The battle standard of the Republic of Israel before its fall to the Holy Islamic Empire. 2058.
Not to have felt pain is not to have been human. – Jewish Proverb

Shattered Citadel: Fall of Israel
 

22022058, Masada, Republic of Israel, Earth [Sol]


                He lifted his head above the walls of the crumbling ancient fortress and quickly scanned the terrain surrounding his position. He didn't like what he saw and jumped back down, kicking up a cloud of dust as he landed. All around him his comrades were using the lull in the bombardment to reinforce their position and distribute the last of the ammunition for their last stand. In the distance a man shouted out his name , h e waved to the injured soldier and ran towards him. He grabbed the soldier by the arm and held him up.
 

            "Rev Seren, were surrounded on all sides. Millions of them. Heavy armor. Artillery. Everything. The remaining IDF divisions have retreated towards the sea to evacuate the people. Were now on our own."
 

            "Turai Avraham, what about the other scouts?"
 

            "They didn't make it." The scout righted himself and stumbled over, hitting the ground with a loud thud.
 

            The Rev Seren knelt beside the dying scout and ripped open his olive green shirt. He had two small holes on his chest and the Rev Seren gently lifted him to his side, only to reveal two gaping exit wounds. "Medic! Medic!" he shouted.
 

            A Medic appeared from one of the ancient tunnels that crisscrossed the mountain that Masada sat on. The Medic checked the scouts vitals and shook his head. He frowned and stripped the dead man of his ammunition and weapon. The Medic removed a bulky machine from his pack and attached it to the dead man.
 

            The Rev Seren stood up and walked away as he heard the sound of the dead man's blood being pumped from his body. It disgusted him, but he took his mind off it by walking the length of the fortress. He would inspect the troops, give them some words of encouragement, and occasionally crack a joke with them. Even under the shadow of death their spirits were high. These men and women were truly Israel's best. They had all volunteered to stay behind and hold Masada. As long as Masada stood the Islamic hordes could not advance and surround the evacuation force. Every minute they delayed the Islamic horde meant hundreds of Israelis safely evacuated to the sea by the US Navy and any allied ship in the region. Masada had just endured a relentless five hour bombardment by heavy artillery and mortar and it held up remarkably well against the onslaught. A testament to the genius of its construction by the earliest Jews, who bore the fortress out of a mountain of solid rock with nothing but their hands and the simplest of tools.
 

            "Herr Amichai!" The Rev Seren instantly recognized the voice as his Germen Army liaison and turned around to face him. The German clicked his heels and gave him a crisp salute. The Rev Seren hated when he did that, he always half expected him to give him the Nazi salute.
 

            "What do you have for me Hauptmann Fromm?"
 

            "Rev Seren Amachai, the Holy Islamic Army is almost done with their daily prayer. We expect them to continue the attack immediately after the Adhan is over."
 

            "Thank you Hauptmann. If I may be so bold… you should have left with the others while you had the chance. You must have known this to be a suicide mission."
 

            "I volunteered to be here in your people's darkest hour, even if it goes against the E.U.'s stated policy of non-involvement in your war. The people of Israel will always have allies in Europe."
 

            "And who may they be?"
 

            "Germany, Britain, Norway, Sweden, Poland, and Denmark." The German shrugged and continued speaking, "The other nations are terrified and don't want to start a war with the Holy Islamic Empire or anger their huge Islamic populations, but they don't realize like we do, that this is just the beginning. No amount of diplomacy or wishing away the problem will stop the H.I.E. from turning against us once Israel is wiped from the face of the Earth."
 

            "You're a good man Fromm. It's funny how things turn out. Your people nearly wiped us out a century ago and your great, great, great grandfather would have most likely been a Nazi himself, but here you are. With us, against the wishes of most of Europe and risking your ass for us. I am honored by your presence here." The Rev Seren shook the Germans hand and inspected his neatly pressed American uniform. All the Europeans fighting for Israel wore American uniforms and fought under the U.S. stars and stripes, because officially the E.U. was neutral. The renegade E.U. nations that fought for Israel wanted to leave no trace of their military aid.
 

            "Ash-hadu anna Muhammadan rasūl allāh! Ash-hadu anna Muhammadan rasūl allāh!" A booming voice cried in the distance. Both the Rev Seren and the German knew what that meant, that their respite was over. The Islamic hordes had concluded its prayers and were on their way.
 

            The Rev Seren reached for his radio and switched it on, to give one last message to Masada's defenders. "The Holy Islamic Army is now on the move, we expect them to attack any moment soon." He paused and continued, "Sons and daughters of Israel, we defend ground which our great ancestors also fought a losing battle, almost two thousand years ago. They fought against the might of the entire Roman Empire. Just 950 Jews held back the legions of Rome for more than a year, rather than surrender and be slaves. They gave their lives and committed suicide. Today, we number no more than they and arrayed against us is the entire might of the Holy Islamic Empire. We know this is our last day, but remember that day you were sworn into the IDF, after boot camp, on these very grounds. Remember those words that you uttered in that swearing in ceremony… "Masada shall not fall again.' Believe in this and may Yahweh's will be done."

            Cheers rose up from all over the ancient fortress and the defenders began chanting "Masada shall not fall again!" The Rev Seren smiled and the German nodded to him approvingly. The lighthearted moment came to an abrupt end as the loud crack of small arms fire and the sharp whistle of mortar rounds filled the hot desert air. The Rev Seren lifted his rifle over the fortress way and looked though his rifle's camera. His heart sank as he watched hundreds of thousands of Islamic soldiers scaling the mountain. Masada's defenders had rigged the sides of the mountain with thousands of anti-personnel mines and almost immediately they were used up. For every Islamic soldier that fell, ten more took his place. The Rev Seren began firing on the uppermost soldiers scaling the mountain below him. He was relatively safe behind the hard rock walls of the fortress, only his rifle and hands were exposed as he used the rifle camera to see for him. Large chucks of the fortresses wall began to be blown off as hundreds of Islamic tanks began firing in unison against the mountain citadel, slowly taking out the numerous Israeli machine gun posts that were wreaking havoc on the approaching enemy forces.
 

            "Hauptmann Fromm, how about that air support?" The Rev Seren asked.
 

            "Herr Amachai, I already did." The German replied looking up at the sky. Almost immediately a few dozen bombers unstealthed and crisscrossed the area. Carpet bombing and strafing everything that moved. The air grew heavy in smoke and fumes as the entire area around Masada exploded into one large fireball. Almost as fast as the bombers appeared they were gone. The smoke began to dissipate, but to the Israelis horror the Islamic Army continued to scale the mountain. Many were still on fire with their skin hanging loosely off their body, but still they climbed. "Zum Teufel! Der Teufel wird los sein!" The German clearly disgusted.
 

            "You said it, Hauptmann." Th e Rev Seren and the German quickly collected themselves and began firing down the mountain. There were just too many enemy soldiers and as they crept up closer, one by one the defenders weapons grew silent due to lack of ammunition. Screams filled the fortress as the first Islamic soldiers scaled the walls of the fortress and the defenders, now armed with only pistols or knives fought them off in hand-to-hand combat.
 

            "Schwanzlutscher!" The German screamed as he shot an approaching Islamic soldier in the head with his pistol. The enemy soldier still ran at them at full speed until the German unloaded a full clip into his head. The soldier fell a mere meter away from the German and twitched on the ground uncontrollably until the German broke his neck. "Hurensohn, fucker didn't want to die."
 

            The Rev Seren inspected the dead soldier more closely and shook his head. "They're drugged. I've never seen anything like this before."

           
Another Islamic soldier came at them from behind, but the German reacted quickly and smashed his pistol into his charred face. With each blow to the face more chunks of hot flesh flew from the still smoldering Islamic soldier. The German stood above the now dead burning body panting heavily. "Fick Mich," he said as he wiped the slimy flesh off his pistol.

           
A woman screamed in the distance and the two men retreated into the tunnels of Masada finally reaching the ancient Thermal Roman baths where the last defenders began to barricade themselves. The Rev Seren ran over to one of the baths and pulled a burlap cover off of it.
 

            "Du scheißt' mich an?" The Germans quipped as his eyes grew as wide as saucers as the Rev Seren began punching numbers into a nuclear bomb. The defenders guarding the tunnel unleashed a volley into the fast approaching enemy who now swarmed the tunnels. They smashed into the Israelis and began cutting them to pieces with their swords and bayonets. The Rev Seren continued working on the bomb as the German stood over him taking on any Islamic soldier that approached.
 

              "My Ancestors didn't survive the ovens of Treblinka for Israel to end here. If it takes another two thousand years. We'll be back. Masada shall not fall again." The Rev Seren closed the hatch to the bomb and stood up. "It was an honor serving with you Hauptmann Fromm, Son of Germany."
 

              "As it was with you, Herr Amachai, Son of Israel." The two unloaded their last clip of ammunition into the horde of Islamic troops, but were overwhelmed by them. The Islamic soldiers stabbed them repeatedly with their daggers and bayonets.
 

               "Allah u Akbar!!!" They screeched as they sank their blades into the last two survivors. The ancient room filled with a brilliant light as everything was instantly vaporized in the combined heat and pressure of a man made sun.


































22022058 USS Abraham Lincoln, Afloat One Mile from Ashdod, Republic of Israel, Earth [Sol]

 

            The American Admiral stood on the bridge of the Ford-Class Super Carrier. He watched the evacuation of the Israeli people from a huge monitor on his screen. The sea around him was full of thousands of small ships shuttling the Israelis to the large cargo ships and warships that would be their new homes. The Admiral shifted his gaze back to the other men in the room.
 

            "So will or will not the E.U. take in the Israelis?" The American Admiral asked the rogue European Admirals in the room.
 

            "We've supplied hundreds of ships to the evacuation, what more can we do without breaking our neutrality?" A Danish Admiral replied.
 

            "Your ships are flying American flags, were taking all responsibility for this. I just want you to take some of them in. The U.S. will take in four million refugees and relocate them to New York, but we cannot handle the rest."
            "Look France, Spain, Italy, and all the rest will fine the hell out of our nations if they find out we aided the Israelis. They don't want any part of a holy war." The Danish Admiral said.
 

            A sailor ran into the room unannounced gasping for air and blurted out "Jerusalem just fell to the Holy Islamic Empire. All American and Israeli forces there believed dead. Reports of widespread massacres of Israelis civilians. It's awful, Sir." The sailor ran back out of the room as quickly as he came.
 

            "Ladies and Gentlemen, it just became a holy war. How long do you think your neutrality is going to save you? Do you think the CFR commie fucks will leave Europe alone once they're done subjugating their former empire in central Asia? Do you think the Islamofascists will stop once they destroy Israel and India? Hell, China is slowly grinding us down. Your next, you better get the rest of Europe in line with you, because a shit storm is heading your way."
 

            The rogue European military delegation stood thinking of what the American admiral just said. "Germany will take them." The German Admiral said.
 

            "Norway pledges to take some refugees."
 

            "So will Britain."
 

            "Thank you." The American Admiral said relieved.
 

            They all returned to watching the monitor and watched as the chaotic evacuation took place. Hundreds fought for the last ships out of Israel in the shadow of a fast approaching army in the distance. Artillery shells rained down on the hapless civilians. Many evacuees tossed cars and helicopters from the ships to make more room. In the distance a fireball lit the sky.
 

            "Is that a bloody nuke?" The British Admiral said amazed. The horizon became filled with more flashes of blinding light as a dozen more nukes detonated in the distance over the Islamic horde.
 

            "Pul Meg!" The Norwegian Admiral cursed in his native tongue.
 

            "Turn about immediately." The American Admiral screamed into his COMM. He clutched the bridges railings and stood thinking to himself. He now knew that everything had changed. The war had now turned into something else, something he dare not say. He now knew the coming years would be very painful ones. All he could think about was his family back home; it was only a matter of time before this hell reached them. The very thought sickened him and he walked out of the room. Leaving the Europeans staring at the smoldering mushroom clouds above the holy land.
 

           
TRANSLATIONS:

Ash-hadu anna Muhammadan rasūl allāh - Arabic - I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God

Zum Teufel - Germen - Dammit

Der Teufel wird los sein - Germen - All Hell's Going to break loose

Schwanzlutscher - Germen - Cocksucker

Fick Mich - Germen - Fuck me

Du scheißt' mich an - Germen - You got to be Shittin' me

Allah u Akbar - Arabic - God is great

Pul Meg - Norweigian - Fuck me



SC: Fall of Israel
The IDF make a last stand against the Holy Islamic Empire at the ancient fortress of Masada.

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