ESCALATION

Chapter One

5th May 2019
1915hrs GMT
Bulford, Wiltshire
United Kingdom

The pub was quiet apart from the regulars, mainly old men boring the poor barmaid with their slurred anecdotes. Quiet wasn't quite the word, dead was a closer fit, not the place you'd expect to see any soldiers on a Friday evening.
Yet there sat Private Sean Miller and Corporal Jacob McCord facing each other in the booth furthest from the door and with a pint of cheap lager each. Sean was here for the barmaid, her name was Bella and they'd met by chance on a night out when Sean had been posted to Bulford camp two months ago. She was eighteen compared to Sean's twenty one years, which wasn't too bad a gap compared to some of Jacob's flings. He'd had the shit kicked during a bar fight and was staggering back to camp with Jacob when he'd ran into her having a smoke in the street. His memory of the night was somewhat blurry and he was sure he'd made a fool of himself more than once yet he'd still woken up with her number on his phone. He smiled at the memory and took another sip as he looked towards the bar. She was still working and would be forty five minutes until she was free, he turned back to Jacob who was grinning and shaking his head.
"Oh you've got it bad mate."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Sean replied with an exaggerated gasp.
"You've only been seeing her for two months." Jacob tutted. "Chill out."
"Hey it's still longer than you've managed with anybody." Sean retaliated with a smirk.
"Piss off." He hissed with false venom and took another sip from his glass.
Jacob had grown up with Sean in Devon, throughout their school years they'd always had each others backs and when Jacob was sent north to live with his father he'd obviously been affected by it. But thanks to the Internet they were able to keep in regular contact and had eventually hatched a plan to join the army together. All that seemed a lifetime ago, and now they were both serving soldiers in Her Majesty's armed forces, 5th Battalion, The Rifles, British Army.
"I'll get the next round." Sean declared as he rose to his feet, and as he did a strange sense of dread washed over him, like a bad omen he couldn't quite put his finger on. His eyes met with Bella's once again and the feeling gave way to contentment and he could tell he already had that stupid grin on his face again.

1930hrs GMT
Cabinet Office Briefing Room (COBRA)
Whitehall, London
United Kingdom

Prime Minister Theresa May sat in the starkly lit briefing within Whitehall at the head of a large wooden conference table. Many others lined the table around her and stood around in the background monitoring the wall mounted screens or checking tablet devices or paper clipboards, but there were only four men of total importance and relevance in the room, and had the Prime Minister's ear. The Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, the Secretary of State Michael Fallon, and the Minister of State Mike Penning all sat facing their leader. The fourth man sat hunched over a tablet, wholly engrossed with whatever hidden information it displayed. He had a real name of course, but out of a mixture of theatrics and paranoia preferred to go by the code name "M". He was the chief  intelligence officer at MI6 and reported directly to the Foreign Secretary.
"Gentlemen." The Prime Minister announced in a crisp, clipped tone. And all background chatter cut to an almost deathly silence. "This is a time sensitive matter and I expect to be fully appraised of the situation as soon as can be. So shall we cut to it?"
"Well ma'am." Johnson sat up in his chair, taking a moment to form his next few sentences. "We have received several confirmed reports of Argentine military forces active on the Falkland Islands."
"Are you saying we are under attack Foreign Secretary?"
"Indeed I am ma'am." The Foreign Secretary replied before nudging the chief of MI6 in the arm.
"Ah yes Prime Minister." M looked up from his tablet and pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose. "The situation is dire indeed. Our military garrison has sustained substantial losses and as of midday we lost all contact with our remaining assets in the area. All attempts at getting drones into the airspace have been thwarted and so we have no indication of what the enemy strength and disposition could be."
"Very well, and what does the ministry of defence have to say about our response?"
There was still little in the way of background chatter in the room. COBRA meetings were usually home to vicious and relentless infighting and grappling for power between sectors of the government even in events of national crisis. But today the gravity of events was lost on nobody and not a single soul spoke out of turn.
"In spite of the tremendous lack of forewarning or intelligence ma'am." Fallon began, a sideways glance towards M being the only display of contempt he dared make. "Your military is ready to meet the threat. We have a rapid reaction force comprised of elements from 3 Commando brigade, Royal Marines, 16 Air Assault Brigade, as well as further ground elements from the 1st Armoured and 3rd Mechanised Divisions. Also thanks to your swift and wise reversal of our budget cuts upon your appointment to power, we have the sufficient naval strength to transport these assets to the theatre of war and support them in its prosecution."
"The last war for the Falklands required far less military strength to win." Came Johnson from across the table, it appeared even the coming of war could not hold back petty squabbles for long. "We need not waste money and resources that can be better spent on enhancing our internal security, may I remind you we still have the direct threat of the Islamic State and a resurgent IRA to combat."
"On the contrary sir." The Minister of State spoke through gritted teeth. "If we continue to treat coming wars as we have done the last, we shall continue to lose. Which is part of the reason I believe that we have the issue of the Islamic state to contend with in the first place."
"Do we even need to respond with military force?" The Foreign Secretary almost sneered his words. "The Falklands are of little strategic value to us. And I must say we do have bigger fish to fry."
"Enough!" The Prime Minister shouted as she slammed her fist onto the table and the room once again fell silent. "I refuse to be remembered as the Prime Minister who abandoned the Falklands and left British Citizens to be forced to live under Argentine oppression. Sir Penning, how quickly can we muster our reaction force?"
"I can send out an alert on your command and have all relevant units within the JRRF mustered and ready to embark by 0800hrs tomorrow." The Minister of State replied. "Which elements do you wish to activate Prime Minister?"
Theresa May let the slightest smile twitch at the corner of her lip as she gave her response.
"All of them."

2230hrs GMT
Bulford, Wiltshire
United Kingdom

Bella's house was small and messy, not yet fully decorated or lived in properly, but Sean didn't care, he was with her and in that moment that was all that mattered. The two lay in her bed, naked but for the haphazardly draped duvet over them. They stared into each other's eyes and breathed contently as they had been doing for quite some time. He brushed a stray lock of brown hair off her freckled cheek and continued to run his fingers through her hair as he leaned in to kiss her. The night was still young to the outside world and the din of passing voices migrating from pub to pub pulsated in the distance.
"I've been thinking." Bella smiled.
"Oh we're doomed then." Sean laughed with false mockery.
"Shut up." She giggled and thumped him in the arm. "Anyway, my parents have a caravan in a holiday park down south. Maybe if you could get some leave in a couple weeks we could take a week off together."
"Sounds great!" He beamed as he found himself lost in her grey eyes again. "I'll ask about it Monday. No promises, you know how it is, but I'll try my best. It'll be fun."
"Of course it will be." She giggled once more, this time lower, almost hushed as she slipped the duvet down her body. "A lot of fun."
"Again?" Sean smirked as his eyes scanned up and down her naked body. "You sure you can handle another round?"
Bella said nothing, simply bit her bottom lip and pulled him towards her, letting their arms and legs intwine and their lips meet.
Buzz! Buzz!
The moment was killed by the harsh sound of Sean's phone vibrating with an incoming call. It had rang several times before but had been muffled by the duvet and easily ignored. With a sigh he pulled himself away from Bella and moved to check the screen. It was Jacob, and there were seven missed calls logged on the screen, with a grunt of annoyance Sean swiped the phone open and lifted it to his ear.
"Finally! Where the fuck are you?"
"Bella's house." Sean yawned. "What's up?"
"Hate to interrupt you lovebirds, but you need to get your arse to camp, now."
"Piss off mate. What're you on about?"
"The whole fucking Battalion is on alert, everyone needs to report for duty, everyone."
"Fucking hell." He hissed and started fumbling for his clothes. "Any idea what's happening?"
"Always told you be careful what you wish for. We're going to war."