NationStates Jolt Archive

**Urgent message from the Government of Phyrric**

At 0900, the Battleship Guided Missile 100 Alexander the Great, under the command of Admiral Antiachus, has opened fire upon the CVN 92 PRN Cumae during routine drill exercises in the ocean.

It is reported that a full broadside was turned to the Carrier. In a sudden flash of flame, shells were heard penetrating the hull some 70 miles away. The reasons for this conflict is unknown as to the communications with the 1st fleet has been deemed unavailable.

0905, due to heavy damage to the Cumae, the Carrier has been scuttled and abandoned ship was ordered. The estimated loss of life was 4,768 men.
****
News flash
****
Admiral Antiachus has demanded the surrender of the current government in Phyrric. The terms are unconditional and no demands are received. The government of Phyrric has ordered a full mobilization of the Navy to seek and destroy the Alexander the Great; however, no Naval units have responded or deployed.
****
1045 hours, the Battle Station Epirus I had commenced orbital bombardment of factions loyal to the Pyrrhus. Corcyra AFB has been laid waste and is declared a total loss.
****
Anarchy has hit the streets as news hit the airwaves and screens throughout Phyrric. The colonies on Moon and Io have declared independence, the status of Mars has yet to be determined.

The state of the Nation is deemed hostile and advise all foreign personnel to evacuate the Nation of Phyrric immediately. The government of Phyrric can no longer guarantee their safety and security.

OOC: The Alexander is a modified Montana class Battleship.

for reference: http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=110963&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

No space tech please

PNN Reporting:

The Alexander had been reported at 1300 hours 700 NM off the Northern Coast of Phyrric. It appears that from the satellite images that the fleet is behind the Battleship as no losses of ships have been reported other than the Cumae.

At 1315 hours, the PRN Tarentum BBG 87 in the 21st fleet opened fire upon the shore establishments of Preatis Military Post home of the 221st Company of the Royal Army. Casualties have yet to be determined.

No word has been received from Admiral Antiachus at this time. The joint chiefs of staff have refused interviews or comments at this time. The Pyrrhus has issued a state of emergency and called the Senate into session.

Hattia would like to help our friend Phyrric deal with these threats. The government of Pyrric will be allowed to come to Hattia if they wish. We are also mobilizing our military forces in the region...

The government of Phyrric wishes to establish an exile headquarters in Hattia to command forces from that post. The Joint Chiefs will not be accompanying the staff as they are part of the Coup D' Etat.

Forces loyal to the Pyrrhus are spread thin and far, as the bulk of the military stands loyal to Antiachus. The Administrative Capitol, Corcyra, is still under the current administration, for how much longer is uncertain. The Military Capitol, Preveza, is under direct control of the Joint Chiefs.

"It is with great regret that the government of Phyrric is under exile. The forces loyal to the opposition must surrender their arms and come to terms. There is no greater threat to the unity of our system and life of our freedoms than unrest of military forces wishing 'Empire' and 'Emperor' as in the old ways and doctrines. That time has past and no longer viable in today's world. As citizens of Phyrric, we call to quash this Coup and lay to rest any hostile causes to split this nation or overthrow the administration." as Pyrrhus addresses the nation from a departing flight with the staff enroute to join in Hattia.

All travel to and from Phyrric is deemed hazardous.

Exonerate is a member of the Legion of Defense, in which Phyrric is also a member of. We pledge our support to the government that has just been temporarily overthrown. We have mobilized several assets, and are in the process of taking more action...

http://www.iownjoo.com/freeimghost/Exonerate/gendo.jpg
Enlightened Despot of The Incorporated States of Exonerate
Commander of Ground Forces and Protectorate of the Legion of Defense (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=110544)
Member of the New Nations Alliance (http://www.wolfserve.net/NewNations/news.php)

The newly founded government of IoP would like to make known that the current administration of IoP wishes not to be involved in this conflict that is struggling within our mother country. We do promise aid and rebuilding after the settlement is made. We desire friendly relations with any and all allies of Phyrric, past, present and future. Our independence is claimed and ask for recognition.

OOC: Obvious puppet, would not take a rocket scientist to figure out, this nation is formed and may or may not be used, have not decided if I want to enter a space arena, but this leaves my options open on where I want this to head.

We urge the IoP to stand down. They have overthrew the rightful, elected, and legitimate government of Phyrric.

We have mobilized the 2nd and 3rd Fleet in anticipation of a possible conflict with Phyrric. We are bound by the LoD to aid the legitimate government of Phyrric, and we will not hesitate in such an undertaking.

Phyrric, although our nations have not meet much before, if you need our assistance, you only need to ask and we will mobilize a fleet of ships.

Nova Caledonia, being opposed to the Democratic government of Phyrric, seeks to open communications with Admiral Antiachus, offering military support if the exiled officials should try to take back what Antiachus now rules by right of conquest.

Altough our fleet is tiny we will react if asked to

Falastur, another member of the Legion of Defenders, has stood quiet and still in too many situations. Luckily, no damage has been caused by this, but it ends now. Falastur is therefore pledging their support to Phyrric. We are readying a fleet to track down Admiral Antiachus, if Phyrric 's Government in Exile agrees, of course. We also offer our services in any way that the G-in-E wish, and hope we can sort this crisis before Antiachus, or anyone else, can take full command of Phyrric.

You just have to ask Phyrric, then we'll be at your side.

Iuthia recognises only the original government of Phyrric and as such we will not recognise this new government unless it is asked of us by Phyrric.

That is all for now, more later when I have the time.

0430 Hours, Chancery, Nuevo Kowloon...

Amanda Ngo woke up to a phone call.

"What? Phyrric's been hit with a Military Coup? You're sure of this? Get me all the information we have-Yes, EVERYTHING. Have it here in an hour... You've informed General Nguyen, yes? Good. I need him, and Admiral Li... and get Colonel Duap down here too-I don't care if he is on Leave-if we get dragged into this, I want to make sure we have a damn Air-Force that's Operational." She set the reciever down, and proceeded to dress herself.

0745 Hours...

The "General Staff" of the Dominion of Nuevo Kowloon sat gathered in the Chancellor's office, looking both worried, and tired.
"...took over a member of the Legion of Defense. Iuthia and Falastur have already pledged to the government-in-exile. I haven't gotten an answer from Nanakaland yet, but Exonerate's on-board with the others-at least, provisionally." Chancellor Ngo said with a frown.
General Nguyen cleared his throat- "What about Aust?" he asked.
Amanda shook her head, "They're still rebuilding from the Elvindom war-we can't ask them to intercede when they're that badly hurt-they probably would if we asked, but I'm not asking them. They lost a big chunk of folks to those nukes." She turned and looked at the Admiral.
"What's our Naval status?" She asked.
Li sighed, and frowned.
"We have a crew for the Ice-Dragon, and the Frigates are just about shaken down, the chopper crews are no problem-but we haven't got a flattop, and it takes one of those to land fixed-wing birds-which we don't have a whole lot of compared to some of the others...and we're still short on Combatant ships. We can support twelve times the number of warships we have."
Amanda nodded, and said, "Then, we can provide supplemental support to the Legion's combatants?"
He nodded.
"Find, draft a proposal, have it on my desk by zero-nine hundered. Colonel! What about our air force?"
Colonel Han Duap squeezed his hat between his hands, and looked at the floor.
"Transport and Refuelers we have, ma'am... and Helos. We can support eight times the number of fighters and fighter-bombers we currently own-though we can arm some of the older cargo planes to act as ground-attack machines similar to the AC-47 and AC-54 planes used by the Cambodians. We can't risk more than a handfull of squadrons without compromising our own air-cap."
She frowned. "How many?" she asked.
He looked out the window. "Twenty-Four." he said.
She jumped, "Squadrons? where did we-"
He shook his head, "No, Twenty Four Planes, ma'am. We can send twenty-four combatant Planes, we must have the rest just to maintain our defenses. We can risk one of the E-3 Sentry aircraft, and two of the 767 Tankers... and two squadrons of C-130's"
She spat. "I take it you've been-"
He glared at her. "WE Had to build the Airfields, and train the Pilots first!"
She sighed, and turned to Gen. Nguyen.
"I hope you have better news." she said dangerously.
He smiled, and leaned back.
"I can send one mechanized infantry Division. The other two can be activated within two weeks, and two more in the next month."
The others looked at him.
The General smiled, again.
"What can I say? After that disaster in Aust, we got funding-and the Assembly still reacts to a bloody shirt... Infantry has always been our strongest suit."
Amanda nodded slowly. "How do we get them there?" she asked, adding, "Assuming, that is, that we are allowed to try?"
He chuckled. "The Fleet's reserves include a large number of transport/cargo ships, landing barges similar to the ones the Allies used at Normandy are quick to build-we use several surplus units for training purposes... it may take a few weeks, but we should be able to produce, scrounge, or buy enough to move a moderately sized modern force... if we don't already have them-Admiral?"

Admiral Li swallowed hard. "I don't like the idea of using them, General-the things are more than sixty years old!"
Nguyen shrugged, "Are they seaworthy enough to move my soldiers?"
Li shrugged. "Some, not all... I can have the Yard work them over-but we should wait and get better-"
Nguyen nodded, "We should, but can we afford to?"
Amanda cleared her throat. "Gentlemen, we may find this preparation to be unwelcomed-I will ask the Legion itself-if the Legion says to move, we move with the Legion, and many of their militaries have excess transports and room for our troops if it becomes an issue. Go, get me hard numbers, deployment plans, and activate those Reserves-we might as well find out what kind of shape they're in."

The 7th Fleet, headed by the HNS January 20th has been mobilized and will arrive shortly. If we manage to capture the rogue Admiral, what should we do with him?

The Kendra-class battleships NCSS Princess Kendra and NCSS Empress Sarah along with the heavy cruisers NCS Brigid, NCSS Danu, NCSS Morrigan and NCSS Nemhain, the light cruisers NCSS Douglas, NCSS Skene, NCSS Morrison, NCSS MacWilliam, and NCSS Wallace, the destroyers NCSS Inverness, NCSS Dumfries, NCSS Fort William and NCSS Aberdeen and the submarines NCSS Werewolf, NCSS White Wolf and NCSS Nightwolf have been mobilized and are on orders to stand, combat ready near Phyrrician waters. The fleet is not to enter Phyrrician waters unless Admiral Antiachus asks for assistance. Likewise, the fleet is not to fire upon any nation's ships until Antiachus seeks an alliance or in defense if fired upon.

The LoD has been notified of this civil war. We shall support the government.

Emperor Pyrrhus, Terra Malus recognizes the government-in-exile in Hattia as the legitimate government of Phyrric. We have placed our entire armed force on full alert. The 5th Legion is ready for deployment and is at your disposal.

- Ministry of Foreign Affairs

USIH Troops on the moon have been ordered to hold their ground and defend the mining operation and small colony there and not to interfere in this civil war.


OOC: This should be from my puppet IH space colonies but i am frightened that if i leave the forums to log onto it i wont be able to get back in!

Communication to the Elected Government of Phyrric,
We in Ilek-Vaad offer full support to the justly and fairly elected government of Phyrric. There is nothing more abhorent or disgraceful than military commanders renegging on their pledge to protect the nation by grabbing power for themselves. I have ordered the Supreme Republican Commander to activate what forces he deems necessary to end the coupe d'etat by force if a reasonable solution can not be found. I would also offer to the government of Phyrric and to the leaders of the military junta to mediate to find a peaceful solution to this situation. Be advised that the Battle Group Emperor Ehecatl is en route to Phyrric to observe. Any action by any party against our ships of the Naval Guard will be deemed as an act of war. We call upon the military leaders that have seized control in Phyrric to honour the will of the People and to re-instate the duly elected government.


First Republican ,Ilek-Vaad

Vin Drin Lap Coast Guard Naval Station, Tonkin Gulf, Nuevo Kowloon...

Commodore Mai Huyn leaned on the deck-rail, and looked out over the naval yard.
"Commodore." Chief Petty Officer Hu spoke up. She turned, "Yes?"
He handed her a printout.
"We have movement orders, Ma'am." the Chief said.
She took the paper from him, and opened it.

////////////Flash Traffic-Immediate Distribution/////////////////

From: National Command Authority
Authorization code: 191982/NCA/b-1-1

To: All Personnel Flag Rank and above.

Re:

All National Forces on Active Duty are to increase Alert Status to Action-Imminent. As of this day, in accordance with the Legion of Defense Treaty, Nuevo Kowloon is in a declared state of conflict with the Junta that has unlawfully taken control of the nation of Phyrrus.
The following actions are to begin as immediately as possible:

1. Coast Guard Battle-Group Ice Dragon (NKBB1 Ice-Dragon, OHP Class Frigates Thomas Chu (BF-01), Derek Chu(BF02), and Do Thuac(BF03), Replenishment Ship Water Bearer, and Oilers Glinda and Gloria, along with Cargo Haulers NKS David, NKS Marcia, and NKS Evelyn.) is to travel to Hattia and await orders from Legion High Command.

2. 1st Division Ground Forces is to assemble all
Active and Reserve status personnel at Da Nang in preparation for transport to a staging area to be announced. Reservists are asked to bring full field gear, and preparations for an extended campaign.

3. 2nd Division is to begin recalling all personnel of E-5 and higher in preparation for general activation of the Division.

4. 3rd Division is to begin recalling all personnel of E-6 and above in preparation for Deployment.

5. 1st Air Wing Air-superiority is to scramble one squadron of 24 F-100NK Extended Range fighters for escort and support duty, and have the pilots standing by.

6. Tanker Squadron A is to begin in-flight rotations in support of the deployment of 1st Division and 1st Air Wing.

7. Naval Air Wing is to scramble both PBY Anti-submarine flying boats for duty in support of [b]Ice Dragon[/i] group. PBY's are to employ Warshots* against submerged hostiles if they are detected.

*Warshots- Depth Charges and/or LAMPS torpedo systems. The PBY's have been upgraded with modern ASW equipment.

PNN

****Update****

The first clash of forces have been reported. In the Pindos Range, Imperial (Empire) forces have engaged Republic forces in a bloody battle that left the Imperial forces in pieces. This is the first collaborative effort by the Pyrrhus to regain control of territories loyal to Antiachus. General Demetrius has sworn loyalty to the government and demonstrated a devastating blow to the Empire.

At 0600, Gen Demetrius engaged the 55th armor division with a heavy assault on the left flank as they were making way to Nikopolis for apparent transport to Corcyra. This has boosted the moral of the Republic and demonstrates that Pyrrhus will not go quietly.

0650, in a brief air battle over the battle field, a squadron of X35 were turned back by the airwing from Ambracia AFB, loyal to the Republic. The Republic has claimed air superiority over the South Western Region of Phyrric.

0845, a naval blockade of Corcyra was implemented by Antiachus by the 1st, 2nd, 14th, 15th and 18th Battle Fleets. The Capitol is under siege at this time, but no bombardment has taken place as the AFB was taken out by Battle Station Epirus I. Shore units are in place to counter any attempted Amphibious landing.
*****
This count just in from the Battle of Pindos Heights: Imperial forces 47,928 dead, 5,792 captured. Republic forces 18,903 dead, 194 captured.

On board the Alexander:

"We have received a request by the allied forces to seize conflict and enter negotiations" reports a yeoman to the Admiral.

"Hoist the new flag of Phyrric on all ships. This should send a clear signal of our negotiations."....Antiachus steps out onto the starboard overhand of the flag bridge. He notices activity on the shoreline with the highrises of Corcyra in the background. "Give me a status on our surroundings and ask that Nova fleet to mask our movements"

"We have troop movements on the shore, they are quite aware of an assault sir. There is heavy traffic in the air over Corcyra and waters around, it is becoming quite difficult to asertain what is being transmitted, a ton of static is interrupting any communications. Gen Arybas just got his ass handed to him at Pindos by Gen Demetrius..."

interrupting "What? By who?"

"General Demet......"

interrupting again "I know who you said (slamming his fist down, the fist covered by the black glove that is the trademark of Antiachus, the glove covers the mangled right hand that was mutilated in the UV war). Send a priority message to Gen Aeacides to do what it takes and assasinate that son of a bitch. His movements were to assist us, apparently that little turncoat is trying to advance himself and not through my good graces."

"Excuse me sir, we have apparent confusion on the shore, there seems to be increased movements and disorganization. Your orders?" reports the CDO.

"Fire!" proclaims Antichus, his long hair flowing from the breeze of the sea.

The turrents of the Alexander turns toward the shores and a blaze of fire exits the barrels. On the shore, massive craters and plumes of smoke and sand fill the air. Explosions erupt and light up the evening sky, illumination the hotels and resorts that line the beaches.

In the depths of the night the nuclear Revenge class Battleships 'Emperor Ehecatl' and 'Sir Willaim Issem' having outstripped their battle group and hoved within 100 miles of the Alexander and Corcyra. The Emperor Ehecatl and the Sir William Issem kept up their active camoflage as the massive 56in 'Ship Destroyer' cannons were limbered by the crews.

Supreme Naval Commander Itxaad was at the heart of the Ehecatl, in Ehecatl 'Fire Control' , the giant plasma screens flickered with the live images from dozens of Tollan spy satellites now trained on the theatre of battle. Itxaad paused and looked to his Leftenant

"Leftenant Arden, range."

The Leftenant looked over his shoulder "we can hit them from here sir, Tollan Fire Control has told us to hold, they have a squadron of Sword of Damocles OAV's on the way and Death's Heads."

Itxaad nodded and remained intent on watching the Alexander as it and it's ships pummeled Corcyra. At his side the Minister of Foreign Affairs stepped up "Have them patch me through to the Alexander, I will talk to Admiral Antichus."

The crew paused, Itxaad simply nodded "We will give up our suprise, but I trust your instincts."

The comm officer then hailed the Alexander "Battleship Alexander, This is the Naval Guard Flag Ship Emperor Ehecatl, do you copy? The Minister of Foreign Affairs wishes to talk with Admiral Antichus, over, please respond."

Admiral Alexandrov stood on the deck of the flagship, when his 1st officer walked up behind him, "The ships are in range and have not responded to multiple hails..." Alexandrov sighed, "Fire the missiles." the man walked off back to the bridge, Alexandrov sighed again, "So it begins."

Da Nang Military Reservation, Nuevo Kowloon...

"So, the old man told you where we're going?" PFC Tzu Han asked. Sgt. Lee Thuac nodded, "Yeah, we're goin' to Phyrric-no word on when we go wheels-up, though. Tell the rest of your fireteam I'm going to be checking their field-gear at twelve-oh, and Smythe better have his shit this time."
Han nodded, "Right..." he wrote it down on his notebook.
Captain Hien walked by, accompanied by the First Sargeant.
First Sgt. Ngoc stopped, and tapped Thuac on the shoulder.
"Have your people form up down at the tarmac at Thirteen-fifteen for Misison Brief. Full Field gear."
And continued on.
Sgt. Thuac sighed, and looked at the PFC, "You heard him- pass the word to the other fireteam leader."
Han nodded once, and hurried off.
Thuac sighed, and headed south along the flight-line.
The gleaming shapes of six F-100 Super-Sabres bulked a neat line along the taxi-ramp. Beyond the fighters, he could see the Tanks being palletized and loaded onto transport planes. He'd seen pictures of Phyrric's army, and he briefly wondered if they would have to face a situation like Blood Pass again.
Don't be morbid- we're in a hell of a lot better shape than they were-we're not going to be trying to take on tanks with open-topped scout cars, and this time, we'll have our own air-support... he admonished himself.
But the feeling wouldn't go away, accompanied by his memories of growing up the "Man of the House" after Blood Pass took the fathers of everyone in the village.
Not this time. no... not this time... He squared his shoulders, and headed back to the main camp.

"They went out there and they didn't have a chance- but they took down ten times their number before they went-this time, we've got parity in hardware, and that makes the difference."
He shook his head-the statement rang false, for all the force and conviction the Captain had given it.

Communicate by the President to all forces involved in the Phyrric Civil War:

The government of Bariloche will do everything within its possibilities to help protecting the people of Phyrric (OOC: I haven't finished making my military, I'm already a Protector in LoD but I'm pretty new to this).

For the moment Bariloche is sending in the NB-005 "Almirante Brown" carrier, with two FPE class Frigates (the NB-001 and 002) and two CPE class Corvettes (the NB-003 and 004) as escorts, as well as the SEA class nuclear attack submarine NBS-001. The carrier is fully equiped with AA and anti-missile defenses and is capable of being a mobile HQ. The issued planes in the Almirante Brown are the AAB-1 "Alcatraz" fighter (Carrier based air interceptor, with capabilities for long, medium and short ranged air to air missiles), the AAB-2 "Gaviota" fighter-bombers (Carrier based air to surface planes, capable of gravity and/or guided bombs as well as long and medium ranged air to surface missiles) and the AB-1b "Condor" a land based modified plane arranged with all the latest comm and detection technology available to our nation, and prepared to be used ither as early-detection systems or in communication warfare (intercetion and jamming of signals). The Frigates carry two HAB-1 "Sea Dragonfly" helicopters each, used for anti-submarine warfare, capable of deploying active and passive sonar buoys and attacking with depth charges and torpedoes.

Admiral Feodor Sergev (Bariloche Navy) of the barilochense High Command will be in charge of the operations of these squadrons and of any other forces we can send in later.

This forces will not be used in any attack ither against the exiled government forces nor to the forces answering to the Alexander. The reason is simply that the Bariloche government will defend the stand of the people of Phyrric, and will not interfere in any militar activity unless it is not directly involved with the oppression of them.

As a member of the Legion of Defense we are binded to help Phyrric, but not to support this or that government as we understand the sovereignity of a country as the will of its people. Only the protection of a nation's people is what counts.

Any communications ither coming from the Alexander or from the exiliated government will be received and answered by the Force Commander with authorization from the President.

Pablo Bernal
President of the Community of Bariloche
UN Delegate of the Argentina region
Protector of the Legion of Defense

SSN Upholder
The whole room was tense - nobody spoke, except to quietly communicate information. The ship was running in silent mode, inching forward at 20 knots per hour. The rest of the fleet was still moving to Phyrric, but the Upholder was on routine patrol near the area, and so it was the first to respond.

"We have 8 faint surface contacts... I think two of them are Crusiers, and one Carrier."
"Slow to 8 knots... We will move behind them, then decide on a course of action. Load the torpedo tubes."
"Aye, loading."
"Do we have a positive identification?"
"Not yet, but they are most likely beloning to the new Phyrric government."
"Now... we wait."

The barilochense force moves around international waters far from the area of engagement but near enough to get any communications comming from the Alexander.

Admiral Sergev gets to the bridge of the Almirante Brown: "Well... this is exiting people! Don't give me those grim looks... we are here on peace and we shouldn't get attacked unless someone in this conflict is REALLY crazy". The crew relaxed and the rutinal exams of the systems begun.

An AB-1b lifted with two AAB-1 as escorts and after a few minutes is completely operational, soon afterwards one of the HAB-1 lifted from the NB-002 and begun deploying active buoys, any force approching would be easily detected as long as no stealth tech was involved.

Even if it was, it would be rather hard for them to approach at attack range without even a faint contact detected at some point. The barilochense R&D in radar and comms technology was going to pay off it seemed.

To: Phyrric (original government)

We are always willing to help out an ally, however, with troops caught up in Mandshur, we would rather not spare more forces than necessary. We are, however, more than willing to offer several commando teams with support in aid to your nation in this dire time.

Sincerely,

President Edwardo Sanchez

(OOC: Basically, since you have a bunch of offers of armies, I'd rather just have a little fun w/guerilla warfare on the rebels unless you actually need help in which case I can seriously mobilize.)

Broadcast throughout the Nation of Phyrric and from what the viewers count has established that over 600 million signals are tuned in on the message sent from Hattia.

On the screen is a blue curtain with the Pyrrhus Emblem on it.

A message is on the screen: Standby for an important message from The Pyrrhus.

Behind closed doors in a room not far off from where the speech is to be given, Pyrrhus is talking with someone on the phone. "When I am finished with my speech and arrive in Delphi, set in motion 'Operation Freedom'" He flips the phone shut and heads toward the curtain.

"Citizens of Phyrric. I, Pyrrhus, have just formally surrendered the City of Corcyra. This is an unfortunate time in our history that the beloved Capitol of our great Nation has fallen into the hands of enemy forces of the State.

As leader of this Nation, I ask all military units involved to take into consideration that those that have died today are our brothers, our sons, our fathers that have given their life in a time that their life should not have been given. This conflict must come to an end and I have invited Antiachus into negotiations for terms of peace. I will be returning.

I ask that Nations sending military aid to Phyrric to take into account as not to fire upon any force, friend or foe, unless hostile action provokes such. It is our wish as to limit and detain rather than destroy and kill. We are in a time of termoil and wish to limit the civilian casualties to a bare minimum.

It is times such as this that History will define the final outcome and judge those that steer the course for the books to be written. Let our future generations judge us for what we accomplish, for what we contribute to the lives of our peoples and for what we carve out of time.

People of Phyrric, may all bless us for what we do and how we do it."

Pyrrhus exits the screen and asks one of his aids to get the plane ready for immediate departure. "He caught me with my pants down, nothing more and now it is time to reclaim the Nation of Phyrric. Advise Generals Aeacides and Demetrius that I will be in command of the field in 3 hours. Prepare the Air Force for a strike upon my arrival. Remember, alive is preferred, death is acceptable."

---Bonstocknian High Command---

A man rushed into Field Marshal Adolphus's office.

"Sir, some Phyrric vessel has gone mad. A Montana class battleship is currently starting to control the government."

"What forces do we have avaliable?"

"Not many, sir."

"This could be the perfect test of the new Liberation class battleships. When will the first one be completed?"

"Tommarow, sir."

"Get it sent on its maiden voyage as soon as possible. Contact Phyrric, see if he needs help."

ooc: Liberation class battleship= modified Yamato class w/20inch guns and better fire control/modern CIWS.

(At a small military base in Mintar...)

Martin surveyed his soldiers. They were tough-looking, almost all men, and armed with the latest Mintarian equipment.

For some reason, he'd been placed in command of the group. He didn't know why; he certainly wasn't as competent as some of the rest looked. Still, he should make the best of it. If he did well, maybe he could finally show his worth. Not to mention help Mintar's ally out of its civil war.

Martin swallowed, trying to control the nervous feeling in his stomach, and stepped onto the boat.

...

After they'd were settled, an officer came in and began the brief.

"You've all been told about the situation in Phyrric..." she began.

"Yeah, the guy lost half his country to rebels in about one day," one of the soldiers said, smirking. The officer just shot him a look, and continued.

"You know why you're here, so I'm not going to get into all of that crap. You joined the military and this is what you're paid to do: bail our allies out of trouble. If you have a problem with that, tough. Anyway, my job is to tell you how you're going to do your job. You already know which soldiers are grouped into which teams. The commander of each team will also have access to three military transport vehicles; one carrying a DTS-2 missile system. 2 Hellions and 2 Comanche helicopters will be available for use. They're expensive, don't lose them.

Now, your main goal will NOT, I repeat, NOT, be to engage enemy forces, especially not directly. Instead, you will be focusing on the supply lines."

"You quite finished making obvious comments? I have things to do you know," said the same soldier. The officer just ignored him.

...

(OOC:

So, basically, 3 teams of: 10 people, 1 air/ground/sea missile system, 3 vehicles, & 2 fighter/bombers & helicopters. Hope that's all good.

Anyway, so, I guess I'm not sure exactly what the situation is & where I should have my forces strike; some more information & even a map if you want to make/post one (not necessary tho) would probably help me get oriented.)

(OOC: Tag.)

Aboard the NCSS Princess Kendra, Admiral MacWilliams began to issue orders for the Communications Officer to relay to the rest of the fleet.

"I want the Werewolf, White Wolf and Nightwolf scouting for enemy ships, do not engage them, merely report on their positions. The rest of the fleet will divide into two. The first fleet will consist of the Princess Kendra, Brigid, Danu, Douglas, Skene, Inverness and Aberdeen Under my command. The second fleet will consist of the Empress Sarah, Morrigan, Nemhain, Morrison, MacWilliam, Wallace, Dumfriesand Fort William under Captain Ryan's command. I want constant radio traffic between the two fleets, let them know we're here. Mention a variety targets, including the Alexander. Make them think we're here to take control ourselves. Our real target will be the Hattian Fleet, track it, but do not engage unless fired upon, or until I give the order to attack"

Caledonia's only female officer, Lieutentant Fiona Campbell of Princess Kendra's Caledionian Light Infantry, Nova Caledonia's most famous infantry division, checked the ammo clip her rifle for the third time in as many minutes, as a nervous habit. No matter how many times she had gone into combat, it never got any easier. After another half-hour, and many more inspections of her ammunition, the APC came to a stop several kilometres within Phyrric's borders. Swallowing hard, Fiona stood. She began shouting orders to the troops, trying not to show her nervousness. The unit's orders were simple, avoid any direct engagement of the enemy forces, but rather disrupt the loyalist supply lines, capturing and destroying whatever transports and supplies they could.

On the Alexander

"Sir, we have incoming messages from various fleets."

"Put them on my viewer." Antiachus turns an arm of his Commanders chair slightly upward to view the tiny monitor inbedded in the right arm of the chair. His fingerprint is scanned and clearance authorized for message processing.

"State your intentions Emperor Ehacatl. Stay clear, 100 nautical miles of this fleet and there shall be no harm." Antichus flips his thumb and the monitor flips to the reverse side. He is viewing the tactical firing plan that the computer has generated from the war program, some minor changes are made to the firing sequence and then the screen is rolled back over. "Princess Kindra, be prepared to receive proposed battle plan..."

"Sir, we have incoming missile and they have a good lock" announces the CIC commander.

"Chaff now now now. Engage CIWS, tactical evasive manuevers." yells the CDO. A spray from 4 chaffs lay a fine ECM layer of metallic debris over the Battleship and draws a good share of the inbounds. The CIWS on the Fore opens up and sends empty shells bouncing off the deck of the Alexander. One missile gets through and brazes the mast, the flight of the missile arcs downward and slams into the Destroyer that was on the port side of the Alexander, disabling the rudder controls.

"Counter strike on my mark" orders Antiachus "launch launch launch" The bays open up on the hit Destroyer, the Alexander, and a CG directly aft. Six missiles leave their bays and come screaming up into the air, lock is good on the Hattian ships.

"Open comm with the flagship of Hattia and place it directly on my console"

The 5 Carriers in the area from the Battle Fleets commences with a launch of fighter cover. The planes are in a standard defensive position and it is clear that there is no intent on engagement. Each carrier has in the air a full squadron of X35 (60 total) and half squadron of A6 (30 total).

OOC: I do not know how to make a map, comp stupid here. Anyways, Phyrric looks like this: Use a map of Europe: The Balkan area: A. the Danube cuts across to Adriatic in Croatia and Bosnia, this comprises the Northern shore of Phyrric as the river does not exist as everything north of the Danube is not there, just water. B. Use what is left of the Balkans South of the Danube, eliminate Peloponnese peninsula of Greece, Corinth is a coastal city. C. Move Crete up to where the peninsula was and remain as an island, this comprises the Southern shores of Phyrric. D. All islands in the Aegean exist up to Lesbos and Rhodes. Slice off Istanbul and that area of Turkey. This is the Eastern shore of Phyrric. E. Slice Italy from the Po and use the southern portion including Sicily. F. Move this portion of Itlay south as to the boot tip is level with the location of Crete. Naples would be on the same latitude as Delphi, this makes the Western shore.

Phyrric is two very large islands with the smaller chains around Crete, Sicily and the Aegean. This area is then magnified to the size of Canada as Phyrric is enormous, consolidated, unified and the only Nation in its region. I use Antiquity city names and landmarks for references. Phyrric has two capitols as listed.

(OOC: Mkay. So I guess my question is, now, how easy would it be for my force to raid supply lines? Like, do the rebels have a border which would be hard to cross, easy to cross, etc. Oh, also, is the terrain similar or different than the RL place?

Thanks!)

The Imperial High Command was in a quandary. The nation of Phyrric is in the midst of a civil war and being an ally, Terra Malus has pledged aid to the government-in-exile. The armed forces were ill-equipped and ill-trained to engage hostile forces in foreign territory. The legions were designed and structured to defend the homeland. This was rectified somehow with the creation and designation of the 5th Legion as a permanent expeditionary force. But majority of its troops and officers, though well-trained, have never been in combat before.

The Emperor and the Council were in agreement that forces would be sent and it was left to the High Command to carry out that order. Large portions of the Phyrric military have defected and have now taken control of the country from the legitimate government. Though rebels and traitors, they are well-equipped, well-trained, and most importantly, battle-hardened.

As news of the Phyrric civil war broke out, martial law has almost immediately been declared in areas around military facilities. But despite the high security, it was difficult to hide the fact that there was a large-scale mobilization. Troops were everywhere. Trucks, APCs, and tanks rumbled throughout the night. Naval vessels crowded the ports.


2300 hrs.
5 kms. off the island of Argo Navis

A cutter of the Imperial Guard's Coast Guard Division was on patrol securing the perimeter of the country's main naval base. They have been on duty for 10 straight hours and the crew was feeling the strain. As the watch peered out into the darkness, they were astonished at what they saw through their night vision scopes. A flotilla of ships appeared seemingly out of nowhere and was headed their way. All external lights were extinguished and there was absolute silence over all comm. frequencies. As the armada passed by, the crew of the cutter identified battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and frigates. Later, some even claimed to have seen attack submarines cruising on the surface. As they looked on, amazed at the number of ships passing by they were caught unawares by four massive hulks that brought up the rear. Carriers. While most of the crew stared open-mouthed at the towering walls of steel, the skipper noticed several smaller ships interspersed among the carriers. Troop transports. Yes, there was no mistaking those silhouettes. This really was war.

"God help us all," muttered the skipper.

NKBB1 Ice Dragon Two days out from Phyrric's west coast...

"Captain, PBY One has a contact fifty-two Nautical Miles Northeast, looks like a battlegroup." Chief Hu announced.
Commodore Huyn glanced at the screen. "ID?" she asked.
"They aren't Phyrric's ships-some kind of heavy-looks like a modified Yamato class." the Chief said after a moment.
She frowned. "Are they scanning active?"
He shook his head. "No Ma'am, looks like they're just holding position off the coast."
She grunted, and turned to the Navigation Officer. "Adjust our course Thirty degrees South, we'll avoid 'em if we can. Tell Two to make one orbit, and come in for refuel."

(OOC: Mkay. So I guess my question is, now, how easy would it be for my force to raid supply lines? Like, do the rebels have a border which would be hard to cross, easy to cross, etc. Oh, also, is the terrain similar or different than the RL place?

Thanks!)

Raid supply lines....difficult to do in a cival war nation when supply near 100% no matter where you are, there is always someone loyal to the cause. I would suggest raiding the rails or interstate routes, that is where supplies would most likely be routed and go from there, see where it leads.

As far as the terrain, totally identical. All rivers, mountains, lakes, etc exist. Given that Phyrric is far more advanced and wealthier than what RL shows, all cities would be connected with highways/roads and all major cities connected with mag, high speed rails. Every major city has a port master and harbor. Airports/craftports would be international (Phyrric does have limited space tech as there is a Battlestation in orbit, but please keep the tech near modern 2050)

RvOvLvIvN (Rolin) would not like to see a great nation such as this fall in such a way, and is requesting permission from the temporarily overthrown government of Phyrric to commence military operations within the region.

The minister of Foreign Affairs takes the comm as soon as Antiachus responds

"Admiral Antiachus, this is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, I wish to come aboard and talk to you. Surely there must be some resonable way to resolve this situation. You are an intelligent man, think about what is happening. Multiple nations are lining up as we speak to crush your insurgency, our own Republican Council is considering a mandate to relax you and your men to the Retaliatory Guard. You can't possibly want so many people to die needlessly? Halt your men and let's talk this over, let me help you."

The minister pauses "Itxaad, get these other vessels to stop shelling the Alexander!"

Itxaad opens an open communications "All ships in the area, This is the Supreme Naval Commander of Ilek-Vaad ,I request that you hold your positions, do not attack the Alexander and insurgent forces, yet."

The Minister then says "Admiral Antiachus, I am going to come aboard the Alexander, we are going to talk this over, like civilised honourable men."

To: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ilek-Vaad


Foreign Minister, it has come to our attention that you have contacted Adm. Antiachus to negotiate for a peaceful solution for this crisis. We applaud your efforts to bring about a peaceful resolution but we strongly urge caution. Antiachus and his men have turned against their oaths, their nation, their leader, and their comrades. We fear that you will be next once you are aboard the Alexander. We apologize for our lack of trust but we find it difficult to expect traitors to act in good faith.

Our fleet is enroute, its whereabouts unknown except to a few in the High Command. We do not wish to fight, but we will be ready if negotiations fail.

"Hold that thought" as he instructs the Ministre form Ilek-Vaad and closes his communications console on his chair.

The Alexander is heading into the Shipyard at Corcyra along with the DD that was hit.

"The DD is no longer useful to us in that condition. Inform the crew that their loyalty will not be overlooked and greatly rewarded once this new government is in control........" looking toward the pilot house as the Alexander turns the bend into the yard. "Friends, looks like it is an early Christmas this year, break out the champaign bottles there, it is time to celebrate."

"What is the occasion sir?"

"Look, right over there" pointing to the four masts that are peaking above the warehouse. "It appears that Pyrrhus has been busy with the military after all"

"Are they complete?"

"Yes, they are, yes they are indeed, just look at the signal flags on the first mast...Echo, Mike, Papa, India, Romeo, Echo" as a tug comes along side the Alexander to guide it onto the pier. "Set sea and anchor detail, establish 3 watch rotation and hightened security. Connect the shore power and lines asap. Inform the crew that liberty is no authorized at this time; however, all are authorized to contact their families."

"Aye sir, will you be going ashore?"

"Yes, I have an appointment with Pyrrhus, but before I do, I want to check out my gifts that he left me before he ran like a dog with his tail between his legs." as he says with a smirk on his face.

The battleship is placed smoothly right next to her sister ships, BBG 101, 102, 103, 104: the Julius Caesar, the Antipater, the Dion, and the Scipio Africanus.

Antiachus exits the Alexander, salutes the Phyrric, and departs for an inspection of the newly completed and operational battleships.

The plane of Pyrrhus had touched down safely and without incident at Amphipolis. The armies loyal to Pyrrhus has secured the area and recently subdued Imperial forces outside of Apollonia, securing the Province of Dacia and Thrace. This is a heavy blow to the forces of Antiachus as the region is heavy in oil and minerals, substances that Antiachus is dependent upon for the resources for the Navy since he has no allies supplying the much needed resources. General Demetrius is there to greet Pyrrhus

"We have the noose around his neck now, it should only be a matter of time before he surrenders sir. Unless he finds allies for supplies, his resouces shall not last him through the spring." informs Demetrius

"Are you confident that we can hold the area? You know he will counter attack and try to regain the area." asks Pyrrhus

"Our forces grow stronger everyday we resist his attempt to eliminate the government. People are growing uneasy about this, especially since you refuse to surrender, the war hero no longer has the full backing of the military. The governor of Epirus I has surrendered his base to factions on board that contested his alliance and committed suicide this morning."

"Let the others follow suit what he has led, all traitors will be brought to justice once this is over and death will not be their reward or escape. Do we have what is needed to secure Macedon? We need to act quick as I am sure that Antiachus will try to convince Etrusca to break from us, they have been neutral to this point and somewhat loyal to us, but they are corrupt and with influence, just might get on the bandwagon that Antiachus started. It is bad enough that we have lost Io, much money was lost there, but the distance dictates self government, as I had been contemplating anyways."

"They will not break sir, we have the complete loyalty of Naples and Latin, Sicily is under Antiachus control and that means the three fleets at Syracuse will set course shortly. As long as we control the mainland, we can slowly strangle him out and into exile himself, permanently. I hate to lose a great man like that, but his sins must be between himself and the creator."

"How long will it take to subdue the islands? Since Antiachus has control of the seas, we will have a hard time taking the islands out. We have 5 of the 24 fleets under our control less one carrier. Damn him for destroying the Cumae, was that really necessary?"

"Honestly sir, that is exactly as I would have done. Take out your flagship and the rest of the Navy caved into him. Count your blessings that you chose not to be on it for those drills."

"You do not need to remind me of that, it is a prime example of what happens to any ship when hit by 9 sixteen inch shells from a battleship. There is one good thing about that attack....the men on the Cumae never felt a thing, many died without pain or suffering as the soldiers on the battlefield are forced to suffer."

"We will end their suffering soon."

"Speaking of which, what is at my disposal?"

"You currently have the bulk of the Army and Air Force under your control. Now that Epirus I is yours once more, the Allianec forces are yours as well. You have approximately 12 million men at your disposal now sir, that is more than a match for the 2 million or so that Antiachus has control of."

"What good is men when there is no fleet?"

"The allies of Phyrric are backing us"

"At what price? When all is said and done, we still will not have a fleet as it will be destroyed."

"Lets pray it does not go that far."

OOC: Sorry about replying late


"Inbound missiles from the Alexander!" Admiral Alexandrov checked the radar, "Evasive manuevers, launch the countermeasures!" Klaxons began to blare throughout the fleet. The Red Revolution, a Kirov class Missile Frigate, didn't launch it's countermeasures soon enough, the missile slammed into the deck...

"Red Revolution this is Admiral Alexandrov, respond!" Alexandrov slammed his fist down on the console, "Damn, launch the fighters! Order all Missile frigates to counter attack. The Battleships will close with the enemy and engage at close range!"

The Mig-31ks and HASC-2s taxied off of the carriers and flew off to meet the enemy. The Battleships began crusing at full steam towards the enemy fleet, while blaring out 'The Ride of the Valkyries' on their intercoms...

"Comrade Admiral, the enemy has opened a comm channel with us." Alexandrov scowled, he was extremely angry. "What do you want to know before I slit your throat, Antiachus?"

Oops, logged on as my puppet...

To: Phyrric Government

We are receiving many intelligence reports regarding certain problems in your navy, please respond if you request our assistance.
_________________________

As concerns are voiced by High Command the Agrigentian Naval Admiralty, based in North Islandia has begun to prepare for a large-scale deployment.

To the Nation of Phyrric

Although we have been on either ends of certain conflicts, we want you to know your government has our support morally and militarily.

NKBB1 Ice Dragon battlegroup...

"Sonar conact to port, about sixty-two fathoms down, and closing at 15 knots from our south-southeast." Sonarman Third Cui Lincoln announced.
"Eyedee?" Commodore Huyn asked.
"Looks like... looks like a fast-attack boat... she's turning further to the south-looks like she decided we weren't a threat."
Commodore Huyn grimaced.
"We need comms with the other fleets in the area before someone gets pounded on-contact the Hattians, let 'em know we're in the neighbourhood." she said finally.
"Roger that."

During the conversation between Gen Demetrius and Pyrrhus, a messenger knocks on the door frame, the Gen waives him in. The messenger hands him the packet and leaves.

Gen Demetrius looks over the papers with a sour note on his face.

"Sir, we have just received the report from the Air Force. The Battle of Cydonia on Crete was an utter failure. We have approximately 10,000 men that have just surrendered to the forces loyal to Antiachus. Apparently, the airlift operation was busted up in mid wave. As the Air Force was in the mist of their paratroop operations and fighter attack on the military sites, the 11th Battle Fleet and 2nd Assasult Fleet was not far off....as if they were aware of the plans."

"Why weren't the ships noticed? Didn't anyone bother to use radar or GPS?"

"That is the problem sir. Before the governor of Epirus I committed suicide, he disabled the sensor array on the station. All uplinks are inop. GPS is not working."

"What about radar?"

"Well sir, from personal experience, I know that with the large number of islands in the area, it is quite possible to hide an entire fleet, radar must have a direct LOS and since Epirus I is out of commission, we do not have satellite capabilities...at this time."

"God damn it, what is the damage?"

"Not good sir..."

"What is not good?"

"The entire 112th, 113th, and 118th air wings from Cephallenia AFB have been annihilated by the Carrier PRN Rhodes, they never saw it coming until it was too late. The 25th Tactical Transport Squadron is gone, the DDG's took them out with SAMs as they were returning back to Cephallenia. The troops that were brought in were trapped in the foothills around Mt Idi and surrendered. That is a total of 14,000 dead or captured, we are not sure of which."

Taking a seat at the desk, "It appears we have a snitch in our Air Force operations. Why was a Carrier sitting there to begin with, that is an unlikely spot for a Battle Fleet don't you think? We must be more exclusive in our operations and get that damn GPS system back up."

"I have a good idea on who the mole is sir, with your permission, I would like to plan an attack on Thera but commit no forces. If the GPS picks up another fleet in ambush, I will capture our mole and bring him to you. In the meantime, I need to get to Cephallenia and plan this out. I think it is the base commander."

"Do what you feel is necessary and bring me that traitor. It appears I have time, Antiachus is out screwing around right now...literally. Since his divorce, he has become quite the whore dog and since he has been out to sea for a few months, I am sure he is looking for some action. I do not anticipate hearing from him before the day after next....that is something I can use to my advantage I think...." an idea suddenly hits Pyrrhus and a smile appears on his face. "This is something we may just have to try and if I know my enemy like I am sure I do, it is a weapon I can use. There is an old proverb, many wars were started over the love of a woman, and many wars have ended because the love of a woman." places his arms behind his head and starts to rock back and forth in the chair. "Women, they always find a way into a mans heart..." siting forward, "...and the quickest way to it is right through the breast plate."

Ice Dragon task force, wesbound along the coast, 2100 Hours...

Cranes from the support ships lowered the 68-footers into the thrashing sea. Aboard PT-19, passengers from the 2nd Battalion "Night Rats" crouched, their eyes covered to protect them from the lights.
"Where we goin, sir?" Engineers Mate 2 Kyle asked.
Ensign Quan frowned, "We're goin' up a river, into a country we've never seen before, to let these guys go sneaking the long way into a city called..um... 'Coo-Chee-Rah'? one of those damned hard to pronounce words. They're going to poke their noses around gatherin' onsite intel for the counterattack."
The Engineer's mate frowned, "What're we doin', then?"
The Ensign shrugged, "Trying not to get spotted and shot until the pongoes are done?"
Kyle sighed, and went back to the rear gun-mount.
"Let's go!" Ensign Quan announced, and the boat nosed away from the cargo-ship, headed inland at 45 Nauts.

Chancery, Midnight, Nha Tran City, Nuevo Kowloon...

Chancellor Amanda Ngo lit her cigarette, and watched her CNO squirm.
"You should've told me we had a Carrier almost completed, Li."
She said, and slowly dragged on her cigarette.
Admiral Li shook her head. "We haven't put it through trials yet-"
Amanda frowned.
"The basic design was developed in the 1940's." the Chancellor pointed out.
Li nodded agreement, "Yeah, but... the new electronics suites, the Aegis Radars... these haven't been tested yet."
The Chancellor nodded. "I see- we-ell, I guess you get to test it for real. The reports say it's a week from launch?"
The Admiral nodded, "Yes it is."
Amanda smiled.
"Name it yet?" she asked.
Admiral Li shook her head, "Nope, all we've got is a hull-number."
Amanda smiled again.
"Call it the Saigon, and tell our friends at the Vin-Drin-Lap shipyards I want five more by next year."
Li stood up suddenly, "Five More??? Ma'am, You don't know what you're asking! We copied the late-model American Essex Class with an angled deck-but we can't be sure the design is accurate-hell, we haven't even tried to land a plane on it..."
Amanda nodded, "I know, I've got a plane standing by-you will land it on the carrier while it's in drydock. today."
The Admiral looked even more distressed.
Amanda stood up, and walked around her desk. "Don't be such wuss, Admiral, I'm riding with you. The Chancery can take care of itself while I get a couple of hours of flight time in..."
Li's flush went from furious to panic. "You... want to land one of those fighters... on an untested ship... You, the Chancellor."
Amanda nodded, "Yep. and you get to ride in the back-seat. I've got a TF-100NK sitting down at the airfield, fueled up and ready to go-and, at least right now, I've still got my pilot's license."

The Admiral sighed-but it was more of a moan.
Amanda continued cheerily, "It should be interesting, I've never landed with an arrestor-hook before-but I've studied the theory. it should be quite simple while she's in the dock, and considering how much you funnelled into the construction and development without telling me, you must be very confident that it will work... anyway, Morning comes bright an' early for you day-people, so what say you go get fitted to a flight suit, and meet me at the ramp tomorrow around five-thirty?"
The CNO nodded, looking miserable.
Amanda's grin widened, "Probably better grab airsick bags too-I know you hate flying."

Vin Drin Lap Naval Shipyard, Nuevo Kowloon, the next day, 0655 hours...

The fighter came barrelling in almost recklessly-barely avoiding the cranes as it made its approach on the main deck. Naval ground crews scuttled in a frenzy as the pilot lined up for landing on the recently completed flattop.
The gear extended almost too late, and the fighter-with a wingspan almost too wide for the landing area, slammed down, brakes and tyres smoking from the sudden friction.
The hook caught the arrestor cable, though, allowing Captain Wang a free breath. He elected to save it for the hot-dog son of a bitch who just tested his landing-arrestor system.

Ground crews who'd only simulated this, raced over with a tug, and brought the fighter in to a parking slot. A ladder was rolled up, and the twin canopies elevated.

Captain Wang stomped up the deck to the plane. "Just who in the hell do you think you are?!" he boomed, fists clenched, "I'll have your ass-" he stopped, as the pilot climbed down the steps, took off her helmet, and smiled at him.
"Good Morning, Captain!" Amanda Ngo said cheerfully.
Captain Wang glanced at the rear-seater, who was now on the deck as well. Admiral Li was lugging an airsickness packet like a child hugs a teddy-bear.
"Oh." Captain Wang said, and drew in a breath, shaking.
"Does the Catapult work?" the Chancellor asked.
Wang nodded, "It does in testing... I'm not sure once we're at sea-Chancellor, what in god's name are you doing...?" he asked.
Amanda shrugged, "Visiting, inspecting... delivering your orders. According to your progress reports, all that remains are some finishing touches, We've got a genuine war-condition crisis, you can have your crew finish the paintwork and testing at sea, so I want you launching in twenty-four hours, to rendezvous with the Ice Dragon battle group. You'll be serving as forward-basing for First and Second Air Squadrons- oh, and they'll be here in an hour, so you might want to clear the debris from the Hangar decks."
The Captain stammered, "B-But..but we're not READY!"
She dismissed his protest with a gesture, "Your stores-estimates will be filled before you leave, Captain. This situation in Phyrric's going to get a lot worse before it gets better, and I won't have our guys out there without a reliable air-cap, so..." she patted him on the shoulder, "You'll make it work, or you won't come home, Savvy?"

To: Commander Rebel forces in the city of Corcyra
Frm: Senior Lieutenant Jason Von Dew, Commander of Pauldustllah Embassy Garrison in the city of Corcyra
We request 48 hours to evacuate all non combat personnel from the city before official hostilities between our forces and yours commence.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"get those Sand bags in place Damn it! do you want the Enemy to be able to shoot through that window and kill us?!" Yelled Chief Mark Donaldson "there is going to be a major fight here soon and we better be ready for it."
" Chief can i speak to you to you for a minute?" a voice in another room asked
"yes sir" Chief said as he walked into the Lieutenant’s office
"Chief what our status?"
"well sir we have a total of 55 men plus myself chief Thomas the two Junior Lieutenants and yourself we have enough ammunition to last us a month at normal combat expenditure, food and water will last us two months Medical supplies are not so good we don’t have enough, we always figured that there would be a hospital near by to treat our people.”
“Chief I’m counting on you the two junior lieutenants are new to combat” the Co said
“sir I’ll look after em.”
“good, that is all chief, now all we do is wait for a response from the rebel commander.”
“junior sargent Boors any luck getting in touch with any of our forces?” the CO asked
“no sir no such luck the lines are jammed.”
“so we’re cut off surrounded and outnumbered.” the CO thought “ I have to hold no matter what happens I will hold this compound.”

The government of Pauldustllah will back the Legitimate government of Phyrric. just say the word and we will send whatever we can.

On board the Princess Kendra 0315 Hours

Admiral MacWilliams sat at the desk in his quarters reviewing the recon reports just recieved from Beta Fleet. He stood and made his way over to his drinks cabinet, to pour himself a scotch and water. Just as he was about to open the cabinet however, a knock came at the cabin door.
"Enter" he called out casually.
Edward McTavish, the ship's first officer entered
"We've located the Hattian fleet, Admiral" he reported "Stumbled across them more like it" McTavish continued. "They're 14 knots off the Starboard stern, and chances are, if we know where they are, they know where we are"
The admiral contemplated this for a moment.
"How long until we've got air-support" he asked
McTavish shook his head
"It'll be 0900 at least until the Highlander arrives within range to launch its fighters"
MacWilliams nodded "And the Hattian Fleet, have they any carriers?"
McTavish shrugged
"I don't know sir, I came to inform you as soon as we found them, I didn't wait around for details"
The admiral took a cutlass, such as the kind naval officers wore in the 17th and 18th centuries, down from it's position of display on his wall, fixing the swordbelt to his uniform, as he always did before battle, he turned back to the First Officer "Contact Beta Fleet and have them move to our position, and bring us about, If we strike quickly, the Hattians may not have time to launch any planes that they may have, and if we do nothing, well... we're sitting ducks"
McTavish saluted "Aye, Sir" he grinned and returned to the bridge, the Admiral following a moment later, after pouring himself that Scotch...

The Minister of Foreign Affairs did not looked pleased at being told to hold his thoughts, he replied curtly into the com unit "Never mind, the situation has changed!"

He then turned to Itxaad "Get a Marathon transport ready for me, I'll have Aldred pilot it, fill it with supplies and put a doctor on board it and 2 Naval Marine snipers if you please."

Itxaad nodded "May I ask where you are going with it?"

The Minister smiled "I'm going to our embassy in Corcyra, it is sovereign territory of Ilek-Vaad, rebels or no."

An hour later the Marathon VTOL was packed and ready, the Minister came out onto the tarmac in his light grey Velite Guard uniform, colonel's eagles on his collar, he climbed into the Marathon and took the co-pilot's seat,stowing his FN-FAL behind him. In the Pilot's seat was Colonel Aldred, of the 'Black Guard' he grinned at the Minister "Being your bodyguard is next to impossible if you keep trying to kill yourself!"

The Marathon then took off straight up, Aldred switched on it's diplomatic transponder. The Minister looked down and saw the rest of BattleGroup Ehecatl arriving, they had finally caught up with the battleships and were beginning to array for battle.

******
Lassic, Ilek-Vaad, The House of the Republic

The Republican Council sat in closed session, they have been debating what to do about Admiral Antiachus.

The Minister of Defence was speaking "Supreme Naval Commander Itxaad reports that the Alexander is now close to Corcyra and could be pinned in, we also know that Phyrric's new battleships are still in dock, we could destroy them before they ever saw open water. BattleGroup Ehecatl is in place and Carrier Group Hechicero will be there tomorrow, BattleGroup Revenge is also en route."

The First Republican sighed "What does Uncle Istvan say?"

The Minister of Defence shrugged "He says he is ready as usual. He's made no comment of what we might need to defeat Antiachus but he was confident it could be done."

The Minister of the Interior chimed in "Well, we know from the reports of the Black Guard that Antiachus has precious little ground forces, we could concentrate on destroying his navy and that would force him to make a push with his ground forces and we could pick them apart from the air and I'm sure Pyrrhus would appreciate the targets?"

The First Republican nodded "That would be the best plan I think, we'll table the military mandate for now and I will call up an additional carrier group and BattleGroup, all in favour?"

The vote was 5-2, a simple majority was all that was needed for the First Republican to call up forces for such a 'policing' action.

Modified Iowa-Class battleship Ice-Dragon, 1200 Hours...

"...The PBY's are reporting that someone's fleet is moving in on the Hattians-and it looks like an attack formation." Chief Hu commented.
Commodore Huyn uttered a curse. "How long 'till they're in range?" she asked.
"Twenty minutes, they're taking their time about it." he responded.
She uttered another very foul word, and asked, "Whose is it?"
He got back on the comms, asked, and recieved an answer.
"They're Nova Caledonian, ma'am." he replied, adding, "At least, we think they are."
She muttured another oath. "Dammit, are they stupid? Don't they realize what that's going to do? okay, pull our birdies in, send the Hattians a warning-they probably already know, I mean, they've got "Eyes" too, and the hostiles are a hell of a lot closer than we are. let Cutters four and Six know they've got SAR duty when it drops in the pot, and alert the Medical Ship they'll be taking incoming."
The Comms chief wrote the orders on a sheet, and then began sending.
Our hands're still tied, but we can goddammit still do at-sea rescues... suddenly, she smiled. Nobody brought Search-and-Rescue assets but us...at least, Dedicated search and rescue... she looked at the Sitrep screen. If they'd only waited! one more day, and we could... she paused the thought. Act like a real navy? they've got battlegroups with more power than our whole nation... no. Better to be cautious, better to do what I know we're best at-at least, until we've got a bit more force-projection than one battleship and six frigates...
"Chief? While you're at it..."

Sent in the Clear by Morse Code, 1215 Hours...

"From: Nuevo Kowloon Naval Coast Guard Task Group Ice Dragon
To: all combatant vessels.
Re: Imminent hostilities.

As War has not been officially declared, but a state of war exists in these waters, Nuevo Kowloonese Coast Guard units will be conducting search and rescue for any and all survivors of engagements resulting from misunderstandings in International Waters. -Break-
Please do not fire on the nice, white and red helicopters, they're just trying to save lives.-break-
If you send SOS you will be heard-Break-
Hospital Ships are standing by-Break-
Repeat, please do not fire on the White and Red vessels and choppers the life you save could be your own.-End-

Ice Dragon, 1225 Hours...

"Do you think it's going to work?" Hu asked.
Commodore Huyn shrugged, "Maybe-I know it's a career-killer for me, but we just don't have the force to pick a fight-the Chancellor'll have my ass, but my boys will probably live longer-besides, if they fire on rescue vessels in international waters, they might end up staring down the barrels of a few Superpowers and their precious damned United Nations over it-which is a hell of a lot better reason to go to war than some asshole announcing he's an emperor."

Vice Admiral Johnston on the PRN Veii CVN 88 "Send an urgent message to Antiachus, last know whereabouts was on the Scipio. Inform them that there is attack formation on radar and we need him back to sea."

"Aye Sir......the Scipio advises he departed the ship and was headed out to Potidea to meet up with Pyrrhus."

"Find his location, in the meantime, General Quarters, get a strike squadron on the decks and ready for launch on my command. I am taking command of this fleet until I hear different from Antiachus."

"X35 fighters being preped now sir, ready for launch in 3 mikes, elevators are lifting A6's up to the flight deck. The rest of the fleet has been notified of your command and awaiting orders."

"very well, message the Alexander, order them to set sail."

"done sir."

"First strike with the subs."
*****
The Zues, Jupiter, Saturn, and Apollo from the 21st Battle Fleet submerges, tubes are being flooded.

"Silent running chief, we may only get one strike in and lets make it count. Put in a firing sequence, lock on targets, I want the torpedoes to arm immediately after launch, there will be no room for error here. Target only the destroyers and cruisers to reduce AA blanket, get the first strike, let the fighters take out the carriers"

"Torpedoes ready."

"Await the launch from the Veii, then fire at will."
*****
Encoded message to Antiachus:

Apparent blockade measure on Corcyra end
Veii and 21st fleet ready for combat end
Naval war emminent end
Presence requested in Corcyra end
*****
On the PRN Roma CVN 90 of the 11th Battle Fleet N of Barletta in the Naples Province of Italy 120 clicks north of Corcyra.

"We have confirmation of enemy fleet movements sir. The 21st sends signal to implement the pincers move and cut the fleet in half."

"Let it be so, announce General Quarters, turn us to the wind and commence full launch"
*****
At Syracuse with the 4th and 7th Battle Fleets

"Are there any orders?"

"The airwaves are fairly silent sir. The Veii is looking for Antiachus but it is typical for him to be absent frequently. It is same old routing today."

"Very well, give the crew and additional 24 hours of liberty."
*****
North of Crete with the 11th Battle Fleet

"Sir, we have just received message that Thera is going to be attacked."

"He serves the Empire well, set course for Thera and ready the fighters for another turkey shoot."

"Aye sir."

Supreme Naval Commander Itxaad now took up his favorite position, on deck of the Ehecatl. He calmly surveyed the Battle group as it moved into position, still a little more than 100 miles off Corcyra. The ship shuddered as the the ballast tanks filled, giving the Ehecatl a low profile, in case it needed to fire it's giant main guns. He smiled , anticipating that ther Emperor Ehecatl would soon get to speak his mind.

"Sir, we've been hailed, Battlegroup Revenge is in sight" said the captain

Itxaad nodded "And carrier group Hechicero?"

"Sitting at just about 600 miles away, well within service range, her subs are mneeting up with ours."

Itxaad nodded again "You know captian , I almost feel sorry for Admiral Antiachus, that he may soon have to see so many of his magnificent ship turn turtle and go to the bottom." Itxaad was getting sentimental in his old age.

****
Having encountered no issues the Marathon VTOL landed on the roof of the embassy, barely fitting betwen the A/C and elevator , the Minister of Foreign Affairs stepped off and examined how close they had come "Aldred, that was too easy, next time you do it with your eyes closed.". Colonel Aldred grinned as usual "They were shut, I never have my eyes open while flying"

The 25 embassy staff were already in their Velite uniforms and began helping to immediately unload the transport, the 2 Naval Marine snipers took up positions on the roof, watching the streets below.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs went inside to the Ambassador's office and took out his satellite phone calling Phyrric's Ministry of Foreign Affairs he simply left a message that if Phyrrus needed him, he was at his embassy in Corcyra. He also phoned the Ehecatl, where they relayed his meesage to Antiachus "When the Admiral is ready to talk, tell him to make an appoitment at the Embassy."

He then went all the way down to the ground floor, opened the embassy gates and began personally admitting refugees, regardless of nationality.

*****

Deep in the waters around Corcyra, the Naval Guards Wolfhound stealth submarines moved inch by inch, it had taken 2 days to creep within 10 miles of the coast, hugging the bottom the nearly flat, flounder like submariunes inched along making no sound, following the contour pof the ocean floor, here they stopped and then rested on the ocenfloor, the upward facing torpedo tubes poised to hit anything that passed over them.


OOC: With 2 battlegroups now in place ( the Ehecatl and REvenge groups respectively) there are now 4 Revenge class battleships, 12 cruisers, 30 destroyers, 24 frigates , 24 Trident nuclear submarines and 20 Wolf hound submarines, with an additional 12 Wolfhounds from the Hechicero Carrier Group. Effectively the Hechicero Carrier Group has nearly 500 aircraft within range also, with Orion Stealth Fighters already flying recon over the Battlegroups. Ilek-Vaad's spy satellites are also keeping a close eye on Antiachus' fleet movements , hopefully patching this information to Pyrrhus' forces.

PBY One, Twenty six miles out from Cocyra...

Flight Warrant Officer Michael Kinaru's ancestors were American and Japanese, respectively, before the Bombing of 1962. His family line in Nuevo Kowloon was, therefore, relatively young. He'd been born a "Healthy" baby in Ia Drang-meaning that unlike his brothers and sisters, he didn't suffer from the scars of the War-Plague, and he could attend "Daylight School" growing up.
His father, a "Night-Person" and Landowner, made sure his son didn't feel like a freak, and pushed the boy to do something he could never accomplish.
So, Michael learned to fly, and he joined the Coast Guard, and sent home pictures and letters showing his family things they would never, ever, be able to see in person-the Beach at sunrise, the sun reflecting off the open sea, the colours of a rainbow after the Typhoon.
Today, he was seeing something that he hoped fervently he would be able to forget.
"Jesus..." he said, as an aircraft exploded miles away- Today, he was flying near a battle, while the crew in back were listening for the signals that would inevitably come-the cries of downed airmen and drowning sailors.
The call that every Coast Guardsman dreads.
SOS.
The sensor-operators in the body of the plane would faithfully retransmit coordinates to the cutters and their helos on the surface-coordinates to try and save as many lives as possible.
So far, there were very few-but the shooting had just started.
"Uh-oh...we're locked!" Petty Officer Third Jen Ling announced from the station just behind the flight deck.
"What?" Michael asked.
"I said, we're being lit up-looks like... CRAP! X-Band!" Ling shouted.
"Activate Countermeasures and send the 'Friendly' signal!" Michael commanded.

In the fog of war, signals get confused, and who did what to whom, doesn't really matter in the end result-you're still dead.
The missile didn't care who launched it, or why, or whether it had the right target-It only cared that the target was in front of it.

The warhead detonated less than 15 feet from the nose-sending tungsten-steel cubes through the aluminum structure at high speed, annihilating the aircraft in a storm of aluminum fragments and burning lubricant.

"Comrade Admiral, incoming targets, they are in battle formation!" The Admiral walked over to the man who just spoke, "How many?" "More than we have, though most of them seem to be smaller, if our battleships could close, we would rip them to shreds!" Admiral Alexandrov nodded and walked over to the radio, "All aircraft, red alert, reverse direction and attack on these coordinates" Alexandrov read out a string of numbers, "Be advised, enemy aircraft resistance is likely!" He then switched frequencies. "All ships, reverse direction, attack oncoming ships, battleships, close with them, they are smaller and if we get close, they don't have a chance!"

High overhead, the clouds of fighters, and torpedo bombers reversed directions...

Supreme Naval Commander Itxaad watched the distant island of Corcyra. The lights flickered above and around it, he suddenly felt something, at that exact moment the Captain came up behind him "Sir we have our orders from the First Republican, disable Antiachus' fleet, keep him on dry land ."

Itxaad furrowed his brow, he touched the comm-link on his collar "Fire Control, this is Itxaad, let the Emperor Ehecatl and his brothers speak, designate targets prime and prime2, move on to secondus targets as satellite confirmation comes in of prime deletion. My Life For The Republic"

The 4 Revenge class battleships slowly rotate giving corcyra their broadside, each of them had 'sunk' now showing only scant yards of hull from the water surface. The alrms went off the 'ship destroyer' guns raised, nearly vertical, each ship has 2 turrets of six, the regular 48 inch guns stayed level, seconds later a deafining boom rips the sky as the high velocity shells are sent in a wide arc, up and above Corcya, striking squarely where the Alexander and it's brothers are docked. Suprising the first volley's do not strike any ships , they strike the docks the quays fuel depots and wharehouses attempting to ring the ships and make escape impossible.

The battlegroups lesser ships fan out anticipating counter attack, the cruisers let loose with cruise missle after cruise missle to follow the course of the giant guns .

On the sea floor the Wolfhound subs wait, as soon as any enemy are overheard (spotted from above by satellite and spotter planes, so very little chance of hitting the wrong ships) their torpedos launch straight up hitting hulls from directly beneath.

*****
On Corcyra everyone in the embassy pauses from unloading supplis and helping refugees and the injured. Colonel Arden stands and watches the lights in the sky, huge booms report from the shore "Those are the guns of the Emperor Ehecatl, they're shelling the port!"

The Minister of Foreign Affairs furrowed his brow "will that increase or decrease the chances that Antiachus will speak with me?"

Colonel Arden deadpans "I don't know, but I'll wager that if he comes to talk he'll have his gun."

The Minister patted his FN-FAL slung over his shoulder "Well, I've got mine no reason he shouldn't bring his I suppose. Enough standing around we have work to do."

Supreme Naval Commander Itxaad watched the distant island of Corcyra. The lights flickered above and around it, he suddenly felt something, at that exact moment the Captain came up behind him "Sir we have our orders from the First Republican, disable Antiachus' fleet, keep him on dry land ."

Itxaad furrowed his brow, he touched the comm-link on his collar "Fire Control, this is Itxaad, let the Emperor Ehecatl and his brothers speak, designate targets prime and prime2, move on to secondus targets as satellite confirmation comes in of prime deletion. My Life For The Republic"

The 4 Revenge class battleships slowly rotate giving corcyra their broadside, each of them had 'sunk' now showing only scant yards of hull from the water surface. The alrms went off the 'ship destroyer' guns raised, nearly vertical, each ship has 2 turrets of six, the regular 48 inch guns stayed level, seconds later a deafining boom rips the sky as the high velocity shells are sent in a wide arc, up and above Corcya, striking squarely where the Alexander and it's brothers are docked. Suprising the first volley's do not strike any ships , they strike the docks the quays fuel depots and wharehouses attempting to ring the ships and make escape impossible.

The battlegroups lesser ships fan out anticipating counter attack, the cruisers let loose with cruise missle after cruise missle to follow the course of the giant guns .

On the sea floor the Wolfhound subs wait, as soon as any enemy are overheard (spotted from above by satellite and spotter planes, so very little chance of hitting the wrong ships) their torpedos launch straight up hitting hulls from directly beneath.

*****
On Corcyra everyone in the embassy pauses from unloading supplis and helping refugees and the injured. Colonel Arden stands and watches the lights in the sky, huge booms report from the shore "Those are the guns of the Emperor Ehecatl, they're shelling the port!"

The Minister of Foreign Affairs furrowed his brow "will that increase or decrease the chances that Antiachus will speak with me?"

Colonel Arden deadpans "I don't know, but I'll wager that if he comes to talk he'll have his gun."

The Minister patted his FN-FAL slung over his shoulder "Well, I've got mine no reason he shouldn't bring his I suppose. Enough standing around we have work to do."

"Senior private Neal!" Chief Thomas shouted, Neal ran to him as fast as he could.
"yes chief." Said Neal "what can i do for you chief."
"Run this over to the commander of the Garrison at the Ilek-Vaad embassy." Thomas handed Neal a letter which had urgent written on the front "make sure he gets this."
"yes chief." Neal took the letter and ran out of the compound and headed tword the embassy. i hope i make it in one piece. he thought to himself as he ran
everyone was uneasy at the Pauldustllah compound was uneasy considering that they have not heard form the rebel commander yet. the evacuation of Nocombatants has not occured for fear of them getting shot down.
"there it is." Neal said to himself he ran tword the compound looking for anybody he saw a sentry "excuse me i'm looking for the commander of the garrason here can you take me to him?"
the Contents of the letter
To: Commander of the garrason for the Embassy of Ilek-Vaad
Frm: Commander of the Garason for the Embassy of Pauldustllah
Dear sir,
i have a total troop strenght of 60 men, if we both dig in we can hold the rebels untill help arrives will you fight with us?
i also have 80 non combatants that need evacuation would you please assist us in gettign them out of the country before hostilities between Pauldustllah and the rebels commence? i implore you to help us. if i can be of any assistance please let me know
----------------------------------------------------
Location: 2 days away From the island of Corcyra. CVS-3 Hall flagship 3rd Fleet Imperial Pauldustllah Navy 2 days From Phyrric
"Sir a message has arrived for you."
"let me see it." Flag commander Stood read the Message
To: commander 3rd fleet
Frm: CinC Naval Headquarters
from this moment forward a states of war exists between the rebel forces in the country of Phyrric and Pauldustllah sail to the island of Corcyra.
and place the 22nd naval landing forces regement ashore to aid in the restoration of order to the country. that is all
"Set sail to Corcyra. flank speed" the admiral said

On the Roma:

"Sir, I-V is bombarding the city, your orders?"

"Engage the fleet, full launch from all carriers. Close the distance with our cruisers, standard echelon formation."

"Attention all units, this is Veii, authorization to launch on my command, now now now."

The X35 fighters come screaming off the deck 2 by 2 from the 5 carriers in the area from the Veii of the 1st, Pompeii of the 2nd, Thebes of the 14th, Salamis of the 15th and Roma of the 21st. After a squadron of X35 have lifted off, 2 by 2 launches the A6.

"Engage all enemy units, sink everything that does not signal a friendly beackon, do not return with any ordinance, expend all."

The launch tubes od the CG, DDG, and FFG's of the fleets open up and out comes wave after wave of surface to surface missiles. The frigates engage to flank speeds followed by the destroyers, unloading their sts missiles as they close. When the frigates and destroyers enter firing range of their 5inchers, the rapid fire gun starts exiting shells at nearby targets. The CG's engage the aegis and start targeting any airborn units hostile to the Empire.
*****
On the Zues:

"Sir, we have full launch from the Battle Fleets"

"Open torpedoe bays and fire!"

A white trail after white trail can be seen in the water, a total of 8 torpedoes are in the water, targeting various destroyers and cruisers of Ilek-Vaad. Behind them is another 8 until the 4 tubes are expended on each of the 4 subs.

"Reload, fast men! fast!, we do not have time to lounge around, get me another load!" yells the captain of the Apollo to his torpedomen"
*****
In the city of Corcyra, explosions are happening all over the city. Shops and building burst into fire, people start running into the streets, choas and terror are raining down on the citizens of Phyrric.

The embassies in the alliance circle near downtown, people inside can hear noises outside and the noises are those that are not pleasant to the ear. It is the sound of treads...mechanized treads and the familiar sound of the M1A1's moving into position for the seige. Through the windows blares the lights from the Abrams, then a voice echos in the halls of the embassies.

"Surrender yourselves for negotiations and no one shall die tonight."

The sound of gears hum as anyone looking out a window can see the gun turrent slowly raise to a position to fire.
*****
Antiachus is at the Embassy Suites Downtown as he is 'interrupted' from the sound of explosions and cannons. He jumps off the bed, quickly runs to the staircase and down 8 flight of stairs. He bursts out of the lobby doors and in full sprint, heads for the battleships.

A photographer takes a snapshot of a man streaking down the streets and identifies the man for tomorrow mornings headline. "Antiachus in Action"

As he makes his way to the gates of the harbor, he can see the Battleships making their way out of the piers they were moored to. The Alexander and Julius Caesar have already departed, the Antipater and Scipio from the forward motion of the ships snaps the mooring lines and takes a chalk off the Scipio. The sound of the snapping lines leaves a deafening sound as they recoil onto the peer and sides of the ships. A shell impacts between the two foward turrents of the Dion as the forward momentum starts to kick in. The ships jerks back and rolls from the explosion and fire erupts from the forward section of the Battleship. A creaking sound is heard. Antiachus heads for cover into another building as he is familiar with that sound and knows exactly what is going to happen. The creaking sound is the sound of the keel twisting as the ship bows into the water and the water starts to boil.

"Full flanking speed Mister!" yells the captain of the Scipio. "Get us the f**k out of here, she is going to blow!" Water bellows from behind the battleships as they all head for the exit of the harbor.

"Crack......hiss.......kaboom" as the Dion magazine catches fire and ignites the compartment. A shockwave ripples out from the Dion and windows shadder for blocks. Glass is spewed everywhere on the streets for 1/2 mile. The pier is vaporized as is the harbor masters building from the explosion. A screw (main propeller) is blown off the back of the ship when it was tilted out of the water that it was found 6 miles away from the explosion, passing through several people and buildings. A fireball consumes the Scipio, crippling the battleship as momentum slows then stops. A small tidal wave rushes water over the walls of the harbor and into the streets of Corcyra, catching several citizens as panic kicks in. Chaos has reached new heights.

Embassy Circle, Corcyra, Phyrric, 1800 hours...

Lt. Cho signalled to his platoon Sgt. ("Squad 1 and 2, eliminate the infantry support on those tanks. use cookie-cutters rounds at range on my signal, Squad 3 and 4 will approach and terminate through the fuel-feeds, use incendiary charges set to 5 seconds.")
The Sgt nodded. The explosions and impacts had darkened enough of the city for the Night People to operate without the filtering goggles-at least, for the moment.
Infantrymen aimed their Delisle silent carbines on their chosen targets-thanks to the noise, and the chaos, and the Rebels' confidence that they were the only force outside the walls of the Embassies...
("Execute")

Bravo Company, 2nd Nuevo Kowloon "Night Fighters", erupted from behind and within the Rebel formation, using bayonet and garrote on the Rebel's infantry from inside their close-quarter range.
To the Phyrrian troops, these were ghost-men, monsters from discredited legends with their too-white skin, red lips, and black, irisless eyes. The brutality shown could be attested to by the Heroin Lords of Burma, or the Khmer Rouge, or the Chinese divisions of the nineteen sixties.
These were the children of the War Plague, exiles from the lands of daylight, the scarred decendents of the horrors of the Indochina Wars, and the long isolation of their nation.
These were men who never saw a rainbow, or the sun shining on the waters, whose skin blisters in the light of day, and whose eyes see all in the dulcet tones of starlight and moonshine.
Now, they were here, among soldiers expecting weak resistance from foreign garrisons isolated from their nations.
They were not invited, or expected.
Knife, bayonet, silenced carbine and silenced submachinegun-ghosts from the shadows, wires wrapped around throat.
In this confusion, other forms flitted from tank to tank-planting shaped C-4 over fuel fills-unseen, because the crews did not expect to need to see them.

While the diversion is going on, Charlie Co. slips from drains and dumpster, hedge and garden-plot, and into the Embassy compounds to make contact.

Sgt. Edward Vahn's men are tasked to Pauldustllah-the fight outside won't last-it can't, even now, reinforcements would be coming...But, we can make them afraid, afraid to go outside their lights.
He hefted his last man over the wall, and then clambered over himself.
Boy, won't they be surprised!

Itxaad smiled from the deck of the Emperor Ehecatl as the high velocity shells struck the port. He could feel Antiachus' battleships making a run for it "They'll try and lap round us captain, keep our broadside to Corcyra ,let them think that we think they're dead, have our Trident submarines especially keep watch on our flanks, at least 70 miles out, don't give them range!" The captain nodded and relayed Itxaad's orders to Fire Control.

Just then Antiachus' fighters began to come in, the Revenge battleships and their escort's set up a near solid sheet of flak as the 30mm chaingun turrets opened up. High above the Orion stealth fighters from the Hechicero Carrier Group dropped on Antiachus' fighters as they attempted to get close to the capital ships , to Itxaad's right a destroyer exploded near the water line , it went nearly vertical in seconds "You'll pay for that!", he growled. The Frigates then opened up with their Comet/M3 SAM missle batteries, the air was soon filled with hundreds of Comet missles with image recognition tracking all looking for Antiachus' fighters.

More explosions sounded on either side, billowing black smoke was starting to come up from several ships, the giant Ship Destroyer turrets all moved in unison as the satellites corrected their line of attack to keep hitting Antiachus' battleships. Itxaad looked back to the captain "Damage reports?" the captain paused "2 destroyers sunk, i frigate being scuttled now, we've nearly all taken some damage........." The Ehectal shook as a torpedo slammed it's side, the reactive hull plating countering the force of the explosion, the outer hull was breached but it stood firm and settled "Ha!" laughed Itxaad "Send us another you cowards!"

****

As Antiachus' ships moved out of Corcyra's harbour to engage the Naval Guard they were in for a nasty suprise. The Wolfhound stealth submarines had been lying on the sea floor for 2 days and now ships swarmed over them " They're Antiachus' ships sir, they're moving at our BattleGroups " the ensign said to the group leader, the group leader replied "Cry havoc and slip the dogs of war." at that the submarines launched torpedo salvo's at the unsuspecting ships..........


****
The Minister of Foreign Affairs stood at the gate in his uniform as a runner came up, he was from Pauldustllah "Give this to the commander of your garrison!" the runner shouted , "That would be me I suppose." the Minister replied, just then the rumble of tanks could be heard.

The Minister read the message and watched the tanks at the same time, their lights glaring a voice through a loudspeaker said "Surrender yourselves for negotiations and no one shall die tonight."

The Minister turned to the runner "You'd probably best get inside." The Minister paused a second, set his gun against the gate and approached the tanks "By whose authority? This Embassy is the sovereign territory of The Free Republic of Ilek-Vaad. There is no one inside but Diplomats and refugees." The Minister stood directly in the path of the tanks "I demand that the commander of these tanks come down and talk with me, I am the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Free Republic. I have always been a friend to the free peoples of Phyrric. This is against all international law to demand the surrender of an embassy! If you are men of Phyrric then come down and talk, otherwise turn around and stop your illegal action."

The Minister stood defiantly and waited. On the roof of the Embassy the Naval Marine snipers swithced to their Anti-Material rifles, targeting the turrets of the tanks,holding their fire as of yet. Colonel Aldred stood just inside the embassies door "He means to kill himself, the Council won't have any choice but to send the entire Retaliatory Guard if these fools kill the Minister!"

All was quiet on the bridge of the flagship Defiant. Her captain knew that the crew and the crews of all the other ships of the fleet were getting more tense the longer that they waited. It has been two days since they arrived and they have yet to receive word from headquarters to enter Phyrric territorial waters and engage the rebels.

Suddenly, the comm officer shouted and broke the silence.

"Sir, all hell has just broken loose off Corcyra. The rebel fleet is moving to engage the Ilek-Vaadians. Our AWACS and destroyers report that their screens are lit up like Christmas trees."

"Break comm silence and order the fleet to red alert. All hands report to battle stations." The captain did his best to keep calm. "If these kids see me panic, we're all dead," he thought to himself. "Relay this information to High Command immediately ensign. I don't think we'll be able to keep out of this for long."

**********
Imperial High Command
Terra Malus

"General, the Defiant reports that rebel fleet has engaged the Ilek-Vaadians."

The High Commander nodded, aware of the gravity of the situation. The rebels have attacked the alliance. It won't be long before the Terra Mali fleet is under attack. Any hesitation and those ships would be sitting ducks. But the final order must come from the Emperor.

"Open a channel to the Imperial Palace."

**********
The Athenaeum

"Yes, General?"

"Excellency, the rebels have engaged the alliance fleet. Request permission to engage."

"Do as you see fit."

"Yes, Excellency."

**********
Imperial High Command to Expeditionary Fleet, you are authorized to engage.

**********
TMS Defiant

"Sir, High Command has just given us the order to engage."

"Acknowledge. Helm, set an intercept course to the rebel fleet. All ahead full."

On board the Princess Kendra

The Radar opperator on the bridge of the flagship shouted a warning across to the Admiral "Incoming birds, sir, looks like they've got both fighters and bombers"

The Admiral turned to the comms operator in turn, to relay his orders throughout the fleet "AA gunners on full alert, we don't have any birds of our own, Open fire with the big guns the second we're within range, concentrate on their big ships, aim for the turrets and the bridges, we can't afford any wasted shots." The admiral paused a moment "And load up some of those experimental bio-chem rounds, why damage a perfectly good ship when we can simply kill the crew - hell, we might end up with some new toys to add to our own fleet"

The captain of the Princess turned to the Admiral in shock "Sir, those new weapons arn't exactly legal... if we use them, the international community will come knocking on our door, with weapons of their own"

The Admiral shot a glare at the captain, not liking his orders being questioned. "Then we'll just have to make sure there are no survivors to report it, won't we captain?"

The captain merely nodded "Yes sir"

The conversation was interupted by the chief tactical officer "We're within range for the big guns, sir" he called out.

"Good, fire at will" The admiral ordered.

[Caledonian Ships at the battle: 2 Battleships, 4 Heavy Cruisers, 4 Light Cruisers, 4 Destroyers and 3 Submarines]



At the Royal Palace in Nova Edinburgh, Nova Caledonia

Emperor Kieran sat in one of the many sitting rooms in the palace, engaged in casual conversation with his sister, Princess Kendra (for whom the Flagship of the Caledonian fleet had been named) regarding a wide variety of interesting, but relativly unimportant subjects. The conversation was interupted as a man in a suit rushed into the room, he looked as if he had been in a hurry and straighted his jacket as he spoke

"Your highness, Admiral MacWilliams is using the new Bio-chem shells against the Hattian fleet in the Phyrric incident."

Kieran stood, looking quite shocked, and equally as angry "I didn't authorize their use!"

The man nodded "I know, my lord, that is why I am informing you"

The emperor gritted his teeth as he though a moment "Get me in contact with the leader of Hattia, or at least an ambassador... I don't know how I'm going to talk my way out of this one..."

The Captain stood behind Supreme Naval Commander Itxaad, over the comm Fire Control Reported That Terra Malus' fleet was on the move too "Sir, it looks like they're coming to help us." Itxaad look very thoughtful and then devious.

He touched his comm and spoke into it "Fire Control, relay this message to the Defiant. Tell them not to head in directly, have them move in behind us, let us take then brunt of Antiachus' onslaught. When we're hit request that they leapfrog us and hit Antiachus in the flank!"

Itxaad grinned ,he felt young again. He turned to the captaion "I'm beginning to like our chances.............." just then a missle crashed into the aft deck of the Ehecatl shaking the ship, the aft smouldered as fire crews raced to repair the damage and contain it . Itxaad laughed again. The captain was beginning to get nervous, Supreme Naval Commander' Itxaad's joy of battle was only matched by his terchnical prowess, but it still made everyone nervous............his thoughts were interupted as Itxaad barked "And for god's sake captain, find out who the Hattians and the Nova Caledonians are fighting !"

The Captain paused "each other I think sir?"

Itxaad laughed "Wonderful! which one of them is on our side?!"

The Captain shrugged "I'll be buggered if I know sir, I'll try and contact them both......"

Itxaad gripped the railing in front of him positively howled with laughter as guns and explosions erupted around him.

"Captain, the Ehecatl instructs that we move in behind them. After they absorb the first strike we are to attack the rebel fleet's flank."

"Acknowledge the Ehecatl. Then relay the following to the fleet: the carriers are to launch all available fighter aircraft, 3 cruisers and 5 destroyers are to remain in close proximity to the carriers at all times, the rest to follow our lead."

"What about the subs sir?"

"They're too far ahead. Besides, they're better off left to their own devices."

Alexandrov loved the thrill of battle. The explosions were all around the fleet. “They want some, do they? Fire everything we’ve got!” The ships fired their remaining missiles at the enemy fleet and began to move in close. The battleships (There are 4, 2 Battleships per carrier…) began firing their huge guns at the larger enemy ships, while the frigates, cruisers, and battle cruisers dealt with the smaller ships. Alexandrov stood at the helm of his ship, he looked down at the bow, a sailor had collapsed and fell into the water, a few nearby followed suit. A look of dread appeared on his face, “GAS!” Klaxons began blaring throughout the fleet, signaling for everyone to put their gas masks on.

Location: Embassy Circle Pauldustllah compound
The main building

"Lieutenant you might want to have a look at this." a young private said. Lieutenat Von Dew steped out on the balconey and watched the tanks move through the street, the lieutenat picked up his radio
"Chief do you gotta shot on one of the tanks?" looking down at the position where Chief thomas was with his group of 5 men with LAAWs rockets "theres now way in hell those will destroy a tank." he thought to himself. "but it will piss them off."
"Affirmitive sir.Permission to fire?" the voice of Chief Thomas came over the radio.
"negitive chief, we only fire if they start shooting or if the try and take the compound." the lieutenant said gruffly
"well sir i guess Private Neal won't be back for a while." the man standning next to him said
" i guess not." the lieutenant turned to the Lieutenat next to him " get five men send them out to link up wiht any friendly forces in the area."
"yes sir." said the lieutant he walke out of the room
"i must hold this ground,even if i can't get help.....I will hold this ground." the Senior lieutenant mumbled to himself as he walked from the balconey into the Building.

The courtyard
" it's a shame, i really loved this garden, now it's all torn up and dug in a." Junior Private Walters grumbled as he continued to improive his position
"i hear ya bro, the Girl i was dating love to take walks with me in the courtyard here." Walters friend Junior private Genwood said as he helped Walters dig
They continued to dig in the place where one a nice group of blue roses grew. they had nice firing position it was well constructed.
"i just hope we get out of this mess ok." walters said as he looked up and saw the tanks moving down the street.

Location: Embassy circle Ilek-Vaad compound
"Yes Sir!" private Neal said the the Minister, he walked into the building and moved over to a window trying to get a good look at what was going on, he looked at the tanks "figures....." he said to no one in paticular "just my luck, I manage to survive one Conflict and i get sent here to serve out my enlistment in peace, reitire and go home..... but noooooo so fucking dumbass that wnats powere decided to take that away from me." he checked to make sure his Rifle was ready to roll. "do any of you mind if i smoke?" he asked

Double post sry

At the Embassy Circle:

"International law? Who in the hell does this chump think he is and more importantly, does he know where he is?" asks the Colonel to a Captain nearby.

"I seriously doubt he does sir."

A man comes stumbling towards the tank, wounded with mulitple cuts and punctures in him.

"What the hell? Medic! Get a Medic over here. Two men with white helmets on come rushing over to see the man.

"Sir, this is not uncommon, we have a few dead men over there and a few more wounded over there" (pointing to different areas of the Circle)

"Oh, this is how the game is played eh, they appear to have some special forces out in here. Level this place, blow the shit out of every building and run over every soul we see. Inform the foot soldiers to trace behind us and put a bullet in everyone that is still alive. Kill everyone. Obviously, they wish death tonight and it is an excellent time to die."

"Sir, that is against treaties and human rights" advises a medic.

"Then they can arrest me if they can prove it, dead men tell no tales. Have all tanks fire at I do not want to see a wall standing over 1 foot in height when this is all done. Send a team out to sweep the area, I want to find one of these terrorists and bring him to me....alive"

The M1A1 open fire and start shelling the compounds as the move forward to level the buildings with the sheer weight of the tank to penetrate the brick and wooden walls.

A team of 30 men start the seep.

"This should not take very long" as the Colonel witnesses one of the M1A1 enter a compound gate and barrel over the iron fence as if it was made of toothpicks.
*****
On the Julius Caesar:

An explosion forms over the port side of the Battleship

"Damage report, what hit us?"

"It appears to have been a torpedo, we are uncertain on where it came from, but from the angle of impact.....right below us."

"Right below us? A torpedoe cannot travel in such an angle, explain your reasoning."

"A vertical launcher sir. There is only one class of sub I know of that has such a launcher, and that is from Ilek-Vaad."

"Really, and how is this to be countered?"

"Depth charges."

"If they like to sit on the bottom, may they remain there for all eternity. Send an order to thsoe two cruisers over there to empty their load with a five miles radius of our location, proceed with course and do a full sonar sweep of the area. If anything moves, hit it with the ASROC from the ASW on the tail."

"It is done sir, the cruisers are moving to engage. Sonar sweep activated"
*****
On the Veii:

"Sir, our figher squadrons have sustained 40% losses and ordinace from the first waves are expended. They are requesting return"

"Granted, launch the second wave from all Carriers before the first wave returns, give them another taste of what is to come again and again."

The fighters from the carriers rip off the deck and proceed to Mach speed to close distance as quickly as possible. The A6 drops ordinance of 500 pounders onto their designated targets.

"Fast and low, may death be swift. Red squadron, make your hits count!" screams the wing commander as he paints a ship.
*****
At Potidea:

"Pyrrhus, there is all hell breaking lose at Corcyra"

"Then I would only guess that Antiachus is not going to be joining us. Very well, get me to the 12th and 13th Army Corps, I am going to assume command of that force and go take the capitol back."

"Sir, it is not wise for you to command such a force, word gets out that you are commanding it, it will become the target of everything that Antiachus has."

"So be it, then may he meet me on the battlefield and die like a good soldier." As he is donning his combat gear, strapping the boots tight. "You know it is bad omen for a Phyrrican to die with his boots off?"

"Aye sir, it means he died unprepared and disgraced his family."

"I am prepared, lets roll."

The 12th and 13th consists of 500,000 men and 300 units of armor.

Greatness does not eliminate error, whether in a man, or a Nation.
The most common error of the Great ones, is mistaking the small and weak for the helpless, and the announcement of peaceful intent for impotence.

Commodore Mai Huyn gripped the rail of the Ice Dragon and glared into the distance, where the Hattian fleet and the Nova Caledonians were fighting it out.
"Someone's sent a message, the Nova Caledonians are using Chems." Chief Hu said from behind her. She turned, "Confirmations?" she asked.
He nodded, "Cutter Six reported a cloud of something blowing across their bow-they've lost six crewers already, and the rest are complaining of symptoms... Ma'am, they were down-wind of the Hattians about ten miles."
Mai rushed back into the CNC.
"Get Cutter six, NOW." she snarled.
Radioman Third Perkins Christopher raised his hand at his station. "Got 'em on right now, ma'am."
She reached down onto his console, and put the coms on PA.
"What's your status, Six?" she asked.
A voice came over the speakers, weak and ill sounding.
"We..we're sick, everyone, the cap'n's deaad...s-s-symptoms are shaking, difficulty breathing, fever, followed by vomiting..." the man on the other end threw up noisily, and continued, "Sweating, and convulsions-everyone on board's infected, ma'am...we're...we're dying..."
She closed her eyes, "Nobody immune, over?" she asked.
"N-n-n-negative, Negative immunities, looks like haemorragic fever, but it works much faster-spread is skin contact, and airborne dispersal."
she cursed softly, "What about NBC protection?" she asked.
There was a pause, "we didn't seal in time. We're going to have to scuttle, ma'am...don't wannaa 'nother WarPlague. Let our families know..."
She crossed herself, as the channel went dead.
"All Hands hear this- Search and Rescue Operations are suspended. Seal for possible Biological Attack, this is a Red Alert." She said over the intercom.
Then she sent the message to the rest of the Task-Force, and ordered a similar message sent to the other Legion nations in the area.

"To: All Legion of Defense Ships
From: Nuevo Kowloon Coast Guard Battleship Ice Dragon
RE: Chemical/Biological Hazard Detected.

The Navy of the nation of Nova Caledonia has employed a Biological Terror-Weapon against the Hattian Fleet. This terror weapon is airborne, and has infected one of our Cutters conducting Search-and-rescue in the zone near the main battle site.
This act of evil must be punished.
We have suspended Search and Rescue attempts and gone into Biohazard Alert.
"

After the message was sent, another order was given.

Deep inside the Ice Dragon, in the darkness of the Engineering section, a rumble of wrath was building.
"Captain wants flank speed to get into range." the ChEng said.
The men threw everything into it, and the boilers reached 120% of rated capacity.
the Ship accellerated.
The Ice Dragon was built off the drawings for an Iowa-Class BB.
The number two turret was replaced by four VLS launchers.
The Tomahawks were being reprogrammed for surface targets.
In the remaining turrets, gunners were readying their pieces for action.
At fifty-two miles' range, the ship turned sharp right, and the fore and aft turrets swivelled into battery.

On the Bridge, Commandant Huyn snarled, "Everything, fire everything. Kill those sons of bitches."

On the deck, ASROC cannisters fired, and then, the VLS began to salvo, followed by Eight-inch guns, followed by the Fives, and then the six, sixteen-inch bore cannons.
Seasparrow missiles rippled from mounts above the waterline.
The ship slid to starboard under the pounding recoil of repeated fire.
All for Nova Caledonia's Beta Battlegroup-the nearest force of Nova Caledonia's fleet elements in the area.
Guided missiles and unguided shells slammed outward, while LAMPS helicopters launched behind.
"Kill them. Kill them all." Huyn said.

The Cutters, and the Frigates from the Ice-Dragon group moved into position as the Battleship began salvoing.
Soon, they, too, launched their ordnance, advancing as they did so.

-----------------------------------------

Sgt. Vanh raised his hands to the black-clad men in the Pauldustallahn embassy grounds.
"We're friendlies!" he shouted, squinting in pain at the light from their flashlights.
"Identify yourself!" the Embassy men said in return.
"Nuevo Kowloon National Army, Second Battle Battalion, Charlie Company, Fourth Squad, I'm Sgt. Edward Vanh!"
Whatever else he was about to say was interrupted, as the brick fencing exploded inward under the hammer of an M-1 tank's main gun.
The embassy soldier watched as "Sgt. Vanh's" head landed nearby.

Cutter Six...

Lt. Collins was still alive, but he knew he was dying.
He turned the vessel to port, and lined it up with where the Nova Caledonian ships were firing from. (Ships can be hidden, but missiles can be tracked... as can artillery shells.) He pushed the dead body of the Navigator out his seat, and sat down.
He plotted a course. Just like the institute...just like... there.
He laid in the course, and shoved the throttles all the way forward.
Back at you bastards...
The Cutter lifted up on its foils under the scream of her gas-turbines.
In the magazines, a timer began counting down.
Time slowed, and for a moment, he was dozing. He looked out the forward windows, and saw a large shape looming in the starlight.
He twitched the wheel, and lined up with its mid-point.
Back at you.
Painful flashes of light burst into his senses, and he vomited again, covering the console in foul-smelling bile and blood.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs moves quickly to the side attemptin to dodge the tanks but steps right into the path of the another one, he is crushed instantly. Colonel Aldred from the door turns to everyone inside "Right onto the roof, we have to get clear!" Everyone sprints to the roof. The Naval Marine snipers start picking off soldiers in the square as everyone scrambles aboard the Marathon VTOL , Colonel Aldred looks back "Nevermind the bollocks!" he shouts as the Marathon shoots straight up into the air, he switches off the transpoder and puts in in stealth mode, he scans below to see if he might be able to drop down and pick any one else up. Sitting next to him, the Ambassador to Phyrric radios the Ehecatl "Tell the Council that Antiachus has murdred the Minister of Foreign Affairs, he gave his life for the people of Phyrric and for The Republic."

****
Supreme Naval Commander Itxaad grinned as Antiachus' ships slowed to try and depth charge out the Wolfhounds "Hit them with everything we have!" he paused to click on his comm "Fire Control, tell the Defiant to hit them now! Have the Tridents move in while they are focusing on the Wolfhounds."

*****

Below the sea the Wolfhound move like a swarm of stingrays as the depth charges drop, a few of them don't make it off of the sea floor, the others make a run for it, spraying torpedos directly at the bellies of Antiachus' ships as they sped away. At the same time the Trident subs slipped just into range and begin broadsiding Antiachus' ships..........


******

In Lassic, The House of the Republic a messenger enters "First Republican! The Ehecatl reports that the Minister of Foreign Affairs is dead, he was run down by Antiachus' tanks at our embassy!"

The room grew dead quiet The First Republican hung his head. For several minutes no one said anything, they all knew that Scipio and Aran were best of friends, finally Scipio spoke " I propose we relax Antiachus to the mercy of the Supreme Republican Commander, we give him mandate to bring the insurrection in Phyrric to an end and restore the government" They all nodded silently ,the vote was unanimous.

******

The Tollan Massif, Staff Seargent Mirai Assad approaches The Supreme Republican Commander "The Council has given mandate, we are to crush Antiachus, they have murdered the Minister of Foreign Affairs."

Istvan Vaikov sat unmoved by the Seargent "Mirai, activate all of the Retaliatory Guard, order fire control to fill the skies with Death's Heads, Dangle the Swords of Damocles above Antiachus' neck." he took a deep breath "Instruct the Jaguar to begin the circle dance, and then inform Antiachus..........inform him ,that war is hell, and that I am Satan."

Above the streets of Tollan filled with Jaguar Warriors, they dance the circle dance and imbibe the narcotic Ixpei, above the city the sky explodes with sonic booms as squadron after squadron of sub-orbital bombers are launched, across the nation, millions of Retaliatory Guard spring to action in the dead of night everywhere one phrase was heard above all others "My Life For The Republic!"

On board the Princess Kendra

Admiral MacWilliams observed the effects on the Hattian fleet from his spyglass. The Admiral carried many pieces of antique naval equipment with him during battle, he was a bit eccentric and fancied himself the commander of an old Man'O'War. He smiled as he observed the effects of the gas on the enemy sailors.

"The Wallace reports she's lost power to all her weapon systems, sir" the comm officer reported, shouting, that he could be heard over the thundering of the guns.

"Tell her captain to issue the crew weapons from the armoury then, ram the nearest enemy ship and board it." The Admiral replied

The comm officer hesitated a moment, wondering if the Admiral was serious, boarding actions were not a common course of action in modern naval warfare. He knew better than to question the Admiral however, and sent the orders.

A shell exploded just in front of the bridge, doing relativly little real damage, but the force of the blast shattered the windows in the bridge. The Admiral certainly didn't take kindly to having "his" ship damaged. He stood up and brushed himself off, setting his jaw. "Robertson" he adressed the comm officer calmly "Tell our subs to surface and prepare their tactical nukes... we'll show these bastards who the real power is in these waters"

The crew just stared at the Admiral in shock, the use of nuclear weapons would enrage the international community even more than the use of the bio weapons that had been already fired, it would escalate the conflict into a full-scale war that Caledonia wouldn't be able to win. The Admiral grew impatient "Do it!" he commanded. He heard the sound of a gun being cocked behind him and turned around. Captain Morrison had a pistol drawn.

"I am relieving you of command Admiral" he stated angrily "Take him to the Brig" the captain ordered a couple of officers. The Admiral growled almost ferally "Mutiney!" he yelled "You'll be executed for this!"
"I'm sure the Emperor will forgive me, given the circumstances" replied the captain.

After the Admiral had been taken away, the captain issued new orders "All forces disengage the enemy. Keep firing upon them so long as we are in range to cover our retreat"

On board the Wallace, Caledonian Light Cruiser

"Sir, we've got a ship coming in on a collision course" The radar operator warned the captain.

"What? a Boarding action, I thought only MacWilliams was that crazy, no matter, evasive manuevers"

"No time sir, we're going to have to recieve it."

The captain drew his cutlass, a symbol of office that all Caledonian naval captains possesed. "To arms then" he ordered. The rest of the crew drew their pistols.

Mere minutes later an explosion rocked the Wallace, tearing her in two, and capsizing her



On board the Empress Sarah, Flagship of Beta Fleet

"Radar reports the Wallace is down, we still havn't gotten communications back online with the Princess However. Additionally, we've got hostiles coming in from due east. ETA to firing range is 3 minutes." The First officer reported to the Captain. Earlier, an enemy fighter that had been hit by AA fire clipped the radio array on its way down, cutting the Ship off from Alpha Fleet.

The captain nodded "We've got orders to use gas, but as you know, I'm dead set against bio weapons. Load conventional shells, and once we've neutralized them as a threat, send out boats to pick up the survivors, I'll not leave them to die in the cold sea... They have families to get back to, just as we do"

First Officer MacGregor often wondered how he had risen to the rank of captain in a military who's policy was usually something along the lines of "Shoot first, interrogate later - then execute the prisoners" He did respect the captain however, and would see his orders carried out.

OOC: I don't know if the Alexander or it's fleet is still around, but I'm going to send a couple of battlegroups after it. If need be, I'll edit to a more up-to-date standard if the Alexander is gone. /OOC

"What the hell do you mean you just found out?" Emporer Alexander I Larsen demanded.

Domingo Chavez, head of the External Security Service, took a deep breath, "We've been dealing with a major intel breakthrough involving one of the enemy organizations of UnAPS. Phyrric, for obvious reasons, isn't even on our normal intel radar, so to speak."

The emporer just raised an eyebrow and turned to Sven Jorgenssen, director of the Special Collection Service. "And what about you, Sven?"

"Likewise, Your Majesty, althought not the same organization." The huge, Viking featured man answered.

The Emporer just sighed, "Very well, but if something of this magnitued slips by us again, heads will role, figuratively." Alexander turned to Admiral Sun Li, "Pull 1DEFFLT out of the Arda situation, our part in that God forsaken conflict is over with. Deploy the first and second battlegroups of the First Assault Fleet with orders to hunt that bastard traitor down, I want the destruction of his battleship to be a priority."

When the officers received instructions from the Ehecatl to take up positions behind the I-V fleet, their collective thought was the Ilek-Vaadians have gone mad with bloodlust. To take such punishment without executing a single evasive maneuver was nothing short of insanity. But as the fleet took up positions behind their allies, it quickly dawned on the Terra Mali officers the ingenuity of the Ilek-Vaadian plan. The Terra Mali fleet was in effect hiding in plain sight, its movements blending with the I-V fleet.

Antiachus' cruisers were occupied hunting the Wolfhounds, this gave the strike aircraft an opportunity to exploit. With fighters providing cover, the strike aircraft came in low and fast firing their missiles at anything that wasn't part of the alliance fleet.

Using the I-V capital ships as cover, the destroyers dashed in to the front and launched missile after missile at the rebel ships.

As rebel battleships were trying to outflank the I-V capital ships, the Defiant led her sister ships in a wheel maneuver that left the rebels with a dilemma. If they pressed on, they ran the risk of getting their T crossed. While they would be able to return fire with their forward guns, the Terra Mali would be returning broadside after broadside.

**********
"Sir, registering multiple contacts! Depth charges!"

"Helm, move us out of here! Set an intercept course and engage the nearest ASW threat! Flood tubes 1 and 2 and prepare to fire!"

**********
Terra Malus High Command to Pyrrhus, we have 15,000 men and 50 tanks in transports. We request immediate instructions on where to land. Please be advised that we cannot make an amphibious assault as all our support ships are engaged with Antiachus' fleet off Corcyra. As deference to your intention to avoid needless civilian casualties, we would refrain from sending bombing runs over Corcyra.

**********
"Excellency, the Ilek-Vaadian Foreign Minister has been killed in action!"

"WHAT!? WHERE!?"

"The report said that he was killed while leading an assault team on the Ilek-Vaadian embassy on Corcyra."

"What in blazes was he doing there? Negotiations with Antiachus would be futile. I am surprised that he even considered speaking to someone so dishonorable! That traitorous dog Antiachus does not deserve anything less than a very painful, very slow death!"

The emperor was tired after this very brief outburst. He took a few deep breaths, collected himself and said, "Contact the First Republican, the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Foreign Minister's family and send them our deepest regrets and condolences. To honor the Foreign Minister, I declare that a minute of silence be observed in Terra Malus at 12 pm tomorrow. Flags at government institutions, facilities and buildings are to fly at half-mast all day tomorrow."

Thunder Knights wishes to alert all endangered nations to join the region of "Fermanaugh"

On board the Wallace, Caledonian Light Cruiser

"Sir, we've got a ship coming in on a collision course" The radar operator warned the captain.

"What? a Boarding action, I thought only MacWilliams was that crazy, no matter, evasive manuevers"

"No time sir, we're going to have to recieve it."

The captain drew his cutlass, a symbol of office that all Caledonian naval captains possesed. "To arms then" he ordered. The rest of the crew drew their pistols.

Mere minutes later an explosion rocked the Wallace, tearing her in two, and capsizing her



On board the Empress Sarah, Flagship of Beta Fleet

"Radar reports the Wallace is down, we still havn't gotten communications back online with the Princess However. Additionally, we've got hostiles coming in from due east. ETA to firing range is 3 minutes." The First officer reported to the Captain. Earlier, an enemy fighter that had been hit by AA fire clipped the radio array on its way down, cutting the Ship off from Alpha Fleet.

The captain nodded "We've got orders to use gas, but as you know, I'm dead set against bio weapons. Load conventional shells, and once we've neutralized them as a threat, send out boats to pick up the survivors, I'll not leave them to die in the cold sea... They have families to get back to, just as we do"

First Officer MacGregor often wondered how he had risen to the rank of captain in a military who's policy was usually something along the lines of "Shoot first, interrogate later - then execute the prisoners" He did respect the captain however, and would see his orders carried out.

Cutter Four was hit first-the hydrofoil's structure nothing in the face of Capital Weapons fire, the Caledonian shells blew her apart.
Three was hit by a missile, and was sinking.
Two and Eight were lanced from the sea by Antiship Cruise missiles.
Five, Seven, and Nine would not make it to the battlezone for another twenty minutes.
And Six, dying Six, rammed.
"What's our status?" Commodore Huyn asked.
Lt. Commander Huang, the Chief Engineer rubbed the side of his goggles.
"Damage to the port screws, the Belt took two torps before we got a hull breach, but the worst of the damage is under control-we're not going to sink for a few hours-if we pull back now."
She frowned thoughtfully. "How many losses, Chief?" she asked.
"Oh, 'bout five hundered of my guys when that third torpedo hit, and we lost engines two and four-they're completely wrecked, the section's flooded, but we've got it contained-for the moment."
She looked out of the shattered bridge windows, at the smoking wreck of Turret One.
"That makes it almost two thousand, Mister Huang... can you give me Propulsion and steering at all?"
He frowned, "Maybe... we've lost one rudder, but the other's still good. She'll be waddling slow..."
Huyn shrugged, "To be expected- get me something to drive, and something to steer with-then, get your guys and the rest of the survivors off the ship."
The ChEng frowned. "Six?" he asked.
She nodded, "Yeah, it should buy time for the rest of the task-force to get clear."
He sighed, "Blood Pass, Commodore."
She nodded, "Blood Pass. Only this time, god-dammit, I want survivors on our side."
He saluted, and headed down into the ship.
She leaned on a smashed console, and looked out across the sea.

Ten minutes later, a group of crewmen were in front of her.
"Ma'am, with all due respect, we're not going-we'll unship the wounded, and the Doc-but we've elected to stick it out." The spokesman was a Petty Officer 1 from engineering. She looked at them. "I ordered you to abandon ship, Mister." she said.
He nodded, "Yeah, but us Nightpeople, we got a sayin' you know- 'No More Warplagues'. They used Bios, they'll use 'em again if a statement aint made." He folded his arms, "besides, what can you do? Court Martial me? Shoot me? Shooting me is a hell of a way to save my life. The others here, about seventy of us, feel the same way."
She nodded, "Very well. Take your stations and get us under-weigh-I think we've got a couple of Five-inch Turrets that still work."
The men headed back into the ship.

The courtyard
the Senior private was in shock. he just saw a mans head get torn off its body. he was covered in blood Chief Thomas Yelled to the surviving Members of 4th squad
"Come to the trenches help us fight! Return fire!" the night sky was lit up by tracers as the soldiers in the embassy began firing on the advancing tanks and infantry. "fire those LAWS!" screamed Thomas the first rocket was launched at a tank it missed soon the second one was launched it hit Thomas looked up at the Embassy building in time to see a Shell land in the Balcony area where the CO was commanding the Unit from
"my god." a Color sergeant said as he was firing his rifle at the enemy "there’s so many of them." chief we lost these positions if we don't fall back we will lose the compound."
"FALL BACK TO THE SECONED TRENCH LINE!" Thomas shouted the men ran although there weren’t a whole lot of them left from the first line another LAW was fired it didn't hit the tank right and was deflected into a wall. "be careful with those LAW we don’t have very many of the....." Chief Thomas slumped over as a piece of shrapnel entered his spine and going out his chest.
(ooc: Please post damage if you want to. i know a LAAW wont do much to an Abrams, so if there’s no damage I’m cool with that.) losses as of now are at 15 men

The building.
“Lieutenant, LIEUTENANT!” Sergeant boors Said as he knelt down beside the Commanding officer of the Garrison. Boors look at the CO he had his legs blow off from the shell that had hit the building.
“don’t…..give…..hold……this…grou….” closed his eyes.
“lets go men push these bastards back!” Boors shouted as he loaded his Rifle “lets move.”

Marathon VTOL
“Shit!” Private Neal thought to himself as the Craft move away from the embassy he addressed Colonel Aldred. “Excuse me Sir what am I supposed to do?”

The courtyard
the Senior private was in shock. he just saw a mans head get torn off its body. he was covered in blood Chief Thomas Yelled to the surviving Members of 4th squad
"Come to the trenches help us fight! Return fire!" the night sky was lit up by tracers as the soldiers in the embassy began firing on the advancing tanks and infantry. "fire those LAWS!" screamed Thomas the first rocket was launched at a tank it missed soon the second one was launched it hit Thomas looked up at the Embassy building in time to see a Shell land in the Balcony area where the CO was commanding the Unit from
"my god." a Color sergeant said as he was firing his rifle at the enemy "there’s so many of them." chief we lost these positions if we don't fall back we will lose the compound."
"FALL BACK TO THE SECONED TRENCH LINE!" Thomas shouted the men ran although there weren’t a whole lot of them left from the first line another LAW was fired it didn't hit the tank right and was deflected into a wall. "be careful with those LAW we don’t have very many of the....." Chief Thomas slumped over as a piece of shrapnel entered his spine and going out his chest.
(ooc: Please post damage if you want to. i know a LAAW wont do much to an Abrams, so if there’s no damage I’m cool with that.) losses as of now are at 15 men

The building.
“Lieutenant, LIEUTENANT!” Sergeant boors Said as he knelt down beside the Commanding officer of the Garrison. Boors look at the CO he had his legs blow off from the shell that had hit the building.
“don’t…..give…..hold……this…grou….” closed his eyes.
“lets go men push these bastards back!” Boors shouted as he loaded his Rifle “lets move.”

Marathon VTOL
“Shit!” Private Neal thought to himself as the Craft move away from the embassy he addressed Colonel Aldred. “Excuse me Sir what am I supposed to do?”

The survivors of the squad slid into the defensive positions, and one of the Warscarred began treating the nearest wounded man.
"Hang on..." he said, as someone else screamed for a "MEDIC!!" Coast Guard Corpsman Paul Gritz looked up, into the blinding lights of the embassy, and cursed, pulling his goggles back down and blinking the glare from his eyes.
Something slugged into his shoulder, followed by searing pain, and the smell of his own blood.
He turned, and a tank's tread hit into his chest, rolling into his body, crushing him.

Official Statement from the Prime Minister

The Nova Caledonian fleet, in the Pyrric incident, has fired Bio/Chem weapons at our fleet in the area. This will not be tolerated. Such blatant disregard of international law will not be allowed to exist. Any officers from the Caledonian fleet captured, ranking from Rear Admiral and up will be executed. I have also authorized the 9th, 11th, and 13th fleets to the area.

Above the Battle

"Red 1 to all fighters, we have reports of Gas attacks on our ships! All aircraft, concentrate on their flagship!" The Mig-31s and HASC-2 (They are very small and fast, thus hard to hit. Unfortunately they have a very small weapons load, and aren't very durable.) dove down out of the skies at a steep angle, while Sea Snake torpedo bombers headed out from the enemy fleet to approach at a more horozontal angle...

Hattian Fleet

The ships had sealed up, most of the crewmen outside died slowly. Admiral Alexandrov was furious. He went over to the radio, "All ships, if any officers surrender, shoot them!" He looked out at the enemy fleet, a mere dot on the horizon. "Idiots, they should know that hell has no fury like an enraged Hattian." He then walked over to the intercom, "Keep up the pace, avenge your comrades!" He pulled out his pistol, a large .45 caliber, "Keep pursuing them until they are all dead!"

Explosions rocked the Princess While she was taking some light damage, for the most part however, the AA gunners were doing their job and keeping the dangerous bombers away from the ship. The NCSS Danu didn't fare so well however, a torpedo struck the stern of the ship, completly destroying her engines, and causing her to take on water.

"Sir, the Danu's been hit, she's taking on water"

"Dammit! We can't let her be captured, in light of recent events I don't think the Hattians will be to keen to show mercy. Send the Brigid to pick up her crew. Helmsman, move us in as well, to provide cover fire"


In the confusion of the battle, no one had noticed Admiral MacWilliams overpowering his guards and slipping into the secondary command station on the lower decks. One of the Comm officers looked up as he had entered, unfortunatly he had not heard about the Admiral's loss of command. "Admiral?" he asked, wondering why he had come down from the bridge.

"I have authorization from the Emporer to use the tac nukes on the subs, how many do we have?"

The comm officer brought up a screen on his terminal "The Werewolf has one, and the Nightwolf has two, but the authorization codes for the Nightwolf are linked to the Emperor Kieran which is in drydock back home.

The admiral nodded "Then inform the Werewolf to prep her nuke for launch. Target the Hattian command ship."

The comm officer punched in a few figures "Sir? The blast would strike 4 of our own ships" There was the sound of a gun going off and the Comm officer slumped over in his seat. The admiral tucked the pistol back into his belt and pushed the officer out of the seat. he opened comms with the Werewolf "Werewolf, this is Admiral MacWilliams, Prep your nuke for launch immediatly, I'm sending you coordinates and my authorization code now"

Back on the bridge, the captain happened to notice the Werewolf's silo opening, as it sat just off the starboard bow of the Princess He turned to the Comm officer "What's the Werewolf doing?" he demanded. The comm officer pressed some switches and talked into his headset "She says she's got authorization to use her nukes"

The captain's eyes opened wide in horror "No, tell her to cancel that!" A moment later, the comm officer responded "She says her authorization codes override yours"

"Shit!" the captain cursed loudly "Tac Officer!" he called to get the Chief Tactical Officer's attention "Fire on the Werewolf!"

"Sir?"

"Do it! NOW! bring her down!" The captain shouted, turning back to the Comm officer "Send a message to the Hattians, tell them to concentrate fire on the Wolf I doubt they'll listen, but tell them anyway.

As shells began to fall around the NCSS Werewolf the 4 minute countdown for the launch of it's single tatical nuclear warhead began...

Colonel Aldred grinned and looked back at the Private from Pauldustllah "I'd Hold on if I were you!" Aldred executed a deft maneuver, the Marathon was nearly vertical as he dived between buildings and came down well behind the defensive lines at the Pauldustllah Embassy. He quickly jumped out of his seat, kept the lights off and sprinted down the ramp. With his thermographic vision he could see everything perfectly, he drew his paired Ingram Mac-11's and ran to the Pauldustllah lines, he lept across the second trench, his guns blazing, his SMART sensors making sure that every bullet hit a target, as he lept he yelled "Airplane! 200 yards back, it's black! Don't bump into it!" he then ran interference, gunning down anyone of Antiachus' men that dared show their faces, he deftly scrambled between the tanks, looped back around and ran with an olympic sprinters speed , serpentine, back to the Marathon. He paused long enough to grab one of the wounded men "Hurry up! we have a medic on board, drop everything and run damnit!"

******

Admiral Itxaad watched as the Defiant and it's ships slammed into Antiachus' fleet like a splitting maul, he could tell that the maneuver was already causing confusion among the fleet "Right!" Itxaad yelled "Bring us up and about!, Give the Defiant room, let them through we'll leapfrog and hit the other side as they come through!"

With that order the Revenge battleships lurched and rose several hundred yards as their ballast tanks emptied, they then began to turn in the water and bbarrel past the Terra Malian's in the opposite direction, looping around Antiachus' other side...................

"Admiral, we've detected impending missile launch from an enemy sub!" The Admiral looked out towards the enemies through his binoculars, "Concentrate all fire on that sub!"

The battleship's 3, 16 inch guns rotated and fired off their rounds.

"Airplane! 200 yards back, it's black! Don't bump into it!" he then ran interference, gunning down anyone of Antiachus' men that dared show their faces, he deftly scrambled between the tanks, looped back around and ran with an olympic sprinters speed , serpentine, back to the Marathon. He paused long enough to grab one of the wounded men "Hurry up! we have a medic on board, drop everything and run damnit!"

Lance Corporal Hoa Edwards grabbed a wounded Pauldustllan, and hauled him over his shoulders. For the NK soldier, the "Black" aircraft was sittiing in plain sight, and he briefly wondered why the Aviator had warned him about the colour- ...shit, that's right, they can't see in the dark! He clutched his thompson gun in his right hand, and thumbed the selector to "Semi".
Then, he dashed after the Foreigner, carrying his breathing burden.
At the chopper's door, he hefted the bleeding man in, and said, "I'll be right back."
He turned, and headed back into the madness of lights, returning fire on the Phyrricians and looking for another one of the day-siders, or a comrade of his own, to bring to the Mercy-Bird.
He found a Pauldustllan with Sargeant's tabs, Still breathing, okay...
He evaluated the man's injuries, and concluded that, yes, he would survive the trip if nothing went wrong. Edwards hefted his second burden, and started back.
Something invisible punched him in the ribs from behind one of the tanks, and breathing started getting "Coughy" immediately.
Hang on... He pointed the .45 cal. Submachinegun, and fired a single shot off-hand.
The enemy trooper disappeared back behind the armoured vehicle.
He didn't stick around, making it to the chopper. "Got (cough!) Another One...(Cough!) Be right back." he said, and headed back into the blender, as Embassy troops started filtering back on their own, gripping their injured. He could use both hands, now-He fired on another Phyrrician-this one fool enough to stand out of his hatch to fire with the tank's machinegun.
Gotta cover the wounded... He took a knee, and levelled the sights, his target was skylighted nicely in the reflections, making the only pleasant point in a confusion of too-bright lights.
Something socked into his arm, and then, his leg, and he watched in shock as the submachinegun tumbled away, broken, and the ground rose to slap him.
Dammit...I dropped my gun...dad's gonna be so disappointed in me...
Hands grabbed him, and lifted-and the world spun.
It's very hard to breath... he coughed again and again, and closed his eyes, as he felt a shoulder digging into his gut rythmically as someone carried him back towards the aircraft.
Just need to sleep...

[ooc]At this point, L.Cpl Edwards is the last man from Charlie 4th who's still alive. He's badly wounded, but the wounds are treatable. He's lost his "Glasses", so he's going to have a real problem in a well-lit room when/if he wakes up. (Housekeeping item- Nuevo Kowloon's got a fairly sizeable minority of people with chromosomal damage of a specific sort-their eyes can't abide daylight, and their skin is photosensitive, basically "Light Allergy". It's about 20% of the population- and it doesn't run entirely within families-you could have two kids from the same parents, and one will be "Warscarred" and the other won't. It's been a few generations this has been goin' on. Edwards is one of those-Normal parents, he's a Night-Person.)

Colonel Aldred sprinted back up into the Marathon, dropped the wounded he picked up and jumped back into the pilot seat "I hope everyone went to the bathroom before we left!" he yelled back into the cabin, he waited a minute more , hoping he got as many people as he could, then he lifted off, the Marathon silently flying off into the night. He immediately set course for the Carrier Hechicero, he could already see the lights from the naval battle that was raging, he decided to try and make a wide arc around the combat zone.

He stayed alert at the controls, and radioed ahead to the Hecihicero "This is Black Guard Aldred, I have wounded soldiers and non-coms, I'll be putting down in about fifteen minutes."

Just then one of the Naval Marine snipers leaned into the cabin "Sir, I managed to record everything on my combat computer, I have footage of the Minister being killed and Antiachus' men attacking the embassy, there's no sound, but it's good enough for any warcrimes tribunal."

Aldred grinned at the sniper "You're assuming they'll be alive to take to trial, I'll bet Uncle Istvan is on his way already, poor fools, they'll wish they'd become bakers or paperboys when the Red Jaguar show up!" he paused, plugged in a cable from the Marathon's console into the dataport at the base of his skull and went back, to help with the wounded, he looked down at the soldier clutching the tommy gun that he'd grabbed "what a mess," he moved quickly to stop his bleeding .

The Naval Medic looked over at him "I think everyone here is going to make it, but it looks like we left more than half of em behind."

Aldred shrugged "We were out of room and out of time,don't even worry about it."

At the Embassy Circle:

Tanks manuever around with almost free will. Men drop on ocasion as snipers and counterfire take out men that are not under the cover of the armor.

"Sir, shall we raise the flag of vistory, it appears that we have won this manslaughter."

"Not quite yet, there is still some resistance out there" as he points out the sound of a bullet ricocheted off the hull of the tank. "Order a full charge on the building, have the men take out any survivors and secure my arrival. Tanks movements are being disabled by enemy fire and positions, we need this compound right away."

roughly 1200 men start the charge onto the embassies.

OOC: I will post a dead count of my forces after the complex is 'taken' when such a number could be more accurate.
*****
At the harbor:

A chopper lands on the top of a building. The door opens on the side and in climbs the half naked Antiachus.

The pilot with a strange look on his face spits out the wrods in puzzlement and slurs, "Welcome......aboard.......sir"

"Get me to my ship, where is it?"

"It is enroute to Crete to join up with the 11th. We are not safe in this area anymore as our ally on Cephallenia has been exposed, we no longer have control of that base."

"What about the rest of the fleet?"

"They are securing our run."

"And the battleships"

"Sacrifices of the Empire are great sir."

"They were a freebee anyways, let them do as much damage as possible."

Antiachus takes the first aid kit out from under the seat, opens it up, pops a few aspirin, attends to a few minor wounds from the blast of a wall before he made his cover. He pops open a small can of Coca-Cola from the ice chest and relaxes.
*****
Off the coast of Corcyra:

"It is time to finish off the enemy" as the ships manuevers around crippled ships with floating bodies all around. "Open fire, instruct all to target the nearest ship and blast until gone."

The lights expose the hull numbers of the battleships that have moved forward to engage the enemy fleets. Hull numbers 101, 84, 89, 95, 97 are all present as the blasts shake the ships and water around. The Julius has met up with the Tarentum, Marathon, Troy, and Macenae. (Note: the BBG's are part of the battlefleets present and other than the Julius are modified Iowa class)

"Continue the charge, I want to be lined up with the 21st before sunrise. Have the Roma give us fighter escort."

"The Roma has taken heavy fighter losses sir, they will not be able to provide much, we should ask the Veii and Thebes."

"No, tell the Roma to give what they can, we need them as the Veii and Thebes is occupied with air strikes on Ilek-Vaad fleets."

"How shall this be written into the history books sir?"

"As the greatest naval battle in history and doesn't it just get your blood pumping to be a part of it."

"Yes sir it does, may the books be written by the victors as they always have been and may your book be a best seller sir."

They both laugh at the comment
*****
Outside of Pella where Pyrrhus as met up with his army:

"The army is yours to command, where to sir?"

"Give me the reports at Corcyra"

The Lt General hands over a small stack of papers, Pyrrhus reads over them quickly.

"Send message to Brindisi, Tarentum and Buthrotum AFB's to aid us in the march. Infrom them to make their presence known in Corcyra and prepare the city for our arrival."

"Lets get moving, I want Corcyra before sunset the day after next."

With mandate in place the Supreme Republican Commander takes control of the battlefield operations. After having flown to Costa-Tula and being dropped off on the Battleship Tetzcatlipoca. It was the newest Revenge class ship and had been commissioned only weeks before. He settled into fire command and watched the flashing screens , he relaxed and looked at the screens showing the harbour where the giant Atlas Transports were being loaded with Retaliatory Guard, army after army marching through Costa-Tula, their fists raised in salute. His Red Jaguar were aboard the Teztcatlipoca with him, other units were in Marathon transports already on the way to Potidea. He paused and clicked on his satellite control and contacted Phyrrus

"This is Supreme Commander Vaikov, of the Ilek-Vaad Retaliatory Gaurd. I have en route Command General Itzcoatl with his 9th Red Jaguar Command, they are in Marathon stealth transports and are being escorted by Orion fighters, they should arrive by morning. Use them as you will. I also am massing ALL of the Retaliatory Guard. If you cannot beat Antiachus outright, give ground and we will be able to make a massed landing in a weeks time. I have my orbital strike craft and sub-orbital bombers in the air now, they will begin softening up Antiachus for you. Victory belongs to the people and their unworthy servants, all power to the People. My Life For The Republic. Vaikov out."

He then gazed at the screens showing the battle off Corcyra he idly said aloud "Itxaad is outnumbered, he doesen't have enough ships to close his trap."

*********

Itxaad watched as his flanking maneuver fell short, he simply didn't have enough ships to hem Antiachus' fleets in "Feck" he cursed " Start giving way! we need re-inforcements, tell the Defiant to break out, we'll cover them and make a run for it ourselves."


*********

Vaikov talked into his comm again "Tlaloc, what's your position?"

a voice crackled back "We are in service range, waiting for target confirmation."

Vaikov nodded to a Fire Control Officer "Light up Antiachus' fleet,"

Tlaloc crackled back "Target confirmatiion coming in, all targets confirmed and locked"

Vaikov responded " Make it rain Tlaloc, make it rain."


*********
In near orbit, 10 squadrons of the Death's Heads supersonic stealth bombers silently launched all of their ordinance, the cruise missles had been locked and were tracking their targets by satellite, laser and image recognition, 280 of them, slipping downward at mach speed.............

***********

Itxaad watched his fleet taking heavy losses, nearly 30% percent he guessed as they executed their withdrawal, his attention shifted for a moment as the sky erupted with sonic boom after sonic boom, the sky literally opened up with a rain of missles all headed for Antiachus' ships! The flashes from the HE warheads lit up the sky bright as day as the missles rained down, he tried to shout commands but no one could hear him over the roar. He knew that the Supreme Republican Ciommander had sent in the Death's Heads and that meant that he was coming.

The Capatin yellled behind him "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SIR?"

Itxaad yelled back "THAT"S US BEING SAVED! KEEP PULLING BACK AND REGROUP!!"

1400 miles from Corcyra

The Captain of the Titania turned from the CIC and addressed the commander of the Task Force, "Admiral de Soto, we have returns from a satellite that places a group of rebel battleships near Corcyra. The Fasthawks are in range of the battlegroup."

The Admiral nods in acknowledgement, "Very well, what's our HEAP and EMP warhead mix?"

"Standard 1-in-4 EMP/HEAP mix, sir." The Captain replies from memory.

"Good, I want a 1-in-2 ballistic launch from the cruisers and then we close for the kill. Meanwhile, prep an interceptor wing and both light attack wings, I want four MiGs in the air at all times and the LA wings prepared for a retaliatory alpha-strike. Tell the cruisers that they have my permission to launch."

"Yes sir." The Captain turns to Coms and gives the relay order. Forty-five seconds later 60 cruise missiles, half High-Explosive Armour Penetrating warheaps and the other half EMPs, leapt from their VLS cells and began a ballistic trajectory that would end with them coming down almost vertically on top of the battleships. While the 400lb warhead was smaller than the Tomahawk's, it would do quite a bit of damage to any ship that it came in contact with.

At sea, half an hour after Commodore Huyn gave the abandon-ship order...

The Ice-Dragon was riding lower in the water now-the repair attempts to the hull were giving way. In her belly, the remaining turbines were spinning at 150%-to move the dying vessel at 1/4 her rated speed. To an outside observer, (say, one of the Nova Caledonian ships she was trying to catch), the vessel's cant was visible-she was leaning hard to port, and Starboard was still burning.
Every ten seconds, the two remaining guns fired-ineffectually-at the enemy fleet.
Occasionally, there would be return-fire, which just smashed what was already smashed, or missed by a handfull of meters.
The action was reckless, it could even be seen as madness or obsession.
At Thirty-one minutes, the bow rail dipped below the waves, and did not come back up.
At forty minutes, Commodore Huyn forced the last of her men into the life-rafts, as the drive-section of the ship finally lifted above the waves, showing dozens of breaches and holes below the water-line, the sheared-off shafts of propellors, and all the evidence, of all the damage, that had finally-hours after, slain the battleship.
The water was black and oily, and the ship continued to burn as she went down, taking Commander, and most of the bodies of her crew with her.
Only Twenty men, of the seventy who'd volunteered and been allowed to stay on this last charge, were still alive.

One of the things Soldiers must have in a city, is ammunition.
Especially soldiers Occupying a city.
For that matter, in an urban fight, communications are very important, and in a modern city like Corcyra, steel-framed buildings and blocks of offices means that Radio communications are "Shadowed" without relay antennas.

The chaos and explosions, along with the focus of the Occupation Force's men on conquering the Embassy complex, cleared the way for Alpha Company's technical people to begin "Spiking" enemy communications inside the city.

Modern Electronic Warfare doesn't always mean methods as crude as jamming communications, no.
Radioman 2nd Lee Wright was one of the fewest of the few-a "Normal" who chose to run with the Night Soldiers, and could consistently keep up.
"There, see it? On the roof." he pointed out the relay antenna on the roof of a large office block. "You're sure?" Sgt. Quai asked.
Lee nodded, "Yeah, I'm sure-cell phone towers don't need all the extras-that one's for relaying bigger stuff than stock quotes or grandma's baby-piccies. That's the kind of relay station your guys have to spike."
The Sargeant nodded, "we spike it, then what?" he asked.
The Radioman grinned, and patted his carry-pouch. "Then, we read their mail, listen to their wet-dreams, and rob Antiachus of every penny he's ever had." the young man grinned, "It will be, ahh... a most glorious hack."
The Sgt nodded, "Yeah, but then what??"
The Radioman shrugged, "Then, I virus their IVIS, re-route his supplies to where he isn't, and send his location to the Legion. Along the way, I think I'll re-write his encryption keys...provided, that is, you guys get me at least three Hardware points of entry on his net, without getting caught, seen , or stopped."
The Sargeant nodded, "and after that?" he asked, waiting.
Lee thought hard about his answer.
"Eh... we get hell out of the way when the Cav comes to play smear-the-scumbag." he said, finally.
The Sargeant smiled, "That's good, 'cause I don't like playin' hero."

Reports flooded the fleet command center of the Defiant:

"Sir! The Patton and the Montgomery's fire control rooms have been hit. They're firing their guns manually. The Eisenhower's port propeller has been hit, she can barely make one quarter speed. The Zhukov is reporting a fire in her engine room."

"The Guevarra's crew is abandoning ship. They are requesting immediate assistance."

"The Lenin has disappeared off our screens! I-I don't know what happened Captain, she was just there a second ago…."

"Captain, the carriers are reporting aircraft loss of 35%. They don't know how long they can keep it up."

"Sir!…."

"Captain!…"

There were too many. Too many ships. They were outnumbered, outgunned, and outfought. No Terra Mali has ever run from a fight but to keep on fighting would not have only been suicidal but foolish. Most of the navy was here, if every ship fought to the last it would take years to rebuild the fleet. Terra Malus would be left defenseless on the seas. Plus, the troop transports would be vulnerable. Without escorts, Antiachus's ships and planes would massacre those men.

The captain knew that there was only one thing to do.

Defiant to the Expeditionary Fleet, all operational ships except the carriers are to remain with the I-V fleet to cover the retreat. The rest are to withdraw and regroup at the staging area to rejoin the transports.

Outside of Boreas:

"We are making excellent time but we must not outrun our infantry" thinks Pyrrhus to himself, "we have traveled over 400 miles in the last twelve hours and have another 800 to go before we reach Corcyra. The Air Force will have to give us a ride. The mainland is mine and the islands are his. I now know how Archidamus must have felt in dealing with Athens and her fleet during the Polopennesian War. He is no match for my army and Air Force, I have nothing against his Navy but the Air Force."
*****
Back to Corcyra:

"Evasive actions, close the distance with the I-V fleet, push them into the Nova and Hattia fight going on. Let the allies take the chances of hitting eachother, full speed. I want us so close that we can smell eachothers bad breath." yells the Vice Admiral.

Several Destroyers and Cruisers take hits from an assortment of differnet types of missiles and bombs. The CIWS systems open up and the shells around both fleets are so think that birds dare not fly close unless they desire to be sold to KFC. On the aft of the Cruisers and Battleships, SAMs lock onto what they can and unleash their missiles.

"reload the SAM's, lets try to get another shot off before those crafts disappear" orders the Lt at the gunners command post of a cruiser.

Under the water, it is time to have the turkey shoot.

"The fleet is disengaging, your orders."

"Send them a full salvo from oyr wolfpack and let them know that running is not an option."

The tubes are flooded once more and out spit 16 torpedoes from the submarines from the fleets. A cat and mouse game is taking place under the surface war between several other subs from the fleet and those that have not been sunk by the depth charges and ASROC's. What fun it is to fight a war using no vision at all.

The battleship Troy has taken multiple hits from a sort of bombs and missiles. Sirens on the decks scream and lights flashing from alarms, fires and explosions. A crew member from the Marathon observes the hits and thinks to himself as he is placing on his battle helmet after wiping off his brow, "If she does not sink, she is going to be very ugly."

Overhead, the sound of jets braze the masts, the carriers have sent in another attack group to raze hell on the fleets once more.

OOC: Of the five battle fleets engaged in the battle, losses are as follows:
3 battleships
5 cruisers
6 destroyers
10 frigates
5 subs
31 X35
13 A6
*****
At Embassy Circle:

The Colonel takes the mic in his tank.

"Surrender what is left of your forces and their lives will be spared, medical attention given and taken in as POW's until an exchange can be arranged with your appropriate governments. Failure to surrender, and you shall die."

The lights of all the armor units illuminate what is left of the buildings, awaiting confirmation of surrender if there is to be one.

"You have 30 seconds to reply"

Colonel Aldred sprinted back up into the Marathon, dropped the wounded he picked up and jumped back into the pilot seat "I hope everyone went to the bathroom before we left!" he yelled back into the cabin, he waited a minute more , hoping he got as many people as he could, then he lifted off, the Marathon silently flying off into the night. He immediately set course for the Carrier Hechicero, he could already see the lights from the naval battle that was raging, he decided to try and make a wide arc around the combat zone.

He stayed alert at the controls, and radioed ahead to the Hecihicero "This is Black Guard Aldred, I have wounded soldiers and non-coms, I'll be putting down in about fifteen minutes."

Just then one of the Naval Marine snipers leaned into the cabin "Sir, I managed to record everything on my combat computer, I have footage of the Minister being killed and Antiachus' men attacking the embassy, there's no sound, but it's good enough for any warcrimes tribunal."

Aldred grinned at the sniper "You're assuming they'll be alive to take to trial, I'll bet Uncle Istvan is on his way already, poor fools, they'll wish they'd become bakers or paperboys when the Red Jaguar show up!" he paused, plugged in a cable from the Marathon's console into the dataport at the base of his skull and went back, to help with the wounded, he looked down at the soldier clutching the tommy gun that he'd grabbed "what a mess," he moved quickly to stop his bleeding .

The Naval Medic looked over at him "I think everyone here is going to make it, but it looks like we left more than half of em behind."

Aldred shrugged "We were out of room and out of time,don't even worry about it."

OR4, Sick Bay, Hecihicero...

The young man on the table was dead-belly white, but still wheezing breath from punctured lungs-the Colonel's quick treatment managed to stop the boy from drowning in his own blood.
The Surgeon quickly noted something else-something disturbing.
"Oh, Shit! SHIT!" a rash, on the patient's skin-sunburn, and it was happening quickly.
"Get me ICE, NOW!! and skin-Creme!!" An orderly rushed off, and returned with the demanded items. The Surgeon worked fast, covering the damaged skin with the opaque stuff, and pressing ice down to reduce the swelling. "Where in hell did this kid come from?" he asked out loud.
The Triage nurse spoke in low tones, and the same orderly answered, "Must'a been with one o' the Embassies-his tags're written in some funny language."
The surgeon turned, "Show me."
The Orderly held up the tags-the Surgeon noted immediately that they were "Silenced" with leather, and on a leather cord.
He also recognized the language.
"Son, that's Vietnamese, and the round one there, you shouldn't have any problem readin' it-it says 'PhotoAllergy', and the code behind it means he can't handle much white or UV light. If you had that, you'd be unfit for Military Service. Apparently, this kid's people think it makes him just 'bout ideal for night-time missions. What it means in here, is we're going to have to do something about our O.R. Lighting, or this patient's going to die of Anaphylactic Shock-before I cut into him. Cover him up, monitor him, Nurse, and someone get an Engineer in here with some red Emergency-Filters big enough to cover the light-fixtures... and get me some Cortizone, NOW."

Itxaad watched his fleet and the Terra Mali fleet disengage and retreat. Overhead the Hechicero had launched it's second wave of Orion Stealth Fighters and they immediately targeted the enemy aircraft to untangle the captial ships, the Hechicero had also sent it's destroyer screen and it's heavy cruisers to force back Antiachus' ships. "Fire Control, this is Itxaad, have all ships regroup around the Hechicero" Fire control replied "Yes sir, we also have news, the Republican Council has given mandate to the Retaliatory Guard, the Battle Groups Tetzcatlipoca, Ilek-Vaad and the Carrier Groups Tlaloc and Arden are joining us at the Hechicero, the rest of the Naval Guard will be escorting the Atlases of the Retaliatory Guard."

Itxaad grinned "Relay that to the Terra Mali, everyone make full speed for the Hechicero!"

OOC:Naval Guard losses:

3 Heavy Cruisers
10 Destroyers
10 Frigates
20 Wolfhound submarines
8 Trident submarines
100 Orion Stealth Fighters

*********
The Martahon transport dropped lightly onto the deck of the Hechicero, coremen immediatly began helping the wounded and getting everyone off. The Deck Chief hailed Colonel Arden "Colonel, is it true, is the Minister dead?"

Arden nodded "He's as dead as dead can be I must say. We have it all on video too, the entire attack on Embassy circle in fact."

the Chief nodded " The entire Retaliatory Guard are on their way, with 4 more Battle Groups and 4 more Carrier Groups "

Arden smiled "well that's everything and the kitchen sink!"

Just then the Tetzcatlipoca loomed into view with 3 other Battleships , the Ilek-Vaad, Pleiades and the Itzcoatl once again the classified speed of the Revenge Battleships gave them the ability to beat the rest of their groups by a full day and a half.

As the crews unloaded the Marathon the Navla Surgeon told the coremen "This young man here, make sure he's in a dark room he's allergic to light, everyone else take to the infirmary."

"Allergic to light? well, you're the Doctor."

OOC: that guy is lucky with Ilek-Vaad's poor health care rating, most doctors would have shrugged off the rash ;)

**********

The Tetzcatlipoca and it's sister ships slid silently alongside the Hechicero and turned off their active camoflage. The Supreme Republican Commander was still watching the naval battle , he clicked on his com "All Battleships, target range is 500 miles, launch tomahawks, give Itxaad a bit more of a cushion." He sank back in his seat and smiled , as soon as the rest of his ships arrived Itxaad would have Antiachus' navy outgunned and out manned and as soon as the Retaliatory Guard arrived Antiachus' would be even more badly outnumbered on land "In a few days his fight will be futile" he turned to his staff seargent "Mirai, raise my flag on the Tetzcatipoca, let's show Itxaad who showed up to save his grizzled old ass."

She smiles, showing all of her sharpened, red satined teeth "By your command."

Over the deck of the massive Tetzcatlipoca the Red flag of the Red Jaguar was raised as the the white flag bearing the comet and the broken sword, the personal standard of the Supreme Republican Commander, the battleships shook as they disgorged several hundred tomahawks aimed at Antiachus' fleet.

*********


Outside of Boreas:

As Phyrrus thouht to himself there was suddenly a whine of jet engines, a black jet then appeared and landed vertically not 500 yards from his position, it was immediately apparent that it was a Retaliatory Guard Marathon transport. From it stepped a tall man in a long coat and a spartan style helmet, his boots and greaves were heavy and under his long coat was roman style segmented armour, he also wore bracers and clawed gauntlets, all of this was made from a carbon fiber/ceramite coompound, the warrior carried a very ornate onyx macana and FN-HAR .30-06 rifle and he immediately approached Phyrrus "I am Command General Itzcoatl of the 9th Red Jaguar Command, my battalion is circling in our stealth transports, where would you like us to off load sir? I have been instructed to give my and mens lives for the people of Phyrric and I am eager to do so!."

Having said that Itzcoatl surrenders his rifle to Phyrrus "I will retrieve that personally when Antiachus is defeated, among the Tolteca it is a binding oath to surrender your weapon to your commander, I will earn it back, or die trying."

OOC: Must take a break for today and tomorrow for RL reasons and will make another post on Sunday. Tonight is my bday and tomorrow is valentines as I might be 'tied' up (most likely she will be) for the next few days.

(turns the hour glass sideways) Time stop

OOC: okay, alright, keep your kinky perversions to yourself, happy b-day

OOC: Happy B-Day and have fun tomorrow. I hope you don't mind if I make one last attack against the rebel fleet, take all the time you want to respond to it.

400 miles from Corcyra

It has taken the better part of thirty hours at closing speed to be where they were, but now they were within striking distance of the rebel fleet. The MacArthur, MacEwen, MacGregor, and MacInnes turned their broadsides and let loose, five salvoes with thirty-six rocket assisted rounds per salvo ripped through the air towards the enemy fleet. The destroyers expended their anti-shipping ordinance, fourteen thousand and forty missiles screaming at Mach 4 a bare meter over the sea. Once the air was clear of missiles and shells, the Titania and [/i]Oberon[/i] turned to the wind and launched a wing of MiG-45s each and brought a wing of Su-59Ks loaded with anti-shipping missiles onto the deck.

Embassy Circle

"you have 30 seconeds to reply." a voice on a loud speaker said to what was left of the Forces guarding the embassy about 15 left ( out of the 60 soldiers 25 were wounded and 20 were killed.) they all knew that if they continued to fight they would be killed. but they were not willing to give up this ground without a fight.
"Send em our reply." Junior Lieutenant Elewin said to a Color sergent that was standing next to him, the sergent picked up the last remainginf LAAw that they had he Aimed at a tank and fired. the soldiers of Pauldutsllah began fireing.

OOC: Happy Birthday! I'm just going to post this to reply to I-V's request, not really an attack.

After the retreat and regroup, the Terra Mali fleet assessed its losses. All ships except the carriers have been hit. While they may have escaped damage, the carriers have lost 65% of their aircraft. A flattop is useless without its planes; it's just one big target begging to get bombed. Of the 12 battleships, only the Defiant, the Wainwright, and the Halsey were in any condition to fight. The rest were lost or had suffered too much damage. Out of 35 destroyers, 5 were lost and 15 would have to be towed back to whatever safe harbor there is for repairs. 20 cruisers set out for this deployment, 4 would never return to port while the rest would still be able to put up a fight. The frigates were able to avoid much damage by diving in between the larger capital ships. All 25 survived but not unscathed. 12 attack submarines have reported in, the 8 that have not are presumed to have been lost.

The situation was grim. Though the I-V fleet covered the retreat, everyone knew that Antiachus would send everything that he had at them to finish them off. As they limped off the engagement zone, an urgent message was received by the command center on the Defiant. All available ships are to rally around the Hechicero. Reinforcements have arrived! Two battle groups and two carrier groups of the Ilek-Vaad navy have arrived while eight more are on the way! The entire Retaliatory Guard has also been deployed, the war would now be taken to land. "Death's Head" bombers have also started their runs against the rebel fleet. Because Terra Malus also possesses these bombers, officers who knew its capabilities almost felt sorry for Antiachus and his men.

[OOC-Happy Birthday, and have fun tomorrow (but not so much you can't type on Sunday!) I'll be outa town until monday night-probably won't be able to post either, so I'm going to take care of a little "Housekeeping" post...]



[i]Naval Shipyard, Vin-Drin-Lap, one week past the 24 hour deadline...

Admiral Li watched the first native-built Aircraft Carrier as she launched, with Chancellor Ngo at her side.
"I told you it wasn't ready." Li commented. The Chancellor grunted, and nodded her head. "That was a dirty trick, sicking uncle Charles on me to get a delay." she snapped.
The Admiral shrugged, "You wouldn't listen to me, so I got hold of someone you would listen to... now, we've got a fully-functional Carrier, instead of a spit-and-bailingwire job..."
Amanda nodded, and brightened. "I did manage to get those lazy slots in your Yard Crew to work faster with the Deadline, though." she said.
Li nodded, "Yes, yes you did...here comes the air-wing..."
Overhead, two ranks of Jets passed low over the reviewing stands, their polished-aluminum and battleship gray bodies flashing in the sun.

The Saigon's engines cranked up, and she slowly backed out of the slip. In form, she looked much like any other, if a bit smaller- aircraft carrier. Indeed, her hull was a modification of the old Essex-Class CVA craft, a type retired by the Americans decades ago.
As the Tiger says, though-"It ain't the clothes that matter-it's what's inside that counts."
Every strengthening and weight-saving trick in the book went into that hull, increasing structural integrity by 150% while reducing base tonnage by 20%. The Angle-Deck update used on the Essex Classes was changed on the Drawing-boards for the Saigon, and the flight deck gained armour, resulting in an angled-flight-deck arrangement, but with more stability and strength than the original.
Inside the engine-rooms (*Multiple layout), high-efficiency gas-turbines replaced the old boiler-and-turbine structure, which actually reduces the cost to operate the vessel, while increasing her flank speed by 15% over the original, and adding a measure of redundancy not present in the parent-design.
The electrical and Hydraulic runs have backups for their backups-and those backups are routed so that the ship could continue operating with extremely heavy damage. Below the waterline, between the inner and outer hull plating, water-reactant non-flammable expansion foam-similar to that used by salvage operators to raise sunken vessels, fills cavities, waiting for the inevitable penetrating hit from a torpedo.
The Superstructure is the largest change-Aegis Radar, and an advanced fire-control and Aircraft coordination system able to coordinate information feeds from more than a thousand sources, and overlay it with real-time Radar/Sonar data from the ship itself.
For Self-Protection, the Saigon mounted four Phalanx antimissile guns in a pattern that would enable two of the fast-firing radar-guided systems to overlap their firing arcs, creating a 360-degree envelope of engagement against surface-skimming missiles, while the superstructure played host to Seasparrow antishipping missiles, 8 Tomahawk missile cannisters, and four ASROC antisubmarine missiles.
The block at the far end of the structure contained one last surprise for an attacker-The vents at the bottom being the only indicator.
When the "Mahoney" antiair missiles fired, the sides of the ship would bloom in smoke, as they erupted. The Mahoneys were an "Outside Purchase" round, solid-fuel, 40 kilogramme warhead throwing nearly 500 Tungsten-plated Depleted Uranium balls in a cone. The missile would leave the ship at Mach 6.7, and fire their "Shotgun" of balls at fairly close-range.
"You spent billions on this thing, it better work." Amanda told her CNO.
"It will-you watch. She's as fast as a Frigate, armoured like a Cruiser, armed by a Lunatic, and carries fifty fighters, ten bombers, and enough ordnance and stores to run for three months of continuous ops." the Admiral said.
Amanda turned, and stepped down from the reviewing stand. "I want it deployed as soon as you've got stores loaded. With Ice Dragon sunk, we don't have a command ship or a means for projecting force."
Li nodded, "Right...I'll let the Captain know-"
The Chancellor turned on her toes, "No, you will take the ship out, you will take command of our Navy and Coast Guard forces, and you will cooperate with Pyrrhus and the rest of the Legion. You will do this in person, Admiral, or you may resign your commission."


The NKS Saigon is the first truly 21st-Century ship in the fleet.

(OOC: Very sorry for the delay, I've been busy IRL for a bit. Anyway, this post assumes that there are unguarded sections of rail, but I can edit if that's not the case.)

"No easy supply lines, eh..." Martin mused. More information had come while they were still enroute; calling for a change of plan. Hitting the rail lines had been an obvious choice, but it would cost them in the end, after this war was over. If it was over, Martin corrected himself.

His musings, however, were interrupted by a tap on the shoulder.

"Did you get the info on these rails?" Martin asked.

"Yeah, although I don't see why we can't just blow them up..." the soldier complained.

"Because it costs more, for us and for the people, and this way is simpler."

"Sure, whatever..."

With Radar from allied forces and their own jets to warn them of any large incoming attacks, the three groups began to move swiftly out into enemy territory...

(Semi-OOC plans so if there are no troops etc you can just RP the damage):

Groups 1 & 2 prepare to destroy the line at regular intervals, so as to make it largely useless without more repair.

Martin's group (group M) is heading for a more subtle approach and will attempt to sabotage the railway line in such a way that would cause the trains to crash, hopefully actually destroying something instead of just forcing them to stop.

OOC:whose rail lines? Mine aren't normally guarded but if you keep it up we might have to look into a surveillance camera or two ;)

"This is our chance to have a change of scenery and fight another day." Vice Admiral thought to himself. "Inform the fleet to let the enemy disengage and lets place some serious distance between us and regroup for another day," he orders the Radio Room. "Set course for Sicily, we need some resupply and more ships, it appears that everyone wants a piece of Antiachus and lets make this costly. We have proven a victory on sea as costly as it may seem, maybe other nations will recognize our sovereignty and assist us in our cause."

The fleet does not pursue the disengaging fleet and heads toward Sicily.

"Corcyra is just going to have to fend for themselves." Antiachus mentions to another Admiral from the 11th outside of Crete. "We need to regroup at Rhodes and get the assistance of the 23rd and 24th Battle Fleets. I have a plan and send a coded message to Johnston, we are going to implement a hammer and anvil move on them. They had difficulty with 5 battle fleets, lets see what happens with 7 of them in two different directions, there will be no retreat this time."

OOC: SS, that attack is.... out there, could you tone it down just a tad please, 14K missiles would send your scanner array into oblivion and take themselves out from congestion. I will accept an arrival and attack, but that was just too big. Thanks.
*****
At the Embassy Circle

The colonel was opening the hatch of his tank just as an explosion happened near by. He closes and reseals the hatch.

"It appears surrender is not an option. Kill them all. Spare no one."

The 1200 troops storm what is left of the complex and the tanks perform tread moves when the run someone over as to grind them into hamburger.
*****
Supply line attacks:

Any attacks on rail would have to happen on Sicily, Crete, Rhodes, Lesbos or Corcyra as the mainlands are under the control of Pyrrhus. (No need to take out his supply lines unless you are assisting Antiachus) These are the only islands that would have rail on them for the other islands would not be feasible for rail due to small size. The rails would not be guarded unless they are on a military establishment.

The rails, as made with Pilot and the PNL (Phyrric National Labs) several months ago, are all magnetic tracks throughout the nation. The trains are bullet and sensors would detect a break in the line, but response would be quite slow. What this means? An attack on the rails would have a high chance of success before the military responses and start planning/seeking the perpetrators.
*****
Outside Boreas

"Sir, you have a visitor that wishes to see you." as a messenger addresses Pyrrhus inside the mobile command.

"Tell him it will be a few minutes.... just give me 5 minutes and invite him in"

As Phyrrus thought to himself there was suddenly a whine of jet engines, a black jet then appeared and landed vertically not 500 yards from his position, it was immediately apparent that it was a Retaliatory Guard Marathon transport. From it stepped a tall man in a long coat and a spartan style helmet, his boots and greaves were heavy and under his long coat was roman style segmented armour, he also wore bracers and clawed gauntlets, all of this was made from a carbon fiber/ceramite coompound, the warrior carried a very ornate onyx macana and FN-HAR .30-06 rifle and he immediately approached Phyrrus "I am Command General Itzcoatl of the 9th Red Jaguar Command, my battalion is circling in our stealth transports, where would you like us to off load sir? I have been instructed to give my and mens lives for the people of Phyrric and I am eager to do so!."

Having said that Itzcoatl surrenders his rifle to Phyrrus "I will retrieve that personally when Antiachus is defeated, among the Tolteca it is a binding oath to surrender your weapon to your commander, I will earn it back, or die trying."

"If all goes as planned, you will be receiving your rifle back real soon." Pyrrhus invites Itzcoatl into the war room where there are a few generals and a map of the eastern half of Phyrric on a large table with several holographic images of fleets, armies and cities. "Your input is welcome, this is what we have planned so far..." as the planning takes place and the march to Corcyra continues.

The mobile command is on rails.

After hearing of the Battle of Corcyra and the colony on the moon feeling more secure in their ability to obtain their freedoms have declared independence from the motherland.

"We have full intentions of maintaining peaceful relations with our founders. It is not in the best interest of our newly founded Nation to be in any kind of conflict with any parties involved. It is in our best interest to establish the status quo under the old charter of our colonization and wish to maintain trade relations with the alliances that the Nation of Phyrric resides. We open are boarders to new trade routes and communications."

OOC: another puppet as is Io. again, I have no idea what i will be doing with this one either.

(OOC: Hmmm... OK, not really knowing the strategic importance of any of these, I'll say that my troops make a raid in Crete as it's easy to spell/type, lol.)

Enroute to Corcyra:

"Pyrrhus, the moon colony has just declared independence, what shall we do about this?"

"There is not much we can do about it at this time, but we will deal with this insurgency as soon as we regain the control of the Nation. We did receive a blow at Corcyra but the Capitol will be in our control again and soon. Send a message to the governor of Moon and Io that if they retain loyalty and submission to the Government of Phyrric, they will be granted not independence but full provincial status and priviledges. Failure of submission will be a swift disciplinary action that will reult in a status of that far less than colony. This insubordination will not be tolerated not a day further. We will demonstrate our full intentions upon capture of war criminals. Remind them that their independence is contingient upon my approval and my response, further remind them that the Battle Stations in their orbit are still under my control as Commander In Chief of the Republican Army......and get me a report on Mars"

"It will be done sir. Mars has already stated their allegiance to the Government of Phyrric."

"Isn't it amazing that the colony that has the most trouble has the most loyalty. Inform them their loyalty will not be overlooked and greatly rewarded."

The Supreme Republican Commander watched as Antiachus' fleet disengaged "That will be his last mistake." Within hours of the retreat by the Terra Mali navy and the Naval Guard the bulk of the Naval Guard fleet began to arrive. The full Battlegropus Teztcatlipoca and Ilek-Vaad were now in place as well as two more Carrier groups. Four more Battlegroups and four more Carrier groups were en route, escoring the Atlas transports with the full might of the Retaliatory Guard. Overhead, the Death's Heads squadrons had begun 24 hour bombings of all the islands controlled by Antaichus. Every dock, fuel depot, ammunition depot and repair yard were being pounded mercilessly by shifts of sub-orbital bombers.

The Siupreme Republican Commander contemplated his next move then turned his com on "Move the fleet to Corcyra, we will begin bombarding the rebel installations there in support of the coming ground invasion. Form a defensive arc around Corcyra's harbour, after the city is retaken we'll use it as base camp. All ships stay in line and in sight of each other." he paused and turned to his Staff Seargent "Mirai, ask the Terra Mali if they have space on their carriers for more fighters, I will call in the Air Guard to replenish ours and re-inforce our position" She nodded and hurried off.

"Fire control have the Orions on the newly arrived carrier groups configured and as interceptors and have them hunt down any aircraft loyal to Antiachus, make sure the only thing in the skies belongs to us."

Several hundred Orion stealth fighters launched in waves, heading for skies over Antiachus' islands, silently looking for any enemy aircraft.

*******

LNS newsroom Lassic
"Sir! we have a video file from the Supreme Republican Commander!"

The Editor paused and watched as the reporter punched up the file, he gasped and everyone gathered closer to the monitor, transfixed by the images of the death of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the attack on Embassy Circle "Get this on right away!"

Within an hour the footage was being shown worldwide, Reuters, the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera all picking it up from the LNS.


*******

Costa-Tula, Ilek-Vaad

Four Battle gropus and four Carrier groups headed out to sea, heading a convoy of massive Atlas transports. Eight Retaliatory Guard Armies and their equipment were all on the move. Overhead Orion fighters of the Air Guard streaked into the sky heading to the theatre of combat.

More Atlases were still being loaded, and several hundred Marathon-L troop transports were also being loaded with Retaliatory Guard, preparing for air-drops onto Antiachus' islands.

****

OOC: Happy B-Day and have fun tomorrow. I hope you don't mind if I make one last attack against the rebel fleet, take all the time you want to respond to it.

400 miles from Corcyra

It has taken the better part of thirty hours at closing speed to be where they were, but now they were within striking distance of the rebel fleet. The MacArthur, MacEwen, MacGregor, and MacInnes turned their broadsides and let loose, five salvoes with thirty-six rocket assisted rounds per salvo ripped through the air towards the enemy fleet. The destroyers expended their anti-shipping ordinance, seventy-two hundred missiles screaming at Mach 4 a bare meter over the sea. Once the air was clear of missiles and shells, the Titania and Oberon turned to the wind and launched a wing of MiG-45s each and brought a wing of Su-59Ks loaded with anti-shipping missiles onto the deck.

OOC: Sorry, I doubled what I meant to launch. And for the record, they're Harpoon-like missiles that I'm launching this time, not the cruise missiles that I launched before. As for missile fratricide, they launches are staggered in groups of four per ship.

(OOC: Hmmm... OK, not really knowing the strategic importance of any of these, I'll say that my troops make a raid in Crete as it's easy to spell/type, lol.)

Order of Importance (top 10):

Corcyra
Sicily
Crete
Euboea
Rhodes
Cephallonia (only island under Pyrrhus control)
Lesbos
Thera
Samos
Salamis

(keep in mind, these islands are roughly three times the size of the RL counterpart islands, Crete in RL is 150 miles long, in Phyrric 420 miles long)

Embassy Circle
The Pauldustllahn soldiers continues fireing at the wave of soldiers charging at them. but no matter how many they gunned down more kept charging at them.
"Fall back!" the Senior LT said " fall back get out of the city anyway you can!" the soldiers tried to withdraw under the heavy fire from the rebels but despite there best tries all but 5 were gunned down. the five jumped over the back wall and made there way trough the city.


3rd Fleet Flag ship CVS-3 Hall
location: 10 miles from Corcyra
"Flag commander, were in position" a young sailor said
"Exelent send the 7th and the 22nd ashore" the Flag commander said crisply
"Aye sir" a Colnel said, he got on the raido "send them ashore boys lets teach those rebels a thing or two."
"Flag commander the Crusiers Liberator, Raven, and Mauler are in position to provide gunfire support they await your order to fire."
'Open up." Flag commander Stood said as he piced up his Binoculars ans watched as the soldiers formthe 22nd and the 7th regements landign craft Spead away fromteh fleet "good luck boys." he mumbled to no one in paticular. he thought to himself "well if this one fails i have 3 more regements to send in."

3rd Fleet manifest
Home Port: Imperial Naval Station, Judtru Pauldustllah
Commander: Flg Com Eric Stood
Status: Deployed to Aid Phyrric
Carriers
CVS-3 Hall
CV-5 Queen Bee
CV-6 Hope
CV-15 Ninja
Assault ships
LAS-4 Horde- 4th Armored Regement troops strength 1920 troops
LAS-6 Baon- 7th Armored Regement, Troop strength 1920 troops
LA-15 Findley-20 Naval Landing forces Regement, Troop strength 1920 troops
LA-5 Ionah- 21 NLF Reg, TS-1920 troops
LA-6 Attacker-22 NLF Reg,TS-1920 troops
Total troops Embarked - 9600 troops
Crusiers
CG-5 Liberator
CG-6 Bodyguard
CG-15 Raven
CG-16 Defender
CG-25 Shocker
CG-26 Mauler
CG-39 Atillia
CGG-5 Cutlass
CGG-6 Horrible
CGG-15 Almighty
CGG-16 Slaughterer
CGG-27 Planner
CGG-33 Villian
Destroyers
DD-21
DD-22
DD-23
DD-24
DD-25
DD-26
DD-27
DD-28
DD-29
DD-30
DD-67
DD-68
DD-79
DD-80
DDG-21
DDG-22
DDG-23
DDG-24
DDG-25
DDG-26
DDG-27
DDG-28
DDG-29
DDG-30
DDG-53
DDG-54
DDG-65
DDG-66
Frigates
FD-21
FD-22
FD-23
FD-24
FD-25
FD-26
FD-27
FD-28
FD-29
FD-30
FD-81
FD-82
FD-83
FD-84
FD-85
FD-86
FD-87
FD-88
FD-89
FD-90
FFG-5
FFG-6
FFG-15
FFG-16
FFG-25
FFG-26
FFG-35
FFG-36
FFG-55
FFG-56
Numerous supply ships are travleing with the fleet however to save headaches i havent posted the numbers yet.

Bo Gritz Memorial Hospital, Seventh Floor, Dak-Tho Nuevo Kowloon...

Chancellor Amanda Ngo read the day's reports and frowned.
"Phyrric's lost their moon colony-I hope he doesn't make the French mistake." she commented. Her mother sat in corner of the room, and shook her head.
"He will... You watch, he'll offer them 'Provincial' status, and they, being good little proto-nationalists, will reject it. and him." the Former Chancellor said, puffing a lock of hair out of her eyes, "He should just offer them Independence, and remind them that if this Antiachus person wins the war, he'll probably want them under his heel."
Amanda shrugged, "Maybe, mother, but maybe that's just your paranoia speaking..."
Elizabeth barked a laugh. "I'm not crazy, and you know it-my god, girl, you still come to me for advice..." the older woman said, adding, "Even if you do keep me in a straight-jacket and a padded room..."
Amanda sighed, and leaned against the wall. "Mother, you nearly got us targeted by nukes-and you nearly dragged us into a war on our own."
Elizabeth shrugged in her jacket, "So? now you're in a shooting war, and it's a hell of a lot bigger than the Aust thing was..."
Amanda nodded, "Bigger... we lost the Ice-Dragon's battle group, and Pyrrhus is taking his sweet time about sending in troops-right now, we've got the only coherent formation on Corcyra that isn't aligned with Antiachus."
The former Chancellor frowned, "What's our domestic defense look like?" she asked.
Amanda's glum mood lightened, "We're at 150% of your last assessments for full strength-and the Economy's better than ever. If the Damn Reds try crossing the line, we can throw 'em back."
Elizabeth whistled low, "One-Fifty, eh? So the Reforms you were whining about actually cashed in. That's good. You should stop waiting for Pyrrhus, and reinforce your men-if he doesn't have to send as much to seize the island, he will be able to concentrate more on the rest of the War."
Amanda frowned, "What about Political Ramifications? Do you think he'll see it as an attack on his sovereignty?"
The former chancellor shrugged, "Possibly-the books you've let me see about his nation certainly point to something like that-but, he's up against a wall-he has no fleet of his own, he can't really trust his own officers, and he's already tied up just trying to coordinate his allies... then, there's the Hattians having their Civil War-he's starving for allies, and a bold move could get us into the good-books... properly planned. Besides, if you send as much as we can actually transport, that's about ten percent of our ground-strength at home, Home defense won't suffer much."
Amanda frowned again.
"I don't like taking risks like that." she said, finally.
Elizabeth laughed again, "I remember-it's the reason you had me locked up in here-but daughter, you can't be Cautious all the time. You've been losing men in penny-packets without much real effect... Besides, you need to coordinate with him."
Amanda nodded, "Yes, at the highest levels..." she looked at her mother appraisingly.
"I could tell him." Elizabeth offered.
Amanda sighed, "How do I know you won't use it as a means to regain the Chancellorship?" she asked.
Elizabeth grinned dangerously, "You don't-but, we both love our country, and someone has to watch the house while someone else-someone with a proven record of loyalty to our people, 'Represents' with this alliance of yours."
Amanda nodded again, and called in an orderly.
"She is cured. Release her."
The straps were released, and the jacket removed.
"You won't regret this, Daughter... I will show you."

Twelve Hours and two Aerial Refuelings later...

Elizabeth Ngo, "Special Envoy" from the nation of Kowloon, stood on the railway siding with her bodyguards. A statuesque woman in her sixties, black hair streaked with white-a white almost as pale as her complexion.
The noonday sun made her guards, and their native Phyrrician escorts sweat-but not her. The old woman seemed made of some kind of magickal ice, even with her eyes hidden behind dense-black sunglasses.
The Telegramme had been simple-

"Nuevo Kowloon ready for phase Two (re: Corcyra). Specifics will be delivered by hand-courier to your next stop in 13 Hours. Must be seen by Pyrrhus, please."


The armoured and armed train pulled into the station, and guards of a different sort-well-armed, trained professionals, stepped off.
They searched her, and led her aboard.

Twelve Hours from Corcyra...

The new Battlegroup moved as a single entity. Admiral Li stood on "Her" flagship's rail, and watched the horizon uncertainly, as fighters moved around on the Saigon's deck.
"message traffic, ma'am." a young officer with Lt. Commander's clusters said. She turned, and looked at the note.
"Well... I guess I know why the bosslady was so hot to get us under-weigh... we're to rendezvous with the Support Fleet and prepare for offensive operations." she sighed in disgust.

[ooc]-here's the layout of the Saigon's Battle-Group.
NKS Saigon (NKCVA-1)
VA-112 A-1F (25 aircraft)
VA-113 A-10B(10 Aircraft)
VA-115 A-l0B(10 Aircraft)
VF-114 F-100NK(25 Aircraft)
VF-lll F-100NK(25 Aircraft)
VAH-13 A-10B (10 Aircraft)
VFP-63 Det C RF-106A (5 aircraft)
VAW-ll HU-l Y (20 Aircraft)
*VQ-l Det EA-6B(5 aircraft)
*VAP-61 Det RF-4B (5 Aircraft)

CVA Carrier Battle Group

8,056 /648 (Sailors/ Marines)
CG 54 400 122 NKS Theodore Chu
CG 59 400 122 NKS Devlin Chu
DDG 55 340 90 NKS Li-Don Qhuhon
DDG 62 340 90 NKS Deborah Huang
DD 972 382 61 NKS Liam Haupgard
FFG 41 220 NKS Dinni Howards
FFG 42 220 NKS Dierdre Nguyen


ARG Amphibious Ready Group

3,376 Marines and Ground forces personnel
LHD 2 2,875 NKS James "Bo" Gritz
LPD 8 420 NKS Nelson Truman
LSD 42 81 NKS David Whyte

"The governor from Samothrace is on Comm Link requesting your presence sir."

"What could that traitor possibly want, put him on the screen in the war room."

"Transferring sir"

The screen turns from a black to a static then the governor appears. In the background, the city can be seen in smoke. The attacks on the province from allied bombings have clearly made an impression.

"We wish to negotiate and discuss terms of our surrender. The 17th Battle Fleet and the 3rd Assault Fleet are yours to command and the Province of Samothrace as it once was. I pledge allegiance to Pyrrhus, your wishes are my command."

"We accept your surrender and now die a soldiers death."

"The governor nods, behind him lines up two Republic guards from the governor's palace and they proceed to stab the governor through the shoulders and into the cavity, killing the governor instantly as the heart is penetrated."

"Go get the Lt Governor, inform him of his temporary promotion to governor. His actions from this day forth will determine his standing in my graces."

The guards acknowledge and the screen fades back to black.

"Now back to the planning. It seems that we have another fleet at our disposal, what is our total now and where are they?"

"The city of Torone has accepted the fleets into their harbor to escape the airstrikes. They have lost a cruiser and a sub in the attack before they headed to our ports. This will bring our fleet total to 7 battle and 2 assault. They are spread out and consolidating them would be near impossible sir."

"Save what we can. Inform the 3rd to set course for Lesbos, this will give us an additional 35 thousand men for the taking of that Province. Combine the attack with the drop ships from Epirus. Inform the allies to 'soften up' the Island in preparation for the landings."

"It will be done."

The general leaves the room to make preparations and follow the orders.

"How far until we reach Sybota?"

"It will be another 6 hours of travel sir, we have just exited Dodona."

"Excellent, commence with the air attack on rebel forces within Corcyra. Get me an estimate on what is within the city. Antiachus is on the run, but I am sure he will be back. Do we have a fix on him yet?"

"No sir."

"No, why is it so hard to find a battleship? 3 at that!"

"Maybe we are not looking in the right places sir. We have sweeped the seas, oceans, and ports. We have no idea where he went. We do know that Johnston is regrouping in Syracuse and has called the 8th from Palmero, that gives him 8 Battel Fleets less damage......"

"why the pause" asks Pyrrhus

"The Roma and the 21st has just surrendered to the allied fleets off of Corcyra....requesting port into Buthrotum to hand over the fleet. She is heavily damaged.... Macenae sunk.... 2 destroyers sunk.... 1 cruiser scuttled.... from the missile attack from Scandavian States." As the other general is reading the electric teletype as it prints.

"Have them seek safe haven at Buthrotum. Inform the allies to grant passage and advise the harbor master to place the Captain of the Roma under arrest upon mooring."

The Province of Samothrace includes the islands of Imbros, Thasos, and Lemnos.
*****
At Embassy Circle

"Count the dead, let us get a tally on this." as the Colonel climbs out of his tank at the Embassy

"You better check this out Colonel." as a Major notices a TV that is still working. "You are screwed dude."

"Where in the hell did that come from?"

"I do not know, but it shows you grinding people up into hamburger patties. If we lose, you go to trial."

Both are watching the news report

"Well, there you are Major" the Colonel points to the TV "looks like you will be joining me"

"Then I advise we save 2 bullets, they will make us wish we were dead anyways"

"Point taken"

Losses: 154 troops dead, 78 injured and 6 armor taken out

The Supreme Republican Commander sat and thought as his Battle groups moved in to seal off Corcyra's harbour. His ships moved parallell to the coast giving a broadside out seaward and a broadside towards the island. The main ship destroyer guns were aimed out to sea, in case of attack from Antiachus' fleets, the 48in guns were fixed on Corcyra, and the rebel implacements. The Commander watched everything moving into place , he turned and looked to his Staff Seargent "Mirai, contact all fleets in the area, get from them a declaration of who they are with, how strong they are and if they back Phyrrus, or Antiachus. Order the battleships to shell any group that refuses to respond, also target them with cruise missles and pocket bombers from the Air Guard."

Staff Seargent Mirai Assad nodded " By your command" she hurried off to the com center and began contacting every ship in the area.

*****

The Naval Guard's submariners, bolstered by new arrivals began breaking off into wolf packs, and moving to harass Antiachus' fleets in quick hit and run attacks. The Wolfhound subs began inching in to the islands controlled by Antiachus and settled to the bottom, lying in wait for ships to move over them. The bombing of the islands and Antiachus' forces continued from the sub-orbital bombers.

NKS Saigon, off the coast of Corcyra...

"Traffic from the Ilek Vaad fleet." Lt. Cdr. Chuan handed Admiral Li an off-print.
She scanned it, and said, "Ask 'em if they're up to supporting an Amphib landing in...oh... Two Hours time?" the Comms officer snapped a nod, and went to send to the Ilek-Vaadians.

On the carrier's main deck, the first wave of fighters was already launching, armed with High-Velocity anti-radiation missiles under their wings to clear a path for ground attack craft.

NKS James "Bo" Gritz...

PFC Sam Cho clutched his rifle, and climbed down into the landing craft with his buddies. "...It's for real, guys." Sgt. Thuan was saying, "we're doin' a beach-landing..." He felt his guts clench up while the NCO's did their safety briefings. Up on the deck, the Marines were spooling up their helos. At least, they don't have to swim... he thought resentfully, then banished it-the helos would be open targets for enemy ground troops, too big to sneak in, and no cover.

Staff Seargent Mirai Assad replied to Admiral Li "We are in place in Corcyra Harbour now, we have begun naval bombardment of enemy positions, we can help provide air cover if you need it as well. If you require any assistance in landing we have 14,000 Naval Marines and 2,000 Red Jaguar Command, our main assault force will not be here for another couple of days."

The Staff Seargent paused and read a brief " I also believe we have one or more of your commando's in the infirmary on the Hechicero, but we can worry about that after the assault is sorted out. Seargent Assad, out."

The massed naval fleet began opening up on Corcyra, using satellite guidance and Orion spotters. The Naval Guard were being as careful as possible to only hit military targets and stayinmg away from infrastructure and cicilain targets, as much as could be possible.

*****

"Admiral de Soto, we have reports that the Roma fleet has surrendered thanks to our latest missile strike. The Roma's heavily damaged, Macenae has been sunk, two destroyers likewise, and a cruiser scuttled, probably do to damage." Captain Harrington reported.

The Admiral frowned. "That's it? I would have thought that seven thousand plus missiles would have destroyed all of them. We'll have to be more careful about our missile expenditures from now on. Contact the Phrric government and ask if there's a seaport and airport that we can use for resupply. Meanwhile, have CAG prep a wing of Wild Weasels to do some SAM hunting."


OOC: Phyrric, I need to know if you have a city that has a large airbase and port still loyal to you, my fleet's going to need the resupply facilities.

To: Ilek-Vaad Supreme Republican Commander

We have ample space on our flight decks, as combat losses have been heavy. Be advised that we are capable of handling the Orion aircraft. The rest of the fleet would be joining your formation.

At Sybota, Pyrrhus had arrived and coordinated an attack on Corcyra:

"Thank you for your assistance there....(fishing for the name in his thoughts) Amanda? We will utilize this information and perform a swift victory, have your forces strkie here (pointing to different holgraphic projections) here...and here. This will give us the route for Itzcoatl to take out these targets here....(zooming into the city of Corcyra, buildings start to appear, the holoprojections appear to be real time as vehicles can be seen moving throughout the streets) and these targets here (displaying SAM sites and shore batteries lined up near the harbors), we will assist from the attack force moving in here (display of the air force movements toward Corcyra from Brindisi, Tarentum and Buthrotum AF bases) Inform other allied fleets that the seas appear to be ours...for the time being as we cannot locate any movements within 1000 miles of Corcyra. We are hoping that Corcyra will fall swiftly and with minimal losses to us or the civilians that reside within."

"Get the transport planes ready for airlift operations" communicates the general with the local air command. "Pyrrhus wants the city before nightfall."

Message delivered to Pyrrhus by a messenger. Pyrrhus scans over it.

"Inform Scandavian States that they can use all available resources at Buthrotum, they will find the services they need there and still remain close to the action that is taking place at Corcyra."
*****
At the Embassy Circle:

The colonel was strolling around the complex, looking for intel and anything that he might think is useful when the tank 100 yards off his left is shredded by a warthog, A10. The sky above is blackened by aircraft striking at the forces of Antiachus. Occasionally, a SAM is released and the trail can be tracked to an explosion in the air. The battle of Corcyra has begun.

"Head for cover, the counterstrike has begun, consolidate our forces along the western sea board as to counter any amphibious attack that is imminent' orders the colonel to his troops. "Inform the battalion to coordinate plan AB4."

"yes sir" as the Major places the orders into action"
*****
On Crete:

"The rail lines have been cut between us (Knoosso) and Cydonia"

"What cut them?"

"It appears to be either guerilla attacks or we have some infiltration on our island."

"Implement marshall law on Crete and send a team out to further investigate the areas of cut. I want to know what is around us. In the meantime, send a force from Post Polyrhenia to secure the populous and seek any enemy forces that may be in the area. I want a report within the hour" advises the governor.

"Aye sir"

Command General Itzcoatl watched with interest as Phyrrus unfolded his plan, he nodded as he was given his assign ment, pausing to click onto his com and yell "Amah-te!!".

Outside the Marathon stealth transports began landing and disgorging the 9th Red Jaguar Command, as they ran down then ramps they activated their active matrix campflage and their long coats appeared to melt as they took on the color and hue of their surroundings. Once all 2,000 of them were disembarked they lined up as Itzcoatl inspected them shouting "HA! CHI-CHI! HA! MICATOYAH! AMAH-TE !" as he passed eacfh of the Red Jaguar removed a stone flask from their coats and drank, a stcky dark red liquid oozed from the flasks and the men drooled as they drank, many of them making terrible faces and doubling over, screaming intensly and stomping the ground.

Itzcoatl paused and explained their objective in Corcyra, the Red Jaguar straightened and Itzcoatl raised his fist "My Life For The Republic!" he shouted they all shouted in unison in reply "My Life For The Republic!"

They then broke off in a wide formation, creeping along towards Corcyra, after they were a few hundred yards away, they were virtually invisible..........

OOC: The Red Jaguar are armed with the FN-HAR .30-06 assault rifle. It's only munition is a heavy grain depleted uranium round. It has an under the barrel 20mm grenade launcher and a tactical computer that acts as might-vision, range finder, GPS, camera and thermographic camera all in one. Their armour is in two layers, they have a kev-lite long coat that covers them from knee to chin, and they were a bonded ceramite helmet, segnmented armour, greaves and bracers. Their gauntlets are tipped with very sharp claws. They carry no side arms but many carry machetes and macanas. They have just drunk the drug Ixpei, that will now keep them awake for 5-7 days, deadens them to pain and acts as a coagulant to stop bleeding. Each Red Jaguar has a minimum of 6 years of intense combat training (10% of them don't even survive the training) and the 9th Red Jaguar Command is the most veteran unit, they have been deployed 6 times in the last three years and are unshakeable.

*****
Staff Seargent Mirai Assad passed on the Terra Mali message to Supreme Republican Commander Vaikov, he smiled "Tell the Air Guard that after their strikes to land on the Terra Mali carriers, this will greatly increase our numbers and strike range. Start offloading supplies to the carriers and make sure the Terra Mali have everything they need and thank them. It is helpful to have an ally that uses our tychnology."

Corcyra, Beach "Echo", 0230 Hours...

The artillery and airstrikes lit the land in ghost-lights as the landing craft crawled through the waves, bringing the First Division (Heavy) onto the beaches. Overhead, attack aircraft and F-100NK's from VAF-112A1F flew in the "Open", daring enemy Air-Defense radar to illuminate them.
The NK troops on the ground were making this assault without illumination- denying enemy defenders the opportunity to strike at them with impunity.
So, naturally enough, the forces on the other end were firing mass-strikes, hoping to randomly hit someone or something.
Each time a shore-defense gun fired, it was targeted for reply-soon, there was only machinegun fire.
Off the ramps, in the shallows, M-48 Sabra Upgrade tanks roared onto the beach, led by MCLIC carriers, lobbing their line-charges across the sand to clear mines and obstacles.
The Assault force stormed forward, rushing enemy defenders who were already dealing with artillery and air-strikes from the coalition forces.
"Lord, look at that..." Sgt. Ezekiel Ngoc commented from the TC's hatch of 2-B-6, "...they're burning up there."
His gunner and loader just grunted, and he triggered a "Surprise gift"-the tank was equipped with a 40-tube 2 inch Rocket-launcher pack.
A rope of tracers reached out from the beach, and the rockets followed the tracer-trail back.
Seconds later, the machinegun position erupted.
"Targeting data." his gunner commented, looking at the screen at his position.
"We're in range?" Ezekiel asked.
"Roger that, there's a hardened bunker the bombers didn't get about a thousand to our left, looks like Ten inch guns."
He nodded, and dropped into the tank's belly, as their driver accellerated up the sandy slope, following the path cleared by the MCLIC. Behind them, the landing-boat, emptied of passengers, exploded and rolled inder the punishment of the heavy guns in the bunker.
"Target his opening."
The turret slewed as the loader slammed a penetrator into the breech.
On their right, 2-B-7 fired her first "Heavy" shot.
The bunker's concrete face cratered on the NVS, but the shot was high.
"Centre it, Deke..." Ezekiel said, as the guns fired again, and the net related that another landing-craft had been hit-this one filled with infantrymen.
"Got it. Shot away." L. Corporal Deke Sommers said blandly.
The Sabra's 5-inch main gun barked rudely, hurling a meter-long penetrator at 2750 Feet Per Second into the hardened emplacement's openeing.
White and yellow fire Belched out, and the ground shock shook the 65 ton tank.
"Damn I'm Good!"
Ezekiel grabbed the mic, and informed the fleet that the last heavy emplacement was cleared.
"Let 'em know who's coming, Bravo." was the reply from Captain Jian, commander of Bravo Troop.
"You heard the man, begin Psyops." Ezekiel said.

Huddled in a trench-line hastily dug on the bluff, a Phyrrician soldier heard it coming from the advancing enemy armour. "What's that sound?" he asked his friend.
The Berm in front of them shook, and burst from enemy shells.
"Sounds like... no...it can't be!" his friend said.
The next thing they saw, was a tank crawling up over their position, cupola and coaxial guns firing, while speakers mounted on the outside played "The Mousketeer Song", and big, heavy bullets ripped into the ground around them, and the sound of men shouting in a foreign language came charging in behind it.

The Plague Rats had come to Europe again.

Sybota, roughly the same time...

"...we've already begun landing there, it's Oh-Two-Thirty." Elizabeth Ngo informed Pyrrhus, "My arrival was...delayed. Oh, and AMANDA is my Daughter, I'm the rather less-than famous mom." She offered her hand. He looked momentarily surprised, and shook it. "I see... wait, you were Chancellor a few years ago?" he asked.
She nodded, "I was, I...retired. Stress." she added. The "Miss Innocent" look that accompanied the comment made it clear she didn't retire willingly.
"...and you're here because...?" he asked.
"Hostage, probably. Amanda's a great reader of European history-especially the history of this region. She probably felt that you would feel more confident holding a member of the ruling family of at least one ally-she bases it on reading...classics. I'm also here in case something goes horribly wrong, because Li and General Nguyen will, at least, Listen to me-their Nationalism might be a problem if things go sour otherwise. Our people don't often take well to orders for withdrawal-we haven't since the Plague War."
She pointed at the map, "Given what our recon units were able to observe over the last few weeks, their defenses are weakened here, here, and here-and if our boys inside the city are telling me correctly, there will be at least one War-Crimes trial for a Colonel-he massacred diplomats and civilians in the Embassy Circle."
Her fists clenched as she said it.
"Unofficially, what will you do about the use by this 'admiral's' allies of a Bio-Terror weapon? I know what my people would do, but I am told you Europeans find some punishments...extreme, even with monsters."
Pyrrhus looked thoughtful, but did not answer her question directly.

"Admiral, Phyrrus has informed us that we can use Buthrotum for fleet supply." Captain Harrington informed De Soto.

De Soto acknowledged the Captain. "Very well, then that's what we'll use. Inform Fleet Command that they need to tell the Air Force to get their transports in the air when we tell them to. In the meantime, get CAG to launch those Weasels in preparation for general airstrikes, we're going to close to bombardment range and start shelling the living hell out of those bastards."

"Aye aye, sir." Harrington turned towards the CAG and said, "Get those birds in the air, we need to take out those damn SAM sites if we want to bomb anything."

Not thirty minutes later both the Titania and Oberon each launched a wing of twelve A/F-117Xs that were modified to hunt down and snuff out SAM sites. Even though each aircraft only carried six HARMs a piece, their improved stealth gave them a significant advantage over any would-be ground-based adversaries. The best part of it was was that the HARMs were totally passive, so the only warning the SAM sites had was one or two seconds of the aircraft revealing itself and that was only if their radars could differentiate them from the air clutter overhead.


OOC: That's 24 aircraft with six missiles each and figure that Wild Weasel aircraft usually use one or two missiles per radar source.

VA-112 was having a turkey-shoot, the Rebel SAM sites would light up their radar, and eat HARMs- the easily detectable profiles of the F-100NK fighter-bombers, combined with their advanced Avionics packages made them even more successful now, than they were when the ancestor of the type-the F-100D, was used in the China Wars.
The way it worked, was that a SAM site would illuminate, looking for a lock-on. This RF energy would be picked up by the extensive phased-array recievers in the target-bird's wings, the data would be triangulated by an onboard computer, which would then "Advise" the rest of the formation of the threat. the next designated "Shooter" would fire his Missile based on the threat-plot, which had been calculated in less than a second and broadcast over the linked network.
The NK 2 HARM was a simple device, really-a tuneable radar reciever with multiprocessor sitting on the end of a solid-fuel rocket with a forty-mile range that accellerates to Mach 6. The "Warhead" being likewise simple, and robust-a Depleted-Uranium penetrator head backed by a base-fused lump of C-4 the size of a basketball.
The whole unit weighs only 500 lbs, and costs less than a used Buick in Bolivia. How complicated does something that doesn't emit need to be, after all?
Against ADA installations, the answer is "Not very".
The fun part of the NK 2 is that it works almost as well against Airborne targets-the targeting radar of an enemy fighter moving at mach 2 isn't that different from the terminal-guidance signal of an inbound SAM, and the "Locking Attempt" is detectable before Lock is achieved.
So far, VA-112 wasn't running into airborne opposition, and the secondary explosions from the SAM sites down below were a strong indicator that the NK-2 missiles were doing their jobs rather well.
"Jammer detected." the Flight leader said.
"Roger that, groundbound jamming...switching to SoJac."
Jammers put out a lot of radio-frequency noise, basically in hopes of confusing or burning out advanced avionics and detection systems.
SoJac, the "Other" missile carried, makes the NK-2 look positively complicated- a simple radio-homing head on a very fast "Kinetic Kill" missile, the whole thing costs less than a used Chevy in Bolivia, and weighs a grand total (including boosters) of 250 lbs.
The jamming noise from whatever ground station was generating it, ceased in a flash of impact less than two seconds after being detected, the victim of something moving nearly eight times the speed of sound directly at it.
The great weakness in using these as primary weapons-loads, is that they rely on the enemy seeing you and trying to kill you.
Sometimes, he succeeds.
the missile launched by their latest "Customer" blew out the cannister before his radar brought "Joy and Peace" in.
This missile could see pretty well-the X-band radar in its nosecone having a fairly good range, and it being in Terminal Guidance phase, after all.
Bang.
The current "Bird Dog" for the formation converted from a fighter, to a fireball in less than a second-This process coinciding with the reciept, by the ADA installation, of Two NK-2 HARM missiles, one slightly "Off-centre" because of an inopportune radio transmission from the control van.
"Joy" serviced the Radar, while "Peace" serviced the control van.
ever seen what happens to a Phased-Array Radar when you push ten pounds of Depleted uranium into it at Mach-6 (and, thanks to gravity, accellerating...), then set off a baskteball-sized lump of Composition Four right underneath the hole?
Yes, someone, (most likely the man signed for the radar set) will be most unhappy-having 20 tonnes of radar set holed, then thrown 30 feet in the air isn't good for the equipment.
Of course, if he were the poor gentleman who keyed the radio in the command van, then his problems are...well... "Definitely Over."

Oops, double post!

3rd Fleet Flag ship CVS-3 Hall
location: 10 miles from Corcyra
7th and 22nd regiment
Location: Corcyra Whisky Tango Foxtrot Beachhead.
"All ships open fire, Clear the beach for our boys." The ships Liberator, Raven, and Mauler began firing at the Rebel positions on the beach as the landing craft from the Assault ships and Helicopters Charged toward the shore to drop off there Cargo. the 7th armored regiment and 22 Naval Landing forces regiment (Marines) the CV-5 Queen Bee launched her ground support aircraft F/A 18's and A10s modified for carrier landing. they raced toward the beach and began dropping their ordinance
"30 seconds lock and load." a Color sergeant Yelled to the soldiers in the chopper the men Checked their weapons. Color sergeant Reglan checked his Rifle and made sure it was ready to be used as soon as he hit got off the chopper
"5..4..3..2..1 GO GO GO!." Reglan yelled as he jumped out of the chopper along with his other soldiers the Regiment had landed. his Section had landed in a quiet spot on the Beach he heard A nasty firefight about 200 yards off. "lets move soldiers we got to secure this beach. his Section of men began heading toward the fire fight. As they moved out the landing Craft hit the beach and began dropping off soldiers.

Embassy Circle
"Come on lets get out here man before they get us and kill us." Junior Private Jumsec said to his friend as they and the other three survivors began moving
'guys over here in this storm drain." Private first class Spears said pointing toward the drain opening. "lets go." the men ran into the drain. Spears turned on his light on his helmet to see in the drain. he lifted his Rifle at the Nuevo Kowloon troops hiding in the Drain "friend or Foe?" he asked sternly.

OOC: maybe some housekeeping is needed for clarification

Corcyra is more than just an island, it is the Capital and largest city of Phyrric. It has 26 million people and several buildings are over 100 stories in height, the tallest being 146 stories.

Flying over Corcyra is not like flying over farmlands, a pilot not paying strict attention can find himself inturrupting an executive giving his secretary the slam as flying through a canyon would be easier due to skywalks, elevated bullet trains, tall buildings, radio towers, monuments, etc.

Between buildings would be an excellent place to position radar and SAM sites, a plane flying overhead would hear a tone and that is the last thing they would ever hear as there would be about a 2 second delay before impact.

I am not saying it is this way throughout, but bear in mind this would be the ultimate urban warfare and open bombing would possibly kill hundreds of innocents. Imagine invading a city twice the size of NYC and this is what you have.

Corcyra is an island as well, there is no where to evacuate the populous, they are all there as with 50K of Antiachus forces. There are open areas and if one wanted to stage for entry into the city, that position would be on the south side of the island where the population is low, the location of the Intercontinental Skyport, and the area is far more open. I will make the presumption that is where the naval bombardments and air strikes were taking place as not to calculate thousands and thousands of kills. There is no real need to change any posts, just asking to keep this in mind when making posts.

I will make an IC post a tad later tonight ot tomorrow morning.

OOC: hey does anybody know what became of my people that were evacuated from Embassy circle and where there location is?

3rd Fleet Flag ship CVS-3 Hall
location: 10 miles from Corcyra
7th and 22nd regiment
Location: Corcyra Whisky Tango Foxtrot Beachhead.
"All ships open fire, Clear the beach for our boys." The ships Liberator, Raven, and Mauler began firing at the Rebel positions on the beach as the landing craft from the Assault ships and Helicopters Charged toward the shore to drop off there Cargo. the 7th armored regiment and 22 Naval Landing forces regiment (Marines) the CV-5 Queen Bee launched her ground support aircraft F/A 18's and A10s modified for carrier landing. they raced toward the beach and began dropping their ordinance
"30 seconds lock and load." a Color sergeant Yelled to the soldiers in the chopper the men Checked their weapons. Color sergeant Reglan checked his Rifle and made sure it was ready to be used as soon as he hit got off the chopper
"5..4..3..2..1 GO GO GO!." Reglan yelled as he jumped out of the chopper along with his other soldiers the Regiment had landed. his Section had landed in a quiet spot on the Beach he heard A nasty firefight about 200 yards off. "lets move soldiers we got to secure this beach. his Section of men began heading toward the fire fight. As they moved out the landing Craft hit the beach and began dropping off soldiers.

Embassy Circle
"Come on lets get out here man before they get us and kill us." Junior Private Jumsec said to his friend as they and the other three survivors began moving
'guys over here in this storm drain." Private first class Spears said pointing toward the drain opening. "lets go." the men ran into the drain. Spears turned on his light on his helmet to see in the drain. he lifted his Rifle at the Nuevo Kowloon troops hiding in the Drain "friend or Foe?" he asked sternly.



"Depends who's asking." the reply was in a lilting, asian accent, "But if you've escaped that disaster in the Embassies, you may consider yourself among those who wish you no harm." The speaker stepped out into the tiny circle of light. His skin was dead-belly white, his clothing, Black pyjamas with a single patch showing a cartoonish rat or mouse holding a rifle in moonlight, with a "2" on the upper right corner, and his eyes were hidden behind a black-tinted visor very similar to the kind of outfit a weldor might use. The Delisle silent carbine in his right hand was angled at the floor, and the pin was dropped-meaning that there was no round in the chamber.
"Who're you with?" Spears asked.
"Nuevo Kowloon Regular Army, Second Battle battalion, Bravo Company, we're laying low until nightfall, if you're quiet, you're welcome to stay, make too much noise, you're on your own." Spears relaxed a bit.
"Your Charlies didn't last long." he said.
the man nodded, "we didn't figure they would, when it dropped into the pot- we had to set something else up with the Telephones, or we might've been in that meat-grinder with 'em."
He pointed at the light, "You got a filter or something for that?"

OOC: maybe some housekeeping is needed for clarification

Corcyra is more than just an island, it is the Capital and largest city of Phyrric. It has 26 million people and several buildings are over 100 stories in height, the tallest being 146 stories.

Flying over Corcyra is not like flying over farmlands, a pilot not paying strict attention can find himself inturrupting an executive giving his secretary the slam as flying through a canyon would be easier due to skywalks, elevated bullet trains, tall buildings, radio towers, monuments, etc.

Between buildings would be an excellent place to position radar and SAM sites, a plane flying overhead would hear a tone and that is the last thing they would ever hear as there would be about a 2 second delay before impact.

I am not saying it is this way throughout, but bear in mind this would be the ultimate urban warfare and open bombing would possibly kill hundreds of innocents. Imagine invading a city twice the size of NYC and this is what you have.

Corcyra is an island as well, there is no where to evacuate the populous, they are all there as with 50K of Antiachus forces. There are open areas and if one wanted to stage for entry into the city, that position would be on the south side of the island where the population is low, the location of the Intercontinental Skyport, and the area is far more open. I will make the presumption that is where the naval bombardments and air strikes were taking place as not to calculate thousands and thousands of kills. There is no real need to change any posts, just asking to keep this in mind when making posts.

I will make an IC post a tad later tonight ot tomorrow morning.



The city was a jungle-for Helo pilots accustomed to Jungles, it was almost home-like- for Helicopter Attack squadron Two, the dangers were very much like the Highlands bordering Cambodia-including the chance that one of those buildings contained a Stinger or Grail team, waiting for a chance to kill a helo.
The AH-1Y attack choppers carved through the city ahead of the lead elements of the 1st Armoured Division-acting as both scout, and relay-station for the targeting systems of the tanks. "Damn, this is going to suck..." WO 3 Gerald Ford commented, guiding his bird between two enormous skyscrapers. His Weapons Operator, Janice Tziu grunted, sweeping the area with her eyes and the sensitive camera of the chin-turret. "Yeah, tight... crap, this is worse than the Hun-Sa op-at least there, you didn't have goddamned wires strung at seven-hundered plus."
the lead chopper turned north at an intersection, and exploded in a flash of detonating SAM-meets Chopper.
"Where'd That come from!" Ford asked.
The chin turret swept north as the helo jerked to a stop just at the corner of the building.
"Stinger team, moving East." She said, and the chopper's main gun burped depleted-uranium.
"Got 'em." she said with satisfation.
the Ford glanced down at her screens. "That's not All you got, Janice-jesus..."
She snarled back at him, "It's not my fault they used a middle-school for a staging point! Christ, Gerry!"
He sighed, "I hope to god there weren't any kids in there..."
She snapped back at him, "When a Terrorist has a Hostage, and he's using the Hostage for a shield, you shoot through the Hostage and give their family a damn Medal!"
The WO shook his head, "Not with the Europeans, you don't..."
She grunted again, "Look, Attack Helos have a short lifespan, right? If we live, the worse they'll do is court-martial us-but we gotta live for that to happen."

OOC: hey does anybody know what became of my people that were evacuated from Embassy circle and where there location is?

OOC:On my carrier, the Hechicero

Outskirts of Corcyra City, coming through the suburbs...

The quiet of the predawn was shattered with the blare of loudspeakers playing the Mickey-Mouse March over the grinding of tank-treads and the rumble of motors.
This was no subtle, stealthy, entry-it was a rude gesture at the defenders in the City itself, a dare to come out and play.
All in all, a fairly good diversion covering the arrival of Ilek-Vaad's elite forces.
Corporal Ang-Le Nixon steered his tank-3B6 eastward down a quiet, shade-tree lined street. People in the houses gawked at their windows as the armour rolled by, some of the vehicles showing pockmarks from storming the defenses on the beach, only fifteen Kilometers away.
The tankers were being very careful not to damage the civilian vehicles parked on the street, and they were avoiding yards-but, there was no question that this was a force not born of Phyrric-the tanks were, for one thing, too old-looking, with high, rounded turrets made angular by add-on armour, and the grunt and thunder of piston-turbodiesels instead of the howl of Gas-Turbines emitted by Phyrric's own primary MBT's.
If the tanks themselves weren't alien enough, the infantrymen walking next to them, in their tiger-striped fatigues, steel-pot helmets, and "Dated" looking equipment, were a sure sign that Antiachus' regiments weren't the ones headed into the city itself.
"Um...maybe we ought to warn them?" Ang-Le asked his TC, who was also Company Commander.
"Good point..." Captain Han-Chu'an switched the PA from "Psyops" to "Address", cutting off the music from all the tanks at one time.
"<People of Corcyra, please remain in your homes, or seek shelter in your basements until the fighting is over. We mean you no harm, and we will leave when we have completed our mission.>" He hit the button on that, and fiddled with controls, adding it between choruses in the Mickey-Mouse song. The music picked up again, but in the "Loop time" between, the message was re-broadcast.
"What did you say?" Ang asked his TC.
"I told them, in 'Greek', that they should stay in their homes or hide until the fighting is over, and that we do not mean them harm, and we will leave when our mission is completed here." Captain Chu'an told his driver.
"Ah! good... when did you learn to speak 'Greek'?" the Corporal asked, guiding the tank skillfully around a car parked at an angle, rear-deck into the street.
"I didn't, I just read that card the Colonel handed out." the Captain said, "I can't understand this European Gibberish-it's worse than listening to an American!"

Losses since the start of the landing: 10 M-41 Upgraded tanks (40 personnel), 6 M-48 Sabra MBT's (24 personnel), 218 Infantrymen, 7 SP howitzers, 34 Naval personnel, 4 F-100NK, 1 A-10B (Carrier conversion), 3 AH-1Y helicopters, 3 UH-1H helicopters, 1 Destroyer, 2 landing barges.

Terra Malus Armed Forces GHQ

The command center was abuzz with activity. The command staff was closely monitoring the situation of the Expeditionary Fleet off Corcyra. Amid all the hubbub, the High Commander assessed the overall situation. Losses have been heavy but not critical. The carriers are conducting round-the-clock missions in support of allied ground forces albeit with Ilek-Vaadian aircraft. The battleships may have been too damaged to provide artillery support but the remaining cruisers and destroyers have stepped up and kept the rebel forces from slaughtering the troops landing on the beachheads. It will take time to land all 5 brigades and their equipment, but with the harbor secured it would only be a matter of time before all ground forces are at place. With the airbase at Buthrotum still loyal to Pyrrhus and the relative stability following the surrender of several rebel battle fleets, Terra Malus' own Death's Head bombers would have a base to operate from. 40 would be deployed as well as 100 Orions configured to fighter-bomber mode.

The High Commander felt a wave of relief sweep over him, the first since the engagement off Corcyra. If the Ilek-Vaadian reinforcements didn't arrive, the situation would most certainly be different. Instead of landing troops and conducting ground-support missions, the Expeditionary Fleet would most certainly be at the bottom of the sea.

"I'll have to personally thank the Supreme Republican Commander. He saved our collective hides that day. I'll promise to give him a case of whisky at the next scheduled war games," the High Commander thought to himself.

Off the coast of Corcyra the Battleship Tetzcatlipoca began doing very strange things. Under very heavy escort it moved to winthin a mile of the landing zone. The rear of the ship then retracted it's gun turrets and opened, revealing a pair of large cranes that immediately began offloading several hundred large containers and dropping then into the sea. About an hour after the first 'cases' were dropped, the Terra Mali and Nueovo Kowloon troops on the beach were positively astounded when a large (nearly 14' tall) tank drove right of the water. It paused shuddered as bilge tanks released sea water, the turret turned and opened extending it's 280mm howitzer and the side sponsons opened, revealing 2 30mm chain guns. The skin of the beast flickered and then took on the colour and patterns of it surrounding, several more of these tanks began emerging like clockwork, the tanks then extended long (3') steel claws from between their treads and began to barrel at top speed (20mph!) up the beach and towrds the city! Soon the 200 of the monstrous Chok-Mool super heavy battletanks were moving on the city, chain guns blazing at any infantry encountered and it's massive howitzer leveling enemy emplacements from miles off.

The Supreme Republican Coammander was in the commanders seat of the lead Chok-Mool, status reports were streaming in constanly from Teztcatlipoca Fire Control he clicked on his com "What is the status of the Retaliatory Guard and the rest of the Naval guard? " Fire Control responded "Two days off sir, we will be at full deployment in a matter of 48 hours."

He smiled "Excellent, Antiachus' islands will fall one by one...........Fire Control, tell Colonel Aldred 'Game On'"

"Yes sir, I'll tell him right away."

******
Aboard the Hechicero Colonel Aldred prepped his 'shark' a portable under water sled that was shaped and looked like, a shark. He had packed it's nose with what he would need, he checked it over one last time when the Deck Commander came over to him "Colonel, The Supreme Republican Commander says 'Game On'"

Aldred nodded "Time to make the doughnuts." he hit the winch control and climbed aboard the 'shark' as it went of the side. Once under water he sped off towards Crete at exactly the same speed as, you guessed it, a shark...............

At Corcyra:

Flashes of explosions and tracers can be seen throughout the city and its outskirts. Occasionally, a blast can be seen in the reflection of a window as an aircraft is hit with a SAM and the same windows shattering from the shockwave.

Down Broadway Blvd, the Colonel is ordering maneuvers when he hears the sound of a single engine prop making its way at an extremely low altitude.

"What the hell is this? Is someone going to take it out or what? Is this the best that Pyrrhus can send...a mustang?" as he starts to laugh hysterically.

Before too long, the puny little mustang delivers its gift to the rebels as two 50 gallon cannisters drop from each wing and the mustang hard banks upward. They bounce off the street below a few times, hit something more solid to shatter the containers releasing the spray of sticky fuel that causes fireball after fireball down the street, igniting everything it sticks to. Windows shatter, people ignite, cars explode, sparks and chunks of debris go in every direction as the napalm bounces in the corridor of the street, causing flame and explosions for several hundred yards.

As the cannisters are relased, the colonel recognizes what has just been dropped and dives into the window of a jewelry store, cuts himself up in the process, gets up, runs through the store, busts down a door just in time for the oxygen to be sucked out of the store and ignites. The colonel gets thrown back out into the street as he watches fire consume everything around him. He manages to crawl his way to a dumpster that was nearby after he landed in the street. The dumpster itself get extremely hot and quickly bakes what is inside.

As fast as the fireballs and explosions happened, it resides with patches of fires from humans and consumption lay throughout the street. With burns, cuts and small pieces of glass stuck in his body, the colonel start to yell...."What the F**k...what the f**k! That primitive SOB! Try to kill me eh?!" He gets to his feet, looks at the sky and throws the bird. "You missed me! Why don't you just come back and try that again!" as he is ripping off his shirt that is smoldering from the heat.

Dead from the attack: 28 civilians, 141 troops, 5 armor, 1 mobile radar
*****
At the Skyport:

Several F22's are proceeding to take out Imperial units that have the Skyport secured. All flights had been cancelled and the terminal is packed with people that were attempting to leave the city. A tank off of 17-35 is hit with a missile and the turrent comes flipping off. A SAM gets a lock and homes in on the fighter as it makes evasive maneuvers to avoid being hit, off into the distance the fighter and missile go racing off.

Another fighter locks onto the SAM site and takes it out but not before it gets a second shot off and takes out the fighter.

A few minutes pass and in the sky forms a line of white circles. The sound of engines can be heard but the plane dumping off the troopers cannot be seen due to the darkness. Man after man is dumped out the back of the squadrons of transports that are delivering the men. A light passes over one of the craft to reveal a blue and white insignia of the Phrric Air Force. Republican guards are on their way to liberation.

5000 men dropped onto the AOA and proceed to secure the field, terminal, and tower.

On the beach, at sunrise...

The enemy's return-fire was considerably damped as the first rays of the morning sun shone across the landing zone. The gigantic Ilek-Vaadian tank rolled up on the carefully emplaced "Roadmat" set down by 1st Division's Eleventh Engineering Battalion. "Goodness! Is that thing allied with us??" PFC Alvin Thap asked.
"Yeah, I think it is... it is-see the marks? Friendly." his buddy Che-Nui Dong said.
"It's huge!" the young combat engineer commented. The enormous howitzer in the front of the giant tank elevated, and fired-kicking up a cloud of dust-particles and temporarily stunning the men nearby.
Alvin got up with the help of his entrenching tool. "It's loud!" he mouthed. Che-Nui nodded, and the two road-diggers tried to shake away the ringing sensation enough to hear.
The Terra-Mali landing forces were visible a ways down the sandy shore, and they were also, apparently, stunned by the sound of the enormous gun.
"I think I stay away from that thing!" Alvin shouted. His buddies agreed, and the engineers rushed to lay the next stretch of support-structure as additional allied units approached the beach to unload additional soldiers.

Inside the city, two blocks from Broadway...

Captain Chu'an ordered the rest of the company to spread out as they entered the high-density section of town. The M-48 Sabra tanks "Jogged" along, their main guns chambered with APDSU rounds because enemy tanks were in the area.
enemy tanks, like the pair that just turned up the street towards the column.
"Lock!" the gunner said.
"Fire." Chu-an commented dryly.
The M-1 Abrams series is the premier main battle tank, arguably the finest piece of combat hardware ever put on treads, thanks to its low-profile, advanced electronics, raw speed, and heavy armour.
It can hit and kill with its main gun at extremely long ranges, thanks to its advanced targeting and main gun stabilization systems, and at those ranges, it's a difficult target.
But...
Urban fighting isn't done at ranges where the Krupp-made smoothbore can be used to best advantage, at less than three hundered yards, the contest becomes who can get the first-shot off quickest.
the Four-Point-five inch main gun on the Sabra Turret fires a round virtually identical to the M-1's tank-killing round-at around 500 FPS faster, and the NK tanks were already Locked, loaded, and looking.
1B6 and 2B6 followed suit a half-second later, as the second enemy tank fired his shot at the lead vehicle.
This was knife-fighting distance, and casualties in a tank fight this close simply Are.
Capt. Chu'an didn't even feel it when his machine brewed up from the second Rebel tank's all-too accurate hit-death was just that fast.
In the street-fight, so far, the NK's were doing one-to-one, but unlike their foes, they weren't alone.
More were coming...

The Chok-Mool battletanks slowly reached the city proper. The giant tanks had already driven through several buildings being used by the enemy and had continued to chew up any enemy combatants in sight. The massive tanks paused, idling as their rear ramp deployed. On board each of the tanks was 8 Red Jaguar Commandos, they now disembarked and scattered as the Cok-Mool gave them cover.

Staffa Seargent Assad looked back to the Supreme Republican Commander "We have reports of enemy M-1's moving in ."

He nodded "Good have the Jaguar make visual contact with them and lock them with their tactical computers, then we'll send them a round or two. Have each unit spot for it's own Chok-Mool "

She nodded and relayed his orders. He then switched on his tac-view and was able to toggle through his troops tactical computers and get their GPS position and see exactly what they saw.

Outside the Chok-Mool the Red Jaguar melted into the scenery with their active camoflage coats , Colonel Erdogan whispered to his men, fan out, find enemy armour and strongpoints, but do not engage, we are the eyes of the Chok-Mool, get a target lock and feed the Chok-Mool then move on. Kill any enemy that you can."

The Chok-Mool had no need to engage enemy tanks, all they had to do was wait for Red Jaguar to SEE a tank and then they would lob a high-velocity APDS round right onto them , with the satellite tracking engaged the computers would even zero right onto a moving tank.

*******

The 9th Red Jaguar Command began filtering into the city ahead of Phyrrus' forces moving slowly and silently. They were stealthily reconning the enemy positions and killing enemy pickets silently, mostly with their knives. Some of the larger, more experienced and stronger Red Jaguar preferred to sneak behind an opponent and then bit their neck and tear out a nice chunk of spine. These veterans were paticularly feared , Antiachus' men began coming upon bodies of their own men, killed in in horrific fashion, noiselessly and efficently.

into the city itself...

While the Phyrrician tanks were hammering away, the infantry forces met for the second time.
This time, things were a bit different. The NK's weren't unsupported light forces fighting virtually alone against massive opposition.
This time, instead of pistol-calbre carbines and knives, High-powered rifles, grenades, and machineguns were met with higher-powered rifles, grenades, and Machineguns, fired by men who'd grown up using them.
The accuracy difference, and the aggression level were on a scale wholly different from the night-operations troops.
These weren't "buying time" or "Setting a Distraction". The NK troops didn't fire blindly, each shot was aimed, each bullet addressed to specific targets. It was, for the Rebel Infantry, like trying to fight a hundered snipers all at once.

(OOC: Hmmm... OK, not really knowing the strategic importance of any of these, I'll say that my troops make a raid in Crete as it's easy to spell/type, lol.)

Order of Importance (top 10):

Corcyra
Sicily
Crete
Euboea
Rhodes
Cephallonia (only island under Pyrrhus control)
Lesbos
Thera
Samos
Salamis

(keep in mind, these islands are roughly three times the size of the RL counterpart islands, Crete in RL is 150 miles long, in Phyrric 420 miles long)

OK, make it Corcyra, then. :)

At Sybota:

"I think you better take a seat sir"

"Why?"

"We have some unexpected news coming in from the PIA (Phyrric Intelligence Agency), the Alexander has been spotted in international waters, roughly 1600 miles off our western shore, it is moving in a straight line bearing 225. We have reposts that it engaged a neutral ship and a skirmish had taken place, unknown damage.... Unknown location of Antiachus.... Vice Admiral Johnston wishes peace negotiations and summit in Syracuse on Sicily. The Islands of Crete, Rhodes, Euboea, and Lesbos has not responded to Vice Admiral Johnston or any peace negotiations."

"Inform Johnston that he must come here. If he is indeed interested in peace, then it will happen in Corcyra. We expect an unconditional surrender of Imperial Forces."

"Aye sir."
*****

At Corcyra Skyport:

"The Skyport is ours sir."

"What is the status of air control? Are we able to move people in and out at this time?"

"No friendlies have been shot down in the last 2 hours sir, it appears that we and our allies have secured the airspace on Corcyra."

"No friendlies shot down just means there is silence, does not mean there are no more units available to take them out."

"Understood sir. Your orders?"

"Thicken up our line and lets prepare to take the city back, I want an additional 75K men here before we settle for the night. Get me 100 pieces of armor and gather as much transport trucks as we can find. Start delivering aid and supplies to the homeless now that we have control of this area. I am sure that the people in the Skyport that have been stranded here for some time need attention. Inform the regional hospitals to prepare for an influx of wounded and refugees, we are going to open the Skyport and start moving. Send word to Pyrrhus that we have craft available now if he needs them."
*****
Inside Corcyra

"Sir, we are losing forces left and right. We are down 15% in the last 4 hours, shall we retreat to a more stable area and regroup?"

The colonel, having his wounds attended to by a corpsman looks at the Capt. "Are you serious? See this bird? This is why I have this rank: I have never lost a battle and not going to lose one now. This is what we are going to do and tell the men that valor will win this war. A feigned withdrawal. When they think they have us on the run...." the colonel gets up, opens a map of Corcyra and starts his instructions, "we will turn our forces around here and here, hit them hard and fast. Place forces here and here as to bottleneck the situation and force the closure, neither of us will have anywhere to go and we will overrun them. Make sure these streets here and here are blocked by damages trucks and place a vulcan nest at each one, I want to mow these a-holes down. We will not take any prisoners in this assault. Place our armor units here and here in the closure of the rubbage around this and this building. It will help to dampen any radar contacts but still give us a 180 degree line of fire. get going, we do not have much time."

"We will be ready soon sir."

OOC: This will most likely be the last stand fight of Corcyra

At Sybota:

"I think you better take a seat sir"

"Why?"

"We have some unexpected news coming in from the PIA (Phyrric Intelligence Agency), the Alexander has been spotted in international waters, roughly 1600 miles off our western shore, it is moving in a straight line bearing 225. We have reposts that it engaged a neutral ship and a skirmish had taken place, unknown damage.... Unknown location of Antiachus.... Vice Admiral Johnston wishes peace negotiations and summit in Syracuse on Sicily. The Islands of Crete, Rhodes, Euboea, and Lesbos has not responded to Vice Admiral Johnston or any peace negotiations."

"Inform Johnston that he must come here. If he is indeed interested in peace, then it will happen in Corcyra. We expect an unconditional surrender of Imperial Forces."

"Aye sir."
*****

At Corcyra Skyport:

"The Skyport is ours sir."

"What is the status of air control? Are we able to move people in and out at this time?"

"No friendlies have been shot down in the last 2 hours sir, it appears that we and our allies have secured the airspace on Corcyra."

"No friendlies shot down just means there is silence, does not mean there are no more units available to take them out."

"Understood sir. Your orders?"

"Thicken up our line and lets prepare to take the city back, I want an additional 75K men here before we settle for the night. Get me 100 pieces of armor and gather as much transport trucks as we can find. Start delivering aid and supplies to the homeless now that we have control of this area. I am sure that the people in the Skyport that have been stranded here for some time need attention. Inform the regional hospitals to prepare for an influx of wounded and refugees, we are going to open the Skyport and start moving. Send word to Pyrrhus that we have craft available now if he needs them."
*****
Inside Corcyra

"Sir, we are losing forces left and right. We are down 15% in the last 4 hours, shall we retreat to a more stable area and regroup?"

The colonel, having his wounds attended to by a corpsman looks at the Capt. "Are you serious? See this bird? This is why I have this rank: I have never lost a battle and not going to lose one now. This is what we are going to do and tell the men that valor will win this war. A feigned withdrawal. When they think they have us on the run...." the colonel gets up, opens a map of Corcyra and starts his instructions, "we will turn our forces around here and here, hit them hard and fast. Place forces here and here as to bottleneck the situation and force the closure, neither of us will have anywhere to go and we will overrun them. Make sure these streets here and here are blocked by damages trucks and place a vulcan nest at each one, I want to mow these a-holes down. We will not take any prisoners in this assault. Place our armor units here and here in the closure of the rubbage around this and this building. It will help to dampen any radar contacts but still give us a 180 degree line of fire. get going, we do not have much time."

"We will be ready soon sir."

OOC: This will most likely be the last stand fight of Corcyra

HHC 3rd Battalion, 1st of the 1st...

"They're giving too easily." Major Chi Nguyen said, looking down the boulevard. "Whatchu think?" Sgt. Major Brahe asked.
"I think he's hoping to bottleneck us here, and here." Chi said, gesturing at a map. "He'll probably have heavy antitank weapons on these streets, and it's a bet he'll have some men packed into these buildings-the spot's just about perfect for an 'L' trail ambush." the young officer said, and rolled the map up. "Have Alpha and Bravo move out wide and come in from the south side of town instead of straight west like they've been running, If I'm right, he's got those intersections mined, and someone call back to the fleet and see if they can get those Night-Rat boys on the horn-I think this guy's a Field-Fighter, he probably doesn't have any assets in the sewers. Charlie, Delta, and the Scout companies fan out on these three streets here, and link commo-I want the Heavys back in reserve, though-they're gonna need to move laterally to back up our guys... Gee, should I call home and tell them Colonel Huang is dead?" Chi added suddenly.
"Yeah, Sir, that's the way it's supposed to be done...crap, I'll be glad when this shit's over with." The two men stepped away from the shattered Mobile Command Post.
"Me too, top, me too..." Chi said, and climbed back up the side of his own Tank. "move 'em out, boys."

Casualties since last report:
153 infantrymen dead, 6 M-48 Sabra Tanks, 11 M-41 Upgrade tanks, 2 Mobile Headquarters vehicles with Field-grade or higher officers, 2 additional AH-1Y Helicopter Gunships, 1 A-10B strike-bomber (building impact), All personnel from Alpha Co. 1st Battalion 3rd Regiment of the 1st Armoured Division (Lost due to building collapse just off Broadway).

"Admiral de Soto, sir, ONI reports spotting a Phyrric battleship in international waters about twelve hundred miles from our current position. They want you to detach a task group to take the Alexander out and if possible to capture Antiachus."

"Very well, Captain, you are to join the Titania to the second battlegroup and I'm going to take this battlegroup's surface combatants, MacGregor and MacInnes, and five subs to do the job. Inform the Task Force that I'll be transfering my flag to the MacArthur and while I'm away you have command of a new temporary command, Task Group 2 of the Phyrric Intervention Task Force and a field promotion to Rear Admiral. Oh, and inform Phyrrus that we're going after that little pecker."

Within forty-five minutes the ships of Task Group 1 were steaming along a 42 knots on a best time intercept vector. They would reach zero intercept in thirty-eight hours, but they were already in cruise missile range and would reach the four hundred mile engagement envelope of the Sea Hawk missiles in nineteen hours. Assuming they crippled or destroyed the Alexander before they reached gun range, they would close and provide assistance to any survivors and if not they would hit the Alexander until it was so much scrap metal.


OOC: Thanks for letting me know the relative position of the Alexander, Phyrric, I finally get a chance to do what I set out to do.

The Supreme Repuiblican Commander yawned and relaxed in his Chok-Mool. Reports were flooding in from the 1st Red Jaguar Command in the city, they had infiltrated far into the city and were watching Antiachus' forces. With the neartly 100 mile range of the Chok-Mool howitzers he had no intention of meeting them in the city streets.

Satff Seargent Assad glanced over at him "The rebels are setting up barriers , it looks like they are going to try and get the Kowlooninans and the Terra Malians into a protracted firefight."

Istvan nodded sheepishly "Tell the Jaguar to hold their position, mark every barrier they set up as a target. Do not hit it yet, wait until they are fully manned and the firefight has started then blow them to hell. In the meantime let's get everyone into position so that we have a clear lane of fire between the taller buildings that we can't shoot over. Let Antiachus' Colonel set up his men as he wants, and then we'll knock them down from here."

Mirai nodded " It also looks like Phyrric's forces are massing for an assault, Corcyra won't , hold much longer."

War Room, Sybota...

Elizabeth Ngo looked at the situation board, and fingered her "Guest Liason" identicard. The attack is going too well. she thought, but remained quiet, waiting for the Phyrrician officers to catch on to the obvious.
"Ahem." she cleared her throat, and stepped out of the shadows. Pyrrhus was at breakfast, leaving one of his Generals in temporary command.
"Yes?" this general asked.
"This Colonel...he is successful, yes?" she asked, pointing at the map of Corcyra.
"One of our best, why?" the man asked.
She grunted, and gestured to the markers indicating relative positions,
"He's got better, or at least, theoretically better equipment than my troops, but he's falling back. What does this tell you?"
The General looked momentarily confused, "That your people are tough customers?" he asked.
She shook her head, "Not that tough-think: He's got home-field advantage, and a hell of a lot more troops than our boys have seen so far, along with antitank and antiair weapons you can't cap with a Wild Weasel, 'cause they don't emit radar waves..."
She picked up a pointer.
"I think the reason our attacks are progressing so well, is that we're walking into an ambush." she circled a portion of the map, "These buildings-they're too tall, and too closely packed to move Helos in, and they're full of civilians, so driving those monsters the Ilek Vaadians use through 'em isn't really an option, is it? and they'll block plunging fire unless you decide you don't really Care about the folks inside."
She set the pointer down, and backed away from the map with her hands folded. She waited for him to see it.

From the "Omniscient" viewpoint, the Nuevo Kowloonese suddenly changed tactics-going from "Aggressive/Overwhelm" to "Cautious Re-inforcement" in less than an hour.
In short, they were consolidating their gains after nearly ten hours of continuous operations-and they were doing it well short of where their "Predicted" locations Should have been, based on the Coalition's successes earlier that day.
The noonday sun shone down on relative quiet-a quiet marked by the emplacement of antitank companies, the extension of "Wire", and a fairly difficult to explain activity by the Combat Engineering battalions.
After all, in an offensive, why would one start emplacing defenses along minor routes?

Task Group 1
14hrs Into Mission

They were nearing the 800 mile mark, which was when they would start launching missiles at the Alexander. Admiral de Soto turned to the Captain of the MacArthur and said, "Does ONI confirm we are on course?"

"Yes sir, they've been feeding us hourly updates for a while now, sir."

de Soto nodded in understanding, "Good, then start launching seven missiles every mile, that'll last us until just before the four hundred mile mark. When we get to that mark, we're going to launch every ASM we have at the bastard if he hasn't surrendered." The Admiral gave a sadistic smile, "Assuming he manages to somehow be intact enough not to be forced to surrender, we get to close to gun range and finish the bastard off."

Just as he finished saying that, the first seven Fasthawk cruise missiles erupted from their VLS cells, accelerated to Mach 4, and climbed to the outer edges of the atmosphere and then began a horrifyingly fast vertical descent at Mach 12 that took less than a minute to complete, the missile's millimeter-band radar making for extreme accuracy. The next two salvos were already on the way having launched seven and fourteen minutes into the first salvo's flight.


OOC: The next time I post it'll be just before my ships hit the 400 mile mark unless the Alexander has a weapon that can retaliate before then or surrenders. If there isn't a way to respond to my launches, please calculate damage for however many of the 2790 missiles launched in groups of seven hit.

(OOC: I feel a bit odd for participating so minorly & taking so long to do it... anyway, I wasn't sure; was there a definite outcome for attacks on the rail lines around Corcyra or no?)

"Vertical Envelopment" is a tactic normally used by Helicopter and Airborne troops. The concept is to bypass some obstacle and attack the enemy from inside or behind his lines.
What many Military Planners fail to consider, is that "Vertical" can also mean attacking an enemy from Below.

Corcyra is a Major city-fifty million people squeezed into an urban area-with fifty-million plus toilets, telephones, and water taps.
All of these have to be supplied.
All of these have to be serviced.
Running these lines aboveground would make the city unliveable.
Fifty Million People's worth of underground access tunnels, sewers, and storm drains is hundereds of miles of sewer, storm drain, and maintenance tunnel.
Maybe even thousands of miles, especially when one considers how long the Island has been inhabited-nearly two thousand years of continuous civilization, dating back to the first King Pyrrhus, in ancient Greek times.
That, folks, is a lot of ground to cover from a defensive standpoint.

From an Offense position, though, it's like having highways into the Enemy's most vulnerable positions.

As the Engineering and Armour battalions of the 1st Nuevo Kowloon Armoured Division fortified their positions, the 24th Infantry Regiment (Heavy) was contacting their guides, and moving out. Second Battle Battalion, the Night Rats, had been on the Island a little over two weeks now.
They had quite a bit of the tunnels, passages, and pipes mapped out and memorized, and were now moving through-guided by Night-Soldiers.
The actual Attack, would happen at sundown-it would begin from the geographical centre of the enemy's controlled areas, but the strikes would be simultaneous with a night-movement assault on the "Imperials" forward positions.
The enemy might not be caught completely off-guard, but having his ammunition, Command Posts, and barracks under assault from within...
Riflemen slid down manholes, through opened grates, and into a maze mapped by people who don't care about the darkness.
Above, the sun beat down, on the "weak" forward positions.

OOC: Phyrric, I know you want to keep the Alexander, but if you don't RP your Captain surrendering it or something I'm going to blow it to hell and give you the money for several of them as compensation.

Expeditionary Fleet Report
Imperial High Command
Athenaea Manilani

All damaged ships are undergoing repairs at Corcyra and Buthrotum. Be advised that entire 4th Infantry Division, 5th Legion has disembarked and are carrying out operations with alliance forces. Remaining operational vessels are conducting search and rescue operations for missing personnel and support operations for the ground troops. We request deployment of additional hospital and support vessels. We estimate that we have supplies for only 8 more days of operation at current level.

***************
4th Infantry Division, 5th Legion Report
Imperial High Command
Athenaea Manilani

Acceding to the request of Phyrric authorities, we have refrained from conducting armor movements, fire support, and aerial bombardment to minimize civilian casualties. Movements have been limited to small unit operations. Intel indicates that the rebels are fortifying their positions, several forward units report being pinned down by heavy, concentrated fire. We request permission to execute limited air and artillery strikes. Rebel-held sectors have been identified and civilians have been advised to evacuate.

***************
Imperial High Command to 4th Infantry Division, 5th Legion
Corcyra Area of Operations

Authority is given to proceed with necessary operations in context of prevailing battlefield conditions. Permission is granted to conduct limited airstrikes. Aircraft are to be limited to laser-guided light munitions to minimize civilian casualties. Be advised that vital infrastructure such as power plants, water, and telecommunication facilities are still off-limits. Bypass structures that cannot be taken without extensive damage.

7th Airborne Division, 5th Legion will be deployed. ETA of advance elements is 20 hours.

Expeditionary Fleet Report
Imperial High Command
Athenaea Manilani

All damaged ships are undergoing repairs at Corcyra and Buthrotum. Be advised that entire 4th Infantry Division, 5th Legion has disembarked and are carrying out operations with alliance forces. Remaining operational vessels are conducting search and rescue operations for missing personnel and support operations for the ground troops. We request deployment of additional hospital and support vessels. We estimate that we have supplies for only 8 more days of operation at current level.

***************
4th Infantry Division, 5th Legion Report
Imperial High Command
Athenaea Manilani

Acceding to the request of Phyrric authorities, we have refrained from conducting armor movements, fire support, and aerial bombardment to minimize civilian casualties. Movements have been limited to small unit operations. Intel indicates that the rebels are fortifying their positions, several forward units report being pinned down by heavy, concentrated fire. We request permission to execute limited air and artillery strikes. Rebel-held sectors have been identified and civilians have been advised to evacuate.

***************
Imperial High Command to 4th Infantry Division, 5th Legion
Corcyra Area of Operations

Authority is given to proceed with necessary operations in context of prevailing battlefield conditions. Permission is granted to conduct limited airstrikes. Aircraft are to be limited to laser-guided light munitions to minimize civilian casualties. Be advised that vital infrastructure such as power plants, water, and telecommunication facilities are still off-limits. Bypass structures that cannot be taken without extensive damage.

7th Airborne Division, 5th Legion will be deployed. ETA of advance elements is 20 hours.

A small jeep rushed up to the entrance-control point of the 5th Legion's area of operations. Aboard that jeep was a note, and a series of map coordinates. "Message for the General." the driver said, holding up a canvas map-pouch stained with blood.
Then, he passed out.
The blood was his.

General, greetings to you and good luck with whatever it is you're doing.
This is our best estimate of enemy positions based on our reconaissance of their controlled zones. (ooc: there's a list of grid coordinates in UTM format).
We will be conducting a vertical envelopement from below at 1800 hours, could you hold your operation until then?

-General Hap Nguyen,
Nuevo Kowloon 1st Armoured Division

General Hap Nguyen,
Nuevo Kowloon 1st Armoured Division

We are implementing a suspension of offensive military operations until we receive word from you. All units will be withdrawn to the perimeter we have established approximately 10 km. from the harbor. We wish you luck. Should have any need for assistance, do not hesitate to contact us. Also, thank you for sharing your intel with us, we have been unable to accurately map some of the rebel-controlled sectors.

The soldier who brought your message to us is still in surgery. He has lost a lot of blood but the medical team operating on him reports that his condition has stabilized. They would like to keep him here with us until he is safe to be transported back to your HQ.

[ooc] Bump

OOC: did someone accidentially shoot Pyrrhus? ;)

Bump.

Errrr... What's going on?!... The entire country was abducted by aliens? :lol:

BUMP

In Corcyra:

"I have a plan as I am going to be held for trial anyways, might as well have legitimate claims on me as it is. Gather all all the civilian populations that are arounb in the apartment complexes and in these buildings. We need some 'shields' and might as well be a shield of women and children. Do not place them in the open, I do not want the enemy to see what they are going to do and we are going to force the retreat of our enemies once they realize what they have done and who they have killed. Place them in the armor units and the personnel carriers, we are going to blast our way out of here and may the psychological warfare be so severe that they will need years of deep psychotherapy and counceling."

"Are you serious sir?"

Pulls his side arm, "does it look like I am serious?", cocks it, aims the site to the Majors forehead. "this is extreme, but this is how to win a revolution. If we want Empire, we have to destroy the humanity and democracy that resides within or the Empire will not last."

"As you wish sir", a bead of sweat starts to roll over the Majors cheek and down the neck. "We cannot make our way out through the subways. that avenue for our departure and regrouping has been halted sir."

"What the hell do you mean and why not?"

"The lines have been disabled sir."

"Well, whatever, I will think of something later, in the meantime, get those civilians out of those buildings, tell them it is not safe in there and to come to this gathering point for safe transfer to another location."

The troops in the area start gathering hundreds of civilians from the buildings and start packing them into the transport carriers.
*****

In the ocean:

"Missiles inbound sir, we can take out several of them, but we are alone here and cannot maneuver." reports a controlman. The ships self defense systems kick in, CIWS starts to cain, chaff explode in teh air above the ship and anti missile systems engages missiles futher out.

"Lower the flag to half mast, cut the reactor and put the white flag on the sterngate..it is over, there is no need to put ourselves to death and not take anyone with us, we have killed more than I care to know. Call to abandon ship, prepare to evacuate." orders the Captain

"It was an honor to serve with you sir, may we be held innocent in the trials that are to follow, them not having Antiachus is not in our favor, but then is that a bad thing?" says the XO.

"Bad thing, no.....Antiachus is a legendary officer for a reason, he will show himself again, I just hope I am dead at that point because if wins, we will be dead for surrendering his ship."
*****

In Sicily:

"Is the task force ready?" asks Antiachius

"We are ready to roll. We have 6 carriers and 4 battleships for the counterattack." as Vice Admiral Johnston flips through reports.

"Take a squadron of Destroyers and move them into Straits of Messina, place the frigates in a perimiter sweep of the area to hunt and kill any and all submarines. Drop sonar so that we are able to hear anyrhing that moves within 200 miles of Sicily, I want total control of the seas. Move the carriers along the coast to the north side of the island, use Sicily to mask the locations. Get the AWACS in the air to start counter measures of any electronic signatures and jam the hell out of the enemy. Lets get ready to combat the enemy and blow another punch into their forces. Once the carriers are in postion, start strakies and replenish loses from Messina Air Force Base. Move all reserves to that location for rapid deployment and supply."
*****

At the Skyport:

"We are at 40,000 and ready to go."

"Great, get me my uniform and chopper. Start the roll into the city and lets get this over with. Remember, if they surrender, take them as our brothers and treat them as humanly as possible. If they do not surrender, kill them where they stand." orders Pyrrhus.

The forces proceed northward from the Skyport, behind the army, the first flight out of Corcyra leaves to its destination of the Mars Colony.

"Send a message to the alliance that we are moving."

OOC: sorry about the delay, had illness then something came up in RL with a career option. Thanks for the patience.

Location: Corcyra


" captian take your company and link up wiht any friendly forces on this Island." the comader of the regement said.
"yes sir."
"and commander, i expect to dine in whats left of our embassy this evening, get it done."
"yes sir. Sir waht do i have by way of support?"
"the tanks are being unloaded right now. it's not like they will do much good anyways. Tanks are suited for city fighting, and we can't pound the city into oblivion, so your men will just have to have to do what you can. the good thing though is you have some anti tank weapons."
'yes sir, i will get it done."
"the rest of the regement will follow once you have made contact with our allies good luck captian." Bravo company began moving from the beach head they were meeting little resistance
OOC: Sorry, i know this Post is cheap, but i was up late last night.

Just before 400-mile mark

"Admiral, satellite reports show Alexander flying a white flag, they've also cut their reactors. What are your orders?" Harrington asked.

"Cancel ASM launch, close in on their position, and get any survivors aboard any ships that have the room. When you find the Captain and XO, bring them here, I'd like to talk to them." Admiral de Soto answered.

Nine and a half hours later
Near Alexander and survivors

As soon as the battlegroups closed to the Alexander, the cruiser HIMS St. Herman of Alaska began repeating, "Attention overboard sailors, swim towards the nearest ship. You will be given the use of bathing facilities, warm and clean clothes, and food. You will not be harmed." This was repeated over and over again until all the sailors could be pulled aboard. After the Captain and his XO were showered and had their uniforms cleaned and pressed, a courtesy that wasn't extended to any other rebel sailor, they were shown to the bridge of the MacArthur.

Admiral de Soto looked out to sea for the longest time before addressing the rebel senior officer, "It takes a brave man to make the hard decision, but it also takes a coward to side with someone who is hell-bent on breaking and remaking his own country into something of his own twisted dreams. What you are makes no difference to me; you showed loyalty to your men and are no longer my enemy. We've patched up the Alexander as best we can, set her anchors, and reported her position to the loyalist navy; they'll have her in a days time if they're quick. We'll be meeting up with the rest of the fleet further up North, so you've got three days to tell me any relevant information before you're handed over to the authorities. In the mean time, you'll both be given state rooms on MacEwen and MacGregor, under guard of course."

Apartment Bloc, Corcyra, 1701 Hours...
The sound of running water should've been in the pipes.
Something was wrong.
"No toilets flushing..." Sgt. Wu said, holding up one hand.
"Yeah, I noticed." Captain Johanna Diep nodded. with one hand, she lifted the service-panel up, and slid it out, training the muzzle of a Tommy-gun around the basement-mechanical room.
"Power's still on, but..." She reached down, and helped the next man up. soon, the company was inside the building.
"Thuan, you and Chu's squad, get heading upstairs, find out what's going on, don't be seen, then get back here."

1725 Hours...
"Empty, ma'am. Looks like an evacuation." Lt. Thuan said, adding, "Rushed, looks like maybe thirty-minutes ago, since there were still meals on tables in some of the apartments."
She frowned, "Signs of sabotage?" she asked.
He shook his head, but said, "Some of the doors were kicked in, I don't think they all went willingly."
She nodded again.
"Go to the roof, Signal H-Q, it's like Hun-Sa all over again, I'll bet my left breast he's got those villagers staked out to take bullets for him, the Coward." The Night-People trooper nodded, grabbed the SincGars, and headed up.
"Okay, mission change-we have to separate enemy from Friendlies, soldiers from Civvies..." she began outlining a plan of action.
_____________________________________________________________

HQ, 1st Armoured Division...

"We've opened up the Train tunnels and disabled the third-rails." Engineering Major Thomas Diem informed the Division commander.
"Great. have we got him blocked?" General Hap Nguyen asked around a cigar.
"Yes sir-we've got the train lines and large sewers blocked and fortified."
Hap nodded. "Good. good... Diem, do you know how long it takes the average city to go into chaos?"
Diem shook his head, "No sir."
Nguyen pointed at a supermarket. "Three days after supplies stop arriving at those, Mister Diem. Now, it's been one, since the stores stopped getting deliveries, and they've been on a drastically reduced delivery schedule for two weeks..." A communications man rushed to the General.
"Sir, We got a message from Scout Company Alpha-the apartment blocs are emptied-since there aren't any bomb-shelters, Captain Diep believes he may be using the residents as a human shield-wall... she's awaiting instructions now."
Nguyen's face turned ashy, and he sat down heavily on a crate.
"Tell her to use her best judgement. Mother of Buddha and Christ, we didn't need this... send a dispatch to the Airport, by chopper, and one to the Ilek Vaadians, and the Terra-Malis, give 'em full content, it's Pyrrhus' call, it's his country... tell all units to stand by for bad news."
The Comms man wrote it down, and headed back over to the array of communications equipment set up at the front of the TOC.
"What do you think?" the Major asked.
the General looked at him, "I think, Major, that a lot of good people are going to die horribly before we get our hands on this prick, He's expecting a ground-assault from the street-side, on the surface. We will continue our mission-plan and move as soon as we've pin-pointed this short-prick 'Colonel's' Command post."

..::Encrypted Message(4096kb)::..
TO: Phyrrus
FR: Imperial Army SOCOM
Subject: Ground and air assets

We will be sending two SSG regiments into Phyrric, they will be have the assignment of taking out important rebel leaders and targets of opportunity. We need the last known locations of any rebels you'd like to see "disappear" or captured, if it's absolutely necessary. Furthermore, we'll be sending a twelve aircraft B-7 squadron that will bomb what you want, when you want. We've also had 1st Army prepare for deployment in case your ground forces need some backup.

Around the Harbour at Corcyra the Naval Gaurd began to break it;'s defensive arc. Soon everyone saw why, cresting over the horizon were the final 4 Battle Groups and the final 4 Carrier Groupos of the Naval Guard, escorting the massiive Atlas transports of the Retaliatory Guard. Horns and sirens began to sound aboard all of Ilek-Vaad's fleet, the gathered 350 Capital ships and the unknown number of submarines below now had crushing numerical advantage, the Groups now boasted nearly 5,000 aircraft and this was not even counting the Terra Mali and Nueovo Kowloon ships. As the sirens and horns blared 4 of the massive Atlas transports barreled right at the quays of Corcyra. They smashed into them and opened their unloading ramps, first off were the Scorpion LAV's and Thunderer II battletanks of the Purifiers. The Purifiers are the famed urban combat specialists of the Retaliatorty Guard and 80,000 of them were now storming the main port of the city. At the same time the Red Jaguar Chok-Mool tanks under the direction of The Supreme Republican Commander began pounding the barricades set up by the rebels. The Chok-Mool howitzers lobbed shell after shell onto the rebels positions as the Red Jaguar that had infiltrated the city as spotters now burts forth, many of them hidden mere yards from the enemy.

*****
Command General Adan Ring had been chosen to lead his 4th Red Jaguar and the Purifiers in the primary assault. He was a man of Covenbtry and had been a Purifier Colonel before his promotion to Command General. He looked and saw the Red Jaguar massing around him "Stand down!" he shouted "The Purifiers will the first off, we'll follow their lead." The Red Jaguar fell back and began moving to the side to let the Purifiers pass.

General Ring approached Colonel Arden of the 1st Purifiers Division "My Life for the Republic, are you and your men ready ,Colonel?"

Arden nodded "We are ready sir" Colonel Arden paused and strode forward shouting at the Purifiers as he passed, his colour guard behind him unfurling the 'Beaucent' of the Purifiers, the White Flag with the Balck Maltese cross. On the Reverse side were a list of 450 victorous battles, and 1 loss. "For Coventry!" he shouted and they replied, "For The Republic!" he shouted, and they replied, "FOR THE VAAD!" he bellowed and they cheered.

The Atlas lurched as it hit the city's quay, everyone braced as the door opened and the Purifiers raced off the transports. They were urban experts, they quickly moved in avoiding the streets and instead opening manholes and heading into the sewers and heading into buildings and through them, the streets were dealy, the Purifiers always moved around and encircled the trouble spots and that is what they would do here.

OOC:
The Purifiers are armed much lighter than the Red Jaguar, they were bullet coats, but no body armour. They are armed with FN-Minimi carbines with under the barrel 20mm grenade launchers and a tactical computer. They use caseless ammunition as it is much lighter. 80% of the purifiers are trained as medics, engineers and demolitions experts. They will not go into the open streets, they will wind through buildings and sewers to get behind and around and above their targets. They move very quickly, if they get bogged down they immediately withdraw and call in an air strike. They are also more mindful of civilian casaulties than any other force and their medics will stop and help civilians before tending to even other Purifier wounded.

On the other hand the Red Jaguar will kill anything that stands between them and their targets. The human shields are useless against them and will barely slow them.............

It still looks to be a good heavy fight!

damn... lots of civvie casualties...there's going to be a price for that, I think...

Under the streets with Delta, 4/1 Infantry (light)

Captain John Vinh felt something warm drip onto his neck from the storm drain above.
He sniffed it. Blood... "christ..." he said quietly, and looked at his gathered men. "They're slaughtering those people. They don't care if it's just civvies, they don't care that they don't wan' be there..." His NCOs nodded. "WE need to do Something."
They nodded again. He held the "Hold" order up, and tore it in half.
"We're getting those people out of the line of fire. This shit isn't right, Here's my plan..."
The Platoon Leaders and NCO's listened, a few made suggestions.
the First Sgt nodded, and the huddle broke up.

Twenty minutes later, under the Human Shield barricade on the north side...
the street under one end of the packed crowd went down, while it went up on the other, making a ramp and dumping the civilians down into the drainage system.
This was a big surprise for a Company of "Imperial" troops dug in behind the packed women and children-who were suddenly no longer in place ahead of the guns, but tumbling twenty-feet down a 45 degree ramp into the stench of the city's sewer system.
The surprise was short-lived.
"Cao-Dai!Cao-Dai!" Echoed from inside the dug-in positions, and .30-caliber bullets raked across open APC hatches and Vulcan Gun Ammunition cannisters were pierced by depleted-uranium bullets fired from close range.
Tiger-stripe camouflage fatiges and black pyjamas swarmed out of the hole, out of the drains, out of the buildings.
The NK's closed with Phyrrician troops immediately, using Bayonets and rifle-butts against men to spare the civvies that were trapped above, and using heavy weapons to disable vehicles. Occasionally, there would be the "Pop-Pop-Pop!" of fire from the non-phyrricians (after all, bayonets and rifle buts don't always win...) But at such close quarters, the NK's had the decisive advantage.

In the twilight of the day, when the sun is going down just far enough to be next to useless, but it's still too bright for NVG's to work properly, The "Hour of Gloom", the Nuevo Kowloonese infantry violated the hold order out of a sense of decency.
If they let the civilians be used like this, if they let them be massacred, it would be, in their minds, joining in a crime against Humanity.

Nuevo Kowloonese begin training in "Grade Four"- at about age eight. This is when the public schools are (under the law) taken over by the Dept. of National Defense.
By the age of 16, they've already had nearly eight years of daily training in Infantry combat skills. By graduation from High School, the best out of the Public Schools are funnelled into the lower ranks of the National Army, and the rest are placed in a multitiered reserve system.
They Own their rifles-it's a legal requirement.
This also means they're rather good with those rifles.
The main difference, in a close-quarters fight between an M-1 type rifle, and a modern "Assault" rifle, is that the M-1 works rather well as a spear (when the Bayonet's fixed), or a Club, and has enough mass to do serious injuries even to a man wearing Ballistic Riot Armour.
The standard arm of the Nuevo Kowloonese Army is a piece they call the "M-1NK", this rifle is adapted to use a ten or twenty round box magazine, and has certain other "Reliability" improvements, but is in other ways almost identical to the rifles used by the United States in the Second World War, including the 12-pound weight.
At this range, against men armed with .223 automatic weapons, the difference was training and will-to-win.
The NK's have both, and they have more of it than their opponents.
The men coming out of the streets and the walls were coming with seventy years of experience dealing from a "Bottom" position with amoral bastards who outnumber and outgun them.
The "Colonel" had expected a conventional assault-his human shield plan relied on it.
This was no conventional assault- the enemy was rising out of the shadows and the gloom and under his vehicles, killing his men at close distance as the Civilians, panicked by the destruction, fled into the dark, seemingly peaceful, holes opened for them.
All along the Northward line of the "Imperials" defenses, there was that awful shout.
"Cao Dai!"

First Armoured Division HQ...
"...told us we can either back them up, or go to hell, sir." the commo chief said.
Hap Nguyen frowned.
"Let the damn Politicians sort it out, we back our men." He said, finally. "Tell the Tank Battalions to start closing the noose, and inform the Terra Malis and the Phyrricians that we are proceeding according to the original plan. Make it sound Like this wasn't because our guys decided to up and do it on their own... and send out to the Admiral, tell her we're going to need Corpsmen and those Hospital Ships pretty soon- They'll be recieving Civvie casualties."

He paused, "Ask the Admiral if she's got SAR teams with the Task-Force, I get the feel that this is going to be one damned awful clean-up..."

5th Legion Report, Corcyra Area of Operations
Imperial High Command
Athenaea Manilani

All elements of the 7th Airborne Division has arrived in Buthrotum and will take up position with the 4th Infantry Division once operations get underway. The suspension of all offensive military operations is still in effect; we have yet to receive word from General Nguyen.

Be advised that civilian evacuees have sought refuge within our lines. The perimeter has been extended from 10 to 15 kilometers to accommodate them. Our supplies are being consumed at a faster rate than initially estimated. We only have 2 days worth of stores at the current rate of expenditure. We request immediate airlift of food and medical supplies; the airspace over Corcyra has been secured.

24 hour patrols are being conducted by Orion and Death's Head aircraft over the perimeter that we have established. Armor units are placed forward in preparation for the final push into the capital.

Outside of the Skyport:

"Sir, civilian casualties are high and still mounting."

"This is not what I had in mind, but we do not have much choice now do we? Let us try to keep as low as possible the civilian casualties. There is no way around what we have to do and we must do it quick and get it over with. Send in the Humvees with the tows, take the tanks out first. When the armor is gone, maybe the captives will try to break away when they can and the human shield will start to deteriorate. If it does not, Position snipers across this plane here as to start targeting higher ranked officials and eliminate their leadership, this might start chaos amongst the ranks as well."

"Aye sir."
*****

In Corcyra:

"Let's roll and get this over with, I have places to be." announced the Colonel

The troops and armor units start rolling down the blvd with civilians all around the mechanized units. The human shield appeared not to be working, but this was expected the colonel thought to himself. Just wait until they see what is inside the vehicles and they think my actions were bad?

Placed inside each of M1A1 tanks were 5 civilians for a total of 500 and the personnle carriers that normally carried 20 men had 15 civilians in each for a total of 1500. The mechanized units are spread throughout the city and converging upon the Skyport slowly and under fire from allied forces.

"When we get to the sub line on Lilac, send a team down to search the area. If all went planned, there should be a light rail car there waiting for us. Stand trial my ass, they are going to have to catch us first. We are scheduled to meet Antiachus in Syracuse within 5 days."

"We are going to abandon our troops here in the city and leave them to the mercy of our enemies?" asks the Major.

"They are lost anyways. The purpose of the human shiled was not to make this bloody but to guarantee the ticket of our escape. Corcyra was going to fall anyways as planned and better leave now before the general population really gets out of hand and then it will be ugly around here. Do you prefer to stick around and wait for this?...I can leave you here if your really want to be in shackles soon. I prefer to leave and it has been planned this way for some time, we have other things to do, this was just a screen, nothing more." mentions the Colonel

"What is the plan?"

"You will find out when we get to Io."

"Io?"

"Do you really think that taking Phyrric was a realistic option? Notice how the Io colony was the first to break away? There was a reason for that, all is going as planned. We may not be the rulers here on Earth, but our kingdom awaits us out there. Once we break away and clear the atmosphere, we will crack open the champaign bottles and have a nice journey to our new home. Now let's get moving before the window closes on us."

The forces of the Empire make their way down the streets of Phyrric taking casualties and inflicting damage upon the alliance when the fire fight starts, receeds, then starts again in a non-stop cycle. Before long, the Colonel and Major are missing and the forces realizing now leadership is present, slowly slips into a disarray as routing.
*****

At Sicily:

"Start the launch sequence, we need to get a heavy first strike. Start off with fighter attacks to get their fighters occupied and unloaded so as not to harass our bombers that will be pulling up the rear for an attack on the surface ships. Get the attrition units underway now so when the bombers are done unloading, the frigates, cruisers and carrier jets can rake havac. The carriers need to coordinate the attack with the Air Force units stationed here...here...and here" as Antiachus is planning the first attack on the allied forces enroute to Corcyra.

"The Alexander was found sir, she is in the hands of the allies now" reports one of the Generals.

"Damn, I was hoping to be on here Bridge one more time before the Liberation. We will just have to go with what we have and make the best of it. What is our forces like?" asks Antiachus.

"We have a total of 7 Battle Fleets less two battleships and over 1700 planes from the Air Force. We have over 800,000 troops on Sicily to repel any landings or takings. If they want this Island, they are going to have to really fight for it."

"Good, that is what I need. Make this information known to Pyrrhus and his alliance, let it be a slip of the tongue if we may so have it."

5th Legion Report, Corcyra Area of Operations
Imperial High Command
Athenaea Manilani

All elements of the 7th Airborne Division has arrived in Buthrotum and will take up position with the 4th Infantry Division once operations get underway. The suspension of all offensive military operations is still in effect; we have yet to receive word from General Nguyen.

Be advised that civilian evacuees have sought refuge within our lines. The perimeter has been extended from 10 to 15 kilometers to accommodate them. Our supplies are being consumed at a faster rate than initially estimated. We only have 2 days worth of stores at the current rate of expenditure. We request immediate airlift of food and medical supplies; the airspace over Corcyra has been secured.

24 hour patrols are being conducted by Orion and Death's Head aircraft over the perimeter that we have established. Armor units are placed forward in preparation for the final push into the capital.

The messenger arrived in what was becoming a notable Nuevo Kowloonese style- in this case, in an OH-6 bleeding smoke from ground fire. This time, though (thankfully) the courier himself was un-injured, though the helo would have to be scrapped.


The Enemy is using Human Shields to cover his retreat. Advise you proceed with caution if you are going to.
As for us, we have altered our operations plan with a focus towards liberation of captive non-combatants.
Use your Own Judgement.

Hap Nguyen,
General, 1st Nuevo Kowloon Armoured Division.

Erdogan and his group of 10 Red Jaguar had easily slipped past enemy lines. THe confusion of the Colonel's ment rounding up civilians and setting up road blocks meant plenty of noise and attention elsewhere. Erdogan motioned and his men followed him silently, through his scope he was now tracking the rebel Colonel.

He could hit him from here, but he wanted him alive. He motioned again and Erdogan and his men began making a slow wide circle, keeping the Colonel just in sight . He was watching as the Colonel and his staff headed somewhere, and Erdogan intended to get ahead of him and cut him off.

*********
The Naval Guard units in Corcyra Harbour began to split up. The Carriers and their destroyers remaining in the defensive arc, the rest of the ships moving out to sea in a wide formation. Supreme Naval Commander Itxaad radioed all ships

"This is Itxaad, to all allied ships. We now have Naval and air superiority over Antiachus. The Naval Guard is now moving to confront Antiachus' fleet at Sicily. We already have submarines in place. I suggest that all aircraft come down to refuel and prepare for the coming fight. Itxaad out."

At the same time, the sub-orbital Death's Heads bombers shifted their precision attacks away from shore implacements on the islands and began exclusively striking at Antriachus' navy, softening them up for the Naval Guard.

Erdogan and his group of 10 Red Jaguar had easily slipped past enemy lines. THe confusion of the Colonel's ment rounding up civilians and setting up road blocks meant plenty of noise and attention elsewhere. Erdogan motioned and his men followed him silently, through his scope he was now tracking the rebel Colonel.

He could hit him from here, but he wanted him alive. He motioned again and Erdogan and his men began making a slow wide circle, keeping the Colonel just in sight . He was watching as the Colonel and his staff headed somewhere, and Erdogan intended to get ahead of him and cut him off.

*********
The Naval Guard units in Corcyra Harbour began to split up. The Carriers and their destroyers remaining in the defensive arc, the rest of the ships moving out to sea in a wide formation. Supreme Naval Commander Itxaad radioed all ships

"This is Itxaad, to all allied ships. We now have Naval and air superiority over Antiachus. The Naval Guard is now moving to confront Antiachus' fleet at Sicily. We already have submarines in place. I suggest that all aircraft come down to refuel and prepare for the coming fight. Itxaad out."

At the same time, the sub-orbital Death's Heads bombers shifted their precision attacks away from shore implacements on the islands and began exclusively striking at Antriachus' navy, softening them up for the Naval Guard.

NKS Hanoi..

Admiral Li read the message, and spat on the deck. "Great...we're left holding the bag. Kick a message to the Terra Malis, ask their man if he's staying 'till this mess is cleaned up, or he's goin' on the Ilek-Vaadian's hunting trip."
The Radioman nodded, and began keying the transmission, right as a warning klaxon went off.
"What the Fu-"
The Bridge of the Aircraft Carrier sheared off in a frightening pyrotechnic display.

Near Sicily

Admiral de Soto had decided against handing the rebel crew, and especially the captain, over to the authorities after the captain had hinted that the remainder of the rebel fleet was at Sicily. All they were doing at the moment was sitting pretty at three thousand miles from Sicily, right between the rebel fleet and Corcyra. If they wanted Corcyra, or to even leave Sicily, they'd have to go past the Task Force.

"sargent take this message to the commander of Terra Mali forces" Flag commander Dennison said gruffly
"yes sir" the Junior sargent took the message and went on his way

I have 3 regiments of soldiers onshore looking for a fight, where do you need us?
-Flag commander Dennison
" Colnel have you regement ready to move at a moments notice once we get word from our allies we'll move in to crush the Enmey."
"Yes sir"

"sargent take this message to the commander of Terra Mali forces" Flag commander Dennison said gruffly
"yes sir" the Junior sargent took the message and went on his way

I have 3 regiments of soldiers onshore looking for a fight, where do you need us?
-Flag commander Dennison
" Colnel have you regement ready to move at a moments notice once we get word from our allies we'll move in to crush the Enmey."
"Yes sir"

Having outstripped the rest of the fleet badly, the Naval Guard's Revenge Class Battleships slipped quietly behind the Scandavian States Task Force. The Battleships had filled their bilge tanks and were low in the water, with their active camoflage they were nearly inviisible. There were now 15 Revenge Class Battleships gathered.

From abord the Emperor Ehecatl Supreme Naval Commander Itxaad hailed Admiral de Soto

"This is Supreme Naval Commander Itxaad, my compliments on capturing the Alexander. Will you join us in assaulting Antiachus' fleet? The rest of our Battlegroups should be caught up with us in a few hours and we can be ready to begin the assault soon after that. We'll have over 5,000 aircraft for cover and we'll have Antiachus completely outgunned, it should be a right sound padding!"

*****

Back on Corcyra, the Purifiers had solidified their beachhead and had carefully secured control of the perimeter. They had not yet caught up with the Nuevo Kowloonian troops, but they were preparing for a push if necessary. At the docks 4 more massive Atlas Transports sidled up and began offloading the Ring Bearer Army in suppoer of the Purifiers.

******

Downtown Corcyra, the Red Jaguar Commandos were still harassing the rebel troops, the loud 'CHOK!CHOK!CHOK!' of their .30-.06 FN-HAR's could be heard over even the loudest small arms fire. The Red Jaguar were still diligently calling in howitzer strikes on any large formations of enemy they saw, smaller groups they were personally tearing apart their depleted uranium rounds easily shredded through LAV's and APC's.

Colonel Erdogan was still stalking his prey, he was keeping Antiachus' Colonel to his right side, just in view. He still couldn't quite figure out where he was headed and still couldn't take the chance of cutting him off yet.' If we can catch him with 30 or less men, we can take him alive he thought.' he was studying the map of the city on his tac computers display screen as he watched the Colonel, his Captain leaned over his shoulder and pointed to the map as he whispered "There, That rail line, we just shadowed those scouts he sent out to and they headed straight for it , Is he intending to leave his troops?"

Erdogan stopped and thought, to him that was incomprehensible, he motioned the others and quickly they cirled around headed for the Lilac terminal , they were moving quicker now, Erdogan growled at his men "Even if he doesen't show up there we will still be ahead of him................."

NKS Hanoi, 1900 Hours...

The Phalanx and SeaWhiz Point-Defenses were still firing as the second strike hit the angle-deck, tearing through support members and rendering two of the ship's four Catapults inoperable.
Off the ship, missiles from four directions were being destroyed-but not fast enough.
"Damage Control Teams!!!" a UH-1H exploded-the unlucky pilot saving the ship from another hit simply by being in the wrong place-at the right time.

The attack ceased as suddenly as it began- leaving the ship with heavy damage, but not destroyed.


Corcyra, 1900 Hours...

The streets were chaos and fires were beginning to consume buildings in the residential centre of town. The "Boom" of 3-inch Recoilless rifles, the supersonic crack of .30 caliber boat-tailed bullets, and the occasional reply from Rebel assault rifles (more of a sewing machine sound in comparison) were nearly drowned out by the screams of frightened, dying civilians and the cracking of concrete and steel.
It had been going for two Hours without let-up-Two hours since the first strikes by Recon Platoons had disrupted the "Human Shield" wall, and two hours had netted exactly one lesson for PFC James Cuo- one can run out of ammunition, one can run out of grenades, Trucks and APCs can be disabled, Pistols jam, but a Bayonet Always works.
He found himself demonstrating this time and again to Rebel Troops whose own, modern, small-bore Assault Rifles ran out of ammunition before the NK troops got to them.
So Far, He had lost count of how many rifles he'd smashed with his own, how many flak-jackets he'd pierced with twelve inches of steel, how many people's blood he was wearing.
The Terror of the first minutes was gone, replaced by a dull, remote feeling of a man doing hard labour. A VERY ANGRY man.
Look, see, step, Stab, Buttstroke, slash, stab, shove, repeat...
He didn't even consciously see the little girl he shoved out of the way when an enemy soldier suddenly showed courage- He was just clearing an obstruction before going back to work.
Twelve pounds of wood and Steel slammed down on the enemy's rifle-and broke it along the hinge.
Stroke-slash-stab-stab-upstroke-shove.
A man in the uniform of the enemy was screaming and crying in a language the Private didn't know-on his knees.
Used women and children to cover your self... Smash-Stroke-Stab-Stab. The pleas ended, and Cuo went looking for more work to do.

Communications Intercept-1910 Hours, D-Day Plus Two...

To: A.
From: Your Friend

The Nuevo Kowloonese Fleet is decapitated and our friends are in position to strike.
Hun Sa shall be avenged, and your Victory assured.


Offshore, Corcyra...

Terra Mali sensor operators detected a second launch from the Perimeter of the Nuevo Kowloon Fleet-the second in only thirty minutes.
The Missiles-by their flight profile, an upgraded Harpoon variant, were in-bound, and fire-predictors indicated the strikes would be within the Terra Mali formation.

At the same time, the Airwaves were full of inquiries and S.O.S. calls from ships in the Nuevo Kowloonese contingent.
The small task-fleet was at war with itself, and now, it was spilling over...

Captain Valdemar of the Carrier Hechicero watched his screen in Fire Control as the Nuevo Kowloon fleet apparently attacked itself

"Ensign, what the hell is going on?" he said authoritatively

"I don't know sir but the Nueovo Kowloonian fleet is sending out distress signals."

The Captain shook his head "Send out rescue boats and get our destroyers in between the Carriers and them, if they shoot at us sink them. It's hard enough keeping track of Antiachus' shenanigans, but everytime I turn around one of aour allies are attacking each other or themselves, are we the only sane ones here?"

The ensign shrugged "I'd assumed we were Captain. I guess this is why the Republican Council generally keeps us out of International conflicts?"

The Capatin glared at the ensign "Good guess, now get those rescue boats in the water."

de Soto smiled at the hail, "Thank you, Commander, and of course we'd be happy to join you. I've got a feeling that the Captains in the other rebel ships won't be quite so anxious to surrender as the Alexander did. We'll be your screen on the way in and when we get in range we'll start pounding them from long range while you close. Sound good?"

Itxaad replied to de Soto "That sounds perfect, we always prefer to be in the front. We'll halt here as the rest of our ships move in and then we'll adavance. I'll make sure that our fighters give you plenty of target information. Itxaad out."

With that the Revenge class Battleships arranged themselves in front of the Scandavian States task force. Hours later the rest of the ships began to arrive, a fleet of nearly 300 ships was arranging itself for an all out assault.

Sorry, multipost (forum is mud this morning)

[ooc]-below is what anyone doing a boarding or other investigation of the two ships that fired will find:

2000+ Hours, Offshore...

The Radio traffic was still filled with distress calls, but it was understandable-the entire task-force had taken serious damage.
The Cruisers had fired on the other ships in the group, both cruisers.
They were now sitting as if dead in the water, their only movement a drift following the currents. Aboard CG 54, a Ticonderoga Class cruiser, were dead men. On the upper decks, most of the dead men had been shot, stabbed, or otherwise violently killed.
Below her decks, a heavy pall of nerve-gas hung, kept contained by closed bulkhead doors and hatches designed to keep that sort of thing out.
The Captain's Launch was gone, but the Captain wasn't-indeed, he lay ten feet from his bunk, spine snapped by its own muscles, in a pool of vomited blood, and voided bowels.

The scene would be repeated on the other Cruiser. Whomever had "Done" the ships had done them with complete surprise, during shift-change.

An accounting of the dead will find that two members of both crews are missing. On CG-54 the missing man is the Executive Officer, Commander Nigel Perkins, and the
On CG-59, the dead list doesn't include... the Executive Officer, Commander Gerald Hobarth.

[ooc]-below is what anyone doing a boarding or other investigation of the two ships that fired will find:

2000+ Hours, Offshore...

The Radio traffic was still filled with distress calls, but it was understandable-the entire task-force had taken serious damage.
The Cruisers had fired on the other ships in the group, both cruisers.
They were now sitting as if dead in the water, their only movement a drift following the currents. Aboard CG 54, a Ticonderoga Class cruiser, were dead men. On the upper decks, most of the dead men had been shot, stabbed, or otherwise violently killed.
Below her decks, a heavy pall of nerve-gas hung, kept contained by closed bulkhead doors and hatches designed to keep that sort of thing out.
The Captain's Launch was gone, but the Captain wasn't-indeed, he lay ten feet from his bunk, spine snapped by its own muscles, in a pool of vomited blood, and voided bowels.

The scene would be repeated on the other Cruiser. Whomever had "Done" the ships had done them with complete surprise, during shift-change.

An accounting of the dead will find that two members of both crews are missing. On CG-54 the missing man is the Executive Officer, Commander Nigel Perkins, and the
On CG-59, the dead list doesn't include... the Executive Officer, Commander Gerald Hobarth.

Captain Valdemar listened to the reports coming in from the Nueovo Kowloon fleet. He shook his head and turned back to the ensign

"Have a destroyer secure each of those cruisers and tow them to Costa -Verde island in Costa-Tula harbour. Tell the Naval Gaurd at the bse there to quarantine the ships and find out exactly waht happened on them. Also notify the Velite General that we need a contingent of Black Guard to root out whoever conducted this terrorist act. "

The ensign nodded, Capatian Valdemar spoke again "And tell of our ships here to shell to holy hell any enemy or friendly vessel carrying chemical or biological weapons, if we see them,fire. Let Itxaad know too I'm sure he'll agree."

A pair of Tula class destroyers linked up to the disabled cruisers and headed towards Costa Tula, about 2 days away.

******
Supreme Naval Commander Itxaad heard Valdemar's reports and his orders, he opened his general com line again.

"Allied ships, due to recent breaches in security involving chemical weapons, I am ordering the Naval Guard to destroy any ship, friend or foe that is obviously carrying chemical or biological weapons.If you have them, get out of our range. Itxaad out!"

He then looked to the Emperor Ehecatl's captain
"Using chemical weapons is ridiculous, I want the specs on every allied ship available, if they are equipped with chemical weapons, sink them, and we're already going to sink the enemy so if they have chemical weapons sink them,machine gun the survivors in the water and then drop depth charges! Now, full speed to Sicily!.

Like most in Ilek-Vaad nothing disgusted Itxaad more than the use of chemical and biological weapons, they would not tolerate it any more.

Captain Valdemar listened to the reports coming in from the Nueovo Kowloon fleet. He shook his head and turned back to the ensign

"Have a destroyer secure each of those cruisers and tow them to Costa -Verde island in Costa-Tula harbour. Tell the Naval Gaurd at the bse there to quarantine the ships and find out exactly waht happened on them. Also notify the Velite General that we need a contingent of Black Guard to root out whoever conducted this terrorist act. "

The ensign nodded, Capatian Valdemar spoke again "And tell of our ships here to shell to holy hell any enemy or friendly vessel carrying chemical or biological weapons, if we see them,fire. Let Itxaad know too I'm sure he'll agree."

A pair of Tula class destroyers linked up to the disabled cruisers and headed towards Costa Tula, about 2 days away.

******
Supreme Naval Commander Itxaad heard Valdemar's reports and his orders, he opened his general com line again.

"Allied ships, due to recent breaches in security involving chemical weapons, I am ordering the Naval Guard to destroy any ship, friend or foe that is obviously carrying chemical or biological weapons.If you have them, get out of our range. Itxaad out!"

He then looked to the Emperor Ehecatl's captain
"Using chemical weapons is ridiculous, I want the specs on every allied ship available, if they are equipped with chemical weapons, sink them, and we're already going to sink the enemy so if they have chemical weapons sink them,machine gun the survivors in the water and then drop depth charges! Now, full speed to Sicily!.

Like most in Ilek-Vaad nothing disgusted Itxaad more than the use of chemical and biological weapons, they would not tolerate it any more.


[ooc] The quarantine and search will take a while, but here's what they'll find:
The Gas was released from several locations inside the ship, probably starting in the Engine rooms.
The Cannisters that released it are advanced-too advanced for the Nuevo Kowloonese to have made, and they were disguised as other types of equipment in the air-recirculation system. The Chemical weapon is a more refined (read "Deadlier") version of Sarin-again, it would take a nation more advanced than Nuevo Kowloon to make the gas, the container/distributors, etc.
It's clearly something made "Elsewhere" and installed secretly.

Whoever placed the gas, also placed scuttling charges-but these failed to go off, thanks to the lead-based paint in the bilges. (they blocked the radio-detonator signal, and whoever put the bombs there didn't realize it...)
A lot of the placement practically screams "Inside Job"-as do the positions and ballistics on some of the bodies. (Some of the gunshot victims in the superstructure were terminated execution-style, the weapons nearby and powder residues indicating that they were involved in killing the others.)

5th Legion HQ
Corcyra Area of Operations

Flag Commander Dennison, the situation on Corcyra has stabilized. As a testament to the skill and efficiency of the Red Jaguars and the Purifiers, there are still pockets of resistance but the intensity of the fighting has significantly gone down. What we fear right now is an impending humanitarian crisis. Food, water, shelter, and medical supplies are in extremely short supply. We would like to request that you send immediately any surpluses that you may have.

Intelligence reports however indicate that the rebels are making a last stand at Sicily. Ilek-Vaad and Nuevo Kowloon are re-deploying their forces from Corcyra as a response. We will remain behind until our reinforcements arrive. We are very low on supplies; we almost gave everything away to the citizens at Corcyra. We also wish to ensure that the rebels do not retake the sectors under allied control. For all we know, the rebel concentration on Sicily is a mere ruse to divert and spread out our forces. You are most welcome to stay and assist us but your regiments will be most needed in the landings on Sicily.

***************

TMS Defiant
Expeditionary Fleet
Corcyra Area of Operations

"Comm, prepare to transmit the following to our allies."

"Aye, Captain"

"Sir! Incoming missiles! It's the Nuevo Kowloonese they're ---"

The ensign didn't finish his report as the Defiant took several hits. A cruiser and two frigates were also hit. In the confusion, none of the ships in the fleet fired back.

OOC: Sorry for the late reply.

OOC: IV, how are you going to find out what ships carry chem/bio weapons? If my ships carried anything other than nuclear weapons, which they don't, I sure as hell wouldn't advertise it. In fact, I'd make it a point to make sure that no one but a select few knew. Furthermore, how do you plan to tell missile warheads apart? Finally, what do you think will happen if you sink those ships instead of boarding and securing them? The dispensors will eventually break and let whatever they're carrying into the water, and that will kill lots and lots of people if it gets anywhere near civilization.

OOC: I was just going to shoot at anyone that loked guilty after my threat! It was just a way of getting anyone that had them to flinch, so I could see who had them ;)

To: Allied Forces
From: Captain Jian McCannon, Captain, Hospital Ship NKS Mercy One

Re: Recent missile attacks.

We've got 71 beds open for casualties from any allied ships-so far, we've been processing fatalities here, or minor injuries, very little in between.
The Chief Engineer from the NKS Hanoi has indicated that his point-defense weapons were sabotaged, and several personnel are missing.
Currently, the whereabouts of approximately 35 Sailors and Marines from four of our ships are unaccounted for, along with half a dozen small craft.
If you see one of those small craft, please detain if possible.
It looks like I'm the senior Commander remaining in our fleet-Admiral Li, Captain Huang, and the seniour staff in the task force have been confirmed as casualties.
At this time, two Destroyers, one Carrier, and three Frigates have been damaged, and two cruisers are not reporting in.
Additionally, the Oil-Tender Wandering Star is missing and overdue. Her last position was reported as passing through the Suez Canal some four days ago.
Those Task-Groups affected by this event should report their damage, and an accounting of losses, as soon as possible, I believe that our government will pay reparations if asked.
I have eyewitness reports that at least two of our Cruisers riding "Outrider" were the origin of this attack, and evidence indicates sabotage was a factor.
We have no suspects, but I fear that this may have been instigated some time ago...

(ooc: hopes this posts as I have been experiencing problems getting into the forums.)

OOC: I am under the assumption that the battle format is as follows when it comes to the sea engagements: Terra Malus and Nuevo Kowloon that is closest to Sicily followed by Ilek-Vaad then Scandavian States with Pualdustllah in the far distance and around Corcyra. This attack is under this format and positioning.

Outside of Sicily:

Full strike force has launched from all carriers and the bases in support of the Empire. A total of 240 X35, 360 F22, 120 A6, 160 F117, 120 F16, 120 F15, 60 B2, 40 B1, 16 Frigates, 16 Destroyers, 8 Cruisers are all enroute to engage the enemy fleets of TM and NK. The attack is formatted as described earlier.
*****
On the Carrier Veii:

"Get me within range of Naples and do the following as per our plan" says Antiachus to Johnston. "I need the following to accompany me. Have three children accompany me from the local orphanage and contact Elizabeth on her cell, have her meet me at the Airport in 6 hours. This is her number, she will understand. Send it in standard text message and blend it in with the radio traffic in the area."

"Good luck and I will meet you there in the next few days. We have to cause havac here and get them thoroughly occupied."

A few minutes later, a news chopper takes off the deck of the Veii and heads to shore.
*****
In Corcyra:

"Set into motion the attack pattern and operation freedom." orders the Colonel. Force the armor and transports down their throats, when the smoke clears, let them see who they have killed and in the comotion, we will make good the escape. Send the armor here and here, we will spearhead the attack to the harbor here using the transports and the armor here to the Skyport."

"We will do as ordered sir. Pyrrhus is on Corcyra and I am sure he is looking forward to combat."

"Let him look forward to it all he wants, I will make sure to wave at him from the window as we leave."

30,000 men start the combat movements and engagements toward the harbor and skyport. 50 transports spearhead the thrust toward the harbor, dislodging troops as the procced forward. Nests of M60s and mobile artilry are established in locations to provide fire support for the armor and transports as advancements are made. The colonel and major along with key staff persoonel take up evasive maneuvers through troops movements to confuse any activity or observations that might be tracking them through satellite or visual confirmations of locations. They enter an apartment complex (60 story building) and proceed up to the commercial floor (25th) and go 'shopping' for womens clothing.
*****
Outside the Skyport:

"Pyrrhus, Colonel Davidson is making his way out as anticipated. The thrust is lead by M1's and the attack is brutal. The firing sequence is targeting our communications platforms and front line defence of mechanized units. We are taking damage on the Humvees but I am confident we can repell this attack."

"Protect the flank and force the Colonel to move into the range of the Howitzers. Open fire at will when they are in range. Order the A10's to sweep behind the armor division and take them all out, do not let a single unit escape the destruction. Only a complete surrender will be recognized." orders Pyrrhus "Send data to the alliance of the movements and conditions. Set a parameter behind the Imperial Forces as to stop any retreat or reorganization."

"Chaos is already apparent with the forces sir, it appears they are is disarray and lack of formations, they are breaking apart."

"Then force the surrender, no surrender, no survival."

OOC: No, the Terra Mali navy is still around Corcyra and so is the army. The air force is operating out of Buthrotum.

(ooc: hopes this posts as I have been experiencing problems getting into the forums.)

OOC: I am under the assumption that the battle format is as follows when it comes to the sea engagements: Terra Malus and Nuevo Kowloon that is closest to Sicily followed by Ilek-Vaad then Scandavian States with Pualdustllah in the far distance and around Corcyra. This attack is under this format and positioning.

Outside of Sicily:

Full strike force has launched from all carriers and the bases in support of the Empire. A total of 240 X35, 360 F22, 120 A6, 160 F117, 120 F16, 120 F15, 60 B2, 40 B1, 16 Frigates, 16 Destroyers, 8 Cruisers are all enroute to engage the enemy fleets of TM and NK. The attack is formatted as described earlier.
*****
On the Carrier Veii:

"Get me within range of Naples and do the following as per our plan" says Antiachus to Johnston. "I need the following to accompany me. Have three children accompany me from the local orphanage and contact Elizabeth on her cell, have her meet me at the Airport in 6 hours. This is her number, she will understand. Send it in standard text message and blend it in with the radio traffic in the area."

"Good luck and I will meet you there in the next few days. We have to cause havac here and get them thoroughly occupied."

A few minutes later, a news chopper takes off the deck of the Veii and heads to shore.
*****
In Corcyra:

"Set into motion the attack pattern and operation freedom." orders the Colonel. Force the armor and transports down their throats, when the smoke clears, let them see who they have killed and in the comotion, we will make good the escape. Send the armor here and here, we will spearhead the attack to the harbor here using the transports and the armor here to the Skyport."

"We will do as ordered sir. Pyrrhus is on Corcyra and I am sure he is looking forward to combat."

"Let him look forward to it all he wants, I will make sure to wave at him from the window as we leave."

30,000 men start the combat movements and engagements toward the harbor and skyport. 50 transports spearhead the thrust toward the harbor, dislodging troops as the procced forward. Nests of M60s and mobile artilry are established in locations to provide fire support for the armor and transports as advancements are made. The colonel and major along with key staff persoonel take up evasive maneuvers through troops movements to confuse any activity or observations that might be tracking them through satellite or visual confirmations of locations. They enter an apartment complex (60 story building) and proceed up to the commercial floor (25th) and go 'shopping' for womens clothing.
*****
Outside the Skyport:

"Pyrrhus, Colonel Davidson is making his way out as anticipated. The thrust is lead by M1's and the attack is brutal. The firing sequence is targeting our communications platforms and front line defence of mechanized units. We are taking damage on the Humvees but I am confident we can repell this attack."

"Protect the flank and force the Colonel to move into the range of the Howitzers. Open fire at will when they are in range. Order the A10's to sweep behind the armor division and take them all out, do not let a single unit escape the destruction. Only a complete surrender will be recognized." orders Pyrrhus "Send data to the alliance of the movements and conditions. Set a parameter behind the Imperial Forces as to stop any retreat or reorganization."

"Chaos is already apparent with the forces sir, it appears they are is disarray and lack of formations, they are breaking apart."

"Then force the surrender, no surrender, no survival."

Inside Corcyra...

The Rebel infantry had, apparently, forgotten that others might guess that buildings have interiors.
Corporal David Wei's section crept up on a "Secured" machinegun nest, and opened fire at point-blank range using silenced weapons. <"Finish the sweep."> he signalled, and the five men slipped into the next room.
There were more here-a very surprised-looking Sargeant-equivalent and a full squad of men humping weapons and ammunition met five black-pyjama-clad night-fighters. The Nuevo Kowloonese troops were carrying silenced Tommy-guns loaded with cookie-cutter rounds, and the rounds were chambered {For those readers who aren't familiar-a Cookie-cutter is a bullet made from high-density, thick-wall tubing sharpened to a razor edge, backed by a gas-check, with a brass "Driving band" swaged on to engage rifling. Not only does it do bad things to body-armour, but the wound-track left in the body underneath is considered quite inhumane and hard to treat.}.
The Rebel troops had their arms slung across their backs, and their hands full of other equipment.
Speed-wise, there was no question who was ready to fire, and at this point, willing.
Twenty metallic spats later-sounds barely audible over the engine-noise outside, and Corporal Wei's men were moving again.
The fireteam stopped in an office, and Wei picked up a telephone, dialed "0", and waited.
On the other end, a voice answered in Vietnamese.
"<Report>"
He whispered his reply:
"<They're covering their retreat with hidden machinegun nests and self-propelled artillery along 14th Avenue. For some reason, the Rebels still don't seem to be trying to control underground routes besides that light rail these people like. It is also odd that they have left the Telephone systems intact-as if they did not have time to set disabling devices. Advise Allied Command that Enemy is placing some civilians inside combat vehicles. I think this Davidson is trying for a public-relations victory on the long-term...I have to go, someone's coming.>" the team melted into the office-cubicles, and up into the suspended ceiling, as shouts came from the forward offices-the bodies had been discovered.

Corcyra Skyport

Elizabeth Ngo felt her cell's vibration, and excused herself from the command centre. "Women's business." she said, and smiled at the Phyrrician Loyalists. One of the Generals nodded dismissively, and she walked out of the room, the lone Civilian among Military men from several nations, her advice had, so far, been almost completely ignored-at least, by Pyrrhus and his allies.
But Antiachus... she slipped a pair of sunglasses on, and walked up to the roof of the terminal. The self-proclaimed "Emperor" had been very easy to pursuade-especially when she sent him the launch codes for the cruisers, and her plan.
She waved to a sentry, and found a fairly quiet area-oddly enough, right next to the dish-reciever antennas feeding sattelite tracking data to the rooms down below. "Yes?" she asked, unfolding the phone.
"A Gentleman Friend would like to meet with you in six hours at the Skyport for...ah... drinks." the man on the other end said.
she fed a "Smile" into her voice, "Excellent, please let our mutual friend know I will be delighted to join him, toodle-oo..." she hung up after the SigInt man did.
Then, she set her hands in her pockets, and walked "aimlessly" for a few minutes, gazing up at the night sky.
Li is punished for supporting the upstart, and that 'Navy' she has created is crippled, soon to be destroyed... she smiled.
Soon, they will be destroyed, and there is nothing they can do about it.
She frowned as a shadow detatched itself from the antenna array, and moved into the light. "You know, ma'am, it's easy to crack a cell-phone if you know what you're doing?" a voice said behind her, as arms wrapped hers with steely strength.
"Jennings, call it in, it looks like the Chancellor's trust was badly misplaced." She recognized the voice.
Captain James Vinh had been one of the Chancellary Detail who'd turned against her when Amanda's Palace Coup went off.
"You're not supposed to be here." Elizabeth snarled.
The grip on her shifted, and her hands were dragged behind her back.
"Yes, actually, I am-General Nguyen doesn't trust you anymore than Admiral Li did... I was sent with the flight-crew that delivered you, and we've been trailing your movements for days."
Zip-Ties fastened her hands behind her. "Where did your people get the gas?" he asked. Some of the Phyrrician guards were already approaching.
"Gas?" she asked with an innocent tone.
"Gas. what your people used to kill those sailors." he insisted.
"I have no idea what you are talking about, sir." she said defiantly.
"Fine... Hastings, did you get that call traced?" he asked.
"Yes sir-the whole thing on tape." a young voice replied.
"That doesn't prove anything." She said.
'Hastings' stepped out of the shadows, and turned a laptop screen toward her. "It does when it's a trace originating in Antiachus' network." the young man smiled, "Radioman First Class Hastings, ma'am, you're caught."
About that time, the former Chancellor and current "Envoy" to Phyrric turned silent as Phyrrician Military Police took custody.
"What now?" one of the Night-troopers asked.
"Now, we inform General Nguyen, I think the enemy's going to try to take the Skyport." Vinh said.
"What about the Guards?" Hastings asked.
Vinh shook his head, "No good-this Davidson fellow's about as ruthless as ol' Hun-Sa-and about three shades cleverer." he pulled a pair of tinted goggles up, and tightened the strap behind his head.
"What're the Phyrrics gonna do with Madame Ngo?" Hastings asked.
Vinh shrugged, "Whatever they're gonna do-the Chancellor was smart enough to give 'em free reign on her, and Pyrrhus has been generous enough to let us do our jobs here without a peep...y'know, I'm kinda surprised by that one-he's remarkably reasonable fellow for a round-eye."
Vinh cracked his knuckles, and entered the building openly, only flinching once at the bright interior lighting.
He picked up a telephone in the lobby, and dialed a number. General Nguyen answered after two rings. "You were right, sir-the former Chancellor betrayed us. Admiral Li is confirmed KIA, and the enemy's going to hit our damaged ships sometime tonight or tomorrow... oh, and they still don't know where that Oiler went... yes sir, Aye sir. Understood...No, sir, I don't think the nerve gas came from here... maybe... no sir. I don't know if they're going to let me question her again...right sir. Understood. Out."
Vinh set the phone back in the cradle, pulled out a pipe, filled it with tobacco, and lit up.
"well?" Radioman Hastings asked, blinking in the unaccustomed light of the lobby area.
"The General thinks the enemy's going to make a play for the harbour, not the Skyport. He wants us to remain in-place here in case he's wrong... we're also to look into anything that might be able to travel long-distances, like Airliners or launch-craft that're prepping to take off, or prepped..."
Hastings cursed. "That's a crapload of hardware, Sir, we've got ten guys..."
Vinh nodded, "It's a busywork assignment, kid, you get those from time to time."

OOC: No, I believe that IV and I have fleet closest to Sicily. At IV's last post, we were at 3,000 miles away, although I assume we have started moving in and are closer. If you edit, I'm going to respond as if I'm within cruise missile range, which is 1400 miles.

OOC: No, I believe that IV and I have fleet closest to Sicily. At IV's last post, we were at 3,000 miles away, although I assume we have started moving in and are closer. If you edit, I'm going to respond as if I'm within cruise missile range, which is 1400 miles.

If you and IV are 3000 miles away from Sicily, then forces around Corcyra would be the closest. The distance from the staging areas of the Carriers (Straits of Messina) and the Air Bases (Messina, Syracuse) would be 750 miles at best across the boot area (see map in UnAPS site)

OOC: I thought your country was bigger than that.

OOC: I think me and SS are the closet to Sicily, or at least me, the Naval Guard were headed straight there from Corcya,( I thought SS wasc headed to Sicily after capturing the Alexander?) so we should be right in the middle of Antiachus' strike, yippee! That gives me ideas........


Itxaad couldn't believe his luck as he he was headed to Sicily Antiachus' fleet was headed to Corcyra! Itxaad gripped the deck rail and looked out as Antiachus' fleet blundered right into the full might of the naval Guard.

"Captain let all ships know that they may fire at will!" He was laughing again as he said it he then drew his ceremonial sword and swung it dangerously around his head "AVAST YE SCURVY DOGS! ARRRR!"

The Naval Guard then engaged. The Naval Guard are attacking with 15 Battleships, 40 Cruisers, 80 Destroyers, 70 Frigates 80 Trident sunmarines and of course 50 Wolfhounds are aiming their torpodeos at enemy hulls again. The full Naval Guard Carrier force has also been launched consisting of 5,000 Orion Stealth Fighters. Half configured as pocket bombers, the other half configured as interceptors to take out enemy fire. In the Defensive arc at Corcyra are the 10 Carriers, 10 Cruisers 80 Destroyers , 50 Tridents and 20 Wolf Hounds. This is all of the Naval Guard with the exception of the Coastal Defence Force.

*******

Downtown Corcyra

Colonel Erdogan was not around to see Colonel Anderson put his plan into motion and shop for womens dainties. Instead he and his squad had broken off to follow his scouts (as previously posted) and they now found thenselves at the Lilac transport terminal. Erdogan and his men very slowly and stealthily entered, they stayed hidden and made no move to stop the Colonel's recon team, hopefully the Colonel was planning on following them here, and then, Erdogan would have him.


As the Nuevo Kowloonese braced for the building assault of Antiachus' armour they heard movement of Vehicles and men behind them, as they turn they see Thunderer II battletanks sealing off the intersections , between the tanks is a rush of men, they are in blue-grey urban camoflage and they immediately join the Kowloonese. The Purifiers had secured the rear and were now at the front.

Colonel Arden moved among his troops and the allied troops, his quarter masters had brought spare ammunition for the .45 Tommyguns and were helping the Kowloonese to reload, the Purifier medics quickly attended to and evacuated the wounded.

Colonel Arden talked loudly as the machine guns opened up "All right lads,stay calm. We have time and we have protection. Shoot only when you see men, let the tanks take out their armour. Let's sort them out lads, Let's sort them out. We have plenty of time." His voice was steady and reassuring, he patted the soldiers (both his own and allied ones ) on the back as he moved between them talking " If you run out of ammo, fall back behind our tanks, no hand to hand, we have time, room and supplies on our side. When their armour reaches us, fall back behind the tanks to our LAV's, reload and set again. Sort them out nice and easy lads."

Well behind the Purifiers the Ring Bearer Armay was preparing a counter strike , they would launch it as soon as Phyrrhus' men launched their attack.

OOC: Yay, the first major naval engagement since the Unification War! Oh joy and happiness! In case you haven't figured it out, I love huge naval battles.

de Soto was in his element, this was the kind of battle that every Imperial Navy officer dreamed of. Immediately every ship in the fleet except for the carriers, supply ships, and submarines turned their broadsides to open fire after the snapped of the torpedos in the tubes. The two hundred torpedos in the water would have been enough to do a normal fleet and would hurt any kind of Imperial fleet, but that wasn't enough for de Soto. Fifteen 3", thirty 6.1" thirty-six 16", and seventy-eight 5" guns added their fury to the opening shots of the battle. After that, there were no more coordinated broadsides, just ships firing as fast as they could. The smaller guns were designed for rapid fire, so they averaged a shot every twenty seconds, although the performance depended largely on the crews manny the guns. The monster 16" guns only manage a paultry shot every minute or so, but more than made up for it by the sheer weight thrown at the enemy ships.

Air defense was left to point defense, fifty caliber guns, and Sky Hawk TDMs, launching fighters was simply too dangerous. With the exception of a few lucky missiles, anything launched by enemy aircraft that came in range of the point defense was brought down and anything that hit wasted itself against the outer hull of the trimarans. Every Sky Hawk the Thatcher class destroyers possesed was launched in retaliation, some fourteen hundred missiles using millimeter-band radar to guide themselves to their targets and speak their righteous indignation at the aircraft for even daring to attack the Emporer's ships.


DAMAGE: All four of the BBGs have taken several hits to their outer hulls due to ASMs, but nothing truly serious.

*******

Downtown Corcyra


As the Nuevo Kowloonese braced for the building assault of Antiachus' armour they heard movement of Vehicles and men behind them, as they turn they see Thunderer II battletanks sealing off the intersections , between the tanks is a rush of men, they are in blue-grey urban camoflage and they immediately join the Kowloonese. The Purifiers had secured the rear and were now at the front.

Colonel Arden moved among his troops and the allied troops, his quarter masters had brought spare ammunition for the .45 Tommyguns and were helping the Kowloonese to reload, the Purifier medics quickly attended to and evacuated the wounded.



The NK Infantrymen were a sight to behold-and some of the IV troops almost felt pity for them-almost. The Helmets were 1940's era steel-pots, the Rifles (and these outnumbered the Thompsons rather decidedly) were M-1 Garands- a .30-06 semi-auto considered outdated throughout most of the world.
They didn't wear Light bodyarmour- they didn't wear any at all-a practice not seen in most armies since the 1970's, and their tiger-stripe uniforms, while excellent in the jungles of southeast asia, was wholly inappropriate here, in the Urban Jungle of Corcyra.
The "Almost" factor, came from the fact that these men were holding, had, in fact, advanced-and the blood covering them wasn't their own, it was drawn from the veins and arteries of their enemies, often by the bayonets they were leaving "Fixed".
And the little asian bastards could shoot.
The fires flickered yellow and orange at the central intersection between the two forces, the Kowloonese tanks-almost ancient designs compared with those of their allies, sat at grunting idle behind well-placed barriers, their most advanced feature-the imported Krupp Smoothbore guns, levelled down lanes of fire marked by burning, shattered, ruined cars, buckled (from below) streets, and buildings that leaned dangerously with their glass-facade windows broken out like the gouged eyes of a ritual-murder victim.
Behind this line of mad destruction, a few thousand rescued civilians were being treated by the 1st Armoured Division's MASH unit, or being fed at mobile-Kitchen-Trucks dating from the 1950's. A few GP-Large canvas tents were set up as well-serving as refugee processing centres within visual range of the Prisoner Holding Area-a place where stunned-looking and ragged Enemy Prisoners sat, watching their captors with disbelieving eyes.
Crazily enough, the MASH vehicles were last-year's standard models imported from Aust, and advanced SATCom relay stations (Mounted on 1940's era half-tracks) clustered into a divisional-command Post that extended into a small mom&Pop Office-Supply store. Inside the store, General Hap Nguyen set up his Tactical Operations Centre.
A switchboard was set up using a 1980's era civilian-made computer (Commodore 64-available on the international market for about ten dollars) hooked into a phone-modem on one end, and a router/switch on the other. This was tied right into the Telephone Grid of the city through a standard wall-jack on the sales floor.

Simple, yet effective, since the soldiers in the recon units didn't have to worry about ECM-they just had to pick up the phone(whatever telephone was handy), and dial in their reports.
Maps on easels crowded displays of new Printers, while staff-officers carried clipboards crowded with paper past shelves of Laptops and PDA's.
A few junior officers from units that were reporting in carried battery-powered field-phones (the old, vacuum-tube type) past displays of cell-phones. The civilian property was untouched for the most part, and the troops here might be bloody, and dirty, and tired-but, they were also almost compulsively neat and orderly.

Without official statements or military communications, the forces deployed near the action by Bariloche leave the area for their homeland because of their probable involvement in the Hallad-Shildonia conflict. Since their position was not in actual involvement in this war (OOC: I don't have much connection time lately and cannot RP much) they go without repercusions.

OOC:
Phyrric and Nuevo Kowloon, you should take a look in the LoD forums for this.

OOC: I am going to try and wrap this up rather quickly as preparations need to be made.

At Sicily:

The fighter squadrons make their way fast and low and drag as many enemy fighters out and away from the fleets in a pronged attack on both flanks, subs will be useless in this attack. From a considerably higher altitude, the B1 with their stealth design make their way out of the clouds and reveil their intent as the large wing becomes more visible to the naked eye.

"Open doors and drop drop drop" announces the wing commander. The doors of the 40 B1 discharge their load, each dropping 8 2000 pounders onto the enemy fleets below (320 bombs). They arch into a climb to out maneuver incoming enemy air craft that might have gained a lock onto the crafts when the doors were open. The open full throttle to place distance between themselves and the fighters to allow the second wave of B2 to make their attack. The doors of the B2 open and each drops 6 5000 pounders onto the fleets (360 bombs). Several bombers take damage from flak and enemy AA shots. (CIWS is useless against gravity bombs, the warhead still heads for mother Earth, even a near miss will cause a shockwave/tidalwave and damage nearby ships)

"Stay on mission, do not engage the enemy quite yet. When the explosions start, bank hard and engage the fleet." orders the yellow wing commander of the F22 squadron. The F22 along with the F15 headed starboard of the fleet while the X35 and F16 headed port steering away from the bomber attacks. The A6 and F117 will break the flanks attacks and spear headward into the fleet as the fighters are banking back into attack mode after the bomber attacks. (From an areal view, the paths would look like a heart with a piercing arrow)
*****
In Corcyra:

"Do not break formations, coordinate fire upon the enemy armor, disable what we can and move forward to point blank with the ground troops. Grind them under our treads those that escape the 50 cal fire." Upon this order, 2 M1's on the right side of the lead tank explodes from enemy fire. The roll forward continues in a disorganized manner.

Near the harbor. A man comes forward to the nearest enemy (I-V) unit holding a white cloth on his rifle. The Captain surrenders 12,000 men under his command. "I hereby surrender my weapon and forces under my command. I ask that I be immediately turned over to the Nationalist under Pyrrhus."

While in the boutique, the Colonel, Major and 3 other men gather the necessary items they need, change into clothing and head for the upper floors to cause a disturbance. "Evacuate the building, it is going to blow! It is triggered with explosives and the forces plan on blowing this building up, everyone get out now!" mobs of people start to evacuate the building as the word is quickly spread throughout the 60 story building that it is going to topple. In the mix of people in panic, the 5 men make their way in the mob and evacuate the building with the crowd and make way fro the Skyport.

I will post losses from both battles shortly

OOC: It's probably a lack of knowledge about my systems, which is hardly your fault, but anything that wasn't heavily stealth (Like your B-2s) would have been lit up like Christmas trees by my radar and missiles before you even got into bomb range. My radars are all some form of 3D phased arrays that perform like AEGIS on speed and the Sky Hawk TDMs have a 120 mile range, definately bad news for your non-stealth aircraft (which include the B-1s, since they only incorporate some RCS reduction, they're easily detectable by state-of-the-art modern-tech radars.) Also, I don't think you allowed for interception by the couple thousand IV fighters that his carriers launched.

OOC: It's probably a lack of knowledge about my systems, which is hardly your fault, but anything that wasn't heavily stealth (Like your B-2s) would have been lit up like Christmas trees by my radar and missiles before you even got into bomb range. My radars are all some form of 3D phased arrays that perform like AEGIS on speed and the Sky Hawk TDMs have a 120 mile range, definately bad news for your non-stealth aircraft (which include the B-1s, since they only incorporate some RCS reduction, they're easily detectable by state-of-the-art modern-tech radars.) Also, I don't think you allowed for interception by the couple thousand IV fighters that his carriers launched.

I did read the posts and mine was made clear on what was enroute, IV and SS volunteered to be the lead targets. I did state massive EM in the air prior to launch and as far as the 5000 fighters from 10 carriers, I have a slight problem with that as a carrier to house 500 fighters would be larger than manhattan island in new york. I can accept a great many things, but that is a tad.....big and all conjested in a single airspace would make flight totally impossible, maneuverability would not be possible. know what i mean?

OOC: It's probably a lack of knowledge about my systems, which is hardly your fault, but anything that wasn't heavily stealth (Like your B-2s) would have been lit up like Christmas trees by my radar and missiles before you even got into bomb range. My radars are all some form of 3D phased arrays that perform like AEGIS on speed and the Sky Hawk TDMs have a 120 mile range, definately bad news for your non-stealth aircraft (which include the B-1s, since they only incorporate some RCS reduction, they're easily detectable by state-of-the-art modern-tech radars.) Also, I don't think you allowed for interception by the couple thousand IV fighters that his carriers launched.

I did read the posts and mine was made clear on what was enroute, IV and SS volunteered to be the lead targets. I did state massive EM in the air prior to launch and as far as the 5000 fighters from 10 carriers, I have a slight problem with that as a carrier to house 500 fighters would be larger than manhattan island in new york. I can accept a great many things, but that is a tad.....big and all conjested in a single airspace would make flight totally impossible, maneuverability would not be possible. know what i mean?

[ooc]
working out volumes, shapes...

I suppose... if he had multiple-hangar deck levels stacked one on top of the other, and deck surface-areas similar to the cancelled "America" class carrier proposed in the late 1940's (that one was a structure proposed of a size you could land a B-47 on), he could squeeze as many as twice the standard load-out of a Nimitz-class.
It'd play hell, coordinating that many birds, and the flattop would have no speed or manuevering to speak of, but it's somewhat possible.
Honestly, I had some issues with 40-inch guns triple-mounted on moveable turrets, but that's more to do with the mechanical loads involved- build it big enough, and it's going to have some monster draft and seriously scary surface area. (Play hell getting through the Suez or the Straits.)
Then again, if he's running 10 Nimitz equivalents, and then running fighters off of, say, (run 5-1) has another 50 Tarawas running V/STOL fighters (F-35 or equivalent, like a harrier but faster), He might be able to field that many birdies all-at-once.
Figure a Task-Force structure like this:

1 Carrier Group
1 CVN
5 LHA/CV (Tarawas, but running VSTOL fighters)
10 LHA's with the usual (Helos, landing craft...)
2 BB-or-equivalents
5 Cruisers
10 Destroyers
20 Frigates
50 Corvettes (smallboys, Hydrofoils, maybe-like a Coast Guard cutter)

If he's running ten of those, then he could have as many as 1000 fighters available-but having them all in the air at one time is not very efficient.
If he's running some of those fighters off of Phyrric-Loyalist Airbases, he doesn't need to have all of them dependent on Carriers/surface transports. (the crisis is several weeks old, and the land-side basing could have been handled in the buildup phase, or immediately after the first big Naval clash-when a lot of allied aircraft didn't have "Homes" anymore.

OOC: Lets get back on topic and close this baby out. I know I will take heavy losses and expected that from post number 1 on page 1. The issue might be time, space and matter as objects cannot occupy the same area and that is what would happen with large fleets and aircraft in same combat zone. Problem with numbers? no....Problem with numbers in same fight? yes jmo

Frigate NKS John Calley...

The fires were finally out, and the debris cleared.
"Sir, we're picking transmissions-looks like an attack in progress..." Captain David Liu nodded, "I thought so... any of it getting past the Ilek-Vaadis?"
The radar had just been brought back up.
"Negative, they're holding."
Liu shrugged, "Fine, keep an eye on it, if the enemy slips past, let me know."

OOC: The fighters aren't just coming from my carriers. Ilek-Vaad is sufficently close enough to launch fighters from my bases for an attack. I had posted that my fleet and sech were well on the way and the Air Guard were leaving from Ilek-Vaad and replacing downed fighters on Naval Guard and Terra-Mali carriers. I'll make a full post tomorrow when I'm back at my T1.

The largest of my carriers (The Hechicero and Tollan) can hold 350 fighters each, the rest hold 200. All of the fighters are Orion VTOL Stealth fighters.

As fror the Revenge class Battleships, they are roughly twice tyhe size of say, the Yamamoto (I'll post the exact specs if you want) and are based on a concept from the UK from the early 90's (never put into production, but the pictures looked cool) Ilek-Vaad nearly 20 years ago abandoned developing aircraft carriers and smaller ships and focused entirely on building the Revenge. After all Ilek-Vaad's only thing in mind was defending the coast, it's only recently that political changes have turned the Naval Guard into a more aggresive international being."

Offical IC Post:

The fighters and bombers from the Rebel carriers broke over the Naval Guard like a storm, the Orion Fighters configured as interceptors pounced on every enemy aircraft they could target. The other Orions pushed on and began bombing the fleet and it's carriers around Sicily, the submarines charging ahead to hit the carriers and other ships as well. The Capitol ships opened up with their 30mm chain gun batteries at the incoming bombers and fighters, the cruisers and destroyers let loose with sheets of Comet/M3 AA missles.

Supreme Naval Commander Itxaad gripped the railing of the Emperor Ehecatl as all around him explosions rip the air , he wasn't yelling any orders as the fleey was already firing back and pushing on towards Sicily any way. He gritted his teeth as he saw the Revenge, stop dead in the water smoke billowing from it's conning tower, but the fleet pressed on anyhow "TO SICILY!" he shouted above the din, still waving his sword, the officers nearby ducked.......

Aboard the Revenge Admiral Coyohuital shook his head as huge boom reported from above Fire Control the captain turned "Sir, the tower is hit, our array is down, power from the reactor is failing.

He grimaced "Is the hull breached?"

the Captain checked over several things "no sir, but we only have minimal power."

He nodded "Inform Itxaad, get us out of here, shut down everything but the engines........"

Another explosion rocked the ship as the screens in Fire Control flickered off, the pilots were now sterring by sight only, everything else was down.

OOC: Naval Losses: 1 Revenge class battleship (The Revenge), 10 cruisers, 22 destroyers, 12 Frigates, 80 fighters (more probably after they are fully engaged.)

******
On Corcyra

Command General Ring watched as the Rebel moved forward, a white rag tied to the end of his rifle . His Red Jagur and the Ring Bearer's near by all readied their weapons, the tank turrets aimed on the Rebels.

The man identifies himself as a Captain and says "I hereby surrender my weapon and forces under my command. I ask that I be immediately turned over to the Nationalist under Pyrrhus."

Command Genaerl Ring Grimaces and simply says "You and all of your men lay down arms and move away from them."

The Red Jaguar and the Ring Bearers move quickly and disarm and restrain all of the men (there are 2,000 Red Jaguar and 80,000 Ring Beares that had been readying for an assault).

Only after they are all disarmed and restrained does Command General Ring snarl at the Captain "You and your dogs loyal to Antiachus invaded our embassy and killed our Minister of Foreign Affairs,you killed unarmed men, women and children, you are all war criminals , you won't ever see the Pyrrhus again, I'll see that you and all of your dogs are marched up the temple at Tollan and gutted alive!"

Command General Ring then turns to his Red Jaguar "Take them all abord the Atlases, seperate the officers and make sure they are all confined, if anyone resists or struggles, cut them to pieces!"

The prisoners are then hurried away, anyone who resists or struggles is cut to ribbons by the Red Jaguar with their machetes and macanas.


OOC: Colonel Erdogan and his 10 Red Jaguar are still waiting where Antiachus' Colonel sent his scouts (the Lilac Terminal) if that's the route they intend to take to the skyport, that should be interesting. And I'll bet they are pretty ugly women ;)

in Corcyra

The tide of the enemy's ground forces declined along the NK front. Scout units reported that "They're avoiding our sector and surrendering to the Ilek Vaadis."
General Nguyen leaned back in his new chair ($199 on sale, nylon-like Leather with lower back support, adjustable in three directions...) and laughed. "I wonder why!" was his only comment.
The Rebels, it seemed, had found something scarier than the Ilek-Vaad forces.
"Tighten up our perimeter, make sure we're braced for a counterattack, and get some engineers to work putting the roads back together-and see if you can find someone to put out those damned fires."

geez, can't someone have bad intel once in a while???

BUMP!

OOC: The fact that my fleet stumbled upon the rebel fleet proved that I had bad intel for once (which doesn't happen often).

Revised losses:
12 frigates, 8 destroyers, 5 cruisers, 2 battleships heavily damaged, and 1 carrier lightly damaged.

OOC:yeah, we were innocently headed to Sicily when BAM! The enemy came outta nowhere going the other way! I had no idea they were even on the move......................

[ooc]I meant Me, guys... I mean, what're the odds that they'd be surrendering in droves to the IV's (who'll rip their hearts out in ceremonies) rather than a bunch of neat, clean-cut asian boys who'll only strip-search, then detain them???

OOC: Strip search them!? That's barbaric ;) , anyhow it's been over a week since anything happened we're all going home.

Late reply...oops (life has been busy, might have to make an absence from NS for a few weeks for RL reasons)

In Sicily on the Veii

A conversation between Captain of the Tarentum and Vice Admiral Johnson.

"Losses are heavy sir, this does not look favorable to us. The fleet cannot replenish losses and we cannot carry this on for any longer. Admiral Antiachus has not been seen or heard from for the better part of 3 days. This is over for us and I suggest that we either beach the carriers or surrender and take what is coming. So many lives have been lost and the Navy that used to be the pride of the seas is in shambles."

"My career was over when long ago as Pyrrhus tried to desk me, this is not how I wanted things to go, but a trial is what I must stand, it is my destiny. The newly found Nation of Io has accomplished its objective and millions have paid the price for freedom once more. This time, the ones that sought the freedom did not pay the price of life, it has been awarded to them by the blood of others."

"Then we shall hand over our sabers and let the judgments fall where they must. We have perfomed our duties well and let the analysts of the war college study the battles for next few centuries. Helm, set course for 180 for Syracuse, send message to Pyrrhus that the Province of Sicily surrenders and pledges its support to the rightful government of Phyrric."

The Veii turns back toward the Island of Sicily followed by the remains of the fleet.

Losses are:
127 F22
77 X35
24 B1
37 B2
85 F16
91 F15
47 F117
11 frigates
8 destroyers
5 cruisers
1 battleship

In Corcyra at the Skyport:

Flights have been resuming at the Skyport but still delayed several hours or cancelled until further notice. Passengers have been stranded at the Skyport for several days and the problems of the masses is becoming prevailant. Disease and hunger are starting to take the lives of the weak.

"Attention all passengers, IIA flight 265 to Io is now boarding through skyport gate AA 120 with non-stop service to Jupiter. All passengers seated in rows 79-110 please proceed to the agent for processing and boarding. We will be expected to depart Corcyra in 45 minutes. Anyone requiring special assistance, please contact the agent for boarding.......

Mr Johnson, Mr Johnson, contact skyport paging for a message.....

This is our flight sir, they are leaving as scheduled and it is time for us to go to our new Empire."

"Of course it is on time, amongst the caos and confusion, Solar flights are never delayed or cancelled. Why would they be, it is the best and most efficient way to evacuate any city in turmoil. Even the next one will be leaving ontime in 6 hours. Frequent flier program, we should get awesome miles for this flight."

The three stand, gather their purses, canes, luggage and sweaters. they proceed to the agent for boarding.

Within the City of Corcyra:

The streets are clogged with citizens in unrest. Thousands and thousands of people roam the streets looking for loves ones, gathering what is left of their lives and trying to maintain what sanity they can. Trucks come and go from the Red Cross and other relief agencies trying to provide what they can.

The Imperial Army is near dissipated, captured or dead. The leaders of the army are captured one by one, transported to holding facilities and interrogated. Of the 35 thousand that once terrorized the city over the past few months, 12 thousand are captured, 18 thousand dead, 4 thousand injured and near one thousand unaccounted for or still held up in pockets throughout the city. The republic forces and allies have secured the city. Now the search for the main leaders goes on.