10-11-2024, 08:38 AM
International waters near Sunemia
October 10th
The Nahualli bobbed gently in the calm waters of the Gulf of Yukoni. The ship was, normally, a cargo ship that ran a trade route between Huenya and various ports around southern Caxcana. But today, it was carrying a different sort of cargo than its usual fare.
Staff Sergeant Xipil, commander of the 3rd Squad "Iztlacmitl" of the Huenyan Special Forces, nodded as he looked at the video screen. The rest of his squad, four Jaguar Warriors and five Eagle Warriors, also watched in silence as General Huatli continued. "Our intelligence indicates that the local police at Aropaonui are the only ones still guarding the two hostages. There are about ten National Police at a garrison in Aroha, ten miles away. And there are about fifty PDRM Army soldiers based at a small checkpoint in Kahurangi, about fifteen miles away. They have some jeeps and one armored vehicle, nothing too crazy. The nearest major forces are about thirty miles away, in Roimata."
Xipil wordlessly highlighted the positions Huatli was mentioning on a nearby tablet, which displayed a map of northern Milintica. "You will be landing about two miles east of Aropaonui, at the position labeled Tamati Point on your map. You are to land at 2 am Milintican time, which should catch any locals sleeping. You are to proceed overland to Aropaonui." Xipil swiped right on the tablet, and a map of Aropaonui appeared. "Once in Aropaonui, proceed along the back road called Petera Street to the rear of the police station. Intelligence indicates there should only be one policeman outside at the rear entrance. Once you disarm and disable that guard, you are to enter the building and proceed inside. We do not have a reliable blueprint for the inside of the police station, but it is a small structure. It should not take long to search. While the Jaguar Warriors enter the building, the Eagle Warriors are to proceed around the front and take down the single guard that should be present up front. We believe there should only be two or three officers inside the building itself, and they're just local cops, so they won't be a challenge." Huatli paused. "If you move quickly and avoid any complications, this should be a simple and quick extraction. Once you secure the station and find the hostages, the goal is to get out of Aropaonui as quickly as possible. Use a police vehicle to drive back to Tamati Point following the road labeled Āwhina Street. Get back to the Nahualli and get back out into the Gulf as far away from Milintica as possible, as quickly as possible. Avoid the Milintican Navy at all costs. They're not much of a navy, but the Nahualli isn't a warship, so not getting detected is best." Xipil nodded, laying down the tablet. "We'll get it done, General," he said.
"I know you will. Also, if at all possible, don't kill anyone. We're not trying to start a war with the Milinticans, we're just trying to free our people. This operation is going to blow up Neina Arana's tiny little brain as it is, so let's try to make it as painless and bloodless as possible." Xipil nodded his agreement, and after an exchange of salutes, the video call winked out.
Xipil stood up, and the rest of the squad followed. They didn't need to exchange a lot of words. The drill of preparation was well rehearsed to them.
---
As 2 am approached, Xipil gathered the squad together. "This is the first time Huenya has attempted any kind of military operation outside our borders. Well, except for the operations we send inside Xiomera to annoy the XCP pricks," he grinned, earning chuckles from his team. "But being serious, we cannot afford to fail this mission. It would be a tremendous embarrassment to Huenya for us to fail. More importantly, though, it would leave two of our people prisoner of these communist jackasses. We aren't going to let that happen, are we?"
The Huenyan operators shook their heads, expressions fierce. "Good. Let's get out there then," Xipil said.
Moving with speed and precision, the crew of the Nahualli brought an inflatable boat to the deck. They quickly attached it to a lifting bail, and the 3rd Squad scrambled on board. The ship's crew silently lowered the boat to the water, and once it landed with a soft splash, Xipil unhooked the boat from the Nahualli. The boat sped towards the nearby Milintican mainland. When it hit the beach, the squad silently disembarked and began marching towards Aropaonui.
When the squad arrived, the streets of Aropaonui were silent and deserted. The small village wasn't typically a hotbed of late night activity, making this the perfect time for the Huenyans to arrive. They quickly moved to the police station near the center of town, keeping to Petera Street, a small and mostly dark back road. At the police station, Xipil used hand gestures to order his squad to halt. As FIS had reported, a single policeman was keeping guard at the back of the station. "Keeping guard" was not a precise description, though, as the man appeared to be asleep. Xipil made several more hand gestures, and his squad split into two halves. The Jaguar Warriors, Xipil at their lead, moved to the back. As they arrived at the door, the Aropaonui policeman woke up with a start. Before he could even speak, though, Xipil lunged forward and knocked him out with a very efficient uppercut. Xipil searched the man for keys, then cursed when he couldn't find any. Ahuic, his second in command, wordlessly stepped forward and pulled gently at the door. The Aropaonui cop hadn't even bothered to lock the door behind him, and it silently swung open. Xipil rolled his eyes, and the five moved inside.
Meanwhile, at the front of the police station, the five Eagle Warriors snuck up behind the policeman guarding the door. He was not asleep, but given his total lack of perception, he might as well have been. His first realization that he was not alone came when he felt a hand on his shoulder. One of the Eagle Warriors swung him around, and another knocked him out with a quick application of a rifle butt to the face.
Inside the police station, the five Jaguar Warriors quickly discovered that the tiny police station was as easy to navigate as Huenyan intelligence had predicted. Two more police officers had been inside. Neither of them would prove to be any more observant or exceptional than their now-snoring colleagues outside.
Once the police station was fully secure, Xipil found a staircase leading downstairs. A jailer was watching the cells downstairs, but upon seeing five fully armed Huenyan special forces operators appear in front of him, simply smiled and put his hands in the air. Xipil gave the jailer a nod, and finally found the elusive set of keys he had wanted in the jailer's possession. In the cells, Itopan and Nelpan stood up hopefully. "Xipil, Federation Special Forces," the Jaguar Warrior said as he unlocked the cell doors. Itopan and Nelpan stepped out and began to offer their thanks, but Xipil cut them off. "Not to be rude, but you can thank us later if we succeed. We need to move. Make absolutely no noise and try to keep up with us." The two Huenyan diplomats nodded, grasping the seriousness of the situation.
The Huenyans, Xipil in the lead, went back outside at the rear entrance. The other Huenyan operators, at a signal from Xipil, ran back to the rear entrance. The group began piling into an Aropaonui Police van that was also, thankfully, left unlocked. Xipil jumped into the driver's seat. He once again briefly lamented the lack of needed keys, before sighing and smashing the steering column open with his baton. With a few deft maneuvers, he engaged the starter and the van coughed to life. "Hold on," Xipil shouted to everyone as the van lurched down the back roads of Aropaonui.
The ride back to Tamati Point and their waiting boat was undertaken quickly, the sound of rushing air as the van sped down the dark roads of rural Paora territory the only noise made. The police van eventually arrived at the beach, lurching sharply over the sand before shuddering to a halt at the boat. "Out, quickly," Xipil snapped and everyone began to pour out of various doors. The Huenyan operators and the two diplomats climbed into the boat. "Hold on tight. These boats don't usually carry extra passengers, and we don't have time to go back for anyone who falls off," Xipil warned the diplomats. Itopan and Nelpan silently nodded, as two of the Eagle Warriors pushed the boat back into the water. Once it was afloat, the Eagle Warriors jumped back in, and Xipil began guiding the boat towards the open water.
Twenty minutes later, at the Tecpancalli Tonaltzintli, President Xiadani waited nervously for video to resume. Defense Secretary Tlanexchel, High General Texōccoatl, FIS Director Cuetlancaona and General Huatli were also seated around the table with the President. The video feed finally came to life, and Xipil nodded. "The operation was completed successfully. We have both hostages safe and there were no casualties. The Milinticans don't seem to have noticed yet, even," Xipil said with a shrug. "We seem to have evaded their navy as well. But we are getting to international waters as quickly as we can. Once the Milinticans find out their prisoners are gone, they may well decide to intercept any Huenyan ship in their waters. I recommend we send a bulletin out to all of our merchant ships in the area to avoid Milintican waters for the time being."
The President nodded. "Good advice. And good work, Sergeant. Get back home safe." As the video ended, Xiadani stood up and sighed. "In a few hours, I predict that a certain Milintican president is going to want to talk to me far more eagerly than she did a few days ago. I suppose I should get to my desk and prepare for that." The looks on the faces of the others at the conference table clearly indicated they were all glad they didn't have to have that conversation.
Three hours later, as Xiadani had predicted, her assistant Moquihui popped his head inside her door. "Madam President, Neina Arana is calling, demanding to speak with you at once. She sounds, um, agitated."
The petty side of Xiadani briefly pondered refusing Arana's call, just as Arana had refused her call previously. Xiadani really, really wanted to do it. But she wasn't a child, she was President of Huenya. So, after a very long sigh, Xiadani nodded to Moquihui. "Go ahead and put her through."
As the video feed came to life, Xiadani pondered Neina Arana's face as it appeared on her screen. She looked sour. But really, she always looked sour, Xiadani mused. Xiadani adopted her brightest smile in response, indulging pettiness to just that extent. "Good morning, President Arana. What can I do for you?"
"How dare you!" Arana shouted, clearly not in the mood for pleasantries. "The two Huenyans who were being held in Aropaonui. You broke them out of jail. You assaulted multiple local police. Admit it!" Before Xiadani could respond, Arana continued to shout. "You dare to claim you are our friends and allies with one hand, but interfere with our elections and violate our sovereignty with the other? You take sides in our political process and violate our legal system? You won't get away with this, Xiadani. I demand you return the two Huenyans you broke out of jail, and I demand a public apology from you for violating our sovereignty and harming our police. If you don't, I swear Milintica will be done with the UCS and done with Huenya. I will cut off all diplomatic and trade ties with you and throw all your damned agents out of Milintica. What do you have to say for yourself?"
Xiadani's already limited patience with Neina Arana finally snapped for good. "What do I have to say? Blow it out of your rear end. That's what I have to say to you." Arana's face turned beet red, but before she could wind herself up for another round of shouting, Xiadani beat her to it. "You took two of our diplomats hostage, in violation of everything the UCS stands for, not to mention both international law and basic human decency. You're surprised that we responded? You're shocked that we didn't just leave our people behind to rot in your jails? Are you truly that dense? You think Milintica has the right to be angry here? Huenya had, and has, the real grievance here. And we had every right to bring our people home, whether you like it or not. Make whatever threats you want. You're a toothless leader of an inept and incompetent state, and you're no threat to Huenya. You're only a threat to your own people, with your massive ego and your insane ideology. Go ahead and pull out of the UCS if you want. We have the Manabí now, we don't need you. And if you think Huenya is going to just wait around while you try to wreck Caxcanan unity, you're very wrong. I doubt the Manabí or the Eirians will be interested in your attempts to use the UCS as some kind of bargaining chip to get your way either."
Xiadani continued implacably in the face of Arana's clear fury. "If you want to destroy your own country, that's on you. But Huenya won't let you hold the UCS over us as some kind of hostage. I mean, I know you like to take things hostage, but it didn't work with our diplomats, and it won't work with politics either. Huenya won't let you threaten our people either. Diplomats, officials, just citizens, whatever. If you put Huenyans at risk again, I will respond. And you will not like the response."
"You don't scare me, Xiadani. Huenya is the real toothless state here. How much more land have you lost to the Xiomerans today?" Arana sneered. Xiadani sighed. "We haven't lost anything to Xiomera in a year now, and you know it. As for that, though, do you really put yourself on the same level as Xiomera? Seriously? It sure seems like it, since you keep poking that particular bear. But here's some advice, Neina, and you really should take it. Just because Wosteaque handed you a bunch of shiny new hardware doesn't make you dangerous. Your military is still, well, your military. Handing them a bunch of shiny new weapons is like handing a two year old the keys to a car and expecting them to drive. Huenya is no superpower, you're right. But you're still Milintica. We can take you, if we have to. And, if you keep going the way you're going, I don't even think we would have a hard time finding help with that."
Before Arana could respond, Xiadani cut her off again. "The ease with which we got into Milintica and freed our people should give you pause. But knowing you, it probably won't. Honestly, part of me hopes that you give me another excuse." With a sharp jab of her finger, Xiadani cut off the call.
Back in Huānoch, Arana glared at her video screen, then stood up and called out to her assistant. "Get MNT studios on the line. I will be making an official statement to be broadcast in three hours."
October 10th
The Nahualli bobbed gently in the calm waters of the Gulf of Yukoni. The ship was, normally, a cargo ship that ran a trade route between Huenya and various ports around southern Caxcana. But today, it was carrying a different sort of cargo than its usual fare.
Staff Sergeant Xipil, commander of the 3rd Squad "Iztlacmitl" of the Huenyan Special Forces, nodded as he looked at the video screen. The rest of his squad, four Jaguar Warriors and five Eagle Warriors, also watched in silence as General Huatli continued. "Our intelligence indicates that the local police at Aropaonui are the only ones still guarding the two hostages. There are about ten National Police at a garrison in Aroha, ten miles away. And there are about fifty PDRM Army soldiers based at a small checkpoint in Kahurangi, about fifteen miles away. They have some jeeps and one armored vehicle, nothing too crazy. The nearest major forces are about thirty miles away, in Roimata."
Xipil wordlessly highlighted the positions Huatli was mentioning on a nearby tablet, which displayed a map of northern Milintica. "You will be landing about two miles east of Aropaonui, at the position labeled Tamati Point on your map. You are to land at 2 am Milintican time, which should catch any locals sleeping. You are to proceed overland to Aropaonui." Xipil swiped right on the tablet, and a map of Aropaonui appeared. "Once in Aropaonui, proceed along the back road called Petera Street to the rear of the police station. Intelligence indicates there should only be one policeman outside at the rear entrance. Once you disarm and disable that guard, you are to enter the building and proceed inside. We do not have a reliable blueprint for the inside of the police station, but it is a small structure. It should not take long to search. While the Jaguar Warriors enter the building, the Eagle Warriors are to proceed around the front and take down the single guard that should be present up front. We believe there should only be two or three officers inside the building itself, and they're just local cops, so they won't be a challenge." Huatli paused. "If you move quickly and avoid any complications, this should be a simple and quick extraction. Once you secure the station and find the hostages, the goal is to get out of Aropaonui as quickly as possible. Use a police vehicle to drive back to Tamati Point following the road labeled Āwhina Street. Get back to the Nahualli and get back out into the Gulf as far away from Milintica as possible, as quickly as possible. Avoid the Milintican Navy at all costs. They're not much of a navy, but the Nahualli isn't a warship, so not getting detected is best." Xipil nodded, laying down the tablet. "We'll get it done, General," he said.
"I know you will. Also, if at all possible, don't kill anyone. We're not trying to start a war with the Milinticans, we're just trying to free our people. This operation is going to blow up Neina Arana's tiny little brain as it is, so let's try to make it as painless and bloodless as possible." Xipil nodded his agreement, and after an exchange of salutes, the video call winked out.
Xipil stood up, and the rest of the squad followed. They didn't need to exchange a lot of words. The drill of preparation was well rehearsed to them.
---
As 2 am approached, Xipil gathered the squad together. "This is the first time Huenya has attempted any kind of military operation outside our borders. Well, except for the operations we send inside Xiomera to annoy the XCP pricks," he grinned, earning chuckles from his team. "But being serious, we cannot afford to fail this mission. It would be a tremendous embarrassment to Huenya for us to fail. More importantly, though, it would leave two of our people prisoner of these communist jackasses. We aren't going to let that happen, are we?"
The Huenyan operators shook their heads, expressions fierce. "Good. Let's get out there then," Xipil said.
Moving with speed and precision, the crew of the Nahualli brought an inflatable boat to the deck. They quickly attached it to a lifting bail, and the 3rd Squad scrambled on board. The ship's crew silently lowered the boat to the water, and once it landed with a soft splash, Xipil unhooked the boat from the Nahualli. The boat sped towards the nearby Milintican mainland. When it hit the beach, the squad silently disembarked and began marching towards Aropaonui.
When the squad arrived, the streets of Aropaonui were silent and deserted. The small village wasn't typically a hotbed of late night activity, making this the perfect time for the Huenyans to arrive. They quickly moved to the police station near the center of town, keeping to Petera Street, a small and mostly dark back road. At the police station, Xipil used hand gestures to order his squad to halt. As FIS had reported, a single policeman was keeping guard at the back of the station. "Keeping guard" was not a precise description, though, as the man appeared to be asleep. Xipil made several more hand gestures, and his squad split into two halves. The Jaguar Warriors, Xipil at their lead, moved to the back. As they arrived at the door, the Aropaonui policeman woke up with a start. Before he could even speak, though, Xipil lunged forward and knocked him out with a very efficient uppercut. Xipil searched the man for keys, then cursed when he couldn't find any. Ahuic, his second in command, wordlessly stepped forward and pulled gently at the door. The Aropaonui cop hadn't even bothered to lock the door behind him, and it silently swung open. Xipil rolled his eyes, and the five moved inside.
Meanwhile, at the front of the police station, the five Eagle Warriors snuck up behind the policeman guarding the door. He was not asleep, but given his total lack of perception, he might as well have been. His first realization that he was not alone came when he felt a hand on his shoulder. One of the Eagle Warriors swung him around, and another knocked him out with a quick application of a rifle butt to the face.
Inside the police station, the five Jaguar Warriors quickly discovered that the tiny police station was as easy to navigate as Huenyan intelligence had predicted. Two more police officers had been inside. Neither of them would prove to be any more observant or exceptional than their now-snoring colleagues outside.
Once the police station was fully secure, Xipil found a staircase leading downstairs. A jailer was watching the cells downstairs, but upon seeing five fully armed Huenyan special forces operators appear in front of him, simply smiled and put his hands in the air. Xipil gave the jailer a nod, and finally found the elusive set of keys he had wanted in the jailer's possession. In the cells, Itopan and Nelpan stood up hopefully. "Xipil, Federation Special Forces," the Jaguar Warrior said as he unlocked the cell doors. Itopan and Nelpan stepped out and began to offer their thanks, but Xipil cut them off. "Not to be rude, but you can thank us later if we succeed. We need to move. Make absolutely no noise and try to keep up with us." The two Huenyan diplomats nodded, grasping the seriousness of the situation.
The Huenyans, Xipil in the lead, went back outside at the rear entrance. The other Huenyan operators, at a signal from Xipil, ran back to the rear entrance. The group began piling into an Aropaonui Police van that was also, thankfully, left unlocked. Xipil jumped into the driver's seat. He once again briefly lamented the lack of needed keys, before sighing and smashing the steering column open with his baton. With a few deft maneuvers, he engaged the starter and the van coughed to life. "Hold on," Xipil shouted to everyone as the van lurched down the back roads of Aropaonui.
The ride back to Tamati Point and their waiting boat was undertaken quickly, the sound of rushing air as the van sped down the dark roads of rural Paora territory the only noise made. The police van eventually arrived at the beach, lurching sharply over the sand before shuddering to a halt at the boat. "Out, quickly," Xipil snapped and everyone began to pour out of various doors. The Huenyan operators and the two diplomats climbed into the boat. "Hold on tight. These boats don't usually carry extra passengers, and we don't have time to go back for anyone who falls off," Xipil warned the diplomats. Itopan and Nelpan silently nodded, as two of the Eagle Warriors pushed the boat back into the water. Once it was afloat, the Eagle Warriors jumped back in, and Xipil began guiding the boat towards the open water.
Twenty minutes later, at the Tecpancalli Tonaltzintli, President Xiadani waited nervously for video to resume. Defense Secretary Tlanexchel, High General Texōccoatl, FIS Director Cuetlancaona and General Huatli were also seated around the table with the President. The video feed finally came to life, and Xipil nodded. "The operation was completed successfully. We have both hostages safe and there were no casualties. The Milinticans don't seem to have noticed yet, even," Xipil said with a shrug. "We seem to have evaded their navy as well. But we are getting to international waters as quickly as we can. Once the Milinticans find out their prisoners are gone, they may well decide to intercept any Huenyan ship in their waters. I recommend we send a bulletin out to all of our merchant ships in the area to avoid Milintican waters for the time being."
The President nodded. "Good advice. And good work, Sergeant. Get back home safe." As the video ended, Xiadani stood up and sighed. "In a few hours, I predict that a certain Milintican president is going to want to talk to me far more eagerly than she did a few days ago. I suppose I should get to my desk and prepare for that." The looks on the faces of the others at the conference table clearly indicated they were all glad they didn't have to have that conversation.
Three hours later, as Xiadani had predicted, her assistant Moquihui popped his head inside her door. "Madam President, Neina Arana is calling, demanding to speak with you at once. She sounds, um, agitated."
The petty side of Xiadani briefly pondered refusing Arana's call, just as Arana had refused her call previously. Xiadani really, really wanted to do it. But she wasn't a child, she was President of Huenya. So, after a very long sigh, Xiadani nodded to Moquihui. "Go ahead and put her through."
As the video feed came to life, Xiadani pondered Neina Arana's face as it appeared on her screen. She looked sour. But really, she always looked sour, Xiadani mused. Xiadani adopted her brightest smile in response, indulging pettiness to just that extent. "Good morning, President Arana. What can I do for you?"
"How dare you!" Arana shouted, clearly not in the mood for pleasantries. "The two Huenyans who were being held in Aropaonui. You broke them out of jail. You assaulted multiple local police. Admit it!" Before Xiadani could respond, Arana continued to shout. "You dare to claim you are our friends and allies with one hand, but interfere with our elections and violate our sovereignty with the other? You take sides in our political process and violate our legal system? You won't get away with this, Xiadani. I demand you return the two Huenyans you broke out of jail, and I demand a public apology from you for violating our sovereignty and harming our police. If you don't, I swear Milintica will be done with the UCS and done with Huenya. I will cut off all diplomatic and trade ties with you and throw all your damned agents out of Milintica. What do you have to say for yourself?"
Xiadani's already limited patience with Neina Arana finally snapped for good. "What do I have to say? Blow it out of your rear end. That's what I have to say to you." Arana's face turned beet red, but before she could wind herself up for another round of shouting, Xiadani beat her to it. "You took two of our diplomats hostage, in violation of everything the UCS stands for, not to mention both international law and basic human decency. You're surprised that we responded? You're shocked that we didn't just leave our people behind to rot in your jails? Are you truly that dense? You think Milintica has the right to be angry here? Huenya had, and has, the real grievance here. And we had every right to bring our people home, whether you like it or not. Make whatever threats you want. You're a toothless leader of an inept and incompetent state, and you're no threat to Huenya. You're only a threat to your own people, with your massive ego and your insane ideology. Go ahead and pull out of the UCS if you want. We have the Manabí now, we don't need you. And if you think Huenya is going to just wait around while you try to wreck Caxcanan unity, you're very wrong. I doubt the Manabí or the Eirians will be interested in your attempts to use the UCS as some kind of bargaining chip to get your way either."
Xiadani continued implacably in the face of Arana's clear fury. "If you want to destroy your own country, that's on you. But Huenya won't let you hold the UCS over us as some kind of hostage. I mean, I know you like to take things hostage, but it didn't work with our diplomats, and it won't work with politics either. Huenya won't let you threaten our people either. Diplomats, officials, just citizens, whatever. If you put Huenyans at risk again, I will respond. And you will not like the response."
"You don't scare me, Xiadani. Huenya is the real toothless state here. How much more land have you lost to the Xiomerans today?" Arana sneered. Xiadani sighed. "We haven't lost anything to Xiomera in a year now, and you know it. As for that, though, do you really put yourself on the same level as Xiomera? Seriously? It sure seems like it, since you keep poking that particular bear. But here's some advice, Neina, and you really should take it. Just because Wosteaque handed you a bunch of shiny new hardware doesn't make you dangerous. Your military is still, well, your military. Handing them a bunch of shiny new weapons is like handing a two year old the keys to a car and expecting them to drive. Huenya is no superpower, you're right. But you're still Milintica. We can take you, if we have to. And, if you keep going the way you're going, I don't even think we would have a hard time finding help with that."
Before Arana could respond, Xiadani cut her off again. "The ease with which we got into Milintica and freed our people should give you pause. But knowing you, it probably won't. Honestly, part of me hopes that you give me another excuse." With a sharp jab of her finger, Xiadani cut off the call.
Back in Huānoch, Arana glared at her video screen, then stood up and called out to her assistant. "Get MNT studios on the line. I will be making an official statement to be broadcast in three hours."
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