Prologue
Somewhere in North Africa
1942.
As the orange sky began to give way to the darkness of night, an eerie calm drifted over the airfield. It's aircraft parked in lines along the runway. On a sand dune overlooking the airfield, America and Canada hid under sand coloured blankets, looking out over the airfield.
"Doesn't look like we've got too much activity." America whispered, as he looked through his binoculars.
"Well, that's good."Canada replied as he carefully wiped sand off of his glasses. "How long until we need to get back to the jeep?"
The radio between them began to crackle. Still looking through his binoculars, America picked up the handset.
"Star Hero, transmitting." He said into the receiver.
"Star Hero, Bulldog transmitting, confirm status and status of Northern Light." Englands voice crackled from the radio.
"Star Hero and Northern Light are standing by."
"Roger that. Mount up and stand by for the signal."
"Understood, Star Hero out."
The two figures crawled backwards and slid down the dune, and ran over to an awaiting jeep, loaded with bundles of supplies and a number of machineguns.
"Okay Al, you drive I shoot." Canada said, climbing up into the back of the jeep. America grabbed onto the back of his brother's webbing and yanked him off the jeep.
"The hell you are. I'm shooting." America said.
"You got to shoot last time! I always have to drive!"
"That's 'cause you're better at it!"
"Fine, be that way. Dick."
Canada sat behind the steering wheel as America climbed into the back. Canada turned the key, the engine roaring to life as America cocked the machine gun.
The radio crackled again.
"All Zebra Units, Unicorn, I repeat, Unicorn!" England's voice crackled from the radio again.
"There, go! Go!" America shouted.
Canada stepped on the pedal and drove forward, speeding around the sand dune and across the flat approach towards the airfield. Other Jeeps loaded with weapons and passengers emerged from behind other sand dunes. The group of jeeps screamed towards the airfield, huge trails of sand dust trailing behind them.
"Zebra lead, all vehicles check in!" England said over the radio.
"Zebra Two, like, ready!" Poland's voice sang over the radio.
"Zebra Three, ready!" Australia's voice barked.
"Zebra Four, ready!" Canada said into his jeep's radio.
The jeeps drove closer and closer to the airfield.
"Remember, we're in lightly armoured lorries, we'll need to rely on our speed and manoeuvrability in order to not get hit. Zebra Two, you'll follow my lead on the left side of the field, and hitting the motorpool, Zebra Three, hit the fuel and ammunition supplies on the right side of the camp. Zebra four, hit right down the center of the airstrip and takeout the aircraft. We've only got one shot at this, so create as much chaos as you can in one pass then keep driving through!"
As the jeep hurtled towards the airfield, spotlights light up and began to sweep the dunes in front of them. The gunners began to fire at them, as the German defenders began to fire back in turn. On the back of his jeep, America blasted away at the spot light in front of them, tracer rounds smashed the light and it went dark. The jeeps ploughed through the gates and raced down the length of the airfield. On each side, explosions burst along their path. Canada sped down the man runway, as America poured rounds into the fighters parked alongside them, smashing engines apart and setting the aircraft ablaze. German soldiers screamed and crumpled to the ground as the machineguns tore into them. In mere moments, the airfield had been crippled, and the vehicles drove out the other side of the base and back into the dark night.
"Zebra lead to all Zebra vehicles. Is everyone all right?" England asked over the radio.
"Zebra Two's a-okay!" Poland cheered.
"Zebra Three, we're good." Australia responded.
"Zebra Four, we're okay." Canada radioed.
The small group of vehicles continued in a convoy for a short while, until Zebra Two began to lag behind.
"Uh... guys? I think there's like, something wrong with the jeep." Poland radioed.
"All Zebra elements pull over. Let's get it checked out." England radioed.
The jeeps stopped, and England, Canada and Australia congregated around Poland's smoking jeep.
"There's something wrong with the engine." Poland said from the driver's seat.
"Yeah, I can see that, mate." Australia said as he popped the hood.
Waving his hand to clear some of the smoke, he and Canada looked at the engine.
"Can you tell what's wrong with it?" Canada asked.
"From what I can tell some kraut put a couple of rounds into the engine block." Australia responded, scratching his head.
"Can you fix it?" England asked.
"Maybe, If I had a few spare parts and half a day. I'm certain a couple of the drive cylinders have been smashed, and I don't like how the carburetor looks."
"Uh, guys? I think we've got another problem." A woman with brown hair chimed in from the back seat.
"What do you mean Czechoslovakia?" England asked.
"I don't think there's supposed to be a puddle here." Norway said from his seat beside her.
Canada walked over to the back of the jeep and bent over looking under the jeep. He let out a slow whistle.
"Oh man, the fuel tank's got a hole punched right through it." He said, seeing the large hole with fuel leaking from it.
"How big is it?" Australia asked.
"Pretty big."
England closed the hood.
"We've haven't got time. Reports say we might have a major sandstorm moving in, and if we don't get through to the Elbar-el-Carif oasis by tomorrow morning, we'll be caught in it." He said. "Split up the petrol and supplies, then rig the jeep to blow. Czechslovakia and Poland, you two mount up with America and Canada. Norway, you and Greece can ride with Australia and New Zealand."
After kicking Greece awake, the jeep was quickly cannibalized for fuel and supplies, and after everything was squared away, the remaining vehicles drove off, as the jeep exploded from a demo charge placed inside.
As the jeeps sped on, they would soon find that the winds were beginning to blow more fiercely, and the storm they were worried about was to find them much sooner than they would have preferred...