Far from Home, Close to war
Celackian newsnet
When news breaks, we use the glue of truth to put the pieces together and make a mural of information thingy
The governments preperations for the 5000th continue on schedual today despite the fact that some of the suppiles and building materials went missing. There are to be celebrations to be held in Etteradi, Calax, Benelencu and Efane which are sponsored by the federal government and the rest of the celebrations are to sponsored by provincial and municipal governments. Prime minister Tuesat has annouced that a black tie gala will be held for dignitaries, both local and foreign, in Plaqis sqaure.
In other news, a small island was found in the mid atlantic today. It was discovered by two Celackian aviators, who were flying around the world. They have claimed the island for Celack. The island is close to 400Km across. It's topography is beaches rocky terrain, and some fertile fields near the coast with a cluster of mountains in the geographical centre of the island. Some have theorized that it is a volcanic island, newly formed. It explains why the mountains appear to be filled with many mineral deposits. Already close to 500 colonists have been sent to develop the new area along side 30 infantry from the 3rd army divison. They are expected to arrive within a fortnight and start building a colony. Supplies will be airlifted in.
Finally, we are looking for a new slogan....
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The news report had lied. It had not been two Celackians who had discovered the Island. It was a Celackian and an Artitisan. Of course, the news stations under his control in Celack had reported it as two Celackians, thereby making sure they thought the Island was only Celackian and that's the way it should be, and the news stations under his control in Artitsa had reported it as two Artisans, so they thought the Island was an Artitsan property only. He allowed himself a smile. His plan was falling into place perfectly. It was a good thing that the island was discovered. It had made his life easier. He had also made sure that some of his men were colonists. One would set up a blog. That way, he had another un-official news source that he could use. All he needed was for the colonies to discover each other, and tensions to rise. He would be there every step of the way. He would be sure that something unfortunate happened and then he would make sure it would escalate.
He leaned back into the handmade leather chair and had visions of all the profits. Afterall war sold well.
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The ship rocked back and forth on the waves. In the passenger cabins, all was well as the colonists slept well in their beds. All but one. The one was Timothy Bilson, a 25 year old man with a large bank account. He was a mechanic by trade and to the eyes of almost anyone he signed up to show his pride in Celack. Truth is, he signed up for the money. Sure he'd have to do extra work for it, but it was worth it. Right now, he was looking a a piece of equipment that was not going to be used imediatly but it would be later. That meant that his modifications would not be noticed until it could be blamed on someone else. He heard footsteps entering the hold. It was the patrol.
"Hey you! What are you doing?"
Bilson turned to see a Psycho rabbit standing, in the blue of a Celackian military uniform, an A-ARC rifle pressed against his chest.
"MAking sure this thing works"
"why not do it at landfall? We'll have plenty of time then?"
"Insomnia. If I don't do something Ill go insane."
The Physco rabbit turned and left. Bilson made a mental note that he would have to deal with him later.
Robin Johnson's vomit splattered along the side of the giant colony ship. He was sea sick, and his skin colour showed it. He could blend in with a jungle with no camouflage at all. But he was green for more than just that reason; this was his first time outside Artitsa, and he was nervous.
The water was black, and frigid. Robin could see his breath, slithering up into the air. He couldn't remember at this point why he had chosen to come, but it was more than likely for the money. His University education was getting him no where. Remember now, there was a large poster. "Work on a beautiful Paradise Island, $120 an hour!"
"Fuck this." Robin spat into the black depths. He vomited once more, and wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt. As he turned to leave, a young woman walked through the door from the inside, her hair was tied up conservatively in a tight bun. "Robin, are you sick again?” She wore a tightly wrapped bathrobe, but she still shivered. He nodded, and looked at his feet. She grabbed his arm and dragged him inside, “Lets go, we’ll get you some of that pink shit.”
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On a completely different vessel, Cpl. Joseph McCarther sat in front of a Satellite TV, in the bowels of an Artitsan Naval Transport ship. There was about two dozen other soldiers on his level, with another two dozen above, and two dozen below. There was a time, he reminded himself when he complained, that they would all have been on the same deck. And there was no satellite TV. He watched the news reports… they were talking about the Island. ‘Looks nice’ he thought. “Hey Joey,” Private Olsen Willis sat down beside him, “some fucking colonist is puking on the other ship. It was goddamn hilarious man!”
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It was early the next morning when the island came into the sights of the ships. Several Large V-82 transports lifted off of the SAS. Kingsworth, the transport ship carrying Able Company of the 1594th Regiment of the 18th Guard Division, 6th Regional Army. Another ship, the SAS. Hallworth, much smaller than the former, carried the 4th Platoon of Bravo Company, 182nd Regiment, 27th Spartan Division, 3rd Spartan Army, located out of Galway. They would be landing first, rolling in fast and securing the area. Afterwards, the Able Company of the 1594th would escort the hundred or so colonists.
Cpl. Joseph McCarther rode in the first wave of V-82T’s, crammed in with eleven other guys and two GAZ-2990’s (http://www.ural-lada.com/img/GAZ-2975.jpg)… the newest Artitsan Military Utility Transport Truck. It resembled their old hummers, but they were a helluvalot faster, and extremely armed and armoured. He listened to Sgt. Balinvic rattle out instructions for when they land; Joseph had heard it before. This was his 97th landing, but only his 3rd in an LZ considered cold. He was 29, and pale. He had a slim musclar build, but nothing to astounding. His appearance didn’t stop him from beating the shit out of that guy at the bar three weeks ago.
“Two minutes, get strapped up boys!” The Lieutenant barked over the drone of the jet engines outside the walls of the aircraft. The LT was only two years older than Joseph, with half his experience. The only reason why the guy was LT, was his father.
Robert Nugab stared off at black churning sea, from his vantage point on the deck. His whiskers twitched in the cold night air. He was one of the many colonists going to Ahnon, the new Island that Celack had claimed for herself. The ship had left port that morning for it's two day journy to the island. He was thinking back to that morning.
He was in bed, his girlfriend was already up and trying to wake him. He hadn't told her. He decided he would and wouldn't leave her behind wondering
"Girl don't tell me that it's morning
Can we keep the curtains drawn?
I haven't given you fair warning
but my ship, she sails at dawn
And it's true I must be going
but I swear I won't be long
there isn't that much ocean
between Celack and Ahnon"
He swore to her, that on the first supply plane that came back in, he would be on. He would find a replacement. He boarded the boat that morning a scarce hour later, with a ring on his finger. She happened to have a pair of matching rings in her jewlery box. When he came back on the plane in a few weeks, they would be married. He couldn't wait. He turned to see another colonist on the other side of the deck, crying her eyes out as she stared at the sea. He saw who it was an instantly realized why she was crying. She had also left a love behind, however she and he had no choice about it.
Her name was Karen Granst. She and her fiance had been the first who had signed up to be colonists. However due to some PC bullshit at the last minute, he was pulled off and a Psycho rabbit took his place, and that psycho rabbit had been Nugab. When he heard that he had been selected to be part of the colony, he was estatic. They had neglected to tell what they did to give him a place. If he known he would have refused flat-out. He had only learned about it when he got to the dock to be on the ship and he ran into the man he replaced. He realised that he had a solution to both problems. The man would fly in on the supply flight and replace Nugab. He hadn't had time to tell Granst yet. He figured it would be better if she was suprised by the appearence of her fiancee. He smiled to himself and went below decks to catch some small amount of sleep.
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In the sattelite room of the Celackian military headquaters, Ted Dabhs was a very bored man. He was watched the view of Ahnon, from above. He was to monitor it, to make sure that no-one took it out from underneath them. It was a slim chance that anyone would but they were being cautious anyways. He leaned back and took a sip of tea. In case that anyone would try to take it, they had a contigency plan. Two of the new TSJVTOLAs would take off, each with a full squad of the Elite Prokarsians and land on an pre-selected plateau in the mountains, and establish a forward firebase. Meanwhile several planes would take off, and drop off several full squads paratroopers in the southern plains, where they would make their way north to the firebase and help reinforce it. They would then begin to attempt to attempt to talk to the invaders and inform them that it was Celackian territory. If they did not leave peacefully they were authorized to use force to try to remove them. If force was needed, then an aircraft carrier would be dispatched along side a couple destroyers to aide them.
Of course that would not likely happened. Dabhs took another sip of tea and turned to the screen, which he promptly spit tea all over. He grabbed the red phone on his console.
"Sir, we have a problem. On satellite, we have two ships, which appear to be transports heading for Ahnon. If we launch in the next few minutes, we should be able to have the TSJVTOLAs reach position by the time they land."
The voice on the other end replied almost immediatly.
"Confirm two unknown ships heading for Ahnon."
"Confirmed sir. On heading 15 degrees north north west."
"Roger."
The watch commander at the time sent a message to The Master Of The Army(MOTA). The MOTA reviewed the data in less then twenty seconds and look at the sattelite image being fed to his computer. He placed a call to Tuesat for confirmation, who quickly did. Within 15 minutes the planes were taking off from the Genetian Islands
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Several colonists were standing on the deck of the ship in the morning light along with several infantry. One of the colonist spotted the Island far off in the distance, and they ran to the bow. Suddenly, there was a boom over their heads and two blurs flew past. They glanced backwards and saw several planes on the horizon. The officer of the Infantry knew what this meant and he lept into action.
"ALL CIVILIANS BELOW DECK NOW. TO YOUR QUARTERS. THERE IS A CHANGE OF LANDING ORDER. NO-ONE IS TO LEAVE THE SHIP WITHOUT MY ORDER. YOU WILL BE ESCORTED TO THE SITE OF THE COLONY AND GUARDED AT ALL TIMES. DO NOT PANIC OR BE ALARMED. THIS IS STANDARD PROCEDURE!" He took a deep breath and a sip of water to sooth his throat. He hoped the LZ was secured and that whatever happened had been sorted out by the time he landed.
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The TSJVTOLAs landed and began disgorging spec-op troopers at the same time that V82-T's were taking off. Half off them started digging it, while the other half went out in camo fatigues to secure the mountain passes.
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Lt. Mike Gamwo glanced back at the men under his command in the plane. There were several who were nervous. That was understandable. Afterall it was their first drop into a potential combat situation. Only Gamwo himself had actually been in combat, so of all the people in the plane, he was ready. The green light turned on. He flung open the door. His men stood up, hooked their cords to the rope above them and went out the door
"Go, go, go, go, go, go"
After all were out, Gamwo himself jumped, his A-Arc held in his grasp. A few minutes after slowly drifting down between clouds, Gamwo hit the ground. He rolled and let go of his chute. He got up and packed the chute back-in. Even if he didn't use it again, it wouldn't help to leave behind evidence of their landing sites.
"3rd squad form up and move out!"
Gamwo led his men on a fast march from the plains onto the volcanic rock and finally to the moutains. The brownish grey rock and dirt were drab and depressing. One did not want to look at them too long. There was scattered scrub everywhere. Gamwo started moving forwards when he heard a voice call out
"Bulldog"
"Chesty" he replied, ending the code phrase.
One of the rocks in front of him stood up, revealing a man in camo with an A-ARC. Even though he knew where he was, Gamwo was still having trouble seeing him.
"FUCK! I thought you were a fucking rock."
"Yeah the camo blends in real nice here. Anyways keep going up this path and you'll reach the basecamp."
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Captain Jeff Bell, stood on a corner of a moutain pass. He knew that the other force was climbing up on the other side. His fur had dirt rubbed in it to help him blend in. He glanced towards to the five snipers, all completely hidden by camo and covering him, in case things took a turn for the worst. All he's have to do is raise his fist and they would open fire or if he got shot. Best not to think about that. He rounded the corner and raised his hands above his head, unclenced.
"STOP"
o.o.c. Twenty bucks if you get where I got inspiration.
McCarther froze. There was a Giant Rabbit in front of him telling him to stop. It took half a second before McCarther dove behind a tree. The other members in his squad imitated his response. McCarther's armour groaned under the strain, but remained quite functional. He raised his rifle to his shoulder, flipping it to single shot. It had instinctivly gone to the fucker's head.
"Put your hands where we can see them! This is Artitsan Claimed Land, you are in violation of Code Four-Four-Five of the Artitsan Sovereignty Act!"
Already someone near the rear of the group was radioing in the situation, and help would be on its way.
Bell processed the information for a split second.
"This is not Artistan Land. This is a Celackian Territory and has been for more than a month. You are in violation of international law. Leave now before an international incident happens."
Bell started sweating, barely visible below his fur. He stared at the men in armor covering him with their weapons. He knew that the enemy had delivered an automated response, for his hands were already visible, held up above his head. He knew that words would probably not solve this problem.
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Fulthark the sniper read the lips of the enemy trooper. He slightly shifted and grabbed his radio. He radioed back to base
"Contact with other forces made. Bell is conversing with them. They say that they are Artistan forces and that this is their territory. Somebody has made a fuck up. From the look of things, we may need some back-up."
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Maj. Erik Kaprit was sitting in the temporary command centre, at what had now been dubbed firebase alpha. He was sitting near the radio listening to reports coming in from landed paratroop squads. So far three of them had made it to the firebase.
Kaprit heard the report of the forward team. He turned around and saw the assembled squads
So the Artitsans want to take our island eh? We'll show those bastards who's island is this.
He turned and walked out of the tent and turned to face the paratroops holding a map in his hand. He used a maker to circle the location where contact was.
"2nd and 3rd squad! You are to move out at double time to this point. Now!"
He tossed the map to Gamwo and went back into the tent.
A metal stake was placed on the grass, it's stainless gleaming in the sun, a direct contrast to the green lush grass lying around it. It lay there for a minute, until someone picked it up and shoved it point down into the grass. A loop of rope was wrapped around it and then it was struck repeatedly by a sledge hammer pushing it's head flat against the ground. A similar operation was completed several times until all the stakes were in place. The ropes attached to the stakes led to a tarp, which was supported by a metal pole. The first building of the Ahnon colony had been built. True, it was a tent, and true it was temporary until the permanent shelters had been built, but at the moment this tarp was there to show that the Island was Celackian.
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Halfway across the Island, Captain Bell was having that discussed with the Artitsan soldiers. He argued that Celackians had landed first and probably had set up a colony. He had told them that two Celackians had discovered the Island. They had countered with the Artitsans had set up a colony already and that two Artitsans had discovered the island. Both sides demanded the other leave. This banter had been going on for ten minutes with neither side convincing the other of their point. He knew he was stalling. He knew that the snipers would have called in reinforcements. When he and his squad moved out, it took them, at a walking pace, half an hour to get here. He knew that contact with the enemy necessitated fast movement so reinforcements were comming in double time, which meant around fifteen minutes. His ears, hypersensitive as they were, heard something from behind him. The sounds of many booted feet running and the marching chant of the paratroopers.
"We run, we jump, we fight
we even do it at night
We strike hard and fast
and kick you in the ass!"
From the sound and his watch Bell estimated that it would take 5 minutes for the paratroopers to reach him.
Five more minutes of stalling until I can kick these bastards of our island. It will be ours and I will prove once again that you do not fuck with Celack.
"Look, I'll go over this one more time. This island was discovered by Celackian, Celackians landed here first and there is already a Celackian colony on the other side of the island, ergo this island is a Celackian Territory.Remove yourself from it."
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Sniper Wellis shifted slighty on the ground. He was boiling under his camo blanket. It was a good think he wasn't one of the furries though. This would be murder on them. He hoped that the entire would be over soon. He didn't like the idea of incomming fire. Luckily if there was some, he was most likely to survive it of his squad. To his left there was a rock, and to his right another one. His gun's barrel stuck out of the small gap, and most of his body was behind it. He always liked cover.
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Bell let out a long sigh. By his estimation, the paratroopers were still a few minutes out and the Artitsans had just ordered him to lie down on the ground, an evident sign that they were going to take him prisoner. Bell did what he had to do, what he was ordered to do. He clenched his hands into fist. Almost immediatly he rolled back around the corner, grabbed a grenade off his belt, pulled the pin and threw around the corner. He reached down on the ground and grabbed the A-Arc he left behind. He looked up to see gunfire sweeping over the snipers position
~~~~~~~~
Fulthark saw the fist go up.
"We are weapons free. Fire at will."
He heard his squad firing and so he fired. Hid shot hit McCarther in the chest knocking him down. Fulthark chambered another round to fire, and saw McCarther get back up. He swung his rifle around to snap off another shot when the enemy returned fire. He was hit three times, all of them thankfully in the shoulders, not killing him. However the pain was so intense that he blacked out.
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Wellis heard Fultharks comments, and before he was finished Wellis had fired a shot into the head of an Artitsan soldier killing him instantly. He chambered a second round and fired into the neck of another Artitsan. A grenade exploded in the midst of them, knocking a couple down. They then returned fire. Shots swept up the slope. He saw several spurt of blood from three of the other snipers. Several rounds hit the rocks he was hiding behind. He reached for hir radio.
"This is sniper Wellis. We have shots fired and three men either dead or wounded! We need an emergency medical evac now!"
He chamber another round and fired but missed, because the Artitsans were ducking and dodging making them hard targets to hit.
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Gamwo didn't hear the gunfire. The guy carrying the machine gun did though.
"Sir, I can hear gunfire ahead."
"It's time to sprint men! LEt's go!"
Second sqaud increased their pace to full out running. THey were going fast but not as fast as what flew overhead.
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Major Kaprit heard the call for an evac. He ran out to the landing field.
"MEDIC."
Three corpsmen ran up to him. He pointed at a landed TSJVTOAL. He yelled at the crew of it.
"SNIPERS ARE UNDER ATTACK ON THE THALIUS PASS. MOVE OUT NOW! THEY NEED A MEDICAL EVAC."
Five Prokarsians, two of them lugging a heavy machine gun, moved out to the craft.
"WHERE IN THE NAMES OF THE SEVEN UNHOLY HELLS DO YOU THINK YOUR GOING?"
"To help sir. We'll set up this machine gun and lay down some seriours supressing fire."
"You'll get shot before you get a chance to set that thing up."
"It all depends how deploy. If we land with the side towards the enemy, the door machine gun cna fire, and it will provide us cover until they take off."
"Fine. Go"
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The TSJVTOAL. flew bye, a blur to those below. It slowed down over the area of the snipers under attack. It's chin chainguns swept over the Artisans, a storm of 50 cal bullets flying into the ground and bodies of Artitsans not fortunate enough to get to cover. It rotated, the chainguns easily swiviling to keep firing at the Artitsans. The side door openned, and the soldiers hopped out. The medics ran out afterwards, grabbing the wounded and dead and throwing them into TSJVTOAL.
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"Prime Minister Tuesat Sir!"
"Yes?
"Our forces on Ahnon have encountered the enemies. They are Artisan soldiers and they claim Ahnon is theirs."
Tuesat's phone rang. He glanced away from the Aide and picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Mr Prime minister, I regret to inform you that shots have been fired on Ahnon between Celackian soldiers and those who are now enemies."
o.o.c. Here's a map of the combat area. Blue dots are Celackian, black dots are Artitsans
http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/5167/roughmap6sp.th.png (http://img187.imageshack.us/my.php?image=roughmap6sp.png)
o.o.c. *Walks in*
Hello? Hello? anyone here? We gonna still do this?