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Phase 16:No one likes the taste of a future war
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Part 5
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Spanish Intelligence uncovers Wakandan plot to arm insurgent groups in Africa!
Euronews
Two attacks against Moroccan police stations and a border post claim over thirty casualties! Rebels aligned with the controversial state of West Sahara claim responsibility!
Moroccan sources confirm the use of advanced energy weapons, likely sourced from Wakanda.
Associated Press
The Kingdom of Morocco formally requests NATO support in dealing with Wakanda-supplied insurgents!
Euronews
Elements of the Spanish and Italian navy launched cruise missiles at targets in West Sahara, targeting known and suspected camps and ammo dumps of the Polisario Front, the name of the West Sahara/Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, used by the countries which do not recognize it. This could be an implicit statement by NATO supporting Morocco's claim of the area.
AFP
Elements of the French Foreign Legion, Spanish, and Italian Marines are deploying to Morocco to aid the Royal Moroccan Military in neutralizing the Polisario front permanently and to secure the advanced weapons delivered to it by Wakanda.EuronewsPoliticians in the United States voice their approval at the European members of NATO finally pulling their own weight, stirring controversy.
CNN
First, comprehensive reports on the Wakanda Air Campaign begin to emerge. Within Europe alone, we have confirmed nearly a thousand military casualties, both wounded and dead, with a minimum of twenty-three thousand wounded civilians across dozens of cities across the continent. Fortunately, the civilian death toll has been low, with three hundred and twelve confirmed dead.
NATO material losses remain classified. However, pictures and video evidence points to at least a couple of hundred vehicles and systems of all kinds being destroyed or critically damaged. We have confirmed that multiple NATO fighters and helicopters of various types have been lost.
BBC World News
Military and government sources concur that Wakanda might have lost as much as a quarter of its air force during its attacks. Depending on manufacturing capacity and reserve, that might be a crippling blow, significantly limiting future offensive operations that Wakanda's Air Force could afford to launch.
CNN
Eleven thousand civilian casualties are reported throughout the United States. Experts believe that we suffered fewer overall casualties than Europe due to relatively lower population density in the vicinity of targets struck by Wakanda and heavily contested by the US military. Two hundred and eleven are confirmed dead, with hundreds more remaining in critical condition nationwide.
CNN
After firm casualty figures of the Wakandan unprovoked attacks began to emerge, an atmosphere of anger gripped the United States and Europe. We are hearing more and more calls for extreme measures to ensure Wakanda would be unable to attack anyone ever again.
CBS
The United States military released a set of parameters required for new air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles. The critical point of the new weapons program is the warhead and targeting capabilities. The warhead is necessary to defeat armored targets. At the same time, the targeting needs to be more than sufficient for the missiles to track and directly impact hard-to-detect targets. That is a significant departure from the decades-long trend for most anti-air missiles to be proximity-kill weapons, using high explosives, fragmentation, or similar warheads to neutralize targets they cannot hit directly. The requirements cite the need to defeat heavily armored aircraft, regardless of whether they are Wakandan or alien.
US Air Force Magazine
Taliban and Ten Rings militants launch counter-offensives, using the disruptions caused by Wakanda's attack to good effect.
ANA and Coalition forces' advances in Herat and Jalalabad have ceased. Taliban and Ten Rings localized counter-attacks managed to retake portions of the contested cities.
CNN
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The Pentagon
Washington DC
Generals from all US military branches met in a bunker below the Pentagon. In contrast, many others were present over video conference calls carried by hardlines.
"By now, you all should be familiar with what hard data we have, our estimates of the enemy's capabilities, and what we gathered from debriefing Wakanda's exiled royalty crosschecked with information gained by surrendered diplomatic personnel," Admiral Frederick, Tillman, the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, opened the meeting. "We are gathered today to discuss strategic options for dealing with Wakanda for good and begin developing them for presentation in front of the President for final approval. General Vance?"
"At this point, using air power to break Wakanda's capability to fight a modern war comprehensively is going to be unlikely. Their combination of stealth technologies and shields makes air strikes less effective than desired. A sustained long-term campaign has merit and is something I propose we continue and expand. However, until we find all Wakandan cities and facilities covered by holographic camouflage and can overwhelm their shields, the practical utility of the air strikes is limited. In practice, we are looking at strategic defense by tying down a significant part of the enemy's surviving air force, combined with eliminating defensive installations that aren't shielded, like the ring of energy cannons identified first by the French. In theory, a prolonged and sustained campaign of air strikes can overwhelm Wakanda's shields by sheer attrition on their systems and power sources. However, we do not know if going that route will be feasible in a reasonable amount of time. I regret to report that, at this point, using conventional means, we can't guarantee victory. There are too many unknown factors about Wakanda's capabilities. "
"That was sadly within my expectations," Admiral Tillman noted. "The same is true for the Navy's Carrier Battle Groups, with the added complication that getting them within strike range of Wakanda risk losing ships and thousands of crew due to the inability to stop Wakanda counter-strikes effectively. War games based on what happened to the French Charles de Gaule point at us simply not having the right tools for the task at hand. Even then, if the enemy smartens up and uses their new technologies smarter, it won't matter until we can effectively track and target their aircraft. That has implications for our primary strategic goals. You've read Stark's memorandum backed by all scientists and engineers working on the Royal Talon they're examining, right?"
"We need that technology even if it means walking through a river of our blood," Commandant Steven Hacket, the commander of the US Marine Corps, grimaced. "We will do it if we absolutely have to. However, Wakanda isn't our only strategic threat. Breaking a branch of the military to take it won't be advisable in the short to medium term. Does someone disagree on that point?"
It all went back to Wakanda's stealth fighters. As few as they were, and they were still more than most countries on the planet could muster as an air force, they were damn tough. During the first day, it became clear that the enemy could adapt, and it wouldn't take much to ensure they could cripple the logistics efforts of an invasion force. That was the issue. It didn't help that elements of the Kenyan and Tanzanian military and government managed to survive the coups and called for international support against Wakanda and the traitors who backed the coup. Under different circumstances, this would have meant the US Marines and the Army had the welcoming mat ready to receive them with friendly harbors available for uncontested landing and to act as logistics hubs.
In the present strategic situation, providing them with practical aid was easier said than done.
Ascribing reasonable competence to the enemy, any such attempt while their air force could operate with near impunity would mean thousands, if not tens of thousands, would commit expensive suicide. The rest would be stranded in Eastern Africa without logistics. The US air force was reasonably sure they could do that, tho the US Navy, even with heavy Air Cover from all air bases in reach, just used the known surviving Wakanda aircraft and their capabilities displayed to date.
One of the reasons for this meeting happening this late after the initial attacks was to give time for simulating an attempted landing and logistics efforts from Mombasa and Dar es Salaam. After the first war game ended as a disaster for the US military and their allies, two more took place, with the defenders learning lessons from their defeat.
The other two war games ended up looking a bit better until NATO ran out of cruise missiles due to the constant heavy barrages they threw at Wakanda to pin down as much of its air force as possible. That meant that if Wakanda went for a defensive posture instead of focusing on first crippling the invasion buildup, the US military and allies could get a few hundred kilometers from the ports before their logistics got cut to pieces. Then the people playing Wakanda released their air force to go for the ships and planes vital for supplying them.
What killed the idea of a cheap invasion was that a Wakandan aircraft could fly invisible until it was above a carrier, for example, then open its rear ramp and just push enough explosives on the deck to mission kill it.
Everyone relevant knew that for a fact after Wakanda deployed commandos on top of the building where Tony Stark was bunkering, while their aircraft hovering above it remained cloaked until they finished deploying ground forces and joined the battle.
The best scenario would be Wakanda losing an aircraft for every such stunt, something they could afford. It would be a bargain to cripple the US Navy's strike capabilities. The infuriating reality of the situation was that even more conventional attacks on naval assets could end up with painfully one-sided Wakandan victories. When the bastards crippled Charles de Gaule, the French carrier had only a few Rafales left to protect it. However, it had whole squadrons of the US Air Force from bases in the Persian Gulf covering it for all the good it did. They could not target the enemy effectively, and the combat environment was far different from the ones that produced the heavies Wakandan casualties to date.
If the conflict remained conventional, and there was no counter to Wakanda's stealth, the rest of the world would need years of buildup for the kind of logistics and expeditionary forces that could absorb punishing losses yet push through to Wakanda and take place.
That was a worst-case scenario, and they would plan for it but shelve the idea. The odds were the conflict would escalate into nuclear before anyone sane contemplated that kind of bloodbath.
"Wakanda's action in Kenya and Tanzania do give us an opening for an indirect approach," General Scudder offered. "They won't miss the buildup for a proper invasion or an attempt to insert special forces in Wakanda. We all know their detection and response capabilities dramatically increased after the French hit them."
The best theory was that the French raid caught Wakanda while still confused after the coup. After all, once the enemy reacted, everyone watched the cream of the French Navy Air Wing get wiped out in short order. The reaction to follow-up cruise missile strikes kept improving, if not so dramatically, as it did over the first couple of days.
"We might be able to insert special forces and equipment to aid the loyalists in Kenya and Tanzania. They can also aid by giving us targets for cruise missile strikes and give us hands-on experience fighting Wakanda's ground forces. We need to know more about the enemy's capabilities to plan an invasion better when we have an answer for their air force."
"Speaking about an indirect approach," General Vance interjected, "we have a few ideas. Nothing likely to be a war winner; however, every little bit helps. We suggest dropping leaflets all over Wakanda and using drones to establish a way for our exiled Royals to speak with their people and do their best to convince as many of them as possible that we aren't their enemy. We want the people who launched the coup and attacked us, not the regular citizens minding their own business."
Vance raised an eyebrow at the surprised reactions he got. "What? Blowing up everything is not the only solution we can come up with!"
"I want two sets of fully developed invasion plans based on staging grounds at Mombasa and Dar es Salaam. The first one will assume we can reasonably counter the enemy air force, though not necessarily guarantee friendly skies. The second one will plan for the kind of buildup needed to survive and remain effective under constant air attacks we can't counter effectively," Admiral Tillman ordered. "Generals Scudder and Vance, I want viable options for inserting special forces, supplying them and the local loyalists with weapons and other supplies they will need to hold on until we can begin deploying to the region in reasonable numbers. General Vance, the cruise missile strikes will continue to keep up the pressure. Get me viable proposals for the psychological war you suggested, and I'll present them to the President. Do we have any other viable conventional options?"
"What will be our response if Wakanda escalates?" Ross asked. He wasn't happy. Recent events ensured he didn't have time to indulge his Hulk obsession and ensured everyone knew it.
"Nuclear submarines are making their way to optimal launch positions, just in case."
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Part 6
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Illuminati Think Tank HQ
Baltimore
Maryland
With the world in chaos and rapidly changing, it would surprise no one that various think tanks gathered many of their members to discuss the ongoing situation and re-evaluate their path forward. The Illuminati's public front was no different. Despite conspiracy theories surrounding them, alongside every other such group or known 'secret' society, this head of the Hydra was among the most renowned and respected of its kind. Their known stance that their goal was to improve human lives worldwide through technology opened many doors and made many people listen. And those who were more interested in power? The Illuminati could provide all kinds of assistance openly and behind closed doors.
The meeting underway was of the latter kind; it was not meant for the regular public or the staff familiar only with the Illuminati's outer shell. Due to security concerns, only those among the groups' leadership who could make it openly, without raising suspicions, gathered in Baltimore.
What they discussed had little to have with the ongoing wars or Disclosure, at least directly. On the other hand, the consequences of these events were far-reaching and, in some regards, not anticipated.
Douglas Rockwell acted as Chairman of the meeting, being the group's senior member, both in age and years he had been part of the Illuminati Think Thank. Ironically, despite being one of the official organization's outer shell founders, he joined the Illuminati years later; once it became crystal clear, he shared many views in line with the organization's goals.
To the outside world and most rival Hydra Heads, Rockwell was merely an asset that the Illuminati used to gain legitimacy and political support.
"NATO's summit in Brussels last night raised many controversial topics and asked even more uncomfortable questions…." A Euronews anchor was speaking from a flat-screen, taking much of one wall in the lush meeting room the Illuminati met.
"On the surface, this plays in our hands, as if we did most of the groundwork there," Rockwell spoke in a loud and clear voice. "In practice, due to SHIELD's efforts, we are reasonably sure this was the first sign of a new ideology rising. I don't believe it is the only one. More than a few of our people have been approached by colleagues and peers who have been discussing their stance on recent events with them."
A wave of unease passed through the Illuminati gathered in the room. Too many competing interests already cramped the stage they were playing on, and not all of them were Hydra of one stripe or another. Even more players? That was the kind of distraction and headache no one needed at this time.
"Keep in mind; I'm talking about ideologies at this time, not formal organizations. Those would likely form in due time, and we will have to be ready," Rockwell continued.
"Are you talking about Dr. Zola's ideas?" Hawley inquired.
"In this case, they were far ahead of their time," Rockwell nodded. "My understanding is that you revisited them last shortly before I formally joined in the aftermath of the alien infiltration attempt?"
"That's correct," Pamela confirmed. "At the time, our specialists determined that while the ideas had merit, the technology to use them effectively simply wasn't there, and the use of the Internet by the general population wasn't widespread enough to make it practical at large scale. We've had a team working on the ideas pioneered by Dr. Zola ever since, though not as a priority."
"I've revisited the issue over the past few days. Our people assure me it is a software and machine learning issue that is or will be solvable soon. The computer technology needed is here, and more than enough people constantly use the Internet to give the algorithms or even AIs enough data to work with when we get there. Conservatively, Zola's ideas might be viable for widespread use within the next five to ten years."
No one commented that intelligence organizations around the world could do similar things about persons of interest; however, that still involved a lot of groundwork, manpower, and infrastructure the Illuminati didn't have direct access to. While they could use SHIELD and other assets for individual cases, Zola's ideas were more ambitious.
"You want to implement Zola's vision to not only track possible infiltrators but emerging ideologies, forming organizations, and eventually our rivals," John Hei concluded. The South Korean tapped his fingers on the polished wooden table and appeared deep in thought. "It should be doable. In concept, it's nothing different than what large intelligence organizations or corporations are already doing."
"Where do you think the idea originated?" Hawley raised an eyebrow at him.
The younger man nodded. No one on the table would be surprised to learn that any push for more surveillance, or more effective surveillance in the US, or the West in general, had Hydra's fingers all over it. While they weren't the only ones pushing for it, such suggestions universally found fertile ground among certain kinds of often useful people.
"I believe we can provisionally agree to increase funding to make Dr. Zola's vision a reality sooner rather than later. Perhaps Mr. Stark can aid in this when he isn't too busy? The man built himself an actual AI, which was before he got his new memories," Hei pointed out.
"That's on the list we want Mr. Stark to work on," Rockwell noted.
"It's a very long list, and it keeps growing by the day," Hawley interjected. "Did you bring up this," She nodded at the TV, only to point out how Zola's ideas are still relevant?"
"No. We need to decide how to deal with these rising ideologies and the organizations that will form. Which we should do our best to suppress, which we could use, or co-exist with, and which to co-opt if feasible," Rockwell explained. "What's brewing within NATO's militaries and intelligence communities can be beneficial to our overall goals. From what SHIELD could gather, the prevailing thought is that we are on the cusp of being able to mount a resistance against alien aggression that wouldn't necessarily be a pointless suicide."
"Mr. Stark's technologies and what we can recover from Wakanda if we take place mostly intact," Aurora Stefano ended her silence. "After the initial shock of the attacks passed and militaries across Europe were able to wargame various scenarios using known and suspected Wakandan capabilities, the consensus is that we need their technology and know-how intact if we are to prepare for alien invasions in a practical manner. That is one of the reasons why calls for nuclear retaliation from NATO's armed forces have sharply declined over the past week. The prize is too valuable to see Wakanda burn in a nuclear fire if we have any other choice."
"Feelers send by former Embassy personnel point that we might have a tentative agreement to keep the war from escalating. Whoever is now in charge within Wakanda might begin to understand they have the whole world against them. That further escalation can and will be met with corresponding force," Hawley's face scrunched in distaste.
"There is still no chance they will simply do the same thing and surrender?" Rockwell asked.
"Our talks with the exiled Royals and surrendered personnel paints the same picture – the average citizen of Wakanda might not be thrilled with the coup, that's almost certain. However, they won't accept any terms we can politically agree on until Wakanda is on the cusp of an evident and obvious military defeat. We are nowhere near close to getting there conventionally."
"We have to waste months and tons of resources, and that is the best case scenario…." Stefano grumbled.
"We've given our recommendations and keep pushing for a reasonable resolution. There isn't much more on that front we can do now," Rockwell pointed out. Despite all its influence, the Illuminati wasn't all-powerful. "At any rate, Wakanda isn't the primary reason for this meeting," He used a tablet to change what was on the TV from Euronews to a recording from a conference hall full of military and intelligence personnel. "This is Commander Sonia Williams, British Navy. From what we gather, she got independently to many of the conclusions we reached a few years ago. She is not alone, merely the loudest and most prominent voice at this time."
"Two weeks ago, Disclosure changed the world. Wakanda's attacks changed it again. The paradigm that NATO is built upon today is more relevant than ever, yet grossly insufficient. We can no longer pretend or hope that a conflict away from Europe or North America is something we can ignore. An alien incursion anywhere on Earth can be an existential threat to our nations. That is, of course, as much a political as a military issue, yet a reality our countries and this alliance as a whole need to confront now while we still can…."
The TV blinked, showing a hotel's conference room in Delhi, India.
"Dr. Kabir Anand," Rockwell continued. "This is something we began looking for after Stark warned us about a disturbing trend among some scientists working on reverse engineering that Talon they have to work on."
"Wakanda, a nation here on Earth, operating under the same constraints as the rest of us, just proved how deadly advanced technology could be. They had only vibranium as a shortcut to help them advance as far as they did. Not extrapolate what a civilization hundreds if not a thousand years more advanced than us and with access to similar materials science could do! Any aliens we meet, even if they are constrained in the same way by long periods of isolation and peace, would be even more advanced. More importantly, they will have the industrial base and resources to ensure even questionable design choices won't matter! The painful truth we all need to face is that humanity is outclassed to an unprecedented degree by anyone who can reach our star system with a ship. The idea of resisting an alien invasion is a folly born of arrogance! This is real life, not the Independence Day movie! Our only reasonable and sane choice would be to work with any aliens who deign to visit Earth and prove ourselves useful to them!"
"That's indeed concerning," Hei narrowed his eyes at the screen. "This is practically a call for surrender and collaboration!"
"Do remember our plan for the coming decades is, if possible, to earn ourselves a conditional surrender, not to resist for resistance's sake or pride," Hawley reminded him. "The primary issue with people like the good doctor over there is that they will be ready to collaborate from day one, not even bothering to get a better deal for humanity as a whole."
Needless to say, while their governments might be willing to cut such a deal if the opportunity arose, the Illuminati's goal was to get such a deal for humanity as a whole, not an individual country or a few of them.
"Those are the most obvious trends we are aware of at this time. However, there are indications for other possible ideologies forming, though we will have to wait and see how that pans out," Rockwell concluded. "We have a precious opportunity to get ahead of the curve here."
"We will need to co-opt or use those of the same mind as the Commander. Dr. Kabir Anand and his ilk, on the other hand…" Stefano scrunched her nose as if she smelled something foul. "That's unacceptable."