The soldier saluted again, "Yes, sir!" and quickly left the tent.

Abame picked up his cell phone and called Okonkwo.

"Yes? What is it?" the general sounded sleepy.

"General, this is Sergeant Claude Abame. We are under attack."

The general's voice immediately became serious, "Are they the rebels?"

"I think so, sir. They destroyed our technical and a searchlight we used to watch over the road."

The general sighed, conflicted, "I want you and your men to exit the village, as planned, but camp close by. I do not want to expose Achebe because of an accident."

"Yes sir."

Abame's men had been told of the plan ahead of time, and once the jeep exploded (a pretty significant event), they all rushed back to the village. Some gathered supplies while others stood guard, rifles at the ready. This particular group had experience with nighttime guerilla raids, and knew how to handle themselves.

Three teams of ten soldiers immediately began spreading out in a wide pattern down the road, keeping close to the ground and moving from bush to bush. They were there to clear out any guerillas lying in ambush, and were armed with automatic rifles and grenades to flush out enemies prior to the army's retreat.

The Jungles of Datria
Outside Ojiugo

Specialist Honario Ramiro peered through his scope, watching the bodies flee back inside the village. He made note of it to both Jenkins and Law.

Concurrently, satellite 4012-B stayed in geosynchronous orbit over Datria, providing the intelligence that Colair and his men were using. As an intelligence satellite it was capable of many forms of electronic surveillance and intelligence gathering. So when the cell broadcast from Abame’s cell phone to a communications satellite in order to be directed to Okonkwo, the Central Directorate began to receive immediate priority information. The call was heard almost live, however, due to the distance there was a slight time delay. However, within minutes the Central Directorate had rebroadcast the information via highly encrypted frequencies to Colair’s datalink.

At the slight buzz in his pants, Colair halted his advance into the village as they made their way to the police station. He crept into the shadows of a cold building and pulled out the LCD screen and read the brief conversation. Apparently, the jungle had been the proper route of entry. He depressed the small pad on his neck, “Jenkins, open fire with everything you have from the road.”

Almost immediately, from across the village he could hear the familiar sounds of a machine gun firing proper controlled bursts at the individuals within Jenkins scope. Despite the well-prepared maneuvers of staying close to the ground and behind foliage to prevent being seen, the thermal scopes picked up hot bodies behind the cool foliage, allowing Jenkins to fire well-aimed short burst of 5.56mm rounds into the bodies in hiding. In addition, Ramiro began to follow the short sprints of the men and began to pick off those who decided to move from their cover.

Inside the village, Colair and his men moved in the shadows, picking off quietly all those whose vocal chords could be slashed and necks broken in two. Soon they were within sight of the police building, and the numerous guards surrounding it. Despite their easy infiltration, the firefight had also brought more troops to surround the building while waiting for the column to move. Unfortunately, time was growing short and there was no real chance to wait for the soldiers to clear the town.

The four men crouched and Colair pointed up flanking streets, sending Kraken and Humphreys up the right and left, respectively, creating a pocket of fire in which they would trap the enemy, leaving the front open so as to allow the soldiers to retreat down the road towards Datria.

It was tricky, but Colair lined up his first shot, targeting the man with the highest looking rank to be found outside the police station. He selected single-shot mode and rechecked his aim, targeted the head, and pulled the trigger. Kraken and Humphreys did the same, and within a second three presumed officers or NCOs were taken out. That left little for the enlisted to do but stumble around deciding what to do without leaders. That also left ample targets for single shots.

In short order, the guards outside were taken out, and Colair rushed to the front of the station, protected by his two men and Alvarez who took station to the rear. Thermal scans were difficult to the actual nature of the building, since it was real and more than simple huts. However there were three definite signs, two in the front, and one in the rear. Colair threw a flashbang grenade through the door, detonating and stunning the two guards, who had picked up their rifles when the explosions were first heard. Blinded, however, they were no match for Colair who simply picked each off with a shot to the head.

Not wanting to overly trust the sensors, he secured the rest of the building quickly and found the single locked cell. He bashed open the lock and found a started and beaten man, who had obviously been the subject of several less-than-pleasant encounters with somebody. He rested the top of the barrel against his shoulder, to appear non-threatening, and opened his mouth for the first time in what seemed forever, “Prime Minister Achebe, we’re here to rescue you. Please come with me.”

Colair didn’t really care what the man was babbling about, he merely put his finger over his lips and meant to be quiet. He tapped his neck, “Humphreys, inside, wounded.” Humphreys appeared and took the Prime Minister acting as a human crutch. When Colair saw all was set, he circled his hand in the air, and the team exited the way they came in, leaving nothing but a trail of bodies in their wake.

By the road, things had become tricky. Despite the best efforts of Jenkins and Ramiro, Abame had sent out enough men to deal with a full rebel assault – and although the two men could provide enough firepower to simulate such an assault, they were incapable of covering all their directions. Jenkins saw the encroachment of the soldiers and moved his left hand off the barrel grip to activate his secure comm link. He made sure, however, that he still fired on the thirty men coming his way.

“LT, outnumbered, falling back and heading right, linking up with you. Recommend rear extraction.”

Colair acknowledged the message. Despite his best plans, the soldier in charge – assuming he hadn’t been one of the men he had killed during the rescue – was skilled enough to cause a crimp in his operation. Quite commendable if this were a simulation. But it wasn’t. And it infuriated Colair. He pulled out his satellite radio, switched on the encryption key. “Safe, this is Keyhole and we have the Key in our possession. LZ Alpha hot, recommend LZ Beta, north-east quadrant.”

“Roger Keyhole, Keychain will adjust route. ETA two minutes.”

Colair swore to himself, the chopper was delayed, probably by random gunfire from the ground. At this point, though, the Datrians had no idea that it was a foreign special forces team, they thought it was a rebel assault. Which bought him some valuable time.

Jenkins and Ramiro half ran to he rear of the village through a route they had already scouted during the earlier daylight, which kept them out of sight of the soldiers. It also helped that the steady rain was causing enough noise on the canopy to obscure any cracking branches or footsteps. Then something went wrong, Jenkins felt a sharp pain stab his left arm, he shouldered his machine gun and grabbed his upper arm, feeling a slippery surface, he had been hit by probably a stray bullet from somewhere. At the very least he would earn a medal for the mission.

Colair positioned Alvarez and Kraken on positions in the streets to cover the helicopter’s altitude hover. Since they wouldn’t be able to make a low hover, the chopper would be exposed slightly longer as it swept in to Datria from the rear. As it arrived overhead, Humphreys placed Achebe in the rescue basket normally used for maritime rescues, however, with its new function it still served admirably. Colair pulled out his datalink and saw that Jenkins and Ramiro were a few meters off, but that the soldiers were still pushing down the road clearing the rebel assault, probably feeling confidant as the machine gun and sniper fire had ceased. Colair ran to meet his two specialists and saw Jenkins holding his arm. “You piece of chicken shit, you stop holding that damn bruise and get your ass in gear!”

“Sir, yes sir!” Jenkins barked in reply, flashing a grin at his commander. A few meters away he could hear the helicopter’s rotors, and he was getting close enough to feel the rotor wash on his face. Colair knew that by this point, the advance team of soldiers on the roads would be moving back into the village attempting to spot his helicopter. He grabbed some of Jenkins’ load to give him a bit of extra speed and dropped it off in the chopper, he saw Humphreys applying basic first aid to Achebe’s wounds, “Sir, we’ll have you out of here in no time. Just hold tight.”

It took another minute before Jenkins and Ramiro were aboard. As Kraken boarded he handed him Jenkins’ machine gun and Alvarez took the LAW. As the helicopter lifted off, it flew northeast to avoid the village, before hooking south, just over the tree tops and on a different exit route. Within minutes they were back over the seas outside Datria, and the rain swept island that once was Achebe’s country, then his prison, was now a part of his history.

HMS Argos

Commander Walter Bradford, an older commander, balding with steel grey eyes, welcomed Achebe into his stateroom, where he would attempt to explain exactly what was going on.

“Sir, I am Commander Walter Bradford of the Commonwealth of Azazia’s Royal Navy. I welcome you aboard His Majesty’s Ships Argos and wish to inform you that you are now safe from General Okonkwo and we will be transporting you via helicopter to a carrier which will fly you on to our capital city. Is there anything I can do for you, any questions you need answered?”

Ooc: again, if I took too many liberties, just let me know and we’ll rework the story. I just want to get this done within your two RL day deadline… hope you don’t mind.

Jungles of Datria

Abame, taking cover within the midst of the troops, gripped his pistol tightly. This rebel group was particularly good. The Revered Leader probably came to take Achebe himself.

As they moved down the road, crouched and spraying the fields with bullets to cover their escape, Abame heard a strange sound. The soldiers looked up to see a low-flying helicopter skimming the trees for a moment. No one had trained them to fight against helicopters before.

Abame stood fully and roared, "SCATTER!"

His men immediately ran in different directions, running off the road to where they could roll in the muddy terrain of the farm. By the time the small army had fully spread out away from the road, the helicopter was already leaving. Abame watched the helicopter go, and the gunshots gradually died down. Crawling up from the mud, Abame listened to the helicopter's rotors eventually die away.

..."General, this is Abame."

"How bad?"

"Worse than we thought sir. 13 dead, 10 wounded. And, General?"

"What?"

"They had a helicopter come to pick them up."

"A...a helicopter?"

"Yes, sir. Do the rebels have a helicopter?"

"To my knowledge, no....Umuofia says no, too. Too difficult to hide and move a helicopter in the jungle."

"My thoughts exactly, General. But if it wasn't the rebels, who extracted the Prime Minister?"

"Someone not on our side. Evacuate your wounded, and leave a small garrison to let the village cope with the battle. Put someone you trust in command so that the soldiers behave themselves. That will be all."

"Yes, sir."

Datria, Military HQ

General Maurice Okonkwo snapped his cell phone shut and growled at Commander Umuofia. Umuofia, lounging on a chair in Okonkwo's private office, only shrugged.

"A foreign power? Conducting black-ops on Datrian soil!" Okonkwo slammed his fist on the table, causing a water glass to crash on the ground.

Umuofia sighed, "We did not expect other countries to be so involved. It does not matter, in any case. We have the Revered Leader on our side, the generals behind us, and the money from the casinos."

Okonkwo stood and walked to his window. He stared at the expanse of his city, a thriving city with a life of its own. Datria was a gem in the middle of a jungle, and if he played his cards correctly, it could become the major power of the West Pacific. But for the economy to be strong enough to support a powerful military, he needed to bring civil war to an end. He needed to extend peace across the land, even if it meant using his heavy hand.

"Umuofia!"

"General?" Umuofia began to stand, getting a picture that Okonkwo wanted something.

"The other four General-Protectors of Datria have committed a grievous crime. By divulging the whereabouts of the Prime Minister to foreign powers, they have committed treason against the Commonwealth of Datria. They will be immediately placed under house arrest, with no communication allowed out of their homes. Furthermore, the office of Achebe's political party and Achebe's home is to be immediately raided and all financial forms to be confiscated."

Okonkwo's voice, quiet, was nevertheless a powerful voice in the room. Here was a declaration of pure power, the sort of declarations that made or broke great revolutions and even greater men. Okonkwo was now taking the reins of his nation by the hand, and he was not going to let go for a long time.

Okonkwo turned to Umuofia, "The generals are to be eliminated as a political threat, and Achebe's money is needed if we are to enact the Economic Plan of Action. This must be done for all of this to work, do you understand?"

"I understand, General," Umuofia turned, ready to carry out his general's orders.

HMS Argos

Achebe smiled thankfully and bowed his head, "I am in your nation's debt. You have saved my life. I thank you and your leadership for their great generosity in saving my life. I would be glad to compensate you and your government for your bravery and your kindness."

"But why," Achebe continued, "save my life? Why be so generous to such a small nation's leader? Why do this?"

OOC: It's cool.

The Citadel
Commonwealth Republic of New Britain

“Sir, HMS Argos reports mission successful. Prime Minister Achebe is safely in our custody. He’ll be arriving here in the Citadel within the next few hours.”

Tetley smiled at Lord Admiral Henry Whitford. “Admiral, well done. Congratulations are to be extended on my behalf to the crew of the rescue mission and of the frigate.”

“Very well, sir. However, there are some other matters I wish to attend to regarding Datria.”

Tetley nodded. “Go on, Admiral.”

“Sir, with your permission we’d like to begin high-altitude surveillance flights of the island. Our satellites are providing us with highly useful information, but with current weather conditions limiting the efficiency we believe that lower altitude higher-power cameras will be able to accomplish the mission far better than the satellites.”

“Proceed.”

“Also, sir. I’d like to review with you some plans we have concerning the invasion of Datria, should the situation require it.”

“Admiral, I know we’ve discussed the plans in general, but I’d rather wait to include Prime Minister Achebe in these talks.”

HMS Argos
West Pacific Ocean

Bradford smiled at the man, “Sir, if you’ll forgive me for saying so, I am a simple commander of a guided missile frigate. I’m sure Prime Minister Tetley will be far more capable of answering your questions. Now, if you’ll follow me, we have flights arranged for you that will take you to see him.”

On the rear flight deck, Lieutenant Colair stood with the rest of his men, looking at the helicopter as its rotors began their slow dance to full speed. They were headed back in-country to continue to make observations and gain human intelligence on the situation in Datria. This time, however, they were carrying several days worth of rations for longer durations of missions – which he anticipated on undertaking. Colair boarded the helicopter, which lifted off quickly, depositing him and his men on the beach near where they had landed the first time, and again they slipped off into the jungle.

Six Hours Later

The Citadel
Imperium, Commonwealth Republic of New Britain

The rain-swept courtyard hid the grey frame of the landing transport helicopter, which had arrived from Breningrad Naval Station. Inside was Prime Minister Achebe, escorted by several members of the Diplomatic Security Corps, who rushed him into the Citadel under cover of a jacket to protect him from the tropical rainstorm. The interior of the Citadel would normally be bright and well lit as it was formerly a colonial governor’s mansion. The long open palisades were dotted with palm trees and water fountains, the cobbled stones worn from centuries of use. If the day were actually nice, the Prime Minister would have seen a prosperous Pacific nation, with obvious elements of British imperialism.

The men led Achebe into a large conference room, far different from the time gone by on the outside. This room was held together by a large black metal table, that had centrally placed LCD screens facing outward, and the walls contained several different screens covering the news and random camera angles from several obviously important buildings throughout the enormous nation. At the end of the long table sat a small diminutive man, eyes semi-hidden behind wire-framed glasses, his scalp underneath short close-cropped hair. He stood, displaying is impeccable taste in business suits and walked over with his small gait to greet the foreign dignitary.

“Welcome to the Commonwealth of Azazia, Mr. Prime Minister. I wish circumstances were a little bit different. Mainly the weather, unfortunately, we Pacific island states are quite familiar with the afternoon rain storms, are we not?”

He gestured for Achebe to follow him to a seat near his own at one end of the table. From out of the shadows of one corner stepped a tall strapping man, with a hard edged face – distinguished by many scars that if on anyone other than a soldier or sailor would have been considered hideously disfiguring. “Mr. Prime Minister, this Lord Admiral Sir Henry Whitford, commander of all Commonwealth military forces in the world – outside of the Emperor of course, who is, unfortunately, indisposed with a nasty virus.”

“Now, I’m sure you have many questions. Presumably why. Well, the Commonwealth of Azazia regards the entirety of the Pacific as our own backyard, and we prefer to know that stable governments are running their own affairs – especially when they are relatively close to us. The Commonwealth also has inherited the liberal democratic system of government, and we hold democratic institutions as some of the most fundamental requirements for a successful nation-state. Regretfully, this General Okonkwo has illegally seized power in your country and is, as our intelligence leads us to believe, intending on establishing himself as the de facto president through proxies and figureheads.”

Tetley smiled at the man, hoping that so much information so fast would not upset or confuse him – after all in six hours he had gone from certain death to the opulence of a first world power. “Now, our intelligence services have been able to gleam some information on this character. Apparently, he attended an American university and is thus well versed in American culture. This concerns us in one way, that I will get to shortly. We are aware of his extremely capable intellect, and we see him as perhaps the most capable of Datria’s military leaders – thus all the more reasonable he led the coup.”

“What we see as problematic is one potential cause for the coup, the long term strategic goals of this individual. Americans have this funny concept of ‘Manifest Destiny.’ The bloody fools believed in divine right and such and their right to rule the Western hemisphere. It is deemed possible that Okonkwo has a more limited concept of Manifest Destiny in mind, perhaps the expansion of Datria and its influence in the Pacific. As I’m sure you can see, this runs counter the national interests of this Commonwealth.

“Don’t misunderstand me, however, we are not opposed to Datria developing and becoming a prosperous state. We are opposed however, to the possible militaristic expansion of Datria into Commonwealth waters. And, in that regard I should inform you we are drawing up plans to forcibly remove this Okonkwo from power and reinstate you into office. However, before we get to my government’s ideas, I’d like to hear your thoughts on the whole situation.”

Datria

Every one of the general’s homes was now under siege.

It was quick, painless, and the generals were now totally under General Maurice Okonkwo’s control. A few divisions of loyal soldiers, and now the entire command structure of the military was gone…except for Okonkwo.

One of the generals committed suicide before they could relieve him of his weapons.

Outside Datria

General Maurice Okonkwo shifted his weight to his left foot. His soldiers milled around him, talking and chewing cocoa leaves. Commander Jean Umuofia stood next to Okonkwo, shouting orders on a cell phone.

Okonkwo was a little annoyed by the Revered Leader’s tardiness, but he could do nothing. It was of paramount importance to have the rebels on his side, especially now that he moved against the generals. If the military rose up against him, Okonkwo’s Commonwealth soldiers backed by the Revered Leader’s rebels could take control of the nation. So although he was a bit distressed to be made waiting, he understood that this was only an exercise of the Revered Leader’s power. To make Okonkwo wait showed that they were equals.

One of the soldiers spoke, “Commander, a convoy approaching.”

And sure enough, from the depth of the jungle, three cars emerged. One was a covered jeep, painted dark green and wrapped in foliage, while the other two were full of armed soldiers. From here, Okonkwo could tell the red headbands of the rebels on the soldiers. Okonkwo could see the men around him tightening the grips on their weapons slightly.

“Everyone, hold!” Okonkwo commanded. “We shall not have violence with these men. They are our allies. I will shoot whomever fires on our brothers. Is that understood?”

The men grumbled agreements as the cars approached. The jeep halted before them, flanked by the two trucks. The rebel soldiers jeered at Okonkwo’s men until the door to the jeep opened, upon which they instantly fell silent.

Umuofia leaned to whisper into Okonkwo’s ear, “The representative from the Revered Leader.”

“Representative?” Okonkwo frowned to Umuofia, and his eyes turned to the representative of the rebels.

Even with a baggy combat uniform, Okonkwo could still make out the outlines of a feminine, svelte body. She jumped from the jeep, slinging a gun over her shoulder like she was a man. Okonkwo felt like a young student again, racing down the halls after girls, watching the dark woman. It was clear from the reactions of the rebel soldiers that she was the representative.

Okonkwo’s men muttered amongst themselves, “A woman? What is she doing here? I’ve seen her. She’s more than a woman, she’s a beast! Kills men for pleasure, does terrible things to those who survive! Some man should teach her some manners! Would you, if she had killed your squad with a piece of rope and a knife? No! Yes, she is a snake!”

“Commander!” Okonkwo demanded. “Why is the Revered Leader not here?”

“General,” Umuofia tried to keep from smiling. “I know the rebels better than anyone. The Revered Leader has decided not to expose himself. I think the Revered Leader, now, knows that he is a figurehead and nothing more. I know this woman. She is the true leader of the rebels.”

“You know her? Can we trust her?”

“There is no one else who will speak as much authority as her.”

The woman saluted Okonkwo, her eyes dark and intelligent, “General! I, Constance Ekwefi, do offer the services of the Datrian People’s Liberation Army to you.”

Okonkwo returned the salute, “I am most grateful for your offer, and I accept.”

Constance Ekwefi dropped the salute, “I am glad that you and my father, the Revered Leader, could end this terrible war.”

Okonkwo’s eyes widened in surprise, and Umuofia chuckled.

Datria, UDA HQ

“Can we repel them?” the poltician asked, nervously glancing at the emptied street in front of the UDA HQ. Since Achebe’s death, the political party had tried to apply for asylum away from Datria, with no luck.

“No,” the aide shook his head. “We only have some pistols and rifles, and not enough ammunition to kill a horse. If we resist, we’d all be killed.”

The politician turned suddenly, “And if we don’t, we’ll be arrested, tried and killed! Why, Allah, why have you forsaken us?!”

The aide sighed as the sound of car engines echoed down the block, “Looks like we’re out of time.”

Aides worked hard while politicians scurried their families upstairs, to the higher levels. As usual, it was the underlings who would be killed first. With their families safely stowed upstairs, the politicians appeared on the main level for a brief moment.

The politicians extolled the aides on their bravery, their selflessness, and their self-sacrifice. The politicians pleaded with their god, Allah, to spare them horrible deaths against the enemy. The polticians recognized their loyal service and promised them great rewards in the afterlife once those hooligans outside killed the aides and arrested the politicians and their families. They were great for being loyal and doing their duty, and they should be commended for that.

The politicians went upstairs, and waited.

The aides looked at the soldiers gathering outside, looked down at their pitiful assortment of knives, clubs, and guns, and then looked at the stairway leading upstairs.

A common census was quickly reached.

The first of the screams came before the soldiers were ready to make their move on the building. With very little time, the soldiers tried to break the main door down, but to no avail. The aides had built the barricade too strong, too many cabinets and desks to break. Eventually the soldiers were forced to blow open the doors with grenades and bombs before they could make their way into the building.

By the time they reached the upstairs, they found a scene of carnage. Aides covered in blood, holding the knives and clubs with which they had murdered the entire UDA and their families. The aides smiled, held their hands up, and surrendered.

The commander of the operation walked downstairs slowly, sickened by the sight. Reaching into his pocket, he phoned Okonkwo.

“General. We have a problem…”

The Citadel

Achebe blanced at the opulence surrounding him. A true nation's power was before him in all of its glory, and he, once again, felt dimunitive and small. Intellectually he was no match for Okonkwo, financially he was no match to Azazia. He was stuck between two greater powers than he, and they both wanted to use him for his own gains.

Well, maybe he could parlay a nice retirement out of this.

"I understand," Achebe nodded solemnly, "I would very much like to see my country back on its feet, with the democratic ideals that it deserves. Okonkwo has violated these terms and put the entire country in danger. We should immediately invade the island and eliminate the traitors to the Democratic Republic of Datria."

"In the meantime," Achebe added carefully, "I believe that we should begin planning the economic recovery of Datria. As you know, the Datrian economy is being destroyed by those militaristic idiots. We need to be able to get it back on its feet the moment we return democracy to power in Datria."

Achebe smiled, "I, luckily, own a significant portion of the tourist and gambling business in Datria. There is where we can make the most money. I believe a healthy economic stimulus package can be best managed if you donate it directly to industries under my control. Then we could guide those industries to be extremely productive for the future of Datria."

"Oh, and a second thought," Achebe added, gesturing around him, "I would like to have some of the weapons you have here. The rebels, and now this military coup, has shown me that a good force of arms is necessary to provide order. In order to protect democracy, I need the force of democratic arms behind me. Are you willing to supply my troops with high-quality weapons for the next, let's say, ten years?"

The C-130 air transports flew through the air, accompanied by several other C-130's and two squadrons of A2/B Hawks. An entire regiment was being flown in to Datria to assist with the establishment of a military dictatorship. The transports also contained supplies and weapons to equip the Datrian military. An alliance was in the making and Datria would be changed forever...

OOC: Not my best post, sorry, didn't have much time.

The Citadel
Imperium, Commonwealth Republic of New Britain

Tetley smiled at his counterpart, “I understand, would you care for some tea?” With a barely audible snap, a young and attractive brunette walked into the room carrying a silver platter with two china cups and a pot of steaming water. Tetley thanked the woman as she put the tray down between the two men; he reached and opened the wooden box, which contained several types of teas – mostly herbal, but the requisite green and black teas as well.

As he poured hot water into his own cup, and stirred in some sugar, he looked up at Achebe. He smiled at the thought of the invitation to invade Datria. However, he would do no such thing, Commonwealth forces would merely be a restorative and peacekeeping force that would help the Datrians rebuild their country. Invasion was far too harsh of a word, at least for his own sensibilities.

“Yes, well I think you will find this government very agreeable to your proposal that we reinstate your legitimate government. The idea of a military general running a government through proxies is utterly reprehensible; even more so is the possibility of the outright suspension of the democratic process. As to your wise concerns about the Datrian economy, I am sure it can be arranged so that you meet with my Minister of Finance, who can go into greater detail about economic recovery plans. However, when you are reinstated we will need to go through your books and restructure your government’s spending and debt management. After that, we can discuss long-term low-interest loans and such that will surely help your nation get back on its feet. Once all that is accomplished, we can talk about arming your military, after all it is your military that got you into this mess. Until then, we have troops specializing in peacekeeping missions that would be more than adequate to provide you with security.”

At the far end of the room the door opened and Tetley saw in the distance a staffer whisper something into Lord Admiral Whitford’s ear. Whitford strode over and took Tetley aside and informed him of the landing of Zarbia’s troops.

“Mr. Prime Minister,” Tetley said as he returned to the table, “it seems as if things have become more complicated. Apparently a nation ruled by a military junta has invaded in order to secure Okonkwo’s rule. Our stealth frigate intercepted their flight into your territory, currently we have men on the ground observing the developing situation. Which leaves us with an interesting situation, as the Prime Minister of Datria, what do you want done?”

Western Pacific Ocean

The HMS Avin was the next carrier in line for retirement, however, she still served in the limited role as carrier group leader for the Western Pacific, not more than a day’s travel from Datria. The frigate Argos had detected and tracked the Zarbian movement of men and materiel into Datria and consequently the Admiralty had dispatched the Avin to Datria to setup an aerial and naval quarantine of Datria, upon the “request” of Prime Minister Achebe. Admiral Brent Thomason knew that the request was fake – at least at this hour – but it was entirely likely the move would be authorized by the government of Datria, and so he was moving ahead of everyone else. AWACs birds had also tracked the C-130s and their escorts and although he had purposefully taken no action, not wanting to prematurely start an incident, he had no doubt that Zarbia would prohibit the legitimate government from being reinstated, meaning he would possibly sending his ship to an early retirement.

The Jungles of Datria

Colair glanced down at his datalink, watching the droves of Zarbian troops unloading from the Hercules transports. He also was aware of the air cover, and so had taken to more stealthy routes avoiding open spaces. Given that Datria could possibly have a new ally, he was wary of advancing too close to the bases, and stayed close enough to just make out the large structures and bodies of troops, always making sure to stay on top of the datalink, moving out of sight whenever any patrols came remotely close.

But in the meantime he pinpointed targets for a first strike, should it ever come to that. Which given the size of the force unloading, he imagined it would come to blows.

Okonkwo, Umuofia, and Ekwefi sprinted up to the control tower. The soldiers and air controllers saluted the three leaders of their nation who responed as they watched another lumbering C-130 approach the small Datrian airport.

Radio chatter filled the room as Umuofia whispered to Ekwefi, "Incredible, isn't it?"

The gigantic plane's wheels had barely touched the tarmac when Ekwefi smiled, "It is incredible. We had never dreamed of such arms, or of such supplies."

"Do you think," Okonkwo sighed, his back to the other two, "that they want to invade us?"

Umuofia glanced at Ekwefi, who casually shrugged her shoulders. If the Zarbian military help suddenly turned on Okonkwo's forces, it would be a matter of time before Okonkwo and Umuofia joined Ekwefi as jungle rebels.

Okonkwo pushed the beret down over his eyes and cross his arms, "Do we have plans for a retreat to the jungle if things turn bad?"

"Yes," murmured Ekwefi.

Okonkwo lifted his head, "That's the best we can do, then. We have to hope that this Zarbian help actually turns out to be honest."

There was a slight pause as they watched a C-130 slowly make its way across the sky.

"Sir," Umuofia spoke, "what about the UDA clerks? They're asking for a pardon."

"I want them killed," Okonkwo's face contorted into a scowl, "and I want their bodies displayed in the streets. What they did was slaughter. I do not condone the death of innocent women and children."

Ekwefi, knowing what was to come, bit her tongue.

"And what about the money? Do we have evidence of Achebe's corruption?" Okonkwo rolled his head, easing the tension in his shoulders.

"Yes, General. Several million dollars, tucked safely away in a variety of international banks. We are now beginning to gather the cash together," Umuofia glanced at his aide, who nodded in confirmation.

"What would you do, General, if you were in Zarbia's position?" Umuofia asked tenderly as Okonkwo turned to leave. Okonkwo wanted to meet the commander of the Zarbian forces.

Okonkwo stopped for a moment, and watched as another C-130 lined itself up for landing.

"I'd take everything Datria would have to offer, and kill the government's leaders."

Achebe nodded, taking in this new information. If Achebe had any influence on the Datrian crisis, it was now gone. Zarbia's invasion of Datrian soil had now transformed a simple peacekeeping operation into a potential world war between superpowers. Achebe's input was nil at best, and not a penny of his money could convince a behemoth like Azazia to move against an equally powerful rival.

Achebe sighed, trying to make the best of this situation.

"I believe the most effective method would be to blockade Datria and destroy any planes or ships that tried to enter her territory. Then, we should convince Zatria to abandon the invasion and pull out her forces. Once that was completed, we could continue with the peacekeeping actions."

OOC: See Cuban Missile Crisis. Azazia as US, Zarbia as USSR, Datria as Cuba.

Colonel Lars Nilsson sighed a breath of relief as the C-130 finally came to a complete stop. He was glad to finally be at his destination even if it was some island in the middle of nowhere, it was better than being vulnerable up in the sky by any means.

As Nilsson and his men disembarked the transport, an entourage of soldiers immediately met them. Nilsson saluted them and shook the hand of their leader.

"Hello and welcome to Datria," greeted the Datrian host.

"Thank you," Nilsson said pleasantly, "I'm Colonel Lars Nilsson."

The Datrian soldier smiled before continuing. "If you'll follow me, I will take you to your barracks where you will be staying."

He turned and began walking towards a military jeep where a driver was waiting. Nilsson and the Datrian would ride in the jeep while the rest of the Zarbian soldiers would be taken to the base via military trucks.

OOC: I hope I didn't take too many liberties. If so, just tell me and I'll correct my post.

The Citadel Press Center
Imperium, Commonwealth Republic of New Britain

Exact plans still needed to be formalized, but after this press briefing, Tetley would sign an order dispatching the Royal Navy to enact a blockade of Datria per the orders of the Datrian Prime Minister. Zarbia itself was a match to the Commonwealth, any war would likely lead to a war of attrition that would destroy the other’s economy, infrastructure, and military capabilities for decades to come. Tetley hoped that the Zarbian government would heed his call, but then far too many states in this world were irrational and loved to march off to war. The question was now what of Zarbia’s military junta, was this generalissimo a hawk like Genghis Khan or the cultured, civilized, intellectual warrior along the lines of Napoleon. Only time would tell.

Tetley looked to his right at Achebe, who had asked him for this assistance. Now, the Commonwealth was laying it all out on the table and was preparing for military action – though he sincerely wished it wouldn’t come to that. The stage was set in its executive décor, featuring the flags of both the Commonwealth and of Datria. The podium was set and his remarks prepared, the usual glass of water hidden underneath. His communications director moved up to the podium, “Ladies and gentlemen,” she started, “Prime Minister Alistair Tetley and Prime Minister Jean Achebe of Datria.”

The two men moved from their place out of camera sight onto the stage, Tetley taking the podium first while his communications director stood behind him and to his left, across from Achebe.

“A few days ago, the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Achebe was violently overthrown in a coup d’etat led by General Okonkwo of the Datrian Army. After being thrown in prison and beaten by Okonkwo himself,” Tetley paused to point to photographs taken onboard the Argos of the severe beatings and blood covered skin of Achebe, “members of the Commonwealth Royal Guards extracted Prime Minister Achebe from his prison cell. At the end of this press conference I will be releasing video footage recorded by the troops during their mission in which you will see that state of Prime Minister Achebe when he was found.”

“General Okonkwo claims to have acted in the interest of his people. Therefore he has disbanded all elements of a peaceful democratic society. Free press has been stifled, political parties outlawed – even brutally executed by agents of the tyrant’s regime. He claims that, and I quote his own broadcast, ‘great strife creates great strength.’ In fact, this entire farce is nothing more than a ploy for Okonkwo to become the dictator of Datria.”

“Democratic governments are inherently accountable as the leaders need to be reelected after each term. I do not claim that Prime Minister Achebe’s government is without fault – no government but for that of your divine power is without flaw for as man is flawed, so will a government of man. However, the people of Datria chose Jean Achebe to be their leader in their last election, and if unsatisfied with his progress in routing out rebels and corruption they could easily remove him from office the next time the ballots are offered. Okonkwo has unilaterally decided that he is superior to his people in being so arrogant as to assume that he knows all and can rectify all of Datria’s problems. However, if he seriously wanted to change Datria for the better he would have supported the institution of democracy and run for office, winning in fair, transparent elections.”

“Since General Okonkwo opted not to run for office, we can find that he is not committed to the process of democracy, and leaders being found among the people, elected by the people, and serving for the people. Okonkwo found himself, elected himself, and is serving for himself.”

“Therefore, as of this day, the Commonwealth of Azazia intends to reinstate the legitimately elected government of Datria and implores all nations of the world to heed our call. We may not all agree with the policies of Prime Minister Achebe, however, the Datrians have the right to choose their own government in a fair election without coercion or pressure. General Okonkwo has removed this right of self-determination and has usurped power for his own personal gain.”

“I have ordered the Royal Navy to enact a blockade around Datria that will stem the flow of money, weapons, and material to the illegal government of Datria. I am aware that there are currently troops from Zarbia stationed in Datria, and I would like at this time to personally assure Generalissimo Kuprin and the governing Junta of Zarbia that absolutely no harm will come towards your men, your nation and her people, or yourselves. Our goal is only to reinstate the people’s choice in government. Unfortunately this means that the re-supply of Zarbian forces will be prevented, and I hope this will persuade Generalissimo Kuprin to join me in calling for the resignation of General Okonkwo and the reinstatement of Prime Minister Jean Achebe to his elected office.”

“After Prime Minister Achebe is reinstated, he has invited the Commonwealth to dispatch our peacekeeping divisions to help preserve the peace between his country’s military forces and the government. We intend on providing and distributing aid to those affected by this crisis and assisting the Datrians in rebuilding their economy, fighting their rebel problem, and limiting government corruption. To this end, we invite the Zarbian government to participate with us in this post-conflict setup to show there is no ill-will of the international community to the people of Datria and to help us deliver unto the Datrians a prosperous state run for the people by the people.”

“Now, I’d like to introduce to you, Prime Minister Achebe.” Tetley took a step back and used his hand to invite Achebe to make any of his own remarks. His communications director had gone over with Achebe the necessity of making helpful, non-threatening statements such as “eliminating the traitors” and referring to the Datrian Army as “militaristic idiots.” Any support and legitimacy he was going to receive for reclaiming his position as Prime Minister would depend on how he presented his case, or if he even did present his case. Tetley thought that he had done a skillful job of a rather ad hoc speech outlining the background of the situation to his people and to the world and to his policy of returning Achebe to power.

Violence was to be avoided at all costs. Now he hoped that Generalissimo Kuprin would heed his call and at least pick up the phone. War would do neither nation good.

Achebe levelled his gaze at the camera lens.

"Today is a terrible day for the Datrian people. My heart aches for the pain and suffering my people have endured throughout these long, hard years. Even now, their hardship continues. The military has taken control of the civilian government. A foreign government must step in to set our wayward nation back on course."

"Nothing in the world pains me more than to ask a foreign government to invade our soil. Nowhere in my life have I done such a terrible, vicious thing, and I am truly sorry for that. But we must correct what has been wronged in our nation. General Okonkwo and his men have corrupted the Datrian government for their own pleasures. They have turned our war-torn land into a mockery of true popular representation."

"I implore all nations to help us in this fight. This is truly a fight between the force of arms and the force of freedom. Zarbia seems intent on destroying the link between real government and the people. Okonkwo will only bring more harm to this country than good."

"Allah is great. Let us unite and bring Okonkwo to justice. Thank you."

Whiteland Royal Air Base

The sun had long set after the joint statements by Tetley and Achebe, and Tetley had soon after officially deployed the Avin battle group to maintain a blockade of the small island nation. All foreign vessels were being turned away or being queued in a holding zone a few hundred kilometers off the coast.

At Whiteland, the orders had also come to equip its long range strategic bomber force with satellite guided and laser guided cruise missiles. As the sky darkened, the distant lights of the city of Whiteland illuminated the sky into a murky grayish-yellow from all the light pollution being thrown up by the masses of skyscrapers and commercial complexes.

On the long runways, massive flying wings appeared from hardened silos above and below ground, taxiing slowly onto the reinforced concrete runways. With the purplish-blue twilight in front of them, they took off on westerly courses, reaching altitude as soon as possible and beginning their flight to Datria.

The Jungles of Datria

Colair had been reading up on the intelligence provided so openly by the Datrian Army. Despite their tenacity, they simply were no match for the sophistication brought by his own men and presumably the Zarbians. But they were not on Colair’s target list, the Datrian Army was. He had been observing the Datrian airport for several hours now, and made sure that the control tower contained no Zarbian soldiers, for he had seen none enter the building. The runway itself was clear of Hercules transports, and he saw no Zarbian soldiers milling about on the runway or near the control tower. He pressed the mic on his neck, and whispered into the encoded frequency. “Dark Knight, this is Rook Actual. You have go.”

Far above the skies, the stealth bombers opened their bomb-bay doors, presenting small radar targets to anything that the Datrians or Zarbians might have operating. From each of the four aircraft dropped four cruise missiles, which then lit up their own engines and sped off ahead of the bombers, which promptly shut their doors and thus melted back into the dark night sky.

Three of the sixteen missiles targeted the airport itself, the first guided by satellite coordinates and Colair’s lasing device into the control tower with a simple high-explosive warhead. The second and third missiles were equipped with armour piercing cluster munitions warheads, designed to open over the length of the runway and drop bomblets that would crater the entire runway.

Achebe had provided the rest of the intelligence, having marked off the major buildings used by the Datrian army, including their headquarters and main barracks and ammunition dumps. For those located in the jungle, Colair’s team had moved to setup lasing devices that would further guide the missiles into their targets. For the headquarters and other buildings in Datria proper, however, the cruise missiles were depending on the highly accurate satellites and the lasing of the tops of the buildings.

In order to prevent collateral damage, Colair had made sure that the targets provided by Achebe didn’t clash with the locations being occupied by Zarbian forces, mainly the Zarbian barracks. In the meantime, he had also tasked four of the sixteen missiles with taking out the roads leading from the airport. This being tricky, earlier he had sent the Zarbians a brief message from a pilfered Datrian radio, warning them that the roads surrounding the airport were mined. Indeed, the four missiles were similar to the cluster munitions cruise missiles in that they laid mines across the roads, attempting to not only blockade the island, but blockade the airport itself.

For now, Colair watched and listened as throughout the countryside the cruise missiles detonated against the targets they had found.

Private Message to Azazia

We will not stand back while the virus of democracy attempts to infect Datria. Democracy is an illusion, a convenient cover for the evils of communism and socialism. Our forces will remain in Datria to establish a strong government under General Okonkwo. We remind you that this is not an aggressive movement and any damage made to Zarbian forces will result in massive retaliation.

-The Junta

OOC: Zarbia doesn't have a navy so your naval blockade won't do much.

ooc: the naval blockade will shoot down any and all aircraft entering Datrian airspace and sink any vessels sailing into Datrian waters. People need food, troops need supplies and ammunition, with a blockade up, that food and supplies won't get in... but without a navy, how're you going to continually ship in tons of heavy materials?

OOC: I phrased my last ooc comment badly. I meant it won't do much in the terms of blockading ships and the like. Of course it will pose a threat to my air force, but don't worry, I plan to take care of the situation. We brought sufficient food and supplies for a while, but I do realize in time I will need to bring in more stuff. We'll see how it goes.

HMS Avin
Datrian Waters

Admiral Thomason strained his eyes through the old-fashioned binoculars he still used, owing them to a gift from his deceased father upon becoming a first officer some years ago. But how things had changed since those days, when missiles were in their infancy and the gun still remained supreme in its twilight. However, as the years had gone by the tactics too had changed, removing the lines of battle as the range of missiles and their speeds increased. The new threat was now from below, from ultra-silent submarines and their supersonic missiles. Yet the elderly man continued to stare through his binoculars, silently cursing the changing times, though always remembering to learn and adapt.

Now he gazed upon the distant towers of his far flung ships, exercising the removal of all foreign powers from Datrian waters. Compared to the massive fleets of other powerful nations, the Avin group was small, a single carrier with two cruisers, four destroyers, four frigates, and four submarines. Automation had removed many personnel and stealth designs many of the familiar above-deck miscellanies Thomason had been familiar with in his day as an ensign.

The Avin herself was a ship of the past, not quite a relic, but no longer state of the art. The later ships in her class had been rebuilt and refit in order to extend their lives, but she was nothing compared to the three supercarriers being built for the Royal Navy. The Endeavour was already at sea and the Enterprise was due to enter the fleet in a week’s time. Those might ships carried three entire air wings, the Avin still carried the initial one held by all the Avin-class carriers.

In the time between her launch and her likely final significant mission, the Avin’s air wing had been upgraded several times, making sure her aging hull was complemented by the most advanced aircraft in the fleet. It was indeed a small number – only 80 aircraft total – but they were modern and well-equipped. Currently, he had air patrols flying around the island of Datria – a total of 12 Azrael fighter aircraft. The Azrael was a stealth plane, flying using secured and encrypted data-links to the AWACs bird flying well above the carrier and the cruiser Imperium. The Zarbians had flown in their C-130s, but as of yet he hadn’t seen them attempt to breach the blockade, and he hoped they wouldn’t try.

The Central Directorate had given him a brief on the state of the Zarbian Navy, which frankly didn’t exist. However, he now needed to make sure that the Zarbians couldn’t fly over Datria at will, and so the fighters flying patrol were to isolate the Zarbian transports on the ground, allowing them to leave, but not to return. As of yet, the Datrians also had a few patrol boats, nothing serious, but they hadn’t even left their docks yet indicating to Thomason that the Datrian Navy wasn’t even going to contest the blockade. He wasn’t sure whether or not that was this Okonkwo’s decision or the lack of any real control over the Datrian Navy. Either way he was keeping an eye on those ships, really nothing more than tugboats with guns, but still, a machine gun could kill a man and Thomason wanted to leave this mission without a man lost.

Ministry of Defence
Imperium, Commonwealth Republic of New Britain

From wall to wall the large room was filled with computer screens detailing the locations of all Commonwealth armed forces from the Atlantic’s two nuclear subs, the Pacific’s massive naval, aerial, and ground presence, to even the orbiting space station Excelsior armed with its own complement of missiles to enter on high-angle trajectories at extremely high-speeds. As of yet, however, the Commonwealth had made little attempt to incorporate the station into its plans, not wishing to use its presence and power to intimidate the Zarbians into a shooting war.

Around the sleek black table sat a host of generals and admirals from all the branches of the Commonwealth’s armed forces. At the forefront of the meeting was General Ivan Koniev, commander of the Royal Marines. Well into his fifties, Koniev had commanded several amphibious assaults into hostile territory and had through his successes gained enough political power to lead to his appointment as the General of the Royal Marines. And now he was here to discuss his plans for Operation Lazarus, the amphibious assault on Datria.

“Gentlemen,” he began in his uniquely gruff voice, “As you can see through these photos and communication intercepts, the Datrian Army is relatively poorly armed compared to our own Royal Marines. Their natural environment, the jungle mainly, has led to the conclusion that large vehicles such as tanks and armoured fighting vehicles would be constricted to the roads or the few settlements on the island. It also appears as if the Datrians have no real airpower and lack the needed close-air-support to effect significant holding actions against any of our potential in-routes.”

Koniev dug into his folder and grabbed a small stash of papers, each stamped with the image of a large carrier-like vessel with an extremely high freeboard. “This is the Royal Navy’s Type 62 Albatross assault ship. Capable of carrying an entire Royal Marine Expeditionary Division, over 3000 men and their accompanying support staff. Now my friends on the other side of the table,” Koniev gestured to the Admiralty’s officers, “have informed me that the introduction of the Enterprise could be quickened at the expense of a single air wing. Now, what I propose, and the Admiralty will comment further on the naval perspective, would be to in a few days launch the HMS Aurora and the HMS Enterprise, as well as her accompanying battle group, to make way to Datria. After a day’s transit, the ships will arrive and the Aurora will launch its amphibious assault.”

At a press of a single button the large center display screen on the wall changed to a map of Datria. (ooc: any help on the geography of Datria would be appreciated). Koniev turned to face his peers, “now as you can see, there are several flat beaches away from the airfield, which we want to avoid direct contact with to avoid any open hostilities with Zarbia. From these landing points, we would establish beachheads and move inland to the town of Datria, which is,” Koniev zoomed in on the map to the capital, revealing its heavy fortifications, “as you can see, quite fortified.”

“The initial assault on Datria will be a limited combined aerial and naval barrage. The goal will be to take out any significant heavy weapon emplacements in terms of artillery pieces and hardened shelters that will present resistance to our men. After a day’s worth of solid bombardment, our men will attempt to penetrate the city during a night action, taking advantage of their thermal and starlight scopes. Our hope is that within three days the entire town will be secured. The penetration action will be supported by a company of tanks as well as several combat helicopters and air support. Afterwards, we are hoping that the support for Okonkwo will collapse at the appearance of a foreign army quite capable of destroying and eliminating the entire Datrian Army. If this opportunity does not present itself, we are ready to branch out from the capital city and take each town, and then garrison it until Okonkwo either surrenders, is captured, or killed.”

“After the cessation of hostilities, we will begin to ship over one of our peacekeeping divisions, after training them in Datrian customs. They will be there to carryout the improvements to infrastructure and repairs to damaged facilities caused by the hostilities. We will then proceed to occupy the nation until the country is back on its feet and its military can be controlled by the civilian government. We will not accept a repeat of this collapse of democracy.’

The meeting continued for another hour as the Admiralty wasted its time explaining the lack of any Zarbian Navy and the presence of mere patrol boats in the Datrian Navy would present no challenges to the deployment of the Aurora and the Enterprise. At the conclusion of the meeting, memos and orders were dispatched, and troops were recalled from leave and stores were readied for deployment. In five days, the ready division and the Enterprise battle group would put to sea. In seven days, Commonwealth troops would be on the beaches unless Okonkwo surrendered.

Although Colair had entered the country before without being known, this time it was a different matter.

Colair and his men, as they moved deeper into Datria, were completely invisible to the Datrian military. In no way could they have been tracked through the jungles, with their excellent training and cutting-edge technology.

The guerillas, however, were a different story. Now that they were working for the Datrian military, they picked up the scent of Colair's trail before he had approached the airport. Ekwefi had given specific orders to protect the Datrian borders from black-ops military units, and here was one ripe for the picking.

Colair's men were now being hunted by thirty guerillas, who knew every inch of the jungle. Although Colair's men had the technology, the guerillas had the experience of fighting effectively in the darkest jungles. Armed with old WWII sniper rifles and Kalashnikov rifles, Colair's men were being hunted by the best-trained military unit in Datria.

They had half-encircled Colair, with the open end towards the airport, giving him ample room so that his troops couldn't catch that he was being followed. Now they were closing the circle in tight.

OOC: Now it's on! I know that Colair had that tracker thingy, but it took so long for the scouts to report back and the guerillas to come and pick up the trail that the guerillas or the scouts haven't been picked up on the radar thingy.

"People of the world," Okonkwo began in his televised address, "the Commonwealth of Azazia is committing a fraud."

"Only a few hours ago, Azazian ordnance destroyed the Datrian airport. Even further, Azazia kidnapped a Datrian prisoner and is now pretending that this criminal is the true leader of his people."

"Let me make this clear. I, General Maurice Okonkwo, only acted for justice. Before I arrested Achebe for his crimes, it was clear to everyone that the Prime Minister was stealing funds from the government. He was conspiring with local organized crime gangs to keep his rule. He was continuing a war with guerillas who stood for righteous causes. He was using terror and money to keep himself and his government in power."

"The Azazian claim that the people 'elected' Achebe is also a lie. Too many times the ex-Prime Minister committed disastrous election fraud to ensure his supporters voted. He paid voters to vote his way. He instructed his gangs to destroy ballots that gave his opposition overwhelming victory. He and his government committed crime after crime after crime, and the people had no one to turn to."

"This is where the Datrian military had to step in. We had to reform the political process in order to keep Achebe and his corruption from destroying our nation. Achebe's villainy had destroyed our economy and our social structure. We had to act against the criminals who were polluting our society."

Okonkwo held up a sheaf of papers.

"I have here in my hand, confiscated from the UDA headquarters, evidence of Achebe's gross criminal deeds. I have here in my hand the bank reports of Achebe's money laundering. I have here in my hand written orders to crime bosses to beat opposition figures. I have here in my hand official election results from ballot boxes that did not find its way to the capitol, but were instead burned by Achebe's gangs."

"I deal with criminals harshly. A tragedy occured earlier this week, as the clerks of the UDA murdered UDA politicians and their families. Those clerks, for their crimes, were executed. The clerks' bodies, as you may have seen in your papers, were displayed on the streets of Datria so that the people might know what justice is."

"I demand that Azazia cease this illegal action and that nations come to condemn Azazia's aggression against Datria. It is not right and it is not just. I do not plan to govern Datria forever. Azazia did not even give us the time to reform our economy or our political system before we were brutally attacked."

"I ask you, how are we supposed to make things better in a week? We had barely started to find delegates for the constititutional convention when Azazia began attacking us. We ask that Azazia, at least, hold off their attacks against our nation. If you find that we are committing great fraud against our people, then by all means, install your corrupt 'democratic' politician back into power over the people's wishes. But let us try and fix our problems ON OUR OWN before demanding that we return to the status quo."

"Thank you. May the gods watch over you all."

Umuofia rushed to the Zarbian commander. For now, the Datrian military was scattering, hiding in the jungles and installing secondary bases where the Datrian missiles couldn't find them. The Datrian military, surprising, wasn't as decimates as the Azazians thought. Because of the new orders and deployment, troops and vehicles were scattered across the nation, and the missiles only hit thiny defended old bases and supply sites.

Still.

Umuofia gasped, "Please, you have to attack the Azazians! If you do not, they will surely overrun us! Listen, if you don't do something fast, the Azazians will not only destroy Datria, but they'll use this attack to justify further territorial incursions! What's the difference of changing the government of Datria and changing the government of Zarbia! We must respond to these attacks!"

The Citadel
Imperium, Commonwealth Republic of New Britain

Tetley sighed as he re-watched Okonkwo’s speech. Something seriously needed to be done about this man’s speeches; it wasn’t that he didn’t believe Okonkwo – more than likely Achebe was corrupt and was simply playing his cards to survive. Tetley knew that the Datrian general was also corrupt, the country was seemingly wholly incapable of running itself – and that was a problem.

He signed a slip of paper and pushed it over to Lord Admiral Whitford who merely nodded. Five minutes later, four stealth bombers lifted off from Whiteland RAB on their way to Datria. Meanwhile Tetley reviewed his information on Koniev’s plan for the amphibious assault. The beaches seemed not to be a problem, the naval artillery would pound the shoreline suppressing any sort of Datrian resistance, the trouble would be if the Zarbians wished to interfere.

The question was now about containing the Zarbians without incident to that destroyed airfield. Without runways, there was no chance for them to land aircraft and they were stuck to their supplies; whereas the Royal Marines would have the sea lanes open and ready to supply them with ammunition. Currently the plans called for the careful observation of the Zarbian locations and their containment without firing a shot. If they chose to fight, however, the retributions would be swift and awesome.

Skies over Datria

Unseen and unheard the dark flying wings, which had brought the destruction of the airfield, returned with a silent vengeance. The payload doors opened and out flew several precision-guided bombs. As the weapons fell over Datria and the other settlements of the island they began their masterful and devious working.

The core of the bomb contained regular explosives, what differed was the warhead shield tube was metal, which itself was contained in a body of metal that was an energized electromagnet. As the fuse detonated, the rear of the explosives pushed the metal casing into contact with what was essentially a highly-potent capacitor. The reaction continued rear to front creating a forward moving short circuit which compressed the magnetic field and generated an electromagnetic pulse.

The power of the bombs was such to cover the whole of the islands – save the airport and Zarbian troops. Computers, cell phones, radios, even internal combustion engines would be devastated. Vehicles would no longer work and the dispersed Datrian Army would be without a means to communicate to itself. More importantly, had thought Tetley, Okonkwo would now be without a means to communicate with the world. In one fell swoop the Royal Air Force had silenced Datria.

Jungles of Datria
Outside Datria Airport

Colair heard the distant explosions of the E-bombs as the weapons were commonly referred to, the idea being marvelous that a non-nuclear generated EMP would shut down all Datrian electronic systems. Fortunately, he remained close to the airfield and was safe with those at the airfield – the bastards didn’t know how lucky they were.

Finally it came time to move; he peered down at his datalink and found something odd. Thermal signatures had managed to move in such a way as to create an arc around his men, almost as if…

He quickly keyed up his mic, “Gentlemen, pack up, we’re leaving now!”

“C’mon sarge, I was just laying out the barbecue and the grill, even the margaritas –“

“Jenkins, shut the fuck up and move!”

Colair cursed himself, he had remained in position far too long, and it seemed as if the enemy was on to him. He pointed his men to the south, towards the beaches and an open field. He relayed a message to the Avin and requested extraction through an armed helicopter team.

There were maybe thirty warm bodies creeping ever so slowly in around his men, they had expertly left room ahead of him to give the illusion of freedom – but Colair knew better than that. They would move only into the arms of the Zarbians. A rock and a hard place, indeed. He chambered a round into his rifle and unsafed the weapon. Slowly he moved forward, sweeping the ground and the air for any signs of trouble. He attempted to head to the south, using hills and ravines where they would obscure his team. To the rear, Humphreys kept a watch while Alvarez monitored the flanks. Ever so slowly, they approached the men to the south.

Colonel Nilsson looked at Umuofia, the man appeared to be desperate. The Zarbians had been here for less than 24 hours and already there were bombs going off.

"Listen to me," said Nilsson, "I need to know how many soldiers you have who are ready to fight. Get them all together and move them into the jungle, anywhere that they can be together and protected."

He paused to think before continuing.

"The Azazians will not attack my forces as long as we do not move against them, this is our advantage. I will contact my superiors now, we will be out of this mess soon enough."

Nilsson smiled as he left the room, the Azazians did not know what they were getting into.

Erickson Island Naval Station, Erickson Island

Erickson Island stood in the middle of the Sea of Azazia, a bulwark for the interior sea and coast of the Commonwealth. At her eastern end were several massive piers constructed for the new Endeavour-class supercarriers. And at Pier 2 sat the behemoth which answered to the name HMS Enterprise. Registering an impressive 900 meters in length, she operated as a floating airbase, commanding a usual complement of three air wings she would have 230 fixed-wing aircraft and 35 VSTOL aircraft. Her battlegroup would enjoy the supremacy of the seas and she would sail into combat zones and decimate all before her.

Admiral Sir Nigel Bell walked across the flight deck of the massive vessel; he in fact could barely discern the far end of the stern deck, it being so far distant from the bow. Bell had been appointed commander of the battle group after serving as commander of the HMS Moscow for several years, and before that various destroyers and frigates. He had been briefed on the deteriorating situation in Datria. The army had seized power in a coup and had enlisted the support of a foreign army for securing its power. The Royal Navy had been tasked with escorting the HMS Aurora and her detachment of Royal Marines to the island, where they would be forced to retake the whole of the island. His main concern was the possibility of an air raid from Datria, although the Royal Air Force had apparently taken out the Datrian airfield, which had eased Bell’s mind considerably.

With his good friend Admiral Thomason on the HMS Avin, the two men’s combined forces would effectively seal off the whole island from outside support, and both the Datrians and Zarbians would be cutoff from the rest of the world. It now seemed more and more inevitable that the clash of two powers over a small worthless piece of rock would occur, and potentially destroy an entire nation in the process.

Bell had been privy to the estimates of the Central Directorate and their analyses of the situation on that island, and he understood fully the consequences of having a militaristic state so close to the Commonwealth. Although they could easily crush the state if it became a threat, the possibility of damaging propaganda and insurgents on Commonwealth soil made it all the more important that Okonkwo be removed from power. He didn’t doubt that Achebe was corrupt. Almost all politicians were, but the question was whether or not Okonkwo had the right to remove him from office.

To do so would mean the end of democracy, and Okonkwo had proved that. In its place he would surely setup a dictatorship through proxies, and that was entirely unacceptable. And so he stood on his decks as the sun began to set. In four days the Enterprise would launch, her battlegroup was already being deployed to secure the route, and then all hell would break out on Datria. Did the Datrians or the Zarbians understand what they were getting into?

Bell shook his head and walked off into the main conning tower. He didn’t know if they knew. But in a few days they would both find out.