Forwarded by the ASC-VSO Posted: 22 Jan 2004 04:29:23 GMT In: alt.startrek.creative From: sisko2374@aol.com (Sisko2374) REP TOS "The Eugenics Wars: Sacrifice of Pawns", Khan, PG by Sisko2374@aol.com Background & Summary: A continuing short history of the Eugenics Wars in what is to become the Federation universe. In the Federation universe, Khan killed Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan in 1986 precluding 9/11 and eventually retarding the influence of Islamic fundamentalism on the anti-imperialist struggles of the Middle East. The People's Republic of China collapsed in 1989. There was no Gulf War in 1991. Khan unified India and Pakistan in 1992. Boris Yeltsin was overthrown in Moscow in October 1993 by Russian supermen. It is now December, 1993. The U.S., with its U.N. coalition in tow, is at war with Khan's Indo-Pakistan and its allies in Iraq. Post Soviet Russia, though diplomatically allied with Khan and providing supplies and equipment, has up to now remained neutral. Sequel to "Opening Gambit". Prologue: "He was the best of the tyrants ... and the most dangerous." — U.S.S. Enterprise Captain James T. Kirk, 2267 The long billowing cloud of yellow dust thrown up by the convoy stretched to the horizon in both directions. Hundreds of American 2 ½ ton trucks slowly made their way North on the road to Baghdad. Beneath the canvas covers were soldiers of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division. Only a few days before these trucks had been their supply vehicles. Trucks that were meant to follow them in triumph to the Iraqi capital were now taking them to a prisoner of war camp North of the city. Mostly it was quiet. Water was passed around in ladles from a bucket in the back positioned between two armed, standing Indo-Pakistani guards. Some prisoners chatted with their captors. Others glared at those who did. Few noticed the lone BTR-60 armored personnel carrier that sped past them heading South toward the front lines. Outwardly, the old Soviet era wheeled APC appeared to be just another transport of the New Delhi division of the Indo-Pakistani Motorized Infantry, perhaps trying to catch up to its platoon after a breakdown. But as is so often the case in war, appearances are deceiving. It was in fact Generalissimo Khan Noonien Singh's mobile Army command head quarters. "How much farther?" Khan asked the driver, a youth from Islamabad. Rashid glanced at his electronic display map on the instrument console. "Almost there sir. About half a kilometer." Outside and overhead, a flight of Mig-29 fighters of the Indo-Pakistani Air Force roared low over the convoy, beneath radar range, heading South. Khan's APC pulled over to the side of the road. Rashid skillfully maneuvered the mobile HQ across a drainage ditch until it stopped dead center over what appeared to be a short ventilation pipe next to a farmer's field. He pressed a button on the console. A telescoping rod descended into the pipe. A display lit up on the communication panel. . "Land connection secure sir," Salomon the communications officer reported. "We have New Delhi." Khan watched the TV monitor spring to life. Joachim smiled back at him. "Congratulations on a brilliant victory sir! The London Times is referring to your encirclement of the Americans as ‘Stalingrad on the Tigris and Euphrates'. There have been several important diplomatic developments in just the past few hours." Khan folded his arms, smiled and nodded. "Thank you Joachim. What is your report?" "First, the Syrian ambassador wishes to congratulate you on your stunning victory over the American imperialists. He would like a meeting, at your earliest convenience, ‘to discuss closer ties between our two nations'." Khan cocked his head slightly sideways and nodded. "A new found friend seeking our protection, eh? As the Americans say, nothing succeeds quite like success. What else? Any overtures from the American government yet? What are they saying, officially?" Joachim shook his head. "No feelers from their State Department or anyone else. Officially, they're saying only that ‘Coalition forces have suffered a setback in Iraq'." Khan shook his head in amazement. "A setback? Masters of understatement. It will be interesting to see how they handle the world media in the next few days." Joachim nodded. "Indeed. And in that regard, you have a photo op when you get back. An international peace delegation, mostly Americans, is in New Delhi waiting to meet with you." Khan nodded. "Ah, excellent. How big are the latest demonstrations?" Joachim consulted his notes. "Five hundred thousand in Washington D.C., yesterday. Six hundred and fifty thousand in London..." Khan held up his hand. "That brings another very important point to mind, Joachim. I want these American prisoners well cared for, not mistreated. This isn't Afghanistan. We don't have to cater to any backward tribesmen and their sadistic recreations. However, we do have to cater to American public opinion. I want these valiant American warriors fat and clean for the cameras. Take ten percent of the rations of our own troops if we have to, and give it to them. Explain why in an Army directive, you can sign my name. When I get to New Delhi, I'll tell the peace delegation they can have their loved ones home by Christmas. A present from Khan to put under the tree." Joachim laughed. Khan shifted the topic to military technological performance. "What is the success rate on our copies of the American Stinger anti-aircraft missiles?" "The Saladins have been 78 percent successful against all enemy aircraft, including helicopters. We attribute this to their being distributed down to squad level. Its largely due to them that we have local air superiority." Khan nodded. "Just like in Afghanistan. What's the situation on the Iranian front?" "The Iranians are still holding the Turks at Mardin, though they are short on supplies, mostly of Saladin missiles. The new Russian mobile cruise missile batteries on the Persian Gulf are keeping the Americans ducking. The Americans can't fire a cruise missile without our satellites detecting it. Soon as they launch one we hit back with our missiles. Several of their ships, including the battleship New Jersey, have sustained heavy damage... " Karim, the radar officer, suddenly interrupted the conversation. "Sir, I have something approaching low from Southeast. Range: 25 kilometers, 20 kilometers, 15 kilometers,..." "Move! Now!" Khan shouted as he lunged across the cramped confines of the APC toward Rashid and the accelerator. His hand slammed Rashid's foot against the pedal, nearly burying it in the floor. The eight wheeled APC lunged forward into the field, its dual motors whining under the strain. The Tomahawk cruise missile detonated in the drainage ditch where the APC had been only seconds before. The blast propelled Khan's vehicle into the air, until it landed on its side a few hundred feet away in the field. Fire and smoke filled the compartment. Bloodied and stunned but alive, Khan quickly took in the situation. Karim, the radar officer was dead, his neck broken. Rashid the driver was unconscious but alive. Salomon the communications officer was screaming, his legs twisted at impossible angles, the bones poking out. Khan popped one of the top hatches and dragged the two men to safety. Just as he got Rashid out and safely away, the APC exploded. Khan shielded the unconscious driver's body with his own as shrapnel from the exploding vehicle rained down around them. He felt a sharp stab of pain in his back. Then he rose to survey the carnage about him. A smoldering crater a hundred feet wide and thirty feet deep occupied the middle of what used to be the road. Dozens of trucks, now burning wrecks, lay tossed about at odd angles, as if scooped up and dropped by a giant hand. Hundreds of bodies, the American prisoners and their Indo-Pakistani guards and drivers, littered the landscape. "Excellent move. Sacrifice of pawns to checkmate the King, They must have tapped into our cable, traced us back to where we were..." It was the first attempt on his life since he had become ruler of Indo-Pakistan. But it would not deter him. A detachment of Iraqi Republican Guards heading South pulled up to the edge of the crater. Khan waved the officers over and ordered medical attention for his men. He also told them to grab any international reporters and photographers in the area and show them what the Americans had done to their own troops. Then he climbed inside a T-72 tank and headed back North towards Baghdad. At the Iraqi command bunker he contacted Joachim once more, much to the relief of his nerve wracked aid. "You know, Joachim, these Americans are not at all gentlemen. Not like the great generals of the past. Do you know what Wellington once said at the opening of the battle of Waterloo when one of his artillery officers requested to take a shot at Napoleon? ‘Certainly not! Commanders of armies have better things to do than shoot at one another.'" Both men laughed. Khan shook his head sadly. "No, there is no more honor in war today. Still, I think we can teach the Americans some manners yet." Then he called Moscow on a secure channel. Khan uttered only two sentences, "It is time to pay our old friends a visit. Implement Operation Courtesy Check." Ivanov, the new Russian President, nodded in acknowledgment to his fellow superman. END "Eugenics Wars" will continue in "Courtesy Check". -- Stephen Ratliff ASC Stories Only Forwarding In the Pattern Buffer at: http//trekiverse.crosswinds.net/feed/ Yahoo! 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