<i>[Khojavend Province, Azerbaijan, Five Years Ago]</i><br><br>It seemed that wherever Bannister went it was hot. Not too surprising since he was an oil prospector and oil tended to be in either some dusty Arab desert of humid African jungle nowadays. He consoled himself with the knowledge that he wasn't freezing his ass off in Siberia with those poor slobs from Royal Dutch Shell. There was oil there too, just harder to get.<br>
<br>Really Azerbaijan wasn't too bad. Sure it was hot, but no hotter than it probably was back home in Georgia this time of year. And for a supposedly poor, ex-Commie, Muslim country the locals were pretty nice. Actually the poor part wasn't too true either, because Azerbaijan had that great price sought after by so many people. <br>
<br>This had been a known fact for several years now. Pipelines stretched all the way across through Georgia, into Turkey and from there half the homes in Western Europe. A nice bit of cash had been coming to the Azerbaijani which probably explained why the country was a bit nicer than Bannister had expected when the brass back at ExxonMobil had sent him here.<br>
<br>Taking a few last puffs of his cigarette, Bannister dropped the but to the ground and headed back to the main control trailer situated in the middle of the prospecting camp. Dusty and dirty from the dry summer winds currently prevailing the interior was clean, full of computers and other fancy equipment, and most importantly air conditioned. <br>
<br>"Please don't tell me we've just wasted the past five weeks," quipped Bannister to his two comrades, Ellis and some local named Agera. "I missed my daughter's birthday to run around this place."<br>
<br>"Well you can buy her a pony to make up for it," said Ellis with a smile. That elicited a chuckle from Bannister.<br>
<br>"Yeah, maybe if my salary triples."<br><br>"It just did," replied Ellis, handing Bannister a printout. Bannister read it over quickly, the shock registering on his face.<br><br>"This is…." Both Ellis and Agera nodded with broad smiles.<br>
<br>"Fifty billion. Fifty billion barrels of light, sweet crude oil."<br><br>"At the very least," added Agera, some ex-Gazprom guy that Exxon had hired on a few years ago. "It's very deep down but the size of the deposit and the purity of the oil will more than make up for any investment cost."<br>
<br>Was this how the prospectors in the old gold rush had felt? The thrill, the satisfaction. That was how Bannister felt now, having hit black gold.<br>---<br><br><i>[Somewhere in Iran, four months ago]</i><br><br>Salim had never considered himself a terrorist. Like many Iranian Kurds he did not share in the religious fanaticism of the Persian majority in the country. Oh, he was a devout Muslim and did believe in God's presence and will in the world. Who didn't? But when the supposed leaders of God's faith tended to torture and murder your friends and family just for being a Kurd, it sometimes made you cynical. Somewhat like Salim's father, shot outside of Sanandaj as part of Khomeini's 'holy war' against the Iranian Kurds. <br>
<br>The Persians deserved this. This retribution, this punishment. He didn't want to kill all of them, not destroy an entire people like that asshole Bin Laden had tried before the US SOCOM had shot him full of holes and dragged his body out of some cave in Pakistan. All Salim and his compatriots wanted was their own nation, a home where they would be free from oppression and tyranny. And if some drastic actions had to be taken in order to fulfill that dream then so be it.<br>
<br>Gripping the AK-47 tightly in his hands, slick from nervous sweat, he and his compatriots moved quickly through the hole they had cut in the chain fence surrounding the oil pumping station. Salim seriously hoped he wouldn't have to use his rifle. Their mission here was more dramatic than just killing some oil workers and IRGC soldiers, though that would be the ultimate outcome if all went well. <br>
<br>Saddam Hussein had learned the hard way that body counts don't mean much to the religious zealots that controlled Iran. No, if Salim and the countless others working in many different sights around the country at this very moment wanted to hurt the Persians, they would have to bring the country low and weak by other means. <br>
<br>It took them about ten minutes, slightly longer than what Salim would have considered acceptable but the complacent IRGC soldiers watching this facility weren't expecting any trouble. The Ayatollah had been blathering about the infidel Americans, Jews and Europeans so much that everyone was expecting an attack to come from the sky with 'USAF' marked on the side.<br>
<br>What a surprise they were in for.<br><br>Ten minutes, in and out. Once they had retreated back to their trucks hidden a good two kilometres from the pumping station they broke out the radio detonator.<br><br>"To you the honour, Salim," one of his compatriots said. Nodding and accepting the small black box he turned the key and pressed the button. The explosion lit the night sky for miles.<br>
--- <br>Supreme Leader Rushid Al-Kalil Malisaj was a very confident man. He did not presume to be a prophet, for only Mohammed was a true prophet, but he did know that as an Ayatollah and the Supreme Leader of Iran the words he spoke were the true intentions of God. Iran was the only true Holy Land in the world, since those fat arrogant Saudis had corrupted the land of the two Mosques by prostituting themselves to the Great Satan so many years ago. Iran was the chosen nation, its people the chosen people.<br>
<br>"God tests us in many different ways," he said to the assembled council of experts, the leadership of Iran. After Malisaj himself of course. Most were clerics and generals but a few politicians sat at the table as well. Elected officials had their use so long as they followed the will of God as laid out by the Great Shiek Khomeini. "That we have been wounded in such a way should not make us despair. God will give us salvation if we obey his will."<br>
<br>Calming words for such a dire situation. Last night someone, the IRGC suspected Kurdish rebels, had simultaneously attacked one third of the oil refineries and pumping stations throughout Iran. The death toll was in the hundreds and worse still the flow of precious oil had altogether ceased. Already chaos and panic were gripping the Iranian economy. <br>
<br>"It is not just simply a matter of a dip in oil profits," commented Finance Minister Surhavi. "Despite our vast oil wealth, mismanagement in certain sectors and continued theft of oil for sale on the black market has made our country a net importer of energy for several years now. We do have strategic reserves but those will only last so long. Not to mention that much of our foreign capital has been spent acquiring new weapons from the Russians and Chinese."<br>
<br>Was that a shot at the military? General Kezanari remained passive. Of course they had spent much on the defence forces. The American pigs were always watching Iran for weakness so they could attack their greatest foe in the Middle East from their bases in Iraq, yet another puppet state of the Great Satan. The Iraq War had shown them the need to be ever prepared for war with the infidels, because someday it would come.<br>
<br>"How long will it take to repair the damage?" asked Malisaj. <br><br>"Years, at least. The pumping stations will be a rather straightforward affair but refineries are much more complex. Not to mention expensive."<br>
<br>
"I refuse to be brought low by these filthy Kurds," spat President Soleimani. While Malisaj's devout faith was unquestioned, Soleimani was far more of a firebrand than the Supreme Leader. "What solutions do we have for this? There must be other sources of energy!"<br>
<br>"Iraq, Saudi Arabia, any of the other Arab states, even the Russians," commented the Foreign Minister, Javalar. "But our relations with those states are not very cordial. They will almost certainly demand 'political reform.'"<br>
<br>"You mean a corruption of our faith to satisfy their American masters!" seethed the President. "Such a course of action is not acceptable!"<br><br>"There is of course another solution," spoke Kezanari, adding his voice to the table for the first time. "We cannot supply our own energy demands nor sustain our economy under these conditions. If we are to continue as a nation we must acquire a new source of petroleum income. And God has indeed offered us a blessing."<br>
<br>"The Khojavend oil field?" asked Javalar. "Are you proposing an invasion of Azerbaijan?"<br><br>"Our survival versus theirs. Not a hard choice."<br><br>Considerable mumbling and concerned glances were erupted around the conference table. Invading a sovereign nation was no trivial matter. To conquer the Khojavend oil field would require the occupation of all southern Azerbaijan, if not the entire country. <br>
<br>"An action that would draw the attention of the entire world, not to mention the wrath of the Russia. Very likely the Americans as well, looking for an excuse to attack us," warned Javalar.<br><br>"Russia is a tiger that can be distracted with a prick to the paw," countered Kezanari. "For years our Chechen brothers have languished under the heretical yoke of their Russian masters. We could supply them with enough arms and specific intelligence for them to launch a third insurrection against the Federation. A similar method could be applied to Abkhazia and South Ossetia where Russian and EU peacekeepers are stationed. Perhaps they will not win, but it would certainly bog the Russian Army down long enough for us to strike quickly at Azerbaijan. By the time the Russian have realized what has happened we will have already dug in too deeply for them to remove us without immense bloodshed."<br>
<br>"And what of the Americans?" pressed Kezanari. They were the real concern.<br><br>"What of the Americans?" the General shrugged. "They are a mere step away from war with China. No matter how much their crazed Christian ideology calls for our destruction China is the greater threat. They will not risk war with us when war with China looms on the horizon. And do not forget that in their hearts the Americans are cowards. They would be even less willing than the Russians to suffer the losses required to dislodge us from Azerbaijan. And the EU has always been a cowardly, toothless old lion. If their American masters fail to act then so shall they."<br>
<br>"So many assumptions," observed the Foreign Minister. "I recall the apostate Hussein making similar ones before invading Kuwait. And look what happened to him." Kezanari shrugged.<br><br>"Hussein was an incompetent fool who didn't know how to properly run a war. We boast the most powerful military force in the entire Middle East. We are far more capable than the Iraqis were in 1990. Consider also the harsh lessons learned by the Americans in Iraq thirteen years later. They know that if they were to invade Iran, they would be years fighting our loyal warriors and lose far more men than they did to the Iraqi insurgency. No, Minister, now is the perfect time to strike. No one will have the strength of the will to stop us. Perhaps the Chinese might even recognize our control of Azerbaijan as a way to slight the Americans and the Russians. Not to mention act as a market for our new oil wealth."<br>
<br>"We must justify the invasion somehow," Soleimani pointed out. <br><br>"We can fabricate evidence linking the Azerbaijan government to the Kurdish terrorists that have killed so many of our countrymen. Once we have occupied the country, we will further fabricate bases and training camps that we will claim the Kurds used to plan and stage their attacks."<br>
<br>Again there was more hushed talk among the conference table as they weighed their options. To do nothing would ensure Iran was made weak in the face of its many infidel enemies, those godless heathens that worked tirelessly to destroy Islam and dominate the lives of God's faithful as they had since the 19th Century. To act was to also invite destruction but also gain salvation. <br>
<br>"If we do not secure a new source of fuel and income then we will falter," said the Supreme Leader after he had thought over the situation. "Obviously this cache of oil is a reward for our faithful adherence to God's will. That it has been placed in Azerbaijan is merely a way for God to test the strength of our resolve. No doubt we will have to endure much and perhaps even fight the Russians, Europeans and the Great Satan America. But God will protect us and see that we prevail. General Kezanari, make the preparations."<br>