Authors: Ira Tabankin
“I’ll do my best.” Thinking,
there’s really no way we can speed up or change the timetable at this point. Things are just going to have to play out as they are. Changing the timeline now will only get more people killed.
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The Mahdi tells his staff,
“I think we have five to ten additional days of bombing to get through before the invasion, I think we should start our attacks tonight. We haven’t responded to their attacks; we’ve lulled them into thinking they’ve hurt us so much we can’t respond. It ends tonight.” He looks at the communications clerk,
“Give the order to our field commanders. They strike tonight!”
“Yes, Holy One”
Messages are sent to terror groups waiting for the Mahdi’s order to strike fear into the infidel’s hearts. At midnight the attacks begin. The Mahdi’s plan wasn’t to simply strike the Crusaders forces; his plan is to bring the war to the Crusader’s homes. He seeded the Crusader’s countries with terror cells who waited for his order to attack their soft underbelly. His plan is to strike where they’re the weakest, their infrastructure. When the cells receive the Mahdi’s order they spring into action, they poison reservoirs, truck bombs explode in the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge and three bridges that cross the Mississippi River. Rail yards and switching stations are destroyed. Ten hospitals are attacked by cells running through the halls firing AK47s at the staff and patients. Other cells attack electrical transformers and telecommunication switching stations. Two cells are stopped when they attempt to attack nuclear power plants. Automatic rifle fire kills ten people driving past the plants. Twenty cells attack train stations in Europe, thirty train stations in Russia are attacked. The last attack is planned for the Mall of the Americas, the largest indoor shopping mall in America.
Twenty terrorists armed with hand grenades, pipe bombs covered in nails and AK47s race into the Mall. They begin shooting everyone they see, they toss their grenades and pipe bombs into large department stores. At 12:30 two terrorists stand in front of the food court, each firing three full magazines into the crowd enjoying a Saturday shopping. By the time local police arrive, over five hundred people lay dead in the Mall. The terrorists leave pipe bombs in delayed timers behind, these explode killing twenty-two first responders. The terrorists leave in ten different cars, the passenger opens their window, randomly firing into cars along the freeway. Cars and trucks flip over, cars crash into others closing freeways and surface streets further delaying first responders from arriving at the Mall.
Other cells attack Piccadilly in London, the dining area of five cities in Europe are attacked by drive-by shooters.
Panic is driven deep into the people. Millions are afraid to leave their homes; they stay home from work. Trucks stop delivering products, being afraid to of drive-by shooters. Shopping malls are empty, people are afraid to go into enclosed spaces. The economies of the West are in free fall. Trains across Russia close until armed guards can protect the children.
Pope Francis II is angry at himself for not being prepared for the attacks against the people. He knows the attacks are working, people won’t go to work, they won’t shop, economies are starting to crash drying up the money to support the Crusade. He goes on international television to remind everyone that the Crusade is to kill the leaders behind the terror attacks. He reminds the people around the world, they have to move forward with the Crusade to stop similar attacks from taking innocent lives.
The Pope receives a messenger from America who informs him the American governors have decided the country must have a civilian government. They’ve agreed to hold new elections in sixty days, the messenger asks Pope Francis II to hold off any military action until the new American President is sworn into office who then become the Commander in Chief.
Pope Francis II thanks the messenger for coming to see him,
“My son, the timetable has been set, I can’t change what’s going to happen, it’s in God’s hands now. Waiting sixty days or more will cause us to lose the Holy Crusade. Waiting sixty days will allow the terrorists to strike and kill thousands of additional innocents. The blood of those innocents will be on the governor’s hands. I want to stop the attacks from harming innocents.”
“Your Holiness, I’m not sure you understand. The American people have suffered enough tragedy in this war. They don’t want another Mid-Eastern War. You’re quickly losing their support. They want our boys and girls to come home. They want an end to the war before the next phase begins. Surely, being a man of peace, you can understand their suffering and desire for peace. Even your own Cardinals are saying this war is foolish, we can make peace with the Mahdi. Most believe there is no need for a large land war. Your Holiness, I’m sorry, but the majority of Americans don’t want a Crusade. They want to be left alone and be able to rebuild their homes. I carry with me a letter signed by twenty of the governors, they ask you to release the American troops and equipment. We have need of our military people back home to help us rebuild and to protect our people from Caliphate terror attacks.”
“The letter from your governors has no legal weight, they speak for states, not the nation. When you have a new President and he and your Senate wish to withdraw from the Holy Crusade, then I will obey their request. At such time, I will also turn my back on the American nation as I’m sure God will too. America was founded on religious freedom, with God in your founding documents, it will be a shame when he turns his back on your once great nation.”
“You can’t be serious! You’re really going to ignore a plea from the American Government?”
“No son, I will review a proper plea from the new legal American Federal Government, this letter you carry isn’t a legal letter. Your civilian government doesn’t exist yet. I thought one of your generals was acting President.”
“The governors have decided to take that position away from him. They have formed a ruling council of governors to ensure a safe and honest election.”
“That, I would be most interested in seeing. I don’t believe you’ve had an honest election in some time. I’m not sure you're capable of holding an honest election. The governors themselves have too much to lose if a truly honest election were held.”
“Your Holiness, that isn’t something for you to say. How America holds her elections is something to be decided by the American people. Would you like a day to think about your response? I can wait.”
“You’ll have your response in the morning. I fear you won’t like it, but you will have a formal written response to take back to your ruling council. I want you to know that I plan to address the American people.”
“Thank you, Holy See.”
Pope Francis II knows if the initial Crusade land battles are successful, the people will quickly turn around and support the war against Islam. He kneels praying for success on the battlefield so he can destroy Satan’s evil.
Chapter 7
Troop carrying cruise ships, RO/RO (roll on/roll off) ships, tankers, supply ships and cargo ships dock in Israel and a new temporary port complex built in the Sinai. Thousands of troops meet up with their vehicles, each crew quickly follows road signs, printed in English/Russian/Hebrew and Arabic. Each language is color coded, all the troops have to do is follow the corresponding color that matches their language to their staging areas.
Additional ships dock in Egypt where they follow the same procedures. In Russia, four tank armies move into position along the border of Turkmenistan and Iran. India surprises the world when their Prime Minister announces their going to join the Crusade. Their army forms along their long border with Pakistan. Pakistan begs China for help to block India from invading.
China responds they have decided to sit on the sidelines and not get involved in the latest battle between the world’s religions. The Pakistani new Prime Minister smiles holding the Chinese message. He picks up the phone which connects him to his Commanding General,
“I think we should teach China a lesson. You have permission to send special operations troops into China. Stir up their Muslims, blow their bridges and block the food shipments from their farms. Send some of your men, dressed in Russian uniforms to blow bridges along the border. Maybe we can tie up millions of Russians along their border with China.”
“Yes, sir.”
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Crusade AWACS planes fill the air with their strong radar signals searching the skies for any Caliphate planes or drones trying to attack the docks and assembly areas. Crusade fighters fly CAP over the ports waiting on instructions from the AWACS. In space, recon satellites are taking images of every square millimeter of the Caliphate looking for thermal blooms indicating a missile has been launched.
The Mahdi watches the video feed from ultra-small, almost impossible to see drones, he frowns seeing the roads jammed with tanks and armored vehicles.
“I thought the Americans and Russians struck each other’s military bases, where the hell did all these tanks come from? There must be thousands of them. The lines stretch over the horizon.”
“Your Holiness, most of the explosions were air bursts unless the tanks were right under the bomb they are designed to survive on a nuclear battlefield. Their electronics may have been damaged, but their main armament would be unaffected.”
“Do you have any more good news?”
“Sir, we need to strike their assembly points before they’re organized to launch their attacks.”
“Field Marshal, can you tell where they’re going to invade us?”
“Your Holiness, their Israeli group, will most likely cross into the Golan Heights, they’ll follow the main road into what’s left of Damascus. I’m not sure where the groups forming in Egypt are going, they’re not going to strike Libya because they’re grouping in the Sinai. They might be planning on breaking into Saudi Arabia. We keep losing drones over Russia so we don’t know where they’re going. India’s announcement was expected. They’re going to try to grab Pakistan’s nuclear faculties, they don’t realize we’ve moved them.”
“What can we do to stop the invasion?”
“Sir, are using nuclear weapons off the table?”
“Yes, I believe the Pope is serious about his threat to respond ten to one. We can’t absorb that ratio. No WMDs are to be used. Use our hackers to cripple their networks, don’t let them send or receive information. Bring their vaulted computer networks down. Interject false information into their systems, crack their IFF codes, issue false firing instructions to their artillery, we can stop them in their tracks if we can block their ability to rely on their networks. Without their networks, they won’t be able to communicate with each other.”
“Sir, do we have permission to use the EMP weapons we purchased from China?”
The Mahdi smiles,
“Yes, an excellent idea. They won’t be expecting them. Fire the cruise missiles over their assembly and headquarter areas.”
“Yes, sir.”
“General, I suggest after they’ve crossed the border and think they’re winning, we strike them with thousands of anti-tank missiles. As a backup, we’ll arm our population with thousands of RPGs, we’ll amass our people in large ambushes, no matter how well their tanks are armored, they won’t be able to shake off thousands of RPGs.”
“Holy One, we armed every male over the age of ten. We will give the Crusaders a very warm welcome.”
“Good, I’m sure Allah will welcome the faithful, they will enter paradise as heroes. Remind the men they will be met and serviced by 72 virgins when they enter paradise. When do you think they will start the invasion?”
“Soon, they’re not going to want their people milling around. They’ll know we’re watching them, so they’ll strike as soon as they get organized. I expect the initial units to hit us within a few days.”
“Let’s ask Allah for his guidance.”
All of the men pray for divine guidance and they pray to Allah to strike down the invaders as the Chinese special cruise missiles fly fifty feet over the desert sands to explode over the Crusader locations. The warheads aren’t filled with high explosives, they don’t shower the area with shrapnel, they fill the sky with strong RF pulses which overload and burn out computer networks.