NationStates Jolt Archive

-closed- just forget anything ever happened.

bump for the readers

Britons woke to the BBC (and some independent broadcasters about whom nobody much cares) breaking the news of the royal killings in Commonwealth family-member Canan. Fears were growing for the stability of the nation and the safety of British subjects holidaying or working in the country, as well as for the locals.

The British Consulate in Cairo began to tighten security as efforts were made to contact whatever existed of the proper government- the Royal Navy had mobilised for deployment to New Guinea along with all three Royal Marine commando units, and could now be diverted to the region if need be.

TAG

Number of Loyalist troops in city: 267 + up to 15 aircraft.
Number of The Fallen troops: 3000 + 3 M1A1 Abrams


It was barely light when the rumble of the three Abram tanks that The Fallen had commandeered rolled through the town of Ashqelon along with over 3,000 men, all armed with Ak 47s, RPGs or some other form of small arms, some carried only a couple grenades, while others carried boxes of ammunition, for the upcoming battle.

Their reports said that there was a small garrison of troops in the area, and Gomorrah wanted to see how his troops would fare in battle. There were also valuable supplies in the area, and if they were lucky, perhaps they would capture a tank or two. As they neared the city, they noticed three f-16’s flying in formation over head. General Granz had pleaded against this course of action, attacking a garrisoned force with nothing more than three tanks and three thousand poorly trained men was a bad idea; and the arrival of the f-16s would make it an even worse idea.

As they entered the city the tanks ground to a stop.

“What is the problem?” General Granz asked over the radio.

“The streets are too narrow sir,” came the reply.

“Well stay here and provide whatever cover you can, and once I give the order you try to find another way into the city,” Granz ordered.

“Yes sir,” the lead tank commander replied.

“This is a great way to start a war,” General Granz thought to himself as he watched the dots on his screen begin to move around the tanks.

Loyalist Garrison, center of town.

“Sir, reports from the F-16s that were on patrol say that there is a large group of rebels headed our way,” a Corporal reported to Staff Sergeant Hasaan.

“Any armor?” Hasaan asked.

“Yes sir, but they appear to have stopped just inside of town.”

“Very good, prepare the men, tell them to dig in. It’ll be a long day.”

As the rebels began pouring into the town square, landmines, and other traps began setting off explosions, sending shrapnel and debris flying into the air. At the same time, mortars began raining into the square, sending the rebels scrambling to find cover, but as the first of the rebels reached the other side of the square, the windows began lighting up with gunfire. At the end of the street two machine gun nests opened fire into the stupefied rebel forces. Bodies were scattered in the streets, as the rebels feebly tried hiding behind lamp posts and cars trying to fight the seemingly invisible enemy.

Suddenly the ground began to shake as the three tanks rumbled into the city square. One opened fire on a building where three Loyalist soldiers were throwing them and debris into the air.

“Sir! The tanks...the tanks are in the square!” A private yelled into his radio.

“Hmmm, fall back to the Alamo,” Hasaan ordered into his radio.

The “Alamo” Hasaan was referring to was actually a small bank on the outskirts of town. Hasaan figured that if he could draw the tanks into the open, he could order an air strike to disable them.

As the Loyalist soldiers began falling back, General Granz ordered all of his men to halt.

“But sir, the enemy is on the run, we are winning. We outnumber them almost ten to one!”

“Yes I realize this, but where are they running to?”

“They are running out of the town sir.”

“Exactly, out of town and into the open. It is obvious they want to draw us out there; it is why they gave us the town so easily. Therefore we will take up defensive positions and wait for them to come to us.”

“Yes sir.”

It was only 3:00 PM, General Granz knew that there would be another attack, but he did not know when.


The Fallen Casualties:
Killed: 283
Wounded: 232
Missing: 13

Loyalist Casualties:
Killed: 23
Wounded: 34
Missing: 3

bump

The hall was thronged with court followers, for The Trident was in session.

A combination of court and political organisation, The Trident determined the fate of all citizens of Poseidon, high and low.

The Lord of the Trident, The Grand Shark himself, looked more than a little bored. With 342 items in today's agenda it was hard not to.

Individual citizens might view their particular case with fear and trepidation, but after the first thousand executions or so it was easy to become blasé.

The annunciator chimed.

"May it Please The Trident. Case Number 323 - A Report From Our Intelligence Service"

The Grand Shark looked a little less jaded, and gently began to polish his sharpened teeth.

A tall figure strode to the lectern before the throne.

"May it please The Trident. I am Agent 989, attached to the Middle East Monitoring Service."

"Today we received reports that the civil war in Canan has attained new heights, and the rebels have attacked the town of Ashqelon."

The Grand Shark said "Excellent, I think it is time at last. Long have we looked for a suitable candidate for our attention in the art of warfare."

"Is there concensus for our sending the Grand Fleet?"

"Their purpose - to seal the seas around Canan and deny the entry of foreign forces, to let the Cananites fight it out between themselves without seabourne interference."

"Then, when a victor emerges we can deal with their weakened country on our own terms!"

The members of the Grand Trident looked at each other with weary resignation and pressed their "Yes" buttons. Once the Grand Shark had spoken, it was more than their life was worth to disagree...

So in secret undersea bases around the shores of The Wrath of Poseidon, preparations were made and finally The Grand Fleet sailed for the shores around Canan.

The Grand Fleet of the Wrath of Poseidon:

14 Trafalgar class nuclear attack submarines equipped with conventional Tomahawk SubHarpoon and torpedo armanents. These are optimised for antiship and land attack, although they retain some ASW capability.

8 Vanguard class converted nuclear ballistic missile submarine. These have had their original Trident D5 nuclear SLBMs withdrawn, and have been refitted with a combination of Tomahawk packs, Hovering Hawk air defence packs and Righteous Wrath heavy antiship missiles. The exact mix of these weapons is classified, but up to 112 Tomahawks, 96 Meteor AAMs or 48 Righteous Wrath missiles can be carried by each submarine.

16 Swiftsure class nuclear attack submarines. These carry predominantly antisubmarine weapons including the Fire Shark subsurface guided mssile and are tasked to protect the boomers.

One Righteous Wrath is sufficient to sink a Nimitz class aircraft carrier.

ooc:

It will take approximately 2 RL days for the fleet to arrive.

Do I assume that Canan occupies the physical location of RL Israel, and if so where are the boundaries?

Godmod note - although The Wrath of Poseidon is relatively small it has devoted its whole armed forces to underwater assets, and relies upon mutual defence pacts with larger nations for national self defence. It has also been loaned a large number of submarines by larger nations to outsource their subsurface defence needs.

Occ: So I take it that you will be fighting for neither side? Also Apple Zer0 has a naval base in Canan and is currently send forces to protect his intrests, he is not an active participant however, and is only fighting is attacked.

Canan's borders are the real life borders of Egypt, Israel, Pakistan, and the Golan Heights.

Occ: So I take it that you will be fighting for neither side? Also Apple Zer0 has a naval base in Canan and is currently send forces to protect his intrests, he is not an active participant however, and is only fighting is attacked.

Canan's borders are the real life borders of Egypt, Israel, Pakistan, and the Golan Heights.

OOC

Pakistan? That's the other side of India!

Do you mean Jordan perhaps? Or Iran?

Since you are co-incident with Egypt, what about the Suez Canal?

Does it exist? Has it been closed by the crisis or is normal commercial traffic still flowing through?

Correct, I don't intend to fight for either side, instead planning to implement a general sea blockade. So Apple ZerO may indeed come into conflict with me unless he gets whatever forces he has en route into his base fast enough to get trapped.

It would be nice to know what those forces are!

Hi i have just bought some brandnew military top grade weapons i have a large military and i was wondering if you wanted to be allies?

Occ: Sorry, I meant Palestine. And chris, until you have proven that you can produce a decent roleplay, then I will not allow you to participate in this rp. About being allies, I will think about it.

London was getting little communication from Cairo. The embassy couldn't even seem to raise proper authorities. Prepared though they may have been for round-the-world deployment to New Guinea, the men and women of 40, 42, and 45 Commando Royal Marines and a serious weight of ships and army personnel and equipment were now reconciling new orders. The Middle East? How many times had Britain sworn never to go back there? It never held true. Where there wasn't too much oil there was too much history.

British waters

From Plymouth to Arbroath the waters were churned-up by the first major RN deployment since the beginning to PM John Bull's premiership. Over four thousand Royal Marines and Royal Marine Auxiliaries along with several thousand further Army personnel, Royal Navy sailors and Royal Fleet Auxiliaries were borne south for the Strait of Gibraltar and eventually for Egypt. Their brief was as yet indecisive. The British embassy had to be secured or evacuated, many other British subjects likewise protected, and somebody responsible had to ensure that Canan didn't tear itself from the civilised world and into self-destructive chaos. Plus there was a certain canal that better remain open.

The media was let in on more or less all of this, and the expedition's none-hostile intentions. A certain degree of ignorance and uncertainty was admitted by Downing Street.

Her Majesty's Ships Ocean, Ark Royal, Illustrious, Albion, and Bulwark and Royal Fleet Auxiliaries Mounts Bay and Largs Bay carried most of the expedition's men, supplies, and equipment. They were under escort by Her Majesty's Ships Daring, Iron Duke, Kent, Chatham, Trafalgar, Talent and Sceptre and several Hunt and Sandown Class mine-countermeasure vessels.

Efforts to contact Cairo continued alongside a communiqué to the commander in chief at Apple Zer0's naval facility confirming the British deployment and its none-hostile purpose.

OOC:

Can I confirm that this is running at the usual rate of 1 RL day per NS week?

Occ: that sounds about right.

Ic:
[code]To: The British Federation Embassey in Cairo
From: Princess Terah (Te'-rah) Calah (Ca-lah)

We are very sorry for the delay in responding to your attempts at communicating with us, but we have been very, very busy as of late. As you know my mother and father were murdered, and it seems as if it was my own twin brother who committed such an act. Yesterday was the last day of public viewing, and today we lay them to resst in the Halls of the Righteous.

We also have a rather small rebellion taking place, as you already know. I am currently the last member of the Calah family, and I am trying to gain the military knowledge from a few incompetant generals.

Now to the matter at hand, we will gladly allow you to land your forces on our shores, but we do not feel that your embassey is in any danger, as the fighting in not expected to reach this far south. However if you had any citizens in the north, they are in grave danger, fore the anti-british sentiment has become very violent in the last year.

I hope that this war will not tarnish your view of our nation, for Canan is a very beutiful nation, minus the few radicals who beleive that we should isolate ourselves from the rest of the world.

Princess Terah Calah

Another day, another meeting.

The Grand Shark was listening to some piteous wretch incoherently begging for his pitiful life, when an aide quietly proffered a telephone receiver.

Holding one hand up to stifle the babble in mid-flow, he held the earpiece to his ear and said "Yes?"

"Excellency, we have received some urgent reports from our spies around the Middle East."

"Go on."

"The British undersea listening station on Gibraltar heard a few slight traces indicating a substantial submarine fleet passing through the Straits"

"Are those ours, or is some other force in progress?"

"We are not completely sure Excellency, however the time is right for the Mediterranean component of our task force and we feel it is unlikely that another power has more than one or two submarines available for the area.."

"Very good. Anything else?"

"Yes, Your Excellency. Our container ship fleet have passed the Straits of Hormuz and are progressing up the Red Sea. They are ostensibly en route from India to the UK via the Suez Canal, and we plan to deploy their cargo tonight. There are no signs of any suspicions."

"Excellent news. May the rest of our operation proceed as planned."

As he put the receiver down, the Grand Shark decided that as he was in a good mood this malodorous wretch would escape with a hundred lashes.

The city of Ashqelon was very quite, but Sergeant Hasaan knew that soon it would become a hell on Earth. During the lull in battle, three Paladin mobile artillery pieces arrived with 5 M1A2 Abrams, 10 BFV Infantry Fighting Vehicles, and 10 BFV Cavalry Fighting Vehicles and an extra one hundred men. They were about to drive the traitors out of the city, and they were going to do it with a vengeance.


10 miles outside Ashqelon 9:11PM:

Colonel Mara: Sergeant Hasaan, how are you doing this fine night?

Hasaan: I would be doing much better if I were sitting at home with my family sir.

Mara: Yes, yes as would I. But we are not, we are here and we must make the best of it. Now where are those three Abrams at in the city?

Hasaan: Reports show them to still be in the square sir. It seems the only way out is the way they came in, which is through the west end of the city. They have fortified this position heavily, but they have not been reinforcing the city sir. It seems as if they are saving their supplies for another attack somewhere.

Mara: I see, what would you suggest we do Sergeant, I feel it is only right to let you decide, since you and your men know the city.

Hasaan: Well sir, I say we soften their positions on the west end of the city with our artillery. Then send a platoon or two to draw their attention away from the south end of the city so that we can send in the rest of our forces.

Mara: And what would you suggest we do with our tanks? We can’t send them in through the south end, as you have pointed out.

Hasaan: Well, either keep them here, to cover the artillery, or send them to the west end. The only problem is the street is only wide enough to send the tanks in single file.

Mara: Let us do that then Sergeant Hasaan. And if this works, a promotion may be in your near future.

Hasaan: Yes sir, and thank you sir.

Mara: Your welcome, now go tell your men that we will be moving out in six hours. And I want the artillery to move into position and begin firing in two hours.

Hasaan: Yes sir.


Two hours later:

The town began lighting up as artillery pounded the west end of the city. Two platoons, plus the squad of tanks moved into position, waiting for the order to commence their attack. With them, Staff Sergeant Hasaan stood, ready for the battle to begin.

The long line of container ships proceeded up the sea lane towards Canan and The Canal.

Before them and aft of them the lights glittered of other travellers on this quite busy sea lane.

To starboard lay the lights of Mecca, the Muslim holy city.

It was time.

Gradually the ships came to a halt. This was the most dangerous part of the operation, someone unwary could literally run into them.

Then below the waterline on each ship, something began to move.

While outwardly a simple container ship, each of these vessels was actually rather more. Considerable high technology had moved the motive power, living quarters and almost every other part of machinery into the fake containers carried on deck.

In the hull where normally machinery moved and cargo was stored was a vast echoing cavern.

Inside that cavern, resting on a cradle in the base of the hull was a submarine.

Now watertight doors in the base of the hull became watertight no more.

Water rushed into the hull, and the ships settled alarmingly into the water. It would be impossible to do this in daytime without attracting considerable attention, but now the chances were good of being unobserved.

Finally each ship reached a new equilibrium. Water looked like it might wash over the deck at any moment, but each ship was still stable.

Inside, the cradles retracted and the submarine floated gently inside the hull.

Then diving in place, each submarine settled gently out of sight.

Once clear of the hull, each submarine in turn moved out into the centre of the channel where the water was deepest, heading towards its assigned duty station.

Three Vanguard, six Swiftsure and two Trafalgar subs were now at loose in the Red Sea.

Their task complete, the eleven "container ships" closed their hull doors and pumped some of the water back out again, leaving enough as ballast to keep them riiding at exactly the same height as before they had released their loads.

Finally the long line of ships resumed their stately prgress towards the Suez Canal.

i am selling weapons for cheap plz look at weapons-tech surplus sells

Even in a modern nuclear submarine, there is a slight feeling of claustrophobia, especially with the dim red lighting currently in use.

By the chart table the navigator looked quietly confident, but inside he wasn't very happy.

By any stretch of the imagination the Red Sea was the ultimate submariner's nightmare.

A straight line course, never deeper than 150 fathoms and often much less with heavy surface traffic meant that there were few places to go and fewer to hide.

The Vengeance was not the smallest of submarines either, and tucking her and her two escorts into her assigned position was proving to be an issue.

Luckily things weren't nearly as bad as they would have been for WW2 submariners. She was very very quiet, and so were her escorts.

Blue laser rangefinders usable underwater to a mile away meant they could keep in formation with each other and maintain silent communications without giveaway radio signals or noises.

Part of the refit to fit her new role as a heavy conventional attack boat included the laser communicators/rangefinders and new hydrophones more sensitive than any previously used.

The combination along with the new computers meant that her situation awareness was unparalleled. Every ship on the surface within a radius of thirty miles was tagged on the main situation display, and datalinks with her sister subs meant that as they moved into position and sent occasional VLF data bursts the display expanded until the whole Red Sea was shown.

They were also listening hard for foreign submarines of course, but none seemed to be present. The occasional biological seemed to be the only ones to share this underwater environment.

Finally to orders from her captain the great submarine quietly settled down to a stationary location hovering a mere 10 feet above the sea bottom. Her escorts settled into similar position forward and aft.

Now all they had to do was wait.

im so soz but i cant to an rp this weekend, i will be back tuesday. mea culpa mea maxima culpa

ok, I guesse ill have to rp for both sides then.

The bombardments of the rebel positions on the west end of the city have taken their toll. Leaving almost 35 men dead, and over twice that wounded the position in the west has been severely crippled. Sergeant Hasaan seeing his opportunity decides to throw all he’s got at the rebels. Two of the five M1A2 Abrams move in first, they stop at the beginning of town and begin to open fire. Letting their 120mm cannons rip through buildings, while one two platoons of 50 men each rush carefully pick their way through, shooting anything that moves. Hasaan then decided to move the two Abrams into the city single file. Still firing the Abrams slowly yet surely make their way through town until the rebel’s tanks are in view. The first tank opens fire, hitting on of the Abrams in the tracks. The enemy tank fired, missing the Abram, but hitting a building, causing it to collapse on top of 10 soldiers.

South Ashqelon
Colonel Mara’s troops began to move in, meeting light resistance, they made their way to the city center before they stopped. Sergeant Hasaan’s plan was working perfectly; all the enemy tanks were focused on the west end of town. And the majority of the 2000 plus men were there as well. Colonel Mara’s group spread out, searching for cover, while firing at the rebels, who had finally noticed them. Then, all of the sudden, one of the enemy tanks exploded, throwing its turrent into the air, and crashing back down harmlessly into the square. The rebels seeing one of their tanks being destroyed began running out of the city. A white flag appeared out of one of the two remaining tank’s hatch and Colonel Mara knew that Ashqelon was his.

The remaining rebels threw their guns onto the ground and raised their hands in surrender as well. Colonel Mara seeing this, asked one of the rebels what they were doing.

“Sir, we have given up, we are your prisoners,” the man replied.

“Ha, you are not my prisoners, you are my countrymen. Every last one of you is free to return to your homes, it is the soon to be Queen’s orders,” Mara responded.

Upon hearing this the rebels cheered for joy, and began walking away, back to their homes, and families.


Occ: Kind of rushed and corny, but I want to get this thing over pretty quick. The lack of participation is killer.

The British task force snaked its way through the Strait of Gibraltar and on towards Canan, HMS Talent being already some way ahead as she crawled below the surface.

London felt some relief at hearing from Cairo, but the expedition continued none the less. If the rebellion really did carry anti-British sentiment -in such a sensitive region- it was in London's interests to offer help to the official government. Perhaps the arrival of a highly visible UK force would make the rebels more seriously consider their commitment to an anti-British cause.

(OOC: Being as I'm not sure where you want the course of the RP to lead I'm willing to have the British force remain largely uninvolved and just on hand 'in case', or to have it blunder into an operation against the rebels if you wish. That could either lead to their defeat or to a terrible cock-up that might win them more support. I'm easy. We may end up continuing right through the Suex and on to New Guinea.)

VLF transmission sent to HQ:

We are trailing a weak sonar contact. The noise signature indicates that this is a Trafalgar class attack submarine. The lack of IFF suggests it is British.

These complacent fools show no signs of knowledge of our presence - they haven't even tried any Lazy Ivans.

They are about to pass out of our patrol area, but their position is plotted on the situation net, so our whole fleet knows they are there,

Permission to engage?

VLF transmission from HQ:

Granted.

The Swiftsure class sub sat a comfortable mile behind the British Trafalgar.

This meant that instead of having to follow them on hydrophones, a whisker laser could act as a far more potent rangefinding device.

"Tubes 1 and 2 loaded with Spearfish, 3 and 4 loaded with Fire Shark sir"

"Open bow doors"

"Fire 3"

"Fire 4"

"Reload 3 and 4"

From the bow of the submarine emerged a mass of bubbles as the two Fire Shark undersea missiles erupted from the tubes.

They appeared not to anything for a short while, as the pressure from the tubes sent them in a slow parabolic path towards the bottom.

Then at a safe distance from the carrying sub, their boosters ignited.

These were not quiet weapons, but they had immense speed for undersea use.

The solid fuel rocket motor also provided gas for an artificial friction reducing system, producing hordes of tiny bubbles from pores all over the surface of the missile.

These encapsulated the missile in a shell of hot gas, flashing the sea into a thin layer of steam, producing an environment where the missiles were effectively in gas rather than water.

The twin missiles closed on the British submarine at 300 miles per hour. They would cover the mile in just twelve short seconds.

The British were doomed. They could surely hear the missiles on their hydrophones, but there was just no time to react.

Now they would pay the price for forgetting that they no longer ruled the waves.

he Grand Shark was in a towering rage.

"HOW DARE THESE PEOPLE SPOIL OUR FUN!"

"Give word to our forces to return to base"

VLF message from HQ:

"OPERATION ABORTED - all forces disengage"

In WPS Stupendous the order is received with consternation, and the captain immediately ordered a self destruct on the missiles in flight.

A mere 300 yards from their destination the missiles explode. The shock wave rattles a few teeth but the Brits survive to live another day.

All the Wrath of Poseidon submarines in the Mediterranean return home, in the course of which they slip gently past the British fleet.

"What a pity." mused the captain of WPS Victory, "Such an unbalanced force would be such fun to knock down."

Meanwhile in the Red Sea the container ships exited through the Suez Canal while the submarines retraced the route through the Straits of Hormuz. On the surface!

A few feeble attempts were made to attack them as they made their stately way through the narrow passage, but a couple of Hovering Hawks dealt with the aircraft and the patrol boats were wrecked with a few Sub Harpoon rounds from the attack subs.

Nothing larger dared to come near them, and finally they slipped beneath the sea, not to be seen again for a while.