NationStates Jolt Archive

WARNING: This is a Private planned RP, others can join as long as it fits in with the original plot. TM either me or IDP for more information.

Mercia, Capitol City of Rukemia

It was 8:00 in the morning, and millions of people within the city of Mercia hustled and bustled their way to work. Heavy traffic zipped by pedestrians as they traveled on foot, and this day seemed to carry on just like any other. At 8:15 a particularly large gas tanker takes a right on Ivywood Blvd., the single busiest street of the city. No one thought it odd at the time, everyone seemed to be in their own little world's, unconcerened with what went on around them. The tanker meshed in with the traffic, squeezing itself in the center lane before coming to an unexpected, screeching halt. The taxi behind the tanker slammed into its backside, causing a ripple effect through the middle lane as all the cars involved smacked into the vehicle in front of them.

People began exiting their cars and heading towards the tanker, most of which were screaming and cursing at the top of their lungs. All the commotion caused several pedestrians to stop and look over in curiosity at what was going on. The tanker acted almost like a magnet, people began moving toward it, both disgruntled taxi drivers, and business men on their way to work.

They all wanted to know what the hell this guys problem was. People crowded around the tanker, unable to see who was on the inside because of the tinted windows. Finally, one bold Rukemian climbed up the tanker's side and snatched the door open, revealing a completely nude man who was sweating severely.

"What the f---", the Rukemian man's words were sucked out of his mouth as a sonic boom echoed through out the city. Suddenly a circled wall of flame rose from around the tanker as it combusted, killing all those crowded around the it in one huge blast. They laid down like dominoes and death wouldn't allow them to get up, cars flipped and crashed into the sides of buildings from the impact, crushing those inside.

Everyone within a 400 ft radius was dead, and in an 800 ft radius wounded. The streets were left charred and littered with burnt carcuses, which still smoked from the explosion. It was the first terrorist attack against Rukemia in 25 years, and it hit hard.

_______________________

Mercia, Presidential Suite

Vice President Adrian Tate looked out onto the Mercian skyline and saw as the smoke slowly rised from within the middle of the city. Several sirens followed shortly after, as the fire department and the hospital ambulances made their way to the scene.

Adrian turned to the president who stood next to him, looking pale and sickly from the thoughts of all the dead that ran through his head.

"So it has begun....", said the president slowly.

Press Conference, Outside of Capitol building

President Vaul walked out of the capitol bulding, down the red carpet laced steps and up to the wooden podium from which a dozen mics spat up. He looked down at the podium, and then back up at the press.

"As you already know, our security has been breeched, and we have been attacked in the most cowardly manner. Let it be known that this act of cowardice will not go without punishment, for our superior intelliengence has already informed us of the lowly criminals behind this tragedy. A nation that we once considered an ally, a friend, Isla De Penguinata."

The crowd gasped, and the president continued.

"Yes, it would seem we've been betrayed by our supposed friends. Their motive is clear, their leader, Emperor Carl, a disgusting fat pig, is jealous of what we have. He's jealous of our freedom, of our wealth, of our unity, and most of all, of our strength. For too long he has terrorized his people, forcing them to live under obscene conditions, stealing their money and humiliating them. Rukemia has sat back and watched this tragedy unfold, as a people were raped of their freedoms. Now, it's the time for action, to avenge our people, and to free those who are enslaved by their leader. So it is with a heavy heart, that I tell you, the people of Rukemia, that war has officially been declared upon Isla De Penguinata and their country shall soon be liberated. That is all."

The president ignored the questions and turned around heading towards the capitol building, he walked inside and was quickly met by his Vice President.

"Did everything go as planned?", the VP asked.

"Yes, without a hitch, our the troops being mobilized?"

"As we speak Lakato."

"I can only hope you were right about this..."

"Trust me, you won't regret it."

Official Statement from the People's Republic of Sevaris- Premier's Office.

We condemn these horrible attacks on the people of Rukemia. If you should need us for anything, please contact us. We'll be eager to assist.

Cordially,
Premier Alec Mannerheim
Minister of Defence Paine
Minister of Sugar Production Rikku
Spiritual Advisor Yuna.

(Those are the people who run the government)

I am personally disgusted that a civilised nation might visit such horror upon another. The NAS supports Rukemia and any action it might take against the perpetrators of this brutal and vicious attack.

Reichschancellor Holst
NAS Reichstag, Belsin

"While we appreciate both your nations support, we assure you that we will not be in need of aid. Isla De Penguinata should be liberated within a few months, we expect the oncoming war to very brief, and hardly bloody. The people of that impoverished nation is what's really in our best interest"

Sincerely,
Rukemian VP, Adrian Tate

The Emperor Carl Ghent sat in his golden throne, woofing down so greasy chicken. He had another jester in front of him trying to amuse himself. The jester wasn’t doing too great of a job, so he was thinking about having him beheaded. In that instant, the Emperors under lord Arnold Ghent burst in the room. This startled Carl and he nearly chocked on his rather large piece of chicken.

“WHAT IS SO IMPORTANT!?!” screeched Carl. Arnold answered “It was the attack…” he stopped to get more air, as he was panting from running halfway across the palace. “The one in Rukemia…They have discovered that we were behind it. And they have declared war!!!”

With this news Carl took the last bite of his chicken. He looked disgusted. “So it has come to this…” he whispered. He then burst out laughing. His fat bounced and jiggled with ever laugh. All eight of his chins seemed to bounce at ones. “This will be fun” he then stated. He tried to stand, but it didn’t quite work. He was too large. “Screw it” he said. Then he continued “As soon as their troops land here I want to be the one to push the big red button!”

Arnold then interrupted him. “Um…Carl, you kinda…uh, how should I put this? You sold all of those to get more ice cream! Our military has been nearly reduced to throwing spears and using blow darts. The army of Rukemia is coming and they are going to mutilate us…And this is all your doing!” As he was talking, Arnold seemed to creep closer and closer to Carl. He then pointed at Carl as he stuck his face nearly touch Carl’s. “This is all your doing, and we are all going to die because of you!”

To the emperor this all seemed funny. He wasn’t worth living. And in Arnolds opinion, neither was he, for letting it go this far. All they could do was to sit it out and wait for the invading army to capture them.

The military had been put on its highest alert. They were to fire upon anything that moved, as the invasion would soon be coming and that’s all they knew. The Emperor had released this statement to his people:

“Rukemia has made claims that I have run this country down. They say that we have attacked him. This is true. A terrorist blew himself up, along with hundreds of other people on one of the busiest streets in the capital of Rukemia. With this, he has declared war on Isla de Penguinata. I have put the military on its highest alert. We are not scared of Rukemia. And we are going to put up a fight, and repel all of their attacks.”

Mekka City, ICBM Centre

Deep beneath the snow covered ground, 20 miles outside of Mekka, a slow rumbling began to take place. The snow shifted in several places, and gradually several large metallic objects began to emerge from the earth. The bright moon shone off the tips of them, they were one of Rukemia's deadliest assets, ICBMs. There were 20,000 in all, located in different fields all over the nation, but on this particular night only 1,500 of them would leave their pads. Their destination, military targets located in Isla De Penguinata, from tank formations to radar installations. The order was given and 100 ICBMs launched, jetting straight up and soon disappearing from view, looping out of the earth's atmosphere. 2 minutes passed and the process repeated itself, another 100 ICBMs launched heading towards their targets, this would continue until all 1,500 of them had been launched, effectively softening the enemies defenses.

Among the civilian targets were, power grids and radio towers. It was vital that all IDP's connections to the outside world be cut off, so once Rukemian troops landed, only Rukemian media could send feedback to the rest of the world.

New Freeport Bay

General Victor stood on the highest balcony of the Mercia, Rukemia's largest carrier, as he watched the silouhettes of the young men boarding into transport ships heading to battle. 300,000 of them in all piled into troop transport vessels, each of them anxious to avenge their countrymen for something they thought Isla De Penguinata had carried out. They were seperated by division and class before they finally entered the ships. They had trained for this moment for 2 months now, and in 6 hours time it would be showtime. There was a slow nervous chatter among them, as some kidded around with each other, and others talked of serious matters. With M16s strapped around their shoulders, and 30 pound packs of equipment on their backs, they somehow seemed alread battle hardened even though 80% of them had never seen war.

The General sucked in a deep breath of fresh air, these kids were under his command now, he was responsible for their fates, it was a heavy burden.

30 minutes after the soldiers had boarded, the transports pulled out and headed out of the bay. Shortly after another set pulled in and gathered up tanks, humvees, and artillery. The big boys so to speak, General Victor smiled as he saw the pride of his army bustle into the thick metal transport ships. Once they all had been loaded up they pulled out as well, meeting up with the troop transports. 5 fleets in all had left towards war escorting the transport ships.

A map of Isla De Penguinata can be found here http://terranordalis.thirdgeek.com/viewtopic.php?t=12 In the bottom left corner

The intial plan was to first invade the Wildlife Refuge south of the mainland, capturing it and constructing a makeshift base. From there all further operations would commence, the first being a major assault on Trentport pushing northward from there until the penisula is completely in Rukemian hands.


It was the single largest deployment in Rukemian history, the invasion force consisted of:

Soldiers
250,000 Standard Troops
25,000 Royal Rukemian Marines
25,000 Rukemian Rangers

Vehicles:
205 M3 Bradley
300 BMP-3 Fighting Vehicles
205 Self Propelled Crusader Artillery
80 Type 99 155mm HSP
50 type 90 Tanks
100 Challenger 2 Main Battle Tanks
200 T-90s
300 Mortar Humvees
200 Commanche Helicopters
100 Apache Helicopters
50 Cobra Helicopters
100 M1A2 Abrams

The fleets consist of:

30 SSN-688 Los Angeles Sub
25 Seawolf Subs
14 Nimitz Class Carrier
13 Oliver Hazard Perry Destroyer/Frigate
12 Arleigh Burke AEGIS Destroyer
12 Ticonderoga Class Cruisers
10 Spruance Class Destroyers
15 Oliver Hazard Perry Destroyer/Frigate
200 LHD-1 Wasp Class Amphibious Assault ships
100 LSD-49 Harpers Ferry Class Amphibious Assault ships
50 AAVP7A1 Assualt Amphibian Vehicle Personel
500 Transport Ships, (6,000 Troop capacity)

The War had begun.


(OOC: Ok, lookey here, anybody tell me if my numbers are godmodish I'm kinda rusty on logistics.)

tag for later reading

It was the very early morning hours of Friday. In fact it was 3:04 in the morning when the ICBMs were spotted on radar. Alarms through out the country simultaneously rang as the ICBMs shot towards Isla de Penguinata. The loud screeching of the alarms woke most people sleeping. They all wondered what could be happening. A month had passed since the declaration of war upon IDP by Rukemia, and nothing had happened yet.

The alarms also woke Carl the Fat. This did not please him very much. He started screaming, “Turn those damn alarms off!!!!” Just them his top general rushed in and awoke the sleeping blob of fat. “SIR! Rukemia has launched 1,500 ICMBs. They are conventional, but they are headed towards military and civilian targets. We are waiting on your order as what to do with them” He reported.

Carl said the first them that came to his mind. “So it begins…this is ok. I expected them to throw more at us. Just shoot all of them down with our patriots.” Carl rolled back over, and the bed almost broke. “But sir…we don’t have enough patriots to do that! Because of YOU! You disbanded most of our military and sold off most of it to get food and gold for you! We hardly have enough to shoot down 200 or 250 at the most! And that’s with ever patriot hitting!”

Then the general radioed into base headquarters. He said “This is General Fiallo. The emperor has ordered us to shoot down all that we can.” Then Carl rolled over as the general walked out, and said, “On your way out, tell the guard to cook a whole lot of bacon and eggs and grits….tell him the usual.”

The general smirked and left. On his way out of the palace, he looked at the guard, laughed, and then continued to walk out of the palace. Then he turned around and told the guard “You guys might want to thing about putting him in some kind of bunker, unless we want him to get blown up…oh wait…never mind. Just stand there. Forget the whole bunker idea.”

The general rushed home to his family, and got them rounded up in the car and headed to the nearest bomb shelter. They were just about the only ones in there. Not very many people found the reports on the news credible. They believed that it was another one of Carl’s schemes.

Just then, the earth began to shake. People came running out of their houses in dismay. They looked in the sky as ICBMs shot every which way. It was hard for them to tell if they were ICBMs or falling meteors, until things started blowing up. Everything went black and people began to scream. It looked like Armageddon. Power was one of the first things to go. There was no power, and no means of communication throughout the whole country.

Every patriot in the IDP arsenal was fired. There were a total of 216-grounded ICBMs. The rest hit their targets and blew them to hell. ICBMs hit power grids, radio towers, radar facilities, ships in port, grounded planes and helicopters and barracks. All in all, nearly 100,000 lives had been lost that night. 100,000 civlians and military members slain. Carl only had one thing to say…”Damn them…now give me more ham!”

Rukemia's response to IDP's act (which was sickening) is even more sickening considering he attacked civilian targets. Das Reich Divison has been given special orders of infiltration.

Rukemia's response to IDP's act (which was sickening) is even more sickening considering he attacked civilian targets. Das Reich Divison has been given special orders of infiltration.

OOC: Er....considering that IDP's communication links with the outside world have been cut off, there's now way that you would've recieved word of it. Plus, this is a private, planned RP. So.....no.

Comrade Dmitrov Lozinski expresses his deepest sympathy for the victims of this attack, and has dispatched 1000 aid workers to Rukemia. The government may use them as it wishes to. Any attacks on these aid workers will be viewed as hostility toward Sandemonia, and dealt with accordingly.

Once again, my deepest sympathies.

Yours,

Dmitrov Lozinski

OOC: Er....considering that IDP's communication links with the outside world have been cut off, there's now way that you would've recieved word of it. Plus, this is a private, planned RP. So.....no.

Ok, but you do realise you have to put the word 'private' on an RP topic for people to understand it is private.

20 miles off the coast of the Matthew Arnuld Wildlife Refuge

The Rukemian fleets rocked idoly in the Penguinatian Seas as General Victor reviewed all of his current intelligence with his Lieutenant General, Obi Don on board the Mercia, Rukemia's largest carrier. The transport ships were posed to unload troops and tanks onto the refuge island at any given moment. General Victor just wanted to go over last minute details before the invasion commenced.

“Has satellite surveillance detected any military presence on the island?”, asked the General.

“No, but we can make out what appear to be 30-40 civilian cabins, nothing of our concern. The rest is wilderness.”, the Lieutenant was confident in his speech.

“Cabins you say? Have them destroyed at once, we can take no chances with the type of people we’re dealing with. I want Comanches on those sons of bitches immediately!”

“But sir, they’re just civilians!”

“Lieutenant, did I studder?!? I want those cabins destroyed now!’

Obi hesistated, “Yes sir.”

Within minutes the order was given, and soon after 10 Comanches lifted from their assigned carriers and hovered towards the island, armed with deadly hellfire missiles. They split rapidly into different directions and headed towards their targets, whom were utterly annihilated within 40 minutes. Those who carried out the massacre were told that their targets were enemy troops, so they felt no remorse as they fatally strafed those who attempted to flee. The island was now officially cleared, with the exception of the smoldering remains of the few Penguinatians who resided there.

General Victor received the news and was overjoyed, he laughed as he thought about the poor dead bastards.

“Give the order for the men to land on the island, tell them to secure all four points of it as soon as possible. I want a makeshift base made by 10:00 in morning, and make sure it has adequate defenses!”, General Victor screamed at his Lieutenant.

“Yes sir.”, Obi gave the order and it was soon obeyed.

Troop and tank transport vessels slowly chugged toward the island, eventually sliding onto the beach, releasing their heavy iron doors and unleashing waves of men, tanks and vehicles in a uniformed fashion. Tanks, making a pathway to the center of the island, quickly cleared the trees. Assault teams traveled via helicopter to all points of the island, making sure that it was completely cleared of the enemy. The site was amazing, thousands of Rukemian troops rushed onto the coastline in waves, meeting up at their assigned coordinates. Once the island was officially cleared of all “resistance”, the men immediately began working on a base, erecting radars, missile installations and helipads.

From now on, all future operations would be carried out from this area, the Tiger Base, named for it’s excellent striking ability. First target on the agenda, Trentport.

Ok, but you do realise you have to put the word 'private' on an RP topic for people to understand it is private.

OOC: Dude, I've been around for quite some time, don't insult my intelligence. This wasn't originally planned to be the war thread, but due to recent developements it is. As you can see, I edited the post before you made your comment. So shut that smartass talk up, and leave my thread.

OOC: Would the Tahar Joblissan-run Science Center still be sitting in its little tiny spit of beach? I forget... but I am interested in getting involved to a greater or lesser degree, having had brief but intense dealings with both nations. TM me any applicable details...

With the attack from the ICBMs now over, the general came out of the bunker. His family stayed in for their own safety. The general needed to get to headquarters and get to work, after all, there is a war going on.

As he arrived, everybody seemed disorganized and confused. The ICBM attacks had blown every major part of the base to bits. He ordered the back up generators be turned on, being that the power was out. There was no radar left, so the general, or anybody else in Isla de Penguinata for that matter, knew of the capture of the wild life refuge.

General Fiallo ordered 3 F/A-18s to fly out and search the waters, because he knew that Rukemia’s war ships should be there by now, and he needed the positions. As they took off, he went into his private room to relax. Now that the backup generators were on, the base now had power. He turned on his TV to catch up on the international news. Being that he had satellite TV, he could watch TV from almost anywhere. He decided to flip over to the news channel RINN. It was a international news network from Rukemia.

There was a news alert on, reporting the capture of the IDP wildlife refuge and the construction of a makeshift base. Then he heard the death toll. The official report was 112 civilians that stayed, or that were camping on the island. The general nearly spit out his coffee at this news. “These boys mean business!” he murmured to himself. He continues listening…

Then he heard the sound of jet engines roaring in the distances. He ran outside and then realized that it was the F/A-18s returning, but there was only one of them. The general rushed over once it had landed. “Tell me everything,” he ordered.

“SIR!! They are here sir! They have what looks like their entire navy in our waters sir!” The pilot reported. “Did you get their positions? And what of the other planes?” The general questioned. “Well sir, their ships seem to come out of nowhere. Being that we had no radar, I guess this seems logical sir. But I did manage to get close, so I know about where they are. That’s why I’m the only one left. They detected us coming on their radar and sent fighters up to intercept us. Somehow I managed to maneuver quickly and return to base sir.”

The general got a map. “Show me.” He commanded the pilot to pinpoint the about location of the ships. The pilot placed his finger on the map over a stretch of water near the island. “They are around here sir.”

The general ordered for the other bases to be called on the radio. Hopefully they were smart enough to turn on their back up generators…if they were even still intact. He ordered for them to be told that the wildlife refuge had been captured, and that they should expect a massive ground invasion soon. Then he had the approximate location of the ships radioed to them. They were to launch every workable tomahawk cruise missile at them. An air strike via planes would be mass suicide, and an attempted recapture of the island would be too.

All in all there were a total of 167 tomahawks throughout the country. Simultaneously, they were fired up the water, hoping that they were hitting ships. All they could do was wait for the ground invasion to start. The general went back to his private room to relax and watch more of the coverage on RINN and find out how successful the missile attack was.

The room was dark. It was night time in the city of Beumont, the capital of Oddessa. The president sat watching the news and reading over numerous proposed laws that were in the process of being passed. He sat in his plush chair with a cigar in his mouth, when the news diverted his attention.

"Several days ago, the country of Rukemia was attacked by terrorist, and have since then countered attacked the country responsible, Isla de Penguinata..."

The president put the papers down and walked over to his desk. He sat down and opened a drawer, with a red phone in it.
---
A phone rang at the Shatner building, the home of Naval Intelligence. It wasn't just any phone, it was the phone. The head honcho of the building picked the receiver up.

"Yes Mr. President, we are aware of the conflict." A few more seconds past. "Yes Mr. President, I will do that." He put the receiver down. "Send out this message: Hammerhead group 3, you are to head to Isla de Penguinata waters and observe the on going situation. You are to not fire a shot unless fired upon. Wait for further orders."

Within a few hours, 3 hammerhead submarines would be in the waters surrounding Isla de Penguinata.

Tiger Base, Wildlife Refuge

One lone transport ship rushed towards the island, baring a Rukemian flag on its top right side. The transport ship pulled up on to the coastline making the sand fly foward. After a brief pause, the pulldown door opened up, revealing General Victor and Lieutenant Ron, along with their top advisors. General Victor was the first to exit the ship, he strode onto the beach proudly, greeting the soldiers that awaited him with hearty handshakes. His entourage soon followed, standing behind him in an arrow type formation. In the distance General Victor could see a completed base, where several thousand soldiers roamed, some platoons were drilling, others were taking a break it seemed.

"I'm proud of you men, you've done an outstanding job, clearing the island in 4 hours, remarkable. Where's the commanding officer?", General Victor barked.

A young man with his helmet tipped slightly to the side stepped up among the soldiers crowding around General Victor. Black hair could be seen peaking out the side of his helmet, matching the black stubble on his face. He was a gritty character, the only thing bright on him were his light blue eyes.

"That'd be me general. Officer Ray Jones reporting.", Ray stood at attention and gave the general a salute.

"At ease son, you've done a fine job commanding these men. I hope you can do an even better one tonight, you'll be leading them into Trentport at 8:00. With these boys under your wing, you should do just fine.", The General reached over and gave Ray a hard pat on the shoulder.

"Yes sir, I'll do my best. The city will be in Rukemian hands in no time."

"Now that's the kind of attitude I like to hear!", the General looked around at his soldiers and then knelt down, and gripped some of the soil. "You see this?", he stood up and held the soil in his hand, "This is Rukemian land now, and soon, that entire pitiful nation to the north of us will be ours as well. You don't attack the Empire and get away with it, so this is their punishment. We will rape them of their land, resources and pride, till they are no more, until they lay their weapons down and accept their fate!", the soldiers around the general cheered, holding up their guns and shaking them.

Suddenly their cheers were interrupted by a large whisking sound coming from the sky. The General and his soldiers looked up, missiles, at least 100 of them were soaring high above the the island.

"They must be heading towards our fleets....nothing our ships can't handle. Officer Ray! Show me around, I want to see what my quarters look like.", the men laughed slightly and then dispersed, leaving General Victor and his entourage to be led around the island by Officer Ray.

____________________________________________________________

20 miles off the coast off the coast of the Wildlife Refuge

Incoming missiles were making there way towards the Rukemian and adequate precautions had been taken. Once in range the, 100 decoy missiles were fired, locked onto the oncoming tomahawks. The decoys zipped through the air and met their targets with an 89% accuracy rate, taking 89 of the 167 missiles down. All ships armed with AEGIS system were activated and the cannons were warmed. Once again waiting till in range, ships began rapidly firing upon the missiles, taking them down at a quick pace. Of the 167 missiles, 19 remained, 10 were misdirected by jamming systems and the remaining nine took out one oil ship, and severly damaged a cruiser, putting it out of commission.

The fleets had been given the order to commence firing on the city of Trentport, targetting whatever military positions that remained. The real objective was to destory the city itself, reducing it to rubble to prevent street-to-street fighting once Rukemian troops landed. So aside from the dozen or so military targets, the majority of the missiles would be aimed at civilian structures in the heart of the city. Of course, those firing the missiles were told all targets were military, so they attacked with the same determination.

A total of 400 cruise missiles were launched, 1/3 of the fleets stockpile, 2 more waves would be sent before the troops landed and this was just the first. They blasted off the ships and flew towards the city, delivering a fresh combination of death and destruction.

With the fate of the missile attack unknown, General Fiallo and the rest of the men could do nothing but hope that they did maximum damage to the Rukemian fleet. Then a report began to come in from the base in Trentport.

“This is the base in Trentport! We are taking fire!! I repeat we are taking enemy fire from above! They have launched missiles! Cruise missiles are raining down upon the city and base like hellfire! They are blowing everything up!” Then he heard “INCOMMING!!!!” then a loud boom. The radio went silent, then static came through.

The General rushed to his car, and sped uncontrollably to the palace. He rushed in to speak to Carl the Fat. Of coarse Carl was eating.

The general was pissed. He began yelling at Carl. “All of this mess is because of you! If you hadn’t poisoned your uncle and took the throne, none of this would be happening! Yes, its true, everybody know about you poisoning your uncle! I told them all! That’s why nobody likes you. Your servants only do what you saw to spare their lives.”

Carl seemed surprised. “You…you…you did what! How did you know that I poisoned my uncle! GAURDS!” he screamed. “Kill this man!” he ordered. The general took out his .9mm and pressed it against Carl’s forehead. “Do what?” the general sarcastically questioned. “GAURDS!!!!!” Carl desperately screamed.

The general knew that he could kill Carl now, and he could take the throne. Or he could let Carl live and let him continue to bring down this once glorious nation.

A loud popping sound echoed throughout the palace. Just as the guards rushed in, Carl’s fat body made a thud on the ground. Blood began to spill from the mass of blubber on the ground that was once the emperor. The guards dropped their weapons and ran over to General Fiallo. They praised him. He had liberated the entire nation from a cruel heartless mass of fat.

The new emperor, General Douglas Fiallo, new that nothing could be done to stop the invaders. But he could try to spare as many lives as possible. He knew that Trentport would fall to Rukemia within the week.

He ordered every town in the entire nation to go underground to the bunkers for their own protection. Going was voluntary. He ordered the ones that decided to stay that they were not to attack the invaders, and in doing so, they would get what would be coming to them.He ordered the entire military to stay at their post and fight off and kill as many of the invaders as possible. They were all on the highest alert. Once Trentport fell, he didn’t know where the next attack would be. He had to act as if any city were Rukemia’s next target…Which, could so be.

The new emperor also knew that no counter attack could be made, because Carl had disbanded the entire navy, they already used every offensive missile in their stockpile, and an attempted bombing of the newly constructed base or of Rukemia’s fleet would be ordering his men to die. All he could do was sit and wait for the entire nation to be attacked and captured. Then maybe he could work out some kind of negotiation.

All he could do for himself at the moment was to go underground and reunite with his family, and deliver the good news to them about the new emperor…

Troop and Tank transports, 3 mile off the coast of IDP

The order had been given, and 120,000 of the 300,000 Rukemian troops stationed on the Wildlife Refuge had headed out towards the mainland. The initial plan was for the tanks and mechanized divisions to land first, clearing out any heavy opposition. Then, the troops would land soon after, cleaning up whatever the tanks and mechanized divisions missed. The sun was bright and the sky was clear, giving a good view of what was left of Trentport to the troops. It was a hollowed shell of it’s formal self, a mass of crumbled black buildings made up its skyline. Smoke slowly arose from it and its appearance would make anyone think it was completely dead. Officer Ray Jones smiled as he looked at the city from a viewing hole in his transport ship, he turned around to the troops behind him, “We really got those bastards good, I doubt they’ll be any fight left in them when we land.”, he turned back around and continued looking.

The tank transports edged up towards the city’s shoreline, the doors slung down and hundreds of tanks rolled out all along the coast. They regrouped and then sped into the city, machine gunners on their tops with itchy trigger fingers. As they cruised the streets and went deeper into the city, they met no opposition, but either way the site was horrible. Thousands of burnt bodies laid in the streets, apparently these people had no idea that they were being attacked. The tanks had no choice but to run over them, crushing their bones, which resulted in sickly cracks and crunches. Midway through the city they encountered a small form of resistance; an M1A2 Abram was fired upon with an RPG, knocking its tracts out of alignment. The attacker was quickly silenced; a barrage of shells demolished the building he was held up in. That lone man appeared to be the only one willing to fight within the city.

Civilians were spotted frequently, clothes torn and wearing looks of bewilderment, they looked at the tanks menacingly as they rode by. Some cried rants, asking why, why was all this necessary? Why had so many civilians been killed if this invasion was for the better of the people? The machine-gunners on top the tanks had no answers, they simply did what they were ordered to do. A group of a dozen or more children began to throw rocks at the tanks, apparently their parents had been killed in the attack. The gunners told them to leave but they wouldn’t stop, they continued throwing rocks, shouting “Leave! Leave!”. One gunner decided he had enough and opened fire in anger, killing three of the children, while the rest scattered. Other civilians who witnessed the killings cried out in dismay, but there was nothing they could do.

Once the city had been cleared the troops waiting in the waters were given the go ahead to land, the troops got the news and quickly landed. They rushed up onto the beach in an orderly fashion and then rode into the city on humvees and assault vehicles. Some soldiers were disgusted by what they saw, others were excited, glad to see their enemies fallen. Either way they’d have to suck it up and endure more, because there’d be more where that came from, it’s in the job description of an occupier.

Officer Ray Jones was hardly phased, he had seen much worse. He sat on top of a tank in the city, talking with his men, telling them what to expect when a real battle came. He was somewhat disappointed that there were no Penguinatian troops left within the city. He had looked forward to killing a few. But his chance would come, once General Victor gave the order to advance they would all get their chance.

The General/temporary emperor (soon to be president) sat and wondered of the situation in Trentport. He knew that survivors, if any, would be in torn and tattered clothes and very shaken up from all the blast. He still didn’t know when the Rukemian troops would roll in, but he had an idea.

He ordered four privates to put on torn and tattered clothes and to get them and their bodies very dirty. He even went so far as to cut them with glass to make it look as if they were actually in the blast. They were to be loaded in a civilian car, and to be dropped off about ¼ of a mile outside of the city.

They were to get inside the city and find out as much as they could. Headquarters wanted specifically to know the death toll and approximate number of Rukemian soldiers and tanks. They had nothing but walkie talkies to communicate with each other and the base.

As they pulled up and exited the cars, they could see the smoldering city that was once Trentport. They could see the once busy city that was Trentport before their eyes, but it wasn’t the Trentport that they knew. The Trentport they knew had many business, and tall buildings. But this Trenport before their eyes was reduced to a pile of rubble. There was smoke slowly rising from the city and the feint sound of tanks and humvees could be heard in the distance. They immediately radioed into headquarters the situation of the city.

As they crept closer to the city, they split up. Within a few minutes they were in the town. Private John Ruskin was the first to radio back to headquarters once inside the city. He reported total destruction of the city and of the base that once was there. The estimated death toll was 160,497, including civilians and military personnel.

After hours of walking around the city and radioing back to headquarters, Private Chuck Elias reported a convoy moving northbound on what was once Main Street. He was ordered to follow them from a distance and keep radioing their position in, as they were sending six Apaches in to do some mopping up of invaders.

Emperor Fiallo ordered twenty-one armed humvees and seventeen M1A2 Abrams to head towards the city to try and kill the invaders and recapture the city. This was all that he could scrounge up at the moment without taking from any other city’s defenses.

As the Apaches were closing in, Headquarters radioed into Private Elias to ask the whereabouts of the convoy. He reported back to them that they were still headed northbound on what was once Main Street. Roughly two minutes later the Apaches roared overhead. They spotted the convoy and decided to split up and attack from different directions to try and confuse them.

The Apaches began opening fire upon them like there was no tomorrow, firing rockets and shooting machine guns seemed to catch the Rukemians off guard. A fierce battle ensued. Two of the Apaches were grounded in the battle, so they decided to leave the battle to scout out the city. Apaches began scouting the city from above. The skies were theirs,or so it seemed. No resistence from the air was offered. With word from the pilots that the skies were secure, the emperor ordered two more Apaches to aid them in destroying convoys. He also ordered three Black Hawks loaded with troops to fly into the city and land the troops. The troops were to fight off the invaders.

As the Apaches and Black Hawks took off, the humvees and tanks arrived. They scoured the streets looking for enemies. They were to pick off any of them that they could find. A few minutes later, the troops were landing. The Black Hawks were turned around headed back towards their base. There were a total of six Apaches patrolling the skies picking off enemy resisters, twenty-one humvees and seventeen M1A2 Abrams patrolling the streets and snipers securing positions throughout the city to pick off any enemies.

They had come to recapture their city. There were troops on the ground with armed humvees and abrams for protection on the ground, and apaches for support from the air. They were dug in, and any troop that werent their own, were fired on heavily.

Trentport, IDP Mainland

Rukemian troops had already set up communication centers deep within the city, and were relaying messages back to Tiger Base, telling General Victor that the city had been caught without a fight. Many of the burnt out buildings of the city were filled with Rukemian troops, who after a few hours had let their guard now and were relaxing, "mingling" with the natives. The Rukemian soldiers had taken it upon themselves to take a few of the native women and rejoice in the spoils of war. The objections of their husbands were met with fierce beatings, sometimes resulting in death. Several thousand male civilians had been round up and put in hastily built human cages, where they were watched closely by M-16 wielding Rukemian troops. General Victor had given an order for all potential fighters to be caught and detained, he didn't want anyone running off and joining the IDP army. The women of the city were very upset about this, seeing their sons and husbands getting dragged away into imprisonment camps. But there was nothing they could do, and if they tried to fight back they were brutally beaten with the blunt end of a soldiers gun. Tanks now rolled down the streets of Trentport casually, sometimes shooting buildings just for the hell of it.

Just when the party was getting started it was abruptly ended by the dull thumps of what sounded like mortar fire, and then followed by the *ratatatat* of machine guns. It was coming from the oute redges of the city and it rang out through the entire city.

Officer Ray Jones came out of the building he was in and stepped out onto the street after hearing the commotion, the radio on his hip started buzzing, someone was trying to get through. "Sir! Sir, we're taking heavy fire on the outskirts of the city! 6-8 Choppers are on our ass and my squad is taking heavy casualties! Two M1A2 Abrams have already been taken out, and atleast 17 troops have been downed! We need backup immediately! Oh shit! -A large explosion can be heard- Sir, these sons of bitches are being backed by tanks, we need some back up NOW!'

Officer Ray swore under his breath, then spoke into his radio "Don't worry, we'll get those bastards out of your way in no time."

"Division 2! Saddle up, we're heading out to sector 7 of the city, some boys are in trouble out there! Get ready to kill some penguin boys!"

The Division of 20 M1A2 tanks, 10 Machine-gun Humvees, 10 assault vehicles, and 600 troops headed out towards the seen of the battle. They rushed past their comrades on the streets and were cheered on.

In 10 minutes when the division arrived the scene was hectic, they passed by 6 blown Rukemian tanks and dozens of dead Rukemian soldeirs, before they came upon their hunkered down comrades. The squad was taking heavy fire from enemy tanks in the distance, the choppers had apparently left. 30 or so Rukemian troops were taking cover, spread out through a large distance in shelled out buildings. When they spotted the division they pointed to where the fire was coming from, and once it was located the Rukemian tanks opened up fire. Rapidly firing shell after shell into the enemy tanks with deadly accuracy, the battle just became more heated.

Deeper in the city enemy choppers had been spotted, 15 soldiers had been killed by their machine gun fired, strafed down in the streets. Humvees mounted with machine guns quickly replied and opened up on the choppers firing sporadicly but in unison. Rukemian troops who had been out in the open now took cover inside buildings, and when they could, fired on th e choppers as well.

The first Rukemian blood had been spilt on IDP soil....

In the counterattack from the Rukemians, IDP had lost a total of six soldiers, nine armed humvees, ten tanks, and two more helicopters. Fiallo was very perturbed at the fact that they were only able to secure a section of the town. Oh well, he figured, some is better than none. He knew that the soldiers already in the city would have to hold their own, while he organized a large team of reinforcements for them.

He radioed out to his men to stay in place and that back up was on the way. He had to get a large amount of soldiers out there. Artillery was also in order. From the base at Headquarters, seven Paladins pulled out. The Paladins are self-propelled artillery. They were to give more artillery fire backup for the troops. Also, fifteen CH-47 Chinooks were fully loaded with troops. This was a total of 495 troops. They were to be landed and aid their fellow soldiers in recapturing the city.

By now it was nighttime. The troops had landed hours ago, and the artillery was nearly there. Fiallo radioed out to the first soldiers sent out in the torn and tattered clothes. The men had escaped being captured because they hid in the rubble that was Trentport, pretending to be dead. With the cover of night, they were to sneak out from their hiding spots. They were to radio back to headquarters the position of enemy tanks, enemy soldier’s sleeping quarters, and anything else of the enemy’s that they could find. They were to lay low once the positions were given.

Fiallo knew what he had to do. With the cover of darkness he gave the order for six F-16 Fighting Falcons to take off and deliver a massive air strike on the enemy. Once in the air, they split up into two groups of threes. Group Alpha was to take out as many tanks and other vehicles as possible. Group Bravo was to bomb any troop positions. When the bombs started falling, the hidden disguised solders were to infiltrate enemy territory and release all the men that they could get.

The Apaches had to return to Headquarters to refuel and re-supply. With the Apaches clear of the airspace of Trentport, the F-16s soared into the city. Out of nowhere explosions echoed throughout the city. The troops that were dug in didn’t even know what was happening. Fiallo didn’t want to tell them of the air strike for fear that his radio transmission would be picked up by the enemy.

With the bombs now falling, the disguised solders ran as fast and as hard as they could. Their fellow countrymen were locked up like animals, and they were pissed.

More Rukemian blood was to be spilled. They weren’t leaving the city without a fight. They weren’t leaving the city at all…It was theirs to begin with, and they weren’t going to let the Rukemians take anymore…

Word of the city falling into Rukemian hands and the soldiers sent there to recapture it spread patriotism throughout the country. By the thousands, men enlisted in the reserves, ready to die pushing out the enemy. This was their country. They weren’t going to let Rukemia take it.

Rukemian Coastal Science Center:
A little known fact was that the RCSC also served to "keep an eye" on Rukemia. Thus, it was with great interest that the scientists of the RCSC noted that Rukemia seemed to be going to war. Cautiously, while they began spreading their intelligence tendrils outward and pursuing the matter openly through diplomatic channels, Tahar Joblis decided to do what Tahar Joblis had almost always done when things heated up:

Send a fleet out for excersizes.

Thus it was that the TJS Rio and an old Squid class heavy cruiser, along with several Tentacle II light cruisers, the inevitable Kraken destroyers, a pair of newer Sea Serpent destroyers, a Walrus II class aircraft carrier, a smaller Dolphin escort carrier, and numerous small craft collected together with the next resupply/personnel rotation ship sent to the RCSC. Looming off the Rukemian coast, they halted in international waters for a "surprise preparedness drill."

With a nuclear battleship at the fore of their fleet, the NDOTJ felt that would communicate fairly well that Tahar Joblis was concerned about the increase of military activity in the area while they figured out exactly what, why, and whether or not they should consider taking sides in the matter.

Presidential Suite, Downtown Mercia

President Vaul was alarmed at the reports of unindentified vessels being spotted on the outlines of Rukemian waters. Was it the Penguinatians, had they somehow amassed a fleet and were now counterattacking? It seemed unlikely, the data that Rukemia had been recieving from Isla De Penguinata was all fairly good, a fundamental city had already been completely captured. So who could it be, an ally of IDP perhaps? Intelligence showed that all the diplomatic relations that IDP had ever had with any nation had been cut within the short reign of Carl Ghent.

"I want a communication line made with those ships as soon as possible, ask them to identify themselves and what there purpose is here.", the President ordered.

"Will do, sir.", answered a Coast Guard Commander.

This message was sent:

"The Rukemian government requests that you identify yourself and state your purpose for being dangerously near Rukemian waters. If you do not answer and continue approaching, you will be fired upon."

Inside the lead sub, the Reliant, the communication's officer was tracking communication lines of the Rukemia fleet. "Sir, one ship is sending out a message, it says:'The Rukemian government requests that you identify yourself and state your purpose for being dangerously near Rukemian waters. If you do not answer and continue approaching, you will be fired upon'. That's it."

The captain sat in his chair thinking. "Well...We are right under them, but we don't know if they're talking to us. Surely IDP has allies...but we can't take the chance that they don't and they are talking to us. Load tube number one with a green flare and fire once ready. Prepare to transmit a message on my order."

Vents near tube number one opened slowly and started flooding, once the tube was flooded, it's door opened, and a small missile shot straight towards the surface. Soon it shot into the sky, till at about 400 feet in the sky it exploded into a green light, and started floating down towards the surface. The captain waited for a reply to their signal.

"The Rukemian government requests that you identify yourself and state your purpose for being dangerously near Rukemian waters. If you do not answer and continue approaching, you will be fired upon."

"This is Admiral Horvax Graff, commanding flag aboard the TJS Rio. We're here to escort the resupply convoy for the RCSC as well as run through a few preparedness drills in international waters. My apologies if you didn't get the memo, international communications between our nations seem to have been somewhat less than adequate recently." A not so subtle dig for further information from the Rukemians.

The Tahar Joblissan fleet took note of the Odessa submarines politely revealing their locations.

"At this time it would be suitable to note that naval elements approaching our fleet closely or taking hostile action against it will come under close scrutiny and/or return fire as appropriate. We have some new anti-submarine fift* shells that our gunners would be very eager to test in live excersizes out here."

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Tahar Joblissan intelligence worked furiously, putting together the pieces. Satellite and aerial footage was reviewed, and the presumed path of the Rukemian ships tracked out. A war with Isla de Penguinata? Debate frittered around Tahar Joblissan intel analysts as to the real reasons for the war, and all the files on Isla de Penguinata dug up and reviewed.

Tahar Joblis had before acted to crush Allanea after repeated nuclear attacks on Isla de Penguinata, along with the forces of Pure Evil, yet ties between the two nations had not been close as of late. The Allanean War, as it was known in Tahar Joblis, was one of the more militaristic episodes of Tahar Joblissan history. A sensitive political point.

*Colloquial reference to the 15"/50 guns that the Rio mounts; this is short for "fift-fift" - fifteen fifty.

Once the unidentified vessels confirmed themselves as escorts from Tahar, the Rukemian Coast Guard were rather relieved. Supply ships from Tahar Joblis had been coming in and out of Rukemian waters for more than half a century, this was the first recorded time that they had been escorted by military ships, which was somewhat unnerving.

The following message was sent back to the Tahar ships:

"Sorry for the misunderstanding, carry on as usual. We must ask though, why have you chosen to travel with escorts this go around. The Rukemian Coast Guard can assure your safety within our waters."

As for the other unidentified vessels, whom had fired a flare, the same message was relayed back to them:

"Although you have fired a green flare, signifiying your intentions as non-hostile, we must ask you to identify yourselves as neccasary by the code of Rukemian Naval conduct."

________________________

Trentport, Isla De Penguinata

The tide was quickly turning in the city of Trentport, Rukemia's foothold was slowly slipping from continued air, artillery, and ground attacks. General Victor had completely underestimated Isla De Penguinata's will to fight, and their capability. It was previously thought that the Penguinatians had no air power available whatsoever, thus the reason for lack of helicopters and fighters in the initial invasion. But intelligence had been proven wrong, and at a heavy price. Soldiers and tanks were being blown to bits on the streets, they were easy targets for the overpassing fighters. The artillery attack had even worse results, the hollowed out buildings that Rukemians took cover in now collapsed and toppled from the violent explosion of shells. Hundreds of Rukemian troops were crushed to death under the piles of bricks that resulted from the blasts.

Something had to be done immediately, the Penguinatians had caught Rukemian forces completely off guard. Officer Ray Jones radioed into Tiger Base and requested for immediate air support to counter IDP's air superiority. 12 Eurofighters launched off of their carriers and headed towards the city, along with 12 Commanches, packed with heavy machine guns and Hellfire missiles.

The Eurofighters arrived within 15 minutes, flying high over the mangled mess that was Trentport. Enemy aircraft were spotted, there were six of them and they had just dropped ordinance, the fighters increased spead and opened up their cannons on the aircraft, aiming for the jet engines. Once in range they fired 2 of the 8 air-to-air missiles at their disposal at the now identified F-16s, totaling 24 missiles shot at the enemy aircraft in all.

The 12 Commanches silently flew over the beaches of IDP and into the city clearing some 30 minutes later, they broke off into 2 groups. 4 would counter the helis that were harrassing troops within the city, and 8 would help the troops who were engaged in an intense battle on the outskirts of Trentport.

The group of 8 flew towards the northern edge of the city, it was completely dark except for the occasional explosion, or firing of a machine gun. The troops radioed in their positions to the Commanches, and the helis soon after went to work. They fired predominately on the tanks and artillery paladins, hoping to put the big guns out of commission, leaving the enemy infantry to the troops. They each let loose 3 of their 6 hellfire missiles on the tanks and artillery, then they opened heavy machine gun fire on all the Penguinatian troops they could spot, trying to give the Rukemians some type of advantage.

The fighting had become street to street and house to house. The Rukemians would take one block only to have it retaken an hour later by the Penguinatians, both sides fought with ferocity, and it was evident from the several different uniformed bodies sprawled out in the streets.

As for the detainees who had been freed, the troops had been ordered to fire on them at sight, whether they were armed or unarmed. They were now considered hostile and a potential threat.

Casualties:

520 Troops Dead
255 Injured
15 Various Tanks destroyed
12 Humvees destroyed
8 BMPs Destroyed

Once the unidentified vessels confirmed themselves as escorts from Tahar, the Rukemian Coast Guard were rather relieved. Supply ships from Tahar Joblis had been coming in and out of Rukemian waters for more than half a century, this was the first recorded time that they had been escorted by military ships, which was somewhat unnerving.

The following message was sent back to the Tahar ships:

"Sorry for the misunderstanding, carry on as usual. We must ask though, why have you chosen to travel with escorts this go around. The Rukemian Coast Guard can assure your safety within our waters."

As for the other unidentified vessels, whom had fired a flare, the same message was relayed back to them:

"Although you have fired a green flare, signifiying your intentions as non-hostile, we must ask you to identify yourselves as neccasary by the code of Rukemian Naval conduct."

OOC: Actually, I'd think we may have had some fleets come hover around the place during a couple wars/almost-wars you had involving EOTED (Ma-Tek) and Melkor Unchained and that one crisis where you wanted to get rid of the RCSC, but that would have indeed been a good long while back. Nevertheless, it should indeed be alarming, and those prior incidents may not have been well recorded due to the rather alarming nature of those times.

"There was some concern as to wartime security. We understand that Rukemia is engaged in a military struggle of no small consequence, and have understandable worries about any attacks that might impact the RCSC, our citizens therein, and of course continued good relations between us and the other nations of this world." Admiral Graff was very curious to see who was operating submarines nearby, just as curious as the Rukemians. The NDOTJ was always eager to link hard data with nations and submarine classes, for obvious reasons in a sometimes-hostile world.

He had his own submarines, of course - Tahar Joblissan fleet doctrine dictated extensive use of underwater assets - but it never served to be ill-informed.

"Of course, since we were heaing over here anyway, NDOTJHQ decided we may as well take part in some excersizes in relatively unfamiliar waters. No need for us to sit on our laurels and rust them into the sands of our own coast until we find ourselves too incompetent to defend the waters of Tahar Joblis." As the admiral amiably chatted, the fleet prepared in case the submarines proved hostile to Tahar Joblissan ships. Torpedo tubes were checked and loaded, helicopters ran aerial patrols, and brand new anti-submarine rounds for the 15"/50 guns were loaded. In the flagroom, tactical officers were evaluating potential threats, from possible air bases/coastal missile posts to cargo ships.

Rest on laurels indeed. The NDOTJ's successes did not come by accident, and the twin impulses of caution and curiousity that had sent the fleet there would aid it when trouble came knocking. Even as he spoke on the radio, the Admiral was reviewing the updates of NDOTJHQ's latest updates on estimated Rukemian and IDP naval strength, from determined assets to weapons systems to probable hidden assets, and setting out orders for simulated engagements against possible Rukemian opponents.

A smaller fleet was being launched from Tahar Joblis with the mission of investigating the situation around Isla de Penguinata. In a few weeks' time, it would be ready to loom in the background around IDP and collect stray radio signals and direct intelligence there. Or, if needed, act in the interests of Tahar Joblis - attack or bait away Rukemian or IDP fleet assets while a larger fleet arrived, bombard the shore, or simply help provide humanitarian relief. A communique through official diplomatic channels would be arriving by air shortly asking privately for the detailed justification for the war. Back at home, various groups debated what the "real reason" was for Rukemia to go to war. Some of the theories were, to say the least, quite fanciful.

Very few of these theories involved an Odessan conspiracy, and not many of the theorists would ever have imagined Odessa and Tahar Joblis going to war over an incident in or just outside of Rukemian waters.

Back in the capital of Oddessa, the president and head of naval intelligence was watching the status of the three subs in IDP water, when they heard the message. "Tell them to send this message....:"

In the Reliant, the communications officer received the message and started to transmit it to the Rukemia Navy. "We are the Oddessa Navy, specifically the Reliant. We have come to observe the situation, as we were hoping to open trade relations with IDP." The Communications officer typed in a new messege that just came in. "Seeing as this has happened...maybe you'd like to talk?"

Fiallo had ordered an immediate secret message to Oddessa:

“We ask that you open fire on the Rukemians! Please listen to the request of IDP. We ask for you to sneak attack them. Especially their carriers. A massive surprise attack on their carriers would aid us tremendously. You will be heavily rewarded if you do so.”

Meanwhile back in the capital, Fiallo was growing very frustrated. The casualties report had come in:

6 Downed F-16s (Pilots locations unknown, presumed dead)
3 Downed Apaches (Pilots confirmed dead)
4 Paladins
6 M1A2s
364 Troops

He crumbled up the paper and slammed it on the desk. Something had to be done. Too much blood of IDP soldiers was spilled in the streets of Trentport. He had to get down and dirty if he was going to push Rukemia out of the city. He sat for hours reading reports from the battleground that was once a city.

Everybody was caught off guard from the air strike the Eurofighters dealt. There was no radar, so they were unable to tell they were inbound. They had just dropped their bombs and turned around when they started to fall from the skies. The Ace of the group was the last to fall. He watched as his wingmen fell from the skies, and he immediately switched his head from bomber mode, to dog fighting mode. He turned on the afterburners and the plane shot forward. He could only radio back to base that they were under attack, and try to outrun the Eurofighters.

“This is Echo leader one to base, come in! We are under attack! All fighters down accept me! Please send…” Static had taken over the radio. He had been shot down. Six F/A-18s were dispatched to insure that they wouldn’t get to any other city. They were to take out as many Eurofighters as they could, but first they were to drop their payload on the city.

Fiallo ordered all troops and equipment to leave the city. There was no way that he could retake it. All IDP forces were to withdraw from the city and pull back to the Handed Space Port.This was the next sizeable city closest to Trentport, so it was likely for an attack.

Elsewhere in the country major preparations were done to cities to repel any attacks. Artillery and tanks were position so they could provide bombardment to anybody trying to enter the city. The Wildlife Refuge across the ocean, and now Trenport belonged to Rukemia. But Fiallo didn’t plan on them taking anything else because of the short rein of the old emperor Carl the Fat.

Rukemian Coastal Waters, International Border

The Coast Guard Naval Commander relayed the following message back to the Tahar fleets:

"Ah, we understand, it is only wise to escort ships traveling to a warring nation. I'm sure you all have heard news of the terrorist attack that IDP carried out on Rukemian soil some months ago. It was a terrible thing, it was, the only solution was war, no matter how much we regret it. -There was a brief dramatic pause-But, I don't mean to waste your time with political chat, if you've got things to do then carry on, you're completely cleared."

The Fleet Commander stationed in IDP waters sent the following message back to Oddessa's fleet:

"If you reason for being here is trade, then I regret to inform you that a blockade has been enforced on IDP waters. Nothing leaves, and nothing gets through, so I suggest you return to your naval bases if you don't want any trouble."

________________________________

Trentport, Isla De Penguinata

The 120,000 troops within the city had been there for no more than a day and more than half of them had already become battle-hardened. Thier faces were covered in black smudge from explosions and smoke, and their morale had lowered somewhat after witnessing their friends and comrades fall before them. Things had started to calm down in the streets, and now the dead were being collected. The Rukemians would be given a respectful soldier's burial, while the Penguinatians dead were being stacked in piles and burned on the beaches outside Trentport.

While in the inner city limits things were quieting down, small battles still raged on the outskirts. Sporadic gunfights would erupt from time to time, neither side willing to let up their ground. It had become a stalemate of sorts, until it appeared that the enemy had begun retreating. Enemy tanks and artillery had stopped pounding Rukemian positions and were now retreating at a fast pace. They were quickly pursued by 8 Comanches, who fired their remaining 3 hellfire missiles at the retreating tanks and artillery. When the missiles had been used up, gunners hung out the sides of the choppers and strafed retreating Penguinatian soldiers. The 16 remaining M1A2 Abrams raised their heavy cannons and opened fire as well, delivering deadly volleys of shells on their retreating foes. It seemed that the battle of Trentport had been won, the Penguinatian counter-offensive had been stopped in its tracks.

Officer Ray Jones rushed through the defeated city in the passenger seat of a humvee, he waved at the troops he passed, who seemed to have lost their upbeat attitudes. He was heading towards the scene of the detainee break-out, several hundred of the men who had escaped had been recaptured, and the soldiers guarding over them now needed orders on what to do with them. Officer Ray Jones finally arrived at the "prison", it was really nothing more than a oversized dog pin, with four 20x90ft iron metal fences forming a large box, inside this box were 300-400 Penguinatian males. Officer Ray Jones stepped out of the humvee and walked up to the 12 soldiers guarding the prison gate, they stood at attention in the presence of Jones.

"At ease", the soldiers came out of attention, "You've done a good job recapturing these dirty sons of bitches, now kill them, kill them all. Do it in an organized manner, 20 by 20, 30 by 30, however you want it, but don't be lazy and just throw a couple grenades in there.", Officer Ray Jones smiled and then walked up to the gate, a Penguinatian looked at him angrily on the other side. Officer Ray reached for the M-16 strapped around his shoulder with lightning speed, and held it up to the inmates face. The Penguinatian wore an expression of shock on his face, and the other Penguinatians began to back away from him. Officer Ray winked at the man and then shot three bullets into his skull before he fell back, crumpling on the ground.

He turned back around to the surprised platoon of soldiers, "You see boys, that's how you do it, I want them all dead within 1 hour, so I'd suggest you get to work. I'll send some supply trucks through here for you to load their bodies on, they'll take it from there. It was a good fight today soldiers, a good fight."

Officer Ray turned around and walked back to the humvee where his driver awaited him, he hopped in and they sped off, leaving the 150 troops at that particular post with a burdensome task.

They took the men out of the prison in groups of 20 and then lined them up on a nearby single wall, from there they hastily tied their hands and feet with left over, rusty barbwire. 10 gunmen then were lined up 25 feet in front of the men, and given the order to fire, blowing out the Penguinatians chests, stomachs, heads and ligaments in a rapid fashion. From there on the process repeated itself, civilians came out to watch and mourned the deaths of their fellow countrymen. But yet again, there was nothing they could do, they had two choices, sit back idley, or be killed like those that had been captured.

Once the dead was done and all the inmates had been slaughtered, there bloodied, torn bodies were unceremoniously thrown onto the back of supply trucks, who drove to the beaches of IDP where the bodies were burned. At first the young Rukemian soldiers, only 18-22 years of age were sickened by what they were ordered to do, but by the 100th man they became accustomed to it. It worked like clockwork.

The missiles and tank shells hurled at the retreating troops took a heavy toll upon them. It had all but destroyed everybody and everything retreating. 67 Troops, 5 M1A2 tanks, 2 paladins, and the rest of the humvees were blown to bits.

Fiallos attempts to recapture the city had failed. The Rukemians were in too great of a force to take anything back. He was surprised with his men being able to take what little they did.

The retreating force quickened their pace for fear of another air strike. They wanted to get to Handed Space Port. It’s not very safe in any city in Isla de Penguinata in these times, but it is safer than sitting out in the open in the middle of nowhere.

Fiallo could do nothing but sit an wait and find out which would be the next city to be taken.

"Order them to move back away from the area, but head towards the Rukemia Carriers, attack speed." The order was relayed to the submarine group. "We reach out with an olive branch of peace to become potential allies, but they shove it back. It's time to show them what the Oddessain Navy is made of. Scramble our long range Fighter-Bombers and start moving our other subs into the area." The order was sent out, and airbases closest to IDP went to full alert, and moments later the high flying jets took off from their runways. They would arrive in a matter of hours.

"Mr. President, you do realize what your getting us into, right?"

"Yes...Yes I do. I'm sure the people will understand our position when they see what the Rukemian's have been doing to the people of IDP."

"And you do realize we can't beat them with a current force, right?"

"Yes, I realize that too."
---
The three subs broke formation and started diving, one started heading around the island, while the other two were heading towards international waters. Right under the Tahar Joblissan ships. When they reached it, they stopped and raised their parascopes. "There it is, the Rukemian carrier. Load all torpedo tubes and prepare the missile tubes with cluster missiles." A dark red hue covered the bridge and everyone went battle stations. "Aim for it's Deck and it's rudder and props." When everything was ready, they recieved the order. "Fire!"

Systematically, the missiles from both of submarine's 12 launch tubes shot up towards the surface and started arcing towards the Rukemian Carrier, before they split into numerous smaller missiles, while 12 torpedoes headed towards it's rudder.

Meanwhile, the 3rd submarine headed towards the back of the island, and sent a secret messege to the Penguinatian leader, along with a map. "Be in point A3 at 0900, and wait there for pickup. Point A3 was just off the coast of IDP, and a point where the Rukemian navy hadn't gotten to yet.

The three subs broke formation and started diving, one started heading around the island, while the other two were heading towards international waters. Right under the Tahar Joblissan ships.

Which moved. And, as it so happened, were actively pinging their perimeter, hunter subs on patrol. With the fleet size and active perimeter, and the Odessan submarines starting off inside Rukemian waters, it was doubtful they would ever get beneath the central vessels of the fleet...

With presumably hostile submarines heading towards the fleet, the Tahar Joblissan ships launched a couple dozen torpedos, directly or through ASROC platforms, as a deterrant; the Rio began shelling the water using subcaliber torpedo shells as the fleet moved away. Hardly stealthy, the small torpedos would provide ample deterrant as they actively homed in on anything large enough to be an enemy submarine, splashing down outside of the Tahar Joblissan pickets. Overhead, helicopters searched, dropping sonar bouys and waiting to drop torpedos down at signs that the submarines were continuing their attack run by heading for the Tahar Joblissan fleet.

Tiger Base, Wildlife Refuge

General Victor sat at a conference table with Lieutenant Obi Ron and various other yes-men inside the Tiger Base's HQ. The matter at hand was which city to go after next, it had been nearly two weeks since the capture of Trentport and the troops there had built a steady base. Tiger Base itself had been built up quite a bit, the island was now scattered with hundreds of troop bunkers and three command centers which represented the three branches of the military: army, airforce and navy.

"Well sir, sattelite images have shown us that the enemy most likely suspects that we will attack the Handen Space Port next. They have heavy concentrations of troops and tanks in this area, as well as several large objects that appear to be AA missile silos, capable of taking our bombers and possibly our missiles out. I don't think I have to say that it would be unwise to advance on this particular city, thousands of Rukemian lives would be lost.", said Lieutenant Ron,he was standing and pointing at a screen that was located in front of the room with a laser pointer.

General Victor replied with a nod and a grunt, "Go on Lieutenant."

"Well sir, I suggest we hit here.", Lieutenant Ron moved the end of his laser pointer over the city of Victoria, "Although larger in size when compared to Handen Space Port, Victoria's defenses are signifigantly weaker. The ICBM attacks took their toll on the city's infrastucture, this eliminates the threat of high rise snipers and creates easier manuevering for our tanks and heavy vehicles. Ultimately this plan is safer, and more effective than fighting an uphill battle against a heavily defended peninsula. The capturing of this city also proves vital to our access of IDP's mainland, we can set up a base here and move quickly across the country in a blitz type movement.", Lieutenant Obi Ron turned to the men sitting at the conference table and grinned as an animation began on the screen. A blaze of red swept through IDP, starting with Victoria and then massing throughout the entire country covering the landscape in red, and for the grand finale a huge Rukemian flag appeared above IDP waving as if in the wind.

General Victor clapped, and his yes-men followed in unison, "Excellent idea, Lieutenant, see to it that the troops are briefed about this ASAP. If your theory proves correct than we'll have the whole of IDP in no time. In the meantime I want cruise missiles on that city like stink on crap!"

The meeting was over and everyone went their own posts to tell their men of the second landing. It would take at the least an estimated 100,000 troops and up to 400 tanks and vehicles to take the city successfully even after the tomahawk strikes. But manpower was no problem, 85,000 reinforcements had arrived on the island in the past two weeks, along with another batch of 400 various tanks and 600 Infantry Support Vehicles. Aircraft was also coming in as a landing strip had been made, 300 F-15 Eagles, 100 Eurofighters, and 80 B-2 Bombers had also arrived. All would prove useful in the coming weeks of the war.

Below the island the Rukemian fleets began preparing to fire on the city of Victoria. The strike was much larger this time, a total of 2,000 tomahawks would be fired courteousy of the resupply ships. Once the ships were completely prepped they began to fire, in waves of 100 the tomahawks shot off the ships and soared in the air heading towards IDP. There was a breif 10 minute break between each wave, which prolonged the process to 3 hours. The reasoning behind this was to give the enemy a false sense of safety, making them think the bomboardment had stopped, only to hit them with another wave of missiles.

Meanwhile back at Tiger Base 100,000 Rukemian troops, 1,000 of which were Marines, had begun packing. They were set to leave some four hours after the missiles stopped coming. They wanted to give it some time for the city to cool off and for the fires to muffle themselves out.

The two subs under the Tahar Joblis fleet started sending out counter messures and began performing emergency manuevers to avoid the incoming shells and torpedoes. "Where the hell did they come from? There were no ships up there when I looked!" The captain yelled. One sub started heading towards Oddessian waters when it was winged on the starboard side by a shell. Then another. The small holes were plugged, but they slowed the sub down, emensly. Air bubbles leaked from the compartments hit and lead a trail right to it. It soon was out of sight of the Tahar Joblis fleet and was heading home.

The other sub though, made it through unscathed, and started heading towards the third sub in the fleet.
--
The President watched this all go down. "Wire a message to Tahar Joblis, We have no intention nor will we have intent to attack your ships unless our ships are fired on again. We realise that the first incident may have just been a mistake."

The President watched this all go down. "Wire a message to Tahar Joblis, We have no intention nor will we have intent to attack your ships unless our ships are fired on again. We realise that the first incident may have just been a mistake."

Wired to Odessa:

Faced with incoming submarines of apparent hostile intent, Admiral Graff made the justifiable decision to defend his fleet as best as he saw fit. Future attacks on our fleet will meet with more force; we have no intention of going to war, but we will defend ourselves if necessary.

OOC: Hmmm....ok. Tahar and Oddessa, you both seem to be in completely different areas. Tahar, I thought, was right outside of Rukemian waters awaiting the return of his supply ships. While Oddessa, I thought, was near the Rukemian fleets in IDP, which are supposed to be some several thousand miles away. But none the less, you've me Oddessa attacked and now you shall die.

IC:

The Oddessan fleet had been spotted on radar long ago, so when they began to move towards the Rukemian fleets at an alarming speed, counter-measures were taken immediately. As the Oddessan blips on radar came closer it became evident that they were not in fact a fleet, but a group of submarines. Seeing this, the Naval Commander ordered 10 Seahawk helicopters to go airborne, pilots manned the choppers and they were off the carriers within 5 minutes. They were given the location of the Oddessan fleet and swiftly headed towards their newly found enemies. They broke off into a wide semi-circle formation and hovered in place, completely flanking the subs as they traveled underwater. They were still some distance away, but the 10 seahawks stood right in there path, awaiting there arrival anxiously.

Finally the subs came within deadly semi-circle of Seahawks, where they were fired upon on all sides with a total of 40 anti-sub torpedoes. After releasing their ordinance into the fronts and sides of the submarines, the Seahawks returned to their respective carriers to reload and become airborne again if neccasary.

Apparently, the submarines had fired torpedoes before the Seahawks came upon them, all aimed at a Nimitz cariier. Those monitoring the defense inside were somewhat surprised, as the first torpedo hit the ship's rudder, knocking the gears out of alignment. For a moment the enormous ship was stationary, but even so it still managed to defend itself, taking out the incoming torpedos with torpedos of their own. The explosions going under the water caused small masses of water and light to arise in the ocean and then sink again, this motion repeated itself 10 times, before a second torpedo hit, almost in the exact same spot as the last. At this moment the ship was completely immobile, but it could be fixed in no time.

This message was sent to what was left of the Oddessans:

"You are fools to attack us. We have no quarrel with you, or your people. But if you continue to carry on like this we will be forced to declare war, and if war is declared, we will destroy you. If you have concern for IDP then your concerns our unfounded, we are to liberate a people from a horrible dictator, who thinks it right to attack innocent civilians. We strongly suggest you stop this foolishness and return to your country."

Within minutes of the missile strike on Victoria, Fiallo ordered immediate backup to be sent to the city. Most of the military men and women in the base at Victoria had been blown to smithereens. Many civilians had been slain too, because of the position of the base in Victoria.

Some two hours after the attack, 3,000 troops, 40 tanks, 35 paladins, and 15 apaches rolled into Victoria. The Paladins were lined along to beach and they were to fire upon any approaching craft. The tanks were lined up behind the paladins, incase the Rukemians did gain a beachhead. The troops were stationed in the rubble. Many of them hid and were acting as snipers. The rest used rubble to build up a small wall to which they could hide behind and fire on incoming troops and such.

The apaches took turns flying back up missions for the ground troops. Once enemy landing craft were spotted, they were to fly out and attack them.

Trentport had fallen too easily. Fiallo wasn’t going to let Victoria fall. And if it was to go, it would at least cost the lives of many Rukemians.

10 miles off the coast of Victoria, IDP Mainland

100,000 Rukemian soldiers, 400 tanks, and 300 infantry support vehicles floated silently in the oceans of Isla De Penguinata, the transports they were in were rapidly approaching the coasts, and as the time to land came closer and closer they began phsyching themselves up. The soldiers in each transport took their M-16s and beat them against the metallic roof in unison forming a rhythm, chanting "Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!". A random scream of anger arose from the sea of "Kills" every once and awhile, giving it an African type sound. But the chants were ordered to be silenced, the transports were now only some 4 miles off the coast. The tank transports now seperated themselves from the troops, increasing speed and breaking off from the row formation. They sped towards the pitch black coastline, radar was the only thing guiding them at this point, there were no lights in the city, everything was out. The whole setting created an eery vibe, and the Rukemians couldn't help but think that someone was out there, waiting for them.

Without warning their suspicions were confirmed, dozens of large blasts erupted along the coastline, lighting up the nightime sky. The blasts were soon followed by the unmistakable *wizzing* sound created only by falling shells.

The tank transports soon realized they were in deep shit as water exploded all around them causing them to rock around crazily. A second volley came at them, this time more accurate, smashing shells into the fronts and tops of three transports, sinking them and the 30 tank crews and tanks they carried. A spotter for one of the tank transports looked to his right and saw as a shredded piece of metal that was once a transport, sunk to the bottom of the ocean, engulfed in flames. For a split second fear overcame him and he wanted nothing but to go home, but he came to his senses and realized he had a job to do. Seeing as his transport was leading the rest, it was his duty to tell the tank transports to continue to push foward, even in spite of the immense fire they were taking. Air support had been called in, but it would be awhile before the F-15's arrived, so for now the transports were on their own left to continue pushing foward while even more of them fell to the shells.

Their soldier comrades looked at them from behind in agony as they witnessed their fellow troops being ruthlessly killed and sent to a watery grave. The oceans in front of them were now littered with flaming pieces of metal as well as the occasional severed limb floating omniously in the waves.

They all asked themselves where the air support was, why were they taking so long? Just as the soldiers began to show doubt they heard the screeching sounds of many fighters above them, unable to see them in the darkness, but able to hear them between the breaks in the artillery strikes. There were 15 fighters to be exact, each carrying a payload of 4 air to surface missiles. As they flew over the transports below and dived towards the coast they rapidly fired their ordinance, 60 missiles in all, aimed a the Paladins, and a few at tanks that were spotted behind them.

The soldiers cheered the fighters on as the coast was lit up more than ever before as the missiles exploded into their targets illuminating the coasts and the transports as well for a short period. Once the missiles stopped flying, the tank transports finally brushed up on shore and released their cargo, a total of now, 300 tanks. The tanks hit the land firing their cannons, aiming at whatever was left at the artillery.

Now the troop transports pushed foward, following close behind the tanks.

Casualties:

10 Tank Transports destroyed
100 Tanks destroyed/missing
523 Soldiers killed.

Message to all countries involved: All submarines and aircraft have been recalled to the homeland after a change of Government. The new administration regrets the loss of one of it's submarines and blames it on the corruption of the former administration. It also regrets any ill willed strife between Oddessa and any country involved and also blames this on the former administration.

Oddessa formally pulls out of the region

Casualites:
1 Sub
600 Sailors lost

The success of the attack on Rukemia seemed to heighten the spirits of those who served for Isla de Penguinata. It made them thing that they actually had a chance to repel Rukemia for a moment. But as the tanks landed firing, the landing shells seemed to blow their dreams away. All of the paladins and 15 tanks had been completely destroyed in their air attack.

The troops and tanks suddenly opened fire upon the incoming tanks and troops, trying to inflict as much damage as possible. All 15 of the apaches took off and started firing hellfire missiles at the tanks. More air support was requested, and upon the request, 10 F-16s took off speeding towards the war zone. More paladins were ordered to the area also. 13 Paladins fired up their engines and sped to the battle zone. It would be some time before they would get there.

Within 20 minutes, the F-16s roared overhead and began attacking the advancing troops. They each fired 3 air to surface missiles at the tanks, and then turned and headed back to base.

After another hour of intense fighting, the paladins finally pulled up. They rolled into the city firing upon the Rukemian tanks.

Trentport had fallen too easily. Victoria wasn’t going to fall.

The Battle of Victoria, On the Beaches

Tank shells and hellfire missiles exploded all around the Rukemian tanks as they advanced further onto the beach. Penguinatian resistance was much stiffer that expected, and the Rukemians were taking substansial casualties. Once the paladin artillery line had been broken through, the Rukemian tanks were taken by surprise when an unseen row of enemy tanks appeared and fired mercilessly upon them. At such a close range, many of the tanks' armour were pierced by the oncoming shells, burning the crews inside alive, they suffered a most painful death. The effect was doubled when enemy Apaches rose behind the firing enemy tanks and shot off hellfire missiles at the already dazed Rukemians, shattering the first wave of tanks. The second wave of 30 or so tanks took the destroyed tanks places only to recieve more punishment from an unexpected air assault. Missiles from Penguinatian fighters pounded Rukemian positions on the beach, flipping the bulky tanks over and creating havoc among the lines.

The Rukemian advance was halted momentarily by the large airstrike, but the tanks continued on once the smoke had cleared. The 142 remaining tanks pushed up the beaches, rolling past those who had fallen before them. The tanks countered, flanking the outnumbered Penguinatian tanks and firing on them from all sides at a rapid pace. Shell after shell was loaded and hurled out of the tanks' cannons towards the enemy, all the while the tanks continued pushing onward, making room for the coming infantry. Gunners ontop the tanks fired at the harrasing Apaches overhead with their heavy machine-guns, they had to wear night vision goggles in order to spot them in the night sky, which was occasionaly brightened by large blasts.

Air support had been called in long ago and now finally a group of 14 Comanches and 10 Strike Cobras arrived, their purpose was to counter the enemy's Apaches which were causing much strife for the tanks below. The Comanches struck first, firing on the Apaches with 42 air-to-air missiles in all, they then broke off sets of 7 and fired their remaining 60 ground missiles at the enemy tanks on the beach. The Strike Cobras followed, firing first at the Apaches with 20 missiles and then opening up on the tanks with 40.

The tank transports who had splashed up on the beach now pulled aside and made room for the troop transports, who released their troops in waves of 10,000 each. The troops traveled onto the beach in heavily armoured infantry support vehicles and followed close behind the tanks who were pushing their way into the half-destroyed city.

It seemed that beach might finally be in Rukemian hands, but at a heavy price, and that price was made obvious by the hundreds of blown out tanks that littered the beach, most of them Rukemian ones. Casualties were very high, and at this point they might've doubled or even tripled those of the Penguinatians. Lieutenant Obi Ron had some explaining to do, he was just responsible for the deaths of over 1,000 Rukemian soldiers.

Casualties:

148 Tanks destroyed
1,131 Tank crewman killed (Including gunners atop those that still functioned)
40 Soldiers killed

The fighting troops called in more air support as all of their apaches were now downed and they were taking heavy fire from air and ground. The report angered Fiallo to no end. They had lost all the apaches, all 25 of the remaining tanks were destroyed, and 513 troops died in the assault.

A soldier managed to get through on his radio, despite the shelling and constant attacks. The words “Broken Arrow” were blurted out to headquarters. This was the command given when a massive strike was delivered and the Penguinatians were loosing. All available aircraft were called in and blow somebody to hell. Headquarters radioed back and said “Negative. Birdies called to eat fist” The soldier knew what this meant, and that no available air support was going to be given.

He then radioed back “This is extremely critical! We need something! Send some more helis or something!” Headquarters radioed back “20 Apaches dispatched. Expect them within the hour.”

This gave the soldiers a boost in morale. They at least wanted to stay alive to see more Rukemians get killed. Soon after they got off the radio, the sound of helicopters could be heard off in the distance. The soldiers thought that it was too soon to be the apaches. Within minutes CH-47 Chinooks were landing more troops to aid in the defense of the city.

2,000 more troops landed to aid in the defense. Constant fire from the paladins flew over their head, pounding the beaches hoping to hit and destroy unloading tanks.
------------------------------------------
Meanwhile:
At this moment all available aircraft were in the air heading out to sea. Fiallo had become tired of the overwhelming power the Rukemians possessed. He okayed the order to deliver a massive air strike against the Rukemian navy sitting in his waters.

In all there were 52 F-16s, 64 F/A-18s, and 12 F-15s. This was a good enough size force to strike the ships. Fiallo knew that many of them would be shot down by SAMs on the ships, or other AA fire. This was all that there was extra without taking away from air defenses. He knew that it was a bold move, but it would show the Rukemians that there was no fear from them in Isla de Penguinata.

Within minutes, they reached the ocean. It wouldn’t be long now until they were dropping bombs on enemy ships, and shooting down enemy planes that would be deployed to counter their attack.
------------------------------------------

Back in Victoria the Apaches were now rolling into the city, and they were firing anything that wasn’t Penguinatian. All hell was being given to Rukemia. On two fronts. One in the City of Victoria, and the other in the air over Rukemian ships in the waters of Isla de Penguinata.

Tiger Base, Command Center

Lieutenant Obi Ron sat at a heavy oak table with his head buried within his hands, he was being hounded by General Victor in a brutal manner. Obi managed to block out most of the verbal abuse, he was too busy drowning himself in self-guilt to concentrate on General Victor's words. His plans for the invasion of Victoria had seemed flawless, intelligence showed that the city was lightly defended, but why was it that when Rukemian forces arrived a strong defense was already on the beaches awaiting their arrival? Was their a traitor amongst them, had someone tipped the Penguinatians off? Maybe there was---Lieutenant Obi Ron's thoughts were abruptly cut off following a hard smack in the back of his head from General Victor.

"Are you listening to me?!?! The next time you put the lives of my men in jeopardy, you will be severely punished for it! How about you look into intelligence reports intelligently before you sell me and my staff a dud plan!", The general stormed out of the interrogation like room, shortly followed by his squad of a dozen or so yes men, each gave the lieutenant a mean stare as they exited they room.

Lieutenant Obi Ron was left think about what he had done in silence, that was, until the alert sirens went off. The lieutenant burst out of the small room and into the main hallway of the building, he came upon two soldiers and asked them what was going on.

"A large number of enemy aircraft have been spotted on radar heading towards our fleets, sir. The newly arrived SAMs are being prepped for firing."

"How many are capable of firing?"

The second soldier answered, "Just 25 at the moment, sir. But a total of 100 have been transported to the island."

A series of loud wooshes shook the foundation of the building, and the two soldiers looked at one another, nodding their heads.

"We must excuse ourselves sir, those are the SAMs firing, we have to report to our defense positions.", the two soldiers rushed off with their M-16s in hand bouncing from side to side.

Lieutenant Obi Ron's head instantly filled with dark thoughts, "Could this be the end? Had the Penguinatians pushed the Rukemians back into the ocean at Victoria, and now they were making a massive counterattack? Impossible, or is it, the Penguinatians do seem to have a few tricks up there sleeves. I must alert the soldiers of a possible invasion and prepare for the worst."

Lieutenant Obi Ron gained access to the base intercom system and spread the word of a possible counter-invasion of Tiger Base, he knew that if one was to come it would have to be through the air. IDP had no recognizable navy.

Meanwhile, Tiger Base's SAMs had fired off 25 AA missiles at the enemy aircraft and were now reloading for another volley. But the reloading time proved to take too long and the enemy aircraft passed over the island heading straight for the fleet. They were soon out of range of the SAMs and now the defense of the fleet rested soley upon their own shoulders.

Battle of Victoria

A mixed array of T-90s, M1A2 Abrams, BMPs and Challenger tanks entered the besieged city of Victoria, creeping from the beach and into the destroyed metropolis. As the 15 scouting tanks first entered the city, they reported to those who followed behind them that things were quiet and it was safe to approach. The 100 or so battle tanks rumbled into the city, cracking the streets they rode on with their immense wieght. The city was indeed quiet, no civilians were spotted and there was a tense feeling in the atmosphere. Trigger happy gunners aimed their heavy machine guns to and fro, looking for a target to lay down, but none were available. The tanks were coming into the center of the city and still nothing had happened, they were beginning to think that Victoria had been abandoned by the Penguinatians.

Just as the battlegroup began to let their guard down, enemy helicopters were spotted on the horizon. As they headed towards the tanks, flying high above the city, gunners on the tanks opened fire on them with armour piercing bullets. The city was quickly filled with the grinding sounds of war as all the tanks within range opened fired on the targets in the sky with heavy machine guns. As the helicopters closed in they were identified as Apaches, and at about the time they could be identified they began shooting off missiles, lighting up the tanks and the city below.

A missile hit the front of one particular M1A2, bending the cannon upwards. The gunner ontop the tank recieved the brunt of the blast, fire swept up the tank and engulfed him, swaying his body back and ripping his arms from his body. The skin on his face began to bubble and peel off as flames licked all around him, the helmet atop his head melted onto his skull and he layed back on the M1A2, dead as a doorknob. The crew inside was spared but the tank was unusable, and they were left trapped inside for the heat had sealed the only opening out shut.

14 other tanks shared the same fate, being either completely blown away by the missiles or rendered useless. Suddenly shells from the northern part of the city began falling on and around the Rukemian tanks, trapping them in a ball of fire. Buildings crumbled and fell into the streets trapping tanks crushing them and depriving them of air.

The situation had turned grim in a matter of minutes, 19 more tanks had been taken out of action, the troops were told to hold their positions on the beach. But little known to the tanks, the troops themselves were being blown to hell as well as artillery shells scattered up and down the beach, tossing the vehicles they were in around like ragdolls. There was nothing they could do, they were little more than sitting ducks in the line of fire. Air support was called in immediately and 25 Comanches were on the scene within 30 minutes. They swept through the city and fired upon the opposing Apaches with 50 anti-air missiles in all, and then rushed passed them, heading towards the Paladins. When they reached their positions they fired another volley of 50 air-to-ground missiles, before circling around to reload.

The war had now moved to three fronts, (counting Trentport), but the Rukemians felt confident that the could handle this and emerge in victory.

Casualties:

32 Tanks destroyed
520 Troops killed
800 Troops injured

As the aircraft passed over the island and reached the other side, a total of 25 planes were downed. 6 F-15s, 10 F-16s, and 9 F/A-18s. A total of 6 F-15s, 42 F-16s, and 55 F/A-18s now soared over the ocean, headed toward the ships of the Rukemian fleet. Not long after passing over the island, the planes had the ships on radar, and were now headed for them. Within minutes, they were over the ships. They dropped all their bombs. Their main targets were the carriers, but they also hit many cruisers and destroyers. They turned to return home, but they knew that death awaited them at the island. Their coarse of RTB would take them a little way out of their war around the island to insure as much safety as possible.

Back in the city of Victoria, the battle raged on. About 20 tanks that were involved in the sneak attack on the invaders had been destructed. All the Apaches were shot down. The Penguinatians seemed to be dropping like flies, but taking many Rukemians with them. All forces were on the defensive now, and the planes are on the way home. No offensive was ordered.