[b]Straits of Mandeb[/b]

A thin and smoggy haze hung over the waters at the terminus of the Red Sea. It was a humid, still air infused with the smell of unburned diesel and acrid smoke; the lingering odor of destruction. The Bab el Mandeb reeked of it. Yesterday, the Fuerza Aerea destroyed here what paltry remnants of a navy the Ethiopian Empire possessed. The territorial waters of the Empire were defenseless; the Spanish Armada steamed into the Gulf of Aden unopposed a mere sixty knots from the vital Ethiopian port of Jibuti.

Above Luis Morazan's head, the heavy guns of the [i]Golondrina[/i] inched by, ticking audibly as the turret ratcheted into position. Inside of an hour, the vanguard of the Spanish fleet would be within thirty knots of Jibuti - firing range of the cruiser's main armaments - and already the guns were being trained toward the city. Luis too was in the process of readying for battle - he and his platoon had been issued the equipment and gear they would be carrying into combat only minutes before. A backpack full of all manner of campaign essentials jingled and bounced against his back as he followed behind one Lieutenant Ayesta to the armored watercraft dangling alongside the hull of the cruiser. Along the midship flanks of the [i]Golondrina[/i] were four landing boats hanging from booms just off of the ship on steel cables. Deckhands ferried supplies from the cruiseer onto the landing craft by way of a short aluminum gangplank as the four platoons being ferried by the [i]Golondrina[/i] gathered at their assigned boats.

The Spanish landing craft seemed more like something that would move on treads or wheels than any boat. They were quite blocky, so much so that they looked as if they would sink like the bricks they resembled if they were ever lowered into the sea they were suspended over. They were essentially flat-bottomed barges with tall hulls, hopefully of a thickness sufficient to stop a bullet. A parapetted steering column was positioned above the passenger deck in the rear of the boat off to the left; to the right of the driver's post was a small machine gun nest that would provide enough suppressive fire to allow the infantry within to disembark from a ramp in the front.

"Here's how this is going work." Ayesta declared casually as he parked the twenty soldiers in tow behind him before the gangplank of their landing boat. "When we're given the order to deploy, you make your way to this point right here and step on over into the passenger deck in an [i]orderly[/i] fashion. We're not leaving without you, so step aboard in a civilized manner, get cozy in there, and wait to get lowered down. Once we're in the water, this boat is going to gun it for the beach. Once the ramp comes down, get to terra firma and get to cover. We have air and naval superiority over the enemy, but we will be fighting on their own soil. The intelligence grapevine suggests that the defense will be personally led by one of their more seasoned commanders, and we are to expect heavy resistance. Remember your training, and we'll all be coming home."

A distant rumbling on the horizon drew the attention of some of the soldiers.

"Shelling," Hector thought out loud, "I hear shelling."

"Thunder." Ayesta corrected, pointing over the platoon's heads to the east. There, hanging against a backdrop of hazy cerulean, was a wall of dark, roiling thunderclouds rising into the very stratosphere. The swirling chasms and irregularities of the distant tempest flickered angrily as lightning flashed from deep within. The monsoon squall had seemingly shadowed the Spanish armada ever since it entered the Red Sea. For a week, Spanish meteorologists tracked the squall as it crept southward across the Gulf of Arabia, gathering moisture and strength over the warm seas as it lumbered toward Africa. And now, it threatened to make its landfall late that night - mere hours before the Spanish were to make their landings.

Another rumbling, followed shortly thereafter by another two percussive blasts. Luis knew full well that this was not thunder when Ayesta's  typically-lackadaisical expression very suddenly became much more grave. Hector was right, there was gunfight taking place in the distance. As if to confirm this, the klaxons of the vessel's PA speakers roared to life, warning all hands that hostilities had commenced.

"Battle positions!" Ayesta ordered over the warbling drone of the sirens, leading his men from the landing boats up to their positions near the prow of the cruiser. As they had during the Battle of Port Said, the soldiers butted themselves up against the railing lip at [i]Golondrina's[/i] fore and peered out over the water, the barrels of their weapons resting against the railing. Naval personnel assumed control of the deck gun behind Luis.

"Hostile contacts at the two o'clock position!" Luis heard one of the deckhands manning the cannon shout out. He looked out before the ship and off to the right - the reported whereabouts of the Ethiopian attackers. There, steaming northward across the straits, was a gaggle of vessels of varying sizes and shapes. Most were very small - smaller than Luis could expect even the smallest torpedo boat to be. If he were forced to identify these distant vessels, he would say most of them appeared to be fishing trawlers or ferries. Some were nothing more than metal boats affixed with outboard engines.

"Fire at will!" Screamed one of the men manning the deck gun. The cannon acknowledged the order with three thunderous blasts, one right after the other. In the distance, Luis watched as geysers of white, pulverized water shot skyward around the enemy vessels as the rounds slammed into the water around the vessels. The air resounded with the whistling of shells tearing through the air around them as Luis and his companions regained their hearing following the salvo being fired just behind them. Two other cruisers were now opening fire - flashes and puffs of smoke materialized on the bow of the nearby cruiser [i]Hechizada[/i] seconds before the concussive bursts reached Luis' eardrums.

The rounds from the sister cruiser found their mark: a deck gun shell tore what appeared to be a fishing vessel into a cloud of shredded debris and dust. Luis cringed as the boat collapsed into the sea; despite watching it unfold from a great distance away, he was certain that he could see bodies flung about like ragdolls into the water. The smaller, more maneuverable boats turned away and scattered toward the Yemeni coast from the approaching Spanish warships, the larger boats were unable to escape.

"They're refugees." Luis groaned as shells continued whistling through the air. "Why are we shooting them?"

"That's exactly what they want you to think, Luis." Lieutenant Ayesta declared, pausing as the deck gun behind them shot off another five rounds at the slower ships trapped in the path of the Spanish armada. "They want us to think that they're civilians trying to flee the country - so they can drop sea mines in our path. Never underestimate the lengths to which a desperate defender will go to survive."

"Fuck them anyway, even if they are refugees. They had their chance to escape this mess when Yaqob got into bed with the Chinks." Hector snarled, watching as a ferry burst into flames from a shell impact. "Better dead than red."

[b]Excerpt from Fuerza Aerea Communique to the Oficina de Intelegencia Militar[/b]

[u]Aerial Combat Incident Report[/u]

Issue Serial: 6.102
Incident Date(s): 4 June, 1980
Mission Classification: Reconnaissance, Interception
Personnel Involved: Captain Bartolo Uriega, Fuerza Aerea 8th Division - 5th Fighter-Inceptor Squadron
Incident Location: Gulf of Aden
Actors Involved: Fuerza Aerea of the Second Spanish Republic, New People's China
Assets Involved: AE13 Fantasma, Fuerza Aerea 8th Division - 5th Fighter-Inceptor Squadron

Weather: Clear skies and low pressure at incident locality and altitude. Aircraft struck by lightning during interception action prior to engagement. Lightning strike notable due to clear weather and failure of aircraft electrical systems. Cpt. Uriega made emergency landing at Abd al Kuri island and made repairs to electrical systems prior to engagement. (See Attachment: ACIR 6.101)

Incident Overview: Cpt. Uriega scrambled from the aircraft carrier [i]La Ira de Dios[/i] in northern Red Sea via AE13 Fantasma jet-propelled fighter to gauge defensive capacities of the Pan-African Empire's Ethiopian and Somalian coasts beyond radar and propeller-propeller reconnaissance thresholds. At 1415 local time, Cpt. Uriega detected a single unarmed aircraft with heading of 80 degrees in the vicinity of the Somalian coast from Ethiopian airspace and proceeded to engage. A lightning strike and subsequent failure of electrical systems forced Cpt. Uriega to make an emergency landing on the Abd al Kuri island to facilitate repairs. Uriega was unable to relocate the target aircraft.

At 1605 local time, Cpt. Uriega encountered three jet-propelled aircraft moving into the vicinity at high speed with a heading of 30 degrees from Ethiopian airspace. Cpt. Uriega initiated hostilities with foreign aircraft. Combat between actors lasted for approximately 14 minutes, 830 rounds of 12.7x100mm ammunition were expended. Cpt. Uriega believes that one enemy plane was shot down, but was unable to conduct a thorough search for the unaccounted hostile plane. Uriega was struck twice by enemy machine gunfire - once in the distal shoulder and once in the upper back. The engagement concluded when the accounted hostile aircraft retreated from the vicinity into Ethiopian airspace. It is likely that the hostiles left the engagement due to low fuel rather than combat-related considerations. Cpt. Uriega returned to [i]La Ira de Dios[/i] to refuel and seek medical attention. At 1807 local time, Cpt. Uriega deceased due to blood loss.

Incident Analysis: Bullet fragments recovered during the autopsy of Cpt. Uriega and within the AE13 Fantasma were found to be of a 13.0x102 caliber analogous to the Browning .50 caliber round. This bullet caliber does not correspond with any round of European, American, Ethiopian, or Persian manufacture. The bullets that killed Cpt. Uriega can likely only be of Chinese origin. Likewise, the industrial capacity of New People's China is thought to be the only one outside of the Second Spanish Republic capable of producing jet engines of any reliability. While it is distantly possible that the New People's China has provided jet fighter aircraft to the Pan-African Empire, the training regimen required to prepare Ethiopian pilots, mechanics, and engineers to operate efficiently with a Chinese jet aircraft would likely be very cumbersome. Far more likely, the New People's China has stationed their own fighters and pilots within the territory of the Pan-African Empire. It is abundantly clear that elements of the military forces of the Second Spanish Republic and New People's China have come into direct combat during this incident.

Recommended Actions/Corrections: Incident currently pending review by the Prime Minister.