DEFCON Year Two

Chapter 4

One month after successfully landing in China and invading Russia from both the East and the West, the US and the rest of the Allies were now bent on keeping on with the operations. But what they did was leave huge pockets of resistance behind by encircling huge amounts of Russian and Chinese troops to give them two choices: to surrender and live to see another day or to stay where they were and fight only to die where these troops stood.

Meanwhile, in the air, the Chinese and Russians were taking an enormous pounding from the US and their allies, since the latter always had the upper hand when it came to air-to-air fights. Indeed, the American F-15EXs, F-22As, A-10Cs, F/A-18 Super Hornets, F-35s and F-16s were always flown and maintained by pilots and ground crews trained by battle-hardened troops who had been fighting before being reassigned stateside as instructors for the rookies, who therefore knew how to fight and win the battles. In contrast, the Russian and Chinese aviators were expected to fly until they died, which happened more often than not.

In the meantime, the Allied naval forces were inflicting devastating losses to what remained of Russian and Chinese naval trade as well as their naval power. Among those contributing to it were US submariners Maddie Calvert and Dale Uris.

In their submarine, Maddie and Dale were at their post when Maddie spotted something through her periscope. Looking closely, she realized it was the Russian navy's battlecruiser Peter the Great sailing for the Kamchatka peninsula. Maddie then briefly turned towards the commander to report her discovery.

"Sir, got Russian warship Peter the Great. Heading for the Kamchatka peninsula." Maddie said.

"Got it. Prepare torpedo tubes One and Two." The commander ordered the fires officer.

"Sir!" The fires officer said.

Seconds after loading the torpedo launch tubes, Maddie got back on the periscope while the rest of the crew were busy doing their work. Suddenly, the commander ordered to fire the launch tubes. Maddie saw the torpedoes being launched before sailing straight for the Russian warship Peter the Great. A few seconds later, Maddie saw the torpedoes exploding and opening a huge hole in the structure of the Russian ship, sending it to the bottom of the ocean.

"Fuck. Why don't we have any survivors to welcome?" Maddie lamented after seeing no Russian sailor jump for his life.

"Don't know." The commander replied back.

"Worst part is we can't do anything for these guys." Dale complained.

All of the crew nodded, knowing both Maddie, Dale and the commander were saying the truth about the horrible fate of these poor Russian sailors.

Maddie then understood the terrible price of war. She did know that many US sailors, soldier, airmen, Guardians and Marines had died in the line of duty. But she didn't want to take pleasure in killing the enemy. Maddie just wanted to do her job.

Meanwhile, Norrie Vastano was taking part in the invasion of Kazakhstan and Central Asia, alongside the whole 6th Marine Division and many other Allied forces. With Armenia now firmly allied with the US, the 6th Marine Division and newly reestablished American units now had a strong base to launch the invasion of Central Asia while ground forces would launch from Inner Mongolia and Jianjing province.

Norrie and the rest of the 6th Marine Division had indeed landed with no real opposition from Kazakh forces, since Kazakhstan had surrendered upon being invaded by a US Marine Division whose numbers were actually made up of mostly rookies with little combat experience. But these US Marines were accompanied by lots of GIs, Allied troops and the 3rd US Marine Division, including Carly Wells, all of whom had come from China's Western provinces by motorcycle and other motorized vehicles. And many GI's also took part in the simultaneous invasion of Tajikistan and Kirghizstan. And many Tajik troops and Kirghiz soldiers either surrendered or willingly switched sides since these soldiers had actually been kidnapped and forced into military service before being hazed by their superiors on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, Norrie and her fellow Marines were now in the capital of Turkmenistan, where resistance was much fiercer due to the dedication of local police and troops to their dictator. But the US Marines were helped by the Turkmen Resistance, who had taken up arms upon hearing the Americans were going to help the Resistance topple the totalitarian Turkmen authorities.

But for now, Norrie was advancing behind the cover of a wall in the leading position of her squad. Pearing above the wall, Norrie saw they had arrived at the Presidential palace, where the tyrant was cowering behind his personal guard detail. The female USMC Sergeant then pointed the armed Turkmen specops troops firing at the other Allied forces, most of whom were from the 6th Marine Division, to her men. Norrie's men nodded, understanding they had to act before the enemy realized it was being flanked.

"Three, two, one. Fire!" Norrie ordered as soon as she and her men bursted out of cover.

Norrie and her men fired their M27 rifles at the Turkmen special operations troops and regular soldiers, killing many but injuring many more. This gave the rest of the US Marines and the Resistance soldiers free reigns to storm the entrance while taking the wounded Turkmen soldiers prisoner before treating them humanely like the Geneva Convention demanded the American forces to do.

One Turkmen soldier begged Norrie not to kill him by showing a picture of his family to Norrie. But instead of having that soldier killed, Norrie motioned one of her men to give the soldier water to drink. The US Marine took one of his plastic canteens and gave it to the wounded Turkmen, whose injuries had been treated by a US Navy corpsman.

Norrie and her men then began searching the palace, eliminating several guards before being joined by their fellow Marines while the Resistance soldiers were guarding the prisoners before handing said prisoners to the US Army MPs and USAF Security Forces. Suddenly, they heard gunshots and saw Norrie and her men bring a handcuffed Berdimuhamedov Junior out of his palace with a bandage on the latter's lap due to Norrie having shot the dictator in the lap. One of Norrie's men also shot the dictator's hand in self-defense.

But Norrie and her men also caught Berdimuhamedov Senior, who was also injured by two of Norrie's men in self-defense after Norrie and her men shot the bodyguards dead.

"Give them to the MPs or the SF. And instruct these people not to give them a fucking inch." Norrie told the Resistance soldiers reffering to both Berdimuhamedovs.

A Turkmen Resistance soldier motioned two of his men to take the captured despots to the waiting Americans, who then took both men into custody. Norrie smirked at this, since this meant Russia was now threatened on three fronts. In Siberia, most Russian forces there were now surrounded and completely cut off from their airfields, which the Allied had taken and secured while most of the Chinese forces were now stuck in a cauldron created by Allied forces as the latter had secured Manchuria, Southern China, Tibet and the rest of Western China.

The following morning, Carly Wells and the rest of the 3rd US Marine Division met the 6th Marine Division, which had been transferred to Mongolia to rest and recuperate, as well as replenish its forces since the 6th Marine Division took heavy casualties during two years of war. Coincidentally, the 3rd Marine Division was transferred to Mongolia for the same purpose. There, Norrie Vastano met her replacement Carly Wells and both sat on an empty wooden crate in the camp.

"Hi. Name's Carly Wells. Suppose I'm speaking with Norrie Vastano." Carly began.

"Yep. And it's Sarge now." Norrie kept on.

"As for me, it's Corporal. Sarge." Carly replied smiling.

Both women smiled without forgetting the war was still going on and there was a job to finish first. But they also learned the that Allied forces, helped by Russian Resistance and the Chechen Opposition managed to find Kadyrov and killed him before parading the sadistic Chechen warlord's body through the streets of Grozny.