NationStates Jolt Archive

Compared to all the crises he had braved before - secession, rebellion, economic malaise, internal strife, secterian and ethnic violence - the crisis confronting President Mobutu Sese Seko now dwarfed all its predecessors in magnitude. His tenuous hold on the military was slipping. Riots, strikes, and demonstrations were occurring more and more frequently. Inflation was almost 40,000%. Virtually the entire country - except Gbadolite - was in a state of near anarchy. Ethnic violence afflicted the countryside, costing thousands of lives. Fuel shortages were acute, the infrastructure was a shambles, and all but the ultra-well-to-do had reliable electricity or potable water. The country's HDI was now 0.220 - lower than Somalia's in 1993. Infant mortality hovered at close to 300/1,000. More than 8 in 10 Zairians were unemployed; virtually all lived in dire poverty; more than half the population suffered severe malnutrition; real wages slipped to a fraction of a percent of their pre-independence value; myriad diseases, once rare, came back with a vengeance. People were literally dropping dead in the middle of streets from starvation. Rumors of a coup persisted, and several regions openly threatened secession, knowing that the government, increasingly unpopular with the military, was in no position to stop them. The country, in short, was little more than a rotting carcass.

And like all carcasses, it was ripe for infection. The seeds of discontent had been sown, and would soon blossom. Disenfranchised Tutsis, FAZ defectors, bored and discontent youth, radical college students, and anti-Mobutu "volunteers" were forming factions and "sharpening their spears" for what they predicted would be a major bloodbath. Joseph Kabila, son of the late Laurent Kabila, was quietly amassing a personal following, accumulating weapons and money from anti-Mobutu forces, and rebuilding the long-vanquished AFDL. Mobutu's cousin, Nzimbi Ngbale, the authoritarian and ruthless commander of the DSP, also plotted. His insatiable greed and desire to avoid Mobutu's predicted fate were incentive enough for him to plot a coup and have his turn at the helm. His brigade, 5,000-6,000 strong, was disciplined, loyal, and fully committed to him. He just had to wait for the time and place to strike.

Abroad, country after country recalled its ambassador, imposed crippling economic sanctions, and issued condemnations of the country's worsening, abysmal human rights record. Newspapers likened Mobutu to a latter-day Hitler. Even the regime's staunchest backers were distancing themselves from him. Investors pulled out in droves, precipitating an ever-deeper economic crisis and fanning the flames of revolutionary dischord.

Already, several ethnic massacres had afflicted the countryside; the government had neither the means nor the will nor the intention to do anything. Tens of thousands perished. Resentment over government inaction drove thousands into the arms of the still-unknown (to the government) rebels. Hundreds of rival, ethnic-based militias formed, and large tracts of the countryside became virtual fiefdoms to local warlords. Comparisons to Somalia were not out of place.

In the midst of all this, Mobutu suffered a setback of his own. His second heart attack in less than a year had him back in the hospital, leaving the country in the hands of his prime minister, Kengo Wa Dondo, an unpopular, divisive figure under whom the rifts between opposing factions only grew. To prevent a humanitarian disaster, he appealed to the international community for peacekeepers.

Little did he know, neither they nor anyone else would be able to save the dying regime.

The end of Mobutu Sese Seko was at hand.

Gbadolite, Zaire - 0621

Nathan Thorn watched as the commercial airliner carrying the last load of Tolvanic citizens disappeared into the clouds. He was alone, but in his line of work it was nothing new. Thorn had served many roles in 15 years of service to Tolvan, foremost among them an assassin of considerable skill. Now his job was to lay the groudwork for the contingent of Tolvanic troops deploying to Zaire to be peacekeepers and to try do whatever good they could as the country imploded.

Thorn pulled out the cell phone he'd bought earlier that day and dialed a number from memory, after three rings Jacob Moore, the Director of National Intelligence, answered.

"Our people are out and the wolves are circling as we speak. If Shaw wishes to act, then the time is now."

Moore paused for a moment before speaking, "I'll speak to him within the hour, the first guests should arrive by dawn. Give them a proper welcome."

With that Thorn ended the call and wiped the cell phone clean before tossing it in a nearby trash can. He quickly entered his Range Rover and set out for a small airfield near Zaire's only port at Banana.

Approaching OBJ Hector, Banana, Zaire - 0447

Captain Rupert Franks looked at the other 35 SAS operators sitting in the MC-130 Combat Talon and then to his watch. Within ten minutes the lights in the cargo bay turned green, the rear doors opened, and the 36 SAS men and 6 Air Force Combat Controllers jumped into the black.

OBJ Hector, Banana, Zaire - 0458

Once on the ground the SAS men met up with Thorn and quickly set to work securing the abandoned airstrip. A couple men from a nearby village were caught trying to scronge for fuel in field's tanks and were bound and gagged, but not harmed. Within twenty minutes of securingt he fild the first C-17 executed a hot landing under guidance form the Air Force FACs. The C-17 dropped its cargo door and two LAV-IFVs and a pair of Humvees drove off, the plane was back airborne within five minutes. All in all nearly 40 C-17s would land this morning, unloading the better part of a battalion of Motorised infantry.

OBJ Achilles, Banana, Zaire - 0437

Lt. Ben Myers led his twleve man Special Boat Service team out of the waves and quickly into the brush. Their objective was the Harbomaster's office 500 meters away.

Meanwhile two more SBS teams were moving on Piers 2 and 3 with similar speed. By dawn the SBS teams would control of the much of this part of the harbor, just in time for the cargo ships carryingt he rest of the 5th Motorised Infantry Division to arrive.

Official Communique to Zaire

TO: President Mobutu Sese Seko
SUBJECT: Internal Unrest

In light of recent unrest in your nation and the growing threat of humanitarian crisis and instability the Commonwealth of Tolvan Parlaiament has given me authority to deploy a small peacekeeping coningent to your nation. This force will neither act in support nor opposition to your government nor any other militia or faction. Their mandate is to protect civillain life and property when threatened, as well as protect foreign national, non-governmental organizations, and accredited members of the international press. However, their Rules of Engagement permit them to defend themselves, and they will do so decisively if threatened.

Furthermore, we apologize for the somewhat heavy handed tactic of our arrival, however we felt it best to avoid direct confrontation until our forces were deployed in sufficent numbers to ensure security. None of your citizens were harmed in our operations and those detained have been given food and monetary compensation by our forces.

The commander of our force, Gen. Andrew Hayden is a close personal friend of mine and one of our best officers, and he will meet with you at your leisure to discuss the situation and out presence in Zaire.

Douglas Shaw
Prime Minister
Commonwealth of Tolvan

IC:
A state of emergency had been issued. The Shazbotdom Ministry of Foreign Affairs had issued a Code Red status for Zaire. In effect, all travel to Zaire was suspended until further notice and all travel from Zaire was diverted to one of the Shazbotdom Naval Air Bases for plane inspection and processing before allowed into the mainland.

Mr. Larry Williams, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, had ordered these new changes to travel schemes between Shazbotdom and Zaire. Although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had lost contact with the Embasy in Zaire for some time now. Most likely this is due to the increasing riots in and around the embasy compounds. There was a detachment of 45 Marines guarding the compound but they would only hold it for so long. Larry had to think, and he had to think quick.

He had been left in charge while the Supreme Emperor was out of the country visiting an ally who's ruler had just passed away recently. He was half in his mind to dispatch some reinforcements to garrison the Embasy Compound in Zaire but he was unsure as to who to send. He was thinking of sending the "Black Ops" SpecOps boys but they are in drills for another operation.

His other option was dispatching another 50 Marines plus roughly 5 SCS Project Marines to the field, but what would the ruler of Zaire think of suddenly tons of Shazbotdom Marines arrived? He had to act though as this would be the last chance for the Shazbotdom Empire to hold it's little piece of property within Zaire...

Official Communique to Commonwealth of Tolvan

TO: Prime Minister Douglas Shaw
SUBJECT: Re:Internal Unrest

"Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

The people of Zaire, and myself, are appreciative of your decision to deploy forces to safeguard innocent lives in my country. Your humanitarian endeavor is warmly appreciated, as is your professed neutrality in the conflict between the government and its terrorist opponents. I wish you the best of luck in your mission. I pray that you suffer as few casualties as possible, and that this conflict ends as swiftly as possible."

Warmest regards,
Marshal Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga
Founder-President of the Republic of Zaire

75 KM northeast of OBJ Hector

Thorn had left the airfield nearly an hour ago, no need having any more soldiers see his face than necessary. The peacekeepers were on the ground and unloading their equipment and would soon begin their work, he had his own duties to perform.

He pulled out another cell phone he'd bought that day and dialed another number. When the man on the other end picked up, he spoke, "Tell Mr. Ngbale than Warren Jeffcoat called and that he'd consider it a personal favor if the newly arrived Tolvanic peacekeepers were not bothered. He knows how to reach me if he is so inclined."
With that Thorn ended the call and threw the phone out the window into the ditch. You didn't live long in his profession without taking precautions.

OOC: Thorn is my fixer in the area and won't take sides except to facilitate my peacekeeping mission.

Communique to the Republic of Zaire

TO: Marshal Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga
SUBJECT: Tolvanic Operations

Marshal Mobutu,

My name is Major General Andrew Hayden and I am in command of ZFOR, the Tolvanic peacekeeping operation to Zaire, I would like to meet with yourself, your Minister of Defense (or equivalent), Minister of Interior, and your military commanders at your earliest convenience. I wish to discuss some minor operational details as well as the current situation afflicting your nation to better facilitate my mission here.

Regards,
Maj. Gen. Andrew Hayden
5th Motorised Infantry Division, Commanding
Commonwealth of Tolvan

http://www.cinergie.be/cinergie/revue43/mobutu.jpg

Like a swarm of locusts, a throng of thousands upon thousands of Zairians converged in La Gombe, Kinshasa, an affluent, tree-shaded neighborhood where most of the foreign embassies in Zaire - as well as the homes of the Zairian elite - were located.

"Mobutu is through! Mobutu must go!" they chanted, waving placards with graphic images of starving children, rape victims of the FAZ, people who had been tortured by the secret police, and a slum where people were scrounging in a dumpster for food. Their hope was to maximize the outside world's exposure to Mobutu's crimes, to attract sympathy for Zairians and further alienate the global community from the increasingly isolated strongman.

The mailboxes of embassies were soon stuffed beyond capacity with pro-democracy pamphlets, articles on the current economic and political situation, and photos of victims of starvation and disease.

Several university students unveiled a crudely made, life-size clay model of the President, which they began to bludgeon and break apart with hammers.

"Down with Mobutu! Down with Mobutu!"


Prime Minister's residence

The weak-kneed, indecisive prime minister, Kengo Wa Dondo, unpopular with the upper echelons of the military and most of Zaire's elite, as well as with ordinary people for his widely documented corruption, was in a precarious situation. The demonstrations, growing in number, threatened to erupt into a riot, an eventuality that would severely de-stabilize the capital and, ultimately, the government. To concede to the protesters would mean the end of his career and probably his life. To forcibly disperse them would bring further international condemnation, and increased support for the rapidly-growing insurgency brewing in the eastern regions of the country. He was between a rock and a hard place. Though bright, Kengo was not prescient enough to foresee that, whatever his decision, the fall of the regime was imminent. He did know, however, that any decision he did make was a gamble.

He paced restlessly for hours, listlessly agonizing over the possibilities, carefully weighing the pros and cons, before finally giving a call to the barracks of the 31st Airborne Brigade, adjacent to N'djili International Airport.

The phone rang several times.

No answer.

As he hung up, his secretary stormed into the room. "Sir, you must see this!" The television set flashed on, and Kengo was confronted with images of paratroopers from the 31st Airborne Brigade, marching alongside the demonstrators! Police, who normally dispensed "justice" quickly and brutally to dissidents, stood idly on the sidelines, not even bothering to hide their indifference.

Kengo's features contorted into a frown. "We have a problem. Call Kongulu, tell him to get over there right away."

The man in question, Kongulu Mobutu, was an unscrupulously brutal man who served as his father's ruthless enforcer; his treatment of opponents was so horrific, people dubbed him "Saddam Hussein." Kongulu commanded the Kinshasa Capital Police, an elite military police unit independent of the regular police.

The call proved unnecessary; on the TV, armored vehicles rolled into view of the cameras, and hundreds of armor-clad, musclebound officers, armed to the teeth, began shooting indiscriminately at both civilians and mutinying soldiers. Kongulu himself was bellowing orders for them to "Show no mercy" and "physically eliminate" anyone who resisted.

These images were also broadcast by satellite to stations around the world, showing people everywhere the ugly face of the repressive regime. Viewers saw soldiers beat unarmed people to death, gang-rape women and girls as young as five, burn people alive, and douse fleeing protesters in toxic chemicals. One young paratrooper's eyes were gouged out and his throat slit, as Kongulu laughed and taunted the dying trooper.

Reinforcements of the 31st Airborne Brigade soon arrived, however, deploying from helicopters and greeting Kongulu's forces with machine-gun fire, mowing down several of his men. The massacre soon descended into a furious fire-fight, with a rapidly mounting death toll that shook the very foundations of Kinshasa's stability.

Communique to the 5th Motorised Infantry Division

TO: Maj. Gen. Andrew Hayden
SUBJECT: Re:Tolvanic Operations

"Major-General Hayden,

I am currently recovering from an operation at Mama Yemo Hospital, and thus cannot meet with you. I promise to contact my Minister of Defense and Veterans' Affairs, General Donat Lieko Mahele, and arrange a meeting between you two as early as possible."

Warmest regards,
Marshal Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga
Founder-President of the Republic of Zaire

6 KM south of Kinshasa, Zaire

Captain Scott Dexter watched as another wave of helicopters roared past to unload soldiers in the city. Dexter had no clue what was going on, but he heard massive amounts of gunfire and plenty of screaming. Pillars of smoke now arose from the part of town his map called "La Gomba". Dexter's first instinct was to move into the city to quell the fighting, but he lacked the manpower. Dexter's cavalry troop was well suited for killing tanks and armor, but he had only 80 dismounts in his entire troop and they were all scouts who lacked the training and equipment to fight as truly effective infantry. Dexter would just have to wait until the 2/15th infantry arrived to move into the city.

43 KM south of Kinshasa, Zaire

The 2nd Battalion, 15th Infantry Brigade was moving towards Kinshasa as fast as the decaying road would allow, about 25 kph at the moment. Lt. Col. Tim Howard had just recieved Capt. Dexter's report and knew he had to get to the city before everything went completely to shit, not that it wasn't almost there anyway.

Sky over Kinshasa, Zaire

WO-3 Steve Goddard looked throught he bullet resistant glass of his AH-16 as another wave of FAZ helicopters braved the hail of machine gun fire to drop off soldiers in a small park near one of the embassies.

Goddard simply shook his hand and muttered "Damn fools," as he pulled hard on the stick and sent the helo back towards the FARP east of Matadi.

Metzuda, Capital of Havenic Kahanistan (provisional name of the new Havenic state)

Minister of Foreign Affairs Rachel Levitt watched her television in disgust. She had seen blood and guts in warfare quite a few times. Hell, she'd even blown a man's head off herself when he held her up at a checkpoint when she was trying to save 300,000 some people from slavery, back when she was a military officer. But what she saw the Zairians doing on TV turned even her stomach.

After vomiting up two cans of beer, three slices of pepperoni pizza, and a bag of crisps into her wastebasket, Levitt picked up the phone to the President.

"Mr. al-Omari, I trust you saw that disgusting footage of Zairians raping five-year-old girls and gouging out people's eyeballs," she said coldly. "I'd recommend we go in there with troops."

"Troops?" asked President Khalid bin Abdullah al-Omari. "We haven't even fully recovered from the war with Doomingsland." Kahanistan had just been trashed by the technologically vastly superior Doomani military, whose attack helicopters, ultra-stealthy fighters, and tanks with ETC cannons vastly outranged the more traditional weapons of the Kahanistanian Army. About a sixth of the population had fled to Haven, while many of those who stayed behind were murdered or were being hunted down in a so far fruitless attempt to put down a popular insurgency. Havenic Kahanistan (the provisional name for the new state in Haven) had a population of some 600 million people and about four million active military personnel.

"I know," said Levitt. "But Zaire isn't anywhere near as powerful as Doomingsland, and a victory there would improve our international reputation, get us some military experience, and we'd royally fuck up the Shooban-shagging Shah's interests there. I think we can keep this small-scale, maybe a few hundred experienced troops and about 10,000 greenhorns..." A greenhorn was a fresh, inexperienced Kahanistanian soldier.

"Well... we're short on experienced commanders," said the President. "Do you know anyone who would make a good commander over there?"

Levitt did, but the officer she'd had in mind, a long-term friend of hers, was currently on a diplomatic mission in Xirnium. Besides, she'd had her fill of combat in Kraven. She thought briefly for another commander.

"Lt. Colonel Ted Jolson would be a good commander, for air forces... for ground forces..." She would have liked to go herself, but she was a politician now. "I'd recommend... Brigadier General Wu-han Hsieng."

"General Wu-han... well, he's a marine, I was hoping the Republic Guard would get more combat experience, they need it after the Doomani invasion, we lost so many experienced personnel... can you think of a Republic Guard commander you'd rather send?"

"What about... Colonel Gregory Wallace?" Colonel Wallace wasn't so well known, but he was close with the new M.F.A. He had hoped for a new command and a chance to become a general. "He's an excellent commander, I knew him in Torontia. He helped me save some of the records we had on Amestrian and Kahanistanian war crimes."

"Ah... an honorable officer, then," said the President. "He won't be committing any misdeeds."

Levitt smiled. She was quite pretty when she smiled, despite being forty years old in two months and having a stereotypical lesbian haircut. "I'll call him up."

---

Two days later

The Kahanistanian contracted civilian ship RKS Neptune, escorted by four Kirov class cruisers and eight Seawolf class submarines, prepared to land a force of 6,000 Republic Guards under the command of Colonel Gregory Wallace. Nearby, the RKS Vishnu, a CVN-21 class carrier, ported a wing of F-35 multirole fighters near Zairian airspace, under the command of Lt. Colonel Ted Jolson. A wing in the Kahanistanian military was 20 planes.

The soldiers were equipped with NBC gear, not so much because they expected Mobutu to be able to afford chemical weapons, but out of fear of contracting Ebola. If they took that back to Haven with them, it would generate widespread panic and demoralize the military, not to mention kill millions. They were also armed with M-29 OICW's, Dragon Skin body armor, and about 50 Merkava IV main battle tanks, which they used for their troop carrying capabilities and utilities as ambulances; the infantry would be the front lines against Mobutu's forces, armed with their OICW's and FGM-114 Javelin ATGM's, which they also used against helicopters.

The first five-plane squadron, under Colonel Jolson himself, was equipped exclusively with HARM's to suppress the pathetic Zairian air defenses. The other twenty planes were equipped with a mix of AMRAAM's and JDAM's to establish and maintain air supremacy. It would arrive in Zaire in about an hour. The Kahanistanian infantry would land in about two hours, after the F-35's had arrived to give them close air support for a combined landing of infantry and armor.

Impfondo, Republic of Congo

The Third Class Commander, Pablo Quintana, stared to the border that separed them from Zaire after leaving the city, if it deserved that name, of Impfondo, in the North East of the Republic of Congo. For him and the Fourth Mechanized Infantry Division, the backbone of the Montegrandean Peacekeeping Mission in Zaire, that had been a long journey from the Republic of Congo´s Capital, Brazzaville, and he wasn´t happy to remember a lot of ground journey was ahead , to Gemena and Zongo, in the North Western Corner of Zaire.

The warm relationship between Montegrande and the Republic of Congo, and the fact if Montegrande sent a peacekeeping mission to a country controlled by someone the montegrandeans could call a bloodthirsty fascist, it meant that course of action was absolutely necessary, the Republic of Congo was being a great host for the montegrandeans, and even when the journey through a poor, tropical african country was always tough, the trip was being if not pleasant, calm. Quintana knew that was going to change once they entered Zaire, which entire organization was collapsing into a brutal, blood tainted chaos. However, they were prepared for that, and would be protected by the Air Brigade prepared for the mission: 15 Mig-29s, 20 Su-35s and 100 Hind Assault Helicopters.

When having a humble but tasty and rich in energy meal, still in Congo but steps before entering in Zairian territory, Quintana thought the civilian aggregate to the mission, Doctor in Economy Patricia Riault, along with all the civilian members of the peacekeeping mission, would fly peacefully from Bangui, in the Central African Republic, to the airport he and his troops could find and prepare for the occassion, he felt envy, but the old military pride casted those feelings away, as well as more serious concerns reached his mind. The government of Mobutu Sese Seko as well as the rebels, both unreliable, should be warned. However, one thing was sure: If attacked, he was eager to fulfill his duty of any military with honor.

Only few meters separed him and his men from Zaire, and they knew they wouldn´t have a moment of rest until they reached their destination, and even when they got there, they had to work quickly to prepare the arrival of supplies and civil personel to the zone, in order to impose some kind of order as well as to keep the health and safety of the civilian population.

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

Communique from the Democratic People´s Republic of Montegrande
To: Zaire President Mobutu Sese Seko

In response to the call for aid from your government, the Democratic People´s Republic has sent an ammount of 10,000 troops more or less, that are in their way to the towns of Gemena and Zongo, in the Region of Equateur. Their mission will be to keep the precarious peace in the area, as well as protecting civilians and improve as much as is possible for us, education and health condition of civilians.

The troops are intended to keep the peace, which means we won´t join any side of the conflict and the troops shall defend themselves without doubting if attacked. Hoping the situation improves and the dissolution of the state is avoided,

Alejandra Rioseco, Montegrandean Foreign Affairs Minister

Communique from the Republic of Zaire
To: Foreign Affairs Minister Alejandra Rioseco

"Dear Minister Rioseco,

Thank you for your contributions. I am confident that with international support, we can return peace to my country without delay."

Warmest regards,
Marshal Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga
Founder-President of the Republic of Zaire

The time for the United Dominion to arrive on the scene was now. Zaire, a Commonwealth state, was a throne in the side of said entity of nations. The Count was friends with Mobutu, but he really didn’t stand him. Mobutu was good for some things in the Count’s overall plan for the future of the world. But enough of that, lets get back to the soldiers of the United Dominion coming down form the heaven to save the people of Zaire.

All black ConTrans STT, JackRabbit supersonic cargo aircrafts, and Pelican heavy strategic transports, which anybody could see being launched from Europe hours ago, were now entering the airspace of Zaire. Equally black F-35C Lightning II fighters, which were launched from the United Dominion’s carrier fleets is the Atlantic, were guiding the cargo planes in. From the looks of it, there was an invasion coming it, but that wasn’t the case. Being a Commonwealth state, the United Dominion didn’t need a reason to bring in soldiers on the soil of said Commonwealth state. There was blood being shed on United Dominion soil and that would have to stop.

Anyway, the massive air fleet moved into the nation, casting down black shadows on the ground. Messages were send to Mobutu and whomever was in his inner circle, telling them that the United Dominion had arrived to clean up this mess.

Under heavy fighter support, the cargo planes moved in on the landing zone. Any threat of anti-air attacks would be deal with via the counter measures of the planes. So even if the rebels had anti-air missiles, the planes would arrive at their LZ mostly unharmed.

The landing zone was twenty miles south-west of Kinshasa, a rundown airfield that was big enough to land the United Dominion’s cargo planes. This rundown airfield was being held by armed Dominionites, whom where within Zaire for a few months before everything happened. They were armed with AK-47s and a few RPGs to deal with any tanks, but that was all. Good thing their back up was coming.

As the first cargo planes touched down, the United Dominion Navy Atlantic Fleets would be nearing the waters of Zaire or very close to them. When every goes down, the Count didn’t want some idiot leader to come in invade Zaire and loss another Commonwealth state.

At the rundown airfield, the cargo planes landed one by one until the whole force was on the ground. Soldiers, which had been given shots for any type of diseases that anybody could think of, were ready to start Operation: African Snake Hunt. The Pelicans helped the most in this by dropping off tons of military vehicles and etc. There were all black tanks like M-413 Diablo main battle tanks and M-418 Brutus light tanks, armored vehicles like M-415 Mongoose infantry fighting vehicles and M-411 Terrier infantry fighting vehicles, hummers, support vehciles and even helicopters like AH-6J Little Bird attack helicopters and AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopters. The number of helicopters were ready that high, but there were fifteen of total; ten Little Birds and five Apache Longbows.

There was even a Black BMW sedan and a number of BMW F650GS motorcycles. Strange, but that’s how the United Dominion rolls. OR really how the commander of these soldiers rolled.

The soldiers were of the 2nd Silver Foxes (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y101/CountJWolf/2nd.jpg), which wore pale gray and dark dull blue sets of Transylvanian Body Armor, and their support solders of the 29th Aoiro Wolves (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y101/CountJWolf/29th.jpg), which wore dark azure-blue and pale dull azure sets of Transylvanian Body Armor. The Silver Foxes were armed with a DR-83 tactical rifle, an AMA7000 9mm sidearm and some other weapons of war. The Aoiro Wolves were armed with a DAC-99 personal defense weapons, an AMA7000 9mm sidearm and some other weapons of war.

As the cargo planes turned back to leave the nation, they carried the armed Dominionites that held the landing zone. Those men and women would get to go home and get warm meals. They did their mission to their nation. As the cargo planes left with their fighter support, the United Dominion soldiers moved out towards Kinshasa. The helicopters flying on the outer edges of the massive convoy of vehicles. The soldiers ready to do what was right, to follow that orders. The BMW sedan was in the middle of the armored vehicles.

The total number of Dominion soldiers was well over six thousand men and women. Hand picked to do this type of mission and do it right.

The snake hunt has began…

La Gombe, Kinshasa, Republic of Zaïre
Embassy of the PDSR Ariddia

Ambassador Sarah Ekwele stood by the window, forcing herself to look at at the scenes of horror and pitiless cruelty in the street closeby. Shouts and gunshots, partly muffled by distance, echoed from a little further away. On her desk, leaflets she had retrieved from the embassy’s letterbox. She had read them all. She had no doubt every word was true.

The television was on, but the Zairian channel, incongruously, was at that moment saying nothing of the massacre outside. She had, in any case, muted the sound. It was not needed.

Most of the embassy’s personnel was gone, repatriated hurriedly to Ariddia for their safety. In their place, the building sheltered a number of Zairian civilians, some very young, who had made their way into embassy grounds and been granted temporary asylum. What, ultimately, would happen to them, Ekwele did not know. But now that they were within the relative safety of the embassy’s walls, she had promised herself she would protect them.

Rêvane (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/R%C3%Aavane) had not yet officially broken off diplomatic relations with Mobutu’s régime. Something about working through established channels to help the Zairian people, and to ensure the safety of Ariddian humanitarian workers in the country. She had been in contact by telephone with Red Star (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Ariddian_Red_Star) personnel elsewhere in Zaïre. Predictably, they had their hands full. And, just as predictably, they were refusing to pack up and pull out.

The situation for so many of Zaïre’s people was critical. They needed all the help they could get.

Ekwele had tried earlier to contact the authorities to relay a message from her own government, but the lines were saturated. Turning away from the window, she picked up the phone and tried again, calling the Zairian Ministry of Defence. Finally managing to get through to a very distraught junior ministry employee, she logged an official request for the Zairian military to ensure the protection of Red Star personnel, insisting on its urgency. Hoping the message would get through – and determined to try again if it didn’t – she picked up one of the pro-democracy leaflets, and read through it again, her face grim.

41km south of Kinshasa, Republic of Zaire

With the back of her dusty hand, Aki Takamatsu (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Aki_Takamatsu) tried to wipe some of the dust from her eyes. The vehicle she was in advanced as quickly as it could over the battered road, jostling her and bumping her helmet against her skull. Embedded with Tolvan’s motorised 15th Infantry Brigade, she was wearing a full protective suit as they headed for Kinshasa… where some of the worst massacres were reportedly taking place.

Takamatsu would be there on behalf of a whole list of Ariddian media, including PINA (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Public_International_News_Ariddia), helping reveal to the world the full extent of what was happening in Zaïre. Mobutu’s tight grip over the desperate country was crumbling. And, if the Zairians would hopefully benefit from his collapse in the long run, they were, for now, suffering more than ever.

She clenched her teeth, almost biting her tongue by accident as the military vehicle lurched over a hole in the damaged road.

She was not looking forward to what she would find when they finally arrived in Kinshasa…

.........TV flickers on.......

"...and in international news, we have reports that the nation of Zaire is undergoing a civil war, some authorities say, others, that it is merely another wave of sectarian violence. We've got Jon Berg on the spot. Jon?"

Screen goes black, then centers on reporter

"Well, Paul, I've got to say, the situation is not looking good, for anyone. Zaire has been a very dangerous spot in Africa for many years now, suffering massacres, ethnic and sectarian violence, economic upheavel, inflation, and very much a corrupted government. But now, it is looking even worse. The central government is falling apart, spurred on by rival gangs and terrorist organizations that have for many years carried on a secret war, far away from the international eye. But now, as more and more people are protesting and readying to rebel, these factions have taken over Zaire, and made rival kingdoms ruled by individual warlords. Starvation is rampant, the economy is in shambles, and riots have broken out in the streets. Several countries are sending peacekeeping forces to this region, to save civilian life and property, and already clashes between these forces and terrorist organizations have been fought. This area is likely to become a very dangerous place in the near future. Some say that it is civil war, others a terrorist attack, others that it is just Zaire having a worse time among many bad times, but it is clear that stability in this region is becoming a goal for peacekeeping forces in the area. I'll be in Kinshasha tomorrow, where some of the worst fighting is said to be, and reporting on the situation there. Paul?"

"Yes, Jon, thanks. Good luck over there, and a safe trip."

"Yep, thanks."

"And now, for the weather report..."

Mama Yemo Hospital, Kinshasa, Republic of Zaire

http://globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange3/current/students/nigeria_congo/part2/mobutu.jpg

Corporal Kimbareta Youla of the Special Presidential Division, Division Spécial Présidentielle, or "DSP" stood with the rest of his squad outside of the Mama Yemo Hospital, where President Mobutu was, at the moment, residing after suffering from his second heart attack in recent months.

There sky was cloudy and gray, and a ever so slight drizzle was descending from the above clouds. The street outside of the squad's position was relatively quiet except for the barking of a hound inside one of the many apartments and the occasional passing by car of a wealthy citizen.

Being one of the numerous squads guarding the Zairian government and more importantly Mobutu, Corporal Youla had gotten little information on the violent and gruesome riots and rebellions elsewhere in the nation. He had gotten most of his information from passerby and radio, although many of the stations were avoiding the subject.

Low ranking officers such as Youla and his men's communications with the leading officers of the DSP happened almost never. His squad usually received the information from Warrant Officers or Lieutenants who didn't receive information from the DSP executives, who were known for their secrecy.

Just another regular day on the job…

Headquarters of the DSP, Gbadolite, Équateur, Republic of Zaire
http://www.congoindependant.com/nzimbie.JPG

General Étienne Nzimbi Ngbale Kongo wa Bassa, commander of the DSP, sat in a large, plush chair behind his desk intricately designed with Babul wood imported from India. Before him stood his three most senior officers, Brigadier Generals Gahiji, Dukuzumuremyi, and Runihura.

"I think you know perfectly well why I have brought you into my office," Ngbale spoke in his trademark loud, bold, and commanding voice, after the visitors had saluted.

"To revolt!" Ngbale commanded, before any of the men could respond. "Yes, Treason is being hatched in this very room! But not with a trivial purpose that other imbecile rebels are plotting upon, men. We will revolt for, not only, the peoples of Zaire, but for the great peoples of Earth and all of God's Creation."

Ngbale was standing now.

He continued, "In this room, we must build the base a plot the avenue to our success and a greater Zaire and a greater world!

"These walls are fortified with technology and defense," Ngbale said, gesturing to a guard armed with a M16, "so that we may all converse our ideas without fear."

Ngbale paused, letting his speech sink in before continuing, "We must be willing to commit our lives to this greater good and enforce our august beliefs no matter what challenge is staring down our exalted path!"

"Understand?" he questioned the men, staring into each one of the eyes.

"Yes, sir!" responded Runihura. The other two answered equally.

"Good. Now, let us begin."

"If I may, sir," began Dukuzumuremyi, "I would like to remind all of us here that we are in terrific position to stage this…" he paused, "purification, if you will, of Zaire. The DSP, being the elite presidential guard is located all around Mobutu's places here and through the country. Being near Mobutu constantly can give us significant power."

"There is a catch, although, to that," interjected Runihura. "Mobutu is currently in the hospital so he will not be around the DSP constantly. In his place is that halfwit Kengo, who doesn't know a trifle about anything."

Gahiji spoke for the first time that evening, "We can still work with him to gain our control. The DSP covers him, now, as well."

"Very well," Runihura agreed.

"When? When will the Purification begin?" questioned Runihura.

"Timing is crucial," said Gahiji. "To strike first or to strike last? I say strike first. We want early dominance."

Dukuzumuremyi disagreed, "I must contradict. Striking first will give us a lead that will soon fall. We must attack when the time is right. Not on Mobutu, but on the other idiot groups inanely vying for power. They are weak, and we are strong."

"Cease! I will decide when we begin and when we end!" roared Ngbale. He hated petty arguments such as these. "You all serve me. Yes, you babbling pigs!"

"Gahiji! Institute recruiting within the DSP to add to our force of 6,000. The other 14,000 who refuse to Purify will be most harshly punished!"

"Yes, sir," mumbled Gahiji.

"Dukuzumuremyi! Begin the spreading of our beliefs throughout the citizens."

"Runihura! Intelligence is your responsibility. Failure to gain information will be immediate demotion!"

"And I will be in charge of the entire revolution! All will report to me. Dismissed."

Ngbale was one for short meetings.

Somewhere in Zaire

Right on time, thought Caridus Gracchus to himself as he took a drag of his cigar, watching as the first of the transports touched down on the covert dirt airstrip.

He wore jungle-pattern digital BDUs, the sleeves rolled up, a boonie hat, aviator sunglasses, and a TDX pistol at his side. Standing at six-foot two, he was only a bit taller than your average Doomie. Of course, though he certainly looked the part with his shaven head, he was no Imperial soldier, though he was once before.

The black arm band on his right arm, emblazoned with the Chi-Rho, gave him away. He was the commander of Manus Dei's Zaire Chapter, which, with funds from the organization, had quietly acquired the land upon which they stood. He was currently in command of over two dozen cells in place throughout the country, including the one he was with right now, manning the airfield's operations.

As the aircraft began to touch down, he walked to the first of the large, four-engined jet transports, painted up in a jungle camoflage pattern. The rear door of the transport slid open and the ramp was dropped as fuel trucks pulled up besides the craft and the engines began to wind down.

Stretching and yawning as he strode down the ramp was a man slightly shorter but a bit more built than Gracchus. Prefect Lucius Camiullus Herminius, like many of his Manus Dei comrades, was a veteran of Czardas, a war in which the Order had been involved extensively, although he'd been a centurion in the Imperial Army at the time under Emperor Maximus.

At first glance, he was a stoic, formiddable man. With short-cut hair and a neatly trimmed black goatee supplementing the many scars which he bore on his face, he looked rather menacing. Stocky and muscular, his arms were practically covered in tatoos he'd recieved in the Imperial Army.

His rolled up sleeves revealed the letters 'SPQD' branded lengthwise along the top of his forearm, a Crusader's Death's Head tatooed on his large bicep; on the other side were all manner of crosses. This was the sort of man one pictured when thinking of a Doomani Legionary.

Gracchus approached swiftly; upon seeing his old friend, Herminius greeted him with a firm handshake.

"I fucking hate bugs, Gracchus," spat the old centurion in greeting, swatting a fly away from his ear.

"We get plenty of the damn things in this cesspool, brother," Gracchus replied with an amused smile.

Herminius grunted, seeming almost annoyed, but then cracked a smile.

"How've you been?" he asked the taller man.

"Same old, same old. You know the situation, correct?"

"Yes; though I'd appreciate it if you could update me," replied Herminius in a business-like tone.

Gracchus nodded and the two began to walk,

"This latest unrest is greatly benefitting our people in Rwanda and Barundi, they should be ready to make their final move in a matter of weeks. As for us...there's a bit of a problem. Foreign infidels simply love to stick their filthy noses where they do not belong,"

"I've noticed," replied Herminius sarcastically, "And I'm aware of this intrusion. I bear word from Necropolis regarding that," he said, casualy wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Oh?"

As the two talked, platoons of Milites, Manus Dei's foot soldiers, disembarked their aircraft en masse, boarding waiting trucks for the hour-long trip to their hidden base. Fully armed and equipped, the men looked as if they were expecting to be shot at as soon as they stepped off the aircraft.

"I see," replied Gracchus after Herminius had explained the situation.

A full takeover of the country looked to be out of reach without support from the Imperial Government, and Caesar had much better things at the moment then to deal with yet another African civil war. The curren situation in the countryside- militias commanded by local warlords roaming freely in an almost feudal manner -was perfect for what the two had planned.

Those warlords would need funding, and Manus Dei had a good deal of hard cold cash for distribution amongst those who would bear their banner into battle against the heathen. At the moment, the foreigners were primarily occupied by Kinshasa, where the shit had really hit the fan. With Zaire's only strip of coast a bit west of that, it would take some time for the foreigners to get into position to really sweep the countryside clean of the militias.

Manus Dei's involvement in the manner was for one reason: the erradication of unbelievers in Zaire.

Already ties were being established with local warlords by Manus Dei operatives. Once they were on the payrole of the Order, their agenda would be able to go into full swing. For now, the forces being assembled at the hidden base would be further broken down and sent off to yet more hidden bases, from which to stage raids on the local Muslim population, communist forces, and any peacekeepers that they could find.

One unit, numbering ninety-five men, a full century of Milites, was being dispatched to Kinshasa. This force, mounted in civilian vehicles (and properly divided to avoid suspicion) and clad in plain clothes and carrying light arms, would proceed into the city where they'd probe the peacekeepers and local factions. Manus Dei had several safe houses within Kinshasa, where the troops would take on heavier, more advanced weapons to allow for them to put up an effective and deadly guerilla offensive against the peacekeepers.

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

Imperial Embassy, Kinshasa, Zaire

The embassy had finished evacuating civilian personnel just an hour before; as soon as indications of Mobutu’s fall began to surface, they’d begun to fuel their ACI-91 transport VTOLs in order to pull out the nonessential embassy workers. The embassy was one of the few in the capital that did not actively employ locals- officially, that is. The only locals in the pay of the Imperial Government within the city were paid informants, so there was no concern about word of what they were planning leaking out.

Tribune Marius Classicus, commander of the embassy’s Marine Century, numbering less than one hundred men, had begun reinforcing the embassy’s walls and defenses. The embassy structure itself resembled nothing short of a fortress: surrounded by a fifteen-foot high, eight-foot thick curtain wall, the embassy building was constructed of reinforced concrete. The four corners of the structure featured reinforced towers sporting firing positions within the turrets, while the exterior walls of the building, between the towers, were multi-leveled, designed to be manned on the outside in the middle, as well as on the roof.

Small slit firing ports were located all along the structure, allowing for soldiers to fire from within with relative impunity to enemy small arms fire.

However, the walls themselves were also sloped, reinforced with multiple layers of steel and ceramics, rendering them well-protected against RPGs and recoilless rifles.

All in all, though it was a surprisingly beautiful structure, almost medieval looking with a large infusion of Roman influence, the place was nothing short of a fortress.

The Marines had barricaded the only gates into the embassy compound with civilian vehicles, barbed wire, and had littered the courtyards surrounding the embassy building with land mines. The curtain walls were manned by a token force, almost certain to be wiped out by an attacking mob eventually, although the curtain walls were rather well protected: the tops of the walls were covered over by multiple layers of highly-slanted sheet metal, preventing grenades from being lobbed into the walls, while firing ports, reinforced with thick steel shutters to prevent grenades from being tossed in, were plentiful.

There were no less then eight 7.8mm and four 15.7mm machineguns positioned along the exterior walls.

In the event of an attack, the only way back into the embassy building would be for the Marines to pull back to the south wall. A drawbridge from the main building lead to a bunker built into the wall, allowing for them to be quickly evacuated to the middle manned wall of the embassy building.

Why such precautions?

Well, it was simple. The rifles, pistols, and sub machineguns Mobutu’s soldiers carried had the words ’Compositum in Doomanum’, or, Made in Doomingsland, stamped on their receivers. The instruments of oppression wielded by his armies had been built in Doomani factories by Doomani corporations: in Zaire, DR-83s were as easy to come by as AK-47s were in most other African nations. Thus, it would have made sense for communist and democratic rebels, angry over what appeared to be Doomanum’s support for Mobutu’s regime, to retaliate against the embassy.

Thus, the Marines steeled themselves for what could turn into a siege…

Kisangani, Zaire

News of the rampage rippling through Kinshasa spurred massive riots in Kisangani. Torch-bearing youth set fire to buildings, looted stores, smashed windows, and overturned cars, screaming and cursing anti-Mobutu slogans in KiSwahili. The police were easily overpowered and hugely outnumbered, and thus made no effort to suppress the increasingly violent uprising. One officer who had tried gently coaxing some of the kids into going home had been beaten to death with a chunk of mortar. The rest of the cops, understandably paranoid, barricaded themselves inside their police stations, leaving ordinary people defenseless against the anarchic tide flooding the city.

To make matters worse, the FAZ unit normally stationed in the city wasn't there; just hours before, it had been deployed to Nord-Kivu to halt the encroaching rebel advance. Knowing that the chances of repercussions were low, the people went all-out in their frenzy, wreaking total havoc and costing millions' of dollars worth of damage and hundreds of lives. What started as an anti-Mobutu demonstration was now a bloodbath. Bewildered and maddened by the confusion and chaos, people killed everyone around them, with no thought but for their own survival. Desperate to restore order, the mayor of the town made a very stupid decision that would end up being his last: he called Kinshasa and lied that the town had "fallen to the rebels," expecting immediate reinforcements to arrive.

Forty minutes later, order was restored. But it came at the cost of every living thing in Kisangani. It will never be known who gave the order, but there is little doubt it was someone in the top echelons of the government. It was an order bound to destroy what little goodwill the Zairian government had abroad.

On news channels across the globe, the image of Kisangani disappearing in a tremendous mushroom cloud shocked and dismayed viewers speechless.

IC:
10 AC-01 Pelicans were en route to Zaire from the Dark Empire. They carried the reinforcements that would help to secure the Shazbotdom Embasy from any harm. It had been almost 4 days since the Dark Empire lost contact with the Embasy and they hoped that everything was going well. Each Pelican carried 8 Marines inside of them and one SCS Marine. As they neared the territorial boundries of Zaire, they radioed in.


"Zaire Government this is Shazbotdom Pelican Flight Group Alpha Zulu Five Three Niner. We request entry into your territorial boundries to drop in 80 Marines to fortify our embasy. Please respond?"

"Roger that, your request is confirmed. Deploy when ready. Over and out."

SCENE: The Ocean
The Pelicans dropped to where they were below radar and sped towards the shoreline. The back hatch opened up slightly and the marines took a defensive stance while they hooked themselves up to the rails above, watching out the back window, they created a screen so the bent over SCS Marine wasn't seen by anyone if they looked in through the back. The Pelicans then boosted speed up to roughly Mach 4.

As they approached the shorline they hit a small chunk of turbulance, staggering the marines in the back slightly until just out the back hatch they could see land. It would be a few minutes till they reached the capital city of Zaire.


Several Minutes Later
The Pelicans slowed down as they flew in past the outskirts of the city and locked in their target, the Shazbotdom National Embasy. The back hatches of the Pelicans opened up a little more as the marines slowly inched their way back a little bit near the hatch as the Pelicans entered the section of the city designated for Embasies.

"Alright Men," Sarge yelled over his radio. "Were T Minus 2 minutes to drop. Get your gear together and prepare to jump. Two of the Pelicans will drop their people on the rooftop while the others will drop in the courtyard. Orders are to secure the Embasy and wait for further instructions. They know not to mess with the Shazbotdom Marine Corps!"

A resounding "HooRah!" was heard over the radio from all the marines. The SCS marines just stood there right near the pilot, waiting for his turn to deploy out of the Pelican. The Pelicans then slowed down and began to decend and hover just off the ground. You could suddenly hear a "GO, GO, GO," being yelled from the pilots as Marines jumped out of the Pelicans onto solid ground.

After the Marines looked around and made sure the area was secure, a loud THUD could be heard as the half-ton SCS Marine jumped off the back of the Pelican onto the ground. All the marines then suddenly ran to designated points at the enterance of the Embasy and some took defensive positions as one of the marines knocked on the door.


SCENE: Inside the Embasy
Ambassador Timmothy McKerrith was held up in his office waiting for something to happen. When a warning light went off to signify a knock at the front door, he told one of the marines assigned to his protection at the Embasy to go check it out. Nobody should have made it onto the Embasy Property that easily. The main gate should have held anyone back, but he knew if a large SUV or Truck hit that thing head on, that it would be over.

The Marine inched down the hall and approached the front door. He slid the small peep window open on the door and noticed more marines outside and he undid all the locks on the door and opened it up. He was amazed that right after some of the Marines entered that 8 SCS Marines entered before the rest of the group piled in. The man who seemed to be in charge of the group approached the lone Marine.

"Report Soldier!"

"Sir! Most of the deployent for the Embasy was caught off guard while off the property and took heavy casualties in the looting in the streets. All they had were rubber bullets, sir!"

"Easy. Reinforcements are here and we got the real shit right here!" He held up his gun and tapped on it. "They dropped some more marines on the roof. We need to get them inside. They have 4 crates of food and 4 crates of amunition. We'll need that if were going to survive this."

"Yes, Sir!" he then ran to the small phone on the wall and picked it up. "Ambassador. We have reinforcements and they brought food and real ammo."

"Thats great," The ambassador said over the phone. "I'll be down in a minute."

While they were waiting for the Ambassador to come down, Sarge pointed out some spots and the marines looked around for anything out of the ordinary. The Ambassador then walked down the main stairs near the center of the room and smiled when he saw Sarge standing there.

"Ah. Sarge. Long time no see. I'm glad that they sent you to protect me during these hard times." He said with a smile.

"Yeah. Nice to see you, too, Tim. Although I wish it was under better circumstances." He then turned to a marine. "Tell those bastards to get those crates down here ASAP!" He then turned back to the Ambassador. "So. What happened here?"

"Well. Were not entirely sure ourselves. All we know is that looting and crap started happening in the city and we went to total lockdown. Although we still have 7 marines, we lost roughly 12 to looting and stray weapons fire out in the street." He looked around at the Marines and then noticed the marines comming down the stairs with the crates and the SCS Marines in the corner. "Were just glad you got here when you could. We wern't sure if we could hold off looters if they busted down the main gate, we only have rubber bullets you see."

"Yeah, I noticed that. But we got the real deal now." He turned to a marine standing nearby. "Alright soldier. I'm in charge here now and i want you to make sure this place is secure as possible. Check the windows and put those XR-07 gun turrets in the windows on the first floor. i Don't want anyone above the first floor in case they use rockets." He then turned to the ambassador. "This place does have a secure basement, right?"

"Yes it does. Although the lock system for it was damaged a while ago and we lost our tech to the gunfire in the streets."

"Well we have a few with us." He then turned to the marines. "Techs, I want you to fix the malfunctioning lock mechinism and get all non-essential personell down to the basement."

This would be a long operation...

Metzuda

President Khalid bin Abdullah al-Omari watched in horror as Kisangani suddenly disappeared in a massive nuclear fireball.

"Who in hell did this?" the President asked.

"I don't know," said the security officer with him. "I'll call our ABM station and see what they picked up." She pulled out her cell phone. "Colonel Garrett. This is Colonel Fulton with the President, we'd like to know if you detected any nuclear launches in Zaire."

The ABM base commander replied in the affirmative. "It was a Zairian nuclear base, they attacked Kisangani. This won't be good for our troops there... My recommendation is to call the carrier and see if they have any transport planes they can use to get to Kisangani, look for survivors. Remind them to wear NBC suits in case it's a salted bomb."

Colonel Fulton relayed the reply to the President, who nodded grimly. "I'll call the Foreign Minister, though she probably already knows. Let Colonel Wallace know about the nukes. Intel doesn't think Zaire has more than a few of them, did they bring NBC gear?"

"Yes," replied the security officer. "They weren't expecting a nuclear attack, they were more afraid of getting Ebola out there, from what I've heard. I'll let him know."

She made a phone call to the invasion commander, while the President called the Foreign Ministry.

---

Official Announcement from the Free Havenic Republic of Kahanistan
Ministry of Foreign Affairs

http://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/uploads/kahanistan.jpg

Our Government denounces in the harshest terms imaginable the mass murder of its own people by the Government of Zaire.

Today, millions of men, women, and children were senselessly butchered so the insane dictator coward Mobutu Sesesescu can hold onto what little power he has for a few moments longer.

This abominable act is a war crime no matter whose standards one uses. It is also justification for changing our mandate in Zaire from a humanitarian mission to provide freedom to a mission to remove the current government from power and instill a more democratic regime not run by savages with no regard for the lives of their own civilians, let alone those of other nations.

Signed,
Rachel C. Levitt,
Minister of Foreign Affairs


---

Zairian Coast, The Landing

The F-35 Lightning II's soared down from the carrier, preparing to cover the arriving Kahanistanian infantry and light armor that was coming down. Against the relatively ill-equipped Zairian troops, the Ministry of Defense saw no reason to use any of the Diablo heavy tanks they had recently obtained from the Dominion, so were using mainly Bradley AFV's and Merkava IV MBT's.

The Merkavas' ambulance capabilities would come in handy here; Colonel Wallace did not expect Mobutu's army of savages to adhere to the Geneva Conventions or even have heard of them. Ever since the Doomani invasion, the Merkava had been retired from front-line combat while KMI began to design a new tank. However, that was still some time away and these invading forces weren't going to use large amounts of armor.

The Merkavas and Bradley vehicles steamed out of the transport, preparing to set up and allow the infantry to come ashore, under modest fire support from the cruisers who had been escorting the transport and carrier. This fire support was aimed directly ahead of the beaches, and carefully targeted to avoid hitting any cities; the last thing that the government needed was civilian casualties.

(OOC: I'm using this map of Zaire to figure out where I am.) http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/cia06/congo_demrep_sm_2006.gif

The Kahanistanian soldiers' objective was to capture the cities of Banana, Boma, and Matadi, placing them in a position to control Zaire's imports as they lacked the fleet strength to maintain a blockade. Once that happened, another force of 6,000 troops would arrive in a week to begin the attack on Kinshasa itself.

Now, they began their approach to the town of Banana...

25km south of Kinshasa
With Tolvan’s 15th Infantry Brigade

Aki Takamatsu had got to her feet, a little unsteadily, the moment the vehicle had come to a stop. She and her cameraman were about to step out of the vehicle, cautiously, when Captain Winters opened the hatch.

"Miss Takamatsu, we have something you should see."

“What’s going on?” Making sure her helmet was properly adjusted, she hurried out, looking around. They appeared to have come to a halt in the middle of nowhere. Then she saw the massive, expanding cloud in the distance. “Frank!” she said, but the cameraman was already filming. Takamatsu looked at Winters again. “What’s happened?”

La Gombe, Kinshasa
Embassy of the PDSR Ariddia

The fighting outside had not lessened. Ambassador Sarah Ekwele had gone to comfort the civilians, some of them injured, who had managed to take refuge on the embassy grounds. They, at least, were relatively safe from the savage violence that had swept through this area of the city… and, apparently, the entire country.

There had been no call back from the Ministry of Defence regarding deploying Zairian forces to protect the Red Star. There had, however, been urgent calls from the Red Star personnel themselves, asking for assistance. Rahmati (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Pareesa_Rahmati) was with the Red Star, covering their humanitarian work and the extremely dangerous situation they were now facing. Ekwele glanced at her watch. Lives were at stake, and if she did not get a reply from Mobutu’s government soon…

I’ll have to recommend we send in the Red Army (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Military_of_Ariddia), she thought, with a heavy heart.

For now, she focused on giving what reassurance she could to the shaken Zairian refugees within the embassy.

Mama Yemo Hospital, Kinshasa, Republic of Zaire

The arrive of the BMW sedan and one fifth of the United Dominion forces located within Zaire, the rest of them heading to Mobutu’s home to add to the defenses there. The set had changed as tanks, IFVs and hummers from a foreign army just rolled up. The United Dominion flag, already flag in almost every flag pole in Zaire, flew proudly in the wind on the tanks and other vehicles. Even through the noise of the military vehicles, basing could be heard from the BMW. Those three people were jamming to something with a lot of bass.

Then it all quit as soldiers moved out to create a defensive grid around the vehicles. Guns at the ready to kill anything the soldiers though were threats.

Out of the BMW’s driver door came a tall, dark skinned man in a pale gray and dark dull blue set of Transylvanian body armor without his helmet. He had short black hair, which was spiked up, and a black goatee. This man was from the Dominion’s Middle East land, but had early blue eyes that didn’t fit in that area. He had a DR-83 tactical rifle in his hands, pointed at the ground and the rank of Major on his upper right arm.

Out the left side came a short Asian woman in the same type of TBA as the Middle Eastern was wearing. She was even armed with the same tactical rifle, but had the rank of Colonel on her upper right arm. She had long black hair and had green eyes.

Here comes the commander, a tall man, almost standing at six feet six inches. A muscled up man in the same type of TBA the other two were in, but had a dark purple clock over his shoulders. At his height, the man could have been called a Doomani until you look at his armor and symbols on said body armor. And the fact he had shoulder length blonde hair, which looked like waves of the ocean. He had the same early blue eyes as the Middle Eastern had. Same rifle, too. The rank on his upper right arm, right above the symbol of the 2nd Silver Foxes, was General.

Time to start…

The three soldiers moved in behind four soldiers that were already moving into the hospital. Two more soldiers followed in behind their commanders. The soldiers would head straight to the location of Mobutu via the four Devil’s Guards already in the area of Mobutu’s room. Mobutu was a Lord Governor.

As the soldiers neared the room, they could see the Special Presidential Division that guarded Mobutu. They had their rifles lowed, to show that they were friendly forces coming to aid.

The tall blonde man stepped through and looked at the Special Presidential Division members. “Greetings, we come to aid in the defense of the Lord Governor. I’m General Henry Dukes of the 2nd Silver Foxes, of the United Dominion Armed Forces.” said the man.

“Can the Lord Governor talk? As I would like to talk with him.” he asked.

Meanwhile near the edge of Zairian waters

As this time, arriving of the United Dominion Navy has started; a total of three fleets would enter in the waters of the Commonwealth state. Three fleets of the United Dominion, the Atlantic Alpha fleet, the Atlantic Beta fleet, and the Atlantic Gamma fleet. Through the United dominion wasn’t a famous for her navy; it was still full of decent naval men and damn finely made ships.

With this much naval vessels in the area, nobody would try to invade Zaire as that would only anger the Devil himself. And nobody wants that.

{OOC: Mama Yemo Hospital is actually in Kinshasa, but it's okay}

IC:


"Lord Governor? Oh, you mean President Mobutu. Yes, please come with me."

"In response to imperialist, interventionist meddling in Zaire's internal affairs; in response to belligerence on the part of Kahanistan; in response to Kahanistani attempts to use force and terror to dislodge the current democratic popular government from power; and in response to their other crimes, the Republic of Zaire hereby orders all Kahanistani nationals to evacuate the country within 24 hours. Failure to comply will result in the summary arrest and execution of all remaining Kahanistanis in Zaire."


Kengo Wa Dondo
Prime Minister of the Republic of Zaire
http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/images/Coat_of_arms_of_Zaire.PNG

Doomani Embassy, Kinshasa, Zaire


Doomingsland's purported ties to the increasingly precarious Mobutu regime - compounded by their sales of armaments to the Zairian military in the past - galvanized the people of Kinshasa against the CADian superpower. Many Zairian leftists claimed (though zero evidence existed to support this claim, and in fact, there was abundant evidence proving the opposite was true) that the recent atomic weapon that obliterated Kisangani had been purchased by Doomingsland. No one had proof of this absurd proposal, but by playing on the anticommunist rhetoric of both Zaire and Doomingsland, they were able to convince many people that Doomingsland had, indeed, supplied Zaire with "the bomb." A radical cadre of Zairian communists, who had long been persecuted mercilessly by the Mobutu regime, were now eager to stoke up trouble, incite a "people's revolution" and forcibly evict any and all "counterrevolutionary" foreigners in their country - and who was more counterrevolutionary than Doomingsland, a country whose anticommunism surpassed that of any other country in the world?

Using whips, flaming tires, and machetes, they were able to terrorize hundreds of people - mostly children - into supporting an abortive "proletarian liberation" of the Doomani embassy. Armed with crude spears, rudimentary arrows, home-made parcel bombs, and shards of glass and cement, they surrounded the embassy, chanting, "Mondeles, go home! Mondeles, leave Zaire!" They uselessly flung their arsennel at the heavily fortified wall around the embassy, though a few bombs managed to land on the other side, but they couldn't see if any damage was caused.

Two communists began urinating on the wall around the embassy, while others threw dead animals, used condoms, and baggies filled with human waste over the wall. Others spray-painted obscene slogans on the wall, while others burned Doomani flags.

One of them dragged a random foreigner - who they claimed was Doomani (though his nationality could not be determined) - into the sight of the approaching embassy guards, and doused the foreigner in petrol, setting him alight as they danced around his burning body, boasting that if Doomanis did not leave, they would suffer the same fate.

La Gombe, Kinshasa
Embassy of the PDSR Ariddia

Frightened refugees, huddled together, were shivering under their ragged blankets, not out of cold, but out of fear. Ariddian humanitarian workers present at the embassy distributed food and water, while Red Star doctors administered medical aid to the sick and wounded. The Zairians there were visibly and profoundly grateful and appreciative, and in French, Lingala, Kikongo, and many other tongues, lavished their protectors with praise, and thanking God for delivering them safely to such kind and caring people. One particularly touching scene occurred when a small Zairian boy, no older than five, embraced an Ariddian nurse in a hug and said, in faltering French, "I love you."

Even so, the mood was tense and chilling: many Zairians had described, in graphic detail, the horrors they had witnessed or experienced. The horror tales they conveyed conjured up images of other haunting episodes from history: the Holocaust, the Khmer Rouge, the Rwandan Genocide. There was scarcely a dry eye among the Zairians as they struggled, overburdened by emotion, to tell their tragic stories.

Suddenly, the front door was thrown open, and disheveled, shirtless Zairian man, his back covered with bruises, ran in, breathless. "Please, I must warn you," he said, pausing frequently to gasp for air, "the SNIP is coming! They know you are keeping refugees here! They think you're with the rebels! Please, we must hurry!"

OOC:
Anything going to happen at my embasy? Or are the people not against socialism in your nation?

OOC:
Anything going to happen at my embasy? Or are the people not against socialism in your nation?

{OOC: Your government is anti-Mobutu, thus popular; of course, if you want to see some action at your embassy, maybe I could have some Mobutist hooligans swing by... ;)}

La Gombe, Kinshasa
Embassy of the PDSR Ariddia

A fairly young, male Indigenous Ariddian doctor looked up from a patient he had been helping - a frail old man who had barely said a word, and was clearly in a state of shock. Nobody was quite sure how the old man had even got into the embassy, since none of the younger refugees seemed to be related to him. Nor was it anyone's primary concern at that moment.

"Hurry where?" the doctor asked, trying not to sound tense. "How can anywhere be safer than these walls? This is Ariddian territory. They have no right to enter."

The look in the refugees' eyes showed they were not reassured. They knew better than the young Ariddian.

Ambassador Ekwele hastily re-appeared from an adjoining room.

"There are no rebels here!" she said after being told what was going on. There was anger in her voice. "Only frightened, wounded people with nowhere else to go! What would you have us do? There's no safety outside the embassy!"

Elsewhere in the country
Hospital

Pareesa Rahmati (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/Pareesa_Rahmati) coughed uncontrolably as the very structure of the building seemed to tremble, and more dust rained down onto them from the ceiling. The hospital appeared to be under attack, and she had no idea why. She was with several Red Star doctors and her camerawoman Aia Le, trying to evacuate injured Zairians out of the ransacked, unsafe town hospital and over to the highly precarious ‘safety’ of their humanitarian refugee camp outside town. Now she was wondering whether any of them would get out of the building alive. Le was continuing to film bravely, recording the images for the world to see later, while Rahmati had a hand-held video recorder in one hand, and was helping a woman in her forties, with a wounded leg, towards the stairs.

Now, more than ever, they needed military protection. Or there was little they could do for the countless helpless Zairians they had been trying to save.

Kinshasa, Zaire

The seven-man team stood around in the corridor, their DAC-99s tucked under their jackets, cautiously scanning their surroundings. They were in a run-down apartment complex; the walls were cracked and screams could be heard eminating from upper flooors; roaches seemed to have overrun the place. Not a very nice neighborhood.

Knocking on the door, the men heard someone fumbling with the lock before it was opened by an older Zairan.

"Welcome, brothers," he said with a smile, ushering the white men into his home.

The Milites smiled, bowing their heads as they entered the apartment.

It was a modest two-room apartment; images of the Virgin Mary adorned the walls, as well as numerous crosses. The last man in shut the door behind him, leaning up against it while the others followed the local cell member to an unsuspecting corner of the bed room, which also served as the kitchen. A sledgehammer, leaning up against the wall, was grabbed by the man, who proceeded to batter the floor with it.

The first blow punched through the wood, revealing a hidden compartment. As the Milites fanned away the rising dust from the shattered wood, the man produced a crowbar, prying away the remaining wood. Grabbing onto something in the hole, he called to the men in Latin,

"Help me with this, please."

Three of the men stepped up besides him and helped him lift the first of three crates from the hidden compartment, carefully placing it on the bed.

The other men began working on the box, with one of the men producing a pocket knife and cutting away the plastic wrap encasing it. When the last crate had been lifted out of the hidden compartment, the Zairan handed his crowbar to one of the Manus Dei men, who wedged it between one of the crates and the lid, popping it open.

Casting away the plastic bubbles that took up most of the crate, the man produced a new-out-of-the-box DR-83.II rifle, smiling as he worked the action and cleared the chamber.

"Excellent," he said aloud as the others took hold of their own weapons: more DR-83s, DMG-83 light machineguns, DAT-19 rocket propelled grenades, TDX pistols, DACU-41 40mm semi-automatic grenade launchers, and even a DRS-83 sniper rifle.

In the other crates were ammunition cans, spare magazines, load-bearing systems, body armor, grenades, satchel charges. Everything an urban guerilla would need for the coming operation.

For the next ten minutes, the men loaded up their magazines with fresh 6.7x53mm APFJ catridges, placing them in the magazine pouches of their loadbearing vests and clamping them together, while others took turns filling their CamelPak-esque hydration systems, also making sure their armor was fully laced up and ready to go before sliding the vests on, the load bearing vests over those.

Finally, as the men prepared to disembark, they produced the black armbands of Manus Dei fighters from their pockets (although they were now wearing military-grade body armor and wielding assault rifles, they were all still wearing civilian clothing), tying them to their left arms in order to help distinguish themselves to one another.

"Deus vult," the apartment owner said with a smile, seeing off his comrades. He'd done his duty to Christ that day; now it was time for the Milites to do their's.

Minutes after they stepped out, the man could hear angry shouts eminating from down the corridor, followed by a few gunshots. That continued on for another twenty minutes while the Milites ruthlessly kicked down the doors of his Muslim and Animist neighbors, whom he'd identified to the men, before executing them and their families on the spot.

All over Kinshasa, the same scene played out: the Milites would arrive at a pre-designated safehouse, taking hold of their weapons before moving on to execute the undesirables living within the apartment complex.

Following this, the teams would exit the buildings, reenter their vehicles, before driving to Muslim and Animist neighborhoods, where they would proceed to set the buildings alight and shoot the people attempting to flee. The teams would operate in groups of two: one team would enter a neighborhood, driving in vehicles ranging from pickup trucks to vans, and piling out into the street, tossing incindiery grenades or stuffing satchel chares into the buildings in order to level them or set them alight. They'd then gun down anyone attempting to flee the scene.

The second team would enter a buildings, specifically ones that had good fields of view going towards the neighborhood. They were expecting foreigners to show up and meddle with their plans; in fact, one might say they were counting on it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
OOC:Worked with one out with CK over MSN, for the record.

IC:

As Manus Dei commenced the Pufication of Kinshasa in earnest, other teams began to link up with the cells in the countryside. A dozen warlords, payed off by their new Catholic extremist employers, had cast aside their own banners, now flying that of the Golden Chi-Ro; their militiamen had even been instructed to don the armbands worn by the Milites. It seemed as if Manus wanted to be visible in Zaire.

In the mean time, the warlords would have been also paid off to round up the Muslims and Animists living in the villages under their control and turn them over to the Milites that were now working as advisors to them.

What followed was nothing short of disturbing: the prisoners would be tortured into admitting to being servants of Satan before being tied to a wooden stake, hay and brush piled at their feet, and burned alive as heretics.

Meanwhile, following the nuclear strike on Kisangani, Manus Dei sniper teams were dispatched towards the now-ruined city. They'd be sure to stay out of the way of the radiation; their primary purpose would be to simply cause havoc amongst foreign relief workers as they attempted to clean up the "wicked" city.

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

Doomani Embassy, Kinshasa, Zaire

"Shit, here we go..." muttered Tribune Marius Classicus to his command centurion, watching from the elevated gatehouse of the curtain wall.

The gate structure itself seemed to far out from the walls, giving it an aestetically pleasing look; however, this was for reason. The gate structure actualy contained two gates, not one gate. Between each gate was a void space; firing ports from the gatehouse above and the walls on either side aimed into the chamber, forcing any attacker to deal with that deadly obstacle before even entering the courtyard.

Capping the gate structure was a heavily fortified bunker, featuring steel shutters for the firing slit, which would allow the men to fire at the angry mob below without fear of having a molotov cocktail land at their feet and explode.

The bunker featured a single 15.7mm heavy machinegun, along with a pair of 7.8mm machineguns, all now trained on the crowd, along with the rifles of the other eight men inside the bunker.

"Fucking infidels," Centurion Varus Cnaeus roared.

"Indeed. They're soiling the Emperor's property without his permission; such a sentence is punishable by death. Therefore we must enforce Imperial Law on these disgusting people," Classicus nodded to his machinegunners.

"DEUS VULT!"

A split second later, the angry shouts of the mob were soon replaced by the barking of machinegun fire and the screams of the wounded and dying as half a dozen machineguns, located all along the curtain wall, opened fire on the mob, firing indiscriminantly into the crowd.

The riflemen, normally used to taking carefull aim at individual targets, now simly sprayed into the crowd in order to kill more people more quickly.

They even had a flamethrower in the gate bunker, which spewed a jet stream of napalm one hundred feet long into the crowd; oxygen was sucked from the air and flesh was stripped from the bone as it tore into the crowd. The screams of people being burned alive nearly drowned out the whooshing of the flames.

Watching amusedly, Classicus observed the situation in order to see whether the crowd would disperse, or would assault the embassy...

Mbandaka, capital of the region of Équateur, Zaire

Commander Quintana was just entering Mbandaka with 2 and a half thousands of his soldiers, in a last minute decision to keep the fragile peace in the city, which has beeing suffering inestability as the rest of the major zairian cities did. The rest of his soldiers were being deployed at the north bank of the Congo River, between the border with the Republic of Congo in the West and a line that crossed the towns of Gemena and Zongo in the East, near enough from Gbadolite to bring peace to the city and avoid the mass murder of the population because a revenge on the civilian population because of the atrocities Sese Seko´s government did and was doing, if his forces were finally defeated, which was likely to happen. After all, why would they blow one of the major cities of the country, if they weren´t desperate enough to do it?

The planes, and 20 of the helicopters landed in an airfield near the city. It was not a fancy airport, but it allowed the aircraft to arrive without major problems. A preventive curfew was ordered, because of the fears of sectarian violence because the nuclear strike on Kisangani, and the troops began patrolling the city and the medical staff of the troops were also looking for emergencies, as the most of montegrandeans humanitarian aid couldn´t be delivered until the town of Zongo was secured and the ferry between Bangui and the Central African Republic began carrying the personnel, supplies and medicines needed. Also, the airfield was being inmediatly prepared to receive 4 planes full of aid for the city of Mbandaka, as the helicopters that were supposed to bring into the town the civilian personnel that would help to prevent any epidemy from expanding and control the health problems of the crowded city, including Patricia Riault, who was intended to make an assesment of the difficult situation.

Heavily protected by his best soldiers, Quintana took a look at Mbandaka, which was an example of the state of the near collapsing Zaire. The civilians, affected by famine and repression, were thought to be hostile to him and his soldiers at first, but that was supposed to change when they noticed the doctors were looking for medical emergencies and some of the food the helicopters and ground vehicles carried were freely given to the starving populace, waiting a stable supply line could be stablished through the Central African Republic, where the montegrandean mission was focusing their efforts to improve the condition in the area they choosed to support, and guard to avoid the expansion of a violence that seemed to be general in Zaire.

Approximately an hour after he was installed in the improvised montegrandean headquarters, he received a call from the other detachments of the Montegrandean People´s Liberation Army deployed in Zaire, announcing the arrival and control of the assigned zones. That meant that the shipments through ferry from Bangui could start in the following 24 hours and in equal time, the first civilian flight to Mbandaka under montegrandean protection could begin. He consequently informed Patricia Riault in Bangui and ordered his troops to ensure the shipments and personnel were to arrive safely in Zaire. May be, they could avoid a lot of suffering in the area, if they acted quickly and smartly.

Bangui, Central African Republic

When they were informed about the situation of the montegrandean peacekeepers in Zaire, a hurricane started between the members of the civilian mission to Zaire, as they knew they could avoid unnecesary deaths if they could carry with quickness the aid to the citizens of the northwest of Équateur, as well as prevent the montegrandean soldiers to suffer the desperation of the civilian population, which could attack them only to obtain food, money and medicines to survive.

The first convoy the ferry could carry was prepared, and following ones were waiting their turn as they felt the ammount of personnel and supplies they needed to carry was way higher than the ferry could carry. That´s why the montegrandean head of the african division of International Cooperation, René Mendoza, who was already in Bangui, asked for three aditional ships that were being delivered as soon as possible from Montegrande to increase the fluz of aid and personnel, included journalists, they could carry through the Oubangui River to Zongo. That also could calm the local government, which was going to be collaborative as long as they felt they were winning with allowing the montegrandean display in the Zairian Theater.

Patricia Riault was specially worried about the electricity supply to Zongo, Gemena and Mbandaka, because she knew that the vaccines that were intented to prevent and avoid an important ammount of diseases would be not only unuseful, but also dangerous if they couldn´t keep them refrigerated all the time. That was why she sent a message to the Sese Seko´s government: even when they were monsters capable of ordering a nuclear attack on a zairian city, they needed all the help available to keep the vaccines cold.

As she was informed the helicopters and planes heading to Mbandaka were ready to take off, she gathered the personnel and quickly left the montegrandean embassy in Bangui and travelled to the airport, where they waited until the airfield in Mbandaka allowed them to initiate the trip to the Republic of Zaire.

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

Telegram to Mobutu Sese Seko

As we intend to keep the fragile order in the Northwestern corner of Équateur, we also intend to start a vaccination campaign in the area our troops are located, which is in the Northern Bank of the Zaire River from the border with Congo, in the West, to a line that crosses Zongo and Gemena, in the East, including the city of Mbandaka, in the Southern Bank of the Zaire River, as we noticed the situation is difficult in that city. For this purpose, we need to assure the refrigeration of the vaccines, and even when we have ellectrogen devices, we fear that won´t be enough. That´s why we humbly ask you to supply us with electricity, for the vaccination campaign and also for other medical purposes, that should be provided by the hidroelectric central over the Ubangi River. Hoping the best for the zairian people,

Patricia Riault, Head of the Montegrandean Civilian Mission in Zaire

La Gombe, Kinshasa
Embassy of the PDSR Ariddia

"I don't know, but we must do something! They'll be here any minute, with guns! They...they've already killed my family. I barely escaped with my life. Please, do something!" the young man, clearly delirious and eccentric, shouted, as he paced back and forth, wide-eyed with fear.


Elsewhere in the country
Hospital

The hospital was indeed under attack, convulsing tumultuously under the bombardment of artillery and mortars; though the bulk of the damage was unintentional, collateral damage, the results were the same. The building was very slowly, but inevitably, collapsing, as its already fragile foundations slowly gave way with each new collision.

Outside, a small, freshly-trained unit of FAZ skirmished with a band of rebels, who were - to the surprise of the soldiers - armed with heavy artillery, RPG-7s, body armor, and modern weaponry. Clearly, their hardware had been supplied by a foreign power. But who? Little did it matter, for the soldiers were too preoccupied doding bullets and returning fire to worry about such trivialties. Casualties on both sides mounted steadily. The incapacitatingly foul odor of death permeated the air, suffusing everything around in a horrid, inescapable stench. The streets were littered with corpses which were already drawing flies, and the amount of blood was mind-staggering. Amid the carnage, panicked refugees ran smok, screaming and pleading for help that would never come, as weeping mothers cradled the bullet-laden bodies of their dead children. No scene could more accurately convey the observation that "war is hell."

The occupants of the hospital were stealthily evacuated through the back, with the help of sympathetic locals, as they tried their utmost to remain out of sight of the warring factions. It seemed that with every step they took, another explosion jolted the earth, causing many to lose their balance. The sound of gunfire was omnipresent and pursued them with as much nerve-wracking intensity as real bullets. Their lives flashed before their eyes.

A much larger, more intense explosion jolted the ground, and nearly everyone toppled over. As they turned their heads they saw that most of the rebels had disappeared in a sea of flames, and overheard, a Zairian bomber careened past, having fulfilled its mission. The surviving soldiers let out an enfeebled cheer.

As the hospital staff, volunteers, and patients trodded on, the commander of the soldiers finally caught sight of them and came over, motioning to them that it was okay.

"You...you're Ariddians?" he asked, in heavily accented but understandable French, a language he was not fluent in. "Please, this way. General Mahele will see you."

Telegram to Patricia Riault

"President Mobutu is currently unavailable. However, we will submit your request to the Prime Minister. We cannot promise anything, but we will see to it that he gets your message as soon as possible."

The streets of Kinshasa were soaked red with the spilled blood of hundreds of Zairians dubbed "infidels" by the Doomanis. Piles upon piles of corpses were stacked up methodically, by gender, age group, religion, and cause of death. Several had been gruesomely tortured to death through methods that would have appalled even SNIP. Others were simply extinguished with gunfire; they were the "lucky" ones.

The battle-scarred carcasses of former residences were soon set ablaze, all their contents destroyed in a smoldering torrent of spreading flames which charred the sky black with billowing smoke. Their sinister but purportedly holy mission was proceeding beautifully; Doomanis working in concert with bribe-hungry warlords in the countryside reported similar "progress" in "cleansing" out infidels.

At the Doomani Embassy, an unsettling silence hung in the air. No living thing remained to scream and the guns had fallen silent. Every one of the hooligans - in addition to scores of innocent by-standers - lay in pools of blood, as the crackling flames ate away at their flesh before slowing dying down.

La Gombe, Kinshasa
Embassy of the PDSR Ariddia

“Calm down,” Ekwele told the man soothingly. “It’s all right. You’re safe here. Nobody’s going to come in without authorisation.” She tried to sound as if she were certain about that. But with the situation as it was now… “We have guards, and this is sovereign Ariddian territory. If we go out, we’ll all be in a lot more danger.”

She walked up to him, and guided him gently over to a nurse.
“This lady will help you calm down, and will look at your wounds. You’re on Ariddian territory, sir. Do you understand?”


Elsewhere in the country
Outside hospital

“Thank goodness!” one of the doctors gasped, as the officer approached them. Aia Le continued filming dutifully, her camera somehow still intact. “Yes, we’re Ariddians! One of us will go to the General, if you could get the rest of us and these patients back to the Red Star camp… if possible with armed guard?”

Jon looked with his binoculars at the remains of the city. A smoldering ruin, bristling with radiation, thousands upon thousands dead inside. So what the hell am I doing here? he thought silently. The Arridians also had a reporter in Zaire, surely she could provide all the necessary information? Of course, Jon knew the answer to his question before he had even asked it. All his life he had wondered what to do, and here, finally, was something that he was good at. He couldn't quit now. But so many dead! What if Kinsasha is next? he again questioned. But there would be little time for more questions, when his assistant, Laura Smith, rushed into the room.

"Jon, Jon! Futuris wants a report in two minutes! After that, we're to check out the Doomani embassy! I've...heard, terrible...horrible reports."

"Okay, I'll be ready in a minute. Get the cameraman."
______________________________________________

TV flickers on, set to Futurisian News Channel

"Breaking news, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. Yesterday, a terrible event occurred in the Republic of Zaire. There was a nuclear explosion in the city of Kisangani, killing thousands of residents inside. Reportedly, the city was said to have been "taken by rebels" at which point the Zairian government decided to send the missile. Although the situation in Kisangani is doubtful, it is rather clear at the moment that the missile was sent by the government of Zaire. We have Jon Berg near the city. Jon?"

"Yes, Paul. I'm afraid that, well, I'm lost for words. As you can see behind me, Kisangani, or what remains of it, is a mass grave of thousands upon thousands. Just before the blast, there was quite a riot in the city, and it was in flames before the nuke. Several nations have confirmed that the missile was from Zaire, and diplomatic relations with the government and peacekeeping forces have grown somewhat hostile. It's...it's simply appalling, the hate and violence that have seized this region. There are reports of mass massacres at the Doomani embassy, and firefights in cities around the country. Many families have also turned up missing across the whole country, which authorities presume is the work of the government of Zaire, also responsible for the nuke."

"Yes, Jon. I'm sure that the whole world is speechless at this...this act. Terrible. Thank you very much, Jon."

"Thanks, Paul."

"And in other news..."

La Gombe, Kinshasa
Embassy of the PDSR Ariddia

The man nodded, and slowly but surely, he was calmed down. He took a sat, and, shuddering terribly, breaking into tears, relayed, in explicit detail, all the horrors he had suffered and witnessed that day. When he was done, he was gasping for breath and nearly hysterical.


Elsewhere in the country
Outside hospital

The soldier summoned over 10 of his colleagues, conversed briefly in Lingala, and then said, "These 10, they will escort you there. Now, which of you will come with me to see the General?"

Doomani Embassy

Standing on the roof of the bunker and lighting up a cigar in triumph, Tribune Classicus smiled sadistically as his Marines strode over the field of corpses, severing the heads of the dead and dying with Gladius and axe; and yet they didn't stop there. They never could. They severed all of the other limbs: fingers, hands, arms, legs, toes, tongues, ears, even the eyes.

An enourmous mound was errected in the plaza in front of the embassy. Severed heads, expressions of sheer terror still frozen upon them, were piled ten, fifteen feet high. Besides that pile were smaller piles of arms and legs. Fingers, tongues and eyes were left in front, filling several torsoes that had been carved open, their innards and organs artistically arranged about the pile of putrid gore and death; a gruesome offering to anyone else foolish enough to throw away their lives before the walls of the Embassy. It smelled absolutely horrifically: the rotting flesh and gore was feasted upon in the roasting sun by many thousands of insects, and it festered profusely.

More severed heads were impaled upon poles, mounted above the gates, the Crusader's Death's Head flying above them gloriously; a triumph to the brutal victory the Doomani had claimed this day in the name of God. And yet, for all that, they simply couldn't stop...the amount of carnage they caused was simply too pleasing for them...

One unfortunate wounded man, one of the first to have arrived on scene, witnessed by the Marines throwing molotov cocktails over the walls into the embassy courtyard, had the bad luck of being left alive. Pinned down by his sadistic conquerers, they, with their razer sharp pugio daggers, stripped him naked before skinning him alive on the spot, dragging him back to the gates. His feet were bound with wire, and he was hoisted up, hanging upside down infront of the gate, still screaming in agony as insects began to eat away at his bare flesh.

One of the Marines had decided to make a rug of the man's skin, while scores of others had collected severed heads, making beer mugs or ash trays of them. Gruesome war trophies from a glorious battle fought for God and Imperium.

La Gombe, Kinshasa
Embassy of the PDSR Ariddia

The nurse hushed and soothed her latest patient as best she could. It was not easy not to break into tears of horror and sympathy as she listened to his words, witnessed his understandably emotional reaction, and placed her hand on his violently trembling shoulder. But she focused on her patient, talking to him gently, trying to help him relax, as she began to clean his injuries with great gentleness.


Elsewhere in the country
Outside hospital

"I'll come with you to see the general," one of the older doctors, in his late fifties or possibly early sixties, said, his face and voice remarkably calm despite the situation. "Thank you, very much. We're very grateful for your help."

All the while, Aia Le continued filming, her camera panning over the scenes of destruction before focusing on the soldiers, and on the patients being tended to by the Red Star medical personnel.

OOC: This post replaces my deleted post.

207 KM above Zaire

The Keyhole-15 satellite of the National Orbital Reconnaissance Office (NORO) detected the massive spike in thermal readings in what used to be Kisangani and tracked the resulting shock wave with its onboard cameras. Within seconds the technicians monitoring the telemetry had deteremined that a nuclear weapon had detonated in Kinsangani.

Within minutes the Foxfire report (Foxfire was the Tolvanic military's code word for the use CBRN weapons) had reached the officer of PM Shaw as well as the Tolvanic commanders in Zaire.

25 KM south of Kinshasa

Lt. Col. Howard was in his command vehicle when the Foxfire report came in. He began issuing orders before the report was even done broadcasting.

He turned to his Operations Officer, Major Bennet, and began issuing orders. "Order the battalion to stop and assume a defensive posture."

He then spoke to his CBRN Officer, "Have all units don MOPP Level Three and be ready to go to MOPP One in five minutes."

Without waiting for a reply he grabbed Captain Winter, the Civil Affairs officer responsible for dealing with any reporters, NGOs, or civillians the battalion encountered, "Wake that damn reporter up."

LAV B24, of 2/15 Infantry column

Winters walked up to the lowered hatch of the nearly empty LAV, the vehicle's infantry had assumed a defensive position in a nearby ditch.

"Miss Takamatsu, we have something you should see."

LAV B24, 2/15th Infantry

"Ma'am, it appears that the government of Zaire has ordered the use of nuclear weapons to quell the revolt in Kisangani."

News of the bloodbath outside the Doomani Embassy spread slowly; most people in the city were too busy evacuating, hiding, or dodging gunfire to bother looking into the latest information. Even so, the ungodly stench of death could be smelled several blocks away, which reinforced the Doomanis' well-justified perceptions of their attackers as stupid louts. The reinforcement of communists, some 200 strong, this time armed with pirated Kalashnikovs, failed to heed the blatantly obvious conclusion that their demises, too, were nigh. Even as they passed rivers of blood and massive stacks of corpses and severed body parts, they refused to believe the same would happen to them. But it would. Oh, would it ever!

Before the embassy was even within their field of vision, they could hear bullets flying; at least, in the few micro-seconds that transpired before their heads exploded like squeezed pimples, spewing cranial goo onto the ground. They broke and ran at once, screaming in terror as the bullets pursued them relentlessly. When they escaped, there were only three survivors, two of them wounded. The horrors they had witnessed would forever be engraved in Kinshasans' memories.

The site soon took on a macabre reputation as "Champ du Sang" - "Field of Blood."

La Gombe, Kinshasa
Embassy of the PDSR Ariddia

Just when he had finally calmed down fully, they heard a scream outside: "They're here! The SNIP is here!"


Elsewhere in the country
Outside hospital

"My pleasure. Please, this way."

After ten minutes of traversing steaming jungle, enveloped on all sides by darkness and foliage, all the while swatting aside tropical insects, they at last came across the secluded make-shift camp of General Mahele. Mahele was a rare breed: an incorruptible general who had genuinely earned his stripes. He was honest, charismatic, respected by the people, a true "soldier's soldier."

He greeted the doctor warmly, shaking his hand. "Greetings, Doctor. I am General Mahele. Pleased to make your acquaintance. Thank you for everything you have done for my country, and for my people. I need your help urgently. I wish to contact your government."

Gbadolite, Équateur, Republic of Zaire

General Étienne Nzimbi Ngbale watched from his window as three Mercedes-Benz W220s pulled aways with his generals after the meeting. Reports from the DSP's newely created Intelligence Office had reports coming in from all over the Zaire, and a new one arrived seemingly every few minutes. Aids and advisors rushed into his office giving Ngbale the latest news reports from Kinshasa, Kisangani, and even Gbadolite.

Siege Upon Embassies in Kinshasa, Fatal Riots Reported, Nuclear Explosion in Kisangani: Government Suspected were the subjects of the messages he had been recieving throughout the day.

The latter report was the one that had disturbed Ngbale the most, who cursed malevolently when he opened the report. Although encountering the DSP in Kisangani was rare and Ngbale himself had always been a strong supporter of Zaire's development of nuclear weaponry, Ngbale and his top generals had concluded that the city was strategically located and its other traits were favorable to the DSP's cause.

Ngbale sighed and wiped his hand over his brow. And I haven't even begun he thought to himself. He had plentiful amounts of experience in rebellions or revolutions, such as in the Great Central African War, and with Mobutu, being his cousin. Even so, he himself had never led a revolution, but he believed his experience would create an easy path to rule.

The plan… Ngbale did not consider himself or the DSP rebels, but Purifiers. His view of rebels were a group of disorganized, untrained, undisciplined fools who hardly knew how to shoot a handgun. Therefore, he considered the DSP's lead over the other rebels massive, even though the DSP hadn't declared revolution, yet. The Intelligence Office suspected the AFDL may be involved, but Ngbale was confident the DSP could easily stamp out all of their hopes and then lives.

The DSP's position was so splendid that it made it hard, not wanting to ruin a perfect opportunity. Mobutu, being hospitalized, was probably not abreast with the latest events and the acting President, Prime Minister Kengo Wa Dondo had not a clue.

But when and where would the first strike be?

Streets of Gbadolite, Équateur, Republic of Zaire
Corporals Lutalo Ojore and Mulogo Magomu stood in command of two squads. Their mission, disguised as a normal patrol, was to scout out any possible opponents in any way blocking the DSP from their goal, of which they had not been explicitly informed.

Just watch was what the corporals had been told.

Ojore, from behind one of the countless market stalls, raised his HK416's ACOG to his eye and observed the scene.

He lifted his radio to his mouth. Nothing yet.

{OOC: Mama Yemo Hospital is actually in Kinshasa, but it's okay}

IC: "Lord Governor? Oh, you mean President Mobutu. Yes, please come with me."

OOC: Edited.

Mama Yemo Hospital

General Henry Dukes, along with his two other high ranked commanders, followed the Special Presidential Division member into Mobutu’s room. The three Dominion officers looked around the room.

“Please leave.” said General Dukes to the SPD member.

After the person left the room, the tall general moved forwards. “Lord Governor Mobutu, I’m General Henry Dukes of the 2nd Silver Foxes, of the United Dominion Armed Forces. I have be ordered to protect your life from any harm. An order from the Count.” said the man.

“Can you left this hospital? As it will be hard to protect. Your palace will easier to protect with my forces.” asked the General, his blue eyes looking down at Mobutu as the other two looked on behind him..

Zaire Waters

Having just arrived, the fleets picked up a message from inland about the Kahanistanians were ordered to leave Zaire as they weren’t welcomed. So the fleets would do what they were send here to do, to force whomever was not welcomed in the area out of the area. That even means forcing out the Kahanistanians or allies of the United Dominion.

The orders were given to prepare fighters and train guns at the Kahanistan fleet.

The Kahanistanian fleet would get a message form the United Dominion’s fleets in the waters.

“Kahanistanian fleet, pick up your soldiers and leave Zaire at once. Don’t forces us to engage you as invaders of Zaire. We have been given the power to whatever is need to force out anybody that is not welcomed in these waters and these lands. Do what is right and save the lives of your men.”

Elsewhere in Zaire

A few shadow ops soldiers of the United Dominion Armed Forces were reporting that they saw Doomani symbols on the warlords and even saw they saw Doomanis in areas of Zaire. These is not good for Zaire and the Count‘s plans, if there were Doomanis in these lands.

The shadow ops soldiers would escape back into the shadows and wait for their orders.

Operation: African Snake Hunt would get some changes because of the Doomanis being there. What were they doing there? Are they trying to take over Zaire and place a puppet government in control?

Gemena, Équateur, Zaire

As soon he got outside of the helicopter, Commander Quintana began the inspection of the troops placed in the town, where was buried the mother of Mobutu Sese Seko, Mama Yemo.

Although he was proud of being a black man, like a gret number of montegrandeans, even he was mostly a mulato, he couldn´t understand the chaos the zairians were living in, and lived in for a significant ammount of years. He couldn´t understand the misery of people that looked so similar to him, who in his middle fourties had a stronger health than most of the younger zairians he saw in his short time in the mission.

When he arrived to the Mama Yemo´s tomb, a gigantic, splendid mausoleum, his sadness turned into bitter, fiery rage. How could the leader of a country in that situation, with so many starving people, spend the money in such a grotesque way, in a monument to his own family and name?

However he knew montegrandean president, Arturo Moncada wouldn´t switch the objective in the mission so easily, mainly because himself, when a military commander, got involved in a brutal, senseless war in Danteri. Also, the most suitable way of helping all those civilians was remaining neutral in the conflict, keeping the order and acting prudently, and just worrying to give some comfort to the civilians before involving themselves in political conflicts between criminals.

He ordered his soldiers to keep the peace without provocations, and got back to the helicopter. The civilian mission would be in Mbandaka in a couple of hours or so, and he knew that keeping order there was of significant importance for the mission.

Bangui, Central African Republic

René Mendoza, head of the african division of the montegrandean international cooperation department held inmediatly a press conference, in the presence of some reporters, mainly montegrandean, and read the official montegrandean statement to the world:

"The Democratic People´s Republic is aware of the crisis that is by now living the nation of Zaire, and has decided to send a civilian and military mission that is now located in the Northwestern corner of the country, which is neutral in this conflict and only expect to keep peace in the area as well to solve the most inmediate needs of the population.

As the access to the area by ferry from Bangui to the town of Zongo, is now safe and open, which is now being used by the humanitary aid mission to carry personnel and supplies to the area, we also want to invite reporters and international aid organizations to enter the zone under montegrandean protection, in the means of possible and always making space for the montegrandean help to get in the zone.

For now there is only one ferry crossing the Oubangi river, but we expect three more ships to make the transportation quicker for everyone. Aereal access to the zone remains for now unavailable.

Any change in the situation shall be informed as soon as possible, in the embassy. Thank you for your interest, and if you want to enter Zaire by the ferry, please communicate with the montegrandean detachment in the port. "

{OOC: Mama Yemo Hospital is actually in Kinshasa, but it's okay}


OOC: Whoops... Edited, as well.

Official Announcement from the Free Havenic Republic of Kahanistan
Ministry of Foreign Affairs

http://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/uploads/kahanistan.jpg

If one Kahanistanian civilian is executed in Zaire, the military forces there will be authorized use of chemical and nuclear weapons in that operation. Our troops have full MOPP gear, I doubt yours do.

Mobutu will fall; it is up to you whether he falls with massive or moderate bloodshed. I would prefer moderate, but I am more than willing to protect those few of my country's people who actually chose to live in your squalid cesspit.

Signed,
Rachel C. Levitt,
Minister of Foreign Affairs


---

Aboard the RKS Atlas, the Union class carrier in Zairian waters

Commodore Alexandra Federova was not eager to fight the Dominionites; they outnumbered her forces severely and had a severe technological advantage; four cruisers, eight subs, a carrier, and a transport stood less than no chance against three fleets. She was also not particularly optimistic about Kahanistan's allies being willing to help.

"Let Colonel Jolson and Colonel Wallace know that we might be engaged. I'll talk to the Dominion commander." She opened a channel to the Dominion fleet while her 2IC got on the line with the air and ground commanders, as the fleets made ready to beach themselves and prepare to do battle.

"This is Commodore Alexandra Federova, commander of this fleet. We have no wish to fight the Dominion, but we cannot stand idly by while this barbaric dictator murders his own people for tactical gain. If what I've heard on satellite is correct, he's already nuked one of his own cities. I can have transport planes in Kisangani within 24 hours to retrieve survivors."

A popular asset of governments both popular and reviled, was the scapegoat. Few other tools so adeptly forged national unity, or revived the sagging popularity of lackluster politicians. This was a fact of which Kengo was well aware. Under his orders, flyers were distributed throughout Kinshasa, attributing the breakdown in law and order, the collapse of the economy, the burgeoning insurgency in the east, the Doomani massacres, and even the nuking of Kisangani, to Kahanistan. Zairians were by no means stupid; normally they would have resisted succumbing to such propaganda. But a scared, bewildered, and desperate populace is easy prey to propaganda, and, looking for an outlet through which to vent their frustration, many rounded up Kahanistani expatriates, dragging them out of their homes into the streets and beating them to death, hacking them to pieces, or burning them alive. Far from concealing the atrocities, Kengo's government openly boasted of its encouragement of these atrocities. On world television, he said with no detectable hint of remorse, "The sins of colonialism have not gone unpunished. We warned world imperialists that harm would befall their citizens if they continued to oppress the African people, and they have only themselves to blame."

Mama Yemo Hospital

Mobutu, groggy and disorientated, his mind hazy from anesthesia, lurched out of bed, tottering precariously; he had to grip the arm of of General Dukes to keep from slipping. His weathered, wrinkled face seemed twenty years older than the rest of his body. His eyes, normally full of vitality, had faded to a dull, lifeless hue. His body seemed to have shriveled dramatically in just the space of a few days. When he spoke, his voice just above a whisper, he sounded like a croaking frog. "Yes..." he said, gasping heavily, as if just speaking were an arduous physical task. "We can go to...we can go...we can...my palace..." And he promptly collapsed, his chest heaving, as he began coughing profusely.

Mama Yemo Hospital

General Dukes, allowed his the Middle Eastern soldier, lead the old man to a wheelchair. Slowly placing him the chair, The Asian woman placed at oxygen tank on him to help him breath. the Middle Eastern soldier started pushing the old man out of the room.

With General Dukes and the Asian woman in front, they exited the room and starts to the front door to a waiting IFV, which had medics in it. The rest of the Silver Foxes moved in behind their commander and the four Devil’s Guards followed.

If any of the SPD members wanted to start something, then they could, but the outcome wouldn’t be good for them. If they did, then one stage of the operation would be finished with Mobutu being in the middle of the gun fire.

The Waters of Zaire

With three fleets pointing their weapons of war at them, the Dominionites aboard had a feeling that those Kahanistanian were looking at their deaths unless they do what was ordered. No sane man would stay in the waters with that much firepower pointing at them. Fighters at the ready, anti-ship missiles at the ready. There was Mexican Standoff in the waters of this chaos filled nation.

The United Dominion Navy commander didn’t like the answer from this Kahanistanian Commodore. This woman is a fool for not listen.

“Commodore Federova, I'm Fleet Admiral Publius Titinius of the United Dominion Navy. You’re on thin ice right now. Listen with open ears because I’m not going to say this again. Mobutu didn’t order shit about nuclear weapons. Do you want to know why? Because he’s in the hospital as of now, after he had a heart attack.”

“All Kahanistanians will leave this nation in twenty-fours, all military personal will start leaving right now. Don’t do this and your fleet will be sunk, your soldiers will be killed. Your civilians in Zaire will be shot out of cannons.”

As the tall officer with long brown hair send the message, his bridge started laughing at the last part. The United Dominion wasn’t playing, the Count would like to see people being shot out of cannons.

“Leave now before your fleet will be classified as pirates and hostile forces. If one of your soldiers fires a shot, your fleet will be sunk. We‘ll handle this mayhem.” said the Fleet Admiral, with the sound of laughter in the background.

Already, reports were being send back to the hands of the Count about everything happen within the Commonwealth state. The Kahanistanian, the Doomanis, and the other foreign forces within Zaire.

Mobutu's labored breathing slowly returned to normal, but the glimmer of life in his eyes faded to a far duller hue than ever before. His skin was bone dry, a parchment map of wrinkles, and a sickly shade of gray. He looked almost mummified.

Metzuda, Capital of Havenic Kahanistan

Foreign Minister Rachel Levitt was furious when she turned on her TV set to listen to this Zairian barbarian bragging about encouraging people to butcher Kahanistanian nationals in the way that the Kahanistanians themselves had fallen upon and butchered Amestrians (http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/index.php/2006_Kahanistan_riots) the previous year.

The enraged Foreign Minister grabbed President al-Omari by the throat. The man was nearly a foot taller than her and twice her weight, but in her furious state, she was able to shove him up against a wall.

"Tell me that we can actually gas these animals!" she roared at the President. "They're murdering our people and calling us the imperialists!" To her, that was the greatest insult of all, especially after their involvement with Doomingsland...

---

Titinius... sounds like a Doomani name. Federova shook her head. There were plenty of Kahanistanians with Latin names, and they were certainly not Doomani. She pushed the thought from her head and allowed the ships to drift ever closer to the Zairian shore.

"Do not fire unless fired upon... but if they want war, let it begin here." She picked up the receiver to allow the Dominionites to hear her reply.

"Who nuked Kisangana, then? If it wasn't Mobutu, then it was someone in his government... either way it shows what that regime is capable of. We cannot allow them to remain in power."

Federova sighed grimly. She had no wish to be a martyr, or to sink the Dominion fleet. She simply wanted Mobutu to be removed from office, and it looked more and more like his own health would take care of that for her.

FOB Dagger, 6 KM northeast of Matadi

Maj. Gen. Hayden sat at a folding card table in his makeshift CP located in a Expeditionary Field Shelter (in reality a glorified Conex container) and read over the stack of reports sent in by the shadowy Thorn, who he assumed worked for the NDI (Tolanic CIA) in some capacity, as well the intercepts his EW teams had been able to glean. Someone in the Zairen government, possibly not Mobutu, had ordered the use of nuclear weapons on Kisangani, the guards at the Doomingsland embassy had killed several hundred protestors and dismembered their bodies, and some unknown group of "white devils" was carrying out terrorist attacks on seemingly random groups of civilains. If that wasn't enough Kahanistan and the United Dominion were at each others throats, Montegranden troops had entered the countries' northwestern frontier, and both Mobutu and Gen. Ngbale were curiously absent given the unrest gripping the country.

In light of these developments Hayden had decided to delay his push on Kinshasa for the time being. He planned to keep the bulk of his division deployed near Matadi and Boma, with the exception of 15th Brigade which was deployed in a series of defensive positions from the Angolan border to Kikwit, never coming more than 30 km from Kinshasa itself. He had recalled Dexter's cavalry troops from its position near the city and they were deployed between Kikwit and llebo. Given the shitstorm gripping the capital and the growing Kahanistani-Dominionite stand off, he had half a mind to road march his entire division to Likasi and set up shop somewhere more peaceful.

LAV B24, 2/15th Infantry

For a moment Aki Takamatsu simply stared at the captain, during the few seconds it took for the words to sink in, and for her to register what he had said.

“Nuclear weapons… on their own people?” she whispered, aghast. “Are you sure of this? How do you know?” Leaving aside as best she could the horror of the information, she had to verify its accuracy before she relayed it live, to viewers around the planet. Her cameraman, Frank Bosquet, had his equipment out and ready. Around them, all was quiet.


La Gombe, Kinshasa
Embassy of the PDSR Ariddia

“All right, stay calm,” Ambassador Ekwele told the refugees and medical staff, her own tone and expression setting the example. “And whatever you do, stay indoors. Don’t show yourselves at the window. I’ll go and talk to them. Alone,” she added, glancing at one of the few Ariddian guards on the premises.

She made her way out of the building, towards the front gate.


General Mahele’s camp

Dr. Edouard Castel’s immediate impression of the general was mostly a favourable one, although he naturally remained on his guard. The officer’s handshake appeared genuine, his face and greeting honest. His request, however, was a surprise.

Castel scratched the back of his neck thoughtfully.
“You want to contact my government, General? I’d have thought they’d have been in contact with you already. Well, with your country’s military, I mean. What do you need?” He had a mobile phone with him, but decided not to reveal that fact until he knew what exactly Mahele wanted.

La Gombe, Kinshasa
Embassy of the PDSR Ariddia

Awaiting the ambassador were too SNIP agents, their eyes hidden behind gold-rimmed sunglasses. They wore ruffled camoflauge uniforms, with cartridge belts slung over their shoulders, and muddy black boots. Both carried weapons. When they saw the ambassador, they exchanged a devilish chuckle, before slowly moving forward.

"We hear you have rebels in here," one of them said, in rudimentary but passable French.


General Mahele’s camp

Mahele said brusquely, "Let me come right to the point. I am planning a coup d'etat against the government. Kengo's intransigence, and Mobutu's presence in this country, are only further polarizing the country and contributing further to bloodshed. I wish to remove them both from the picture - bloodlessly, if possible - negotiate a truce with the rebels, stabilize the country, and hold free, fair, internationally-supervised elections. If I fail, not only will I die, but my family..." He cleared his throat. "I would like your country to grant sanctuary to my family in the meantime."

LAV B24, 2/15th Infantry

Winters had expected the question and had come prepared with photocopies of the satellites telemetry, well the unclassified versions at least.
"One of our reconnissance satellites detected a massive thermal bloom at the coordinates of Kisangani, the satellite was redirected to take pictures of the city and this is what it saw." Winters handed her the photos he was carrying. "In addition, our CBRN vehicles have already detected elevated radiation levels in this part of the country, nothing dangerous but enough to set off their Geiger coutners. If you'll come this way ma'am the Colonel would like to issue you and your cameraman some protective gear."

10 KM northeast of Kikwit, Zaire

Captain Dexter stood next to one of his troop's improvised roadblocks and watched as his men searched yet another truck of armed men heading out into town. The men all had the same story, they were armed out of fear for their lives, but Dexter knew most of them were headed to Kinshasa for a fun filled day of burning and pillaging, but without proof he merely let them go. That didn't mean his men were complacent by any means though. The small detachment actually conducting the searchs were overwatched by half a dozen LAVs and several teams of dismounts. In addition there was almost always a few armed helos within a few clicks of checkpoint.

Mama Yemo Hospital

General Dukes looked down and saw that Mobutu was close to death. He almost let out a smile, thinking about this madman dieing like an old man after what he and his regime caused on the people of Zaire. At the time, Mobutu would be gone form this world.

The four Devil’s Guards created a shield around ole man with their shields as they left the hospital. Didn’t want some fool to take the kill too early in the game.

Mobutu was helped into the back of the IFV by the medics in the back. They placed him on bed then placed a IV in his arm. It would hit with pain and other things that the old man to live.

The rest of the Dominion soldiers loaded into their vehicles and the convoy start off to Mobutu’s palace. There should already be team of medic turning Mobutu’s bedroom in a hospital type room.

Step one is underway.

The Waters of Zaire

As the Kahanistanian fleet moved closer to the shore, the three Dominionite fleets moved forwards to stay in range with their guns on the battleships. The ships would fire even if the ships were on the shore. If the order was given to take out the invaders of a Commonwealth state, the United Dominion naval men would follow that order.

“Huh? Did I just hear what I heard? Did you just say that your forces are not peacekeepers and want to Mobutu’s regime out of power? You know what that makes you.” said Fleet Admiral Publius Titinius, pausing to allow his words to sink into the Kahanistanian Commodore’s brain.

“You’re a invader. You’re doing what the Doomani did to your nation. I bet a hundred bucks that your government is doing this to get back the United Dominion for not helping your nation against the Doomani.” said the Fleet Admiral.

“As of now, your forces are classified as hostile invaders. You have two options; leave and live or stay and be killed. Pick wisely.”

As he ended the message, he started talking to the Navy officers within in his fleet. Telling to them prepare to fire on the Kahanistanian fleet and only fire on his order. He even was making calls to the air force, asking for bomber support to attack the Kahanistanians already on the land.

The United Dominion was watching all of the foreign powers in Zaire with her eyes in the sky.

In a far, far away place

The Count was pacing in his office at Castle Von Wolf. The Kahanistanian and Doomani were making it hard to do his plan. He would have to deal with those two before Zaire could be safe and could better itself.

He would start with the Kahanistanian first, by writing a message to a women, which had a week long stay at his castle.

Dear Dr. Delray,

I ask you this nicely before your fleet is attacked. They are not there to be peacekeepers. Don’t try and lie to me. This is my problem and I’ll deal with it. My forces sinking your fleet will only make our two nation move far away again. That would be good for your nation.

Signed,
Count JWolf

After he sends that message, he would have to deal with the Doomani. What they were doing wasn’t a smart thing.

Brother,

Tell me that your forces have done what I got reports on. You do know what Zaire is, right? It’s a Commonwealth state, meaning its soil is Dominion soil. Meaning your forces just caused many acts of war on allied soil. What’s up with you?

As an ally and friend, get your forces out of Zaire as they are only doing harm to a nation on its last leg.

Signed,
Count JWolf

With those two messages were send, the Count started back up pacing again. He would go to war with Kahanistan, but didn’t feel like having to fight against allies in Zaire.

Jon crept along the empty street, devoid of any signs of life. A hot breeze picked up, scattering sand into his eyes. The camera man behind him coughed.

"Quiet! The Doomani embassy is just up ahead!" he hissed. Already, a fetid stench could be smelled, and the sound of flies ever present. They crept along a bit further.

"There, you see! If we just take a quick peek around the corner of that building, we can take a quick take of the embassy," he said, pointing to a building fifty meters away.

"But it's on fire!" responded the camera man, exhausted by having to carry even the light camera equipment.

"What? Oh, the building? Only a little. Trust me, this'll be quick. At least, it will be as quick as you can make it. It's up to you how long we're there."

"Okay, okay....let's hurry up, this place gives me an itchy feeling..."

The two walked silently to the corner, where the camera man quickly unpacked and set up the camera.

"Ready?" he whispered, very much aware of the dangers present.

"Yup. On three. One....two.....three!" he whispered, and turned his head around the corner. What Jon saw changed his life forever, an image that would be burned into his memory, haunting him for the rest of his life. In a second, he was back, face as white as death, eyes unseeing except for the horrors of what he just witnessed.

"What happened?" the camera man asked, scared at the reporter's reaction.

"Oh my god," Jon whispered, barely audible for his heavy breathing.

"What?"

"They....they, god, why did they do that?" Jon said, mostly to himself, in a raised voice.

"Quiet! Tell me, what the fuck happened?"

Jon was silent for a moment, before whispering, "Go see yourself."

The camera man paused, then took a cautious step and took a look. He, too, was back behind the wall, his heart beating heavily. There was silence for a few moments, broken only by the flies.

"We....we have to do this. We have to tell the world what...what happened. Just....take a shot of the bodies and then we can report back here. Personally, I'm not sure if we're allowed to show something like that on the news," Jon said, now having regained a little control of himself.

"But...we'll have to actually go in there. You don't want to be seen in the open street by....by whoever did that, do you?"

"No, but this is our responsibility. Remember, we volunteered."

"Yes. Okay. Get rea-" Suddenly, without warning, shouts filled the air, as several teenagers, armed with glass, stones, sticks, and one even with an AK-47, no doubt stolen, appeared out of an alley behind the two reporters, and upon sight of them, started running towards them, brandishing their weapons.

"RUN! Go, go, go!" Jon yelled at the top of his voice, and he and his camera man openly sprinted into the street filled with the pile of bodies. Somehow, the camera itself had stayed on the camera man's hand, and the record button had been accidentally pushed....

La Gombe, Kinshasa
Embassy of the PDSR Ariddia

"You're misinformed," Ekwele told the two armed agents, calmly. "Do you know where you are?"


General Mahele’s camp

Dr. Castel took in the general's words thoughtfully. He felt somewhat out of his depth. Of course, he had been out of his depth since this entire crisis had begun, but this was different.

When Mahele had begun speaking, the doctor had feared he would ask for military assistance. Which Rêvane would probably not give. Sanctuary for his family, on the other hand...

"I can't speak for my government, of course," he said at last, "but asylum... Yes, that may be possible. I'll call the embassy."

He did so, and, after a fairly long wait, followed by talking to one of the few embassy personnel still on the premises, he turned to the general.

"The ambassador would like to know whether you have any way to get your family out of the country, or to the embassy. She'd also like to talk to you."


LAV B24, 2/15th Infantry

Takamatsu looked over the satellite images, sick with shock, then nodded mutely. She and Bosquet were soon clad in protective gear, in addition to their bullet-proof vest, and were soon able to establish contact with PINA's headquarters in Ariddia. Moments later, the images from Bosquet's camera were being broadcast by PINA all over the world, interrupting PINA's scheduled programme.

Over the satellite pictures, followed by a view of their current surroundings, came Takamatsu's voice.

"The pictures you're seeing show what little is left of Kisangani, a city of Zaïre. The military of Tolvan are virtually certain this is a result of a nuclear strike against the city. Horrific as this may sound, Kisangani has been annihilated by nuclear weaponry. We're told the explosion has created elevated levels of radiation throughout this part of the country, which is why I'm wearing this - even if, at this distance, we're probably not in any danger.

From the satellite images, it appears Kisangani has been entirely destroyed. Whether or not there are any survivors from this horrendous crime, we don't know yet, but the odds are slim. Nor do we know yet exactly what has happened, although Tolvan's military tells us the nuclear strike was apparently ordered by the government of Zaire. President Mobutu's government is generally considered to be collapsing, as the entire country descends into disorder, mass slaughter between rival factions and groups of civilians, looting and destruction.

With me is Captain Waters of the Tolvan military. Captain, can you give us a better idea of what's just happened? The world is going to be in a state of shock. You believe this is Mobutu's doing?"

Tolvani Checkpoint, 10 KM northeast of Kikwit, Zaire

Molique Baregu slowed down as he pulled up to the checkpoint. He was a local Zairian, and less suspicious than the others at that. A lone man in a shitty compact, the back seat stuffed with personal belongings. He had a pistol on his passenger seat, but that was to be expected the way things were going on these days.

Fucking infidels... he thought to himself, smiling as he pulled up to the checkpoint slowly.

He did not look like a Manus Dei fighter, and his car certainly did not look like it had a total over eight hundred pounds of C4 carefully concealed and distributed in key places. He switched on the car radio as he approached the checkpoint, turning down the volume and adjusting it to the correct frequency...

Our Father, Thy Will be done...

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

Doomani Embassy, Kinshasa, Zaire

Discens Caius Lucellus had been sitting on a lawn chair atop the roof of the embassy for the past six hours. As the garrison's sniper, he was almost constantly on watch during the siege and the hours that followed. He'd shot seven people in the past two hours, usually armed invididuals dashing across the street.

He always took head shots. It made such a nice little effect, an 8.8x76mm round impacting the skull of a running human being. The head would damn near be completely blown apart, and the body, like a headless chicken, would go careening forward, tumbling and twitching in a most amusing fashion.

He was puffing a cigar, his DRS-84 sniper rifle's bipod leaning on the low wall he had his feet up on, the butt of the rifle in his lap, while his spotter, Cornicen Quintus Aulus, eight years his senior, intently stared through the high-powered spotting scope. The man was a fucking machine; he seemed to never bore of his mindless job, Lucellus had often remarked.

Well, they'd all been through far worse in their time. Try standing at attention for eighteen hours straight, recieving a vicious flogging if you so much as sneezed. Discipline was a hallmark of these men, and it showed.

"Two, ten o'clock," Aulus broke his silence in a rough voice,

"Got 'em," replied Lucellus casually, spitting out the cigar and bringing the rifle up to his shoulder.

"Hold fire, whites," Aulus, the higher ranking soldier interjected just as Lucellus brought his retical right up to the head of the cameraman, getting a perfect lead on him.

"Fucking idiots," Lucellus replied.

He simply didn't understand why these people had decided to stick around for yet another lovely African civil war. Not the safest course of action. As the two reporters bolted across the open square without being shot at, the rebels chasing them suddenly found themselves out in the open.

"Three, armed, ten o'clock, permission to fire," Aulus said in the same tone, staring at the armed "rebel" through his scope.

"Roger that, Corns," replied Lucellus, refering to Aulus by his rank's appropriate nickname.

Lucellus brought illuminated mildot reticle just in front of the head of the yelling teenager, who seemed oblivious of the carnage beside him, blinding dashing forward and holding his Kalashnikov with just one hand. Lucellus gently squeezed the trigger of his forty-thousand denarii, hand-crafted sniper rifle, and it kicked sharply back against his shoulder, the crack of the shot carrying on for miles.

"Hit," Aulus said a millisecond after Lucellus had pulled the trigger.

As he resighted where he was, he found his target laying a few yards ahead of where he'd fired the round, his upper skull totally blown away, grey matter spilling from the lower part of the skull onto the street. The rifle was a bit further ahead, the boy evidently dropping it after getting hit.

"Nice kill," Aulus complemented the sniper.

Satisfied with that shot, Lucellus grabbed the bolt handle, throwing it up and back with minimal effort, ejecting the large shell, before gently yet swiftly throwing it forward and back down with the flick of the wrist, locking a fresh round into the chamber.

Looking back into the scope, he watched the other two nearly tumble over as they stopped their forward momentum upon seeing their friend shot like that, dashing back towards where they'd come from.

Lining up the one nearest to escaping he took a look at his target as he quickly calculated a lead in his head. He looked impoverished, starving; probably had been living in poverty prior to the shit hitting the fan. He was clutching a large stick tightly, a look of sheer terror on his face.

Again he squeezed the trigger, the rifle sharply recoiling against his shoulder, the loud crack of the shot temporarily deafening most of the men manning the embassy defenses.

"Hit, nice kill, brother," Aulus said once more, "Third heathen got away."

Lucellus nodded, still looking through the scope at the broken body of the person he'd just shot; the round had impacted the cheekbone, totally shattering the shull, causing it to explode like a watermelon. Looking up from the scope and sitting up straight, he threw back the smooth-working bolt once more, ejecting the spent shell and looking into the chamber.

Smoke rose from the chamber and the smell of spent chordite filled his lungs. He loved it.

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

Emperor Maximus III was genuinely perplexed by the Count's message. Although he knew of the assault on the embassy and its successful defense, he was not quite sure what the Count meant. Was he trying to get him to abandon the embassy?

Of course he had no idea of Manus Dei's operation in Zaire; well, he probably had heard about it in some briefing at some point, but hadn't paid much attention. The Count seemed to have mistaken them for Imperial Army troops, if it really was Manus in there. Probably.

At any rate, the continuing violence in Kinshasa was putting the embassy in increasing danger; what would happen when the commies decided to show up with tanks instead of angry mobs? What would happen when peacekeepers branded the brave Imperial Marines, crusaders of the finest order, 'war criminals'?

Maximus knew he had to consolodate his position in Kinshasa. He certainly was not interested in causing JWolf to have a hissy fit, although it seemed a bit too late for that. Somehow it was his fault that JWolf's little Dominion was having internal troubles, and how the Count had come to that conclusion was beyond Caesar.

My God, has the old man gone soft? Maximus thought to himself as he had his slave type out his response,

Encrypted Communique

Brother JWolf,

I'm afraid you've caught me somewhat out of the loop here. The only Imperial soldiers currently in Zaire are the men defending the embassy, and you can't possibly expect me to withdraw them. That is my own personal property, after all. I find your accusations to be both puzzling and insulting and I demand an explanation.

-Caesar Maximus III

Maximus had other things on his mind on the moment. Appeasing JWolf was the least of his concerns at the moment. He needed to consolodate in that sector and ensure there would be no more attacks on his embassy. He immediately began calling up the various options he had.

The Dominion Fleet in the area would hopefully keep the K'stanis from controlling the coast, so bringing in a fleet wouldn't be necessary. He did, however, want more ground troops in that sector. Certain that meddling foreigners would have, by now, heard of the actions of his men, he wanted to ensure they wouldn't be hastled by the infidels.

His Atlantic fleet, Classis Atlantica, was but a few days away, but he did not find in necessary to bring them in in force. Their Marine element, however, may prove invaluable.

After speaking with his generals, he ordered that a small taskforce be dispatched to the Zairian coast. Built around a single Vespa-class helo carrier, escorted by a pair of Acolyte-class missile cruisers, an additional two St. Peter-class destroyers, and a single Apostle-class heavy cruiser, it had a full cohort of Imperial Marines ready to be deployed from ACI-91 Gladiator transport VTOLs along with a wing of Corvus attack helicopters ready for transfer to Kinshasa when the Marines had successfully set up a refueling base capable of maintaining all of them.

The task force, already prebuilt for such operations, was separate from the main combat arm of Classis Atlantia, and less than a day's sailing away from Zaire. The Gladiators could be deployed well before then, if necessary, and so, within about eight hours, the transports would begin lifting off of the decks of the transport for the trip to Kinshasa.

Castle Von Wolf, Romania

The Count was shocked after reading the message from Maximus. If he wasn’t a vampire, then he would have had a heart attack. He had a feeling that both of them were out of the loop. He would have to find out what’s up this this matter. His shadow ops soldiers don’t lie and they even had photographs of those Doomani not in Kinshasa.

Time to figure this out.

Brother Maximus,

I think we are both out of the loop. The Doomani I’m talking about are not at your embassy. I know about them and their action. A little overkill with what happened after the short fight, but it will give the rest a lesson not to mess with you.

Anyways, back to the point. Your Imperial Marines aren’t the only ones in Zaire. A image of a few of these Doomani will be send to you. Their symbol will be, too. I know that symbol, it’s the symbol of the Manus Dei.

I’m sorry for my first message, I’m just a little pissed at hearing of Doomanis killing civilians for no reason. I think those Manus Dei soldiers are arming the rebels, which only makes it hard for my soldiers to do their mission.

Plus, there is that Kahanistanian fleet off the coast of Zaire.

Signed,
Count JWolf

He send the message and picture to Maximus. Maybe he will know the answer from Maximus soon.

Official Announcement from the Free Havenic Republic of Kahanistan
Office of the Vice President

http://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/uploads/kahanistan.jpg

While we certainly want Mobutu to be removed from office, I cannot allow war to break out between our nations.

I will order the fleet commander to stand by and allow Dominion forces to land, but troops on the ground will hold their current positions; they will make no further advances without orders from the President.

In return, I want the Doomani encouraged to leave Zaire except for their embassy personnel; reports of Doomani attacks on civilians have made it here.

Signed,
Margaret Delray,
Vice President of Kahanistan


---

Zairian Fleet

Invaders... yes, I said I wanted him out of power. She also wished she had a few nukes for the Dominion fleet, but they were all on the few ballistic missile submarines that had survived the war; none of them had been brought here. Suddenly, the phone rang in her office, and she picked it up to answer.

"What?" Commodore Federova asked. After a few seconds it dawned on her. She had just received a call from the Vice President, ordering her to allow the Dominion forces to land.

"You want me to let the Dominion land here, and keep Mobutu in power?" True, he was probably dead in a few weeks, but protecting the regime was enough to antagonize the Kahanistanian government.

"Very well... I'll call back the fighters, order the ground troops to hold position."

Wings of F-35 Lightning II's turned around within minutes, heading back for their carrier. The ground forces, mainly heavy infantry with NBC gear, held their current position about ten kilometers inland.

The commander then relayed a reply to the Dominion.

"We are pulling our air cover from Zaire; we will hold position and allow Dominion personnel to enter. If you fire upon us now, we will respond in kind. We have no aspirations of annexation, and never did."

The fighters were withdrawing from Zairian territory; they could allow Dominion passage ashore or defend the fleet against Dominion air attacks should the need arise.

Castle Von Wolf, Romania

The Zaire problem was really getting out of hand. The Count thought his plan would have worked, but with the Kahanistanians and the Doomanis in this matter will only made it harder for his plan to work. Dr. Delray, a woman whom lived a life that she would ever have again, was only making it harder for the Count. By now, the Count would have been dead on the floor for multiple heart attacks, if he was a human.

Anyways, he would have to deal her. And he kicked himself for not killing her and the rest of her people as he wouldn’t have had to deal with them now.

Vice President,

Think about it. The United Dominion fleets aren’t there to land soldiers, that has already been done. Those three fleets are there to keep invaders from getting an easy picking and turning Zaire into their slave state or provinces. Right now, your forces are said they were invaders because they want to remove Mobutu’s regime from power.

As of now, I’m giving you one last time for your people to leave Dominion soil and Dominion waters. If they don’t leave, I’ll order Fleet Admiral Publius Titinius to fire on your fleet. Your fleet is outnumbered by my three fleets. Be happy that I’m giving you a third time for your people to leave unharmed.

I know of your nation’s threat to use NBC type of weapons in Zaire. Your government is turning into the Doomani. Use NBC weapon on Dominion soil and you’ll not have any land to call home. And I will not use NBC weapons, I’ll use something that has the power of one thought.

And trying to figure out the Doomani problem. Even Maximus didn’t know what I was talking about. He thought I was talking about his soldiers at the Doomani embassy.

Choice wisely, Dr. Delray.

Signed,
Count JWolf

Zairian Waters

The Fleet Admiral was pissed as he had to deal with a hard head person. They must not know what leave the area or die means. he said to himself in his mind.

“I said leave. Look at my fleet. Do you see any transport ships? There is no reason for us to land anything. We're here to keep invaders out like you.” said Pulius through the radio. There was a lot of anger in his tone. He was treating the Commodore like a fool. “You’re going to get a lot of people killed today. If you have any NBC weapons aboard your ships or with your soldiers, then don’t use them. It will only be worst for you and your people.”

With three fleets, which easily outnumbered the Kahanistanian fleet, only a fool would stand their ground. It will end bad, if they don’t leave. Operation: African Snake Hunt would still go down, if the Kahanistanian fleet was sunk and the Kahanistanian soldiers would be killed.

Many in Federova's fleet were looking at her like a woman obviously insane. She had at her disposal four surface vessels. Against her were arrayed what Intel estimated at several hundred ships which outclassed them.

"Lower the lifeboats," ordered the Commodore. It was Kahanistanian military custom before battle with a vastly superior enemy for the operational commander to allow any soldier to surrender or otherwise leave the battlefield rather than force them to fight against ridiculous odds, which would demoralize the troops.

"Commodore," said her first officer, Commander Braunberg. "I think it would be easier to simply load those who don't want to fight onto one of the cruisers and send it off... sending them in lifeboats will allow the Dominionites to take them hostage."

"We'll use the troop transport," said Federova. "As soon as the forces on the ground have been notified. I'd rather not strand them here." She signaled the ground forces that a battle might be imminent, and that they should return to the transports if they didn't want to be stranded when supplies were cut off.

Only ten kilometers inland, the first troops could be aboard the transport within minutes; the last would take two hours - an hour and a half under forced march - to return to the troop transports.

At the same time, IAD-12 Lance (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=469451) ASM's, to which Kahanistan had acquired production rights from Imperial Praetonian Shipyards, were being loaded into the Kirovs' and Seawolfs' missile launchers in addition to HARM's, in order to strike hard should the confrontation become a war. Many of the crews of the cruisers were crowding into lifeboats, moving for the troop transport.

"Very well... I'll have the ground troops pulled out, they'll be at the transport in an hour and a half. The troop transport will leave in two hours. Civilians have been directed to seek refuge at the Arridian, Doomani, Dominion, or Shazbot Embassies." If the fleet was destroyed with the ground troops ashore, they would be sitting ducks. However, the Dominion fleet would have to replenish its supplies, while Kahanistan had access to the shore. The Dominion would have to retreat soon, and when they did, the Commodore hoped to have a larger fleet waiting when they got back.

LAV B24, 2-15th Infantry

Captain Winters cringed as he was caught on camera, the brass was going to shit a brick when they saw him giving unauthorised statements on a foreign news station.

"I'm afraid I'm limited in what I can say, but we have confirmed that a nuclear weapon was used on Kinsagi and we believe it to be a Zairen weapon, however we have no information regarding who authorised its release at this time. That's all I'm at liberty to say."

With that he walked back towards the CP, might as well start on the reports explaining his interview now.

Checkpoint 10 KM northeast of Kikwit, Zaire

The checkpoint commander, 1st Lt. Drew Miller, watched as yet another car approached the checkpoint. Maybe this one would actually stop at the line of razor wire he'd spread across the road 200 meters away. Miller may have only been an officer for two years, but he was a graduate of Tolvan's brutal COINOP training and knew better than to allow an unsearched car anywhere near his actual position. If the newly posted signs and razor wire didn't stop the car, then the guns on his LAVs certainly would.

Checkpoint 10 KM northeast of Kikwit, Zaire

Molique stopped at the razor wire, waiting for the Tolvanis to come inspect his car. The C4 had been cleverly stashed near the fuel tank, forcing one to practically have to disassemble the car to get to it. In order to find the rest, one would have to pull all of the bags and loose junk out of the back seat, and THEN know to tear the floor up as well as to cut open the seats.

"Very well... I'll have the ground troops pulled out, they'll be at the transport in an hour and a half. The troop transport will leave in two hours. Civilians have been directed to seek refuge at the Arridian, Doomani, Dominion, or Shazbot Embassies." If the fleet was destroyed with the ground troops ashore, they would be sitting ducks. However, the Dominion fleet would have to replenish its supplies, while Kahanistan had access to the shore. The Dominion would have to retreat soon, and when they did, the Commodore hoped to have a larger fleet waiting when they got back.

“Very well. The United Dominion doesn’t have an embassy within Zaire. I don’t think going to the Doomani embassy would be a good idea, too. I’ll give you a total of four hours to leave the area. If your ships and soldiers are not gone by then, we will fire on those naval vessels. Understand?” asked the Fleet Admiral. Meanwhile, the battleships moved to the front and into the range of their guns. The carriers moved back been the anti-air and missile ships of the fleets. The support and supply ships moved far behind the carriers with the Jolly Rogers as their guards. The two massive subs move to each of the outer edge of the United Dominion fleet.

There were two opens from the Kahanistanian to leave in, one heading to the north and the other heading to the south. The Kahanistanian fleet could go straight as the three fleets were blocking that way.

The bad news is the three fleets would have to retreat to get more supplies as the United Dominion was closer then Kahanistan land in Haven. The supply line for the UDN was shorter then for the Kahanistanian and their new homeland to Zaire.

Meanwhile a total of five Mercy class hospital ships were coming down the waters of North-west Africa. Firing on a hospital ship is considered a war crime and would piss off most of the world as these ships housed civilians, too. Their mission would aid the wound civilians in the nation.

Three hours later, six thousand soldiers and one thousand civilians were loaded onto the troop transport. The ship was sent straight for Kahanistan.

The carrier and three cruisers were heading away; the loss of the carrier would grant the Dominion air supremacy over the whole of Zaire if it were sunk.

Commodore Federova broadcast a statement to all Zairian radio communications systems in the nation, knowing that time was ticking.

"We have failed to anticipate the strength of Dominion forces in this area; we are forced to make a tactical retreat in order to be of use in the future.

The Government of Kahanistan remains eternally committed to freedom for the Zairian people and the removal of Mobutu Sese Seko from power. That has not changed and will not change.

Do not believe the propaganda spread about us; we have no intention of annexing anyone's territory or destroying anyone's nation. As a show of good will, all Zairian refugees will be welcomed in Kahanistan.

I give you, the Zairian people, my word as a Kahanistanian officer. I shall return."

She signed off, ordering the ship to retreat. She would have liked to fight the Dominion and die if necessary, but orders were orders, and the Command had other plans...

---

New Sodom, Kahanistan

Another Union-class carrier was being loaded with planes and fuel bound for Zaire. A battle group was being formed to move troops in as soon as the Dominion showed any sign of moving away.

This battle group consisted of a Union-class carrier, two CVN-21's, three Firestorm III arsenal ships, three Emmanuel Goldstein class heavy battleships, ten Sianach class destroyers, and three Wasp class amphibious assault ships.

The assault ships were to deceive the enemy about plans for a landing near Zaire. It would be several days before the was ready to leave; Kahanistan would not leave Mobutu in power that easily.

Meanwhile, Kahanistanian generals pored over maps of Zaire, looking for AFDL bases and contacting numerous commanders in the AFDL they could find.

(This is an opening for whoever's RP'ing the AFDL to contact Kahanistan with information about their bases.)

DSP Headquarters, Gbadolite, Équateur, Republic of Zaire

"Sir!" cried a young secretary as she burst into Nzimbi Ngbale's lavish office. "Reports are coming in from Kinshasa that Mobutu has been moved from the hospital to one of his palaces."

Ngbale raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"Under the protection of Transylvanian soldiers. DSP guards at the Mama Yemo are not sure of the actual destination, but it is suspected it will be here in Gbadolite."

The general muttered something unclearly under his breath. "I assume we let them go without difficulty."

"Yes, sir," responded the secretary.

"I hope they know who they might be meddling with. Deliver to me the latest reports on our military stores and soldiers, now."

The secretary scurried off with a "yes, sir" an was back shortly.

"Go." dismissed Ngbale.

Three Hours Later…

The shades were drawn, the door shut, and the papers laid out with Ngbale and his Brigadier Generals Gahiji, Dukuzumuremyi, and Runihura poring over them.

CONFIDENTIAL: DSP Report Statistics Abstract

All Men: 20,198 available for active duty

Ground Vehicles:
SG-SPA3V1 Cougar - 75
SG-A6V1 Fox - 75
T-95 Black Eagle - 50
Type 99 - 50
STORMER 30 - 20
M777A1 - 125
Type 88 - 125
M65 Godhammer - 125
M-12 FireStorm - 50
9k58 Smerch - 90
APAV - 45
Stryker - 45
Warrior - 30
BMP-3 - 30
ZSU-23-4 Shilka - 100
ZU-23 - 100
M151 - 250
M813A1 - 100

Air Vehicles
F/A-35 Talon - 5
Mirage 2000C - 12
F-117 Nighthawk - 2
Su-37 Flanker - 6
Su-47 Berkut - 6
Q-5 Fantan - 3
Tornado IDS - 3
EB-180 “Stargazer” - 1
Tiger Anti-Tank - 4
Ka-50 Hokum - 4
AH-1Z Super Cobra - 4
Mi-24 Hind - 7
AS-565 Panther - 10
UH-60 Blackhawk - 5
RAH-66 Comanche - 5
An-72 Coaler - 20

Weaponry and Other
[See Report 189S-18, 191S-11, and 199S-19.]

Ngbale spoke, "Men, I bring you here in what may be our last meeting before our great Purification begins. Those thick-witted Transylvanians have brought Mobutu to one of his palaces here under protection. Although Intelligence reports a large naval stand-off with Kahanistan to the east, attacking the government or Mobutu would result in a Transylvanian war; we shall be wary."

"Sir—," Gahiji attempted.

"Do not interrupt! Save your moronic comments until the end."

Continuing, "Our stockpiles are of superior caliber, but Transylvania has the abundance. I have called our Supplies Director to us, who is loyal to our Purification."

Ngbale flipped a switch on his desk and a short and plump man walked in with a manila folder bursting with papers.

"Sirs," he announced, "it is with great honor that I introduce myself to such prominently brilliant men! Alhaadi Daraja is the name I was given when I was born in Banana nearly… Ah! How time fli—"

"Cease! That is enough. Show us what you have brought or I'll have you sent to the gallows by our friend George," roared Ngbale, indicating a large and powerfully-built guard positioned by the exit.

"Yes, sir! So sorry, sir!" was Daraja's apology. "To business, now. As you can see, from the report I had delievered to our great general, we have quite a wide assortment of base ground and aeronautical vehicles. Even so, that is not all. We have quite a few others gifted to us by our Israeli advisors for testing and training that are fit and able for immediate mobilization. Our advisors have been kind enough to donate numerous other pieces of artillery, rockets, mines, small arms, et cetera to us. Well, maybe not donate… But either way, our Purification is certainly backed with the equipment."

Dropping an assortment of papers on Ngbale's desk, Daraja turned on a dime and rushed out of the room.

An hour later after a debate upon the upcoming possible offensive, the lower generals were dismissed."

Encrypted Communiqué
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/nbulgaria/seal.gif

To: Free Havenic Republic of Kahanistan
From: Office of the General of the Division Spécial Présidentielle

Dear whom it may concern,
A new age, a new era, a new Zaire is upon us. Countless parties are vying for control of this nation's grand potential. But, only a few, no, one, of these many parties is the one that is right. We believe that this party is we, the DSP.

The DSP shares with the Kahanistanians the feelings of hatred towards the evil dictator Mobutu and his tyrannical rule, and so we are benevolently inquiring if the great nation of Kahanistan would wish to become a friend of the DSP. We will fight alongside you as brothers in this alliance to ensure both of our nations', Kahanistan and the new Zaire, a healthy and prosperous future.

Please accept our sincere request for friendship.

Thank you,
General Nzimbi Ngbale

Encrypted Communiqué
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/nbulgaria/seal.gif

To: Free Havenic Republic of Kahanistan
From: Office of the General of the Division Spécial Présidentielle

Dear whom it may concern,
A new age, a new era, a new Zaire is upon us. Countless parties are vying for control of this nation's grand potential. But, only a few, no, one, of these many parties is the one that is right. We believe that this party is we, the DSP.

The DSP shares with the Kahanistanians the feelings of hatred towards the evil dictator Mobutu and his tyrannical rule, and so we are benevolently inquiring if the great nation of Kahanistan would wish to become a friend of the DSP. We will fight alongside you as brothers in this alliance to ensure both of our nations', Kahanistan and the new Zaire, a healthy and prosperous future.

Please accept our sincere request for friendship.

Thank you,
General Nzimbi Ngbale


Official Announcement from the Free Havenic Republic of Kahanistan
Ministry of Foreign Affairs

http://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/uploads/kahanistan.jpg

Encryption Code Zeta-8-Chi-3-Mu
The Government of Kahanistan is most willing to accept this offer of friendship and trust.

We have decided overt military support is not in the interest of our nation's continued survival; we are coming off of a war with Doomingsland and have limited forces.

While Mobutu's illness comes several months late from our standpoint, I can assure you that you will receive all the support Kahanistan can give.

As I write this, our command is trying to determine the appropriate course of military action.

Signed,
Rachel C. Levitt,
Minister of Foreign Affairs


---

Secret IC:

South Freetown, Kahanistan

A V-22 Osprey, painted in jungle colors and radar-absorbent material, and laden with extra fuel tanks, loads a platoon of fifty members of the Special Combat Service.

These men and women are armed with M-29 OICW's, Dragon Skin body armor, steel helmets, and full NBC gear, as well as the odd Starstreak MANPAD or Javelin ATGM.

The small aircraft's destination: Gbadolite, at extreme low altitude to underfly radar. This is going to be a stealthy overland insertion, far from the Dominion fleet.

The SCS are trained to live off the land if they need to; part of their training involves experience as a bush pilot in climates ranging from Canada to the deserts of the Sahara.

Kinshasa, Zaire

Dust was kicked up in the streets as the roaring of jet engines deafened all in the area of the embassy. The first of the Gladiator VTOL transports began to touch down in the plaza stretched out in front of the embassy, the Marines quickly disembarking and setting up a perimeter. Like insects they swarmed from the transports, fanning out into the plaza and entering the surrounding buildings.

It was like clockwork.

Every time one transport would lift off to pick up more troops at the fleet, another would land in place, disgourging even more men, and, occasionally, vehicles.

Air and anti-tank defenses were boosted by the arrival of MD.V-O and MD.V-C CMPLs, anti-tank and air defense variants of the CMPL armored utility vehicle, as well as a number of the general purpose versions, equipped with weapons ranging from 15.7mm machineguns to 40mm grenade machineguns.

It took only an hour for three hundred fresh Imperial Marines to make landfall at Kinshasa, and during that time they'd established a half square kilometer safe zone around the embassy, setting up checkpoints along the roads and begining to clear out the buildings.

Passing through, they didn't encounter many locals: they'd either fled from the increasing violence in the area or had fallen victim to the Manus Dei death squads that were roaming the city unchecked; the few that they did encounter were dragged from their homes and placed outside of the Marines' perimeter. They didn't want to be snuck up on.

It would take another three hours for the rest of the troops, numbering eight-hundred strong, and equipment, including medium-range surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery, as well at a squadron of GRI-37 Corvus attack helicopters and their support crews, who proceeded to set up a forward operating base for them near the embassy.

Even the sewers were searched, and a subterranean perimeter established by the Marines consisting of sandbagged machinegun nests, making a virtually impossible to bypass obstacle for any rebels attempting to infiltrate the Marines' perimeter.

The Imperium Doomanum had stuck her foot in the door.

Zairian Waters

Fleet Admiral Publius Titinius stood on his bridge and watched the Kahanistanian fleet sail away from Zaire. One order and those ships would have been sunk in a heartbeat. The battleships could have done that. The fighters could have mopped up the Kahanistanian fighters as they easily outnumbered and outgunned the Kahanistanians in air power. The United Dominion Navy carriers had F/A 401 Birds of Prey and from the looks of it, the Kahanistanians had F-35 Lightning II fighters, maybe the carrier version.

Anyways, the Fleet Admiral smiled and waved as the Kahanistanian fleet left the area. He smiled as he didn’t have to kill those people. It would have been a real fight. He wanted a real fight.

“Maybe they’ll come back and play some more.” he said out loud before taking the radio. He dialed into a channel direct to the United Dominion Naval Command. “All clear. The Kahanistanian are leave, but I have feeling that they will be back. My men will be ready for that time.” He placed the radio headset back down and watched back to the window.

Mobutu‘s palace, Gbadolite

By this time, the arrive of the convoy to the palace after hours of straight driving. During those hours, Mobutu was taken well care for. Fluids from IVs going into his body. They were keeping him alive as it wouldn’t look good, if he died too soon.

Anyways, the United Dominion soldiers had turned the palace into a military fortress. Their tanks really to attack anything that go near. Snipers in windows and hidden on the roof of the palace, all really to round in the head of some unlucky person trying to kill Mobutu.

There were six thousand Dominion soldiers were guarding this palace, Six thousand soldiers that have seen battle first hand. That have seen death first hand. That have killed men and women as they were ordered to do. They would kill anything that stood in their way to finish their mission.

The hunt was on, Mobutu’s regime would be over at the end.

Mobutu was unload from the IFV and taken to his bedroom. In there, he was taken care of by more medic form the United Dominion Armed Forces. The commanders moved to talk with their officers about seeing if there were area of the palace that need help in. Those areas would be fixed as soon as they were found.

It would be a death wish for anybody to attack this palace. The lands were being watch by every way that anybody could think of. The same for the skies, too.

Castle Von Wolf, Romania

The Count going to make sure that nothing happened to his plan. He didn’t want his operation to fail because of some other nation butting in. After doing some research, he found out what these men of the Manus Dei were. They were a group of terrorists.

So, he would start another operation to hunt this terrorists down and deliver justice to their un-honorable souls. He knew they were Doomani, which means they were some battle-harden soldiers. So, he would have to make sure, his best would go in.

Operation: Darkness would have units from the 1st Blood Wolves and 16th Shadow Foxes. Those soldiers were the best and had been veterans of many of the United Dominion wars like the ones for the Middle East and even the European lands. They were trained to fight in almost any type of place in the whole world. These soldiers knew how to control themselves in the heat of battle. Terrorist hunts were a past time for a lot of those within their ranks.

The Count would ready close to two thousand or higher to be part of Operation: Darkness. They would be ready to move out in the coming hours. After the Manus Dei men were done for, the surviving soldiers would more on to attack the warlord and their armies.

By that time, the United Dominion would have send in more soldiers to try and bring peace in this war-torn country.

Checkpoint 10 KM northeast of Kikwit, Zaire

One of the men lifted a loudspeaker and began speaking in French. "Marcher de votre vhicle et garder vos mains dans la vue." (Step out of your vehicle and keep your hands in sight. OOC: This is an online translation so it may not be completely accurate)

The soldiers on the plane heading for Gbadolite detested Manus Dei even more than they hated Mobutu. They prayed to whatever gods (or devils) they worshipped that the Dominion knew that fact as the Osprey climbed over North Africa in a southerly direction, often less than fifty meters above ground, where Bedouins in the Sahara could see the giant bird flying over their heads, or where tribal African primitives could fire arrows at it.

About a hundred kilometers north of the Zairian border, in some jungle in the middle of the Central African Republic, the V-22 Osprey touched down, its jungle colors allowing it to blend in with the trees. True, it was a bit dodgy to land a plane right in the trees, but they did have rappelling gear in case the plane got stuck. The SCS personnel donned their heavy combat gear, locked and loaded their weapons, and checked their rations in their rucksacks before setting out on foot for the last hundred kilometers. A satchel charge with a thirty-minute timer was left on the plane's fuel tank to blow up any evidence of infiltration, not that there was much in the Osprey to point to Kahanistan's hand in the operation.

The operation commander, Captain Brandon Lewis, hated Catholics with a passion. His mother had been killed in the Pestis Dei bombardment of Najaster, and his father had been captured by the Doomani, he assumed tortured to death. Not only that, but he had been molested as a child by a priest who lived next door. To him, all Catholics were the same; they were fanatical terrorist filth that had to be purged from the civilized world. Zaire could not be civilized until all Catholics were dead.

While his views were considered extreme by most in Kahanistan, Captain Lewis was considered an exemplary officer, and had been sent specifically because there were forces there that he would hate more than the Dominion. The last thing Kahanistan needed was another war this soon; there would be nothing left then, and it remained to be seen how reconciliation with Whyatica would go.

Right now, however, they were intent on linking with the DSP, not killing Mobutu himself. As sick as he was it didn't matter whether he was killed or not. He would have his work cut out for him retaking power even if he awoke today.

{OOC: There have been concerns from some (I won't name names) that the troop limits have been exceeded by certain players. Please limit yourselves to the numbers designated in the OOC thread, and just so we're clear again, Mobutu loses this war. If anyone has any questions, my IM buttons are listed below my display name, or you can TG me. Thanks.}


IC:


La Gombe, Kinshasa
Embassy of the PDSR Ariddia

"Are we misinformed? Well, if that's the case, prove that this is so. Please, let us in. We heard from sources - credible ones - that you are hiding spies here. If what you say is true, we will leave with our fullest apologies. But first...let us in."


General Mahele’s camp

"Yes, I will gladly speak to her," Mahele said.

LAV B24, 2-15th Infantry

"Well, that's the official position of the Tolvan military," Takamatsu concluded, facing Bosquet's camera. "We'll bring you new information on what exactly has happened in Kinsagi as soon as we have it. I can't tell you exactly where we are, for security reasons, for the safety of Tolvan's military personnel. But we're currently at a standstill, as you can see.

What I can confirm is that the city of Kinsagi has apparently been destroyed by nuclear weaponry, reportedly a Zairian weapon. Whether or not anyone has survived this horrendous mass murder is still unknown.

I'm Aki Takamatsu, reporting live from Zaïre. Back to you, Rêvane."

The camera went off. Takamatsu closed her eyes, breathing in deeply through her protective radiation suit.

"I think I'm going to be sick..." she whispered, as the reality of the situation finally sank in.


La Gombe, Kinshasa
Embassy of the PDSR Ariddia

Ekwele stood her ground.
"I ask you again, do you know where you are? You have no jurisdiction here. I'm sorry, but I can't allow you in without explicit written authorisation from my government. You can rest assured, though, that Ariddia remains a neutral party in your conflict."


General Mahele’s camp

Having been handed the telephone, Ekwele said,

"General? Doctor Castel tells me you have a request. There's something I need to ask you, too, now that I've finally got through to someone in the Zairian military. But you first."

Official Announcement from the Free Havenic Republic of Kahanistan
Ministry of Foreign Affairs

http://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/uploads/kahanistan.jpg

Encryption Code Zeta-8-Chi-3-Mu
The Government of Kahanistan is most willing to accept this offer of friendship and trust.

We have decided overt military support is not in the interest of our nation's continued survival; we are coming off of a war with Doomingsland and have limited forces.

While Mobutu's illness comes several months late from our standpoint, I can assure you that you will receive all the support Kahanistan can give.

As I write this, our command is trying to determine the appropriate course of military action.
Encrypted Communiqué
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l191/nbulgaria/seal.gif

To: Free Havenic Republic of Kahanistan
From: Office of the General of the Division Spécial Présidentielle

The Division Spécial Présidentielle expresses its deepest gratitude to the Kahanistanians' acceptance of our offer of friendship. It is my sincere hope that this alliance will bring positive affect to our nations.

To build our alliance's strength, I am hereby inviting one of your command or the heads of your operation here in Zaire to our headquarters to converse on our joint operations and the like.

Regards,
General Nzimbi Ngbale

As the Kahanistanian fleet returned to Haven, Commodore Alexandra Federova was given a copy of the DSP letter.

She had told the Zairians she would return, and she had no intention of running out now. True, she was a bit concerned about how the DSP would treat a woman in the military; this was Africa, after all. Women's rights probably weren't exactly high on their list.

The intelligence general who handed her the letter also advised her of the special forces moving on Gbadolite, who probably were by now meeting with the DSP as they spoke.

The next day, she would board a commercial airline for Gbadolite, dressed as a civilian, with her uniform and other military gear being sent by air mail. Lord only knew when it would arrive in the deepest corners of the Third World African hell hole. She had been invited to speak with these people, and wasn't going to risk military transport to get there, especially when it seemed to be a mostly diplomatic meeting.

DSP Headquarters, Gbadolite, Équateur, Republic of Zaire

General Nzimbi Ngbale wanted to make a good impression upon the guests. Ngbale had ordered the DSP to secure the area surrounding the headquarters from other forces, most notably the Transylvanians. Although the DSP had not officialy stated its rebellion, finding the Kahastanians conversing with members of the DSP, even more so high ranking officials would give away the DSP's plans, which Nzimbi wasn't ready for, yet.

As a symbol of strength, Ngbale had planned for a score of selected DSP soldiers to await the Kahastanians in the lobby. The exterior would be unhinting on the conversations transpiring inside. Ngbale, himself, would greet the visitors along with others of the top command.

Ngbale wouldn't let this exceptional opportunity to arrange victory to pass by without positive results.

Checkpoint 10 KM northeast of Kikwit, Zaire

Everything was in place. Before stepping out of the car, Molique pressed a few buttons on his cell phone, placing it in his pocket. He stepped out, his hands in the air. Feigning a look of terror at the Tolvani soldiers, he stammered in broken English,

"What you happening?!"

The improvised explosive devices tucked under the soles of his shoes and carefully hidden under his shirt so that they would not bulge out were ready to go...

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

Maximus read over the Count's response. He wasn't terribly surprised at Manus Dei's involvement in this. He'd heard a bit about their operations in Barundi and Rwanda, and this was probably an extension to keep the foreigners occupied elsewhere. Manus Dei's goals in Zaire were indeed honorable: the erradication of all nonbelievers.

Because of this, Caesar could not, in good concience, oppose them.

Encrypted Communique

Brother JWolf,

Yes, it appears that Manus Dei indeed is operating in Zaire, and I understand that this may be a regrettable turn of events from your point of view. Unfortunately for you, I have no authority over Manus Dei, and cannot force them to withdraw from Zaire.

Maximus sighed as the communique was sent. He'd have to make a statement to the Senatus regarding this...in the event they had any investments in Zaire, of course. It wasn't his fault if over half the Senati were active contributors to Manus Dei and would most likely inform them of a possible Dominion backlash at their operations...

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

Somwhere in Zaire

Herminius stroked his beard as he read over the reports. His troops were making plenty of headway in terms of exterminating heathen presence in Zaire. The foreigners that had arrived were nothing short of spineless, it seemed; they had not opposed his men or militias anywhere in this third world cesspool.

All the better for him.

The reports he read over were detailed, listing the names, ages, religions, hair color, eye color, height, body type, education, everything about the victims. It was all being ruthlessly recorded and categorized by Manus Dei with brutal effeciency. They were masters in the art of ethnic cleansing, and it showed in Zaire.

They'd killed over two million people in the past weeks alone, and it had gone unnoticed by the prying eyes of foreign infidels.

Although if what Senator Vorenus said in his message was true, chances were they'd be dealing with foreigners very soon. He'd made sure to tip off his men, who'd made sure to let the warlords know. Chances were, this was going to get alot more bloody.

Castle Von Wolf, Romania

The Count smiled after reading Maximus’ message. He could take them out and maybe Maximus will understand. Manus Dei's goals in Zaire were a problem for the United Dominion and the people of Zaire. The Count didn’t see any honor in their mindless killings of nonbelievers. Just because person doesn’t believe in your God, doesn’t mean you need o kill them. There are other ways to make them to believe.

“It’s hard to be allied with people like that, but Helldawg was a good friend and ally.” said the ?Count out loud, before taking a drink from a black goblet.

He sat down in his leather chair and started encrypted message back to the Doomani.

Thank you. As I don’t see these Manus Dei as honorable Doomanis, I have started a new operation within Zaire to take them out. Yes, I know whom these Manus Dei are. I know of the training your soldiers go through. If my soldiers catch any alive, they will be trailed for their crimes against humanity.

May God have mercy on their souls.

Anyways, I’ll thinking about aiding in the defend of the embassies in Zaire as your forces are doing right now.

Signed,
Count JWolf

He send off the message and started to make sure both of his operation were doing well. Darkness would get some aid in the attacks on the Manus Dei via deaths from above.

Within a few of the air bases located in Europe and the Middle East, bombers were being fueled and armed to attack locations of the Manus Dei’s bases in Zaire. Thee location were logged by the best shadow ops soldiers of the UDArF, the 16th Shadow Foxes. It was unknown if the bases still had the terrorist in them, but it would still deliver a huge blow to their operations.

The bombers, which were a mix of B-73 Ravager stealth bombers and B-77 Renegade stealth bombers, were being loaded with bunker busters type bombs to fuel-air bombs.

The bombers soon entered the air under the cover of darkness of the night. Their crews would go in and get their job done. They will only had their stealth to keep them safe as there wasn’t any fighter support in this mission.

As the last one entered the air, there was total of sixty bombers from the UDAF in the air, heading towards Zaire.

Zaire

Those shadow ops soldiers, the members of the 16th Shadow Foxes, had a few mission for themselves then finding terrorist base. A number of them were part of Operation: African Snake Hunt, which was the mission to take out all of the current regime in Zaire. Meaning anybody p-art of the Zairian government was being watched by this foxes of the shadows.

Some of the targets could see their killers like the Prime Minister as there was two Shadow Foxes in his cooking staff.

General Nzimbi Ngbale’s case was special as he was in military like base of the DSF and hard to keep even shadow ops soldiers near him at all times. The reason of him being of the list because he was linked to Mobutu via his blood. The General himself had a twelve man unit watching in different areas of DSP’s locked down of the surrounding area of the headquarters.

These soldiers were hidden, some in run down buildings, and armed with Doomani made weapons as those weapons were easy to come by in Zaire. Thank God for those Doomani and their greedy ways.

When the orders was given, their targets would all end up being killed. If Nzimbi didn‘t leave the headquarters, the DSP headquarters would be bombed into the ground.

The skies

Several hours after their launch, the bombers were entering Zairian airspace and moving to the skies above their targets. The crews prayed that their stealth would keep them hidden and these Elite Arms made bombers would good at that. The crews prepared their deadly payload to be dropped.

Then it happened, the bunker busters fell towards their target and the fuel-air bombs fell a few second later. One by one the bombers dropped their payload unto the locations of the terrorist bases. The pattern of the fuel-air bombers would be nice to look at from a satellite. It would create a Star of David type of shape.

By now, the bombers would be known and trying to escape the area as fast as they could. They hoped that their speed could get them out fast.

They heard the shots. They heard the scream, quick and bloodcurdling, and then a deathly silence. They heard the lifeless bodies fall to the ground, one after another. And still they ran, camera and all, by the embassy, as fast as their legs coud carry them. Without warning, a part of a burning building collapsed just feet in front of them, causing them to stop in their tracks.

"Ahh! No, no....don't stop, keep go...ing," rasped an exhausted Jon, collapsing on the dirt road.

"You know.....I think, that if they wanted to, they could have shot us already," responded his camera man, who too, collapsed with Jon.

"Well...if they don't kill us within the next minute, I think we're okay.....for now," Jon said, and promplty rested his head on the road.

A minute later, they were still alive.

"Damn. We're still alive. I guess they like whites or something," said the camera man.

"Yeah....maybe we should check them out, get their side of the story."

"Are you kidding? And have them blow our heads open the moment we take a step towards their embassy? Just because they let us live once, doesn't mean they'll let us live again. I think you've forgot-"

"I don't need reminding. But there must have been a reason for what they did. Why don't we try and signal to them? I know-" Jon said, and before his camera man could stop him, he jumped up, put his hands in the air, and tentaviley, step after step, approached the embassy doors, waving his hands from side to side.

Zaire

Unfortunately for the Transylvanian Air Force, Manus Dei, tipped off ahead of time by sympathizers in the Imperial Government of a possible strike by elements ranging from enemy special forces and aircraft, was able to break down their temporary bases, leaving only hollow shells of bases manned by local militia units, poorly-trained, expendable Zairians.

Manus Dei's structure in Zaire was highly decentralized; there was no single command center you could bomb that would cut the head off of the snake, nor were there just a few dozen bases full of terrorists that required destruction. They were hidden and mobile, concealed amongst the local population and small, covert camps in the wilderness, all well-protected and hidden from the prying eyes of sattelites and special forces.

This was, after all, a terrorist organization, not a conventional army. They knew how to melt away into their environment, and that was precisely what they did when tipped off.

Some watched from nearby hills as the locations of their bases were lit up in the night sky, consumed in massive fireballs as the fuel air explosives engulfed them, incinerating the poor militiamen left to man them, giving the illusion that the Dominionites had actualy managed to take out a good portion of Manus Dei's strength in Zaire. Also hit were the bases of the warlords on the payrole of Manus Dei; in those cases, they weren't as forewarned, and as a result suffered greatly.

In reality, although the bases were all totally destroyed (the ones the Transylvanians were able to find, anyway), the damage to Manus Dei was miniscule at best. They would have to physically find and kill every individual Manus Dei Miles; airstrikes weren't going to cut it in this case.

With the bases destroyed, Manus Dei simply set up in different locations: amongst the local civilian populations, hidden in the wilderness, in raiding range of nearby villages. In all cases they were expertly concealed, forcing special forces units to have to get dangerously close to even confirm the location of a base.

Doomani Embassy, Kinshasa

Miraculously, the guards held their fire as the approaching reporter and cameraman flailed their arms about in a manner the Marines found most humourous and walked towards the gates of the embassy. The gates remained sealed, yet the machineguns mounted along the steep walls remained pointed out into the distance, above their heads, the soldiers patrolling along top casually walking about with their rifles pointed skyward, commenting to one another on the curious foreigners.

Upon reaching the gates, the foreigners were greeted by Tribune Classicus, commander of the embassy garrison, who stood on the roof of the gate bunker, looking down at them.

"Yes?" he said in accented English.

Gbadolite

The special forces had crossed into Zaire undetected, hoping that those bombs hadn't hit the city too badly. They needed to find some DSP or AFDL people to work with and train to protect themselves from Manus Dei. First, of course, they had to stay alive themselves, and avoid the terrorists until they could locate possible allies...

After walking a hundred kilometers through harsh jungles and eating snakes, these soldiers would likely have accustomed somewhat to the climate in Africa.

Meanwhile, at the DSP headquarters, a lone white woman walked down the street heading for the HQ. She was tall, about 5'7" and around 40 years old. The woman was dressed in a traditional Western woman's business suit; she looked like a politician or an executive.

(OOC: Trans, I haven't had the DSP declare revolution yet, so they should still be considered loyal to Mobutu. Attacking the HQ would be considered going against Mobutu.)

DSP Headquarters, Gbadolite, Équateur, Republic of Zaire

As the woman walked up the steps to the headquarters, the four armed guards allowed her to pass without hesitation to the entrance. The guards had been instructed to let the Kahanistanian through without questioning.

Otherwise, security was stricter than normal, not noticeably, although. Security cameras monitored seemingly every corner, alleyway, and structure within a two kilometer radius from the headquarters. Guards scouted through the streets searching for something or someone that was disallowed to be in the designated zone. The DSP's notices of the curfew stated simply that it was for elevated security reasons due to the treasonous violence abroad, and to "protect you, the people."

Inside the complex stood the twenty chosen DSP soldiers. Dressed in ceremonial garb, they stood in precise lines with their rifle resting on their left shoulder and their right hand forming into a salute. In the front stood the General with his top officers.

"Madame, it is with great honor that I humbly welcome you to Gbadolite and the DSP," spoke Ngbale, extending his hand.

The Kahanistanian politician smiled and took General Ngbale's hand. "I am Commodore Alexandra Federova, the commander of the fleet that was at your shores a few days ago." She had said in her radio transmission that she would return, and she had, like General MacArthur of WWII fame, returned to free the oppressed people.

"Now, there should be some of our special forces in the area, they were assigned to go to Gbadolite. They may have had trouble getting into the city, but there would be fifty of them if they managed not to take any casualties," she began in what sounded like Israeli-accented English. "Once we locate them, we can plan a joint operation between the Special Combat Service and the DSP. I speak French and Latin, so I'll understand anything that your soldiers or any Doomani personnel we encounter say."

(OOC: Trans, I haven't had the DSP declare revolution yet, so they should still be considered loyal to Mobutu. Attacking the HQ would be considered going against Mobutu.)

OOC: Check your telegrams.

Embassy Zone, Kinshasa

A long green five ton truck pulled up to the Doomani roadblock to the embassy area, the back was covered with tan trap. Two men sat in the front, both which could have been called a Zairian from their looks. But they were not Zairians, they were shadow ops soldiers of the United Dominion.

Before the vehicle stopped all of the way, a lone man dressed in civilian clothes hopped out of the back. Now, this man wasn’t a Zairian. He had short blonde hair and blue eyes. This man was tall and could be seen as Doomani. He even wore a cross around his neck on a gold chain. There was dirt on his face, hair and clothes, there was even blood on his forehead.

“I’m Major Quintis Justis, a Dominion officer asking to meet with your commander. Me and my unit had been in a few fire fights on the other end of the city. We would like to join in the embassy defense as ordered to do." he said, standing in front of the truck.

Airfield, Kinshasa

At the same rundown airfield, more Dominion soldiers would be landing via their transport planes. This time, the airfield was be used as their base of operations for Darkness. The Blood Wolves would make sure that the airfield was defended until orders to move were have been given.

Zaire

All over Zaire, messages were being posted on almost every street in the whole nation by what looked like locals. These messages were more like wanted posters for members of the Manus Dei. The posters had in red lettering ‘WANTED’ at the top with the Manus Dei’s symbol in middles and list of crimes under it. The crimes were listed; for the murder, rape and torture of innocent civilians because they weren’t Christians..

Under the crimes was the bounty list.

50,000 for the location of a Manus Dei cell
500,000 for an alive Manus Dei terrorists

Maybe that would deliver a blow to those heartless killers before Darkness had official began. In a three world nation like Zaire, the greed will always take over

OOC: Check your telegrams.

{OOC: I did. I have none.}

(OOC: Trans, I haven't had the DSP declare revolution yet, so they should still be considered loyal to Mobutu. Attacking the HQ would be considered going against Mobutu.)
OOC: Check your telegrams.

{OOC: I did. I have none.}

OOC:
He ment Ubundi...

Checkpoint 10 KM northeast of Kikwit, Zaire

Lt. Miller couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite right about this guy. The road they were on was little more than a gravel path and every vehicle they had stopped so far had been a truck or jeep, this was the first car they'd seen since they left the Kinshasa suburbs. Also the area arounf Kinshasa, including Kikwit, was becoming increasingly unstable. What business did a lone man, without any obvious heavy weapons, and driving a car completely unsuited for the terrain around here have for entering the city when most everyone else was fleeing.

Miller turned to the solider holding the loudspeaker.

"Ask him what business he has in this area."

The soldier began speaking. "Quel est vos affaires le long de cette route?"

Kinshasa, Zaire

The man walked around the back of the building he'd chosen a couple days ago for this job. The simple padlock was defeated within seconds and he headed up the stairs. The man went by Jacob now, but that wasn't his birth name, he hadn't gone by that name in years. He'd been born in Senegal but had no particular allegiance to it and hadn't been back in quite awhile. Once uopn a time he'd been a soldier in the Senegalese Army, after displayed particular skill in a skirmish with Marxist rebels the French officers "advising" his unit had arranged for his training and employment as a "operative" of the DGSE. He'd enjoyed his work, he was paid well and he was good at killing. It wasn't that he enjoyed it, in fact he felt nothing when called upon to do it. A psychiatrist would call him a sociopath, but he called himself a professional. In his pocket was a list of people his employer would like dead, and he planned to make them that way.

He reached the room he'd picked on top floor and found the package he'd had hidden a couple days ago. He attached the 5x night sight to the FN FAL rifle and took up a firing position at a hole in the stone wall and waited.

The man he wanted lived across the street and had been seen in the company of Doomanis. Shortly thereafter a group of white men, most likely Manus Dei operatives, had begun killing various people in the area. Now Jacob would kill this man and then move on to the next part of his contract.

Zaire

The eyes and ears of Manus Dei were everywhere. Those unfortunate individuals putting up the wanted posters for the Transylvanians did not go unopposed by any stretch of the imagination; with the amount of cells and informants throughout the city, and the knowledge that the capture of one of the infidels would be rewarded far better then what the heathens were offering, town militias, under the pay of Manus Dei, as well as Manus Dei's own cells, commenced a campaign of kidnapping and murder.

As individuals tacked the signs up on the streets, unmarked vans or even technicals would pull up beside them, and out would pour half a dozen masked, armed militiamen, who would then beat down and sieze the individual and drag them into the van, which would then speed off.

Opposing Manus Dei in Zaire was rather suicidal unless you had a strong army backing you; your disappearence was more than likely if you went out in public to preach anti-Manus Dei rhetoric.

In the Churches all over the country, Manus Dei preachers renewed their campaign, telling the citizens that evil Satanists were putting up posters in preparation for the enslavement of all of the Christians.

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

Checkpoint 10 KM northeast of Kikwit, Zaire

"Family! Family!" the man yelled frantically, flailing his arms around.

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

Embassy Zone, Kinshasa

A Marine centurion greeted the major with a salute,

"Of course sir, I'll have Tribune Classicus on the line in a moment," he turned to one of the CMPLs and yelled something in Latin to the men inside.

Producing a hand-held radio from his vest, he handed it to Major Justis.

"There you are, sir."

Metzuda, Capital of Kahanistan

Kahanistan Military Intelligence

General Tiberius Devidius, director of Kahanistan Military Intelligence, read a file passed to him by an aide detailing Manus Dei activity in Zaire.

"Rewards offered for capture of terrorists... disappearances of numerous mullahs, imams, animist preachers, and Christian moderates... " This wasn't good. Kahanistan wasn't sinking billions of precious shekels into Zaire and overthrowing Mobutu to have it align with the god-damned Doomies.

"All right... we'll have to see if Samizdat Corporation's got that jamproof radio system they were trying to get, we might have to contract it."

"Contract it for what?" asked the aide who had passed him the file.

"We'll have them broadcast anti-Manus Dei messages from the radio. We can't let the Zairians be brainwashed like that, they'll let the Doomani annex them without a fight. The last thing we need is them getting more territory."

He made a call to the Corporation. When he got the CEO, he introduced himself.

"This is General Tiberius Devidius, director of Kahanistan Military Intelligence. I was calling to ask if you had developed the jamproof radio that we were discussing last week. How does it go?"

"We had the radio satellite completed three weeks ago, we're just looking for sites in various nations throughout the world to launch them, so we can broadcast to the Negev without interference. We can have one up over Metzuda in an hour, I'll have some politicians ready to talk on the radio, or call in, or whatever."

"Thank you very much," said the general.

Meanwhile, the corporate personnel were busy contacting various Kahanistanian, Arridian, Shazbot, and other politicians, inviting them to call in and speak on the radio against Manus Dei.

---

Gbadolite

The special forces who had been slogging through over 100 kilometers of jungle approached a small city. Captain Lewis looked over a map, to assure himself it was Gbadolite. The last thing he needed was to run into a terrorist cell or Mobutist troops before he got there...

Whatever... at least we can find something besides raw snake meat to eat... He nervously gripped his silenced pistol, which he had used to kill snakes without calling attention to enemy patrols, in one hand; his OICW was strapped to his back and he wasn't exactly looking for a fight.

OOC:
He ment Ubundi...

{OOC: Oops. :headbang:}

Doomingsland's "hearts and mind" campaign - however brutal its conduct - was rapidly winning legions of die-hard, loyal adherents. A combination of savage repression and manipulative rhetoric swayed many Zairians, both urban and rural, into the Manus Dei camp. The intoxicating fervor with which many embraced their new faith shocked even the Doomanis. New converts to the cause zealously rounded up "heretics" by the hundreds, without complaint or hesitation, and subjected them to unspeakable torture and death, all with the less-than-tacit approval of their Doomani overseers. A virulent pro-Doomani sentiment gripped many, while the anti-Doomani camp rapidly dwindled (as the death toll of the latter camp skyrocketed). All in all, one could say the Doomanis were having a smashing success - the nearly universal presence of mutilated corpses of heretics attested to that.

Zaire

The locals tacking up the posters were paid locals, some even had a four man team watching them armed with Doomani made weapons. So, there were many locals being taken by the heartless terrorists or their lackeys, but there were the special cases.

At those special cases, the individual would tack up his poster as the van pulled up. As soon as the armed men exited the van, the four men unit would attack with their sniper rifles. A few aimed for the heads and the rest aimed for places to only harm the men and not kill them.

Those wound would be taken to get info out of as the locals ran for their life.

The war of terror was underway.

Embassy Zone, Kinshasa

The Major took the radio and said “Thank you, soldier.” He placed the radio to his ear. “Tribune Classicus, I’m Quintis Justis, sir. My six man unit was ordered to join your forces. We could add to your strength, sir.” said the Major, he waited to heard what the Tribune said.

Zaire

The start of anti-Manus Dei messages had began by Christians from the United Dominion like Father Cain Marko and Father Fredrick J. Dukes on Zairian radio channels. In these messages were sayings like this ‘The Manus Dei aren’t soldier of our Lord.’, statements like this ’They are the soldiers of Satan and nothing else.’, some like this ’Don’t believe the lies of these people, God doesn’t want you to kill non-Christians.’ and this one ‘These Manus Dei terrorists will not be welcome at the Gates of Heaven, they will be welcomed in the fires of Hell.’

The Zairian would see through the lies of the Manus Dei. Or that what was hoped for.

Kinshasa

University of Kinshasa, the location of where over two hundred soldiers were heading into the capital. They flew the United Dominion flag and rode in black vehicles with both the Dominion flag and the symbol of the 1st Blood Wolves (http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y101/CountJWolf/1st.jpg). There were a number of M-413 Diablo main battle tanks and M-418 Brutus light tanks in this convoy along with M-411 Terrier infantry fighting vehicles and five ton trucks with trailers.

Arriving at the University, the soldiers would prepare a stage at the front steps of the main building. Soldiers manned the weapons of the tanks and other vehicles as others had their DR-83 tactical rifles at the ready. These soldiers weren’t in their normal colors of Transylvanian body armor, which was Brick Red and Black, but only in all black sets of TBA.

Large speakers were placed on each side of the stage as the soldiers created a defensive grid around the main building. Sniper units moved top of the main building and surrounding buildings. To oppose the Manus Dei in Zaire you need strong army backing you and these soldiers were that army.

By now, there would be people seeing and hearing what was going that at the University. The large speakers were airing the messages from Father Cain Marko and Father Fredrick J. Dukes. And add in that a real Christian would peach at this stage about the Satanist hordes of the Manus Dei.

When the civilians showed up, they would be searched by the soldiers at the roadblocks and other enters blocked by the Blood Wolves. There were even dogs there to search for bombs. To make sure that no terrorist tried and attacked form a far on the stage, the skies were patrolled by UAVs armed with missiles to take out IED and sometime human beings. And to add in that it would be hard for them to set up anything as the area around the stage didn’t have that much hiding places.

DSP Headquarters, Gbadolite, Équateur, Republic of Zaire

"Excellent, excellent!" the General responded. "Come. Let us converse elsewhere away from the possibility of eavesdroppers."

With that, Ngbale led the Commodore down a spiraling staircase to an extravagantly decorated floor. Located underneath the lobby, most meetings or conferences with foreign officials were held here, due to the great level of security and safety from outside threats. There were no windows, although numerous famed paintings lined the walls, and the party passed at least eight security guards.

Entering a moderately sized room, Ngbale began the conversation again. "Now we may speak. I believe that your forces located nearby will be of great help. It is my advice that you keep them outside of Gbadolite, as the Transylvanians have constituted a large presence in this city. Do you have any secure method of communication with the troops? If not, I can arrange for a small party of DSP soldiers to locate them and alert them of our soon to be decided plans."

Doomani Embassy, Kinshasa
Jon looked nervously back at his camera man before responding.

"Can....can we interview the leader of the forces at this embassy?" he asked, and coughed. "I..I know that it sounds rather silly, but we are willing to spread your side of the story to people worldwide....maybe the world will understand when briefed on...on what you've had to go through?"

He waited for his reply, feeling like a fool. He should have thought of what he was going to say earlier, now he looked like an idiot. He could see the man's level eyes, and recognized military awards on his chest. I'm probably speaking to the leader already. Damnit, think Jon, think! Why can't you use your brain when you most need it! A bead of sweat trickled down his face...

"We should try to find them and warn them, they'll probably end up trying to get into the city and starting a ruckus with the Dominion we don't need," said Federova.

"They would have touched down about a hundred kilometers north of here, but they may have already made it into the city, in which case we'll have to find them before the Dominion does. We absolutely cannot risk war with these people. Then again, the Special Combat Service is not stupid, and would avoid Dominion personnel like the plague while seeking out DSP, and they would likely be observing radio silence to avoid tipping off the Dominion."

Whyatican Arabia, XII Arabian Corps HQ
"Men." General Ibrahim Ferrer said over the loudspeakers, causing every soldier in the base to move to attention. "Prepare, for we move out tonight. All general officers to the planning room." he said, and the loudspeaker cut out, causing a frenzy of speculation and the like as the general officers pushed through to General Ferrer's planning room. When finally the last senior officer, a Lt. General in command of the 3rd Arabian Guard division, entered the room, Ferrer sealed it and said, "We invade Angola."

There was no response. Angola, a country in Africa near Zaire, had done nothing on the international stage, had done little to provoke anyone of anything, beyond from existing and having a weak military.

"There is a civil war going on in the neighboring state of Zaire. Zaire is mostly landlocked, there is a small shore and I would not want to be the Admiral in charge of landing there. But I digress. The Emperor has given us an edict to capture Angola in his name, and from there, we deploy peacekeepers into Zaire. The Transylvanians and Manus Dei have set up shop there, two forces which he would very much like removed from the continent. A naval force to get us there is already in port. Once we land on the shores of Angola, 1st Armoured will drive through Luanda, while the Arabian Guard divisions encircle the major cities along the route to their capital and destroy all opposition. We have a fleet carrier group providing air and artillery cover."

He paused, and the approval of his lower officers began to rise in their emotions.

"Angola has approximately 10,000 combat soldiers. 400 tanks. Less than ten thousand planes, very few of which work. Seven naval ships. This will be a massacre if I have ever seen one, and we gain the massive oil and diamond supplies." the General said, his slight accent showing. Ferrer's parents were from a country yet unknown to most of his fellow soldiers, and he had immigrated to Venture Island as a small boy, enlisting in the Imperial Army for a job. He rose through the ranks rapidly, gaining his officer's commission and going through the ROTC.

"Gentlemen. Status on your divisions."

"1st Arabian Guard is mostly ready to go, full manpower and our equipment is in ready working order. We just need to wake up the rest of the men and get on the boats."

"3rd Guard will require about 14 hours."

"9th Guard needs to get some new equipment from Riyadh, but it isn't necessary for this mission."

"201st Guard is all ready to move."

"1st Armoured'll need about 18 hours to get on the boats."

Ferrer contemplated these responses, and said, "You have 18 hours to get your men on the transports and ready to go. We leave in 24."

His men nodded, saluted, and left the room, ready to push their soldiers to get the hell on the boats..

1st Expeditionary Fleet, Whyatican Arabia
"Sir." a young officer said to General Ferrer, saluting.

"What is it?" Ferrer said, looking down at the shorter officer. Ferrer stood approximately 193cm tall, giving his intimidation aspect a nice bonus.

"The corps is finished loading on the boats - we're ready to go, and the Admiral is just waiting for you board."

"Alright. I will be on the boat in twenty minutes. Dismissed." Ferrer commanded, and the officer saluted and got back to the boats. 193 combat vessels were arranged, escorting the supply and assault carrier ships carrying the fleet to the shores of Angola. The fleet was scheduled to leave in two hours, and the journey to Angola would take another 24. Angola alone would make a nice prize for the Empire - but the growing influence of Manus Dei, and in parts, the Transylvania, had to be halted in central Africa. Manus Dei had been outlawed in all territories of the Empire as a terrorist group, which forced the Arabian Guard to shut down the Whyatican Arabia/Doomanum border in it's entirety, allowing nobody to go through the land border be they Doomani or otherwise.

The Transylvanians in particular were not friendly with Imperial Whyatica - The situation between them had nearly erupted into full-scale war multiple times, and this scenario would likely provoke the Transylvanians again. Five divisions of Whyatican troops landing not far from a Commonwealth state, and a 'peacekeeping' division sent into Zaire, which would make it a large miracle if the Transylvanians didn't start shooting.

General Ferrer boarded the carrier Indomitable, the flagship of the 1st Expeditionary, and he watched from the bridge as the fleet left port, beginning it's daylong journey to Angola..

DSP Headquarters, Gbadolite, Équateur, Republic of Zaire

"I see…" Ngbale said. "Shall I send out a small squad to bring their commander to us to talk with in person?"

"Oh... And I have forgotten to introduce the others here: Brigadier Generals Gahiji, Dukuzumuremyi, and Runihura."

Checkpoint 10 KM northeast of Kikwit, Zaire

Miller studied the man for a moment before turning to the man next to him. "Get rid of him, this route is now closed."

The soldier with the loudspeaker started speaking. "Laissez ce secteur immédiatement, cet itinéraire est fermé à tout le voyage non gouvernemental."

At the same time two other soldiers unslung their R15 rifles and pointed them in the man's general area to "persuade" him to leave peacefully.

Federova nodded. "Certainly."

She extended her hand to the three generals.

---

Outside Gbadolite

Captain Brandon Lewis and his soldiers fanned out and looked for a way into the city that two to four soldiers could sneak into undetected at a time, hoping to regroup inside the city. If there were a Manus Dei presence there, the Special Combat Service was going to root it out.

When hunting an enemy, one must think like the enemy. If I were a Mary-worshipping, child-molesting, baby-killer, where would I go... The church. Soldiers who managed to enter the city would go to the local churches and lay low...

DSP Headquarters, Gbadolite, Équateur, Republic of Zaire

The three generals exchanged "honor to meet you"s with the Kahanistanian Commodore.

"Wonderful!" Ngbale exclaimed. "Runihura, arrange the party's mission to bring the Kahanistanian Special Combat Service's commander to us. He should know who we are."

OOC: Do you want to just fast-forward to when the Special Combat Service's leader arrives?

OOC: I was going to have them meet your patrols, have a long drawn out scene where they mistrusted each other, and then went along, but whatever.

Captain Lewis crept into Gbadolite, keenly observing anyone in Dominion uniform and keeping well away, while walking as casually as he could past civilians and Zairians, looking for a church to gather information in...

OOC: Okay! We could do that. I'll get another IC post up soon.

22nm off shore of Angola

The nearly 200 strong battle fleet approached the shore of Angola, the soft waves being cut aside by their prows. Nobody in Angola was made aware of this 'police action' - there was no declaration of war, no authority needed except the word of Emperor Paulus. The pitiful shore defense fleet - 7 Angolan ships - held in their way, bravely holding the waves.

A single line of broadcast was sent to the Angolans, in both English and Portuguese --

Surrender immediately or be destroyed.

The four Whyatican battleships in the region had formed into a line of battle, their single broadside able to destroy the entire Angolan navy in a single salvo. They were given three minutes to surrender - and for two painstakingly long minutes, there was no response. Just before the third minute passed, a blip sounded in the bridge, and a response from the Angolans showed up on the screen of the communications officer -

No surrender.

Shots from small 5" dual-purpose cannons littered the water around the destroyer picket, and a single, deafening broadside from the battleships sent dozens of high-calibre weapons bursting through the decks of the Angolan littoral ships, the shells themselves weighing more than the ships they destroyed. Oil darkened the waters and blood spilled, as every single enemy vessel began it's death throes, as the first Whyatican troop ships pulled ahead to the shore, transport helicopters taking off with hundreds of paratroopers preparing to secure the shore. Luanda was the first target - One division alone would be assigned to capture and hold Luanda, while the other five spread out through Angola, capturing critical cities and encircling cities that did not immediately surrender.

An objective of second, yet still extremely high, importance was the locking down of Angola's already porous borders, so Manus Dei operatives and Transylvanian troops had no chance of entering the newest Whyatican base.

University of Kinshasa

As the stage was finished, high powered fans were unloaded from the five ton truck. They were both powerful and quiet, but had two things to do. To cool those Zairians that have arrive or will arrive to hear the speech. And the best part is to force any type of gas out of the area, if those scum try to attack with gas or other types of NBC weapons.

The Blood Wolves had a watchful eye on the university and the surrounding eyes. The UAVs had their ‘eyes’ on the areas from two blocks away to twelve blocks away from the stage. The Dominion even had two satellites in the area watching the area.

If anything was seen that wasn’t normal like armed men with mortars or rocket launchers, the UAVs would attack them or a shadow ops unit would attack them with darts to catch the terrorists.

The terrorist could attack, if they wanted to go to Hell fast.

Anyways, they were still waiting for Zairians to show up.

Castle Von Wolf, Romania

The Count looked at a satellite photo of the waters of Angola, his face was of an old man that was quizzed about the photo. Were the Whyaticans in the area? By the looks of it, they were and attacking Angolan vessels. He didn’t know what to do, the Whyaticans were ready close to Zaire. And he knew that Zaire had enough problems. So, he would have to get to the bottom of this.

He opened his message system and started a message to Emperor Paulus.

Dear Emperor,

I think I need your help. After you killed your Prime Minister, your nation have looked better in my eyes. Going to war with those CA nation is always good for me to see. The Kraven Corporation isn’t one of my favorite nations.

Anyways, I’ll over look what going on in Angola, if you do one thing. Have you heard of the Manus Dei? I think Max supplies them with money and etc. There are a large number of Manus Dei operatives in Zaire and the peacekeepers already in Zaire look like they don’t give a damn. I need help with dealing with these Manus Dei operatives. My soldiers can only do as much as they can by themselves.

So…as one Emperor to another, can you aid me in hunting down these terrorist scum?

Signed,
Count JWolf

After he pushed the send, he couldn’t believe he just said that to Paulus or to anybody. He really doesn’t ask for help that much. This was a rare case as he didn’t want level Zaire to finish off the terrorists.

And he ordered the Dominion/Doomanum border closed to keep any Manus Dei operatives from entering the nation. He placed the Manus Dei on a list of outlawed groups in the United Dominion, which has a number of Nazi, Fascist and other terrorists groups on it. And he ordered the bounties for any and every Manus Dei operatives within the United Dominion.

Tshikapa, Zaire

Lt. Colonel Rick Morton's 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry Brigade arrived in town shortly after dawn. The 3/15 quickly set to work setting up check points along every road leading into town, anyone seen in public with a weapon, except for police or FAZ members, were disarmed, and the SAS teams riding with the battalion quickly fell upon their targets. The NDI had comiled a list of induviduals thought to be working with Manus Dei. THose individuals were located, searched, handcuffed, and then thrown into the back of several trucks. Less than an hour after arrival the battalion was moving out of the city and back towards the 15th Brigade's base near Kikwit. The men they captured would turned over to NDI operatives there and Morton had litt;e doubt that they would talk.

SECRET IC:
***Communique to the United Dominion***

I have recently been made aware of a troubling development in Zaire. The Doomingsland Manus Dei has begun stirring up trouble. Their excessively brutal terrorist attacks and dealings with various warloards threatens the region's stability, and more pressing to me Tolvanic interests, as such I offer you my assistance in your campaign to eradicate the Manus Dei problem.
I have access to much of resources of the Tolvanic 5th Motorised Division as well as considerable contacts in the African mercenary and paramilitary communities. In fact several of my contacts are already taking steps to eliminate known Manus Dei operatives and their supporters.

If you wish further consultations you may contact me via encrypted e-mail at waec@quickmail.com

-An enemy of your enemy

Communication of Emperor Paulus I of Whyatica, to Count JWolf of the Dominion

We are not friends of Manus Dei, but we are even less friendly with your people. I am as of yet undecided on the issue of Zaire - Manus Dei's presence has me concerned, and I will fight to prevent Manus Dei's influence from expanding in Central Africa. The invasion of Angola is taking place to bring civilization to the uncivilized, raise the standard of living for all fifty million souls in Angola, and provide security to forces of Whyatica in Chad and Libya. I am certain that Emperor Maximus of Doomingsland has indirect control of Manus Dei, however, I find it unlikely that even my relation can 'direct' the operations of Manus Dei.

Emperor Paulus I

Invasion of Angola
Four Whyatican-manufactured naval bombers cruised ahead of the paradropping forces. They would provide the bombing cover for the paratroop landing, attacking the outdated anti-air artillery of the Angolans. There were several surface-to-air missile batteries, however, they had no ammunition and were likely incapable of even locking onto the oncoming bombers. Not every advantage would be in the Whyaticans favour - Scattered flak battery fire shot up at the bombers, falling short of their targets, but forcing the bombers to maneuver to avoid getting struck.

Thousands of pounds of bombs struck Luanda's air defense network, the explosions killing hundreds of Angolan soldiers and possibly thousands of civilians. The inevitable casualties of war, or in this case, a 'police action'. The bombers circled overhead as massive birds of prey, dealing death to the Angolans underneath..

Castle Von Wolf, Romania

The Count, the man in black, smiled as he opened a message from what he could guess somebody from Tolvan. He would have to find out where that nation was as they already had peacekeepers in Zaire. With that huge smile, which showed out his pearly white fang in the fireplace lit room, the Count send a message back to an enemy of his enemy, to maybe a new friend.

He opened a new message box and entered the e-mail address, waec@quickmail.com.

Greetings friend,

I’m happy that somebody has the balls to aid in my terrorist hunt. I have really want to go to Zaire and do the hunting myself, but the United Dominion needs me. Anyways, I, as the Caesar of the United Dominion, thank you for offering to join Operation: Darkness, the hunt for the terrorist scum.

I have placed bounties on those terrorists for located of their cells and even for alive member. So, any mercenaries will be paid for their services. I use to be a mercenary myself.

Anyways, welcome to Darkness.

If everything goes right, I could be sending you some gifts, but I don’t even know your name.

Signed,
Count JWolf

He pushed the send button and waited to hear from his ally. “At else, somebody isn’t just sitting by and watching the killing of innocent people.” the Count said out loud.

He saw the message from Paulus after he finished the message to the Tolvan soldier or whatever the person was. His eyes scanned the message and he smiled. He would have to make thing changed as it was a fool back when everything started between Whyatica and his Dominion.

Dear Paulus,

Very well. I like what your doing, I’m hoping that I can bring peace to Zaire soon. Anyways, I would like to flip over another rock. Our pasts have only been of hatred of each other because of my behavior. I shouldn’t have blew up like that. I don’t think you’ll believe this, but I’m sorry for being a fool.

When you are done bring civilization to the uncivilized, maybe you can aid my soldiers against the terrorist of the Manus Dei.

You not the only one who thinks that Maximus funds them. Maybe those old men in his senate do, too. But that is just my crazy theories.

Good luck with Angola.

Signed,
Count JWolf

He pushed the send button and “What am I on? Maybe it was that blood I just drank. No more drugged out people for me.” he said with a smile.

Near Kikwit, Zaire

The man watched as the last of the Range Rovers faded into the dust kicked up by their tires. Once they were gone he turned to the heavily armed Africans standing at the door. "No one enters." With that he entered the rusting, metal building to begin his work.

In the middle of the cavernous room six men were stripped naked and hanging by their bound arms from steel A-frames. All the men looked as though the SAS troops had been "rough" with them before dropping them off. The man known as Kyle nodded to his assistant before pulling on his leather work gloves and apron, this would likely be messy. Within seconds several burly men appeared and began beating the shit out of the helpless Zaireans. The men were local musclem hired for their brawn rather than real skill but they'd seen Kyle's face. Kyle made a mental note to kill the men when he was done.

With that Kyle picked up a nearby knife and moved toawrds the men. With a simple cough, the thugs stopped their beatings and Kyle began speaking. "Welcome to my office gentlemen, you may call me Kyle. I have a lot of questions and I am told you have the answers to these questions. If you cooperate this it will not be unpleasent, resist and you will be punished."

One of the men began reciting the Lord's Prayer. Kyle smiled, he himself was a nonpracticing Catholic. "May God have mercy on you because I will not. Let's begin shall we?"

Kyle was soon glad he remembered the apron.

For some unknown reason, all Dominion soldiers just up and packed their stuff. Zaire would be left to the terrorist freaks or to the peacekeepers. The three United Dominion Navy fleets moved out of the waters and into the deep blue seas, too.

The Count didn’t care anymore. He would break alliance ship with young the terrorist leader, Maxie boy, and any of those nations in the region of CAD. He didn’t want to be linked to them in one way or another.

All of this wouldn't make any sense to the rest of the world.

Persepolis Palace, Parthia

"You ask me to forsake a friend, not only to myself, but to my father for your buisness interests?" The Shah paused, lit up a cigarette, then continued, "I do not believe this can be done, if any action needs to be taken, it would be to put MACZ back on the ground in Zaire and crush the Anti-Mobutu uprisings, he was good for your buisness, and for my interests, was he not?"

Lord Rostam Shahjarian, along with the other Parthian buisness owners with corporate interests in Zaire nodded, but, leading their collective opinions, he spoke, with a cigarette in his hand. "Shahanshah, it is not an easy decision, but it must be realized, Mobutu has lost his touch, his nation is collapsing into perhaps the worst humanitarian disaster of all time, the people detest him, and eventually, he WILL be overthrown. I propose that we deploy MACZ to Zaire again, but this time, I think the important thing would be to find a successor to President Mobutu, move him into exile in Parthia, and ensure his successor is as pro-Parthian as President Mobutu."

The Shah nodded in understanding as he pushed his cigarette out in the crystal ashtray. "I will redeploy MACZ to Zaire, for the purposes of pushing the AFDL and foreigners operating against our interests out, Marshall Ardeshir Nassiri is relatively popular in Zaire, and will probably be able to ensure our interests if Mobutu is overthrown by Capitalist elements. Until then, we will probably try and stay in Zaire until the AFDL and other lefists are destroyed."

Shah Ardeshir Airbase, Outside Persepolis

Field Marshall Ardeshir Nassiri looked over his force, a single airborne division, four battalions of armor, and a few wings of air support. It was the exact same force which saved Zaire in 1996 from the AFDL and African neighboring states, and hopefully, it would ensure Zaire would be saved from such enemies again.

Official Message to President Mobutu Sese Seko

Excellency,

I have authorized deployment of MACZ to Zaire, with your permission, I would like to utilize it to help stabilize Zaire against unfriendly foreign states and their puppets. In particular, we wish to ensure your security from Leftists. If permitted, we could airlift the force to Gbadolite and use the town as a base for pacifying leftist forces.

-Shah Khosru III

Samizdat Corporation HQ, New Sodom, Havenic Kahanistan

"Satellite One launched," the satellite operator said as the first Svoboda Mark I (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=12342640&postcount=7) broadcast satellite rocketed into space on the tip of a Kahanistanian Kengir MK-1A intercontinental ballistic missile fired into the sky.

Within 24 hours, this satellite and whatever others the Corporation managed to launch would begin a trial run of a broadcast in Zaire. If all went well there, they would proceed to their next goal: Radio Free Negev.

---

Meanwhile, in Gbadolite, the Kahanistanian special forces watched the Dominion troops pack up and leave. They didn't know what the Dominion was planning, so remained out of sight of the departing soldiers as they sought out Manus Dei... little knowing that a Kahanistanian officer had been speaking with DSP leaders regarding their operations.

Gbadolite, Republic of Zaire

Sergeant John Abejide and his squad scoured through Gbadolite searching for the Kahanistanian Special Forces. Disguised as regular police forces, the squad had been ordered to find the Kahanistanians and bring one of their leaders to the DSP's headquarters.

"They should recognize us as friends," was what a Lieutenant had told Abejide. I hope so. Abejide muttered to himself. I'd rather not have to deal with an issue with only nine men weakly armed men versus fifty special forces.

Six hours of straight search without a clue. Turning a corner onto a quiet side street, the men looked over to a small church.

Local Catholic church, Gbadolite

Captain Brandon Lewis, the commander of the special forces operation, sat quietly in a pew, his M-29 OICW left in the bathroom. He was in his BDU's (no fear here, a lot of people here were probably some kind of paramilitary) and he kept his IMI .50 Desert Eagle sidearm in his pocket, for quick deployment if he needed it. At his side were two other men and one woman in the same style BDU.

The devoutly atheist officer was listening intently for the priest to make some kind of statement that might suggest the presence of Manus Dei in the congregation. Meanwhile, the three soldiers with him were quietly conversing among themselves.

"He really hates Catholics, doesn't he?" asked one of the men, a thin Hispanic master sergeant of about 30. He nodded in the Captain's general direction.

"You're Catholic, aren't you? Why don't you ask him?" asked the woman, a lieutenant of about 25 with long blonde hair and about average weight. "If he does... you can ask him for a transfer if you're uncomfortable with him."

"Yeah, ask him. 'Captain, do you hate me because I'm the same religion as the fascists who tore apart Kahanistan?' It'll really go over well," the man said sarcastically.

"Gomez, if you really want to know, it's the only way," said the large black man between Lewis and the master sergeant. "Just ask him what he thinks about Catholicism."

Lewis paid his comrades' conversation no heed as he observed the congregation, trying to determine who was Manus Dei in the crowd. He had no inkling the DSP was looking for him...

Invasion of Angola
In the skies of Luanda, Angola, the skies rained men - literally. Thousands of paratroopers dropped down from assault helicopters, attacking the sparse Angolan military presence in Luanda that was in uniform, aiming to capture helipads and, importantly, Luanda International Airport, so more troops could be flown in from other Whyatican Africa territories. The city was thrown into chaos - the Angolan governmental buildings had been bombed, along with radio towers, preventing their military from getting mobilized quickly and raising a defence. The attack was not without setbacks - The various terrorist groups, barely kept under wraps by Angolan police and military, began to come out in full force, killing civilians, Whyatican soldiers on occasion, and the few Angolan fighting men alike.

Four attack helicopters, launched from the carrier IWNS Real McCoy, began their run on Luanda - A known UNITA base, one of the few that remained in operation since the victory of Angolan government against UNITA, was fired upon, a great explosion destroying the building and sending shrapnel for hundreds of metres around. The unfortunate deaths of many Angolan civilians would be dealt with later -- Just viewable from the beach were the first wave of landing craft filled with Whyatican marines, causing a mass panic and retreat from the beach as a shell from IWNS Killia impacted the sands, tossing sand, man, and blood alike in a massive explosion.

The job had to be done, and done fast - the Kahanistanis were already aware of the attack, and it had to be done and over with before other elements unfriendly to Whyatica capitalized on the chaos in Angola..

Gbadolite, Zaire

"...They don't look Zairian to me," Severus Marcellus said urgently to the men sitting at the table adjacent to the window he stood at.

Taking his hands away from the blinds, he drew his TDX and ejected the magazine, checking to make sure it was loaded. Satisfied, he stuffed it back in, holstering it. The other men pushed away from the table, grabbing their weapons from off the top. DAC-99s, TDXs, a DK-83 automatic shotgun; surprisingly, no DR-83s, though they did have one relic of a weapon: an old DR-78.IIS carbine, chambered for the massive 7.8x63mm round. It was Marcellus' personal weapon; the very rifle he'd wielded in Arretium as an Imperial Guardsmen against the Czardaian infidels. It had at least two dozen notches carved in the stock. Hell, they even had a Doomani-built RPG, a box of grenades, and even a few direction anti-personnel mines.

They were a mixture of Doomani and Zairians; mostly Zairians. The two Doomani, Severus Marcellus and Marius Spurius, were quite possibly the only Doomani in the entire city of Gbadolite, with the majority of Manus Dei's infrastructure consisting of low-profile hard-to-find local cell members. The Kahanistanis had gotten lucky, in this case, unfortunately for Manus Dei, and had ended up heading to a church right across the street from two of their primary operatives in the city.

"Fuck," muttered Spurius as he pulled back the charging handle of his automatic shotgun, releasing it with a satisfying 'clack'.

"Lord protect us," he said severely, "At least long enough so that we can send some of their souls to be judged in His heavenly court," he cracked a smile.

"To battle once more, brothers?"

The men pounded their fists with one another. They were prepared to be martyred, if necessary, though if properly executed they may walk away with their lives...

They'd been through this drill before, though this would be the first- and possibly last -time they did it for real. They quietly and orderly exited the apartment, leaving behind just Marcellus, who stood watch in the apartment window with his rifle, staring in between the blinds to keep from being seen from outside. The others took up positions around the building: they set up a defense on the first floor, covering the main entrance, while one man equipped with a DAT-19 rocket propelled grenade launcher took up position on the roof, waiting for the go ahead from the others to expose himself to those below...for now, he'd stay out of sight.

Similar precautions were being taken in pretty much all of the church neighborhoods; the ones with Manus Dei presense, at least. There was a very good chance the Kahanistanis would end up barging into a church devoid of Manus Dei personnel and cause problems they didn't intend to create...

In the church buildings themselves, warning was sent to the priests, who simply went about their daily business. Usually there'd be about half a dozen armed Zairians- Manus Dei sympathizers or cell members -in the church, not so much for guard duty as much as to speak scripture with the priest. These men quickly got out of sight, leaving just the priest by himself and whatever unarmed civilians may have been in there at the moment, with the others waiting in ambush.

As the congregants prepared to leave the church, Captain Lewis snorted in disgust. All these Catholic bastards here and none of them are Manus Dei. At least he hadn't gotten the impression any of them were terrorists. Lewis was 6'4" and had expected to be taken for Doomani; in fact, he was terrified that the local non-Christians would mistake him for a Doomani officer and take a shot at him or lynch him. He'd heard of incidents in Africa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necklacing) where rubber tires filled with petrol were pushed around a victim's body and lit afire, and thought that it would happen to him if he were viewed as a terrorist.

He and the three soldiers with him, 2LT Ellen Jameson, SGT Jason Carver, and MSG Alfonso Gomez, went back to the bathrooms where they had left their M-29's in the ceilings above the fiberglass panels. The soldiers, except for Lewis, were relieved that there seemed to be no terrorists here; Lewis was itching for action.

Carver was black and could therefore pass as a FAZ officer if someone didn't ask too many questions. He therefore took point when the foursome left the church, his M-29 OICW at the ready and a long belt of ammunition around his massive chest. He looked like a Zairian version of Rambo as he led the soldiers out of the church armed to the teeth. Maybe there would be some terrorists at the next church.

Gbadolite, Republic of Zaire

At the end of the street stood four policemen. Sergeant John Abejide was among them and the other five disguised DSP soldiers had seperated throughout the side street: hidden in residents' small gardens, behind garbage bags.

"Sir!" exclaimed one of the Corporals Abejide was commanding. As the Abejide turned, he gestured to a group of men leaving the church. Powerfully-built with weapons in their hands you usually wouldn't come by in Zaire, the Sergeant knew he was onto something.

"Excuse me, sirs?" Abejide called out. Although disguised, the men still couldn't risk exposing themselves to anyone but the Kahanistanians. And even with them, they would have to be wary.

The tall white man turned in the direction of Abejide's call, as the other soldiers stopped. Captain Lewis looked in the general direction of the call, to see who had called out. Maybe these people can lead us to Manus Dei...

The captain waved to signal that he had heard, and waited for the DSP people (though he didn't know who they were) to talk to him.

---

Space, 60,000 km above Zaire

A lone Svoboda Mark I communications satellite from Samizdat Corporation began its first broadcast to Zaire, on a wide-band transmission to resist efforts at jamming.

"Hello. Hello. This is Radio Free Zaire, the first independent political radio channel to broadcast in Zaire. We are not affiliated with any political organization, foreign or domestic, and offer a plethora of views."

"First off, Zairian fascist dictator Mobutu Sese Seko is gravely ill and in an undisclosed location, waiting to die. We will provide updates on his condition as the information becomes available to us. In the meantime, attacks on Zairian civilians in recent weeks have been attributed to the Doomani organization Manus Dei, an international Catholic extremist movement. Manus Dei is Latin for Hand of God, and it is their belief that their attacks are striking the unbeliever with the hand of God."

"Peacekeepers from at least four different nations are struggling to maintain order and set up a new government to take over when Mobutu finally kicks off. Again, information will be released as it becomes available to us."

100 knots of the Zairan coast

The six ships of Carrier Strike Group Four moved close to Zaire with each passing hour. Now that the stand off between Kahanistan and the Dominion was over the task force could move into position to provide air support for ZFOR, should they require it.

On the bridge of the carrier Shrike Rear Admiral Owen Morgan reviewed the intelligence briefings on the happenings in Zaire so far. It certainly appeared that Tolvan had gotten itself caught in the middle of some sort of massive international pissing match.

To: His Imperial Majesty, Shahanshah Aryamehr Mazdayasni Khosru III
From: Marshal Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga, Founder-President of the Republic of Zaire and Supreme Commander of the FAZ


"My Dear Friend,

I have received your letter, and it is with great delight that I approve your request. Parthian-Zairian friendship goes back many decades, from the time I met your father in 1971 to the present day. Many times, Parthia has rescued Zaire from the encroaching hordes of Communism in the past: during Shaba I, Shaba II, and during the Great Central African War. I am confident that you can do so again. On behalf of my people, I thank you for once again intervening on the side of righteousness."

Warmest regards,
Your friend Mobutu
http://ns.goobergunch.net/wiki/images/Coat_of_arms_of_Zaire.PNG

Gbadolite, Republic of Zaire

As Captain Lewis turned and gestured, Sergeant John Abejide motioned for the Kahanistanians to follow him to an empty alleyway.

This should serve sufficient for keeping others from hearing Abejide said to himself.

"Please come right this way," he said.

The soldiers followed Abejide, the two in the rear, the Captain himself and Lt. Jameson, looked behind them to see that nobody was attacking or approaching them from behind. This was standard protocol for special forces; making sure they were not being followed or ambushed. They moved in the direction of the alleyway.

If the Zairian turned out to be laying a trap, Carver and Gomez had no objection to pumping him full of 20mm air-bursting ordnance and 5.56mm rounds.

1000nm South of Zaire

The Parthian task force, transporting the 3rd Immortals Division, along with a battalion of armor, made its way northward. The intent was simple, offload a Parthian force on the coast, then allow them to make their way to Gbadolite, pacifying resistance along the way and expelling troublesome foreigners from the country.

Field Marshall Nassiri sat uneasily on the bridge of the Shahanshah Ardeshir, across from him, Lord-Admiral Taheri smoked a cigarette, before putting it out and speaking, "Tell me, Marshall, how much resistance do you expect the peacekeeping forces in the area to put up?" The Marshall smiled, "Peacekeepers, more often than not, come from rather weak liberal nations, put enough danger to their mission in their face, the weak democratic legislatures bring their troops home. I doubt we will see resistance until we land."

The Admiral looked unsure, "I will prepare for the worst, if indeed, the peacekeepers attempt to stand between us and Gbadolite, we will annhilate them, without reservation."

{OOC: Bump, still brainstorming my next post.}

OOC:I'm going to fluid time this so I can get my end rolling.
IC:
Phase 1 of the plan had been accomplished - Angola was essentially under Whyatican control, although some parts of the interior were still being contested by UNITA rebels. The invasion had progressed so rapidly, with the majority of the Angolan military defeated in the first two battles that there were thousands of Angolan dead for a comparative thirteen dead Whyaticans and one hundred four wounded. As the ports had been secured as soon as possible, five more Whyatican divisions were en route to solidify the Imperial hold on the African nation.

It seemed that the people of Angola were resigned to their fate -- Their nation had been a Portuguese colony before throwing off it's shackles, and very nearly fell under Zairian conquest during the Great Central African War, so the Angolan people were quite used to being subjugated. That didn't mean UNITA and other, brand new terrorist groups would not fight back, but as Whyatican corporations entered the new colony with billions of credits in material and investments, the Angolan people would likely see their luck changing. A new market of several million people was a fine thing to jump in to, and the military had quietly tipped We Buy It, Inc.'s Whyatican branch and Platt Group Banking about the invasion, and they had prepared for weeks prior to the attack in Arabia.

Now, two brigades were preparing in the northeastern area of Angola, for a "peacekeeping" operation in neighboring Zaire - with the internal strife and Manus Dei operations, it would be easier to seize control of several parts of the embattled African country before anyone could notice. The borders were in the process of lockdown - People attempting to cross the border were summarily shot, and military engineers began building large airfields and fortresses along the border to keep the Angolans in and Manus Dei out. With the withdrawl of the Transylvanian troops from Zaire, one significant enemy was removed, leaving solely Manus Dei and their influence to combat.

Catholics in the Arabian Guard had to be carefully watched - None of them had ever fought Manus Dei troops in combat before, and it was unknown whether they would sympathize with the cause. The nonreligious and Muslim troops in the Guard tended to think of Manus Dei, and the Doomani in general, as barbarians that perverted Catholicism into a form of chaos. But what of the Whyatican Catholics?

The Kahanistanian government strongly disapproved of the invasion of Angola, but was ill equipped to oppose them, and had just alienated Midlonia, leaving Whyatica as one of its few potential allies in Haven. They decided to concentrate their efforts on focusing on Manus Dei.

With the Dominion withdrawal, a transport fleet carrying 10,000 mostly fresh recruits set a course for Zaire, escorted by two 800,000-ton Emmanuel Goldstein class heavy battleships and nine Solquist class battlecruisers in addition to smaller Kirov cruisers, just in case.

Rear Admiral Titus Maximus Sutonius, the invasion commander, was not taking any chances on a Dominion counterattack. These ships were loaded with chemical and nuclear warheads in addition to conventional anti-shipping missiles and artillery. Ten thousand soldiers were preparing to enter Zaire and hunt down Manus Dei terrorists.

The Kahanistanian military had experience from Torontia in dealing with insurgents, but these were just green recruits. Their officers, however, were among the most seasoned in the force, the better to instruct the soldiers on what was for most their first deployment.

Aboard the Union-class carrier that was being escorted by these ships, over one hundred F-35 Lightning II's and one hundred Dassault Neuron UCAV's were being brought into action. The Kahanistanians disliked UCAV's; the Pwnagians had attacked them extensively with them rather than fight like men. This was the first time they would deploy these vehicles, and only in a reconnaissance capacity.

Whyatican First Expeditionary Fleet, Luanda, Whyatican Angola
"Admiral. We are detecting an approaching fleet of Kahanistani origin." a sensor officer said, receiving information from the main naval base in Arabia. The RADAR and early warning devices had not landed in Angola yet -- the naval base itself was just operational as is.

"Open a transmission." Admiral Jack McCoy said, looking out at the ocean.

"Opened."

"Attention Kahanistani fleet. If you are sending peacekeeping troops into Zaire, redirect your troops to Luanda, Angola and the Whyatican military can provide basing. We are prepared to enter Zaire and attack Manus Dei strongholds within the nation."

Emmanuel Goldstein-class warship, RKS Leviathan

Admiral Sutonius answered the hail.

"This is Rear Admiral Titus Maximus Sutonius, Kahanistan Republic Navy. Our fleet will interdict supplies heading for the Manus Dei, but we will reploy landing craft through Angola."

The other heavy battleship (the one without the Admiral on it) and four Kirovs detached from the main fleet, along with the transport fleet. It would arrive in Angola in four hours; the main force would arrive at Zaire in six.

100 Nautical Miles Southwest of Boma, Zaire

The Parthian task force let loose a string of ACI-73 air superiority fighters to provide air cover, 150 in total from the Persepolis, Tehran, Shiraz, and Nishapur, the Parthian carriers in the group. Around the carriers, the superdreadnoughts Shahanshah Ardeshir and Shahanshah Narseh moved forward surrounded in turn by the cruisers, destroyers and frigates of the formation in a large box. Nearer to the front, attack submarines were fanned across the front of the formation, ensuring they would get the first strike if it came down to armed conflict.

Lord-Admiral Taheri had recieved a somewhat worrying report, AWACS birds running patrols around the fleet had picked up the signal of an approaching fleet, perhaps 6 or so hours out from territorial waters of Zaire, with scattered reports of another fleet further out, heading towards Angola. While the Angolan fleet was hardly too concerning the closer one was of deep concern. Parthian forces were quick to move to positions of battle readiness, and if the other fleet unleashed the first attack, the Parthians would strike back with a vicious counterattack. The submarine force was redirected, moving towards the opposite side of the fleet to create a fan facing the approaching one, to ensure they still had the initiative.

Admiral Sutonius received disturbing word from an AWACS commander. "Sir. We've spotted another fleet about five hours from our position. One of the wing commanders saw what she thought were Parthian markings."

"Point noted," said the Admiral. "Let me know if any AWACS birds drop off the radar. I'll have the Solquists fan out, keep the UCAV's back, we don't want them firing on anything until I give the order."

The fleet, consisting of nine Isselmere-built Solquist class battlecruisers and one Union-class supercarrier, twelve Kirovs, and the Admiral's heavy command battleship, assumed battle stations and proceeded to their destination. They had no intention of firing the first shot; after getting into a war with Doomingsland, the last thing they needed was a war with Parthia.

Meanwhile, the fleet that had broken off for Angola approached the Whyatican forces.

Voice of Zaire - Live Broadcast


"Good evening, citizens, this is General Mahele, and I bring you an important announcement: I hereby declare that the government of President Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu Wa Za Banga is effectively neutralized. Effective immediately, I will assume temporary control of the presidency, and will soon name a college of commissioners to temporarily assume cabinet duties. All former members of the government will be amnestied on the condition they retire permanently from politics, but I have issued a warrant for Mobutu's arrest on charges of high treason. I call on all foreign troops to leave the country within one week, and for all rebels in arms against the government to lay down their arms peacefully - those who do will be fully pardoned. That is all for now. Thank you."

News of Mahele's coup spread quickly; the ensuing chaos that resulted spread just as quickly. Within minutes of his announcement, mass demonstrations broke out across the country, some in favor of Mahele, others in favor of the incapacitated, still-hospitalized Mobutu, and still others in favor of the rebels, who, in spite of the ample presence of peacekeepers, were inexorably continuing their march to Kinshasa. The FAZ, in total disarray, disintegrated into lawless factions, unable to choose a leader to whom they would be loyal; feeling they had no purpose otherwise, they looted and massacred indiscriminately, further undermining the situation and contributing to further chaos. In spite of Mahele's well-known reputation for integrity, few of Mobutu's entourage trusted him; Mobutu's entire cabinet, including prime minister Kengo Wa Dondo, hastily vacated the country, taking with them more than half of the national parliament and hundreds of millions of dollars in ill-gotten gains. Mobutu's family, under Parthian cover, also made plans to depart; at the stroke of midnight, Mobutu Sese Seko, President of the Republic since November 1965, fled the country aboard a Parthian C-130 with his wife, children, aides, and other family members, for what they hoped would be a "temporary" exile in Persepolis.

As fighting escalated - especially in the tenuous east of the country, where Doomani theocrats continued to stoke up bloodshed against perceived heretics - it seemed to all that the situation, rather than improving with Mobutu's departure, was actually deteriorating. Only General Nzimbi's DSP faction remained intact, and unbeknownst to Mahele, they continued to plot and scheme; with Nzimbi's chances for seizing power more ripe than ever, he planned to ruthlessly advance his own interests and seek totalitarian control for himself.

Mahele, meanwhile, continued to preach for national reconciliation; he named a diverse cabinet, compromising Zairians from all ideologies and walks of life, to serve as a "government of national unity"; further, he called on long-time opposition leader Tshisekedi to return to Zaire to serve as prime minister until elections could be held.

{OOC: Bump.}

Official Announcement from the Free Havenic Republic of Kahanistan
Ministry of Foreign Affairs

http://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/uploads/kahanistan.jpg

The Government of Kahanistan is most disturbed by the utter barbarity to which the FAZ has sunk.

We demand that the deplorable massacres of random civilians and general wanton destruction be halted immediately, or we will be forced to increase our military strength in the area.

Manus Dei terrorists are committing the most vile, barbaric crimes against humanity, and the FAZ is content to butcher its own population rather than drive these fanatical animals from their soil. It is this kind of instability that allows nations in the Third World to be annexed by the imperialist powers of the developed world.

To prevent such a tragedy, it is imperative that the FAZ join forces with us to expel the terrorists and imperialists from Zairian soil, and cease the massacres which serve only to diminish its already horrid reputation with the world. To accomplish this, it is necessary for a new Zairian government to rise and replace the old order which has thankfully departed.

This government must be composed of all major political factions, lest it fall to the same factionalism and internal strife that destroyed the tyrannical Mobutu regime.

Signed,
Rachel C. Levitt,
Minister of Foreign Affairs