October 2nd, 2023, 20:05 (Kurdistan Standard Time 14:05)

  The Republic of Kurdistan, West Azerbaijan, Maku, 5km east of Azerbaijan Park

  While seven drones exploded in the sky in an eruption of red and black flames, the remaining drones fired their rockets at the 311 armored vehicle. The 311 armored vehicle was still moving despite being showered by rockets, and it avoided the flame pillars rising up from the ground by making evasive maneuvers, weaving left and right.

  A single rocket fell on the road and caused a huge explosion in front of the 311 armored vehicle that was roaring its engine as it turned right. The shockwave that tore through the air threw different types of shrapnel and rocks at the side of the 311 armored vehicle.

  Boom! Smack, smack, smack, smack!

  As the blunt sounds of shrapnel hitting the side of the armored vehicle continued, the infantry crew aboard holding onto the safety handles became more and more anxious. Many of them started to either swear or groan.

  Boom!

  Another uncomfortable explosion rang out and the shockwave shook the armored vehicle.

  The explosion this time came from the upper turret and it was so loud everyone’s ears started to ring. Lieutenant Kim Un-gyu, who had attempted to launch the 6th Black Dragon missile, bit down on his lower lip after seeing his anti-air display cracking up and shutting down.

  Lieutenant Kim Un-gyu was angered by this and swore after slamming his fist, “God f-ing damn it!”


  Luckily, they managed to avoid an internal explosion, but the optical equipment on top of the turret seemed to have been completely destroyed. That meant they could not even use the 8mm laser Vulcans to retaliate. Lieutenant Kim Un-gyu looked through the periscope and saw Staff Sergeant Ahn Kang-man, who was busily firing his cannon at the drones.

  The only weapon that could take the drones down was the 50mm photon cannon on board. However, taking down a drone weaving in and out of the sky while the armored vehicle moved around was not easy. However, Staff Sergeant Ahn Kang-man was the battalion’s top gunner and he managed to take down two drones.

  There were now four drones left, and a single rocket left on board. One of the drones made a wide turn to the 3 o’clock direction and launched a rocket at the 311 armored vehicle’s flanks.

  The drone’s pilot must have concluded that the armored plating was too strong and targeted the side of the vehicle.

  Wooosh~

  The rocket drew a white trail of smoke and started to dig into the 311 armored vehicle’s flanks. The armored vehicle attempted to turn at an 80-degree angle to avoid the rocket. Unfortunately, the rocket was a bit faster and ultimately ended up slamming into the vehicle’s lower side and exploded. A shock that was more powerful than the others shook the vehicle. It had lost balance and started to tilt and shake before veering off the road and stopping.

  Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

  The 311 armored vehicle narrowly avoided turning over, and deployed its multi-area wavelength smoke bombs to cover the area with smoke.

  “Corporal Oh! What are you doing? Move!”


  Corporal Oh Kang-ho’s despair-filled voice answered Lieutenant Kim Un-gyu, “Commander! The hit we just took blew out the two right tires and our joints must be out. The right side of our vehicle is unable to receive power.”


  “Really?”


  The thing that the lieutenant was most concerned about had become the reality. Every vehicular armored vehicle’s greatest weakness was its tires. On top of that, their power supply’s universal joint was now out, so they could no longer move.

  “Things are getting worse. Damn it!”


  While Corporal Oh Kang-ho and the lieutenant were talking to each other on the radio, Staff Sergeant Ahn Kang-man’s shouts came through.

  “Another one is down! There’re three left, sir.”


  However, Lieutenant Kim Un-gyu did not hear him. He was too busy thinking about whether to have his infantry crew dismount or not. The smoke from the smoke bombs would disappear with each passing second. If he hesitated, then everyone aboard would be burnt to a crisp.

  “Crew! Everyone, dismount. As soon as you get out, take cover in the surroundings-,” Lieutenant Kim Un-gyu was about to give the order to dismount to his infantry crew, but stopped.

  The remaining three drones blew up simultaneously from the missiles that flew in from nowhere. These were the Black Dragon missiles launched by the 312 armored vehicle that was coming towards them from 1km away.

  “Whew! We’re safe. I just wish they had shown up faster!”


  When Sergeant First Class Go Gi-jun, the commander of the 312 armored vehicle, heard about the appearance of the unidentified drones and the rocket strikes, he left his infantry crew in the village of Honduras and rushed into the scene.

  Had the 312 armored vehicle not make it in time, and the 311 armored vehicle was struck by additional rocket rounds from the drones after the smoke cleared, then they would have met their maker-

  This is Mashed Potatoes (312 armored vehicle)! Steamed Corn (311 armored vehicle), are you all right?

  “This is Steamed Corn! We’re safe, thanks to you, Mashed Potatoes. Over.”
-

  This is Mashed Potatoes, can you move, Steamed Corn?

  “This is Steamed Corn! That’s a no-go for us. Over.”


  The 311 armored vehicle was saved thanks to the 312 armored vehicle coming to the rescue. After the battalion’s rescue vehicle arrived, they were towed back to the city of Maku.

  Reports about the drone were sent straight to the chain of command of the peacekeeping forces and to Corea’s joint chief of staff as well. The joint chief of staff called the military commanders for a meeting to discuss a solution for the issue in the Middle East.

  * * *

  October 3rd, 2023, 09:00

  The South State, Seoul, Yongsan-ku, the joint chief of staff meeting room

  The room had 50 military generals in attendance, and it seemed tense since everyone was called back after the report from the aerospace force’s Space Reconnaissance Department about the suspicious military activities of Iran two days ago.

  “Iran finally seems to be taking military action. The location on the screen is the plains between Maku and Bozark, the border between Iran and the Republic of Kurdistan.”


  Lieutenant General Yang Min-chun, standing at the podium in the center of the room, pointed to the screen while leading the meeting.

  Lieutenant General Yang Min-chun was the corps commander of the 7th mobile corps during the East Asian War in 2021. He was promoted to operations director of the joint chief of staff in 2022 for his contributions during the war.

  “We will now play the next footage.”


  When Lieutenant General Yang Min-chun finished, the screen played another footage.

  It was one with 10 drones flying across the sky while launching rockets. It was the footage the 311 armored vehicle had filmed during the battle from the night before. The footage showed the 2-round mid-sized launch tubes equipped on the drones firing rockets the size of an adult’s forearm at the 311 armored vehicle.

  When the 3-minute-long footage finished playing, the screen switched back to the map.

  “Hmm, Iran wouldn’t be able to operate drones and use such new battle tactics. What exactly are those drones?” Chairman Shin Sung-yong, who had been promoted from vice-chairman, tapped the table slightly as he asked Lieutenant General Yang Man-chun.

  “Sir! Iran is unable to operate drones in the battlefield. Based on our analysis of the footage, these drones were identified to be similar to Russia’s X-11 multi-copter drones which they had partially deployed to the field. We have another footage prepared.”


  As soon as Lieutenant General Yang Min-chun finished speaking, detailed information about the X-11 multi-copter drone started to show up on the screen.

  Sistemprom, the Russian defense industry corporation, was the maker of the X-11 multi-copter drone designed to fight against armored vehicles and tanks. These attack drones were equipped with 2-round MLRS 60mm rockets, and 8mm machine guns that could fire 150 rounds, making them capable in combat, reconnaissance, monitoring, mapping, and transport.

  If they were set with a destination during the free flight mode, it could fly while communicating with the other drones at an altitude of 5km and fly a maximum distance of 50km. It also could utilize its thermal imaging equipment to send footage, pictures and other data to the mission control in real-time. These drones could have their routes, movements, and location tracked by GLONASS/GPS navigation systems.

  General Lee Un-hyung, the army’s chief of staff, asked a question while all of the detailed information was being presented. “We didn’t have any data on drones from the report by the Space Reconnaissance Department report two days ago?”


  “It seems we were unable to identify them as they were hidden inside the cargo,” General Choi Jin-guk, the commander of the aerospace force, answered for Lieutenant General Yang Min-choon.

  “Regardless, I guess we must find a way to respond to the Iranian military operating drones,” General Kim Un-ho, the air force’s chief of staff, joined in on the conversation with a concerned look on his face.

  “That’s right. That’s also the reason we have every single military commander in attendance for the meeting today.”


  “Shouldn’t we deploy more expeditionary forces related to anti-air defense, sir?” General Kim Yong-hyun, who was promoted to general and nominated to be commander of the southern state’s federal army and the vice-chairman of the joint chief of staff, started discussing solutions for the matter immediately.

  The meeting continued with many of the commanders giving their own opinions, and it came to a close at lunchtime.

  The meeting ended with the decision to use the new and improved C-1001 unmanned sentry Hae-tae drones to face off against the enemy’s unmanned weapons like drones. An unmanned sentry regiment was now being deployed to the Republic of Kurdistan to join the peacekeeping forces. The joint chief of staff made an additional report to the Blue House after they made the decision. It also gave the peacekeeping forces authorization to independently operate a CS-AD Zeus 4 tactical satellite and the CS-SQ 1 reconnaissance satellite.

  * * *

  October 7th, 2023, 16:00 (Iran Standard Time 11:00)

  Iran, Tehran, 12th province, near the Ridley Hotel

  Manager Lee Ja-sung and his agents located Director Ruslan Nigmatullin of Russia’s SVR (Foreign Intelligence Agency) Middle Eastern branch at the Shariati street within the city four days ago, and they had been tailing him this whole time to collect more intel.

  Director Ruslan Nigmatullin did not make any suspicious activities – until this morning. When he did, Manager Lee Ja-sung and his agents all busily started to move as well.

  Director Ruslan Nigmatullin left the Ridley Hotel and got onto a black van that seemed to be from the SVR. The van rolled up into the Russian Embassy in Iran. Manager Lee Ja-sung’s agents all hid in the surrounding area of the Russian Embassy, while Manager Lee and Chief Youn Ho-hyun stood by on a roof of a building across from the embassy.

  “I think we’ll get something out of them today, sir!” Chief Youn Ho-hyun, who was using the VR-M2 optical equipment to look through the embassy building, quietly spoke to Manager Lee Ja-sung.

  “Of course, we will! We can’t just tail them all day long.”


  An hour had passed since the NIS agents started conducting their surveillance. Two black trucks pulled into the Russian Embassy, escorted by Iranian police cars.

  “Chief Youn! Check those trucks!”


  “Yes, sir.”


  Chief Youn Ho-hyun immediately turned the VR-M2 to the direction of the Russian trucks. There were multiple boxes on the trucks. Then, the display of the VR-M2 started to outline the objects in the boxes along with information about what they were.

  “What the-! Manager Lee, sir!”


  “What is it?”


  “Those, those are tactical nukes, sir.”


  “What?”


  “The VR-M2 screen’s radiation readings are off the charts, sir.”


  Chief Youn Ho-hyun shook his head and handed Manager Lee Ja-sung the VR-M2. Manager Lee Ja-sung scanned the trucks now going into the Russian Embassy with the equipment.

  As Chief Youn Ho-hyun had said, there were multiple boxes loaded onto the truck, and there were numerous types of tactical nukes and bombs covered by metallic material.

  “Those Russians have finally lost it. They brought tactical nukes to Iran?”