The Duchy of Liguria Thrown into Turmoil..

[Captain Enema]

"I, Count Devellini, am of the most noble of origins. Yet, I'm forced to bow before that peasant Abate who holds the throne of Liguria. His family hails from the dung piles of my family's horse paddock. This pretender to the throne of Liguria holds no shame in his heart as he whores our birthright to the masses. The Ligurians must be lead by those who have been formed by the traditional values that have made Liguria a place of honor and respect," thunders the Count to the crowd out in front of Duke Abate's Manor.

"Do true Ligurians whore themselves to a band of foreign mercenaries who were defecated from the soils of that disgusting continent Africa?" demands the Count.

"NO," screams the crowd.

"Do true Ligurians liberalize our government to be more inclusive of foreigners?" demands the Count.

"NO," screams the crowd.

"This traitor to Liguria, this !@#$%^& of my own family, this whore to foreign interests has sold his birthright to the scum of Africa. He's allowed these lesser than human rabble to mingle their blood with ours. He's nothing more than a peasant with no respect for the political and cultural heritage of Liguria!" screams the Count.

"Kill him," screams the crowd.

"No my friends!" the Count shouts back. The crowd looks confused as they find themselves caught between two very mixed messages. The three thousand protesters are carrying cricket bats, crowbars, pistols, firebombs, rocks, shotguns, and the occasional rifle concealed under their jackets. Behind the Count are the front gates of the Duke's Manor where nearly three hundred nervous riot police are forming up. The Duke's personal Security Team is busy preparing a landing zone behind the manor for the first wave of LDF Bell Huey 212 Helicopters that will be arriving shortly that are loaded with reinforcements from the Mechanized Infantry Battalion attached to the 1st LDF Regimental Combat Team. The Count surveys the crowd as they chant and grow impatient. A rowdier member of theki group steps forward and begins to wave a pistol.

As he waves his pistol he starts chanting, "KILL, KILL, KILL, KILL, KILL, KILL.." He's soon joined by the crowd. The Count attempts to calm the crowed as a film crew gets him on camera doing his best to placate the mob. This neat bit of political theater is well timed as the cameras start rolling after the bulk of the Count's violent rhetoric has been delivered. The Count is silently pleased at his handiwork. Even if the crowd riots he'll be seen as the man who tried to stop them. A feral sensation ripples through the Count as he hears the snap of a rifle shot.

A sniper team, loyal to the Count, fired the shot. They, like many others were drawn to the cause by their conservative values of racial purity. The Count smirks as he is brought to the ground by his security team who bring out their pistols as they kneel over him. An old woman is found dead on the ground with a crater in her back from the exit wound. The heavy man killing round fired by the sniper has blown a plate size piece of flesh right out of her back. Unknown to others is the fact that the woman was suffering from cancer and the Count had offered her a large sum of money to be given to her family in return for her sacrificing herself for a true Liguria.

The crowd screams with rage and immediately begins pelting the riot police with rocks, bottles, bricks, and all manner of flying objects. The riot police raise their shields and suffer the storm of flying objects. Their orders are to hold the front gates and they all realize they don't have the manpower to clear this mob alone. The chaos, the rage, and the violence in the viens of the crowd pushes them forward as they begin to run at the riot police in ones and twos. Before long the entire mob is in motion as they charge without a thought for their own safety.

The commander of the riot police toggles his radio and shouts, "Evacate the Duke, we won't be able to hold them very long."

"Copy, hold your position for the time being," responds the commander of Abate's Security Team.

"We'll try, but don't expect much," replies the Commander as he silently laments the lack of heavy firepower amongst his ranks. To a man his men are armed with old revolving pistols that are the mainstay of the Liguria Police Force. The heavy .38 caliber revolvers are cheap, easy to use, and easier to maintain. They've never been known to fail in a crunch. However, in this crunch the Commander of the riot police can only wish he had something more substantial like their shotguns or rifles.

The old saying applies, "If wishes were kisses.."

[Captain Enema]

The mob was in fine form as it smashed its way through the packed ranks of the riot police. The pistols fired by the riot police slowed, but did not stop the frantic mob. As they opened fired with their pistols the riot police were hit with a sizzling wall of return fire from the mob in the form of automatic rifle fire, pistol shots, firebombs, and several well aimed sniper shots. In the end the sniper fire was most effective as it picked off the riot police leaders one by one until the beleaguered formation was left without cohesive leadership.

Despite this the riot police officers stood their ground and fought to the last man. Those captured alive are beaten to death, a few are nearly ripped limb from limb by the blood crazed attackers. It isn't long before the faces of the dead, dying, and maimed are transmitted around the world. The bodies of the mob and the riot police lay in piles where job function, rank, or social status has absolutely no more meaning to the fallen. One man, a prominent leader of a major Ligurian industrial concern turned rioter, went to his death face down in a puddle of his blood with a rioter from a low class Genoan slum and a riot cop lying on top of him. There is no dignity to be found on this day as things went horridly wrong for the people of Liguria.

The mob, badly depleted, isn't yet defeated as they move forward into the grounds of the Duke's estate. The small Security Team that stood by and grimly watched the massacre of the riot police find themselves looking at a growing wave of crazed looters, rioters, and killers. The fifteen men of the Security Team grimly look at each other as five of them hustle the Duke to the roof of the Manor and force him to lay down near a small helicopter landing pad. The other ten load their weapons and prepare to stall the mob for as long as they can.

The situation, from the Security Team's point of view, can only be described as grim.

[Captain Enema]

Seawolf Flight 202, Inbound to Duke Abate's Manor...

"Copy Command, we'll approach from North to South and prepare to extract the Duke and his Security Team off the roof," Flight Officer Bagallio crisply states over his radio.

"Be advised Flight 202, the rioters are armed and extremely dangerous," responds Command.

"Do we have permission to engage?" ask Bagallio.

"Carefully, but yes."

"You can't carefully engage a mob with 7.62 caliber machine gun fire Command," observes Bagallio as he corrects his flight path minutely.

"Noted Flight 202, return fire if fired upon."

"Confirmed Command, we will approach from North to South and we will return fire if fired upon," clarifies Bagallio as he motions for his copilot/gunner to make ready.

"Confirmed, north to south, fire back when fired upon, good luck Flight 202," confirms Command.

Bagallio drops his altitude to nearly treetop level as he opens up the throttle on the Bell Huey 212 Helicopter. The machine rattles and hums as it surges forward like a hunting dog moving in for the kill. The side mounted quad 7.62 machine guns are armed and ready for action. The chin mounted 40mm grenade launcher, which is controlled by the copilot, is also ready. Bagallio looks over to Luciano, his copilot, and says,"Fire when fired upon."

"Crap," replies Luciano.

"Pilot to Crew, we are going to approach from North to South and we are cleared to fire if fired upon," Bagallio informs the two men in the rear of the helicopter who are responsible for keeping the 7.62mm weapons loaded and running.

"Copy sir," the crew chief says as he cinches his flight vest a bit tighter.

[Captain Enema]

"Take your time," whispers the rioter with the MANPAD.

"Be gentle," he whispers as he steps from behind the tree and takes aim at Flight 202.

"Arming," he whispers as he powers up his launcher.

"Aiming," he moans as he feels a thrill running through him as the older model weapon's tracking system locks onto the helicopter's exhaust.

"Firing," he gasps as the rocket roars away from him.


Flight 202...

Bagallio notices a flash from the ground and the trail of a rocket from the corner of his eye. His crew chief spots it as well and screams over the intercom,"Incoming manpad, hard right!" Bagallio brings the helicopter into a hard right dive hoping to evade it as he punches the flare dispenser repeatedly. A moment or two passes as the entire crew of Flight 202 prepares to meet their end. Just as suddenly as the MANPAD appears, it disappears as it veers off to chase one of the descending flares.

"Sir, I have a possible location of the firing point," the crew chief tells him.

"Copy, somewhere along the South wall of the manor?" asks Bagallio.

"Copy sir, near a large copse of trees west of the gate, inside the wall," responds the crew chief.

"Very well," states Bagallio as he veers his craft towards the copse of trees and lets loose with a quad stream of angry 7.62 rounds. The trees splinter and fly apart as the rounds rip their way through them. The MANPAD operator takes cover hoping for the best. As Flight 202 closes the copilot opens up with the 40mm grenade launcher and begins to thump out round after round of 40mm grenades. The trees explode as the rounds add their deadly weight of fire to the fray. The finishing touches on the trees and the MANPAD Operator is the homemade party treat dropped on the copse by the crew chief.

Party treats are a simple device made of a pair of propane tanks and a charge of C-4. Once dropped it explodes, sucks in the air around it, and creates a minature fuel air explosion. Nothing very dramatic as far as FAEs are concerned, but quite fatal for the MANPAD operator as he is blown apart by the party treat. Bagallio takes a moment to survey the landscape around the manor after gaining altitude and circling a few times. The scene at the front gate is easily scene from his height and he mutters, "Dear god.."

"Is that what I think it is?" asks his copilot.

"I think so, they look like bodies," mutters Bagallio as he looks at the mass of dead at the front gate.

"What the hell happened down there?" asks the copilot.

"Hell on earth is my guess," retuns Bagallio as he flies North to land on the roof of the Manor to extract the Duke.

[The FSM]

[b]Announcement from the Sicilian League[/b]

Under the Sicilian-Ligurian agreement we will be monitoring the situation in the Duchy of Liguria. We will not interfere in a domestic matter unless our assistance is requested or Sicilian citizens are threatened by the violence. We hope the Ligurian government will be able to resolve this crisis quickly and with little further bloodshed.

Gen. Giacomo Orsini
Northern District Command- STDF

Classified:

-3,000 personnel from Northern District of Territorial Defence Force moved to positions North of Ligurian border
-Rapid Reaction Corps moved to 1-hour readiness alert
-Sicilian Navy redeployed North of Cap Corse

Private to Duke Abate:

My forces are prepared to intervene if needed. If you need a safe haven, Sicilian territory is open to you.

-Jean D'Aosta

[Captain Enema]

Duke Benito Abate watches his nation explode into flame. The right winged fascist elements riot uncontrollably in all of Liguria's major cities. His army is shattered and his police forces are mostly dead or in hiding. After fleeing his manor he retreats to San Remo. Sitting in the headquarters of the African Legion command center he silently struggles to come to terms with what is happening. Next to him sit Mad Dog Bob Denard and Major General Dellion who are offering him what advice they can.

In the end the three men come to an agreement. Sources in Sudan have suggested to Denard that now the time is ripe for a return to the African Legion's homeland. None of the men are particularly comfortable in Italy. They miss their beloved Africa. It is there they want to fight and spill their blood to earn their paltry wages in the services of the Legion. The agreement hashed out quickly and on the fly is very simple and succinct.

The loyalist elements in San Remo and other nearby cities will evacuate with Denard and the Legion to Sudan. There they'll be given new homes, jobs, and what they need to survive. The African Legion will protect them until such a time that the Ligurians decide to return to their native land. For now Liguria is dead to them as it has taken on a form of evil.

Ships are filled with men, women, children, tanks, APCs, trucks, artillery pieces, tractors, harvesters, food, clothing, medical supplies, and other badly needed equipment. The distributed airfields roar to life as the transports and F-1E Fighter aircraft leap to the air and begin the journey to Sudan. The fledgling Ligurian Navy takes to the sea as the patrol ships get the civilian transports into formation and begin to evacuate with their civilian charges. In the end twelve thousand Ligurian loyalists, the entire 1st LDF Regimental Combat Team, the LDF Air Force, and LDF Navy pull away from Liguria as they watch the flames roar out of control along the shores of their former nation.

There isn't a wet eye in the fleet.

OOC: rerolling in Africa, thanks for letting me try Italy, but Europe just isn't my bag.

[The FSM]

Ligurian ships bound for Africa would recieve an escort from Sicilian combat aircraft for part of their journey.

[b]Announcement from the Sicilian League[/b]

Under Article I of the Sicilian-Ligurian Agreement Sicilian Military Personnel will be stepping in to stabilize the internal disarray in Liguria. The presence of known fascist actors in Liguria renders the ongoing civil strife in that country a threat to the security of the Sicilian League, our intelligence services indicate that wanted fascist leaders who coordinated attacks in Sicily and North Africa are involved. It is our hope to resolve this situation with minimal innocent lives lost and our current goal is to restore peace and allow the Ligurian government to reassert control. At this time I am prepared to announce that the air and waters in and around Liguria are off-limits.

-Gen Giacomo Orsini
Northern District Command-STDF

3,000 men from Northern District Command to move in to Liguria and seize pre-determined Landing Zones in Northern Liguria, including Genoa Airport.
Sicilian Navy to establish blockade by regular patrols by ships and aircraft from carriers along Ligurian coastline, all ships will be stopped for inspection.
Rapid Reaction Corps mobilized, first wave of troops will be dropped at LZ's by helicopter.

OOC:

Bye TBM, sad to see you leave