NationStates Jolt Archive

Colonel Ibrahim Al-'Umari watched the cloud of dust go by dispassionately, from the side window of his command truck. It was a devilishly hot day, temperatures in the mid-forties celsius, and especially out here in the Amadji Desert it felt even hotter; even the Colonel, who'd been raised in this place -- in a little village called Zakira a dozen miles from the nearest highway -- felt a line of sweat tracing itself down his forehead, which he absently raised a finger to rub away.

There wasn't much that passed for roads out here. The hard-packed dirt and stone that made up the main road was barely wide enough for a single tank, let alone the column of several hundred now proceeding towards the assault in single file. Old paths ran through the desert, usually following wadis and flatter areas, but were not particularly suitable for an armoured assault; the APCs and their ilk were taking that route, followed up by jeeps of grim-faced soldiers with rocket-launchers and machine guns. Overhead the Colonel could still hear the sounds of distant aircraft, evidently having been sent to take care of any possible defenses the enemy might bring to bear (which at this point seemed limited to MANPADS and various rocket launchers -- guns aside -- as they had no professional military that Al-'Umari knew of).

Colonel Al-'Umari's young aide, a dark-skinned Amadji with a piercing gaze, tapped him on the shoulder. "Word from Command, sir. We're moving out."

"Good work," the Colonel said, nodding to the driver. The truck's engine coughed and sputtered for a few moments, then came to life and roared into functionality as the command truck slowly turned towards the distantly retreating tanks and started on its way. The narrow road proceeded into a small town very much like the one the Amadji Liberation Army had deployed from. The fact that it was in another country was the reason for the Colonel's, shall we say, entourage.

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

"...And I'm Bannock Martin. In other news, a massive troop deployment has been indicated within the Middle Eastern state of Amadjiah. Satellite scans reveal that it has deployed a large military force into its southern neighbor, Khovarashnia, a much smaller nation of fewer than a million inhabitants. The Supreme General of Amadjiah, General Abdul Hassan Bair ben Naggoroth, announced that Khovarashnia was being annexed 'for the greater good of the Amadji and Arab people'. He also indicated that its non-Muslims and leftists had a choice of submitting to re-education or being expelled from the nation. While General ben Naggoroth did not return INN's calls, sources close to the General indicate that Khovarashnia's government, which was secular, was not officially considered legitimate by Amadjiah. More brought to you as the situation develops. [brief pause] In sports, the results for the 45th World Cup are officially in....."

(OOC: Is there a significant population of Orthodox (as opposed to Coptic, Catholic or Protestant) Christians involved?)

OOC: Huzzah. Guess what though, this is an IC thread. (See, no [OOC] tag in the title.) So please do delete your posts once you've got something up in-character. Same goes for everyone else btw. I'll do it too.

To: Supreme General Abdul Hassan Bair ben Naggoroth, Amadijah
CC: Defense Corporations Enquirer
From: Mondo Advertising, CoDC
Re: Exiles

We will take in any who you choose to exile from Khovarashnia and resettle them, at our expense, with the only requirement being that they work for us. We deplore that some are being unreasonable, but wish for the best outcome for all parties involved. Please inform the Khovarashnians of our proposal.

@DC:

Amadji Su-24s will drop leaflets in major Khovarashni settlements once you have confirmed where you will be picking up the exiles, Mondo Advertising. Naturally we have no intention of transporting them into Amadjiah itself, but there should be at least one small airfield near Greshtak City in Khovarashnia you can use.

As long as you do not interfere in Amadji operations in the region you are free to do what you please.

-- General Abdul Hassan Bair ben Naggoroth

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

The operation was proceeding smoothly, as expected.

Jamal Muhammad, technical sergeant in Epsilon Company of the Fourth Infantry Brigade, watched operations proceeding from the back of his jeep as it trundled down a dirt road along the rim of the Khovar Sea; a salty inland lake where all the watercourses in Khovarashnia came to an end. Most of the villages and towns had surrendered, and what resistance prevailed was of the scorched-earth variety; again, as expected. The enemy'd blown up dams -- water was a precious necessity around here -- and had tried to reduce roads to rubble, to keep tanks and heavier vehicles from getting far enough inland. But the Khovarashni weren't inherently warlike; they didn't know how to destroy things properly.

The roads might take a few days to rebuild. The dams, perhaps a month or two. But there was still enough left that rebuilding wouldn't be difficult. Especially not once the area was resettled by Amadji, building towns and villages to redistribute the crowded population and create jobs. As they descended towards a shelled-out town by the seaside, Muhammad spotted a fellow Sergeant waving towards him, a speck in the distance. He shouted out a greeting to the other man, but it was lost in the wind; it was only once they arrived to a shanty town on the outskirts of the former Khovarashni city, hosting part of the Fourth Brigade, that the two could converse.

"We found another family today," said the other sergeant (Birkat Geojadzi, an ethnic Amadji) conversationally, once they were seated together watching the almost motionless sea. "Christians."

"Oh. Did you send them away?"

"No. Well, we couldn't really. The men were bored. They've seen almost no real action since we moved in."

Muhammad lit a cigarette. "What? You let them kill them?"

"Maybe a little, yeah," acknowledged Geojadzi. "I mean, who'll miss them?"

"Shame! The General will be very upset! He said they were to be expelled, not killed! For greater diplomacy!" The two men laughed, taking in the wafting smells of something burning across the sea.

"You got another cigarette? I could use one."

"All out, sorry," lied Muhammad fluently. Cigarettes were carefully rationed. "Seriously though, this makes, what? The fifth or sixth time you've broken discipline and killed someone you were supposed to send back? You have to exert more discipline."

"I can't help it. I'm just naturally soft-hearted, I guess," said Geojadzi with a smirk. "Anyway, everyone else does it too, even if it violates regulations. Even you've done it. I remember that anarchist you had skinned alive and buried in the sand back at that village a week or two ago."

"That I justify because it was funny," Muhammad said, exhaling a ring of smoke. "His pathetic attempts to squeal for help as we cast off and left him there? With his tongue cut out? Classic."

"Well," allowed Geojadzi, "a little. You always were a creative one."

A flustered-looking Amadji subalt appeared before them, breathing hard from running. "Sirs. A message from the Colonel in Chief. At first light we're moving out to support the assault on Greshtak City. The official government's surrendered but we're expecting strong citizen resistance."

"Finally, some real fighting," Muhammad said. "The men will be pleased. They're unsatisfied with the local yokels -- they die far too easily."

"Er, I'm to pass that message on, sir?" The subalt gulped.

"No, don't bother. Now get out."

The subalt complied with alacrity.

In the distance the sun was starting to set. Temporarily visible in front of it was an Amadji Tu-16, before it became lost in the harsh glare of the desert sun.

To: Supreme General Abdul Hassan Bair ben Naggoroth, Amadijah
From: Mondo Advertising, CoDC
Re: Exiles

We will not interfere with your operations. We will use air freighters and airliners operated by Universal Air Freight, and will pick up the exiles from the recommended airstrip.

To: Supreme General Abdul Hassan Bair ben Naggoroth, Amadijah
From: Socialist Assembly of the Union of Vetia

Your bigoted and small minded actions against other people is the most sickening thing I have experienced, we the members of the Socialist Union detest greatly of your mistreatment of groups simply because they are of a different religion.

We will take all who your are harming regardless of religion, we will send planes in on rotation to take the amount you will give us to save. They will be treated as the dignified human beings that they are.

This service will be funded by our Union, all we ask is the airstrips to send our planes.

Kirith Ballu,

Head of the Department of Foreign Affairs

This is Henry Slater from the Holy Empire of the Rolling Dead. We here in Rolling Dead completely understand your decision, as we also believe religion is an important thing, more so than the lives of those who stray from the true path.

We are willing to pick up all those of the Jewish faith you are getting rid of, and rehabilitate... them.

Near the Khovar Sea, Khovarashnia

Captain Tariq Yassin was a rarity in the Tolvanic military, an Arab, which made him well suited for his current mission. Tolvan's North African Colony, Al-Huabid, had among the Commonwealth's first colonies when the Royal Navy and Marines and crushed the Emir of Al-Huabid and his pirate fleets and claimed nearly 5,000 sq. kilometres of North African land, centered around the city-state of Al-Huabid, as its own. Today Al-Huabid had a population of just 2.45 million, and it was by far the least assimilated of Tolvan's nearly one hundred colonies around the world. As a result, there were few Arabs in the Tolvanic miltiary, and even fewer wthin its officer corps.

Yassin's family was part of the Adan Tribe, a long oppressed minority within Al-Huabid who had converted to Christianity and collaborated with the Tovlans since their arrival, while this made them unpopular among the more nationalistic Al-Huabidians, the Adans now controlled the Colonial Militia, as well as holding most of the colony's economic and political power. Yassin's own great-uncle was the Seventh Earl of Al-Huabid and a staunch Tolvanic loyalist.

Yassin was well suited for the task at hand, he looked the part of a Middle Easterner certainly, he spoke fluent Arabic (with the ability to switch between six different accents at will), and while he was Christian, he knew more about Islam than many Muslims. Most of Yassin's unit, the Royal Army Special Forces Operational Detachment 334 (known as The Goon Squad by its members) was Tolvan's premier SF team for operations in the Middle East and North Africa. Seven of Yassin's eleven men were also Arabs and the remaining four were Hispanic, but spoke fluent Arabic and could pass for natives of most places the team operating. OD 334's mission was simple, to recruit, equip, and train local militias to resist the Amadji invasion. None of the team members carried anything that could link them to the Commonwealth and if discovered they'd appear to be nothing more than well armed miltiamen.

Yassin checked his watch once again, the rather grandiously self-styled "Colonel" who commanded the local militia company, was nearly an hour late for their meeting. "The stupid fucker proably stopped to rape a goat or something," Sergeant Vasquez had opined to Sergeant Assad. Assad had merely smiled, Vasquez was rather fond of taunting the Arab members of the team with accusations of their fondness for violating goats, sheep, and the like.

OOC: Amadjiah - If this is not to your likeing just say and I'll edit it accordingly. If you wish to RP the local commander, feel free to do so.

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The Kingdom of Syrells wishes to express its displeasure at the bigoted acts of Amadijah. We greatly detest the decision to expel human beings from your country based solely on religion.

This said, the Syrillian Government will take any refugees; funded completely by the Kingdom. All we ask is that you provide airstrips for our planes to land in.

Sincerely:
Michael Averton
Head of the Department of Foreign Affairs