She began reading and caught her breath. The 22nd Special Forces Brigade and the 12th Motorized Rifle Brigade were being deployed to Syria, along with the 14th Engineers battalion. The 22nd was her brother's unit.
Grigori!
Stepanov had put her in charge of the complicated logistics of the operation, including the construction of a base and airstrip inside Syria. She was ordered to monitor and ensure ongoing supplies for nine thousand combat forces and all their equipment, plus the engineers. A large amount of ammunition and fuel was required. The brigades were to be equipped with the latest advances in antiaircraft missile technology. A timetable of three months was given to accomplish completion of designated Phase 1.
It was a massive task. If anything went wrong, she would be blamed.
As she read through the material in the folder she realized Stepanov had given her an assignment usually reserved for someone of flag rank. She was being tested. How she handled it would make or break her career. Success would bring promotion. Anya had no doubt that if something went wrong, her career was finished.
A headache began probing the space behind her left eye.
The information in the folder said nothing about objectives. The goal of Phase 1 was to get the designated units to Syria, establish a base of operations, and stockpile supplies. Whatever Phase II might be, Anya had no need to know.
But she could speculate. There wasn't any regulation against that.
Everyone knew about Grigori's unit, the 22nd Brigade. The 22nd was one of the Federation's premier Special Forces units. It was famous for its counterterrorism skills, but EAGLE didn't look like a new counterterrorism operation. Support by the motorized rifles, the excessive ammunition requirements, and the addition of sophisticated missile technology meant someone on the general staff anticipated serious combat.
Moscow had been backing Syrian president Khaleem Al-Khali for years. The regime in Damascus was a corrupt, cruel dictatorship. Al-Khali remained in power because Moscow supported him. Without Russian help, he would have been defeated long ago by the rebel and Sunni forces arrayed against him. Even with Russian aid and decades of intermittent warfare, he still only ruled part of the country. The Kurds controlled everything to the east of the Euphrates, a region rich in oil. The proposed base was located near Deir-ez-Zor, on the edge of Kurdish controlled territory.
They must be going after the oil. That means they'll have to fight the Kurds...that explains the ammunition requirements. Grigori is going into combat!
A shot of adrenaline pumped through her body. Anya had no problem with the idea that Grigori might be called to defend the Motherland. It was the duty of any soldier. But the Kurds hadn't attacked Russia.
Part of Anya's job was to know how much oil was produced inside the Federation and how much was in reserve. Russia didn't need Syria's oil. The Federation could sell as much as it wanted and still have more than enough for domestic and military needs. Stepanov had made her responsible for ensuring the success of an operation designed to start a war against people who were not Russia's enemy.
This isn't right.
Lately she had found herself wondering why her government acted the way it did. Anya had chosen the military as a career because she'd been idealistic and young. Her youth was gone and her idealism had been sorely tested over the years, but she still believed Russia could be a force for good in the world, the kind of Russia that had defeated fascist Germany in the Great Patriotic War. It wasn't Stalin who had defeated Germany. It was the Russian people, who had sacrificed themselves by the millions to crush the Nazi aberration and protect the Motherland.
Her people.
Anya wasn't naïve. She knew Operation EAGLE wasn't only about oil. It was a move to assert Russian power in the Middle East. The Kurds were in the way. They weren't an enemy, but that didn't mean they wouldn't do their best to kill anyone who came against them.
Including her brother.