10 Downing Street
The massive workload that Prime Minister Timothy Roberts had become accustomed to since that event weighed heavily on him. Working 12 hours a day, seven days a week had become the norm for him. He couldn't keep this up for much longer - he knew that. The country couldn't keep this up for much longer.
The use of cars for personal reasons was banned, there was now rationing on most products, and so much more was slowly throttling the country. Hopefully, the deal with Barwan will alleviate some of that burden, but there is also a need to overhaul many systems in their country. The armed forces, for example, were now being reformatted into more appropriate groups, and many outstanding soldiers were being promoted to positions of power.
"Sir, we have more news from Barwan. They have agreed to export food at discounted prices in return for protection from any of their neighbours attacking them. They seem particularly fearful of the nation to their south, which we now know is called Skipia," an aide reported.
That was good, "And how about oil and other natural resources?"
"They say that they don't extract any oil - it's all done by the Amel Empire, but they are willing to sell us excavation rights."
"That's good," Timothy said, but he could sense a but coming.
"However, they do not have the required infrastructure for the excavation or any transport network, and heavy investment will be required."
"That's not such a problem - we can lease out excavation rights to companies such as Shell and BP as long as they build the necessary infrastructure. How about other natural resources?"
"Natural gas is the same as oil. They mine many metals - though not in the quantities we need, and they can sell excavation rights for those. Lumber is no problem - they produce that in incredible quantities."
More or less as he had expected then. "Finalise the deal. And bring in all the big companies we can get in on this, but make sure they aren't marking up their prices too much."
"Of course -" she never got to finish as Eric burst into the room.
"Sir, it's bad. Gibraltar has been invaded."
He was shaken, "WHAT?"
"The news has just come in - over 10,000 men and 20 ships are approaching Gibraltar, and just before that, they were attacked by ten dragons - which were promptly shot down."
"Well, then get reinforcements in the air."
"Well, um, we can't. All aircraft were put under maintenance to ensure that they would be safe to fly in the new world - we completed some in a rush job, but they are either in Gibraltar or with Admiral Lucian's fleet," Eric said with a worried expression.
"Then get him on the phone - I want all available assets to assist Gibraltar. What naval assets do we have available?"
"We have 4 River Class Patrol Vessels that we could deploy., HMS Trent is already in Gibraltar, and HMS Mersey and HMS Tyne have already been committed to patrolling our waters. They could reach Gibraltar in 13 hours as they have already been relocated to HMNB Portsmouth."
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"Deploy them to Gibraltar immediately and have all aircraft readied as soon as possible."
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Barwan
"Admiral, we have news from home. Gibraltar has been invaded."
The Admiral, who had been conversing with the Barwan elite before he was interrupted, replied, "What?"
"An unknown force, with over 10,000 men and 20 ships, has attacked Gibraltar. We have been ordered to deploy our fighters."
"What do they mean, deploy our fighters - the F35B only has a range of 800km while carrying weapons - we would have to move the entire fleet 2400km south before deploying them. It simply isn't feasible to get there quickly.
The Barwan King, who had been quietly listening, interjected, "Where is this Gibraltar? We may be able to help."
The Admiral showed him a map, and the King continued, "Ah, it borders Skipia. We can't move troops there to help you, but we can inform you about them. They have an army of 300,000 men, a navy of 200 ships and 300 dragon knights to form their airforce. They may have nothing on the superpowers, but they are formidable. They are quite a bit stronger than us, as we focus on our navy, boasting an impressive 250 ships, but our army is lacking, only having 120,000 men. And we only have 20 dragon knights who guard the capital."
The Admiral said to the King, "I apologise, Your Majesty, but we must leave."
That was until, "Sir, more news from home. The MoD has informed the politicians that we can't possibly provide support. And, the typhoons on the Falkland Islands can do the mission instead as they have been fully checked out now."
"Well, Admiral, I guess we can continue our discussion."
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Gibraltar
Major Tobias Rogers was laying down fire into the enemy ranks with his LA85A3 rifle, sending men to the ground with each burst. His men were doing the same, and the Royal Marines were using the KS-1s to pick off individual soldiers with immense accuracy. They were going to win.
The sounds of artillery firing far over the front line drowned out the screams of terror from within the enemy's formation. But then, he could hear something else, a loud whirring sound. He looked towards the direction of the sound and saw something he hadn't expected to see there - aircraft. Their aircraft. Something detached from them and flew into the enemy ranks, decimating their formation and ending hundreds of lives in seconds. And then another.
After a few more missiles wiped out half the enemy force, they broke into a full retreat, running as fast as they could, trampling their dead and dying comrades. He gave the order not to pursue them.
The uninjured British moved to help the wounded from their side, taking them to first aid areas that had been set up.
Then Major Clark came up to him, "What do we do about them?" he pointed towards the site of the massacred enemy forces.
"I suppose we take them into custody and treat the wounded. We don't have the men to deal with those bodies, and it would leave us defenceless if we went to deal with them. Wait a minute, clear the runway. Those typhoons are going to have to come in - to land."
After they cleared the runway, the Eurofighter Typhoon FGR4s touched down before taxing to the area outside the hangars.
As the pilots hopped out, Tobias spoke to one and said, "Thank you for your help - where did you fly in from?"
"We flew in from RAF Mount Pleasant on the Falkland Islands. It was around a 600km flight."
"Are you staying for long?"
"After we have refuelled, we will be waiting until the order comes from command, then we'll head back."
"Ah"
After chatting with the pilots, he met up with Major Clark and Major Wells - who had arrived just after the fight. They discussed what to do next.
"We should push out and set up forward operating bases."
"No, we should build barricades to prevent anyone from getting near us."
"We should use the Typhoons to wipe out enemy bases before moving in and taking them over."
"Well, we can't do anything without approval from Command," Commodore Gómez said as he walked into the room.
"And you lot aren't just using my Typhoons," said Air Commodore Bowers as he followed Gómez into the room.
Commodore Gómez sat down before continuing, "They are sending over a Lieutenant General to command all of our forces in Gibraltar and any in enemy territory if we do attack them. They are also deploying the 4th Light Brigade Combat Team under the command of Brigadier Isabella White. What we do now is their decision."
"There is no way that the UK takes this attack lying down - the chances of that are lower than being transported to another world."
"Um, Clark, you do know that we appear to have been transported to another world don't you?"
"Oh shit, yeah."