Qala Incident Pt1

Posted on Wed Dec 17th, 2025 @ 5:49pm by Major Amy Ludd
Edited on on Sun Dec 21st, 2025 @ 10:14pm

Mission: Echoes of the Fallen
Location: sa Qala District, Helmand Province, Afghanistan
Timeline: During the Invasion
1452 words - 2.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Captain Amy Ludd was lying in wait for their target, had been for the better part of the day now. They were positioned a few kilometers from FOB Edinburgh, a small forward base in the Musa Qala District of Helmand Province. They had been in the country for a month now and this is the first time they had been outside of Camp Bastion. Intel had identified a person of interest in their AO. The mission an extraction, but he was hold up in a cave network and command had no intention of sending them in to find him, Ludd agreed. The caves were a warren of tunnels that stretched for kilometers. Thus, here they were hoping he could exit the one he entered.

The squad had headed down half a kilometer from the cave; they were on the mountain side with good vantage point. A Reaper was loitering somewhere above them providing visuals and if they needed it, air support. But realistically if things went sideways, they would be on their own unless they could get to FOB Edinburgh; and they were geared for mobility, not a sustained firefight.

They waited.

In the dead of night, looking back, she wouldn’t be sure what time it had been; but it must have been around 3am. The night sky lit up with an array of new stars. Points of light appeared above them. Hundreds, at the same moment the command net exploded with commands, counter commands and general confusion as FOBs and MOBs called for clarification. She risked a look around and locked eyes with her Sergeant. He gave a small shrug and shocked his head. The net went quiet at a single word from a voice so steeped in authority you didn’t need to know it was the Theater commander. “Stop”

A gentle chin nod back towards the cave, and her team resumed their surveillance. Whatever was happening wasn’t their concern, at least not yet; that would come later. For now, they watched as the empty cave suddenly bustled with activity. By her count 40+ UCPs, unidentified combatants/persons had rushed out and were pointing up at the lights. Their target was within that number she saw, but attempting to capture him at this moment was untenable. They waited and watched, but it was clear that they had no idea what the lights were and judging from the near panic on the net neither did they. Ludd risked an uplink; she backed away from the ridge and made the call.

Listening, she made sure that she wasn’t gonna cut anyone off or talk over any other unit, then made the call.

“Golf fife two to Alpha Niner Two. Radio Check, over” she waited. There was an odd crackle on the net. It sounded like a jamming signal, but the structure was odd.

“Alpha niner two to Golf fife two, 3 by 3, over”

‘Damn’ she muttered. There was a real chance of jamming, natural or otherwise which could compromise them.

“Alpha niner two, Message, over”

There was some more back and forth, but she was able to get some information, while the sender wouldn’t tell her what was happening; she did get the impression that shit had hit the fan, in a big way. They had been ordered to FOB Edinburgh, where they were to report to the IC. Relaying this to her team, they eased their way back off the ridge and carefully made their way back down the trail they had followed up. They had made it to the bottom, where they could pick up the pace when a fireball lit the night sky. They dropped and scanned for hostiles; it was seconds before Ludd realized that the Reaper had exploded and there were some kind of aircraft screaming overhead, a noise she’d never head before; like the World War II dive bombers, psychological warfare to scare.

There were heading for Camp Bastion, but they took the opportunity to take a passing shot at the gathered UCP’s killing a dozen and scattering the rest. G52 moved out; there was nothing they could; not even a message to warn Bastion. Jamming was full now, and the next was just a pulsing static hiss now.

Not wanting to draw attention to themselves, Ludd had them move carefully, but she couldn’t stop thinking about the aircraft; they hadn’t looked like anything she’d seen before, nor were their guns recognizable. She was no geek, but even she had seen Star Wars, and they had been blasters. Directed energy weapons that had exploded on contact! This was nothing like they had on earth, but that would mean a whole other set of problems for them; and she didn’t like that one bit.

Light discipline was something the British took very seriously, so on their approach to FOB Edinburgh there wasn’t a single source of artificial light on the base. With the radios and network down, and the situation as it was there was a real chance of blue on blue here. Ludd decided they would stealth in rather than announce themselves, and they were good at that, very good!

The first time anyone in the FOB knew they had arrived was then Amy had walked into the bases command centre an hour later. Her team were finding somewhere for them to claim, but it was only fair she presented herself before the officer in command. A Captain by the name of Munrow. A tall fellow with the Rifles who had drawn the short straw. A platoon from his company was the garrison unit here. The man had clearly been up most of the night and was tired and weary, but he had been informed she was arriving soon for he didn’t bat an eyelid. “Captain Ludd, I presume” he wasn’t asking but she nodded and even saluted.

“Captain, do you know what's going on?” she didn’t have time for pleasantries!

“I have no idea, after they radioed through you were coming the line went dead. It was lucky none of my boys were in the field and I have an advanced watch. I take it you saw the fireworks a few hours back?”

“Yeah” Ludd was starting to come down from the adrenaline high, and it was hitting her hard. “We were there; well, we saw it. Dozens of aircraft strafed a group of UCP’s and then headed for Camp Bastion.”

The captain looked ill, “They had already struck Bastion” he muttered, “From what out drones can tell they destroyed everything, there is now an extensive air fight, it looks like everything in the area is up there.”

Ludd took a seat; she had too; her legs were threatening to give out under her. The captain sat as well; they were alone when she spoke again. “Was there a ground attack?”

“And there is the rub” he muttered. We have spotted ground forces coming this way. An advanced force of maybe a hundred, preceding a much larger one. I do not have the people or the ammo to win a fight like that. We have wounded that can’t be moved either,” he added as though trying to justify the need to remain where they were.

Taking a moment Ludd considered, the FOB had mortar teams, several fortified heavy machine guns, a platoon of rifles, and a small defense unit. Oh, and four highly experienced soldiers of the special air service. The bad news was that the American forces which would also normally be assigned had been on their way, but not sure for another day or so. It was a changeover!

Ludd got to her feet “Okay Captain, let's get things moving; if there is a large hostile force on their way here, we need to make sure they only find a fight. We might not have backup, but we can make a good account of ourselves!”

They spent an hour touring the base; she had sent her team out to get a better idea of the number they were facing, and they had brought the base to active ready. The walls and towers were crewed and ammo dished out. The Mortars had already zeroed into key ranges, and the machineguns had a good field of fire. All in all, the base was ready. Then her team returned, and things went fubar!

The force of 102 locals were in a running battle with the large force behind; and like with the aircraft there was something off, the attackers were dressed “Like it's some medieval fair or something” as her Sergeant had put it, “and they have energy weapons.”

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Leftenant Amy Ludd