By Strength and Guile

By Strength and Guile is the first level of Call of Duty 9. The player controls Sgt. William Thomas of the Special Boat Service as his squad investigate a IRA stronghold.

Plot
Sgt. Thomas and his squad emerge from a hillside and stop near a parked IRA jeep. After dispatching the 3 soldiers they drive the truck toward an IRA convoy. They gain entrance into the Irish base. Cpl. Johnson plants a bomb onto the covered bed of the truck and hands the detonator to Thomas. The squad backs away, and Thomas detonates the bomb, causing a fuel tank to explode, sending the whole base into chaos. A SBS helicopter flies in, and SBS troops come in. Thomas fights his way across the courtyard, and clears out two machine gun nests. A tank roles in, and Thomas fights through a small building to flank it. He gets to the tank, and kills the men inside. Thomas then mans the main gun and machine gun of the tank.

IRA reinforcements come in, and Thomas uses the tank to decimate their numbers. Two BTRs come in, and Thomas destroys both, as well as a Hind helicopter. Thomas fires the main at a wall of the main HQ, and they get out and enter it. They clear the first and second floors, and get to the top. Thomas takes important information, and downloads a computer file. A helicopter comes to extract them, but an RPG takes it out and a IRA battelion storms the building. They fight their way out and make it out of the base.

They fight through a forest, attempting to make their way to a river. The IRA also chases them. They find themselves blockaded in by IRA tanks. They take a different route and find themselves at the top of hill. They run down to the river for extraction, but an RPG explodes near Thomas, sending him sliding down the hill. He dodges rocks, trees, and other debris as he slides into the boat. The boats fly off as Lt. Mitchell tells the team the information they collected leads to Titanium Shipping, who they believe supply the IRA with weapons.