cHAPTER 6
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Chapter 6
NEW TEHERAN
IRAN
EARTH
23rd January 2026 – 0704 IRST (0334 UTC)
Shaheen had sped in the armoured limousine to the New Teheran government offices where lights burnt brightly in the ostentatious and opulent building. Dashing inside he noted with disgust that despite the imminent Israeli attack, work continued on the Pillar of Light with harried workers running around the tarpaulin covered scaffolding like termites at work.
Ignoring their futile stupidity, Shaheen dashed to the third floor and was stopped by security guards wearing insignia he did not recognise.
“I must speak with the Supreme Leader immediately,” he demanded.
Expecting to be rebuffed by the guards, he was surprised as the lead soldier said simply, “He is expecting you.”
Shaheen was subjected to a thorough security scan although he carried no weapons. It would seem that the Ayatollah’s paranoia now extended to Shaheen.
With good reason he thought grimly.
When he was eventually shown into the office of the Supreme Leader, he saw the man standing on the balcony overlooking the wide square below, still as a statue and silhouetted by the first hints of a new dawn. He knew that within moments Azaan, the Muslim call to prayer, would begin to sound from the minarets of the surrounding mosques.
“I actually believed you would have been here earlier Shaheen, but no matter. You are here now, in time to witness the end of the Zionist threat to our country.”
“Supreme Leader,” Shaheen began, “I implore you to stop this now before it is too late. The Israelis are already en route to destroy the missile sites, you must know this.”
Jannati turned towards Shaheen but did not leave the balcony. “Ah so you are aware of the missiles Shaheen? I wonder how you came about such information?”
Ignoring the question, he tried again. “If just one of those warheads strikes Israel, they will retaliate ten fold. Iran will cease to be and you, if you survive, will rule over a wasteland. What is the point of this?”
“I, Shaheen, am the instrument of Allah’s wrath because whatever you may think of your petty scheme, it is I that am truly the Prophet’s Voice!”
He heard the tone of madness in Jannati’s voice and saw the gleam of irrationality in his eyes. In the distance, he heard air raid sirens begin to wail drowning out the mu'adhin’s voices.
“This square will be known forever as the site of Iran’s first strike for Islam. It is perhaps the one place they would never have thought to look for a missile.”
Shaheen wondered just what the madman was ranting about. They were in the centre of a new city, not the wastes of Iran’s deserts… And then he understood, because outside came the increasing din of a powerful rocket motor. A spreading glow filled the brightening sky burning Jannati’s silhouetted image into Shaheen’s vision before a tremendous explosion blew him from his feet.
**********
From 40,000 feet above New Teheran, the second
Eitan of Sharon’s pair had located the exact GPS co-ordinates of the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, confirmed that its onboard system was synched and then transferred the information to the navigational element of the two ton bomb in its weapons pod. From the transmission of the commit code to the release of the weapon took a mere 3 seconds.
As it fell towards New Teheran, small vanes like miniature wings minutely adjusted the weapons course ensuring that, as it reached terminal velocity, its warhead would impact directly at the centre of the GPS co-ordinates it had been given.
At the moment it struck the ground, the third and final Chinese supplied missile rose from the ground where for weeks it had lain hidden beneath the tarpaulin and scaffolding in the square. The Pillar of Light had not been an obelisk or a monument. It had been the cover operation for the launch silo of Jannati’s final strike and he had planned for the empty silo to become the real monument to Iran’s emergence into world power.
The proximity of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps headquarters to the launch site however had results that nobody had planned for. As it penetrated deep within the complex, the two ton weapon exploded, throwing out a maelstrom of glass, concrete and shrapnel. It was a piece of red hot metal no more than two inches square that struck the missile just below the warhead. Most of its kinetic energy was spent as it carved through the metal casing but it had enough momentum left to penetrate inside the delicate guidance system.
While it didn’t actually damage any of the circuitry there, it did land atop a wire harness where it stayed for a further twenty seconds before the vibration of ascent caused it to drop down and fall across the terminals of the guidance connections. Instead of the missile arcing over and aiming directly for the heart of Tel Aviv, it continued its ascent unimpeded at a speed of 7 kilometres per second, almost Mach 23. At an altitude of 300 kilometres above the Earth, the metal shard shook free and awakening from its enforced stupor the warhead finally separated and detonated at 0337 UTC.
SPEAR FLIGHT
OVER ISRAEL
EARTH
23rd January 2026 – 0537 IST (0337 UTC)
Spear flight had lost just one aircraft when it was caught by a missile fired from one of the S-300 batteries surrounding the Alpha Target site. Shapira had seen no sign of an ejection seat but then he had been busy dealing with the Iranian Air Force.
In exchange for that one loss to the Israelis, Shapira knew they had made six positive kills on Iranian Mig-29s. The leaders of both strike packages reported no losses and definitive destruction of both sites with no launch.
It was as they had scurried for the relative safety of Iraqi airspace that he had seen the bright, rising trail of a missile at his six o’clock position. At first he had believed it to be a final attempt by a desperate anti-aircraft battery commander until he realised that the trail was too bright and seemed to be continuing vertically.
His mouth went dry as he realised that this had to be the third missile and despite all they had achieved, it now amounted to nothing. Iran had managed to release the missile unscathed and it was now heading for his homeland.
He had just begun the order for
Spear flight to conduct nuclear protocols when the warhead detonated. He threw his arm up across his face yet the brilliance of the airburst still temporarily blinded him. Instantly the aircraft went into shutdown and Shapira knew that despite the best attempts to shield the aircraft’s electronics from EMP, it hadn’t worked.
He had enough altitude to attempt to stabilise the aircraft’s attitude but it meant little as the F-35 had never been designed as a glider. Its wing surface and structure had been designed to fight in tight turns and high-g manoeuvres. He knew there and then that eventually he would need to eject.
His eyes streaming and unseeing, he hurtled down towards the desolate landscape of Northern Iraq and he said a small prayer before activating the ejector seat.
TEL NOF ISRAELI AIR FORCE BASE
REKHOVOT
ISRAEL
EARTH
23rd January 2026 – 0537 IST (0337 UTC)
When the man had burst through Green’s door, he at first thought it was the security guard who had been standing outside the main entrance. But in the brief moment that his consciousness was his own, he realised belatedly that it wasn’t.
With one barked word of “Shamshir!” Green became the unthinking automaton again and listened as he was given orders to quickly make his way outside and get into the van waiting there.
Responding immediately, he never saw the stranger place the incendiary charges in the room. He barely noticed the Israeli guard lying by the open door with his neck at an odd angle. His focus was on the military van parked by the curb which he quickly scrambled in to.
Beyond his vision, there was the whoosh of ignited accelerant and Green briefly smelt smoke before the front door opened and slammed shut again. Peeling away from the curb, the van sped through the quiet base and was five minutes beyond the main gate when several things happened at once.
The first was the sudden blooming of a bright light high above which challenged the coming dawn in its intensity. It lasted for a split second but it left after images in Green’s eyes that he found difficult to clear. The van coughed, stalled and began to freewheel, fighting the still engaged gears.
Green knew no more after that because in his head, a pain so intense and sharp stripped away any semblance of consciousness leaving him to twitch involuntarily in the back of the van. A force, unseen but violent, had just changed Green’s future.
