3 Days in the Baltic

/// DISCLAIMER: THIS SCENARIO IS IN ALPHA STAGE AT BEST AND THERE IS STILL A LOT MISSING /// August 31, 2029 Three weeks ago, the Kremlin flipped the switch—and the conscription gears began grinding. The Russian Federation, bleeding from mounting losses and pressed against growing dissent, had done the unthinkable: reinstated its national draft. Western analysts, clinging to Cold War logic and false hope, predicted mass unrest, economic collapse, even regime change. But they were wrong. The streets of Moscow did not ignite in protest—the iron grip of the state held firm, and by the third week, thousands of fresh conscripts were already being moved toward the western borders. Baltic Flashpoint In the shadows of this mobilization, the Baltic region became a chessboard of provocations. NATO radar stations recorded a spike in cross-border probes: unmarked aircraft violating sovereign airspace, disappearing as quickly as they appeared. Undersea fiber-optic cables connecting Scandinavia, the Baltics, and Poland were severed—sabotaged by what SIGINT analysts identified as Russian deepwater divers from the Northern Fleet’s covert operations branch. Local unrest surged in Lithuanian and Polish towns, seeded by false-flag operations and cyber disinformation campaigns. The common thread? A strategic push toward the Suwałki Gap. The Suwałki Gap: Europe's Achilles Heel A mere 65 kilometers wide, the Suwałki Gap is a critical artery connecting the Baltic states to the rest of NATO. On one flank, Belarus; on the other, Russia's heavily fortified Kaliningrad enclave. Should Russian forces cut through this corridor, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania would be isolated—NATO’s Article 5 could be rendered moot in real-time. Your Mission You are General Adrian Keller, Joint Force Commander of Operation Iron Bastion. Your orders: Mobilize a multinational NATO task force across land, air, and cyber domains. Establish combat-ready air patrols over the Baltic Sea to neutralize incursions and den