Our Secret War

[TheGuitarist]

Hey, this is a really great story. I'm looking forward to the next installment.

[GeneralTacticus]

Julius made his report to Cicero, who commended the performance of his team during the mission, but was depply disturbed by the information that was borught back. Before Julius left, he was told that there would most likely be another raid quite soon.

A few days later, the dead from his team having been replaced, Julius was summoned once again to the Republican Cabinet Room. There he saw the Roman Commander-in-Chief, Julius Caesar, the Foreign Minister, Marcus Germanicus, the PLR Commander, Cornelius Scipio, the Intelligence Chief, Publius Octavian, and the Director of Research, Flaccus Aquinus, along with Consul Cicero. Scipio stood and shook his hand warmly when he entered the room.

"Sit down, Colonel." he said in a friendly way.

Julius sat. Cicero stood; he looked as though he hadn't slept for three days. He probably hadn't. He strode to the front of the room and began to speak.

"Friends, Romans, countrymen," he began, "we have a matter of utmost seriousness to discuss. We all know of Colonel Julius' succesful raid on the American base known as Omega Central. The information he brought back confirms our deepest fears.

The Americans are, as we speak, in the process of developing a nuclear arsenal. The equipment found at their base strongly suggested it, and the documents that we stole have confirmed it. According to their own reports, the Americans have already constructed a functional fission bomb, and will be prepared to explode a thermonuclear weapon within twelve months. This alone is bad enough, but the other information we discovered makes this worse by an order of magnitude.

As Colonel Julius reported, a significant proportion of the equipment at Omega Central has no direct relevance to a nuclear program, and is instead space-related. The stolen documents reveal that these two programs are running under the same command, towards the same end. The Americans plan to develop a thermonuclear arsenal, then mount it in space aboard a fleet of military satellites. They have already developed functional ICBMs, and if they were mounted on the planned satellites and fired from directly above the target, the missiles would strike before anyone knew what had happened. It does not take much imagination to see what the implications of this would be, should the Americans develop this.

Now, we are here for two reasons. First, to alert you all to this threat, and secondly and more importantly, to counter it. Does anyone have any ideas on this?"

Cicero sat. The occupants of the room looked around for a few moments, avoiding one another's eyes. None of them even wanted to consider the implications of this threat. This had been the policy adopted by virtually every nation in the world over the past twelve years, as the Americans engaged in an ever more costly military build-up; they had closed their eyes to the problem, hoping that if they ignored it it would go away. No-one wanted to be at the receiving end of the ever-growing military might of the United States.

Eventually Scipio cleared his throat and stood.

"Gentlemen," he said, "I believe I may have a suggestion. According to the stolen documents, Omega central contains virtually all of the important aspects of their programl collectively known as Project Omega. A few other facilities are engaged in producing equipment for it, but they fulfill only a subsidary role. If Omega Central were to be destroyed or badly damaged, the Americans would be set back by at least five years. We may then have the time to complete our own nuclear program as a deterrent to the American one."

Aquinus nodded to this. "You are quite correct, General Scipio. Though our nuclear program is not as advanced as the maerican one, we expect to be able to test an atom bomb in three to four months, and hydrogen one in around two years. If we can set the American program back by five years, that will be ample time to finish our own one."

Julius frowned at this. "Research Director," he asked, "are you not forgetting the other aspect to Project Omega? The concept of MAD may have kept the peace between Persia and Babylon for three decades, but if a nation gains the capacity to launch a first strike without any possible retaliation, the whole system collapses. And that is what the Americans are developing. You are right that Omega Central needs to be destroyed, but we must follow this up and prevent the Americans from ever resuming their current course."

"I agree with you, Colonel," Cicero put in, "but That is something which will have to be looked at later. At present, we do not have the capacity to do as you suggest. It would take a full national mobilization and a very bloody war to remove the American government, which is what your suggestion would entail. And if we attempted this, public opinion and the opposition would tear us apart."

Julius felt his anger rise. "Lord Consul, with all due respect, this is a matter not just of national security, but of world peace. The Americans CANNOT be allowed to continue with what they are doing. Are you willing to hand them the power to blackmail any nation in the world with impunity for the sake of political expediency?"

"I can understand what you feel, Colonel," Cicero replied gently, "but I am afraid that we have no choice. The opposition is, as you know, quite friendly towards America and would be perfectly happy to let them go ahead with their nuclear program. If we allow them to get into power, the consequences will be far worse than those of what we plan to do now. Besides, if Lincoln does something stupid we may be able to gain public support for furhter action."

Julius subsided somewhat, deciding not to argue any further. Cicero went on.

"So, it seems we all agree that we must destroy Omega Central, regardless of anything else. Does anyone object?"

Silence.

"Very well, let's vote. All those in favour, raise your hands."

Everyone in the room voted in favour.

"Well, that's settled then. Colonel Julius, I want you to begin planning your return to Omega Central. General Scipio, you are to co-operate with him as far as possible. The two of you are to present your plans to this cabinet in one week's time."

The two soldiers saluted before getting up and leaving the room. The others quickly followed suit.

[unscratchedfoot]

Yeah go give them another beating!! Even more blood and carnage this time!

By the way, in your signature the [ after the first 'b' is backwards.

[GeneralTacticus]

Oops, thanks for pointing that out.

[GeneralTacticus]

ne week later, the council that had met before once again filed into the Cabinet room and sat. Julius and Scipio strode to the front of the room and waited for everyone to settle down. Once the other were ready, Julius began to speak.

"Gentlemen, the plan that General Scipio and I have prepared is simple, so I will be brief. Firstly, let us examine the structure of Omega Central.

It is divided into two main parts: the above ground section and the underground section. The above-ground section seems to be of little major significance: it is the underground section where the critical research and development is being conducted. Both sections are heavily armoured, and recent satellite photography has revealed greatly increased security.

Now, the plan that has been constructed is this. As a prelude to the attack, we will use precision airstrikes to cripple as much of the base defensive infrastructure as possible: The guard towers, electric fences, and the defences around the entry bunker. While the air-strikes continue, we will drop two commando squads nearby via helicopter. The airstikes will then cease, and the two squads will enter the base and begin the second part of the plan.

Every commando will be equipped with a fuel-air explosive, the most powerful bomb we currently have in our arsenal. These explosives shall be planted in the following places:

1) In the storage area.

2) The main communications dish.

3) The base launch silo, designed for test-firing American missiles.

and

4) The top and bottom floors of the underground section. As each explosive is equivalent to a small tactical nuke, and we intend to use several of them at each point, this should be more than enough to destroy the base. After the laying these explosives, the surviving commandos will exit the base and be picked up by helicopter some distance south of the base. That is all. Are these any objections?"

There were none. Cicero nodded and gave his authorization, and the preparations for the next raid began.

* * *

Flying Officer Orbilius glanced nervously at his radar screen every few minutes as he flew his aircraft. It had been eight days since the plans for the next attack had been laid, and now they were being put into action. He was flying the first Roman bomber to in the air attack; he didn't know whether it was a curse or an honor.

He firmly decided in favour of the latter as American F-4 Phantom jets appeared on his radar screen. He wondered for a moment why the Americans would still be using these aircraft, then put it out of his mind. He hit the alarm switch and the crew of the massive Juptier-class jet bomber prepared to fight.

First, the communications officer activated the aircraft's jamming system. This eliminated the threat of American radar-guided missiles, and they carried flares for use against sidewinders. Meanwhile the gunners waited for the Americans to come within range.

Orbilius was watching the Phantoms like a hawk and he spotted their missiles the moment they were fired. He could see that they were sidewinders. He triggered the flare release switch and could imagine the fury on the American pilots' faces as their missiles veered away from the target and destroyed nothing more than a few heating devices. He chuckled.

A second later a shudder went through the bomber as the gunners opened fire with 40 mm cannons. The leading American jet shuddered for a moment as tracer shells converged on it before going down in a blaze of fire. It's wingmate then broke off and raced for the airfield near Omega Central. The gunners kept firing but it was obvious that they would acheive nothing, since the F-15 was going so fast it would virtually outrun the shellfire. Orbilius' aircraft was now approaching the base and his bomardier was setting targets for the laser-guided bombs it carried. As they flew over the target the bomb-bay doors swung open and rained death on the facility below.

[GeneralTacticus]

15 minutes after the bombs started falling, the base was in chaos. The air strikes had neutralized the nearby airbase and wrecked the perimeter fence, along with the entry bunker. Missiles from Roman jet fighters were still screaming in as the helicopters bearing Julius and the two commando squads approached.

As Julius watched their planned landing ground just outside the perimeter fence coming up fast, he was still running through the plans and the exercises he had run through with his troops. It seemed he’d spent every waking hour since he’d got his authorization practising, practising, then practising some more. He stood up as the choppers swept over the edge of the forest and headed for the ground, the doors opening as they did so.

As the choppers swooped down almost to the ground, Julius leapt out, the other commandos following. They hit the ground running and sprayed the area with bullets, firing RPGs into the nearby buildings. There was no apparent resistance, the air strikes having wrecked all defensive positions in the facility. Julius began to wonder if they might complete this mission without a single casualty.

This hope was dashed a few seconds later as a hail of American bullets spewed forth from a hole in the wall of one of the buildings. One of the men from the second squad was utterly shredded by the shooting, and seconds later more grenades hurtled back at the unknown shooter. The flash of the explosion revealed a broken body being hurled through the air, but the Roman could see behind it more enemy troops moving through. One of them pulled a grenade launcher of his own and let fly, forcing the Romans to scatter and wounding several of them. Then Julius heard two explosions high overhead and looked up, his mouth opening with horror as he saw the two choppers that had brought them in shot down by Stinger missiles.

He briefly contemplated aborting the mission but the decision was effectively made for him as he saw US SEALs running around the corners of nearby buildings. He knew that, scattered out in the open, his troops could not hope to win this fight, so they would have to use their backup plan.

“Everyone, abort mission! Abort mission!” he yelled into his radio, “Leave the FAEs behind, set for contingency mode.” Before the mission, the explosives had been modified to allow a ‘contingency mode’ to be used on them, in case they had to pull out as they did now. Once set, the bombs would allow a 10-second window period to be placed, then any movement of them would trigger their detonation.

The commando team pulled out their explosives, hit the switches and then hurled them toward the Americans. They then began running by leapfrog, some running flat out, while others laid down suppressive fire while moving back more slowly. They then reversed the positions. In this manner they reached the edge of the trees and moved back through them, but they lost five more dead and six wounded. Moreover, they had now lost their means of evacuation and would have to call in more from Tyrus. They would take some time to arrive, and in the meantime they would have to survive a full-on search for them by every military resource the US had in the area. Julius set the FAEs to explode in 15 minutes by remote control and then he and his troops began their long slog to safety…

* * *

“Sir, we have received a transmission from the commando team at Omega Central.” Admiral Crassus’ aide informed him.

“Very well, what is it?” he replied. His aide wordlessly handed him a slip of paper. He read it, and scowled.

“So, it seems that the Americans were expecting us this time. Julius has lost his evac choppers, and needs us to finish his job via air strikes. Well, we don’t exactly have much choice. Tell our pilots to be ready for more strikes within two hours. And fly some more choppers out, with fighter escort. We will pick them up at the shores of the Great Bear Lake. See that Colonel Julius is informed about this; the lake shouldn’t be more than an hour and a half away from Omega Central, if he hurries.”

“Yes, sir.” The aide replied, and hurried of to carry out the Admiral’s orders.

[GeneralTacticus]

“Colonel Julius, do you copy?” Julius heard the voice from his commlink, recognising the voice of Quintus Cornelius Horatius, Admiral Crassus’ communications officer.

“I copy, Horiatius, what is it?” he replied.

“Admiral Crassus has told me that he is sending choppers out to pick you up at Hill CCCIV, 50 kilometres north of the Great Bear Lake.”

“Very well, we’re moving.” Julius cut the connection and relayed the orders to the rest of his team. They would get there, even if they had to carry their wounded.

* * *

As Crassus’ aide Brutus listened in on his own personal communications gear, he smiled. Colonel Julius and his team were walking directly into an American trap, and the USAF was relocating every defensive fighter it had to the closest surviving airbase to Omega Central. This adventure would go down in the history books as a disaster for Rome, as well it should…

[GeneralTacticus]

Julius’ first sign that something was wrong came an hour later, as he saw an American transport chopper heading directly for the evac point designated by Crassus. He looked up at it in concern, and told the others that they should be very cautious when they arrived at Hill CCCIV.

15 minutes later, they entered a clearing and realized, too late, that something had definitely gone wrong. The Americans were waiting for them, as SEALs and Special Forces stormed out of the trees and opened fire, with Apache helicopters providing support. Julius saw three of his troops die within seconds, before the Romans began returning fire. He noted dimly that his special weapon troopers had evidently been training heavily, as they shot down all three of the enemy helicopter with only one shot missing. Meanwhile the American ground troops were dying too, and much more swiftly than the Romans.

When the dust finally settled and the last American was dead, Julius took stock. Hist commando team was now down to five unhurt and eight wounded members, having just eliminated twenty elite American troops. Not bad, but the Americans could afford such losses and Julius could not.

“Colonel Julius, Colonel Julius, this is Captain Lucius, the officer overseeing your extraction. We have reached the Great Bear Lake, but you are not here. Where are you? Over.”

Julius felt a surge of anger as he realized that he had been tricked. “Captain Lucius, we received incorrect information about the designated evac point. We are on our way to you now.”

“Don’t bother, Colonel, I can see where you are from your transmission, and by the time you reach us the Americans will be all over you. We’re on our way to you, ETA 15 minutes. Just try to survive. Over.”

“Thank you, Captain. Over and out.”

Julius wearily relayed the orders to his team, leading them off into the trees. They would have to hide as best they could until the choppers arrived, then hope they could survive the trip back. And when they got back, Julius vowed, he would find whoever had betrayed them and he would personally rip them limb from limb.

[civman2000]

thanks for continuing this story! THis is great!

[GeneralTacticus]

“Warrant Officer Nash, this is Captain Graham. Found anything yet? Over.”

“Sorry captain, nothing. Wait…” Graham watched as the other Apache helicopter slowly turned in midair, scanning for any evidence of the Roman commandos. When Nash called back in, his voice was filled with exultation.

“We got ‘em, Captain, they’re right down there.” As he said this, Nash fired a flare to illustrate the Roman’s location. The two choppers sped down toward that patch of pine forest, guns blazing, while the Special Forces on board prepared to disembark and finish the job. Seconds later they received a rude shock as 3 RPGs came hurtling out of the forest some distance away and blasted Graham’s chopper out of the sky. Nash called in reinforcements and began running for his life, but he wasn’t fast enough to avoid taking a grenade to his tail rotor. His chopper fell out of the sky and crashed in a massive fireball, killing everyone on board.

* * *

Julius relaxed slightly as he saw both American choppers destroyed, the infrared decoys they had left over there having worked, but he knew that there would be worse to come. Lucius’ choppers weren’t due in for another 10 minutes, and the Americans would now know where they were. They could, of course, relocate, but they wouldn’t get far and Lucius would have to look for them. Their only real option was to sit tight and hope for the best.

A few minutes later his heart sank as he heard more choppers incoming. Looking up he could see no less than six, all heading for the patch of forest that the real Romans were hiding in. The three special weapon troopers began sighting their RPG launchers, and the others prepared for a shooting match against whatever ground troops the Americans had brought in.
Shortly afterward the choppers swooped overhead, Special Forces troops rappelling down through the trees with guns blazing. Roman bullets and RPGs hurtled back in reply, and two Apaches exploded immediately. The others let fly with their own armaments, shredding the cover provided by the trees. Moments after the attack began the Romans were down to only six commandos, two of them wounded.

“Break off!” Julius yelled, “We have to split up and hope some of us will make it.”

The Romans obeyed his order, splitting into pairs and running off through the trees. As Julius followed he dropped some grenades behind him. Shortly after he heard them detonate and heard the death-screams of at least two Americans.

Then he heard two gunshots, and knew that would have been the Americans executing his wounded. He shook his head and pushed that though aside for know; the only thing he could think about now was survival.

After a few minutes more running, Julius called his remaining three troops by radio and arranged a rendezvous point at a nearby clearing. He then called up Lucius to redirect him.

“Captain Lucius, this is Colonel Julius. Do you copy? Over.”

“Julius, this is Lucius. We’ll be there in just a few minutes. What’s the problem? Over.”

“We were attacked by the Americans while waiting for you. I’m down to only four troops including myself, and you’ll have to pick us up somewhere else.” He then went on to give Lucius the location of the pickup point.

“Thanks, Colonel. Over and out.”

[GeneralTacticus]

Julius and the other commandos arrived at the edge of the clearing a few minutes later and prepared for the few minutes more wait until they could escape. Julius though he could just here the sound of helicopter blades in the distance when they found themselves under attack yet again. Julius spotted the US commandos before they attacked this time, and was able to shoot one of them, but it did little good. An instant later the pine forest once again erupted with the sound of gunfire.

Though the Romans ducked back into the forest and tried their best to take cover in the trees, they were still taking most of the punishment. Julius saw several grenades detonate next to one of the other commandos, shredding her before she even knew what was happening.

As he turned back to the enemy Julius felt as though someone had whacked him in the gut with a lump of lead. He doubled over, gasping for breath, just in time to take three more bullets to his chest. He could feel his ribs crack despite his Kevlar body armour, and saw his gun slip from his nerveless fingers. As he looked up he saw one of the US commandos taking aim at his face, but there was nothing he could do. He closed his eyes and waited for the end.

An instant later he heard a shot, and felt it strike him in the face, but to his confusion he was still alive. At the same time he heard a deafening stream of gunfire coming from above. He opened his eyes just in time to see the last American soldier shredded by assault cannon fire from a Roman attack helicopter.

Though ordinarily he would have felt a flood of relief, the only thing on his mind right now was the pain. Thoguh he could tell, dimly, that the bullet had struck him in the cheek before passing out again and was not life threatening, that didn’t make it hurt any less. As one the choppers swept down over the clearing to collect the surviving commandos, it was all he could do to pull himself up to the doors before passing out. His last memory of the incident was of being pulled up into the helicopter as it lifted off and headed full speed for the Marcus Aurelis.

[GeneralTacticus]

While Julius’ two commando squads were going through hell trying to escape from American troops, the base that was their target was being reduced to rubble.

The first step had been the detonation of the numerous fuel-air explosives they had left inside the perimeter. They had gone off before the Americans could bring in a bomb squad to remove them, leaving most of the aboveground section of the base in ruins and the thick concrete that protected the underground section cracked and collapsed in several places.

The second step in the destruction was the massive air strike organized by admiral Crassus against what was left. 24 Jupiter-class bombers attacked from Tyrus, escorted by dozens more Roman fighter-bombers.

There was little resistance to the strike. The local airfield had already been taken out of commission and the fighters that the Americans already had in the air were low on fuel and hopelessly outnumbered. In less than an hour, a seemingly endless rain of bombs converted Omega Central into nothing more a rubble-filled crater, and along with it went five years of American nuclear research. As the last Roman aircraft left, one thing was clear.

The United States of America would never forgive Rome for this.

[civman2000]

keep this up!

[Apokolips]

Good story. Give the eskimos nukes and it would be perfect. Good Job.

[GeneralTacticus]

“So, what do we know about the attacks against Omega Central?” President Lincoln asked, opening the cabinet meeting. Colonel Hunter, the overall commander of Project Omega, shuffled some papers and then stood.

“Mr. President, we have ascertained two things of importance. Firstly, the perpetrators of these terrorist actions are known. It was the Romans. We have corpses from the ground troops who conducted the first assault and the first phase eof the second, and video and radar evidence of Roman aircraft taking off from their military base at Tyrus and an aircraft carrier in violation of our territorial waters. Take them together, and we have compelling evidence that the Romans were responsible.

The second piece of information is less welcome. The base was completely destroyed in the course of the second attack. While we backed up what we could, the majority of the information there was irreplaceable, and we also lost several of our best scientists, who were killed in the initial bombing raid. Fortunately, the rest were able to evacuate to the sealed bunker beneath the base and survived. We were able to get them out within hours.”

Lincoln nodded, slowly, thinking this information over. As he did so, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger stood and began to speak. “Mr. President, I have taken the liberty of consulting with our allied governments in Tenochtitlan, Cuzco and Moscow, and they have all promised their support for us. The Czarina of Russia was the most reluctant, but we did not have to seriously pressure her.”

“Good.” Lincoln replied. “What about the UN?”

“Their bureaucracy will probably oppose us on general principle, being riddled with communists and all,” Kissinger replied, “but we do have a strong base of support in the General Assembly. Aside from our traditional allies, the Romans haven’t exactly endeared themselves to the other Europeans either. If we play our cards right, we can portray ourselves as innocent victims of unprovoked Roman aggression – which is fairly certain to gain us sympathy.”

“So who is likely to support us?”

“The Russians, Aztecs and Inca most definitely, and probably the Spanish, French, English and Carthaginians as well. We may be able to drum up some support amongst the Asians as well, but it’s doubtful.”

“So we don’t have a majority?”

“No, Mr. President.”

“Then who will support Rome?”

“The Greeks and Egyptians for certain, probably the Germans, and they may be able to wangle a deal with the Asians. The rest will probably be undecided and will support whoever they think makes the best case.”

“What of Persia and Babylon? Their support, above all, could make or break our efforts here.”

“Depends. We will have to try and sell our case to them as promoting stability, but that may be difficult, considering that for the immediate future we are aiming for it’s opposite.”

“Very well. What do you suggest we tell the UN?”

“That we are shocked and bewildered by this unprovoked aggression, and that we demand reparations from the Romans and an evacuation of their base Tyrus to protect us from any further attacks. The Romans will, of course, refuse, and then we can ask the UN to place sanctions on them and possibly approve an attack on Tyrus. If the Romans agree, then they’ve lost their military base and had to pay for their attack. We can then restart the program without fear of attack.”

“I agree. But what if we lose the vote?”

“We will simply have to make sure we won’t. It shouldn’t be that hard.”

“Very well. Do it. Macarthur, do we have the capability to take Tyrus from the Romans if necessary?”

“Hell yes, Mr. President,” the Secretary of Defence replied, “You give the word and we could have it done by morning.”

“What would you expect the casualties to be?” Kissinger asked.

“Pretty high.” Macarthur admitted, “But there would be no doubt about outcome.”

“What if the Romans reinforced it?” Lincoln wanted to know.

“They can’t. We would know about it, and even if they tried to fly them in we could shoot them down first. Our air force will easily destroy any escort they sent with the transports.”

Kissinger looked doubtful at this, but Lincoln saw the confidence on Macarthur’s face and nodded.

“Very well. We shall make our demands at the UN in two days time. Macarthur, I want you to have the troops organized to take Tyrus.”

“Yes, Mr. President. Consider it done.”