Spanish Slices chapter 4

Bemusement crept over the features of Ramon Berr's face as he listened to the British representative John Johnson continue his tirade about the conflict with Spain.

“Now I ask you, Ramon: why has Spain violated the sovereignty of the British colony of New London on Mars with this savage attack?” John asked Ramon.

Ramon stood up slowly in his seat and looked around at the representatives at the United Nations assembly room. Finally he spoke.

“Johnson, the reason has remained the same as before: the British hacked our government servers containing geological survey data of certain areas on Mars and then stole our location in the martian region known to have the highest amount of usable minerals to mine,” Ramon said.
“We have heard your baseless accusations before, Ramon. I don't think the civilized world will stand for an invasion made without warning based on your flimsy excuses.”

A few of the other representatives in the assembly hall quietly talked amongst themselves, waiting for Ramon's response.

“Your intelligence agencies have made it hard to retrieve the necessary evidence, however we have obtained evidence from your agency's servers that proves my statement,” Ramon began. More members in the hall started to talk amongst themselves.

Ramon gestured to his assistant who started handing out folders of documents to the other representatives.

“Within these folders you will find evidence of our servers being illegally accessed by the British and data stolen,” Ramon said before he sat down.

As the folders were passed around to all of the representatives Ramon couldn't help but smile slightly at John. He waited until John got a copy of the documents before he started moving towards him.

As he moved closer to John he saw the expression on his face change from indignation, to surprise and finally to anger by the time Ramon had made his way to John's desk.

“How in the hell did you- never mind,” John said, his face slowly turning red.



“I think a private meeting is in order,” Ramon said with a sneer.

John stood up. “The British delegation requests a private meeting with the Spanish delegation,” he announced to the secretary-general in the middle of the room.
“Understood, does the Spanish delegation accept this request?” inquired the secretary-general.

“Yes we do on the condition that the delegation from Argentina attend as well,” said Ramon.
“Oh for... Fine, the British delegation accepts Argentina to attend the private session,” said John.

Ramon, John and the Argentinian representative Castro Cid walked to one of the nearby conference rooms. Their assistants accompanied them, carrying various documents with them.

One of the guards at the entrance of the room bellowed the usual: “EM-field is active to ensure privacy of this session, please make sure to leave all electronic devices outside.”

Documents and drinks were spread out on the conference table once everyone had made their way into the room and sat at the table.

“I suppose it's rather fitting that your Argy lackeys join us as well,” snickered John.
“Argentina is an important trading and defense partner of Spain, John. We're here to bring an end to the hostilities and get a fair deal. That's not too much to ask for given the information and territory you've stolen, surely?” Ramon asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I don't know how you got that information; don't think this changes anything,” John declared.
“On the contrary, that info makes our incursion into New London pretty well justified.”
“Maybe in the eyes of some nations. Your attack won't succeed, Ramon.”

The Argentinian representative finally spoke. “All we're looking for John is simply to be allowed to take what is rightfully ours.”
“Not on your Nelly, Castro. You and your Spaniard bastards may have the element of surprise but it's only a matter of time before you're driven out of the Falklands and New London,” John said.








Ramon nodded at his assistant who simply placed one document in front of John.

“These are our peace terms. They include giving the Falklands to their rightful owner as well as giving the rights to certain parts of Martian territory to Spain,” Ramon stated.
“To hell with your 'terms'. Did you really think that you could bully our empire into-” John began.
Ramon raised his hand to quieten him briefly.

“I think you'll change your mind once New London is captured, John. Perhaps you'll want to spare your country's embarrassment of losing one of its colonies.”
“We shall see,” John said. Him and his assistant left the room, the terms document still on the table.

“He's angry now but he'll come around, especially when New London is taken,” Ramon said with a smug look on his face.
“Do you think it can actually be done?” inquired Castro.
“We've already landed troops within the city's dome. All they have to do is capture the city’s government house with its personnel alive. That should stay the Brit's hand at trying to retake the city until they agree to our terms.”

Castro simply nodded at Ramon's reassurance. “By the way Ramon, thanks for your nation's assistance at the Falklands,” he said.
“Looks like we owe you similar thanks for the intelligence you've provided us,” Ramon smiled.
“This is only the beginning Ramon. If there's one thing I've learned is that knowledge is power and right now we're sitting on a whole pile of it. The Falklands and the dusty wastes are only the beginning.”

Castro smiled slightly at Ramon and his assistant. Castro and his assistant then left the room as well.

Ramon's assistant began to clean up the mess of documents spread around the table from the meeting. He couldn't help but notice she was bending over just a little further than was necessary to pick up the leftover papers.

***

Adrenaline once again surged through Suarev's veins, however this time it was tempered with the knowledge of what happened to Jonas.

“That's the basic situation, men,” Hernandez said.
“We need to capture New London's government house and we need to do it fast, the French and British above are launching transports to reinforce the city,” he continued.
“Our platoon is to assist in Hills' company, we're to provide heavy support with light machine guns and other elements that we got from the transport. Lets give them hell!”
“Sir, yes sir!” came the reply from the platoon.

Their platoon arrived at the city outskirts before the first signs of trouble started to appear. An explosion was heard a little bit closer than Suarev would've liked and everyone in the company went on full alert.

“Hernandez, your platoon will advance through the buildings to cover our advance through the street,” said Hills.


“Roger that sir. Flieg, your squad will take the left building over there and Suarev's squad will take the building to the right and advance along the street,” stated Hernandez.

Suarev advanced along with his squad to the building on the right side of the street. It was a simple pre-fabricated house made from concrete with a rather ugly metal roof. He walked up to the front door and knocked on it.

“Why are you doing that sir? This is not a courtesy call,” one of his men said.

Suarev's concentration was even worse than he originally thought.

“Never hurts to be polite,” he laughed. “Okay, Poulez set up the charges. Lets blow this door open.”
“Moving up,” said Poulez.

Poulez moved up to the front door and set the charges. They all backed away from the door as he silently counted down using his fingers.

The door was blown off its hinges with a low raw and Suarev's squad charged through the doorway. In one of the rooms he saw a family with a son and daughter huddled in a corner. Thankfully they were unarmed and not causing any trouble. He motioned for them to remain quiet.

“Report!” he yelled. His men replied one by one with yells of “Clear!”

“Griffs, lead a fire team to the next building over. We'll cover you from the windows,” Suarev said.

Griff's team exited out the back door and quietly moved to the side of their building before moving forward.

Suddenly Suarev was almost deafened by gunfire as muzzle flashes illuminated the night sky from the next building's windows. Griff's team staggered back, caught in the open.

“Return fire!” Suarev yelled out, before letting loose with his new light machine gun.

He tried as best as he could to suppress the enemy soldiers in the opposite windows but their numbers were too few. The enemies who weren't targeted jutted their rifles out of the window frames and unleashed a hail of bullets on Griff's team.

Griff and his team were cut to shreds by the bullets, their blood seeming to form a border line between Suarev's house and the enemy's. Suarev managed to duck down just as he felt bullets whizzing above his head.

“Fire team down!” one of his men cried out. No shit, thought Suarev.

“Poulez, we need to blow a hole in their defenses. On my mark throw a satchel charge through whatever window you can and we'll provide cover fire,” Suarev said.
“Got it sir!” Poulez yelled back.

“Ready, now!” Suarev stood up and kept his finger down on the trigger. He aimed at whoever tried to poke their head out of a window and hoped that they wouldn't shoot Poulez.

He felt a wave of relief flow over him as he saw a satchel charge thrown into one of the enemy's windows.

“Everybody get back down!” Suarev yelled out before ducking once more.

The charge blew apart the whole side of the next building, sending debris hurtling through the window and over Suarev's head.

Suarev dared to peak through the window. The building was in ruins and nothing could be seen except for rubble, smoke and parts of the enemy soldiers.

He let his head hover around the window as he further inspected the carnage. The far side of the enemy's house was somewhat intact but nothing moved in the debris.

He finally left his window and briefly visited the family that was holed up in their house.
“I don't know if you can understand me, but if any of you move or make a sound we'll gun you down. Understand?” he said to the family.

Nobody said a word; the husband only looked back in defiance. Suarev simply put his finger to his lips briefly before leaving the room.

This is going to be an interesting night, he thought.

***






A sense of finality was felt amongst Hills' company as they surrounded the government house. It was an interesting sight: a sturdy square concrete structure yet it had a bit of elegance, various gargoyles and statues decorated the grounds as well as ledges of the building.

“Surrender and we will not harm you!” Hills called out to the defenders of the house.

The only response was the continuation of gunfire that poured out of the building’s windows while the company's troops sought shelter in the surrounding buildings and behind vehicles.

Without warning the windows of the government building closed and security roller shutters closed over the windows soon after.

“Shit, they've holed themselves pretty tightly in there,” Hills cursed under his breath.
“If we could breach a section we could try to take them down with flash-bang grenades sir,” Suarev said.

“Hmm, we'll probably still have some enemy casualties. Hopefully we can capture the mayor alive,” Hills mused.

“What about waiting for reinforcements to arrive?” said one of Hills' own Lieutenants.
“We don't have time, we've got reports of enemy troops streaming in from the docks and airlocks we previously secured. We have to end this now before we're overrun ourselves.”

“Sir, I volunteer our platoon to assault the government house. We'll get the mayor alive,” Hernandez said. Of course he would 'volunteer' us, Suarev thought.

“I like your attitude, son. Breach the eastern wall and take em down with flash-bangs. Use lethal force only if absolutely necessary,” Hills replied.

Hernandez' platoon approached the eastern wall of the building.
“This should be the furthest point from the mayor's office,” Hernandez stated.
“With a bit of luck he's holed himself up there so he should survive the breach. Of course we'll have to fight through the building to get to his office.”







Flieg's squad planted the charges on the eastern wall and everyone ran for cover.

The charges blew open a hole in the wall with a large explosion, cries of pain and surprise were heard inside the building.

Flieg's squad rushed forward to the hole while Suarev's squad stayed back to provide cover.

Flieg nodded at two of his men who threw a flash-bang each into the two sides of the outer corridor through the hole.

The flash-bangs let off an unholy burst of light and sound and even from a distance Suarev heard his ears ringing.

Flieg's squad charged in through the hole and Suarev's squad followed. He noticed that Hernandez was in the rear this time.

Inside the outer corridor Suarev could see nothing but smoke and debris everywhere.

Gunshots rang through the building as the two squads fought room to room.

As the smoke started to clear Suarev could only see the gray-white walls around him marred by blood stains of both friendly and enemy soldiers and officers.

He stumbled around through the smoke, taking pot shots at what looked like enemy soldiers retreating further inwards while flash-bangs detonated in different rooms all over the building.

Suarev's eyes started to water from being exposed to so much smoke and he struggled to breathe. He wasn't even sure where his own squad was and his voice was continually drowned out by the cacophony of gunshots and flash-bangs.

After stumbling through a corridor he almost missed a critical door to his right that seemed to show that it was the mayor's office. He looked around but could see no one else around him.

He hesitated only a moment, then kicked the door down. An empty desk greeted him.

As he walked forward into the room a man leaped onto him from the left side. Caught completely by surprise he tumbled to the ground along with his attacker.


He heard the man curse in English and surmised that this was the mayor as he was wearing a suit and tie. Suarev tried to get up but a punch to the jaw caught him by surprise and he lay on his back on the floor.

The man tried to punch Suarev again but this time he was ready for it and blocked him. Suarev pushed the man off himself before leaping to his feet.

The man tried to reach into his pocket, probably to retrieve a gun. Suarev's instincts took over completely and he surged forward, breaking the man's arm before he could do anything.

The man collapsed to the ground, holding his broken arm in pain.

Suarev rifled through the man's pockets and got rid of his gun. He also found his wallet including what looked like an official government badge. It was the mayor after all.

“Sir, I've got the mayor apprehended!” Suarev said into his radio.
“Great news, good job soldier!” came the response. Suarev could hear Hernandez' joy on the communicator but he only felt exhausted himself.

***

“With the mayor captured the rest of the building's defenders surrendered. The enemy troops that were dispatched from the transports to retake the city held themselves back upon hearing of the capture. How's that for a report, sir?” Hills said into his communicator.

“That's a great start, Major,” came the reply. “We'll need a full report including casualties asap, in the meantime hold the government house. A ceasefire has been ordered by French, Spanish and British command while terms are being negotiated.”

Hernandez walked over to Suarev, who was looking out one of the windows of the government house. Various fires raged in the distance.

“Good job taking down that bastard, I heard he put up a hell of a fight,” he slapped Suarev on the back.
“Thanks sir, I hope this was all worth it,” Suarev replied, looking distracted.
“You bet your ass it was worth it. Once the politicians get their slices of territory we'll get our share of the glory. We might even get promoted after this,” Hernandez smiled.

He was right about one thing, Suarev thought. This was all just to get a few slices of land.

FIN