NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: This is strictly MT, and it is Semi-Open. Please ask before you can get in, preferably by TG. I will supply a map later on.

IC:

The Grand-Ducal Palace, Luxembourg

In the large living room, The Grand Duke switched off the television, before walking back to his office. He sat down in his large chair, before rolling the chair to the window and looking out. What he saw, was a wealthy city. The sky was egally blue, and nothing stopped this view. However, the Grand Duke had seen it dozens of times, and sometimes became tired of the view. Inh an impulse, he grabbed the phone and rang an internal number.

Vehicle Affairs? Could you ready my Bentley Continental Flying Spur? No, not the red one, the grey one. Yes. OK. I'll be right down.

Then, he made a call to another number.

Alain? Could you please arrange De La Messardière for tonight? I'll be staying for two weeks.

Chateau de La Messardière was the Grand Duke's main residence on the Rivièra, and one of the largest of his residences, outside the Palace wher ehe was now.

He rose from his chair, and walked downstairs, where he exited by the main entrance. In front of the building the Bentley was already waiting, polished, filled up and ready to go. The Grand Duke was however overtook by his Aide Alain, who adressed him and handed a short note.

Damnit...

He ran towards his Bentley, got in and ordered the driver to head for the House of Parliament. The vehicle quickly got off the Palace terrain, and mixed with the busy evening traffic. It was only a short drive to the high-rise buildings on the outskirts of Luxembourg, housing all ministries and the Grand Duke's destination, the House of Parliament. The luxury car parked in front of the buidling's entrance, allowing the Grand Duke to get out and enter the building immediately. He ran through the security control, took the lift and passed over the glass floor towards the major briefing room, located on the top floor of the building. He stormed inside, and got a seat at the table.

Now, can someone tell me what is going on?

Nicolas Hirtz looked up. The 34-year old Premier of Van Luxemburg was just busy pointing at the Arabian peninsula on a huge map of the Van Luxemburgian Continent. He began to speak, closely assisted by Philippe Dermont, Minister of Defense.

Well, Sir, I'm afraid we have unrests down here....

He pointed at the Middle-Eastern portion of the Van Luxemburgian Continent. At that moment, Philippe Dermont took over.

We have had several people declaring independence. So far, we have reports of 10 new nations and 2 Free Cities. 5 out of 10 nations seem to have no problems with us, and are considered friendly, while 5 others seem to be hating us. the 2 Free Cities are both part of the Van Luxemburgian Commonwealth, we arranged that, and it seems 2 others are interested. We are afraid that the 5 nations against us will start with arming themselves, paid by Oil Money.

How's our Military?

That is an interesting case. The Airforce and Navy managed to get out, but we have lost contact with all Arméi units in the enemy nations. We still have contact with the complete 7 and 8 Armdiv, but 25 and 49 Mechdiv are out of reach, residing in Enemy territory. All Comm seems to be cut, and we can't reach them. We however have their locations. They mostly consist of Brigades dotted around on Desert bases. However, 25 Mechdiv was on training with 7 Armdiv, and they haven't got any Desert Camouflage. As long as they're on their base they can apply washable camo on their vehicles and improvise with what they have, but we think they were on a mission, as 7 Armdiv was. They neither have contact with the 25th, who are probably hundreds of kilometres south of the location of 7 armdiv. 49 Mechdiv is currently spread out over an area in nations known as Al Furat and South
Al-Ghalib. The other three hostile are known as Duwaira, Al-Riyadh and South Arabia. We have the Free Cities of Abha and Damascus, aswell as the friendlies Harak, Aghman, North Al-Galibh, Qu'Air and Badiyat. We have already requested Chateau Bourscheid to do something, but they say they need outside support. We have contacted Vuhifell, and are waiting for their answer. Their plan is to evacuate the divisions to friendly territory, and then wait what will happen. We share their opinion. We have recognised the friendlies, but not the enemies. Support for our friendlies is on the way, but we can't arm them within the month. Expect the first small arms to arrive in one month, possibly two. We have intercepted communications from the Enemy nations, they are grouping up for an army with Russian equipment. Large orders of new AK-74's, T-72's, T-80's and even a few T-90's, enough to equip three Armoured Divisions. We expect an order for another 3 Mechanised Divisions soon. We think it's 50/50 between "Black", illegal money, aswell as Oil Dollars. They seem to be focusing on ground warfare, but also ordered a small batch of Mi-24 and Mi-17 helicopters, aswell as a wing of Mig-21's. All inferior to our equipment, but still dangerous for the undefended friendly states.

Okay, it's clear to me. I want Laval in charge of the Special Forces operation, assisted by Mr. Malone, or Mr. Daniels, nowadays, from Vuhifell. And I want that VL knows what is going on, but limit it to VL and our allies as much as possible. I don't want the whole world to know what happens here. Do not give out any official announcements about this.


Castle Bourscheid

Capitaine (Captain) Martin Laval walked over the top-floor promenade of the old castle, looking over the green hills, vanishing in the distance. He had been ordered to plan the operation to relieve two Mechanised Divisions from enemy territory. Laval had been the commander of the forces in The Vuhifellian States, and one of the only persons in the Van Luxemburgian Military which had actual combat experience. He now had the chance to work with Malone (EBG 117) again, an offer he didn't turn down. He had asked him and his men immediately, to work together with his Special Forces. Laval had already asked to deploy as much Special Forces as possible, and eventually got clearance for 650 tough guys, including one SSR team of 50 men. Another 6 Corpses of the Spezialkommando Lëtzebuerg assisted them, which would then be reinforced by Malone's selection. Laval insisted on him being able to go with his troops, and that he woudl fight aswell. His demands had been met, and the aircrafts were ready to go, standing on Köln Rhein-Main AFB, waiting for their Vuhifellian Colleagues to arrive by aircraft at that same base. From there, the group would head out to Ankara, where the group would be able to get their equipment ready and eventually take some vehicles, and then move out to a makeshift base in Aghman, in the center of the Arabian desert and one of the 5 Friendly nations. There they would start operations to save 25 and 49 Mechanised Divisions, assisted by the aircraft they had since they left the Köln Rhein-Main AFB.

FROM: Special Operations Command, Castle Bourscheid, Van Luxemburg
To: Patrick Daniels, The Vuhifellian States

Mr Daniels/Malone,

Capitaine Laval has asked you to assist him in an operation to save two Van Luxemburgian Mechanised Divisions in hostile territory, locked up due to a rebellion. We would like you to create a Vuhifellian Special Forces Team, capable of doing the mission. Capitaine Laval has also requested that you will fight on his side, in the Arabian Desert on the Van Luxemburgian Continent. We await your reply, and we have transport planes waiting at Golden Skies International. We can supply all the equipment you will need, but you could take your own weaponry. We will need your help, so we ask you to assist us.

Signed,

Brigadier Anthony Hartman,
Commander,
Van Luxemburgian Special Operations Command

Presidential Palace, New Hivez, South Belka, Vuhifell
June 17, 2006; Gregorian Calender [April 22, 2078, Vuhifellian Military Calender]

"WE SHOULD MURDER YOU TWO! YOU KNOW THE SHIT WE HAD TO PUT UP WITH AFTER YOU TWO "DIED"!?"

"But then, Patty, if I hadn't "died", you never would have met Alicia over here" said James Lyndex (EBG 119). He supposedly died 3 years earlier, and was only now making his appearance known to his former EBG squad.

"Okay, but YOU! Chief! How could you! We watched you die!"

"Correction Major 117! You only saw my empty armor. The fact is, I ran away as fast as fuck after I gave you my helmet, turns out you survived after all. And I was captured by Kazach forces during the Siege of Farbanti."

In total, there were about 68 former Squad 49 members meeting in the same room. 66 out of those 68 wanted to murder the other two for lying to them for the past several years.

"Shut up! All of you! At least they're alive! Bastards they might be, at least we know they didn't DIE!" Matthew Altman (EBG 110) screamed at the group as hard as he could. His voice was, to say the least, very loud, it had to be, he was now a Brigadier General in the VA. Commanding the Elite, 122nd Airbourne Division.

"Madame President. There is a fax for your husband..." A Presidential Aide walked into the room and stunned all of its occupants. In her hands, she held a single piece of paper, on red security paper...

"So..it's this important huh?" He took the paper, and read it over, then read it over again, to make sure he got the details correct...

His mind was racing now, a sort of devil-angel conscious game appeared in his head...

'Relive the glory days, c'mon, shooting is great, and murdering is better...'
'You're retired, you have a wife, you have your own corporation, don't blow it away now...'

"Colonel 99, Church Mantiguez. Colonel 118, Kieth Brockman. I believe both of you should take a look at this!"

Both men got up from their seats, before sitting back down, delierating...

"Well, chief? What now? EBG doesn't anymore, so we can't order these men around like the old days..."

"Shut up Kieth! Alright badasses, listen up! In Van Luxemburg, there's been some sort of Civil War, they came to our aid, it should only be in good courtesy that we come to theirs, all men willing to come into this operation, head to the airport for the next flight to GSC...every who doesn't, watch us kick ass on OBC..."

It was an offer they couldn't refuse...lest 99 give them an ass whooping anyway.

Air Ixiom Flight 009 - En Route from New Hivez Intl. to GSC Intl.
First Class

All in all, about 64 members of Squad 49 were on that flight, heading to Golden Skies City. The four members who couldn't make it were, of course, Alicia Daniels (she was President, after all). Matthew Altman (110), Stephan Uhn (112), and Pedro Quincy (121).

"So, tell us James, where the hell were you..." asked Patrick, a slight gleam in his eye, the flight was about to land, and 119 just had the unfortunate luck of sitting next to 117.

"Oh, you know, this and that...actually, I was recently deployed..."

"Really? And which unit, pray tell, employs dead people?"

"The Kazach Special Forces Division..." He said blandly. If he was serious, then the 119 facing him now was not the 119 he knew three years ago. Only the most elite of the elite make it into that division, even both 117 and 99 had been rejected membership...

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are preparing to land, please fasten your seat belts and put your food trays in their upright position, thank you..." The pilot repeated the message in Japanese and Russian before allowing near silence to take the plane.

"Let's talk about this when we land, eh?"

Golden Skies International Airport, Quadrant I, Sector Z

Before Foxtecha's downfall, Sector Z used to be populated by massive, gleaming glass skyscrapers, important business-people roaming the streets, and EBG units on regular patrol around the EBG Academy...

But that was before. Now, the EBG Academy lay silent, a reminder of a lifestyle that once was. It was dilapidated, dirty, and graffiti adorned its marble walls. The once gleamy skyscrapers had been turned into tenaments, much glass lay on the ground, due to newly introduced 'slum people' breaking the glass of their own homes to celebrate their high-rise tenements that used to be insurance headquarters or federal offices.

The airport, suprisingly, wasn't all that different, due, in large part, to a massive VPU and GSPD presence in and around the airport. Several VLAF transport planes lay on the tarmac.

"Well, time to do what the EBG does best." exclaimed 119 -Yup. This was definately not the same 119 as three years before -

"They better have our pay ready and waiting."

"That's only if we all make it out of this alive. Major 117, Colonel 118, I trust you both with my units' lives."

Golden Skies International Airport

One Boeing 787 Dreamliner awaited, coloured completely grey, and with the markings of the Van Luxemburgian Airforce, otherwise known as the Groothertogelijke Luchtmacht. It was not connected to any gate, and was waiting in an area unpopulated by civil flights. Capitaine Laval had been waiting at the gate where Air Ixiom flight 009 would arrive. As soon as the group of 64 persons came into sight, he greeted them by saluting shortly and shaking hands with Patrick.

Patrick! Long time no see! The aircraft is waiting. Would you all follow me?

Laval was clothed in his daily outfit, except for the fact that it was the desert model. He had been decorated with several medals, and had the insignias of the Special Operations Command on his shoulderpatch, aswell as near his wrist and on his chest. His nametag was made out of gold-coloured fabric, and in black his nametag read "Cap. M.D. Laval". He walked with a quick pace, and exited the terminal building, before walking to the massive aircraft waiting for it's passengers. Capitaine Laval Ran up the stairs, and saluted the hostess waiting for her passengers. She had a list of all Squad 49 members, and removed all non-present members from the list. Then, she welcomed everybody aboard, and the door was closed, before the stairs were removed. The aircraft left, and took off immediately for the 12-hour flight to Köln-Rhein-Main AFB. Just after take-off, Laval received the microphone and began to speak.

Welcome aboard one of the Van Luxemburgian Airforce's 787's. You will be flown to the AFB closest to Luxembourg, where we will be loaded onto A400M transports. We will bring several Mercedes-Benz jeeps, aswell as some Eagle IV's. I may hope for you that you have the Eagles, as they got airconditioning. It will get hot Ladies and Gentlemen. I guess we all know the situation? Does everyone have their own weapons with them, or does anyone want to pick up some weapons from the cache at the AFB? Any other questions?

Van Luxemburgian Airspace

The flight went well. Everyone was chatting quietly on the recent arrival of 119 and 99, before someone brought up the Vuhi-Kazach War, at which point 117 decided it was in everyone's best interest to tell them the story of Galm Team...

"So both of them, in their F-15's, were flying over The Round Table. Then, Espada Team comes out of nowhere and shoots down a Demon Knight and..."

"God damn, Patrick, we know, we know. How about entertaining us with something like, I dunno, something we didn't experience first hand..." said 119, again, his voice was bland, emotionless.

"But Squad 49 was never deployed on the East Coast..."

"Sorry. I was thinking about my old unit there, chief. I was Wardog 5, and the last pilot in the war to become an Ace, Demon Knight, and Knight of the Round Table...."

Now that was cold. James had even stolen his seat as the head entertainer of the Squad. How the hell did he make it into the Demon Knights anyway?

"Bastard..." was all Patrick muttered under his breathe, before they commenced a landing sequence near their transfer airbase.

Köln Rhein-Main AFB

"Okay, VL guys. What we need here. About...49 assault rifles of any kind and ammunition, 78 pistols of any kind and ammunition, and about 200 fragmentation grenades, 30 concussion grenades and...that should be it... Oh, and 64 kevlar vests, helmets, and pads"

99 was discussing his unit's needs for their battles to the people in charge of supplies at the base. All the while, 117 was over by a wall, cleaning his M4A1.

"So, I see you don't like 119?" asked 118.

"Hell's no. Didn't like him during training, didn't like him three years ago, don't like him now. And each time it's a different way he pisses me off!"

Köln Rhein-Main AFB

Martin Laval climbed a stage near the transport aircraft, which had been loaded to the maximum. He readied the microphone, and overlooked a group of 700 men, which couldn't wait for their mission to start.

Ladies and Gentlemen.

I might introduce myself. Most of you will know me, but I'll do it first. I'm Martin Dieter Laval, Capitaine with the Special Operations Command. I'll be your field commander. My command group will be all the commanders, including Mr. Daniels from The Vuhifellian States as my right hand. We've arranged a single LT-5S and a VBCI to be in the command group. We also have several Mercedes-Benz Unimog and 290GD 4x4's, and some Unimog 6x6's. A group of our Eagles has been took aswell, and we expect to have enough with that. Here we have our final assignments.

Corps 1 to 6 of the Spezialkommando, Corps 7 of the SSR, and the Vuhifellians will be Corps numero 8. This makes around 700 highly-trained men. Two of the corpses have about 50 men, the rest has 100 men per Corps, as you're used to. The vehicles are assigned as follows:

The corpses of the Spezialkommand Lëtzebuerg will receive 4 Unimog armed patrol trucks, which means space for 48 people. One additional 6x6 for 20 men has also been contributed. Another 5 Mercedes-Benz 290GD's, armed and ready, make up for another 20 people, and we will contribute 5 Eagle IV's, for 25 people. That's for each corps, mind you.

A sigh of relief went through the crowd, who thought they had to walk.

The SSR will get two 4x4 Unimog's, plus two Mercedes-Benz 290GD's, and 5 Eagle IV's. Corps 8, the Vuhifellians, will receive 10 Eagle IV's, aswell as one 6x6 Unimog. All soldiers have received their preferred material? Okay, The Vuhifellians have been equipped with standard JK13 rifles, aswell as P226 pistols and the requested number of clothing, plus another 500 extra grenades. These are already on the spot. Thanks for your attention, Please load up in the assigned aircraft. The SSR and the Vuhifellians will share an aircraft, together with my Command group.

The soldiers began moving towards their designated aircraft, which already had returned from a first haul to get the vehicles at the makeshift base, aswell as another 2 hauls for weaponry and trucks.

Makeshift Base, Aghman

The last A400M began with it's approach, and lined up with the improvised lighting on a deserted road in the middle of nowhere. Clouds of dust moved around, attacking the personnel walking around, aswell as almost blasting the camo off the vehicles. The two combat vehicles had been lined up with eachother and Laval was talking to the gathered commanders, about oncoming operations.

Our troops will move towards South Arabia first, to evacuate 25 Mechdiv. This should be easy. We move in there, use our intel to locate them, and take them out, into Aghman. Last sightings have been in Sanaw, Region of Yemen, close to the Oman border. We'll use our trucks to get there. Expected move is within the week, probably three days. We'll first train and accomodate with our weapons first. We've got enough munitions for that atm. And we've still got supply. Next up on our agenda, desert trainings. We'll explain how to survive in this desert, and how to use bedouins as intel sources, and how to look like them. Got it? I'll expect to have tents here at 1300 hours, then we'll take cover for the sun and sleep a bit, I'll all meet you during dinner at 1700 hours. We'll move out on 1730 hours. Training will last till 2100 hours. See ya later, all.

Makeshift Base, 1700 hours

Capitaine Laval walked between the camouflaged tents, Which had completely merged with the landscape. He got out pen and paper, after searching inside his pockets.

Corps 1! What's for dinner tonight?

Sarge would make us Thai Bami, sir.

Check. Corps 2!

White Rice with some Vietnamese Pancake Rolls, sir. But the idiot Soldat Estévan is, he made the Rice cook too long, so we're left with some white goo.

Have a great meal. Corps 3?

Á La Carte for every squad, sir.

Check. Corps 4?

Grilled Beef with some kind of sauce from our Caporal Ross.

Sounds good. Corps 5?

Burgers with Fries sir. Soldat-Chef Wazlowski is busy with them.

Great. Corps 6?

Ehm, we'll have some MRE's already.

Why?

Because Sergent Norberg forgot our food for the first night.

Bad luck. SSR?

A man with a heavy Scottish accent spoke.

'Ell, Mister Laval, we were planning on a McDrive around here. Permission to get our vehicles out?

Yes, and my name's Poohbear. Tell me or it's MRE's.

Okay sir, we were planning on some pizza specialities from our friend Caporal-Chef Vandelli.

Great. Corps 8 is on themselves here. They'll have to make a choice. i'll join the SSR , meanwhile. Real Italian Pizza sounds good.

Half an hour later, everyone had finished eating, and the group stood in the hot sand, facing Capitaine Laval.

Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, we're in the middle of nowhere here. Water is rare, so keep as many as you can keep in your bottles. The Aghmani government will assist us with water, so that won't be a problem. You also have your MRE's, and your fuel. Remember, there's no fuel stations here, no shops, and certainly no McDrives, McCollough.

The Scottish SSR operative smiled, and nodded to his teammates. Meanwhile, Capitaine Laval went on with his story.

I know there's an Arabic specialist in every team. Could they please announce themselves by holding their hands up?

A forest of hands was raised. More than one in every Corps spoke Arabic, apparently.

At that moment, one of the operatives began to shout.

Hey, I thought the Airforce pulled out? What's that out there?

McCollough, the Scottish SSR operative, put his binoculars to his eyes, and scanned the blue skies.

It's a Chengdu J-7, Chinese-made. I however don't know about the insignia's, it's certainly not Chinese. It's Arabic.

The person standing next to him grabbed the binoculars and stared opwards.

It reads "Sjeikh Airforce of South Arabia". This means they also got their weaponry from China.

Laval made a few calculations, and then began to run his command.

Okay. I want all encampments removed immediately. We're moving out. If the J-7 returns, shoot it. I don't want any spectators.

Only minutes later, the Chengdu fighter returned to make a low pass ove rthe encampment. This was however prevented by Sergent Norberg, who loaded up a Starstreak MANPADS and fired it, after locking it on the fighter. The missile performed great acrobatics, before it reached the Chinese-built aircraft. The J-7 did completely nothing, which implicated that the pilot was unexperienced and only knew how to fly the aircraft, instead of being able to use it for the full 100%.

In a few milliseconds, the aircraft turned into a fireball after a rough touch with the missile. The two auxiliary fuel tanks made a complete chaos, blowing and scattering the complete plane. No parachutes were spotted, and the fireball descended down to Earth at Mach 0.9. A cheer went up from the convoy standing ready at the former makeshift base. After the hit had been confirmed, the engines started, and coll air flooded into the cabins. The vehicles began to make speed, and headed south, to the fighter's origin.

Dubai, South Arabia

The two men spoke in English, in a lone café at a corner of one of the busiest parts of the city.

Our new J-7's have arrived already. One of them has been sent over Aghman, and we discovered something interesting. A base in the middle of nowhere. Some 1000 men seemed to be standing by for action. Sadly enough, we think they're Van Luxemburgian and they will be sent to save their comrades in our empire. We couldn't verify that. The Chengdu was hit by a missile after it made a second pass.

A second man spoke. He was clothed in typical bedouin's clothes, And wore sunglasses.

Great news. Show our friends in Van Luxemburg that they shouldn't violate our borders, and use other nations as bases. Surprise them with our 1st Holy Division. I want them on standby near Yemen.

At your orders, oh great Sjeikh.

A little girl was standing in front of a large, white building with a red 'K' on it, the Vuhifellian version of the Red Cross. The sound of a large number of helicopters could be heard in the distance, as was the cracking of gunfire, the date, was June 22, 1988.

Voices began to criss-cross in his head, fading in and out after one another...
"You have your orders..."
"Kill them..."
"Kill them..."
"Welcome to the Academy, your number is 103971, this will be your name for the next six years..."
"Congratulations, you've graduated, your new number is..."
"You're lucky, you're being assigned to Squad 49, they're the best of the best, their Colonel ain't half bad either..."
"Your mission coordinator for this operation will be 209876, she's a new recruit in the Academy, she's training in mission coordination as well as sharpshooting, you want to know her real name? She's..."
"Kill them all, kill them...those are your orders..."

Modern day
Makeshift Base

117 woke up violently in the car. The salty-sweet taste of blood and tears made its way into his mouth; not only was he crying like a little girl for their mother, but his nose was bleeding violently, non-stop...

"GOD DAMMIT!"

"What's the matter, Pat?" asked 118, who was still cleaning his rifle.

"Oh, it's...it's nothing, just had that dream again, hey, ask the Van Luxemburgians what our orders are, will ya!? We can't do nothin' without orders, at least not in this theater of operations."

Makeshift Base

While Laval threw a box into the armoyured vehicle, he answered the question of 117, leaning on the next crate, filled with weaponry.

We'll be moving South immediately. We've been discovered down here, so we need to get to the ojectives quickly. Vehicles will leave in half an hour.

He threw the next crate into another waiting truck, before teaming up with a few others, to throw several KTM motorbikes on the backs of the Unimogs.

Half an hour later..

The long column of vehicles moved out, the two armoured vehicles in front. They didn't use the roads, but threw up loads of dust by moving through the desert. If one would watch the column from out of the distance, he would see only a high column of dust rising from the ground. If he however would look on the other side, another column of dust would be rising. What he could or couldn't know, was that these were the elements of the South-Arabian 1st Holy Division, on their way to help the Special Forces return to their graves.

Halt!

Laval shouted through the radio at all the other vehicles, before grabbing his binoculars and aiming them for the cloud coming from the other side.

I can see vehicles coming for us... They seem to be combined Russian and Chinese. OK! Vuhifellians, you wanted orders? Check out those columns for us, will you? take all the motorbikes and vehicles you think you'll need, and we will follow at a safe distance. I want the SSR to pass along the left flank, while the Vuhifellians make the right flank, to meet up behind them. The rest will form a half circle, the "empty" side facing them we'll try to take them out with some strategics. Move out!

The SSR decided to take enough motorbikes with them, and moved out with 25 motorbikes, each carrying two operatives. The LT-5's crew reloaded the 120mm cannon, before aiming the gun and waiting till a nice chance would pop up. The rest of the Special Forces made a half circle and moved up at a steady speed. The enemy would soon be captured.

"Roger that VL trooper, my troop will be changing it's callsign to Scinfaxi. 118's group shall be changing callsign to Hrimfaxi, over." 117 still held his radio over his face, giving hand signals to all Squad 49 around him.

"118, prep your squad, we're going on recon duty."

"Roger that 117. Oi, Lombardi, Di Ville, Solovok. Gather your men and meet me by the jeeps ASAP. Grab recon gear and tell Fireteam Ascent to finish cleaning their equipment! Shark, Hughes, van Dyke, your responsible for getting out technical equipment up, everyone got their orders?"

A faint 'yes sir' could be heard in the background of the radio, while 117 began typing and clicking furiously on the mini-laptop in front of him, mounted on the dashboard.

"118, our mission coordinator will be 119. He'll be staying behind and riding along with the VL forces, okay?"

"Roger. 117, our target is bearing '2-9-0', correct?"

"No, '1-4-0', you got scopes"

"Yes sir, packed and ready, Your squad moves first, chief."

Patrick's 20 man squad all rode in their respective vehicles, jeep or motorbike, it didn't matter, they each had several high powered recon scopes with them and a few armor piercing rifle rounds.

"This is Scinfaxi 1, my squad has reached the first sand dune, we're setting up recon fence now. Hrimfaxi 1, move your squad to LZ 'Razgriz' and meet up with Rodriguez and his fireteam at sand dune 6. We'll provide the intel, you provide the show."

"Yes sir."

117's squad had simply been a recon squad for the rest of the group, but Kieth's squad was outfitted with most of the weapons, including a high percentage of sniper rifles equipped with armor piercing rounds strong enough to knock out a tank made before the 1970's, or, any tank without modern armor for that matter.

"Alright, Hrimfaxi moving out, keep an eye on that armor column for us will ya', we don't want em' to break formation before we can destroy the lead and rear vehicles."

1st Holy Division, South Arabia

Wadid Mubakhr put down his binoculars, and stepped down from his T-90 tank. It was the only T-90 in the South Arabian ground forces, and Wadid was proud of it. He had already mentioned the fact that he would kill someone destroying his tank a dozen times, and he was still repeating it.

Okay. Gentlemen. We'll take them out by a frontal assault. The infantry follows the T-55's closely enough, me and my T-90 aswell as the T-72's will spearhead the assault.

The new T-90 and the secondhand T-72's drove off, leaving huge trails of thick black smoke. They were followed by the wreckages of which a trained eye could see they were T-55's, leaving he had seen the wreckages during a war or he had spent enough time in training.

The vehicles moved forward while generating a thunderstorm-like cloud, making a strange appearance in the hot and dry desert. Followed by endless rows of the worst infantry man could imagine, it was only impressive to nitwits.

A few hundred meters away.

The SSR troops ditched their motorbikes behind a hill completely made out of sand and rocks, before climbing upwards and aiming their binoculars and rifles towards the 1st Holy Division, who seemed to busy marching to their target to spot the troops, laying covered behind rocks.

Move it! Move the Eryx to that rock over there, and put the mortars down there! I want comms with a Friendly Airforce and with the main group. Set up the MG's there, and hand everybody an AT4! Move it!

Whispering was all over, but nobody even dared to shout, as it could be heard by the soldiers moving along.

A few minutes later, the soldiers finished their set-up, and they were ready for action....

OOC: I'm just gonna' take the initiative here and start attacking, and, from July 7-9 I'll be away for a conference in Central Jersey.

IC:

"Heh. This is gonna' be fun, just like your birthday, eh Pat?" said 119, coldly, emotionlessly, where was the timid half-soldier three years ago?

"How the hell can you say that, what we're about to do!" They were quarreling, silently, but audible to those a few meters around them.

"What? I'm their Guardian Angel!"

"And you're going to pull them off in a magical carriage, huh? To hell I suppose. This is Scinfaxi 1 to Hrixfaxi 1, are you in position?"

"Hell yes. Gimme' some orders."

"There's a column of tanks followed by infantry heading our way. Load up on the DU shells and open up on the T-55's. We'll suppress the infantry for ya'."

"Fenris, Kurosaki, Lofquiste! You heard the man! Get your fireteams together!"

Through his binoculars, 117 could almost see Squad 2 setting up several M107 high powered rifles.

"Oi, Hrimfaxi 1! Keep your men behind that camo net, I don't want any of em' getting shot after all these years!"

"Roger. We got the mortars set in place?"
As before, faint 'yes sirs' could be heard in the background.

"Good. Ready to fire...Fire-One!"

A salvo of Depleted Uranium armor piercing rounds went their way towards the T-55 tanks in the armored column, while the mortars began to fire high explosive hell on the enemy position. 117's squad began their assault on the infantry by chucking a volley of fragmentation grenades at them, many of which fell short, and exploded harmlessly in an empty sand dune...

This is SSR, open fire, out.

The mortars fired their first round, landing right inbetween the infantry leaving huge craters, and explosions all over. The shouting of wounded soldiers was all over, and explosions sandblasted the tanks, of which some had been simply penetrated by the DU shells, going in on one side and out another.

We need AT fire on those T72's! place the Eryx on the T-90!

The crew of the guided Eryx-AT missile fired a single missile at the T-90, which was hit in it's tracks, rendering movement impossible. The single LT-5S engaged by firing his 120mm cannon straight at the turret of the tank, blowing off a large part of the gun, and heavily damaging the rest of the turret. Several crewmembers were able to get out, but fell down in the hot sand after a few seconds of walking.

The AT4's meanwhile made a short flight towards their targets, flying low over the sand, and creating a small ridge behind them, before crashing into the T72's. Most were well-aimed, hitting just below the turret. Some of the tanks completely lost their turret, but most of the T72's crews surrendered after the blow. Upon seeing that, the rest of the infantry and T55 crews surrendered aswell.

The Special Forces quickly moved on the enemy units, holding their rifles shouldered and aimed. They picked up remaining crewmembers of the tanks, and stormed the location of the infantry. From there, several soldiers fired at the Special Forces, who returned fire immediately. One of the soldiers was hit, against two of the Special Forces. The other 4 infantrymen made a run for it, and vanished out of sight quickly.

Okay, what do we do with this immense amount of captives? We seem to have no space for those.

Laval had a solution, and took his radio.

I'll fix it, a moment

He switched the radio on, and contacted the local authorities.

Attention Keeper, Midfield is ready with the other side's attackers, they need urgent medical care. Location X5.

Roger Midfield, Keeper on it's way. Keep clear please.

Laval then turned to his men.

Okay, we need to move. Take the commander of the T-90, he'll be accompanying us.

Two Special Forces lifted the commander off the ground, still unconscious, and put him into the VBCI command vehicle. Then, Laval ordered his men to load up, and move out, without the captured infantry, but with their arms.

OOC: Ah, July 15 I can post regularly again, as my sister will be going back to the Phillipines (or was it Rochester, New York, I forget?)

IC:

A small conversation was happening between 120 and 122 after the skirmish occured. No casualties were encountered, although 100 did manage to hold on to the grenade too long, and the blast, although it didn't kill him, broke both of his arms.

"Well. That was relatively easy."

"These guys aren't exactly 'respectable' seperatists, you can't really fight against a superpower without infrastructure, a la 'Kazach Order style'."

"Ah."

"Yet somehow, I don't think this is going to be the hardest mission of our operations base over here."

The firing of additional DU rounds could be heard directly nearby, a few fireteams were still firing shells into the tanks to "make sure" that their future would only be as scrap metal.

"Any way you look at it, this isn't really all that different from that peacekeeping job we had in Daijima a few months ago. Only, it was ice, not sand..."

"HEY! YOU TWO! QUIT YUR' YABBERIN' AND GET OVER HERE, WE'RE PULLING OUT! WE'RE GONNA' FOLLOW THE VAN LUXEMBURGIANS TO OUR NEXT LOCATION, PROVIDE SUPPORT FROM THERE!"

"Yes sir..." both of them managed to sigh, it was a long time since they heard 99's voice, unfortunately, too little time.

Council of Internal Affairs
Ministry of Public Safety
Department of Police Special Forces
Police Special Forces Unit 09 - CLASSIFIED EXISTENCE

It was four in the morning in Tauburg, where PSF Unit 09 was headquartered. A phone was ringing next to a lavish bed, where a middle-aged, unkempt man lay sleeping, beside him, a TV remote, a cell phone headseat, and a pornographic magazine.

"Ugh...herro?" He managed to mumble as he rolled out of bed, onto the floor, and finally picked up the phone.

"Livingston? God you sound like shit. Listen, we may have a job for you, but only if you and the host government is interested."

"Look, my unit's ready to go any time, these youngsters can do anything, but ol' timer's like you and me need our sleep, why in the hell did you wake me?"

"Listen. There's been some sort of revolt in Van Luxemburg. Former EBG Squad 49 has been mobilized..."

"Wait...you mean the Squad 49!?"

"Yes. Listen dammit. Them and the Van Luxemburgians are movin' through the desert on a SAR mission. But we have a more...direct approach. We'll send in a proposal to the Van Luxemburgian government tomorrow if they want an elite mercenary team to go in directly to enemy capitals and cause all sorts of mayhem..."

"Mercenary? Me and my team are police god-dammit!"

"The UPEO is offering us a contract. They've set up bounties for the leaders of these rebel factions, they already have a Deck of 52, you want to know the highest bounty? 100 Million Credits."

"...Okay then, I'm in. Submit the proposal, is this bounty..."

"The UPEO is willing to pay anyone, PSF, Squad 49, VL Military, anyone who manages to stop this rebellion will be quite rich..."

Military Command HQ Southeast, Athens

The impressive building, made out of limestone, stood on the outskirts of Athens, and was constantly guarded by the Marechaussee, and, since the declaration of independence of the Middle-East region, an SPz-9 IFV almost blocked the entrance gate.

Up in one of the airconditioned rooms, Fieldmarshall Anastasios Paolides finished his last papers, before walking over to the large map decorating the wall opposite to the window. He was however surprised by a delegation of two other generals, Generaal Maghmut Fensal of the Grand-Ducal Airforce, and Admiraal Altan Uslüm of the Marine Nationale.

Anastasios, old Friend! we need to talk. Can we conversate here?

They made a swift approach to Anastasios, and directly asked him to get in a meeting with them.

As long as some idiot doesn't blow up the building or something like that, we can. It's about the situation further southeast?

Exactly, An. You know the Special Forces have been attacked, not? We want to release an official news communication that they have been trapped and attacked, while on a reconaissance mission. We will say that we won't tolerate this, and that we will intervene if we get more attacks. Is that ok...

Uslüm wasn't allowed to finish his sentence, as Paolides' mobile phone alarmed him with a somewhat too cheerful tune.

Fieldmarshall Military Command Southeast? yes? Perfect! both? Even better! They've been attacked? How many? 45? 408 wounded? OK. Treat them, I want them out quicker then quick.

He disconnected, and returned to the two officers standing in front of him.

8 Armdiv and 49 Mechdiv have returned together. We've got reports flooding in from all parts of friendly territory, 408 wounded, 45 deaths as of now. They seem to have fought their way through. Gentlemen, it's time for action. Fensal, I want air raids on Baghdad, Jerusalem and Dubai International Airports, aswell as all important military installations that have confirmed enemy presence, and I want you, Altan, to block all major shipping routes throughout the region to prevent the delivery of weapons. Oh, and Maghmut, intercept all unidentified aircraft, or aircraft confirmedly delivering weaponry.

The two officers saluted, and walked off towards the door, but almost got the massive wooden plate thrown into their face by a Brigadier wearing insignias of the Special Operations Command.

Fieldmarshall Anastasios Paolides? I'm Brigadier Anthony Hartman, working for the Special operations Command at Castle Bourscheid. I currently got a large number of my men tucked up in your area, as you know, and we need you to provide constant air cover for them.

Anastasios saw that Maghmut Fensal was busy sneaking out the door, but he called him back.

This is your man, Brigadier Hartman. Generaal Fensal, local commander of the Airforce. Heard it Fensal?

It will be done.

Fensal then hasted himself out of the door, and got back to his office.

A few hundred kilometres Northeast of the Yemenite Regional Border

A group of vehicles moved through the dusty desert, leaving huge trails of dust and tiremarks everywhere. Up above, two Eurofighters made their Combat Air Patrol, on the lookout for potential ground targets.

HALT!

The line of vehicles halted, and left the Eurofighters surprised, which meant they had to return to their original go-around operations. On the ground, Capitaine Laval pulled out his binoculars, and aimed them for what seemed a Fata Morgana in the empty desert. Five men had their helmets hooked to the belt commonly issued to Van Luxemburgian Military Personnel, and they pulled their weapons forward, barrels in the sand. They seemed to be hindered by the drowth and heat, only slowly making their way forwards.

MOVE FORWARD!

The column started it's engines again, and sped up towards the few men. They were quickly surprised, seeing a cloud of dust coming towards them. The soldiers walked on, probably thinking they would be locked away for life. They were surprised by the markings on the vehicles, which were Van Luxemburgian, instead of Arabic. After a few minutes, the two groups could talk to eachother.

Come on guys, this obviously isn't the weather for a nice stroll along the scenic desert.

And the Travelguide mentioned it was lush and green here.... Maybe too much lumberjacks have discovered this place. There isn't much water aswell, you got any by coincidence?

Litres of water, don't worry about it. And, where's your guide and the rest of the group, it seems they are looking for those forests elsewhere....

Yeah, we lost 'em. Care to take us back to our starting position? We made an appointment with them there, they should be back in a few hours.

No problem. Move it, Guys!

The column moved on, with the extra soldiers loaded up.

RTVL 1

*RTVL Intro plays*

Welcome, this is Anders Sørensen in Athens. After a Declaration of Independence, aswell as several attacks on Van Luxemburgian Soldiers, The Van Luxemburgian Military has stated that they will not tolerate these attacks any longer, and ahve started raids on important military installations. So far, Jerusalem International Airport was hit by aircraft of the Grand-Ducal Airforce, aswell as the International Airports of Dubai, Baghdad Muscat and Aden. Van Luxemburgian Ships operating from Cyprus and Kuwait have imposed Naval blockades on all important non-Friendly Port facilities, and the nuclear powered Aircraftcarrier Tenero has moved against South Arabia, intercepting all aircraft above South Arabian soil. Reports that a Vanguard-Class Nuclear Submarine fired cruise missiles against targets in Abu Dhabi remain unconfirmed, while Mistral-Class Landing Ship Hintertux has been reported leaving her port in Athens, loaded with elements from the 5th Amphibious Division. This has however not yet been confirmed by the Van Luxemburgian Authorities. No reply has yet been made by any of the Independent nations attacked, but our reporters in major cities reported unrest, directed against both the Van Luxemburgian Government and the Independence movements. We thank you for your attention on this special report interrupting normal programming, RTVL 1 will now continue broadcasting Children's Playtime, Have a great day.

(OOC: About RTVL: It is a State-owned station, but it has laws imposed that require the station to be completely independent and unbiased. The only thing the Government has to do with it is funding, as it broadcasts no commercials, and is the only TV station that can be received anywhere in Van Luxemburg in Analog ways. Do not expect any propaganda to be sent from these stations.)

A few hundred kilometres Northeast of the Yemenite Regional Border

Stop! Here it was.

The column of vehicles stopped at a deserted camp, with several tents laying on their side, but with tyre marks leading out of the camp. The soldiers got off their truck, and thanked the Special Forces, before heading into a tent and returning with a radio. They put it down on a deserted table, before one of them got to work with the equipment.

Attention Papa Bear. Patrol Beta-Rainbow 11-7 reporting. Position Alpha-Zeta Five Four, Calling all units. Repeat, calling all units. Mellen, Mellen!

Papa Bear to Patrol Beta-Rainbow 1-7. Position Alpha-Zeta Five Four, Bestätegt. On our way.

The men then reported back to the Special Forces.

Our division is on their way. They can be here in about half an hour.

Half an hour later, a distant rumble had become the rolling of tracks nearing the group of vehicles and the deserted camp. IFV's and tanks rolled in, To be directed towards friendly territory by the Special Forces.

Capitaine Laval pointed the commander of the Mechanised Division out that he had a long way to go, but that it wouldn't be hard to do, as there was hardly any enemy on their path. He was however interrupted by Sergeant Norberg, handing him the mobile radio installation.

Taskforce Scorpion Here. Capitaine Laval reporting.

Laval, this is your commander, Fieldmarshall Paolides. Your mission has been cancelled. We have new orders for you. You need to head off for Dubai. We need you to clear the city, as we have reports there are commanding elements of our enemies there. Kill or capture them and get the hell out of that oversized sandbox. Intel will be on it's way over secure channel. Air support is ready, you can eventually call up Naval support. You have our help. out.

Laval checked the radio, but connection was lost. He then alarmed his men, and loaded up.

Ladies, and Gentlemen, we're heading out for Dubai. This is gonna be some special stuff.

A few days later, on the outskirts of Dubai.

A bruised and battered sign indicated this was the Dubai city border, but no city could be seen in the near distance, Only sand, and an empty, black road. It seemed the road had been through quite a lot, with the sides of the road being completely destroyed, and pieces of asphalt were scattered throughout the area. Tanks had passed over, but probably heading out of the city. Capitaine Laval leaned out of his LT-5S wheeled Heavy Support Vehicle, the 120mm smoothbore gun dangerously pointing towards Dubai. On the back of the turret, a crewmember looked over the area by using his binoculars. Suddenly, he looked up, and pointed his binocular in Southern direction, before adjusting the sights and reporting his view to Capt. Laval.

Capitaine, I got a visual. Group of around twenty militiamen, walking over a road, heading towards us. I guess they haven't noticed us yet.

Laval looked up with a disturbed expression on his face, before pointing his binoculars in the same direction.

True. Let's surprise them.

He lifted his hand, and the long column of vehicles halted. He talked the situation over with several of his commanders, and then decided to hide behind a dune, until they got close enough.

All, hide behind that dune, and hold fire! Fire on my order!

Around 50 men dug into the sand, ready for action. Hugging their weapons tightly, they concentrated on aiming for the militia.

What they however didn't notice, was a convoy moving out of Dubai, consisting of around 10 BMP's, aswell as two T80's and a BTR80.

McCollough was the only one who had exited his vehicle, and wasn't behind a dune. He had got his rifle, but only lit a cigarette. It was a clear day, the cigarette wouldn't blow their cover. But, looking towards their final destination, McCollough almost got a heartattack. From that direction, he saw a dustcloud coming closer to him, With a T-80 spearheading it. Militiamen sat on it, probably laughing about their latest joke, or possibly because they were drunk. The tanks didn't seem to have any interest in the surroundings, and assumed theyr were safe inside their own area.

Aye! Armoured column! Dead ahead! T-80's and BMP's! Hide on the other side of the sand dunes! Get the vehicles behind it! Move the LT-5! McCollough cried. He then grabbed his helmet and ran to the other side of the road, followed by several trucks and jeeps, while the LT-5 moved over the dune, in a position where the vehicle could fire it's 120mm gun. The 50 men laying on a dune then decided to make a run for it and get towards the trucks, duck over the dune, and take cover there.

Same Orders! Hold Fire! Concentrated assault! Take out the T80's first, then the BMP's!

Sir, there's a BTR moving in behind them!

Acknowledged! Heh, Wait! What the Hell?

The column stopped and the militias jumped off the vehicles, meeting up with the militia patrol in the desert. They stood in the middle of the road, and lit a cigarette, after taking a few sips from a bottle containing a strange fluid, probably containing Alcohol.

Wait, Wait..... OPEN FIRE!

OBC - Channel 04

Last weeks Independence Day murder of two top Daijima Administrative officials gathers more attention in the national government after the murder of an anti-refugee rapper earlier today in Golden Skies City. The rapper, known as "Criminal's Justice" or "CJ" for short, has often directed offensive racial slurs against refugees. All three murders have been assigned to the Ministry of Public Safety, and the Vuhifellian Security Corporation.

President Alicia Daniels has confirmed today, that "in light of recent events in Daijima, certain civil and political rights will be suspended, and defense and security budgets will be increased."

Desert of Arabia, Van Luxemburg

"Looks like things ain't so peachy back home." as 117 closes his PDA and stuffs it back in his pocket. "But, assuming our Executive Director does a good job, we should be getting a nice contract from the government."

He slings his assault rifle over his shoulder, and faces one of the dead, rebel soldiers.

"Rest in peace, good buddy, you're gonna' be dead for a looooooonnnngg time." He took out a pack of cigarettes, from the same pocket as his PDA, and fired a pistol rounds next to the tip. It lit. He never did smoke, at least not until after they had discovered 99 and 119 alive.

Outskirts of Dubai

They had arrived in a god-forsaken wasteland, and the city couldn't be seen in any direction. Oh gee, this sight was familiar. It was almost exactly like Greykan during the war, only more sand, and less radiation.

"I can't see shit, can you?"

"Nah, what I can see, is the chief on his fifth cigarette, maybe you should give him the Council of Health's cigarette lung warning?"

117 was still smoking, he had burned through four cigarettes on his way over to Dubai, this was his fifth, and he now had an obsession for cleaning his gun.

"Oi, 117, VL forces say to get behind a dune, enemy forces comin' in."

"Roger, I'll be there."

While the rest of the corporation made it's way next to the VL Military forces in one sand dune, 117 decided to bury himself in the sand next to the road...

"Wait...wait...OPEN FIRE!"

While the rest of the forces fired at the tanks and BMP's from behind a sand dune, he took a more...direct....approuch.

Removing five seperate frag grenade pins using his mouth, all at the same time, jumped upwards from his spot next to the highway, and threw them all towards the centers of infantry. 'Well, you can't win a war by hiding behind a sand dune', at least 117 thought so.

Outskirts of Dubai

A hell of fire broke loose, and the column of armoured vehicles was engulfed with projectiles. The first two tanks were blown to shatters by both the 120mm smoothbore and a volley of AT4 missiles, before the crew saw what was happening. The BMP's quickly reacted by moving off the road, but several were hit by grenades and AT4 missiles, before the BTR was penetrated by a 120mm projectile. Several explosions rocked the road, ripping apart groups of infantry. 6.8mm bullets landed in the sand near the militiamen, accompanied by the occasional 7.62 and 5.56mm's. The trucks of the Special Forces then entered the road again, and completely blocked it. Hidden behind the vehicles, several soldiers waited until they could fire at their targets, and then completely emptied their weaponry on full-automatic setting.

Attention! Hold fire! Hold Fire! Cease it!

Capitaine Laval ordered, and the gunfire stopped, as soon as it had begun. From then, the trucks slowly drove up the road again, headed by the LT-5S. troops jumped on, and the vehicles hurried off for Dubai.

Dubai, one hour later.

Moving slowly through the bombed out buildings, the LT-5 headed a convoy stretching a street long, while the VBCI surfaced from the next street, leading another convoy. From both sides, convoys led by Eagle IV's drove on, all eventually driving up 2nd Za'abeel Road, heading towards the Dubai World Trade Center. They passed the center without any problems, but stopped for some coordination. Laval got his radio out, and called up Paolides.

Taskforce Scorpion here, I need Fieldmarshall Paolides, Athens

A few seconds later, the Fieldmarshall got into touch with Laval.

Laval? What's your problem calling me up?

you got intel about the possible location?

Or it's the WTC, or the Burj Al Arab.

Then it's the Burj. I'm right in fron of the WTC now.

Laval put the horn down, but had to duck immediately, as one of the trucks exploded. A second missile missed the LT-5 by centimetres, blowing right into the asphalt of the 2nd Za'abeel road.

Cover! We're under fire!

The special forces quickly returned fire, before using the LT-5 to silence any resistance coming from the WTC.

I'm out! I'm out!

Shut the fuck up! I'm busy reloading myself!

You both! move it! get the mortars out!

Sir, those were in that truck!

The man pointed towards the burning wreckage, which was apparently loaded with the 120mm mortars.

Then get the heck out of here!

The soldiers jumped onto their trucks and vehicles, still firing their weapons at the WTC, before they were able to drive onto the Sheikh Zayed road, moving for the Burj al Arab.

Okay! The Vuhifellians get off the intersection at Safa Park! Drive alongside the coast road, and then take up position near the Burj al Arab. I want the damn building intact, don't care how! Move!

"Hrimfaxi 1, roger that VanLux leader."

The lead car made a sudden left, to which the second car in their convoy hit into a broken lamp pole and swerved off to the side of the road. The rest of the convoy turned left just fine, but the second car in the convoy went broke for some, unknown, god-forsaken reason.

The snipers would just have to walk.

"This is Eagle-Two to Hrimfaxi-One. We just lost half the sniper team back at the turnoff."

"They got a map?"

"Yup, but we shouldn't leave them unprotected sir! They're carrying all the M107 ammo."

"Send Eagle-Seven. Shark, van Dyke, and Carter."

"Yes sir, Eagle-Two to Eagle-Seven, go back to the turnoff and pick up our snipers, will ya'?"

"Roger that, turning around now."

The Burj Dubai hotel stoof out immediately, it was a sail, appropriate. A sail on a boat of insanity. Now, how to take the building intact without any sniper support.

They could use optical stealth, had their MOLIGNAR armor not been put in a museum.

"Shit. How can we take that building, we got no snipers, and there's a flat pancake of land in between us and the hotel."

"We can't be certain there's no bombs or mines in the area sir, you sent Shark and van Dyke to help our sniper team."

"And. Your point is Kieth?"

"My point Patrick, is that you sent our only two demolitions experts on an escort mission!"

Silence followed after that, before a large majority of Squad 49 said 'shit' in unison, as was their custom to do when their CO made a big mistake.

"Shit. Kurosaki! Fenris!" Patrick yelled and pointed at Karin Kurosaki and Pool Fenris. Fenris, being the Squad's navigation's officer, and Karin being the Squad's translator for over 14 languages.

"Yes sir!?" They both yelled, a saluted.

"Run across that open field, there's a rock about 29 meters from the entrance, do you see it?"

"Yes sir, it's the only thing there."

"Run up there, and hide behind that fecker, wait til I send in two more folk and enter the building."

"Yes sir."

Patrick sent the 'go' signal and they both sprinted across the open field, a large crack opened the silence, and all they could see was blood bursting out of Pool's left shoulder. They made it to the boulder, but Fenris could only hold a single pistol in his right hand, his left arm was out of commission.

"Sniper! Get down!"

Sheikh Zayed Road

The large convoy moved on, despite the accident on the Vuhifellian side. The vehicles accelerated brutally, protesting against making 4000RPM, using their maximum power output.

Left side! Militia!

Several .50 Machineguns bursted into life, spreading their projectiles through the street, landing right onto the militiamen. Only one of five men was able to grab his rifle, but a GMG grenade exploded before he could react to the convoy. The first vehicles of the convoy then took the interchange near Madinat, and took the road heading straight for the Burj al Arab. They halted a few hundred meters away, on a roundabout between the Wild Wadi waterpark and the Madinat Hotel & Mall The vehicles immediately blocked all roads near the hotel, before signalling the Vuhifellians they had arrived.

Capitaine! I propose to use our sea & air assistance for this.

You're right, McCollough.

Laval then got his radio out again, and made a call.

This is Taskforce Scorpion, We've arrived near the Burj al Arab, Dubai. We're requesting air support, both helicopters and jetfighters, and we need a full naval taskforce near here.

Attention Taskforce Scorpion. This is CV-26 Badenweiler. We're on our way. We've got our Rafales on the way, expect some Tigers on the way aswell. We've also sent a Marseille, a Point Catillan, a Revenge, and the navalbase at Kuwait has promised us two Unicorn corvettes and a Nimes. Land-based Dassault Falcon 20 AEW's and EF2000's on their way aswell. CV-26 out.

Laval put the horn down, before ordering his snipers to take up positions inside the Madinat and in the Wild Wadi. Meanwhile, SSR troops slowly passed along as shadows, eventually ending up at the beach. They dug into the sand, before aiming their rifles at the hotel.

Sniper groups, you are allowed to open fire, out.

Laval shouted through his radio, before several shots sounded, which had a strange effect on the hotel. Several men dropped down from the helicopter pad, before landing into sea. When Laval got the helicopter pad in sight, he immediately asked for his radio again.

Attention CV-26. Requesting immediate support from transport helicopters, we need to make a landing on the Burj's helipad.

It took a while before he got answered.

Commander has given OK. we're clearing the flight deck for them right now. We just sent out our fighters, you'll have to wait for the Tigers.

OK. Scorpion out.

Laval then called up another group.

SSR, you're cleared to go frontal, wait for Vuhifellian Support. Vuhifellians, join up with the SSR, we'll storm the Burj. Transports are on their way, Korps 4 of the Spezialkommand will land on top of the Burj, and move downwards. After they have gone in, Korps 1 will stay here, Korps 2 gets down to the beach, all snipers stay on their positions, Korps 3 takes the basement of the Burj, Korps 5 and 6 will standby in the lobby. GO!

"Eagle-Seven, have you secured those snipers yet?"

Static filled their frequency, it was all they heard.

"Eagle-Seven?" More static.

"Eagle-Seven, this is Hrimfaxi-One, please respond." Nothing. He clicked the walkie-talkie on and off, checked the battery, nothing.

"Eagle-Eight. Falcon-One. Head down on foot to Eagle-Seven's last known location. Falcon-Three, head down in your car to the crash."

"Yes sir."

"All other units, we're storming the building now. Kurosaki, get ready to lay down suppressive fire!"

"Yes sir!"

117 raised his right hand up to signal the squad to hold, and made sure everyone had on kevlar on all the places they needed it. When he brought his hand down, several men beside him launched smoke grenades from their M203 grenade launchers. They were less of a going-in stealth plan than they were to protect them should they have to retreat.

"Go, go, go!"

Behind the boulder, Fenris and Kurosaki took aim at windows where they saw shadows, as every window they aimed at broke, they saw most of the shadows dissapear, some poor bastards would try and fire back, only to have a brand new 5.56 mm hole lodged in their cranium.

The plane was simple, at least in concept. SSR and Squad 49 would storm the lobby, taking out resistance from the ground up. VLM would storm the building from the top-down, and their snipers would provide support.

Dennis Perez, the squad's only remaining weapons specialist (the other being 110, and he was back in North Point) was at the lobby first. Someone came down from the escalators, and he shot, he didn't confirm the kill, but he heard screaming and he saw a tiny amount of blood through the smoke.

"Perez here, at the lobby door."

"What are you waiting for! Clear the lobby, and do a sweep. Bottom to top until our rendervouz with VLM chopper insertion."

"Got it!"

He hid behind the reference desk once he got in the lobby, and tossed a few flashbang and concussion grenades onto the second lobby floor. More screams, these idiots believed they could win, didn't they?

"Perez here, lobby is secure." This was, mostly true, he hadn't gone to the second lobby floor, but had chucked a fragmentation grenade up there instead. He didn't hear anything after that...

Suhkpreet Parmar, 100, was next to arrive. He confirmed Perez had killed three guards in the lobby, which now looked like a warzone, and ordered all the lifts down to the first floor. All of them were empty, with the exception of a single dead terrorist in one elevator.

"Lobby and elevators are secured. Bring in the SSR."

At the same time the Vuhifellians assaulted the lobby, the SSR stormed in right behind them, keeping their weapons close. They were learned that their weapons and teammates were the only allies they had in a war, as they usually operated far beyond enemy lines.

Lobby secure, I need Spezialkommando to the Lobby, and into the basement! NOW!

Around the Nurj al Arab, the soundlevel greatly increased, as a standstorm rocked the beach. Four NH-90 helicopters soared low over the beach, spreading sand into the Wild Wadi, before touching down at the roundabout one by one. When the last one landed, the first already took off again, heading for the helipad on top of the Burj al Arab. The first troops stormed out, and crouched on the outskirts of the pad. The second helicopter then landed, and more troops accompanied the first wave, who had ran downwards already.

The third helicopter then was on it's way. It was piloted by Korporaal Lusewicz, Who didn't had any combat experience before. He was however adequate to respond to the warning lights lighting up in his cockpit, while a compterized woman's voice spoke to him.

Missile Lock, Missile Lock. Missile, 9 o'clock low. Missile, 8 o'clock low. Missile approaching! Warning! Warning!

He immediately pushed the button for flares, which were deployed right behind the helicopter. A single Strela missile missed the helicopter by a few metres, before exploding in mid-air. The explosion threw the helicopter aside, and blew up it's right landing gear. The helicopter made a few sudden moves, before barely missing the Burj al Arab, and heading out to sea. After a few seconds, the helicopter turned again, and headed for the helipad. It however soared just past the helipad, hitting a single soldier sitting up the pad. The man was able to complete his jump into sea. He vanished for a few minutes, and then surfaced again, dead.

The helicopter meanwhile flew straight for the roundabout, and cut it's fuel lines to stop it's engines from running. While the speed slowly vanished out of the helicopter, it crash-landed with a high approach speed, right into the swimming pool of the Madinat. The crew and passengers safely got out, dripping wet withg both sweat and water. The passengers were quickly ferried to the helipad by another helicopter, after the Strela soldier had been tracked and gunned down by the sniper team. Three other ferries were made then, to finish the run on the landing pad. The team then stormed down, splitting the 99 men into 25 teams of 4, with one made up of 3. They each cleared out the large suites effortlessly, as most militiamen had gathered on the balcony's, prepared to see an NH-90 go down.

However, the Presidential Suite put up quite a fight. The troops were prepared, and sitting behind the doors, when the team of 4 came in. One of 4 was instantly killed by a Kalashnikov, before the other 3 were able to react. They called up reinforcements from other teams immediately, while hiding behind the walls. Reinforcements arrived quickly enough, in the form of another 3 teams. A true volley of Flashbangs went in, while none, strange enough, returned. Then, the teams got into battle, taking out the militiamen left without any effort.

Top floor clear, downwards, downwards.

Heavy resistance in the basement. We need backup!

SSR, Vuhifelians and Korps 5 into the basement. I want Korps 6 heading up, while Korps 2 gets into the lobby, and Korps 1, and all of the vehicles, get onto the beach. Move!

"Okay, Perez here, I'll lead Falcon-Two down to the basement."

"Okay. Kurosaki!? What's the status of our snipers?"

"I don't know sir. But a VN intelligence ship should be arriving in the Red Sea in about 37 minutes. ehhh. The VSS Avery J. Malone."

"I don't believe this. Okay. Perez, you're cleared to go."

dennis now looked at one of two choices: He could A) take the elevator down and probably get ambushed. or B) Take the stairs, and blow the living hell out of everything.

He chose choice B.

"Alright, Falcon Team Two, move out, take the stairs."

Four, heavily armed, very annoyed, EBG soldiers moved down the stairwell. It was well lit, and it was aesthetically pleasing. The kind of staircase you only find in Presidential Palaces (or Grand Ducal palaces) or uber-expensive hotels.

"See anything under the optic cable?"

"Yeah, I see a bunch of dirt."

"I'm serious, god dammit!"

"Fine, yeah, there's some guards down there, and a room around the corner, I think there's more in there."

"Is the power supply for the building visible?"

"No. But there is the master water and sewage valves."

"Okay, SSR, you go in first, please, I just washed this uniform?"

Red Sea
VSS Avery J. Malone
Vuhifellian Information & Electronic Warfare Vessal

"How long until we can get satellite feed over the combat area?"

"It's complicated sir, the nearest VAF satellite is currently over Jerusalem."

Captain Elijah Weeker commanded the VSS Avery J. Malone. Named after Vice-General Avery Malone, 117's father.

He was a no-nonsense man who didn't care for authorization and clearence from the Military Council back at North Point, all he cared about was his current assignment. His current assignment was, at the moment, support intelligence gathering efforts in the current Arabian Uprising. So far, the VAF had denied him clearence to use it's real-time video streaming satellites, he only recieved clearence to use live-video feed over Dubai just a few minutes ago.

The Red Sea. aboard the ZMS Ankara

The ZMS Ankara, a Freethinker Ankara-Class Guided Missile Cruiser, cut through the waves at high speed, on an intercept course. On it's sides, an Ardent-class destroyer, going by the name ZMS Zakinthos, and a Marseille-class frigate named ZMS Korfu passed by, as the Ankara had been ordered to not top out above 28 knots, while the Korfu and Zakinthos both did 30 knots.

Attention VSS Avery J. Malone, this is Van Luxemburgian Warship ZMS Ankara, Ankara-class Cruiser. We are here for protection of Allied ships, please allow the crew from the Zakinthos and the Korfu to get alongside, we will be your escort in this region. We haven't got complete control over this region, so we could expect attacks by ship.

Burj Al Arab Hotel, Dubai

The SSR commander answered the soldiers.

Sorry, but we aren't good for that either. I need to get the Van Luxemburgian Marines. HEY! YOU! GO IN NOW!

A small group of Special Forces sat down behind the wall towards the undersea restaurant, which was an exquisite place, only serving the best of food. It's surroundings were faked, but it seemed like dinner was served undersea, between the fish. They had been warned about the glass, as it was strong enough to resist the pressure, but not bullet holes. A few bullets should be enough to flood the entire basement, including the kitchens.

The Mariniers ducked behind the wall everyone hid behind, before pointing their rifles around the wall, and using their helmet-mounted HUD to aim and fire at the terrorists located in the hallway. A huge confusion was created, as the group of Arab men all started running around, and didn't knew who was firing at them. A smoke grenade completed the confusion, after which the terrorists started shooting in a fashion which was more dangerous to themselves than to the troops hidden behind the wall. As soon as the smoke cleared, the Special Forces stormed in, forcing the terrorists down to the ground.

Hey Chief! I hope you thought 'bout this?

A large sign hanging at the entrance of the Al Mahara restaurant showed the dress code.

Dress Code & Policies:
Semi formal. Gentlemen are required to wear a jacket at dinnertime.
Furthermore we request gentlemen to wear a shirt with collar and long sleeves, trousers (no jeans) and closed shoes (no trainers) or national dress.
Smoking is not allowed in Al Mahara.

I hope you got a jacket, Sir!

No Vészpek, I haven't got one. It isn't camouflaged, and it doesn't hold too many grenades. But I believe there isn't much security to look after the dress code!

You thought! There's enough security to guard a palace with!

Storm it!

Okay sir!

The group, including SSR and others, stormed in, shouting to create confusion. Firing their weapons sproadically, they cleared the room, without any damage to the acquarium.

Sir, we got a slight problem here. Private Dining Room 2.

Several men walked towards the room, where a squad of SSR operatives had their rifles aimed for several men, of which some had their Kalashnikovs pointed at the acquarium.

You'll never get us! we'll breach the acquarium!


It cannot be breached by gunfire! It's not made out of glass, but composites! Bullets will glance off!

No!

Yes!

NO!

YES!

SHUT THE FUCK UP!

Capitaine Laval shouted through the Van Luxemburgian soldier and the terrorist fighting over the acquarium wall.

You have all been arrested by the Van Luxemburgian Military, Special operations Command, aswell as the Vuhifellian Elite Black Guard, Vuhifellian Federation! We will not hesitate to open fire! Put your arms down!

All guards laid their arms down, but one quickly snatched another rifle and opened fire on the troops standing with their weapons aimed.....

Red Sea
VSS Avery J. Malone

"We read ya', Ankara. We'll make sure none of our boys mess around with any of your ships. We're unarmed except for some LRAD's and the huge amount of hacking equipment onboard. Protect us good now."

Al Mahara, Burj al Arab Hotel

"You have all been arrested by the Van Luxemburgian Military, Special operations Command, aswell as the Vuhifellian Elite Black Guard, Vuhifellian Federation! We will not hesitate to open fire! Put your arms down!" was all the EBG troops heard. Their ears still stung from Captain Laval's recent shouting.

"Hey, Dennis, did we arrest these guys?"

"Uhh..." Was all he could manage, before scratching the back of his neck like an idiot. Their whispered conversation was cut short by the gunfire, to which Falcon-Two replied by sending an extreme hail of shotgun pellets heading towards the attacker. There were HVT's in the immediate area surrounded Mr. Shooter, but coming home without an enemy behind the black bag is better than coming home in a bag yourself.

30,000 km above Burj al Arab
VAF IntelVidSat 01 - Prototype

The satellite had taken several minutes to get over the target area due to its extreme height from the planet's surface. It was now primed to send direct video/photographic intelligence in real time to not only the VSS Avery J. Malone, but to the EBG troops on the ground and the VL Military (so long as they had a PDA or laptop and a Wi-Fi connection)

Al Mahara

The terrorist fell down, and the SSR quickly jumped on top of the others, disarming and handcuffing them quickly. The weapons were thrown away, while the gunner was carried away on a stretcher. Several others had to be medicated by the teams' medics, and were carried out by their comrades. All the captured terrorists had been lined up next to eachother, before Capitaine Laval started asking questions.

Okay, I'm not being harsh now, but who of you all is the asshole that started all this?

Nobody lifted their hand or said something.

Let me say it in a different manner. Who is the leader of this group?

Nobody changed the expression on their face, didn't even move a muscle. Laval was clearly keeping all his fury inside, but couldn't resist to start shouting.

I ASKED WHO THE ASSHOLE WAS, WHO THOUGH THIS ALL UP! ANSWER, DAMNIT!

One of the Arabs lifted his hand.

E-ehm, it was him, s-sir.

He pointed his finger towards a man no different from the rest of the group, which now all looked angry at the Arab. Capitaine Laval immediately walked over to the person pointed out by the Arab, and got really close to his face.

So, Goodevening Mr....

Ankhmed, Infidel.

Oh, he's probably been writing his Crusader memoires, Calling me Infidel. Do you remember we reclaimed all this? Without us, you would be swimming!

And? I don't care, We don't need you anymore.

Why have we come here then? because you don't need us anymore? Fuck off. You'll be on the first naval ship to accompany some other friends who thought they didn't need us. Ironically enough, these are from the Vuhifellian States.

The men were all carried outside the hotel, where they were loaded on one of the waiting NH-90's. With a huge sandstorm on the ground, the helicopter left, to a silhouette on the horizon. From there, they left towards the Aircraft Carrier, on which a small aircraft was waiting to head over to an undisclosed location, somewhere in Van Luxemburg's Russian region.

Meanwhile, Laval was called up on the radio.

Taskforce Scorpion? We got new orders. You are to establish a beachhead at teh Burj al Arab, we'll have a few troops arriving in a while. Out.

Roger, it has been established. Out.

The Red Sea

The two ships got next to the Avery J. Malone, while the Ankara was close behind. They made their way through the Red Sea for quite a while, before the Ankara reported a signature on their radars.

Malone, we got a few objects inbound. Let us take care of it.

This is the Zakinthos. Objects inbound are three Chengdu J-7's, and two Mi-24 Hinds. Man stations!

Several alarm bells and whistles went off, before the men had took up their positions, helmets hanging off their combat belts.

Chengdu's have fired missiles! Ready the Goalkeepers!

Several CIWS systems came online, ready to barrage the incoming missiles. At 10 km's away, a Seawolf launched from the VLS of the Korfu, while it's Goalkeepers spit fire towards the missiles. Several of the Ying-Ji-802 missiles had been destroyed, and another was blown up by the Seawolf missile countering it. The last Ying-Ji-802 missile barely passed over the masts of bothe the Zakinthos and the Korfu, before hitting the water. Three Aster 30 missiles pursuited the J-7's, and managed to hit one. A loud cheer went up from the control room of the Korfu as the hit was recorded, while they saw the Mi-24's running for safety aswell.

The Creamwhite Cessna Grand Caravan made a low approach, and soared right over the Air Traffic Control Tower, before touching down on the hot tarmac. It's single engine shut down with a slight resistance, before the main door was opened and two guards stepped out, using sunglasses to protect themselves from the blinding sun. They both carried a Heckler & Koch MP5 Submachinegun, which they held in their hands, all switches on safe. One of them calmly looked around, while the other shouted something to the passengers of the aircraft. Another guard came out, this time carrying a holstered Heckler & Koch MP7 Personal Defense Weapon. He was followed by two rather Arabic-looking men, cuffed together. Another guard, with the same holstered weapon, stepped out of the Cessna after the two came out.

Out of the shadows of the high building on the airfield, two Mercedes-Benz GL-class SUV's appeared, driving at a calm pace towards the Grand Caravan. Both had warning lights like the Van Luxemburgian Police Grand-Ducale had, but were completely anonimous, outside the warning lights. The orange yellow lights flared up every second, including the lights hidden in the grille. The two grey Mercedes'es stopped right in front of the airplane, and the guards pushed the two Arabs into the first SUV, before one of them got seated next to them, and the other one took the front seat. The other two guards got into the second Mercedes, and the convoy left off at the same pace they came.

In the back of the second Mercedes, One of the men took his sunglasses off, before he shook hands with another man, clothed by the Van Luxemburgian Federal Penitentary Service.
I see you made it.
The guard, who probably was the leader of the group, nodded.
Yes. It was a hell of a flight, but we've arrived. You got enough space?
I'm afraid not, we'll have to put them in a cell with another prisoner, Fabrizio
Fabrizio put his sunglasses away, before looking through the front window to the huge building, which now revealed several windows, which had solid bars in front of them. A fence took the building's freedom away.
Who do you have in mind, Aleksandr?
Aleksandr thought for a while, before answering Fabrizio's question.
Prisoner 11096.
Who's that?
Howard Fortstall
I won't make any comments, but you're crazy.
Thanks.

The two cars drove through an opening in the fence, heavily guarded by men in the same uniform as Aleksandr. This was Installation Glasnost, Van Luxemburg's prison for the Big Fishes the Van Luxemburgians caught. It had the reputation that nobody ever escaped from the prison, and when they would have, they would die in the barren landscape, consisting of woods, and no civilization within 50 km. The summers were almost melting hot, the winters even colder than the heating could take. This was the end of the line for most prisoners.

The vehicles arrived at the main entrance, where the two Arabs were thrown out, while the guards calmly got out. The two cuffed men were pushed inside, to the "Reception", as the wardens joked.

Welcome prisoner 12910 and 12911, or Ankhmed Al-Ghazi and Muhammad Mabakhr. Your cellnumber is 75. Have fun in this great place.

The two received their clothing, and got time to change clothes, before being handed over to a pair of wardens, who escorted them to their cell. One of them opened the door with a hefty squeek, before welcoming them.

Howard Fortstall, here's some company for you.

He pushed the two men inside, and locked the door again.

Salaam Aleikum, I'm Ankhmed Al-Ghazi, This is my right hand, Muhammad Mabakhr. We are the leaders of the Arab revolution in Van Luxemburg. You are Mr. Fortstall? The idiot who took a crashed airplane hostage? I despise you. You could have blown that aircraft to smithereens. But listen....

Ankhmed got closer to Fortstall, who sat on his bunk bed, with the TV still on a Van Luxemburgian News Channel. The TV went on talking, in Lëtzebuergesch, which meant that it was highly unlikely Fortstall could understand any of it.

I have a plan to escape. I knew they would send me down here. there's a service tunnel to the outside of this installation. You know there's a emergency exit in the cantine? It is locked by a digital code, but I know the general service code. They say it is impossible to escape, but it is possible. The code is very well protected, but I have the key to the whole system. There is a table next to the exit, and we can use it to type in the code, and get out of here. When we close the door after we went through, they'll have to look up the code, before they can go through. Meanwhile, we'll use an unknown entrance to a deserted mining shaft under the service tunnel, and vanish like thin air. We'll need to work together, but it is possible. No other people need to know of this. Deal?

Meanwhile, Muhammad walked around in the cell, before walking over to the window, and looking outside. He touched the bars accidentally, but was literally shocked by the result. A 40 Volt shock went through him, just enough to make him scared, not enough for him to pass out. He almost jumped a meter high, before running to the door, where he was away from the window. Al-Ghazi shook his head, before turning to Fortstall.

So, you're in?

In the smallest whisper of a voice that Fortstall could muster, he answered the Arab man's question.

"It's a deal. I still have a great many followers in Vuhifell, followers who have access to many funds, we can be beneficial to each other if your plan works...and, about the plane, I would have blown it up, if it weren't for a 100 Trillion Credit bounty on my head; the VL Military would have even more funds to hunt you down..."

Vuhifellian Security Corporation HQ
Golden Skies City: Quadrant IV, Ward D

Seeing as Patrick Daniels was out fighting a war in the Middle East (to which the UPEO paid 290 Billion Credits for the VSC to resolve), Patrick had appointed the McDougal brothers, Harry and Ronald, to the Chief positions of the VSC.

Both of them were ex-EBG. Belonging to the feared Squad 09 (also prosecuted for war crimes after the war ended. Because of Foxtecha's influence back then, none of them were found guilty of any charges)...
They were also the former Captains of two famous VPU death squads (Ronald's being the death squad sent to murder the Congress, foiled by the VL Military).

Both of them were also aware of the Arabs' position in the Middle East, and they had two special agents mixed in with Squad 49 to help minimize the effectiveness of the Squad.

"I believe it is time to capitalize on our position. Greykan-One has paid the VSC over 1 Trillion Credits to take out the Kolimja..."

"Okay, Ron, I'll give those two the orders now..."

Harry picked up the telephone next to his place at the giant meeting room, the view of which, was centered around the spot where the Fang, Creskari, and Velda rivers all met.

"Attention: Euphrates and Tigris, kill the Kolimja!"

The Red Sea

"This is Captain Weeker of the Avery J. Malone to VL Navy forces. We are sending in a team of VPU enforcers to assist in your mission. They will be arriving in a MH-53E. Callsign: Belgium. We also have a hacker from the Malone on there, that should assist you, I think."

Dubai

117 yawned. This was boring. He had ordered his squad to kill everything in sight, but he hasn't seen action all day...

And what the hell was taking 99 and 119 so long to get the snipers back! And why weren't the others reporting their position.

"VSS Avery J. Malone? Do you detect any jamming frequencies that can block out transponders?"

"No, sir. We currently have a 100 percent clarity level. Our anti-jamming equipment is covering an area all the way to the Iranian side of the Persian Gulf."

"Okay. Thanks," after he shut off his radio, 117 muttered 'incompetant VN buffoons.' under his breath.

Three blocks away

Two VSC soldiers were standing over their comrades. The ones on the ground weren't dead, but they wouldn't be able to fight, at least not with those wounds, even cyborgs couldn't fight in that condition.

On their arms, were the numbers '99' and '119', but this was of no importance, they soon tore off their VSC uniforms and put on pure black armor, helmets, masks, et cetera. This was the uniform of the VPU, but not the normal VPU under Alicia Daniels. This was the uniform of Howard Fortstall Special Death Squads.

"Tigris, let's go."
"Did they even tell you the bounty on this guy?"
"Yeah...one trillion credits down payment. two-hundred-trillion credits after the job is done..."

The agent known as Tigris simply whisled.

"Well then, let's go. The Kolimja has taken down entire armies by himself, we need to surprise him if we can collect that bounty."
"Wouldn't that be better with VSC uniforms?"
"Have you no sense of honor whatsoever?"
"No, not really..."

Ankhmed walked around the cell once, before answering.

Okay, this is what we're gonna do. With Lunch hour, which is in about one hour, we take the table that's closest to the door. I enter the code, and we run like hell. Close the door behind our asses, and then use the mineschaft to get away. Close that one aswell. Then we move through the shaft, and come out by the entrance road to the prison. They've filled the forests up with mines, but the road itself is also covered by the forest, so we're safe for helicopters. Once we reach civilization, we need to get out of there like hell.

One hour later....

Ankhmed, followed by Muhammad and Howard, walked through the large cantine to the last table, all having stocked up on food. The sat down, but Ankhmed stood up again, probably looking for something. He stood in front of the massive steel door, Suddenly, he turned around, and entered the code in the keypad on the door. The door shot open, and Ankhmed ran through, followed by Muhammad and Howard, who already had stood up. The door closed after them, and locked itself.

HEY! ALARM! We've got three prisoners escaping, damnit! HALT!

Several wardens ran towards the door, and found they couldn't open the door without the code. One tried to bash the door, but felt it was rather painful to use his leg against a solid metal door. Two other wardens arrived with the correct code, and opened the door. By then, the service tunnel was empty. No trace of the escaped prisoners.

Meanwhile, the three ran through the deserted mineshaft. It was dark, but the service team of the prison had left a flashlight on the service entrance. While the three ran through, they could hear the feet of the wardens running above them. Ankhmed walked in front, slowly manoeuvering between the dense rocks. They were now quickly runnng to the end of the tunnel, leading to the accessroad. They all stumbled out, all needed to get used to the intense light of outside. They ran over the road, as quickly as possible. Still with 50 km to go, they were more obsessed with running than with taking cover for the wardens. After half an hour of running, with 4 km done, the three started walking.

DIVE! Into the bushes!

Ankhmed made a quick shout. They all headed into the bushes, and waited for what he had announced. A few minutes later, two Nissan Pathfinder 4x4's stormed over the sandy road, leaving clouds of dust. They both were white, with several blue stripes and the words "Federal Penitentary Installation Glasnost" on them. It's warning lights were on, including the Orange ones, making it an impressive lightshow. The sirens echoed through the small forest road. The vehicles were both manned by several men, who had put their Heckler & Koch MP5 and MP7 rifles next to them, in a special storage unit.

Phew.

Suddenly, the Nissan's halted, parking the vehicles into the bushes, some 100 metres in front of the three prisoners. They were parked with the intention to block the road, and that was something the wardens had succeeded in. Several armed wardens got out, and unlocked their SMG's, intending to fire them at anything suspicious.

I bet we can't just say we were going for a stroll, is it?

Ankhmed grinned, but had to push himself deeper into the bushes, as one of the wardens halted right next to them.

Sadly enough, he has only his pistol and the MP5. Otherwise, we could have killed them all, and steal a vehicle.

To their surprise, the second Nissan Pathfinder slowly drove back to the Installation, probably thinking the prisoners couldn't move that far in half an hour. One Nissan was left, guarded by 4 wardens, two near them, and the other two on the opposite side.

Forget what I said. Wait till that other Nissan is far away, and we'll get them. Muhammad and Howard, you take these two here, I'll take those other two. Three, two, one, NOW!

They jumped from the bushes, and surprised the two guards. Muhammad and Fortstall quickly acquired their rifles, and shot both, before assisting Ankhmed by shooting the fourth warden. The third warden was killed by Ankhmed's weapon.

Okay, I got the keys here, aswell as three MP5's, with you counted in, aswell as three SIG P250's, and an MP7. Hop in!

The three got in the Nissan, with Ankhmed driving and Muhammad and Howard in the back. The vehicle left off with a cloud of dust from it's spinning wheels, losing grip on the dusty soil. The 4x4 regained control, and the Nissan stormed away, towards freedom.

The Red Sea

Acknowledged. Belgium is welcome on the Ankara.

The Ankara's helicopter deck was quickly cleared, ready for the helicopter landing.

Dubai

Laval was calm, hanging against his LT-5, checking the time. He then picke dup his binoculars, and saw a huge amount of dots coming towards the coast. They were quite fast, and when the ships came closer, he could clearly make out the shape of LCAC's. Behind them, several LCVP's neared somewhat slower. While he was looking at the LCVP's, the LCAC's arrived first. Two BdC-15's rolled off, followed by two PPz-3 Engineering and Recovery vehicles. This was repeated by all of the 50 LCAC's. Then, they returned, making way for the LCVP's, who dropped off the Liebherr Wheeled cranes, aswell as Shielder smokegenerators and the Engineer's Bulldozers. Behind that, enormous waves of LT-5 vehicles approached, belonging to the 59th Division (Amphibious). They came ashore, and parked on the Sheikh Zayed Road. The 49th Division (Engineer) meanwhile parked their BdC-15's on the road next to the Jumeirah Beach Hotel. The two commanders got out of their vehicles for a short talk with Laval.

What's all this fuss about?
Laval asked, while looking at the enormous traffic jams around him.

You haven't heard it yet? South Arabia has surrendered, in exchange for an autonomous province! We're gonna help them with rebuilding some stuff
The General-Major of the Engineers answered.

And we need to secure the autonomous province. I've got several guys of the Grand-Ducal Armoury with me, who will make a report about South Arabia's military vehicles.
The General Major of the Amphibious Division commented, while lighting a cigarette.

Laval alarmed Patrick Daniels, and signalled him to come to him.

We've got enough units to check out where your 4 men have gone. I could send a few tanks of the Engineers out.

Ministry of Justice, Luxembourg

Sebastian Guther, Minister of Justice, rolled his office chair over to the window to admire the view over the city. Most Governmental buildings had been built on a hill, overlooking Luxembourg. Technically, all buildings were placed under the responsibility of the Kopstal Community, but the woods North of Luxembourg were counted to the city by the Government.

Sebastian Guther could pinpoint just about every location in the city. He knew where the High Court was, the former Palace, and if he looked just about enough to his left, he could see the giganteous Grand-Ducal Palace in Waldhof, another town and forest nearby. Both had easy access to the motorways, and he was proud of his position.

Sebastian was however rudely thrown out of his dream by the phone ringing. He saw the red light of the secure line burning, and answered the phone.

Yes?

Minister Guther, I hope you are seated comfortably.

Why that?

Ehm, It's a message from Glasnost.

Messages from Glasnost were always interesting. Should they have another criminal brought in? Or was it something else?

Muhammad Mabakhr, Ankhmed Al-Ghazi and Howard Fortstall have escaped. They lost contact with one of the patrols on the lookout for them, they're afraid 4 wardens have been killed. They escaped by a service tunnel, of which Ankhmed probably knew the code. But when they opened the tunnel, they had gone up in smoke.

The once-calm Sebastian Guther slowly panicked. Sweat started dripping from his head, and he suddenly felt sick.

Ehm, those guards, they had the standard Glasnost Loadout? Those on patrol?

Yes, sir. Glasnost is afraid the three may have took it with them.

SHIT!

Guther shouted through the phone. He now found the seriousness of the situation.

Alarm the IVD aswell. Fortstall, Mabakhr and Al-Ghazi are a case for them aswell. I want helicopters sent out to the area around Glasnost. Patrol 50km around Glasnost, I suspect they couldn't have gone far. If you need, inform Defense to get some more helicopters, and maybe jetfighters and patrol aircraft. Interrupt all TV and radio programming. I want them warned that they escaped, but not how. Give the warning to newspapers. Let all Digital Information signs on Autobahns alarm drivers. Armed and Dangerous. Let them look for a vehicle of the Glasnost installation. I want all possibilities checked, and within the HOUR! Speed is everything!

He threw the horn onto the secured phone, and grabbed his jacket off the table, before getting his mobile phone out, and running onto the hallway, down to the ground floor.

Guillaume? My car. Immediately. And say the Palace that we're coming.

He ran past the reception, out the front doors, and immediately got in his Maserati Quattroporte, that had started his engines just a few seconds ago. The Maserati blew off the parking, catching up with it's escort -two motorbikes of the Grand-Ducal Guard- and drove past a traffic light without looking at it's colour. Heading off the Rue de Bridel, it took de Rue de Muehlenbach for a few minutes, before heading onto the E29, right through Eich, one of the sattelite towns of Luxembourg. It blew past the train station, pushing the rest of traffic aside. Most motorists already got the idea when two motorbikes signalled them to go aside, and completely got it when the four-door Maserati with Government plate shot past. It almost slipped when driving through the gate of the Palace, hastily opened by the Grand-Ducal Guards present. Here, the two motorbikes broke off, and the Maserati drove through the main gate, before stopping onto the central roundabout, where Guthe got out. The Maserati drove on to the left, where it entered a parking garage spanning the complete 243,000 m2 palace. It only had one floor, but it was built in a way it could be expanded with another floor under it.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Guther walked on, not looking at the Yamaha Rhino's driving around to transport personnel from one side of the castle to another. They were also used by the Grand Duke, when coming back from a Helicopter trip. The Grand Duke was usually flown to and from Luxembourg-Findel's AFB Part, when going to or returning from his trips. Sebastian entered by the huge doors, and reporting his arrival by the reception. He was immediately pointed towards the Las Brisas restaurant, located on the "Persian Gulf". 5 years ago, a large natural pool had been built to complement the 100-year old castle, and create the illusion of the Palace on the Persian Gulf. A complex system of pumps and systems made the water just like on the Persian Gulf shores, with the water at the same temperatures, the same sealife, amongs others. Since the Palace had been built in a Arabic style, the Grand Duke saw the need for a shore position for it. Now, he was at Las Brisas, where he had a view of the "Persian Gulf". It also was Guthers favourite spot, and since he was allowed to use the Palace as a meeting room with Foreign guests, he preferred to reside there during lunch time, while he had his breakfast on his own room with a view of the rich 1 square-kilometer park, with Luxembourg as a distant reminder on the horizon. To just illustrate how huge the parks and the palace are: Regional roads have been tunneled underneath the Palace, aswell as the A7 Motorway, which had a special secured exit for the Palace. All Tunnels had been built out of solid concrete, with special metal armings to prevent any attacks on the solidity of the Palace. Sometimes, Sebastian guther couldn't comprehend he was walking through one of the most expensive building projects in the world, and he was the one that could use it.

Finally, he arrived at las Brisas, where he saw the Grand Duke, enjoying a drink with some family members, also present in the huge building. What was even harder to comprehend was that those family members also owned homes and palaces all over Van Luxemburg. The Land van Altena was a complete center of power next to Luxembourg, with all the Grand-Ducal family members present. Guther now quickly approached the Grand Duke, before he could see him, and ask what was going on, in front of other family members.

Sir, could I speak you for a minute? Just the two of us, please Guther pointed his head at the Grand Duke's family, who were still laughing, and admiring the view.

Ofcourse, Sebastian, what is it? the Grand Duke answered casual, like his dress. He didn't wear a suit this time, but was clothed in a simple T-shirt and jeans, because of the rain lately.

Ehm, Glasnost, Sir. He said, while walking towards the sandy beach.

It's Fortstall, Mabakhr and Al-Ghazi. Guther said, before he was interrupted.

Wait a minute, Sebastian. Who's Mabakhr? I know the other two, but who's Mabakhr? Al-Ghazi's right hand? Oh, and stop calling me Sir.

Correct, Koen. Muhammad Mabakhr, Right Hand of Ankhmed Al-Ghazi, leader of South-Arabia. I bet you know Fortstall. But it is, ehm, They escaped Glasnost, killed four guards, took their weapons and probably their vehicle.

The Grand Duke became silent, and looked to his side, where Guther walked.

Four of my men, dead. Three dangerous criminals escaped. The guards got Pathfinders there, isn't it? They're lucky they didn't have the Mercedes-Benz's yet. They are way faster, the Pathfinder can't fight our sportscars. You already warned everyone, I hope?

Everyone, sir. They will be wanted in the complete nation. We've alarmed Alicia and Patrick Daniels. They will broadcast the warning every hour, and with the News reports. We didn't add any details on how they escaped. They escaped by a service tunnel, for your info. But that's strictly secret.

I understand. Maybe I'll invite some people from The Vuhifellian States over, I will inform you about that.

Great, but I must be going now.

Yeah, have a great time The Grand Duke said, dripping with sarcasm.

Guther walked into the building again, back to the Reception, and outside, where his Maserati was already waiting. This time, the vehicle wasn't escorted, and drove back to the Ministry of Justice calmly.

Later that day...

FROM: Koen van Luxemburg, Grand Duke of Van Luxemburg.
TO: Alicia Daniels, p/a Presidential Palace, New Hivez, The Vuhifellian States
SUBJECT: H.F.

Alicia,

I got bad news. Howard Fortstall has escaped our Federal Facility Glasnost, together with two other dangerous figures. He will probably try to return to Vuhifell, but we're trying to find him. Help is always appreciated. If he returns to Vuhifell, he could spark another war, may it be Corporate, Civil or at International level. I would like to have some info on Howard's background. Maybe we can predict where he's going. I've CC'ed this to Patrick, so he'll receive this aswell. I'll be awaiting your reply.

Koen van Luxemburg
Grand Duke of Van Luxemburg

Presidential Palace Complex
Cartejuena Palace

The Cartejuena Palace was dedicated to the first family to have more than one member as President. It was one of the smaller Palaces in the complex, built in a Spanish-Latino architecture, Alicia Daniels preparing dinner for herself and a few High Court judges who were here to submit another petition for another Federal Law Review.

"President Daniels, the Special Refugee Regions of North Osea and Daijima have acquired enough signatures to count as a Class D petition for another Federal Law Review."

"I would recommend having one."

"You guys," replied Alicia, now done preparing dinner. The normal chef would usually do this...and a whole lot better, but he moved away to help out in UPEO-MNO (UPEO Mission to North Osea). Thus, she was faced with the dilemma of cooking for herself until the National Employment Agency found another world-class chef.

"I would call another Federal Law Review, but these petitions come from the Special Refugee Regions. Until the Federational Congress admits them as full provinces in the Federation, I can't serve as their President..."

It was at this moment, when the fax machine in the corner of the room burred, and out came a single piece of paper.

"I'll get it," said High Judge of Greykan, Aisha Clan-Clan.

"But, Madame President, they voted for you, therefor, you are their President, refugee or citizen, you cannot make a decision like this..."

"Madame President...I think this is for you..."

FROM: Koen van Luxemburg, Grand Duke of Van Luxemburg.
TO: Alicia Daniels, p/a Presidential Palace, New Hivez, The Vuhifellian States
SUBJECT: H.F.

Alicia,

I got bad news. Howard Fortstall has escaped our Federal Facility Glasnost, together with two other dangerous figures. He will probably try to return to Vuhifell, but we're trying to find him. Help is always appreciated. If he returns to Vuhifell, he could spark another war, may it be Corporate, Civil or at International level. I would like to have some info on Howard's background. Maybe we can predict where he's going. I've CC'ed this to Patrick, so he'll receive this aswell. I'll be awaiting your reply.

Koen van Luxemburg
Grand Duke of Van Luxemburg

"Oh Good Tyth...okay, I want all VA military personell on Combat Alert Ascent! Declare National Emergency, Status: Kazach. I want it done now!" She was screaming into the intercom, the channel was opened to her aide down in the main palace, June Memorial.

Official Statement from the Council of Internal Affairs

To: Van Luxemburg
From: Council of Internal Affairs
Subject: H.T.
CC:
Council of War
Military Council
Council of Justice
Council of Foreign Affairs
Council of the Treasury
High Court
Federational Congress
Foreign Protection Agency

It has come to our attention that the Ace of Spades on Vuhifell's most wanted list was come online again. Seeing as this has happened, Vuhifell is now on lockdown, all corporations are being monitered for suspicipious activites. The VPU has been mobilized to secure all airports. Any and all support we can give you, please ask.

This man is wanted for the murder of 20 Million persons and other various war crimes. A bounty has been placed on his head of 100 trillion credits. Any person, organization, corporation, or nation may recieve this payment.

Signed,
Maes Hughes, Supreme Councilor of Internal Affairs
Edward Elric, Vice-Councilor
Alphonse Elric, Councilor, 3rd Seat
Roy Mustang, Councilor, 4th Seat
Riza Hawkeye, Councilor 5th Seat

Dubai

"Yeah, we lost contact with all our search parties too, if you can find them, that'd be well appreciated." 117 sat down, and threw his weapon towards his side. Yet again, he was living as a number, 117 has been his name since he was twelve....now he's forty....a bit too old for anti-terrorist escapades in the desert.

"What's wrong chief?" asked 118, cheerful as ever.

"Don't call me that, you should be called that. You retired a Colonel, I was only a Lt. Colonel, there's a difference."

"Oh feck off will ya'. You were the colonel, at least a backseat colonel anyways."

"I'm still used to being called a Major..."

A shot rang out from the distance...it was a sniper shot, it would have been a noise 117 would have been indifferent to, except...

There's was a loud scream from someone in his squad, later accompanied by the words, "Sniper! Get down!"

He didn't know what the hell was going on, except that when he turned around, he saw 133, lying on the floor, two halfs of a body, a large pool of blood...he was dead.

"What are you doing, get off the floor you bloody idiot!" 118 grabbed 117's arm, and slung himover a rock, towards cover. Another shot, and 118 dropped to the floor, not dead, but he had his arms around his head, and was praying.

Yet another shot, and 132 was dead, his head blown off...This wasn't supposed to be happening. The same squad that had taken down an entire terrorist army...was being killed off by a single sniper. 117 started praying too.

"Get the bastard!"

Another shot, this one missed, but it sprayed shraphnel everywhere, 122 and 114 were both injured in the leg, nothing serious, but they were still injured...

Why wasn't the sniper aiming at the construction crews, they were only aiming at Squad 49 members...

More shots...no people died this time, everyone was behind cover, everyone was praying, because they themselves had no snipers to fire back with, and any attempt to use a rifle scope was probablt pointless too, the bullets hit before the sound appeared, that meant that the sniper was probably miles away, far out of reach from a standard VA rifle...

Laval shouted to the commander of the Engineer division, trying to be heard above the sound of sniper shots, while laying in cover behind a bulldozer.

Moberg! Get those bastards!

Roger, Martin!

Two BdC-15's of the first line breathed a heavy cloud of smoke, before slowly moving forward. They gained speed, and it took 15 seconds to reach their topspeed of 79 km/h. It had never been proven the tanks could go faster, but they probably could. Out of security reasons, the specialists at Müller Panzerwerke had limited it's speed to a safe 79 km/h. Above the 80 km/h, the tank's gun stabilisation system became inefficient due to the movement of the vehicle, with the front coming up due to the high speeds.

The vehicles each took a side of the road, wrecking the pavement with their solid 90 tons of armour, before skidding to a halt before two men in black suits, and a sniper rifle.
The commander of the first BdC-15 opened his commando tower, and took his Minimi Machinegun, before asking some questions to the two men laying on the pavement.

HEY! What the fuck do you think you're doing!
The commander shouted, while several other crewmembers took positions on their Machineguns.

Hands on your head, drop your weapons!

Russian Region, near St. Petersburg

The Eurocopter passed low over the road, before returning to it's usual pattern above the woods. What the pilots didn't see was that a Nissan Pathfinder stormed over the dusty road, while it's passengers were shook through the car by the high speed on a bad road.

Shit, Ankhmed, slow down! we already escaped, I don't want to die in this stage of the plan!

Shut up, there's a helicopter above us!

Ankhment replied, while pulling the steering wheel from one side to another, trying to keep the Nissan on the road.

The helicopter is moving away! Oh, shit...

Ankhmed almost drove right through a sign announcing they had entered a town. Several inhabitants looked at the Nissan coming out of the small forest road, before running onto the main road, and grinding to a halt.

Take that vehicle over there!

The three jumped out of the Nissan, before hijacking a BMW 5-series standing at a traffic light. The car accelerated at full power, with the tyres creating a smokescreen behind them. The vehicle barely evaded a few other cars coming from the left and right, before driving straight onto a National Road. The National Roads were somewhat smaller motorways, with or without a rail dividing the two halves. The car accelerated, before vanishing out of sight. The first sign on the National Road read

(N7891) Direction (A451) Moskva/Moscow - Warszawa/Warsaw - Berlin/Berlin

Dubai

"I guess it's over, isn't it?"

"Can't claim the money if we're dead."

Both Death Squad members put their hands behind their heads, and threw the sniper rifle to the side. They were mercenaries, they weren't willing to die, even for 1 trillion credits....

Red Sea
VFS Avery J. Malone

"Captain, sir, we just decoded a message sent from Golden Skies City to Dubai via a Vuhifellian Security Corporation satellite, would you like to read it?"

"No, that won't be neccessary, South Arabia has surrendered to friendly forces, so I want a satellite over all highways near Glasnot Prison in VL Russia."

"Why, sir?" The ensign obviously didn't know how to follow orders, and he obviously didn't know that the ship didn't even have to hack into local news networks to know Howard Fortstall was on the loose.

"Are you...questioning my authority, ensign?"

"No, sir!" he shouted, and he ran off towards the recon room, handing the decoded message to the Captain's aide on his way out.

"Hacking room, this is the bridge!" Captain Weeker shouted over the intercom system, "I want you to find any and all police records of any stolen vehicles, car chases, speed limit violations, parking tickets, and general suspicious activity near the Glasnot area. Provide this information directly to the Recon Room.
"Recon Room, I want you to place a direct link between the VidSat and VL authorities, pull IntelSat 09 and IntelSat 02 out of orbit over Farbanti and the Comonas. We will provide detailed digital pictures of the area using those two satellites, that is all."

Dubai

The commander and technician of the tank looked at eachother, and wondered how easy arresting a terrorist could actually be. The Commander shortly got back into the tank to call Laval, and reported that the snipers had been caught. Some minutes after that, Laval arrived with several Special Forces personnel around him, ordering them to cuff the two together, and take them to Patrick. Meanwhile, the tanks started their engines, and slowly rolled away, following the group walking back to the Burj al Arab.

Patrick! I bet these are your guys! Can you check them out?

The soldiers pushed the two in front of 117, before stepping back and lowering their rifles, switching the guns to safe.

A451

The grey BMW burnt rubber past the Autobahn, with the 5-series' HUD showing a 267 km/h on the clock. This probably was 250 km/h, as BMW's and several other German cars had limited the speed of the vehicles to 250.

One of the brands that had been left out of this agreement, was Ferdinand Porsche AG. The Van Luxemburgian Police had just took delivery of the new Porsche 911 (997) Turbo, and one of the cars was just given to Aleksej Chevchenko, and his mate James Smith, who regularly patrolled the A451 in their former car, a Lotus Elise. The Porsche was way more advanced and heavier than the nimble and simple Elise, and Chevchenko still wasn't entirely trusted with the Tiptronic S gearbox and Porsche Traction Management.

The Porsche calmly cruised the Autobahn, when the BMW blew past. A call had been sent to all police vehicles, that they had to look out for a grey BMW 5-series as seen shooting past seconds ago. Aleksej geared the car up, shifting moments to early with the gear paddles, or sometimes over-revving the engines. He realised he needed some feeling with the vehicle, and didn't read the manual. Manuals were for cream puffs, he knew, and he hadn't read the words on the first page of the manual. Because of that, he was shocked by the Porsche's response when violating the 160 km/h.

Attention: Please let the dealer unlock speed limiter after 5000 km. Speed Limiter active.

The vehicle brutally activated the speed limiter, and the Porsche began to make a steady 160 km/h, with the BMW vanishing out of sight. Smith got the communication equipment ready, and already was busy alarming their office.

Attention, this is Vehicle 36. We've just lost a grey BMW 5-series out of sight due to our speed limited Porsche. Requesting immediate backup on the A451. Direction Warschau. BMW had license plate A6751, Region Luxembourg.

This is Vehicle 78, we're reporting in. Our position is 6 km ahead of Vehicle 36.

This is Vehicle 34 reporting in. We're picking up speed, Vehicle 78 has just passed us.

Vehicle 78, a Ferrari F430 with F1 gearbox, slowed down somewhat, to make a steady 250 km/h on the calm Autobahn. The A451 was almost uninhabited, a straight line of pitch-black asphalt, leading into the distance. Behind the horizon, it would get busier, but not now. Vehicle 34 was a VLT Automotive L7, a brand new vehicle, just introduced by VLT. The Police had the honour of testing it, and this would be it's first pursuit.

Meanwhile, Howard Fortstall had took the wheel of the BMW, and steered it in a steady pace over the asphalt. It quickly surpassed the Ferrari and VLT, which picked up speed to follow the car. It's warning lights and sirens detonated a sound and light explosion, following the BMW closely.

Dubai

"I see...then...both of them are dead...I knew 119 never had the stomach nor the nerves to even dream about becoming a Knight of the Round Table." said 117, in an especially quiet voice, before pulling out a data stick from '99's pocket and reading aloud its contents to his squad.

'Agent Euphrates - Mission 0912
Black Project
Password:...>>override<</approved
OBJECTIVE: ELIMINATE ALL SQUAD 49 FORCES
MISSION ALIAS: EBG 99

MISSION BACKERS
Password needed:...>>Override<<DENIED>>
//|Override ACCESS BRAVO9\\DENIED>>
\\Override ACCESS AscentCharlie EUREKA2>>approved

1 trillion credit down payment
20 million credits e/ squad 49 members killed
10 trillion for elimination of 117'

That was the information on the data, specific orders to kill him and his squad...and a huge payoff to these two if they succeeded.

He quickly got on the radio to the Malone, out at sea.

"VFS Avery J. Malone this is EBG 117 of Squad 49. We have two mercs here, employer unknown, they killed a few of my men."

"I'm sorry for your loss, 117. This is Captain Weeker speaking. Are you going to kill them?"

"No, we need a VAF carrier plane here, their actions today mean that the High Court can send them to Okchabursk directly"

VFS Avery J. Malone

In the recon room, lieutenant Ivy Hamilton was the chief officer in charge of satellite intelligence, she broadcasted her voice via the intercom to the bridge.

"Captain Weeker, sir! Lieutenant Jean Craig has reported that her team has a stolen car being pursued by police on the A451 highway!"

"What are you waiting for!" he shouted, Captain Weeker hated being asked for permission/authorization for any of his sailors to act, "If you've found the bastard, get the VidSat over their position, now!"

"Yes sir!"

39,000 km over the A451 Highway
VAF IntelVidSat 01 - Prototype

For the fouth time since it was launched, the VidSat had opened the dome which protected its super-high resolution video camera. It had adjusted its orbit since the last time it opened its camera dome, and was now filming real time digital video of the grey BMW to the Van Luxemburgian police.

A451

"Shit! I need a god damned map!" Howard was, yet again, a wanted criminal in the better parts of the Vuhi-VanLux Alliance, not very good, because the VAF was probably tracking him with about a dozen satellites by now.

Now, driving while holding on to an object was not Howard's strong point, but he managed to locate an airbase in Smolensk, not too far from his current location.

"Okay, I'm gonna head to the airfield!"

He took the turnoff towards the airfield, the map said it was a few kilometers away, shouldn't be much of a drive, the speed they were going.

And they were there, the airfield devoid of any signs of the VLAF, with the exception of several A400's parked on the ground, unlike VAF bases, these weren't guarded by entire platoons of tanks.

"C'mon, Ahkmed, you, the other guy, whatever your name is, let's go!"

Smolensk Airfield, Military part.

While the three ran through several unguarded gates leading to the parking where 3 A400M transport aircrafts were stationed, The two police cars grinded to a halt behind them. Four Policiers stepped out of the two cars, arming their pistols, and meanwhile warning Airforce Security. Two guards, with a dog on a line quickly appeared from the other side of the airport, with one arming his FN SCAR Assault Rifle.

HALT! You're accessing restricted terrain! Stop or we will open fire!

The second guard was busy calling in support from the heavily-guarded hangar on the southern part of the airforce base, where two EF-2000's where refueled. It was a coincidence they had arrived there, as they belonged to the Moscow AFB. They simply landed on Smolensk, as they were in need of fuel. One of them had damaged it's engine due to a bird, and was being completely overhauled. The other one was busy to taxi to the runway, barely long enough to accomodate the start of an Eurofighter-2000 jet.

Meanwhile, Ankhmed, Muhammad and Howard jumped into an A400M, which had it's bay doors opened for service. The mechanic had just walked away to get a cup of coffee, and vanished out of sight.

Fortstall, we can't fly, we'll play Co-Pilot and Communications officer, move it! You first!

The Bay doors closed, as Muhammad pushed the button to close them. From the distance, two 6.8mm bullets penetrated the side of the aircraft, leaving two perfectly round holes. Meanwhyile, Fortstall, assisted by Ankhmed, fired up the engines, and the A400M slowly taxiied away from it's parking. Right before the A400M, an Eurofighter took off, not-knowing what was going on. It turned Eastwards, heading back to it's base. Then, the A400M took off, heading away from the airport.

Shit! Attention all units. We have a stolen A400M. I repeat, intruders have stolen an A400M.

How far can that thing go?

One of the police officers asked, while looking at the aircraft slowly vanishing.

It can easily get to 6600 km, with the fuel tanks filled up. And since these were meant for rapid-deployment to the Gulf, they have been filled up.

So, they can easily reach Any place in the Gulf, aswell as Errm, Kreuzbadinsel, and Guyana Island?

Technically, yes. But I think they will be intercepted by some fighters, but they probably won't be allowed to fire AAM's at them. Maybe the cannons aboard those fighters can do something, and otherwise, we'll need to use our ADV units, like we have one on this base. Every base has one, except for the smaller bases, and the major bases have 2 or 3. They could keep off entire barrages of missiles, or aircraft, but the EALDV's 35mm cannons can hit that A400M precise enough to make them land, I hope.

And you can't take the thing here outside to fire at the aircraft there?

The Police officer pointed at the A400M, which was becoming harder to see.

Errm, it will take at least 10 minutes to deploy these. The aircraft would be out of sight, or at least far enough to make the guns not precise enough to hit designated areas.

Diyarbakir AFB

http://eminfindikli5.tripod.com/casa/images/casa-5_jpg.jpg

Diyarbakir was the last city before the North Al-Ghalib border, laying at only 5 km's distance to the friendly nation. On the city's airforcebase, several A400M and C-295 transport aircraft waited for takeoff, while large groups of soldiers walked over the tarmac, to load up in those aircraft. Commodore Alberto Salazar, Portugese from origin, overlooked the airfield from the ATC tower. He was, strangely enough, not a member of the Van Luxemburgian Airforce, but was part of the 52nd Airmobile Division, which also used the Airforce's ranks. He looked at the paper in front of him.


Military Order, Groussherzogtum Vun Lëtzebuerg

ATTN: COMMODORE SALAZAR, COMMANDER 2ND AIRBORNE BRIGADE, 52ND AIRMOBILE DIVISION

CONTAINS: ORDERS

COMMODORE SALAZAR, DIRECT ORDERS FROM FIELDMARSHALL ANASTASIOS IN ATHENS. YOU AND YOUR BRIGADE ARE TO LOAD UP ONTO AN AIRBORNE OFFENSIVE ON BASRAH, CAPITAL OF AL FURAT. YOUR VEHICLES WILL BE FLOWN IN WHEN YOU CAPTURE AL BASRAH AFB. YOUR COLLEAGUES WITH THE AIRFORCE HAVE ALREADY CLEARED UP THE SKIES AND GROUND IN FRONT OF YOU. YOUR FULL BRIGADE WILL PARTICIPATE, INCLUDING LOGISTICS PERSONNEL TO SUPPLY YOU. YOUR HELICOPTERS WILL OPERATE FROM KUWAIT CITY, AGHMAN, WHILE THE AGHMANI 2ND ARMOURED DIVISION WILL ASSAULT BASRAH FROM THE DIRECTION OF KUWAIT CITY. AIR SUPPORT WILL BE DELIVERED BY 229 SQUADRON OF THE VAN LUXEMBURGIAN AIRFORCE, FLYING EUROFIGHTERS. YOUR OBJECTIVES IN BASRAH ARE TO CAPTURE THE AFB AND THE PARLIAMENT BUILDING, AS MENTIONED IN THE BRIEFING. YOU WILL BE THE ONLY VAN LUXEMBURGIAN GROUND UNIT IN THE AREA.

SIGNED,
FIELDMARSHALL ANASTASIOS
ATHENS



Salazar put the paper in his paratroop jacket, before running towards the A400M designated to him.

Basrah

http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/ef2000/images/EurofighterTyphoon_20.jpg

The Eurofighter Typhoon pulled up, after it had shot two Mig-21's to smithereens, waiting on the runway. It's wingman, flying next to him, quickly pointed out he had scored two kills, which would look nice on the jet's fuselage. The two Eurofighters soared over Basrah, before making a high-G turn, and returning to Kuwait City. In the distance, a roaring thunder came closer. It wasn't a natural storm, as an armada of 50 transport aircraft approached, ready to drop the paratroopers. Several Eurofighter Typhoons neared from another direction, and made several turns to eventually end up next to the first transport aircraft, the heavy A400M's. Behind that, nimble CN-295's followed, complementing the taskforce. In front of the group, large pillars of smoke raised above Basrah, which had been bombed by a squadron Eurofighter Typhoons for 24 hours, non-stop, two at a time. Now, it was time to unleash the power of paratroops on Basrah.

2 minutes to Green!

The loadmaster shouted at Salazar, who was waiting with several of his men in the first A400M. Alberto raised his thumb, to indicate he understood the loadmaster.

1 Minute!

Salazar? Test 1,2,3. This is Eagle Patrol of the 223 Squadron. Please designate some targets for us down there. Good luck!

Go!

http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/fla/images/fla6.jpg

The Commodore and his men ran off the loading ramp on the back of the aircraft, while several others took the doors on the sides. All around him, soldiers jumped, immediately deploying their parachutes.

Attention Commodore, it's me, Sergio. My helicopters are waiting to evacuate, attack or anything inbetween.

Salazar was beginning to get connection to the uplinks mounted to his FELIN suit, and briefly checked his barrel-mounted camera. he checked the video uplinks from other soldiers by using the osteophone mounted in the helmets headband, and saw how others jumped from the aircraft. He also got connection to the cockpits of the Eurofighters, Tigers and to a TV station. He checked the options on his cameras, including thermal and night vision.
Alberto was surprised to hit the ground so early, and had to grab his rifle from the strapping in a hurry, before concluding he had landed in an empty street. Next to him, several others landed, who, just like he did, immediately started with packing the parachute into their bags, before running to the streetcorners, to find more paratroopers in the neighbouring streets.

This is Petter. We've got an Furati patrol here. Target has been designated.

With some orders, Alberto called up his map of the region, and found the targets was several blocks away. Distant gunfire came from the same direction. Several paratroopers in the same street already received orders to move towards Petter's position. Petter was the commander of a peloton of paratroopers, and since the Van Luxemburgian Military had ordered all personnel to use first names instead of ranks and last names. This way, Eerste Luitenant Christiansson became Petter, and Commodore Salazar became Alberto.

Alberto here. I want 1 and 2 Bataljon towards Al Basrah, Me and 3 and 4 Bataljon in the direction of Basrahs city center.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e9/FELIN-openphotonet_PICT6050.jpg/800px-FELIN-openphotonet_PICT6050.jpg

He followed several other 3 Bataljon members, who had been hidden behind a wall before the orders. The group moved along, picking up more troops in the next streets. Alberto knew there was little time to admire the buildings when two Eurofighters soared over the street, leaving an explosion in the distance. Petter's problems were probably solved. Alberto followed the men down the block, and eventually until Al Mina Stadium, where the rest of 3 and 4 Bataljon awaited. Together, they silently moved through the streets of Basrah, until the first man halted, and held up his hand. He signalled that he had seen enemies, and sat crouched behind a house, which had several bullet holes as a bonus to new inhabitants. Alberto crouched next to him, before using his rifle to look around the corner. He saw a T55 tank with several soldiers next to it, looking quite alerted by the constantly strafing Eurofighters, and the armada of transport aircraft that had passed over. They all held their Kalashnikovs close, while leaning against the Russian-made tank. Salazar got his designator out, and pinpointed the tank, illuminating it with laser and Infrared technology.



Eagle Patrol, this is Alberto. I've designated a target, have fun!

Sorry man, we're out of bombs. ETA 10 minutes for our next run.

This is Sergio, we can't get to there within the time they can send in their next patrol. ETA 15 minutes, on our way.

Salazar cursed, before explaining his men over the radio that they'd need to attack themselves. He sent several pelotons few blocks further, before arming his rifle, and giving the 'go' code. He stormed away from the building, and ducked behind a tree, before firing several rounds at the soldiers. They quickly returned fire, but were overfired by the Minimi LMG's of the backup pelotons, who surprised the group from the back. From behind the house, more paratroopers emerged, running, and then ducking away for cover. The crew of the tank, desperately trying to get in it's vehicle as quickly as possible was took out by an AW L96 sniper, which had took up position inside the house the rest of the bataljon waited behind. A full squad then moved up towards the tank, shooting at remaining insurgents, and tossing a grenade inside the vehicle. After a few seconds, a dull bang sounded from the tank, while a column of smoke came from the inside. The paratroopers quickly ran away, before the tank was ripped apart by explosive forces, leaving debris all over the roundabout.

Salazar regrouped his men, before moving on to the Port Directorate, where the Parliament building now was. His advance was however halted by a column of T55 and T72 tanks moving up the street. The paratroopers had the chance to take cover before the first tanks came into action and blew a part off the house they had previously sheltered behind. Several paratroopers returned fire by emptying a magazine onto the infantry walking behind the tanks, but didn't have too much effect. bullets flew back and forth, either coming from the Paratroopers' JK-13's, which they fired at a moment of exposure, before ducking away, or the insurgents' AK-47, who fired them from full expsoure, counting on the tank's protection.

We aren't gonna make this! Call up Sergio, and let them get over!

Several minutes later, one of the T-72's blew up, spontaneously. Seconds later, two Tiger Attack helicopters roared over, creating a fresh wind.

http://www.army-technology.com/projects/tiger/images/tiger4.jpg

I think I missed the start of the party, isn't it?

Sergio, you just started it, don't worry!

Great! Let's get some nice music on!

A barrage of unguided missiles landed on the column, killing most of the infantry, and immobilising the tanks.

And the drums!

Two Trigat LR AT missiles headed for the T-72's, blowing up one, and exploding the turret on the second.

More good news, guys! We've took control of the airfield, and the vehicles are flooding in at the moment. We should be there within 20 minutes, out.

"Is this your first time piloting a plane!?" asked Ahkmed.

"Of course not you dunce, but my first time while being chased after by the VLAF, yes."

Their only hope was to get outside of the VL-ADS. Vuhifell was their primary destination, if they could get past the Vuhifellian-ADS (which was very easy to break through at the northern regions). The VLAF would certainly be after them with some advanced jets in a few minutes.

North Point Military Intelligence Agency (NPMIA)
Office of the Deck of Fifty-Two

"Sir, we have confirmed reports coming in from the VFS Avery J. Malone in the Red Sea that the Ace of Spades is making his way towards the pole in an A400."

The office was dark, outside the window, the city of North Point gleamed with the satisfaction that this was a city no one could capture, destroy, yes, capture, no.

The sounds of the VA were clearly audible. The VAF was constantly running jet fighters in and out of the city for protection, the horns of VN vessels also rung through the night, while several VA brigades were marching through the streets.

"Is that so?"

"Yes, it is sir."

"Well then, you know what to do, contact Van Luxemburg, and ask if we'll be allowed to hold a trial for him in the High Court, that last trial was an embarrassment for the entire VA Military."

Biala Podlaska

A group of Renault AE Magnum trucks drove over the runway, escorted by several 4x4's. They halted halfway down the runway, and parked in the grass. The drivers quickly lowered the stemples on the trucks, to lift them up and make them exactly levelled. The missile systems turned to the East, like the dual 35mm cannons on the EALDV's.

We got an A400M on the radar, heading 270, coming straight in, altitude is 10089. Gunners, we want a salvo on the Tail section, and the right and left engines. ETA 1 min.

The 35mm cannons pointed upwards, while two Rafales and two EF2000's soared low over the runway, just after take-off. They were followed by a Dassault Jet, deploying strangely-shaped objects on it's hull. It was an AEW aircraft, jet-powered. It had been designed by several Electronics experts to use as a weapon against radar, and it joined the fighters now, to interrupt the A400M's radar systems.

The jetfighters flew terribly slow to let the Falcon keep up with them, but seeing they easily passed the speed of the A400M, the jets already came near.

Ready in 3,2,1, all systems blacked out on that thing.

The operators pulled several knobs and handles, before using the keyboard to check the status. The monitor quickly indicated 100%, which meant the complete Radar of the A400M should have blacked out. From there, the ADV units opened fire, three short barrages at the aircraft.

Meanwhile, the four jets closed in, low under and high up above the aircraft, before dropping in on the aircraft, just before the barrages came near...

Both a Rafale and an EF2000 lowered to cockpit level, With it's pilots busy signalling they should surrender and follow them. The aircraft, meanwhile halfway Poland, were hurrying towards Germany. The Military Airfield Mendig had been chosen to let the A400M land. The runway was long enough to allow every jetfighter of the group land, and the A400M would probably have no problem with it.

This is your escort, Howard Fortstall. We ask you to follow us and land at the designated runway, or we will force you to land, by "losing" a few of our cannon rounds. From there, you will be sent over to The Vuhifellian States. They've thought up the plan to let you **** off from van Luxemburg, and let you finish your penalty in The Vuhifellian States. Don't pull of any stunts, you've got enough company here to build a party. And don't get me wrong. These are not your friends. Oh, I hope you already saw you got a few problems with your nice and shiny new aircraft? This is what happens when you steal Government Equipment here. We force you to land. And mind you, this jet doesn't have any problems in keeping up with you. My colleagues will demonstrate that.

A third EF2000 and a third Rafale soared past, nearing Mach 2. The A400M, flying at Mach 0.7, was left behind, with the other four EF2000's and Rafales.
Behind the tail of the transport, the Dassault closed in, before flying right overhead, allowing Howard to see another aircraft was involved. The jet halted right in front of the cockpit of the A400M, flying at the same speed. It dropped off flares and chaff, to warn Fortstall that he should follow them, instead of pulling his own plan. Meanwhile, the EF2000 and Rafale had returned, making another flyover, this time past Mach 2.

I repeat! Landing!

Mendig Military Airfield, Germany

The airport was calm, as the guards had took shelter from the sun in their barracks, and several military trucks awaited on the tarmac, with the airconditioning on full power. It was hot for the time of the year, a mere 35 degrees Celsius. The soldiers waiting to arrest Howard Fortstall carried black sunglasses with them, but were seated in the airconditioned cabins of their vehicles, awaiting the landing of the transport. Several aircraft waited on the tarmac, mostly helicopoters, as this was a helicopter base, and two Das.2 Spectres Isselmere-Nielander production had been parked in the full sun. There was however one strange thing on the airfield. On one of the outskirts, there was a Bombardier BD-700 Global express standing by, with an IFR flight to New Hivez already filed with the tower. According to the oustide of the jet, it belonged to Bergmann Executive Air, and was coloured in an attractive colour scheme. However, if one would look tthis name up in the corporations register, the results would be negative. No company with such a name existed, and the aircraft was actually owned by the IVD. They operated large numbers of aircraft, with different fictive companies. They were used for these kind of jobs, and had a normal interior, but were all equipped with positions to connect a handcuff to. These aircraft had been kept completely secret, and nobody knew of them, except for thes epeople here, the IVd and the Van Luxemburgian Government. However, aircraft spotting wasn't forbidden on Mendig Military Airfield, and several photographers had set up positions just outside the fence. They had been surprised by the emergency landing of the Bombardier. It however hadn't been an emergency landing, but a usual landing, and a cover-up for the fact that it was meant for Howard Fortstall, to be flown back to The Vuhifellian States. No civilian actually knew of the fact that Fortstall had stolen a Van Luxemburgian Military craft, and the A400M making an emergency landing here would just be the second emergency landing for today. Strange for such a small airfield, but still possible.

Several Eagle 4x4's of the Grand-Ducal Marechaussee passed the gate, on their way outside. When outside, they engaged their warning lights and sirens, and separated. They drove onto several dirt roads, known to be frequently used by spotters. The Marechaussee vehicles halted at the popular spotter positions.

I'm sorry guys, but this is forbidden territory for now. Please leave. Orders from high up.

The spotters got in their cars, mocking because they couldn't see a scheduled landing by an NH-90. The vehicles drove off, while the Marechaussees left the warning lights on the vehicles on, and sought a spot under the trees to relax. They sat down, while dividing a bottle of water and several bags of Lipton Ice Tea powder, which were allowed to be used in peacetime. Since the Marechaussees had been promised they could take a break under the trees, one had brought a laptop, and another one called his girlfriend. Others played a game of cards, or filled in some papers. Some got some sleep, while others had found a water point, and had opened the crane, after attaching a hose to it. They were now busy washing the Eagles, while sometimes joking with their sleeping colleagues.

On the airfield, The trucks had moved towards the tarmac, where the soldiers had set up large sunscreens, protecting them from the bruning sun. They installed large numbers of blowers to keep cool, and some began setting up a pool. Officially, this was a sunday, which meant that they didn't had to train with their rifles, or had to do wargames with colleagues. This was their day off on the base, for this unit. Base guard was changed every hour, so everyone could have some fun, while the troops were still quite alert.
everybody on the base knew they would need to be ready for Howard Fortstall, but the Base Guard was strong enough to handle that. When Fortstall was about to land, they would all go back to their task, and arrest him, before taking him to the waiting aircraft. Even the ever-serious IVD personnel of the aircraft asked if they could join in the pool fun,a nd were allowed. The Grand Duke had asked the Ministry of Defence for a study on the possibility of this scenario here, and they said it would be possible, with a minor loss of alertness on sunday, which would however be compensated by the next day. therefore, sunday was known as the relax-day under Van Luxemburgian Soldiers. They were ready for Fortstall to come, and he would not be admitted to the pool...

"Shit. So this is where the road ends...." Howard Fortstall knew that he had a better chance of living in a Vuhifellian prison. He wasn't stupid, from within Glasnot he sometimes heard some of the news in Vuhifell, and from the latest Federal Law Review, the death penalty had finally been outlawed for all crimes.

He didn't need to worry about these two. He had only met them today, he didn't care what happened to them.

"This is Howard Fortstall, roger, turning around now."

Dubai

"I'm getting too old for this...." said 117, dropping down to the floor, throwing his gun by his side, "look at me, Kieth, I couldn't even protect my own men. I'm useless...." He ran his hands through his hair, and he noticed that, as one of the strands fell from his head, he was turning gray.

"Hey, chief, remember, Church was ten years older than you, and he did well!"

"But I'm not him, and now I know he's really dead!" 117 slumped down even further, so that he was completely lying down on the ground, staring at the sky. "Maybe we should retire, the Squad isn't what it used to be."

"Like how?"

"Like the fact that we all have lives now! You and Michelle left your fuggin' kids in St. Ark just to go around living the glory days again! Half of these guys have respectable jobs! I'm not about to take them all away from that just to police the world!"

Silence enveloped them after that. Patrick's words struck deep. It was true. They all had good lives, and the guys that were killed just a few moments ago...in a few weeks they would've been fathers, no hope for that now.

(OOC: After this RP is over, Squad 49 is officially retiring, and I'll bring in a new cast)

Roger. Follow us.

The EF2000's made a slow turn, and waited on Fortstall to follow them, before they flew off towards the designated airfield...

Several Hours Later...

The A400M approached the runway, with the two EF2000's close behind. As the transport aircraft touched down, the jetfighters landed behind it, forcing the transport airplane to taxi towards the group of van Luxemburgians awaiting the aircraft. They swiftly opened the doors of the A400M, before some of them went in, and returned with Fortstall, Muhammad and Ankhmed.
They were quickly brought to the Bombardier waiting on the airfield, which immediately took off after they got in. It was off to the Vuhifellian States. What the Van Luxemburgians however included as a surprise to the Vuhifellians, were Muahammad and Ankhmed, which they didn't trust anymore to lock them away in any Van Luxemburgian installation.

Dubai

War officially declared over, Troops go home.

After the surprising timed assault on all enemy nations in the Van Luxemburgian Middle-East, Van Luxemburgian Officials declared they received surrenders from all attacked nations. Al Furati leaders have been caught in their parliament, and several other nations have been overrun by Van Luxemburg and their allies. All enemy territory has officially been claimed by the Van Luxemburgian Grand Duchy, while friendly and allied nations to the Grand Duchy will remain existant. They have signed an exclusive-trade agreement with Van Luxemburg, to ensure it's oil flow. An Open-border agreement has also been made, to ensure the free transition of people and cargo over these borders. The Van Luxemburgian Government is said to be "optimistic".

Laval handed the newspaper over to Patrick, after hearing his speech to his men. Laval didn't say anything, but simply smiled at him.

High Court, New Hivez, South Belka, Vuhifellian Federation

The very same panel of judges who tried and convicted many members of the Consortium were now sitting in their seats in the High Court, smiling with delight, to try the three individuals before them.

Supreme Judge Vyacheslav Fedoseev stood up to read them their charges.

"Andrew Halsburg. You are charged with murder of two Vuhifellian citizens: Andrei Valanski and Jan Aguas. How do you plead?"

"Guilty."

"Very well. Yuri Matkov. You are charged with assisting in the murder of Andrei Valanski and Jan Aguas, how do you plead?"

"Guilty."

"Very well then." A huge smile then enveloped the entire court. The trial the entire continent had been waiting for: Howard Fortstall.

"Howard T. Fortstall. You are charged with: treason (1), murder(20,000,000), theft(40,000), embezzlement(90), extortion(837,890), terrorism (3), assassination(43), genocide(1), restricting the freedom of others(7), attempted assassination (89), and rape (2), how do you plead?"

"G-Guilty...."

"Very well then, this court shall now process your sentences."

Vuhifellian Security Corporation HQ
Inner Slums - Golden Skies City

"Ron! Harry!" screamed 117 as he ran through the main door to the office complex, his gun raised high.

"Yes, Patrick?"

"Fucking die! You ordered those two assassins, didn't you!" he shouted, and while Harry was about to pull out a pistol of his own, and Ron about to run away, 117 shot Ron in the leg, Harry was knocked out by a long range stun run fired by 118.

"Take them to GSPD HQ in the good part of town. I don't want to see them again, ever!"

OBC - Channel 04

"Finally, the Van Luxemburgian rebellion has been put to an end, two Vuhifellians died in the conflict, and two gold stars with their names on them have already been added to the Obelisk of Freedom in New Hivez.

In other news, both divisions of the Federational Congress have decided to admit North Osea as a province into the Vuhifellian Federation.

The drummer of the popular rock group 'Shattered Glass' has just voiced his support for the UPEO and...oh my God...ladies and gentlemen, Howard Fortstall has been caught, his sentence will be handed down in the High Court shortly"

- EPILOGUE PART 1/2 -

- EPILOGUE PART 2/2 -

High Court

"Andrew Halsburg. This court has decided in a 18-0-0 vote, that you spend 30 years in Okchabursk Federal Prison for your crimes." announced Vincent Fierra, High Judge of North Osea. He sat down for the High Judge of East Point, Mikhail Itisama, to announce Yuri's verdict.

"Yuri Matkov. Thus court has decided in a 16-0-2 vote that you spend 19 years in Murska Federal Prison for your part in the murder of Jan Aguas and Andrei Valanski."

Mikhail sat down, leaving Supreme Judge Vyacheslav Fedoseev to announce Howard Fortsall's verdict.

"Before I deliver this verdict, I must say, you've evaded us well Howard. First taking control of the government, then fleeing to Van Luxemburg, making god-damned fools of the entire nation....This court hereby has decided by a 18-0-0 vote, that you spend the rest of your life in James Island Military Research Labs. What the military decides to do with you is their matter, we have lifted all human rights restrictions against you...." He sat down, and after this verdict was handed down, and immense roar of joy could be heard outside the High Court building.

It was enveloping the entire continent, euphoria. Everything was the way it was meant to be....

Comberth Naval Shipyards

Supreme Admiral Raychel Garcia had heard about the verdict of Howard Fortstall, everyone had, it was perfect timing, as she was about to launch Vuhifell's first super-submarine aircraft carrier. The stealth of a modern jet, the invisibility and utilities of a submarine, and the usefullness of a carrier, combined into one.

"May it be forever known, that the VFS Tuatha de Danaan is more than just a ship! But a testament to this nation's great power!" announced Raychel as she pressed the button that launched the mighty vessel into the sea.

Outside the Van Luxemburgian Embassy

A group of protestors had assembled outside the VL Embassy, armed with picket signs that read 'Get out Imperialist Dogs' and 'This is our land, not your land!'. Several FPA guards and snipers stood outside the embassy and on rooftops, ready to shoot at the crowd the exact second the became violent...but they never did.

It was a sign of growing dissatisfaction towards the huge Van Luxemburgian economic presence in Vuhifell, and the movement was growing, and in the future years, the Vuhi-VanLux Alliance would have to be put to the test, to see if it could survive not only political conflicts, but the anger and hate of one nation's population.

Presidential Palace

It was a good thing actually. The entire of Squad 49 tooka vote, and they would all be retiring this year. Which was good actually, because most, if not all of them were going to be parents within the coming year. President Alicia Daniels was no exception, but she was going to miss the Squad. 117 had been with the squad for 28 years of his life, Alicia, 179, had been there for 6, and they would never forget their fallen comrades.

Patrick Daniels and Kieth Brockman were both busy for the time being, but promised to their wives they would make it for the 'Squad 49 Farewell Party', seeing as they were all retiring, VSC would be turned over to some of Squad 49's friends. Of course Patrick and Kieth were inseperable. Both Michelle (162) and Alicia had agreed they would retire in Mund, near the Avalon Dam...

OOC: Just to let you know, the replacement to Squad 49 will be the crew of the VFS Tuatha de Danaan.

EPILOGUE

Van Luxemburgian Embassy

I don't like this, I'll tell you.

The Ambassador to The Vuhifellian States, Jeremy O'Toole, lifted the sunblind for a bit, which made him able to see the crowd outside.

Foreign Affairs hasn't replied to our request yet, is it?

I'm afraid not, sir.

The aide then turned arund, and walked out of the room, before one of the communication experts of the Embassy walked in.

This is just in from Foreign Affairs. it has been CC'ed to the Vuhifellian Government.

Great.

Jeremy threw the doors of his office open, leading onto a balcony, where two flags waved, a Vuhifellian and a Van Luxemburgian, crossed together to show the intimate relations between the two nations.

Ladies and gentlemen, I might introduce myself. I'm Jeremy O'Toole, the Van Luxemburgian Ambassador. We understand you are upset about the current situation. We just received a letter from our Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Please, let me finish this.


Jeremy,

We see the need of releasing and disbanding all economic installations in The Vuhifellian States. We can however not interfere with the ways Private Companies wrap around nations. However, all former Vuhifellian Companies sold off to us are now owned by State-Owned companies, which means we can let those divisions go. By a 267-233 vote, the Politics have sent these companies back to The Vuhifellian States. We however can't do anything about the problems with the private companies. We wish to state that the programme for them has been cancelled, but we can't call our funding back from those nations. Economic Affairs also states that they can't interfere with this programme, as it already happened. These companies will stay in The Vuhifellian States. But, remind, we saved the Vuhifellian Economy back there.

Signed,
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs

I hope that is what you were looking for.

Jeremy stepped off the balcony, into his office again, before he closed the doors.