I apologize if I got Saudi Arabia's capital wrong. The map I am forced to
use because we have no other ones in English at my house still has the USSR
on it.
Chapter 3
Shield stretched his legs as he got off the commercial airplane. It seemed a bit odd that they would send him on a commercial flight instead of a military plane but someone in the Pentagon probably came up with a political reason. Colonel Sheppard and Majors Morelli and Carter were behind him. Colonel Bahador had arrived several days earlier to prepare the way for the US troops. Several American GIs were waiting for them with a Saudi official.
"General Shield," said the Saudi official, "I am Abdullah Muhammad of the Saudi government and my country is very grateful that the United States has agreed to assist us in these times."
"My country does its best to protect its friends," replied Shield.
"Come this way. We have transportation to the base ready."
Shield and his three officers followed Muhammad outside and got into a humvee.
"You may not know this but several factions are currently on Saudi territory without our permission," said Muhammad, "They are very well equipped with Russian weapons and vehicles and it is our belief that they are attempting to launch a military coup."
"How many people sympathize with them?" Carter asked.
"Only a small faction of the military support them. However, it is enough. We also believe that they have outside support, though we are not completely sure from where."
"Possibly Russia?" suggested Sheppard.
"No. That is very unlikely. The Russians have nothing to gain from this. We are already their ally and we sell oil to them. Our own troops are equipped with Russian equipment but the main problem is that we are almost evenly matched. If a military coup was launched it has a very good chance of succeeding."
"And that is why you requested a US military presence in your country," said Shield, "Well, I can understand your situation. Perhaps if we were to attack these cells in your country."
"That would be greatly appreciated," said Muhammad, "We have their locations but we just don't have the necessary troops to do so."
"We'll need some special ordinance for this," said Morelli, "The air wing has some of the stuff but we'll need to bring in more."
"Okay. Send a request in once we're at the base. May I have a map and all known intelligence regarding these cells?"
"We have already supplied them to you," said Muhammad, "Please understand General Shield, my government is in a terrible position. We will be forever grateful for whatever support you can give us."
"I'm sure our diplomats can talk over such things later," said Shield, "We're here to do a job and to do it right."
They arrived at the base and Shield and the three officers got out. Muhammad rode back to Ar-Riyad, the capital.
"Let's take a look at the maps," said Shield, "We should move in quickly."
"Do you want me to come up with a battle plan?" Sheppard asked.
"Yes."
"What are the rules?"
"Minimal civilian casualties if possible," said Shield, "First priority is defeating them. If we get lucky and take a prisoner, then we'll interrogate him or her. However, that isn't the primary mission. We're here to do something about this damn situation."
"Yes sir."
"Major Morelli, I want air units up and ready to strike at any targets our forces find necessary."
"Yes sir."
"Everyone else, let's get ready for a major deployment. I expect that our coup perpetrators will not give us much time to prepare."
Sheppard and Carter walked off to start working on a battle plan. Morelli walked over to the runway to talk with the squadron leaders and wing commander. Sheppard and Carter walked into a large officer covered with maps showing the locations of several cells and training camps for the coup forces.
"I think we'll need major support to take out some of these camps," said Carter.
"The big ones we can leave to 7th Armored. It's these three that I'm interested in."
Sheppard had just flipped through a folder that had a brief description of what each camp was.
"These look like they're more like command centers than actual training centers."
"So go for the brain of the operations," said Carter, "Smart. But who do we send in?"
"What exactly do we have?" Sheppard asked.
"All of Group Echo has been deployed here. We have about a battalion sized force."
"Okay. That means we can hit them in force. Let's try to incapacitate their troops. There was this special type of napalm that they were developing. It is designed to kill but leave their bodies and structures intact."
"That's one of the things General Shield made sure we were equipped with," said Carter, "You think we should have the air wing bomb them with this stuff, then move in and take a look at what they have?"
"Yes. We don't really know much about these organizations. CIA has had no luck in digging up anything for this. Besides, the US hasn't been that involved here for a while. I really think we'll need to work on digging up some more stuff on this."
"I'll lead the strike force in myself," Carter volunteered.
"Okay. We'll dump some of that new napalm and then move in with three teams of fifteen. We can't take too many risks. I want two other teams on standby and they will move in once the area has been secured to reinforce our forces. Do you need anything else?"
"I'd like it if we had two Apaches supplied air support when we move in. The new infrared stuff is supposed to be really good."
"I know," said Sheppard, "I'll get General Shield to approve this and we'll the move on. Damn that guy is one tough son of a bitch."
"He fought in two of the three world wars. In World War II he was in the American division that attacked the Soviet atomic weapons facility. In World War III he defeated the Soviets and Yuri. He's tough all right."
"He'll go for this," Sheppard said, "We'll iron out a few details and we'll move out in two days."
"Yes sir."
Sheppard took one of the maps and walked over to Shield's office. He knocked three times.
"Come in."
Sheppard entered the room and found Shield relaxing in his chair.
"Well what do you have Colonel?"
"We came up with a plan to attack one of the cells," said Sheppard, "It'll be a quick insertion mission but we want you to authorize the use of that new napalm that destroys flesh but doesn't destroy materials."
"That'll be a bit tricky," said Shield, "They'll still burn paper."
"We know that sir. It's better than nothing."
"All right. What teams are you taking in?"
"Just troops from Group Echo," answered Sheppard, "I'm sure we can handle this."
Sheppard nodded. "I assume we send back any information back to the Pentagon through secure channels."
"Yes. We go through outside measures for this. We'll transmit using our Infinity system."
"That's supposed to be unbreakable."
"Theoretically," Shield reminded Sheppard.
"Well, we'll soon see."
Eight A-10 Warthogs from the US contingent already present in the country were headed towards the enemy base. Teams on board Blackhawks were right behind them as they went in for their attack run. The pilots of the A-10s could see enemy troops rushing out and trying to shoot them down. They let loose with their gattling guns and dropped the bombs. They were spread out and the resulting firestorm swept through the base killing most of the enemy troops. A few managed to get into cover. Group Echo Blackhawks arrived and the troops started zip lining down. Several enemy soldiers appeared and tried to start a fight but the machineguns on the Blackhawks chewed them to pieces. The US troops ran across the base and put bullets in the heads of everyone the found. This was no time for carelessness. Another Blackhawk landed and five computer and intelligence experts appeared. They were escorted to where the enemy command post was. Several other soldiers were behind them and brought in large boxes. The troops put every piece of paper into the boxes and quickly pulled back. A Chinook appeared and landed in a clear spot. The troops loaded up the papers and computer equipment. After that they reboarded their respective helicopters and took off. All that remained was a silence over the base, every body dead.
"I have to say," said Shield, "I'm impressed."
"Our intelligence experts have cracked most of the codes they used," said Sheppard, "Their computer codes are proving more difficult but they've almost got it. Once that is done we can ship all the stuff back to the States on airplanes."
"So is there anything interesting in the papers that we seized?"
Sheppard threw a folder with several sheets of paper on it. Shield read through them quickly.
"Something called the Brotherhood is mentioned many times in these papers," said Sheppard, "Our analysts don't know what it is and they've never heard of a Brotherhood."
"So we just dug up another terrorist organization," Shield muttered, "Just great. But what exactly are we supposed to do with this? Track down this Brotherhood and destroy them? We don't know what this Brotherhood is. Until we do, we really can't do anything about them."
"I know that sir," said Sheppard, "I want permission to attack these other two bases. With more information, we'll know what to do."
"We might know what to do but I doubt we'll be able to do it. Good work. Give me time to read over this. You can attack one of the enemy bases. I'll file a report with the Pentagon and the Saudi government."
"Yes sir. I'll get right on it."
Sheppard left Shield reading the file. The sheets were about orders from a Brotherhood, telling the cell to prepare for a revolution. It was one day old so the revolution was going to take place very soon. There were also several pages of weapons transactions. A lot of armor was moving across the borders. Infantry weapons composed of AR-15 rifles, the civilian version of the M-16. There were also shipments of AT-4 Antitank weapons. There was enough to equip a small army. Most of the other stuff was Russian equipment like AK-47s and some of the rather small T-20 tanks. The T-20 was built for export and was a light tank with decent firepower but not very impressive. The US Abram tanks were more than a match for them. Shield picked up his phone and called to Bahador.
"Nick, it's Rob. I want you to make sure that all of our forces be ready to move out in a matter of seconds if need be."
"Yes sir. Anything else?"
"Yeah. Tell the Saudi government that we've recovered information that points to a possible coup."
"Yes sir."
Shield hung up and resumed reading. Total he hoped that his forces would be able to take out whoever was planning this. He hoped.
Seth was riding in a Nod command vehicle leaving a large base. All of the troops here were Nod and they were better equipped than any of the other militia and terrorist organizations around it. If the US troops tried to take this base they would encounter extreme difficulties.
"We take this base."
Carter and Morelli looked at the base Sheppard pointed at.
"That's a pretty big base," said Morelli, "You sure we can take it?"
"We can't keep repeating tactics," said Sheppard, "so I'm going to ask for armored support. I'm sure that the good general can part with battalion of tanks."
"That'll still leave 7th Armored with plenty of units," said Carter, "but it'll take a few hours just to get the tanks there."
"I'd go for light armor like Bradleys," said Morelli, "Easier to move there."
"That's a good point. All right. We'll move in with some Humvees and Bradleys. I'll notify General Sheppard."
"What kind of air support will I have?" asked Carter.
"We'll still blast their base with napalm," said Morelli, "Besides that, we'll have some Apaches watching over you."
"Two squadrons," said Sheppard, "We aren't here to do things cheap. We're here to do them right."
"I can move in with a total of fifty soldiers," said Carter.
"That should be enough. This base is far better equipped than any other base I've ever seen. We'll have to be careful attacking. How fast can we strike it?"
"Give me two hours," said Carter, "and our troops will be there."
"Deploy."
Nod light tanks left the base and started out. Their destination, Ar- Riyad. The Brotherhood was supported by members of the Islamic Jihad, the Fist of Allah, and some elements of the Saudi military. The American presence did not worry the Nod forces too much. They were sure that they could defeat them quickly. Besides, they were outnumbered.
American A-10s dropped their napalm bombs all over the Nod base. Soldiers tried to get out of the way while others fired whatever weapons they had at the Warthogs. However, it was all futile. The napalm spread throughout the base and killed the Nod troops. Many went underground and closed their bunkers, surviving the firestorm. After it was quiet they came out. However, Bradley IFV machines were rolling into the base and fired upon them. American special force operatives disembarked from the Bradleys and fired at the Nod troops. They tried to fight back but the American troops overwhelmed them. After several more minutes of fierce shootouts the American troops won.
"Major, where are their armored units?" a soldier asked Carter.
"That's what I want to know. Carter to Morelli."
"Morelli here."
"I think we came here too late. It looks like most of the armored units already left."
"Shit. You think they're attacking 7th Armored?"
"I think they're attacking the Saudi government. I suggested you inform General Shield."
"Acknowledged. Morelli out."
End of Chapter 3
Z98
Chapter 3
Shield stretched his legs as he got off the commercial airplane. It seemed a bit odd that they would send him on a commercial flight instead of a military plane but someone in the Pentagon probably came up with a political reason. Colonel Sheppard and Majors Morelli and Carter were behind him. Colonel Bahador had arrived several days earlier to prepare the way for the US troops. Several American GIs were waiting for them with a Saudi official.
"General Shield," said the Saudi official, "I am Abdullah Muhammad of the Saudi government and my country is very grateful that the United States has agreed to assist us in these times."
"My country does its best to protect its friends," replied Shield.
"Come this way. We have transportation to the base ready."
Shield and his three officers followed Muhammad outside and got into a humvee.
"You may not know this but several factions are currently on Saudi territory without our permission," said Muhammad, "They are very well equipped with Russian weapons and vehicles and it is our belief that they are attempting to launch a military coup."
"How many people sympathize with them?" Carter asked.
"Only a small faction of the military support them. However, it is enough. We also believe that they have outside support, though we are not completely sure from where."
"Possibly Russia?" suggested Sheppard.
"No. That is very unlikely. The Russians have nothing to gain from this. We are already their ally and we sell oil to them. Our own troops are equipped with Russian equipment but the main problem is that we are almost evenly matched. If a military coup was launched it has a very good chance of succeeding."
"And that is why you requested a US military presence in your country," said Shield, "Well, I can understand your situation. Perhaps if we were to attack these cells in your country."
"That would be greatly appreciated," said Muhammad, "We have their locations but we just don't have the necessary troops to do so."
"We'll need some special ordinance for this," said Morelli, "The air wing has some of the stuff but we'll need to bring in more."
"Okay. Send a request in once we're at the base. May I have a map and all known intelligence regarding these cells?"
"We have already supplied them to you," said Muhammad, "Please understand General Shield, my government is in a terrible position. We will be forever grateful for whatever support you can give us."
"I'm sure our diplomats can talk over such things later," said Shield, "We're here to do a job and to do it right."
They arrived at the base and Shield and the three officers got out. Muhammad rode back to Ar-Riyad, the capital.
"Let's take a look at the maps," said Shield, "We should move in quickly."
"Do you want me to come up with a battle plan?" Sheppard asked.
"Yes."
"What are the rules?"
"Minimal civilian casualties if possible," said Shield, "First priority is defeating them. If we get lucky and take a prisoner, then we'll interrogate him or her. However, that isn't the primary mission. We're here to do something about this damn situation."
"Yes sir."
"Major Morelli, I want air units up and ready to strike at any targets our forces find necessary."
"Yes sir."
"Everyone else, let's get ready for a major deployment. I expect that our coup perpetrators will not give us much time to prepare."
Sheppard and Carter walked off to start working on a battle plan. Morelli walked over to the runway to talk with the squadron leaders and wing commander. Sheppard and Carter walked into a large officer covered with maps showing the locations of several cells and training camps for the coup forces.
"I think we'll need major support to take out some of these camps," said Carter.
"The big ones we can leave to 7th Armored. It's these three that I'm interested in."
Sheppard had just flipped through a folder that had a brief description of what each camp was.
"These look like they're more like command centers than actual training centers."
"So go for the brain of the operations," said Carter, "Smart. But who do we send in?"
"What exactly do we have?" Sheppard asked.
"All of Group Echo has been deployed here. We have about a battalion sized force."
"Okay. That means we can hit them in force. Let's try to incapacitate their troops. There was this special type of napalm that they were developing. It is designed to kill but leave their bodies and structures intact."
"That's one of the things General Shield made sure we were equipped with," said Carter, "You think we should have the air wing bomb them with this stuff, then move in and take a look at what they have?"
"Yes. We don't really know much about these organizations. CIA has had no luck in digging up anything for this. Besides, the US hasn't been that involved here for a while. I really think we'll need to work on digging up some more stuff on this."
"I'll lead the strike force in myself," Carter volunteered.
"Okay. We'll dump some of that new napalm and then move in with three teams of fifteen. We can't take too many risks. I want two other teams on standby and they will move in once the area has been secured to reinforce our forces. Do you need anything else?"
"I'd like it if we had two Apaches supplied air support when we move in. The new infrared stuff is supposed to be really good."
"I know," said Sheppard, "I'll get General Shield to approve this and we'll the move on. Damn that guy is one tough son of a bitch."
"He fought in two of the three world wars. In World War II he was in the American division that attacked the Soviet atomic weapons facility. In World War III he defeated the Soviets and Yuri. He's tough all right."
"He'll go for this," Sheppard said, "We'll iron out a few details and we'll move out in two days."
"Yes sir."
Sheppard took one of the maps and walked over to Shield's office. He knocked three times.
"Come in."
Sheppard entered the room and found Shield relaxing in his chair.
"Well what do you have Colonel?"
"We came up with a plan to attack one of the cells," said Sheppard, "It'll be a quick insertion mission but we want you to authorize the use of that new napalm that destroys flesh but doesn't destroy materials."
"That'll be a bit tricky," said Shield, "They'll still burn paper."
"We know that sir. It's better than nothing."
"All right. What teams are you taking in?"
"Just troops from Group Echo," answered Sheppard, "I'm sure we can handle this."
Sheppard nodded. "I assume we send back any information back to the Pentagon through secure channels."
"Yes. We go through outside measures for this. We'll transmit using our Infinity system."
"That's supposed to be unbreakable."
"Theoretically," Shield reminded Sheppard.
"Well, we'll soon see."
Eight A-10 Warthogs from the US contingent already present in the country were headed towards the enemy base. Teams on board Blackhawks were right behind them as they went in for their attack run. The pilots of the A-10s could see enemy troops rushing out and trying to shoot them down. They let loose with their gattling guns and dropped the bombs. They were spread out and the resulting firestorm swept through the base killing most of the enemy troops. A few managed to get into cover. Group Echo Blackhawks arrived and the troops started zip lining down. Several enemy soldiers appeared and tried to start a fight but the machineguns on the Blackhawks chewed them to pieces. The US troops ran across the base and put bullets in the heads of everyone the found. This was no time for carelessness. Another Blackhawk landed and five computer and intelligence experts appeared. They were escorted to where the enemy command post was. Several other soldiers were behind them and brought in large boxes. The troops put every piece of paper into the boxes and quickly pulled back. A Chinook appeared and landed in a clear spot. The troops loaded up the papers and computer equipment. After that they reboarded their respective helicopters and took off. All that remained was a silence over the base, every body dead.
"I have to say," said Shield, "I'm impressed."
"Our intelligence experts have cracked most of the codes they used," said Sheppard, "Their computer codes are proving more difficult but they've almost got it. Once that is done we can ship all the stuff back to the States on airplanes."
"So is there anything interesting in the papers that we seized?"
Sheppard threw a folder with several sheets of paper on it. Shield read through them quickly.
"Something called the Brotherhood is mentioned many times in these papers," said Sheppard, "Our analysts don't know what it is and they've never heard of a Brotherhood."
"So we just dug up another terrorist organization," Shield muttered, "Just great. But what exactly are we supposed to do with this? Track down this Brotherhood and destroy them? We don't know what this Brotherhood is. Until we do, we really can't do anything about them."
"I know that sir," said Sheppard, "I want permission to attack these other two bases. With more information, we'll know what to do."
"We might know what to do but I doubt we'll be able to do it. Good work. Give me time to read over this. You can attack one of the enemy bases. I'll file a report with the Pentagon and the Saudi government."
"Yes sir. I'll get right on it."
Sheppard left Shield reading the file. The sheets were about orders from a Brotherhood, telling the cell to prepare for a revolution. It was one day old so the revolution was going to take place very soon. There were also several pages of weapons transactions. A lot of armor was moving across the borders. Infantry weapons composed of AR-15 rifles, the civilian version of the M-16. There were also shipments of AT-4 Antitank weapons. There was enough to equip a small army. Most of the other stuff was Russian equipment like AK-47s and some of the rather small T-20 tanks. The T-20 was built for export and was a light tank with decent firepower but not very impressive. The US Abram tanks were more than a match for them. Shield picked up his phone and called to Bahador.
"Nick, it's Rob. I want you to make sure that all of our forces be ready to move out in a matter of seconds if need be."
"Yes sir. Anything else?"
"Yeah. Tell the Saudi government that we've recovered information that points to a possible coup."
"Yes sir."
Shield hung up and resumed reading. Total he hoped that his forces would be able to take out whoever was planning this. He hoped.
Seth was riding in a Nod command vehicle leaving a large base. All of the troops here were Nod and they were better equipped than any of the other militia and terrorist organizations around it. If the US troops tried to take this base they would encounter extreme difficulties.
"We take this base."
Carter and Morelli looked at the base Sheppard pointed at.
"That's a pretty big base," said Morelli, "You sure we can take it?"
"We can't keep repeating tactics," said Sheppard, "so I'm going to ask for armored support. I'm sure that the good general can part with battalion of tanks."
"That'll still leave 7th Armored with plenty of units," said Carter, "but it'll take a few hours just to get the tanks there."
"I'd go for light armor like Bradleys," said Morelli, "Easier to move there."
"That's a good point. All right. We'll move in with some Humvees and Bradleys. I'll notify General Sheppard."
"What kind of air support will I have?" asked Carter.
"We'll still blast their base with napalm," said Morelli, "Besides that, we'll have some Apaches watching over you."
"Two squadrons," said Sheppard, "We aren't here to do things cheap. We're here to do them right."
"I can move in with a total of fifty soldiers," said Carter.
"That should be enough. This base is far better equipped than any other base I've ever seen. We'll have to be careful attacking. How fast can we strike it?"
"Give me two hours," said Carter, "and our troops will be there."
"Deploy."
Nod light tanks left the base and started out. Their destination, Ar- Riyad. The Brotherhood was supported by members of the Islamic Jihad, the Fist of Allah, and some elements of the Saudi military. The American presence did not worry the Nod forces too much. They were sure that they could defeat them quickly. Besides, they were outnumbered.
American A-10s dropped their napalm bombs all over the Nod base. Soldiers tried to get out of the way while others fired whatever weapons they had at the Warthogs. However, it was all futile. The napalm spread throughout the base and killed the Nod troops. Many went underground and closed their bunkers, surviving the firestorm. After it was quiet they came out. However, Bradley IFV machines were rolling into the base and fired upon them. American special force operatives disembarked from the Bradleys and fired at the Nod troops. They tried to fight back but the American troops overwhelmed them. After several more minutes of fierce shootouts the American troops won.
"Major, where are their armored units?" a soldier asked Carter.
"That's what I want to know. Carter to Morelli."
"Morelli here."
"I think we came here too late. It looks like most of the armored units already left."
"Shit. You think they're attacking 7th Armored?"
"I think they're attacking the Saudi government. I suggested you inform General Shield."
"Acknowledged. Morelli out."
End of Chapter 3
Z98