ZNX-5-01: “'Atraf” [Acknowledged]
“When I was birthed, the Water Wars had been raging for close to 4 years already. Being fifth-generation of my gene-seed, even I don’t know exactly what the early years looked like, or what truly kicked it off into full-blown warfare, and I don’t think we ever will. No matter what future history books will say, I know it wasn’t clear-cut, it never was. It was chaos then. Factions and strategies shifted almost daily, what motivated them did so too. And the staging for the wars themselves had been a century in the making. Do you know who the original founders of the Arabic Union were? Oligarchs. Oil sheikhs. Private militias. Foreign investors. An untouchable bunch of obscenely rich people who clawed up as much power and influence as they could. They controlled the black gold before. Now they would control the blue. And people knew. They knew what the rationing would be like, and who would be on the bottom of the priority queue, or on the bottom of the boot for that matter. Entire provinces were uprooted as the Union’s Waterworks consolidated the streams their families had fostered for generations, leaving them to trek through desert and warzone to get to the -conveniently- Union-controlled urban centers. There, many of them dehydrated anyway, or died from disease, and many of those that survived turned to begging, scavenging, prostitution, crime, worse… Rinse. Repeat. And so it went. They were very bleak years.
Many died, before an equilibrium was finally reached. And in the end, it took over ten years before the Union was finally said to be victorious. The region stabilized; a conquered land always does, in one way or another. All for the best, I suppose…”
Date: November 12, 2061
Location: Red Sea Hills, nearby Al-Galala city, North-Eastern Egypt
Target: Al-Galala Military Water Depot
Objective: Sabotage a key water depot for the Al-Galala military zone, supplying the Union’s military operations in the desert regions of eastern-Egypt.
Rebel Forces: | Union Forces: |
|---|
- 12 operatives, incl. 2 supersoldiers
- 2 Exomech suits, in DesertCryptic adaptive camo
- 4 Light vehicles, 4x Sonar, 2x RPGs, 2x infrared painters
- Explosive charges
- Assault weapons loadout
|
- 36 security guards
- 12 misc. security crew
- 8 Light vehicles
- 3 Aerial drones
- Light to medium weapons loadout
|
Phase 0: Briefing/Prep (14:00 - 14:30 LT)
Command: “Attention: High-priority. Objective is to disable Union hub
[COORDS: ENCRYPTED]. Expect heavy resistance. You have 24 hours for execution and extraction. Satellite feeds show three drones patrolling randomized routes. Use the cover of night for insertion. Distraction and stealth is imperative. Signal for detonation is three bursts on the comms. Return, or leave no trace. The Water Will Flow.”
ION/ZNX: “Acknowledged.”
Phase 1: Infiltration (02:00 - 03:30 LT)
In the dark of night the desert grew deathly cold. Comms chatter was minimal, and even when decrypted, it would’ve only vaguely sounded like one of the regional languages. Words were shortened, phrases were minimized, meanings unambiguated. In a war as asymmetric as this, all that counted was ruthless efficiency. And that, they were...
ION (02:02): “Approaching compound.”
ZNX (02:12): “In position. Give status, Recon.”
Recon Lead (02:14): “Potential weak points in the perimeter. Sending coordinates. We’ll distract the patrols, putting IR-patches down now. Standby for engagement.”
Recon Lead (02:24): “Engaging.”
ZNX/ION (02:25): “Moving in.”
ION (02:35): “Jump-packs engaged. Bypassing security fence.”
ION (02:36): “Done.”
ZNX (02:36): “Infiltrating the compound.”
Recon Lead (03:42): “Drones are down. Another security contingent has exited the compound. Engaging.”
ZNX (02:58): “Acknowledged. Taking the south section.”
ION (02:58): “Taking north.”
Phase 2: Assault (03:00 - 04:00 LT)
Recon Lead (03:02): “Secondary alarm has been triggered. You’ve been spotted. We can’t help you now.”
ZNX (03:03): “Better move quick. Planting charges.”
ZNX (03:15): “Encountering hostiles. Engaging.”
ZNX (03:19): “Three guards neutralized.”
ZNX (03:25): “Final charge planted. Extracting.”
ZNX (03:29): “Got more hostiles.”
ZNX (03:36): “Hostiles down.”
ION (03:39): “Final charge planted. Extracting. Try not to blow it all before I’m out, Z.”
Phase 3: Extraction (03:45 - 05:00 LT)
ION (03:45): “Got some hostiles on my 6. Calm down, we’re leaving already.”
Recon Lead (04:00): “Stay sharp. Union forces are advancing towards your position.”
ZNX (04:03): “Providing covering fire.”
ZNX (04:10): “Arrived at Rendez-vous point. Execute:
[ENCRYPTED KEY 1].”
ION (04:13): “Execute:
[ENCRYPTED KEY 2]. Let’s get loud.”
(04:14):
Three short burstsThen, for a fraction of a second, the starry night briefly turned to day as the compound went up in a mass of fire, debris and water plumes.
ZNX (04:16): “Target destroyed. Returning to base. Prepare medical unit; arm injury.”
Recon Lead (04:18): “Negative. Divert, dig down and lay low. Union forces are on high alert and tracking your exit route. We’ll give the return signal. Mission success.”
ZNX/ION (04:19): “Acknowledged.”
Phase 4: Propaganda (06:00 - ...)
(on repeat)
“To the leaders of the self-styled Arabic Union: You have taken the water of life from our people and built your power on their deaths and oppression. We did not want to be your enemy, but you leave us no choice. Withdraw your soldiers and return what you stole, or face the consequences. You will drown in your greed. To the People: They will say we are your enemy. But we are your Brothers and Sisters, your Nieces and Nephews, your Uncles and Aunts, your Mothers and Fathers! And together, we will fight those who try to take our future! Look out for us! We will come bearing gifts! The Water Will Flow!”
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