Operation Thunder Dawn

A Fictional Battle Account of the Karma War

“Alpha Six to all units, Zeus.”

First Sergeant Davin Fuller barely heard the radio traffic through his earpiece over the sound of jet fighters screaming across the sky above the battlefield and felt a chill run down his spine. He’d expected another “hold-the-line” order, but instead the Zeus codeword ordered a major assault across the entire front and invoked the battle plan for Operation Thunder Dawn.  Thunder Dawn required all forces to push forward, clearing the way for the Illithien Army’s mobile missile launchers. Nuclear capable missile launchers.

Fuller’s anger rose within him at the thought of nuclear weapons. Two days before, enemy launched first-strike nukes hit his homeland, devastating the area. Safe in his Nuclear, Biological, Chemical warfare gear, he could only watch helplessly as mushroom clouds appeared in the distance. The confusion and chaos that erupted in the civilian sectors following the nuclear attacks made it impossible to know the fate of his family. But no time now for doubt or loss of control and he let cold hatred towards the enemy sweep the fiery rage from him. Orders would come soon and his squadmates depended upon him.

 “Lima Six to Panther, go,” his radio crackled.

Fuller keyed his sub vocal mic, “Panther, acknowledged.”

With a flurry of hand signals to his men, Fuller led Recon Squad One-One as it slipped from cover and advanced. The predawn fog obscured the woodlands that marked the border of Mandalore Prime, seemingly transforming the advancing scouts into deadly wraiths moving silent and nearly invisible through the mist.

Moving quickly, the recon unit approached the fortifications that marked the enemy lines. Dropping to a low crawl, they moved into the section of cleared forest that denoted the enemy’s fire lanes.  Fuller sneered as he found a good position and observed the enemy through his battle rifle’s scope. Cleared fire lanes were about the only thing the enemy had done correctly. He spotted several infantry asleep in trenches too shallow to provide good cover. Officers played cards in a bunker, backlit by lights that should never have been installed, while the bunker’s machine gunner watched the card game instead of standing his post and scanning his sector. He could only think that the Prime Army assumed its nuclear attacks would have completely demoralized Illithien instead of harden the nation’s resolve. Fuller grinned, the military of Prime would be learning of their mistakes shortly and the country’s citizens would pay the price.