Adam stood before the waiting group. He knew that it was sudden, but this mission just came forward. It had to be done. Assembled in front of him were all the transtector pilots (minus Cotton), plus a handful of pilot candidates who were certified on the Nemesis fighters and ground force leaders.

"I won't waste any time mincing words," he said. "The government of Peru has asked us to intervene on their behalf." Quickly, he activated a display and a laser pointer. "Down in the southern part of the nation are a number of sites which they suspect might be used by the rebels attempting to overthrow the government. The mission is simple. After this briefing, everyone here will receive a pack of sealed orders concerning which specific location they will be hitting. The fighter jocks will make a high-speed recon pass over their specified target using a series of sensors that will be installed on your airframes. If it's clean, head back to the specified assembly point. If it isn't, you are to immediately notify your assigned combat team to take out the site. Pilots are not to engage the targets unless given permission by the ground combat teams. Questions?"

"Yeah," Shiro said. "Where's Cotton?"

"He's already gotten his assignment; that's all you need to know."

*****

Sneek Peak watched through the sights on his rifle. For the past few days now, smugglers from the Tunisian section of what was Lybia have been sneaking into the Egyptian section and causing problems. A handful of Bedouin herders reported some late-night antics at this spot, and so here he was checking it out.

Distant motion caught his eye. Four trucks were approaching the border, one with a machine gun mounted on a tripod in the bed. On the one hand, this could be the smuggling team right here. On the other hand, it could be a Tunisian border patrol. They were still far enough away from the border so that he couldn't risk doing anything. He would have to wait a few moments more.

Silently, the four trucks did indeed go across the border, in a straight line as if they knew where they were going. His mission was on. He activated the laser designator mechanism on his rifle and tagged the lead truck. On cue, Airhorn flew out of his hiding spot and dropped a series of flares in the immediate path of the convoy. The blinded smugglers (they did not know this until later, but the drivers and the machine gunner were wearing night vision equipment; the five were left blinded for life) immediately stopped their vehicles, and staggered around in agony. Airhon flew back to where Sneek Peek was, and transformed, assuming an overwatch with his rifle.

Now it was time for the Egyptian military to step in. In response to their requests for assistance with patrolling their borders, the US government had sold them two AH-1 Super Cobra assault helicopters These two helicopters were now escorting a pair of cargo helicopters, helicopters he knew to be carrying Egyptian infantry personnel. One of the Cobras went slightly forward of the other, and used the chin-mounted grenade launcher to destroy the truck with the machine gun. The other Cobra went into a hover to provide fire support for the landing cargo helicopters. The Egyptian infantry rushed out the hatches, and raced to go seize the writhing smugglers.

Machine gun fire raced through the skies, arcing up towards but not connecting with the lead Cobra. Sneek Peak quickly scanned the horizon and made out the forms of two BRDM vehicles, both just past the border. He quickly put his laser sight on them, and watched as the Cobra crew retaliated. Two rockets flew out of the pods, one to each vehicle. The vehicles exploded, sending geysers of fire into the night sky. With no further incident, the Egyptian forces finished detaining the smugglers.

*****

"Still awake?" Metalhawk asked.

"Barely," Koji said. Neither one had any idea how late at night this mission was going to take place. By local time, it was well after midnight. Although the night would help hide them and ensure minimal garrison, it would also be taxing on the pilots.

"We're almost over our objective."

"I know. Going in." Koji watched the landscape give away to a man-made clearing. Inside the clearing was a small town. There were some pre-fab office buildings which were most likely the city's civil service facilities. The rest of the town was tents and improvised structures. He was almost tempted to feel sorry for them.

"We got something!"

"Unreal!" Koji looked at the data. No less than five trailer-mounted SAM launchers were set up on a small rise overlooking the city. "Ghost to Spectre. Dead live." As Koji gave the signal, Metalhawk sent in the data.

"Spectre to Ghost," Green said from the other end of the comm. "Jive time." Koji knew what that meant: take out the SAMs, and we'll worry about the city. Metalhawk blew right past the city and made a tight turn-around, lining himself up with the launchers. He deployed a pod of semi-guided rockets the EDF was working on, and fired. The rockets impacted the launchers cleanly, and the light from the burning wreckage provided just enough illumination to see Hank barrel his transtector forward in vehicle mode to screen for his assigned forces. This one went down nice and easy.

"Ghost to Spectre; if you don't need any help I'm returning."

"Spectre to Ghost; take your time."

*****

Alan sat at his desk, cursing as he looked at the damage reports. A major rebel group in Peru had asked PEACE to supply them some SAMs and launchers on the pretense that their president was going to fly from Lima to Santiago for some sort of meeting; they were going to put the launchers in the path of his plane. Instead of scattering them around, however, they isolated them all in one spot. Somehow, the government got wind of this and asked the EDF to come through and sweep the area. The town that housed the launchers was discovered quickly, and so now the entire area is being picked over by Peruvian and EDF military forces. He doubted that there would be anything left of the rebels once things settled down.

"Enter," Alan said to the knocking at his door. He looked up to see one of their micro-masters, a land combat expert named Landlord, enter.

"More bad news," he said. "Both Hugo Chavez and Jacque Chirac have come to light."

"How is that bad news?"

"The media is announcing their assassinations. Someone spotted the both of them in Brazil. Anyway, they're dead, and so are quite a few of their security personnel. Not only that, but their surviving aides say that a number of papers from the offices of both men have been stolen."

Silently, Alan reached into his desk drawer and pulled out yet another bottle of wine. He hated the wine that he was getting, but right now the only thing he cared about was not feeling anything.

*****

May, 2003

The government of Vietnam, in liaison with a handful of Decepticons, attempted to level Ho Chi Minh city in possible retaliation for the presence of an EDF peacekeeping presence. Not only did the attack fail, but it failed so miserably that the citizens revolted. Although a new constitution is still being formed, the nation has pledged allegiance to the EDF. This is a counter to Burma's siding with the PEACE.

An assassination attempt against Peruvian president Manrique Toledo was halted, thanks to an anonymous tipster. The president was to fly to Chile to meet with president Ricardo Lagos Escobar, but rebel groups in the southern part of Chile had stationed surface-to-air missile platforms along the proposed flight routes. With help from the EDF, the sites were cleared and the rebels located. It is not clear yet where the SAMs came from. President Toledo has voiced his support for joining the EDF, and in response has been told that their membership will be conditional on the improvement of several undisclosed conditions in the nation.

Two stories coming out of Africa. The first is that the United States, in an effort to help the government of Egypt combat smugglers, has sold them an aging pair of AH-1 Super Cobra assault helicopters. Shortly after the purchase, these helicopters were used successfully to intercept a team of smugglers entering from the Tunisian sector of Lybia. When asked about the use of military vehicles and the presence of military personnel among the smugglers, the government of Tunisia declared the men to be "deserters and thieves." In an unrelated but important story, the Neo-Russian Federation has announced plans to possibly begin peacekeeping missions in Africa, but has to date not announced any specific location.

: The world was rocked by the death of Yassir Arafat due to a heart ailment, as well as the assassinations of Hugo Chavez and Jacque Chirac. To make matters worse, Chirac's and Chavez' personal papers had been rifled through, with many of them stolen. Those who reported the thefts are not openly discussing what precisely was taken.