Summer of Reckoning || The War in Gallia

[Rheinbund]

Aerial war — Skies above Occitania

The squadron that had engaged Noulon's group of planes withdrew from the scene as well, under the cover of a fresh squadron of planes that just arrived on the scene.

Meanwhile, it was decided to change the standard equipment of the planes: Instead of two medium-range missiles and four short-range missiles, the planes would be equipped with four medium-range missiles and two short-range missiles.


Ground war

The Eiffellandian and Retalian troops had arrived with attack helicopters, mobile SAM batteries and mobile multiple rocket launchers (equipped with a.o. the

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). The units using this equipment already started to move North, while more troops arrived from Eiffelland and Retalia.


Retalia

It was clear that the Occitanian troops near the Sarmart river were about to be kettled in by the Serenien troops. Action was needed. A total of 52 Wirbelsturm Strike planes equipped with two cruise missiles each, 36 Wirbelsturm electronic combat planes against the Serenien SAM batteries and 12 Luftgeist 2 planes to engage the Serenien attack helicopters and gunships took off for a mission below the radar. At the same time, a wave of 28 Wirbelsturm Interceptor planes and a wave of 56 Luftgeist 2 planes took off to keep the Serenien MiGs and Sukhois fighting for air superiority busy, so that they would not attack the planes flying below the radar.

 

[Serenierre]

Undisclosed location - Serenierre

In the forests of the southern province of Villemarne, Directorate 77 had established its cyber and technological warfare division. Even the Premier did not have much of an idea what these intrepid, rather plain looking "spies" were up to. A large group, numbering perhaps a hundred sat at their desks with their laptops, with streams of coding and various other technological things zooming on their screens. Some of them were engaged in decryption operations against the Occitanians, and others were involved in more nefarious things, such as hacking the accounts of Occitanian banks and emptying out as much money as they could. Where exactly that money would go would remain unknown. Most probably, the Directorate would use it to buy cocaine from the Engellexic.

Juliette was, however, not responsible for less ostentatious things. Her responsibility was to flood the Occitanian communications system with viruses, malware, and all sorts of unpleasant ugliness. But that evening, or whatever the time was, she couldn't really tell as the entire room was without windows and they did not really have a sense of time inside. Well, that evening, she was working on something she was rather offended by. She had been assigned the silly business of designing a denial of service attack on the Occitanian internet servers. She knew she could do better. But because she was a woman they had assigned her this ridiculously low level job. But she had soldiered on. And by the end of her shift, she had unleashed her own contribution to the war effort.

 

[Rheinbund]

Staatsschutz headquarters
Trier, Eiffelland

“Good job, Mr. Holzbrenner,” Ferdinand Strauss said. “Very good job.” Bastian Holzbrenner had just gained access to a Gunnish bank where Premier Martinique and some other high figures in the Serenien hierarchy had stalled a lot of money. Not in what Strauss called the “fake currencies of Communist nations”, but in Gunnish Talents. Bastian immediately emptied the bank account of Premier Martinique. He also dragged some money out of the accounts of the other high figures in the Serenien hierarchy, but not too much. It was not his intention to drag the poor bank down, only to tease the people leading Serenierre. After he had done his job, he cleared out his traces. That was something he had learned during his part-time job at the Staatsschutz. After he had done his job at this Gunnish bank, he started to redirect some flows of Kadiki money.
Strauss, who was incurably addicted to nicotine but quitted smoking after his best friend Krämer died of lung cancer, took the empty nicotine gum out of his mouth, put a new nicotine gum into his mouth and wheeled back to his own computer. He had some banks to crack as well.

Already early in the internet age, even before ADSL was rolled out to the public, Eiffelland had understood the power of cyberwar. The fact that Georg von Weizenburg’s far right terrorist group had been rolled up was for a large part the result of Von Weizenburg’s son Christoph going to the police, but also the result of intercepting e-mail traffic and hacking far-right websites in obscure parts of the internet. As a result, the Staatsschutz had a department of 5000 hackers spread over the country who did nothing else but tracing internet communication of far right factions, far left factions, radical environmentalist factions and any kind of other factions, organisations, companies or countries who had plans that could harm Eiffellandian interests.
That was not the only thing those 5000 hacker did, however. A large part of their job consisted of defending the Eiffellandian internet network, electricity network, water network, traffic lights, banks, companies and everything else that was connected to the internet against hackerattacks. They did so by finding and closing leaks in the security systems, but also by shielding off attacks and counterhacking. Furthermore, they conducted hacks themselves as well.

Strauss’s group was currently focussing on tracing and disrupting flows of Kadikistani, Xinhaiese and Serenien money. The disrupting mainly consisted of redirecting Kadikistani, Xinhaiese and Serenien money into such a direction that it eventually landed in Eiffelland. But of course in such a way that it remained unclear where the money would flow to.
Other groups were focussing on disrupting the electricity and water network in Serenierre, Xinhai and Kadikistan.

Also the armed forces had a cyberwar department. This department consisted of 2000 people, and mainly focused on securing and defending the systems of the armed forces. It also tried to hack the military systems of Kadikistan, Xinhai and Serenierre.


Ground war in Occitania

It was decided to let the attack helicopters, SAM units and mobile rocket launchers halt at 250 km of the southern rim of Zone B and Zone C. Then the mobile rocket launchers shot eight salves of 70 tactical missiles each (so in total 560 tactical missiles) to the Serenien troops in Zone B and Zone C.


Aerial war in Occitania

The action was coordinated in such a way that the 28 Wirbelsturm interceptors launched their midrange air-to-air missiles (nine per plane, so 252 in total) while the 36 Wirnelsturm electronic warfare planes and the 12 low-flying Luftgeist 2 planes approached for their attack. While the Serenien air superiority fighters were dealing with the midrange air-to-air missiles of the Wirbelsturm planes, the 36 Wirbelsturm electronic warfare planes launched their antiradiation missiles (nine per plane, so 324 in total) to knock out the Serenien AA systems in Zone B and Zone C, and the 12 low-flying Luftgeist 2 planes fired their air-to-air missiles (6 per plane, so 72 in total) to the Serenien Su-25 ground attack planes, Ka-50 attack helicopters and Mi-24 gunships.
Then the Wirbelsturm Interceptor planes retreated as fast as they could, while the 56 high-flying Luftgeist 2 planes approached to fire their midrange air-to-air missiles (four per plane, so 224 in total) so that the Serenien air-superiority fighters had to handle some more midrange air-to-air missiles while the low-flying Luftgeist 2 and Wirbelsturm planes retreated. At 400 km of the southern rim of Zone B and Zone C, the 52 Wirbelsturm Strike planes launched their cruise missiles (two per plane, so 104 in total).

 

[Occitania]

As soon as the Sereniens tried to leave Viasinde, the army pursued them with as much force as possible. However withdrawing to defensible positions when the Sereniens left the outskirts of the city, they now had to wait until the forces to the South were at the Aceni.

Near the Orgueux, the Occitans had left a gap open, not out of any strategic error, the mobile and mechanized battalions adapted to move in the familiar alpine forests were dispersed, camouflaged and completely silent under the huge foliage of the trees. They had also been mining bases and small towns in the wake of the Serenien advance, the Sereniens had clearly gone forward with the gap left open, into a foreign jungle, with fortified positions on the Orgueux and on the tributary of the Sarmart, 60 tanks and around 400 combined mechanized infantry and artillery vehicles fired upon the Serenien army from the flanks, front and rear. Although the Sereniens held a numerical advantage, the Occitans were with faster and more maneuverable tanks. Along with that, the home forces operated extremely well in the alpine areas, humans being more maneuverable in the forest than tanks after-all, and laid bombs and mines and launched RPGs in hit and run attacks.

More Northerly however, the rest of the Almezde and Pejo division had coordinated with the local home forces to push through the Serenien defenses. The Occitans in the forests also relayed the positions of the Sereniens to the Occitans on the high ground, who hammered their targets with concentrated artillery fire from vehicles able to easily withdraw away from danger into the winding forested mountains laced with anti-air equipment. The 6th Amèric Brigade smashed through the Serenien positions and began closing up their lines with the other brigades. At this point the 5th Pascual Brigade attacked Serenien positions as-well. At the Aceni, the Occitan artillery pummeled the Serenien positions cautiously but frivolously as the Mulmas division kept the Occitan flanks between the prongs of the Serenien occupied territory secure. More Southwardly, the Flonice and Lions corps encountered the Serenien tanks, which, most of them being 40 years old, were outmatched by the roughly 120 Occitan tanks supported by around 588 mechanized artillery and 737 mechanized infantry. The Serenien air support was kept constantly harassed by the Occitan airforce in Marsilia, and as the SAMs advanced it became increasingly dangerous for the Serenien airforce, especially now that there was less ground pressure on the SAMs in Viasinde. With the area of Serenien air superiority being ground down, the Occitan Aire Brigade Nicobulus and Blepharo joined up with the Eiffellandians and also deployed the Division de Aire behind enemy lines near the source of the Aceni while launching over 60 air-to-ground missiles and bombs at enemy forces.

When the Serenien hackers broadcasted their message, the only areas where it could effect Occitan morale was in the contested areas of the cities, but the Sereniens had already disabled much the infrastructure of these cities, leaving much of the cities powerless. The people who did get the broadcast, were mostly far from the front, even then, the broadcast was only received with concern by infants up to the age of 12, slightly younger for most boys. Soon Occitan hackers took the network back. The Occitan nation was not defined by whether they had an army or a king, and they continued to fight on.

 

[Rheinbund]

Retalia

It was expected that the Serenien air force would launch an attack against the planes retreating from the war scene after their attack on the Serenien air superiority fighters and ground troops in Zone B and Zone C. Therefore, three additional air force wings took off to give protection. The planes taking off were 28 Wirbelsturm Interceptors and 56 Luftgeist 2 planes.

 

[Rheinbund]

Day 7

"We have no other choice," Minister of Defence and Commander-in-Chief Ferdinand Jung said to Joseph Magirus. "Kadikistan is conducting a full mobilisation, and Serenierre declared total war. Both countries will gear themselves up to war in no time. I don't like to do it, but I have to do it. All the domestic factories of Magirus-Deutz have to switch to the production of tanks, howitzers and multiple rocket launchers. How fast can you do so?"
Magirus thought for some moments. "I think it will take us a month to completely switch over to military production. But what are Raimer, Darner and EKW going to do? I should not be the only one to destroy my civilian market," he said.
"I don't think that you will destroy your complete civilian market. Your products are good enough to regain a good position after the war. Furthermore, you factories abroad will continue to produce for the civilian market. The problem is, however, that you are the only one with the expertise regarding tanks, howitzers and multiple rocket launchers. Darner and EKW will redirect 30% of their domestic capacity to producing VANs for the armed forces, as well as producing the

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for the armed forces in licence from Raimer. Raimer will redirect 30% of its domestic capacity to the production of trucks and the Morvan for the armed forces," Jung said.

But that was not the only thing. RRF Flugzeugwerke had been ordered to redirect its entire domestic helicopter production to military helicopters. This in order to meet the helicopter need of the newly formed 3rd army.

All in all, RRF Flugzeugwerke, Magirus-Deutz, Darner, EKW and Raimer would need a month to carry out the needed switches in production.

 

[Rheinbund]

Day 8

Retalia

Up to now, the war against Serenierre was mainly fought in Occitania. But now it was time to bring the war to Serenierre itself. The only problem was, that the east coast of Serenierre was filled with anti-ship batteries and AA batteries. Impossible to permeate. The only way to bring the war to Sereniere would be to eliminate the radar installations and the missile batteries along the coast. This was a task for the Retalian Navy, which contained four completely airborne squadrons. The

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planes (24 per squadron), the

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helicopters (also 24 per squadron) and the

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helicopters of those four squadrons would take this task up. The Wellenritters functioned as tankers for the Seehabichts.

The first shift of Möwes, Seehabichts and Wellenritters took off for a low-flying nocturnal mission. One hour later, the next shift would follow. Then two hours later the third shift, and three hours later the fourth shift. This rhythm would continue during all nights. The Retalian Navy was present in the Retalian Sea so that it could react when the Serenien Navy would attack the planes and helicopters.

 

[Rheinbund]

Day 8

Retalia

"Looooook. Now we are talking," Bendicht Gerber said. He had managed to hack one of the banks used by the Serenien government to pay for Serenien imports. Among others the import of oil. He immediately cancelled all the Serenien payments he could find in the systems of the bank, and emptied the bank account by setting the bank-balane at zero. With that, the money on the bank account simply disappeared. It wasn't redirected, it disappeared. The one-before-last action Gerber took was canceling the bank account itself. His last action was to wipe his traces.

Also Retalia had a large hacking department in its secret service, with a comparable size as the Eiffellandian governmental hacking groups. Bendicht Gerber was one of the hackers working for the Retalian government. Actually, he was one of the internet pioneers. His role in the FSD was the same as Strauss's role in the Staatsschutz. But there were differences between the two. Gerber was an extremely athletic man, in the beginning of his fifties but with the condition of a twenty-year-old. He was regional champion amateur tennis. Strauss was quite a good wheelchairbasketballer, but not more than that. And Strauss was nicotine-addicted, while Gerber never smoked in his life.

Now during the war, they did the same: Trying to hack banks in order to disturb Serenierre's international money flows. They were not very successful with that, however. The banks in Europe generally had their internet security in order. Up to now, they had managed to hack only three banks of the hundreds of banks they had tried to hack. One contained some personal bank accounts of the people controlling Serenierre. Two others were more interesting: They were used by Serenierre to pay for their imports. In both cases, the hacker cancelled all payments to be done from that account, put the bank-balance on that account to zero, cancelled the bank account, and wiped out his traces.

Not only the banks were subject to Eiffellandian hack attacks. Also the Serenien armed forces were targeted, with the aim to inflict damage.

 

[Serenierre]

Day 8

Retalia

Up to now, the war against Serenierre was mainly fought in Occitania. But now it was time to bring the war to Serenierre itself. The only problem was, that the east coast of Serenierre was filled with anti-ship batteries and AA batteries. Impossible to permeate. The only way to bring the war to Sereniere would be to eliminate the radar installations and the missile batteries along the coast. This was a task for the Retalian Navy, which contained four completely airborne squadrons. The

You must be registered for see links

planes (24 per squadron), the

You must be registered for see links

helicopters (also 24 per squadron) and the

You must be registered for see links

helicopters of those four squadrons would take this task up. The Wellenritters functioned as tankers for the Seehabichts.

The first shift of Möwes, Seehabichts and Wellenritters took off for a low-flying nocturnal mission. One hour later, the next shift would follow. Then two hours later the third shift, and three hours later the fourth shift. This rhythm would continue during all nights. The Retalian Navy was present in the Retalian Sea so that it could react when the Serenien Navy would attack the planes and helicopters.

PENINSULAR SERENIERRE
The Retalian attack on positions close to Ardeche did indeed come as a surprise - as it was the ballsiest thing the hitherto effete Retalians had managed. But the interceptor aircraft were quick to take to the sky and the integrated AA systems were brutal in effectively neutralizing the enemy. The waves of missiles and aerial interception, coupled with missile attacks from advance patrol boats had reduced the effectiveness of the attack. However, as always certain losses could not be avoided. The radar positions were focused keenly on the low altitude to detect any further such incursions.

The eastern fleet of the Serenien Navy present in the Retalian Sea was a light fleet, designed to pack a punch against coastal and naval targets with a powerful array of destructive supersonic missiles. When it was clear that the Retalian Navy had come into the battlezone, the missile boats and frigates undertook their operations, with a cover of electronic warfare planes in the air to give them cover and hide their locations as much as possible. The Retalian Navy would be attacked by these fast moving missile ships from a considerable distance and the anti-ship missiles were also fired from the planes deployed by the navy from their bases in Ardeche. The goal was to overwhelm the Retalian ships, while keeping Serenien ships moving fast and protected by the much stronger ground assets.

The Peninsular provinces of Serenierre were a veritable fortress which could absolutely shatter any attack against it. The doctrine under which they operated envisaged a full on assault from the north and the south. So far, the North remained quiet and the southern defense was stronger and more brutal than ever.

 

[Serenierre]

Day 8

Retalia

"Looooook. Now we are talking," Bendicht Gerber said. He had managed to hack one of the banks used by the Serenien government to pay for Serenien imports. Among others the import of oil. He immediately cancelled all the Serenien payments he could find in the systems of the bank, and emptied the bank account by setting the bank-balane at zero. With that, the money on the bank account simply disappeared. It wasn't redirected, it disappeared. The one-before-last action Gerber took was canceling the bank account itself. His last action was to wipe his traces.

Also Retalia had a large hacking department in its secret service, with a comparable size as the Eiffellandian governmental hacking groups. Bendicht Gerber was one of the hackers working for the Retalian government. Actually, he was one of the internet pioneers. His role in the FSD was the same as Strauss's role in the Staatsschutz. But there were differences between the two. Gerber was an extremely athletic man, in the beginning of his fifties but with the condition of a twenty-year-old. He was regional champion amateur tennis. Strauss was quite a good wheelchairbasketballer, but not more than that. And Strauss was nicotine-addicted, while Gerber never smoked in his life.

Now during the war, they did the same: Trying to hack banks in order to disturb Serenierre's international money flows. They were not very successful with that, however. The banks in Europe generally had their internet security in order. Up to now, they had managed to hack only three banks of the hundreds of banks they had tried to hack. One contained some personal bank accounts of the people controlling Serenierre. Two others were more interesting: They were used by Serenierre to pay for their imports. In both cases, the hacker cancelled all payments to be done from that account, put the bank-balance on that account to zero, cancelled the bank account, and wiped out his traces.

Not only the banks were subject to Eiffellandian hack attacks. Also the Serenien armed forces were targeted, with the aim to inflict damage.

POLITBURO CONFERENCE
The events had been noted by the Politburo and effective control measures were in place to unleash a constant stream of cyber attacks on Trier Concord digital infrastructure and to drain as much capital from the financial system as possible. The confidence in Eiffellander banks being shaken would obviously send markets into a tailspin and result in a run on the banks, which were a key industry of the Kingdom. The State Bank of Serenierre, too, had sent out its forensic investigation department to track the money and further enhance security protocols. The well developed cyber infrastructure of the critical sectors of Serenierre were further strengthened and protected by the Cyber Warfare unit of the intelligence agencies.

In response to the events of the day, the Politburo passed the following resolution:

RESOLVED THAT the Politburo confirms an existence of total war between the members of the Trier Concordat and the Republique Populaire. The Committee holds that no terms of peace will be accepted where the Kingdom of Occitania is not fully and wholly brought to a neutral stance and that the senior members of the Trier Concordat must be made to unconditionally surrender any claims over the Retalian Sea.

RESOLVED THAT the Politburo authorizes the wholesale and indiscriminate usage of weapons of strategic importance against enemy targets - be they civilian or military - in the interests of bringing the Trier Concordat to its knees, subject to exercise of discretion by the Premier.

RESOLVED THAT the Royal Family of Occitania is declared to be guilty of crimes against the Proletariat and as such MUST be summarily executed by firing squad or other means available to the Government of Serenierre.

RESOLVED THAT the attacks by the Trier Concord against Serenierre without a formal declaration of war amounted to a gross violation of international law and as such was valid grounds for Serenierre to defend itself against such aggression.​

 

[Serenierre]

As soon as the Sereniens tried to leave Viasinde, the army pursued them with as much force as possible. However withdrawing to defensible positions when the Sereniens left the outskirts of the city, they now had to wait until the forces to the South were at the Aceni.

Near the Orgueux, the Occitans had left a gap open, not out of any strategic error, the mobile and mechanized battalions adapted to move in the familiar alpine forests were dispersed, camouflaged and completely silent under the huge foliage of the trees. They had also been mining bases and small towns in the wake of the Serenien advance, the Sereniens had clearly gone forward with the gap left open, into a foreign jungle, with fortified positions on the Orgueux and on the tributary of the Sarmart, 60 tanks and around 400 combined mechanized infantry and artillery vehicles fired upon the Serenien army from the flanks, front and rear. Although the Sereniens held a numerical advantage, the Occitans were with faster and more maneuverable tanks. Along with that, the home forces operated extremely well in the alpine areas, humans being more maneuverable in the forest than tanks after-all, and laid bombs and mines and launched RPGs in hit and run attacks.

More Northerly however, the rest of the Almezde and Pejo division had coordinated with the local home forces to push through the Serenien defenses. The Occitans in the forests also relayed the positions of the Sereniens to the Occitans on the high ground, who hammered their targets with concentrated artillery fire from vehicles able to easily withdraw away from danger into the winding forested mountains laced with anti-air equipment. The 6th Amèric Brigade smashed through the Serenien positions and began closing up their lines with the other brigades. At this point the 5th Pascual Brigade attacked Serenien positions as-well. At the Aceni, the Occitan artillery pummeled the Serenien positions cautiously but frivolously as the Mulmas division kept the Occitan flanks between the prongs of the Serenien occupied territory secure. More Southwardly, the Flonice and Lions corps encountered the Serenien tanks, which, most of them being 40 years old, were outmatched by the roughly 120 Occitan tanks supported by around 588 mechanized artillery and 737 mechanized infantry. The Serenien air support was kept constantly harassed by the Occitan airforce in Marsilia, and as the SAMs advanced it became increasingly dangerous for the Serenien airforce, especially now that there was less ground pressure on the SAMs in Viasinde. With the area of Serenien air superiority being ground down, the Occitan Aire Brigade Nicobulus and Blepharo joined up with the Eiffellandians and also deployed the Division de Aire behind enemy lines near the source of the Aceni while launching over 60 air-to-ground missiles and bombs at enemy forces.

When the Serenien hackers broadcasted their message, the only areas where it could effect Occitan morale was in the contested areas of the cities, but the Sereniens had already disabled much the infrastructure of these cities, leaving much of the cities powerless. The people who did get the broadcast, were mostly far from the front, even then, the broadcast was only received with concern by infants up to the age of 12, slightly younger for most boys. Soon Occitan hackers took the network back. The Occitan nation was not defined by whether they had an army or a king, and they continued to fight on.

COUNTER-OFFENSIVE
After the Serenien military had pulled back far enough, air raids and shelling commenced from the defensive positions against the Occitanian troops, included in these attacks on Viasinde on the fire bombed husk of the city, the Serenien military launched another tactical volley of aggressive napalm and potent VX nerve agents against the soldiers that had arrived.

In the Orgeux region, the armoured and mechanised assault involved a force that was much, much, much larger than the Occitanian defenders, they moved with brutal efficiency. The Serenien doctrine in such a situation was this: Punch holes through the defense and keep moving forward. With the defenders in shock at the sheer indiscriminate armoured and mechanised assault, the infantry units would fall in and further destroy cohesion among the defenders. Flame throwers and napalm was heavily used, along with mortars and artillery to set fire to the forests of the area. The smoke would rise strong and thick and suffocate the Cathar pigs.

In the Northern mountains, the defensive position of the infantry men was supported by helicopters and a steady supply of aerial raids which targeted the artillery positions of the Occitanian units. If any headway was to be made here, either side needed to meet in open battle until then a constant stream of skirmishes continued.

In the central part of the country, the battle hardened armoured units of the Serenien army were surprised at how few units were thrown against them and how there were considerable pockets where the Occitanians were unable to send tanks to counter the massive armoured assault envisaged by the planners in Villemarne. It had to remembered that the tanks and equipment of the Serenien military was much upgraded and always kept pace with where Bourgogne's military was. Hence, was a modern force. Against the Flonice and Lions Corps, the infantry elements and anti tank units used their recon and anti tank guided missiles to take down the concentrated collection of Occitanian tanks. They had made the critical error of starting a battle between two rivers: the Aceni and Orgeaux; so it was quite easy to tackle the full mass. Serenien aerial superiority was maintained throughout the area due to their better training and constant support from wave after wave of fighters and aerial superiority aircraft. The additional anti-air defence division was aggressively taking down Occitanian fighters that were daring to present themselves over the horizon.

From Villesen, the order was given to fire 40 SS-21 ballistic missiles into Marsilia. These ballistic missiles, located in various locations in Southern Serenierre and Northern Occitania, would be launched from mobile launch pads were carrying 1,000 kilograms of high explosive warheads each, for a total firepower of 40,000 kilograms. Moving at a speed of Mach 5, these missiles would be quite potent indeed and would level the god awful citadel of heathens. In addition to those, were 20 SS-25 ballistic missiles containing another 20,000 kilograms of HE warheads. These too were from mobile launchers and would rush in at Mach 21. These were quite untouchable. But in between all these missiles were 80 decoys, cheap unarmed canisters of fuel, as some would say, designed to confuse the SAMs that had so far made the island quite safe from Serenien aerial assault.

The Archbishop of Villesen had sent holy water from the spring at the Cathedral of St. Andrew at Villesen to anoint each warhead before it was sent to the heathen Cathar citadel.

 

[Rheinbund]

EPILOGUE — PART 1

Altburg, Eiffelland-Retalia

"So this hack was really performed by us. Or better said, by you," General Aliswiller said to Bendicht Gerber.
"I'm afraid I have to admit that," Gerber said.
"Why did you do it?" Aliswiller asked.
"I wanted to empty a bank account that the Sereniens used for their oil transactions," Gerber said.
"Hhmmm ... I understand why you did it. But it almost led to a declaration of war by the Engellexians. They are furious. Actually, the whole world is furious about the fact that banks were hacked. Strange enough not about the hacks against Retalian, Eiffellandian and Occitanian companies, but they are furious about the hack of that Engellexian bank," Aliswiller said.
"Indeed. We have a lot to learn in terms of PR, I'm afraid," Flavio Buonarotti, a director of the FSD, said.
"You're right, Mr. Buonarotti," Aliswiller said. "We could only avert this declaration of war by promising to extradite the culprits and to pay the money we stole back. For the money, we'll send an invoice to Trier, but we cannot admit that we did it. Is there a possibility to blame someone else?"
"We can fake a hackers attack to our servers, after which the hackers attacked te Engellexian bank through our servers," Gerber said. "But whom are we going to blame?"
Buonarotti started to think. Then he said: "How far are you with tracking down that gang of internet frauds? I think we could safely blame them. They decided to take their fraudulent actions a level higher, and to empty some bank accounts. Mr. Gerber, fabricate the evidence. My department will do the rest."
"We have to make sure that they won't talk. It shouldn't come to a trial," Aliswiller said.
"They won't survive the arrestment. In their stupidity, those hackers will decide to resist arrestment with weapons. We will be forced to shoot them," Buonarotti said with an evil grin on his face.

 

[Rheinbund]

EPILOGUE — PART 2

Losena, Eiffelland-Retalia

Bendicht Gerber wasn't aware of the fact that he was setting up a trace to someone he studied informatics with. But he did. That someone was Timo Keller. He and Gerber were good friends at the university, but they fell apart after they absolved their studies. As a result, Keller did not know that Gerber joined the secret service, and Gerber did not know that Keller joined organised crime. Both were excellent programmers and excellent hackers. But Gerber also excelled in defence against hacking. Several times he had blocked a hacking attempt by his former class mate. Without knowing that, by the way. And now Gerber was creating a trace to his former class mate.

The trace went to a house in a villa quarter of Retalia's largest city: Losena. Timo Keller lived there under a false name, together with two other men. One of them was Luigi Carsole, also a brilliant hacker, and on top of that a womanizer. In the night that the Retalian special forces had planned their raid against the hackers, Carsole came home with a woman. The leader of the special forces team cursed between his teeth; this complicated the plan. He asked for orders from Aliswiller. The order was: No witnesses, kill he woman as well.
As soon as Carsole and the woman had entered the house and closed the door behind them, the leader of the group gave the order to attack and confirmed that the lady accompanying Carsole had to be shot as well.. The attack started.

Ten minutes later, the street was blue of all the flashing lights of the police cars. Keller, Carsole and their partner were lying in the house, each with a gun in the hand to make the story that they resisted against their arrestment plausible. Flavio Bunarotti walked through the house. As soon as he saw the four bodies, he grinned his front teeth blank. Mission accomplished. Unfortunately for the Engellexians, the culprits had been killed during their arrestment.