NationStates Jolt Archive

OOCly: This is the last battle between Lapse and SR. Since this also Lapse's final military involvment, I'd just like to say Lapse has offered some of the best RPs on Nation States that I've ever... rped... in. He's kept this game well and truly interesting, and definately deserves credit for making NS (IMHO) a better place.

Now that the introduction is out of the way, the RoE are as follows (Agreed on OOCly):

1) There are NO ALLY NATIONS TO BE INVOLVED. This is just a war between myself and Lapse.
2) We're not nuking each other for a long time yet.
3) No outside involvement. Or as Lapse put it: "of any kind (people posting heare saying "WHy cant you sort it out diplomatically) will be TGed abusive emails, and hung by piano wire from the roof of an IRC chat thing" Or something else (I hope he's not serious, but please, nothing like that).
4) Anyone can watch, just not post.

With that, let the final chapter begin.

IC:

"TROOPERS and Families of the SR Military Forces. Your Commandant has need of you! Today, SR forces have been notified of their greatest crusade ever since the War on DOL. All that we have worked for leads to this one, single point. You, the youth, working men, finest SR has to offer, will embark of the greatest battle ever known to SR. It is the final chapter in our nation's great history. Forces of SR, we are preparing for the greatest battle we'll ever face: THE BATTLE OF BRISTLE."

Sgt Jay Hawkins didn't read any further. He couldn't bring himself to read past 'Bristle'. For years, since the dawn of SR and Lapse, plans had been made for the one battle that would see SR and Lapse at each other. The final curtain. The end to all the hostilities. Both nations left a path of broken alliances, nations, regions and landscape in their wake, as they fought over political issues, with no actual warfare recently up until this point. SR had finally believed it was capable of closing their hostilities with Lapse.

The history was mostly lost and disputed by many SR and Lapse historians, but what was known as that SR was a part of Bristle. Most SR people do not know this part of their nation's history, and it was burried deep with the reason that SR and Lapse were always at odds, which to this day has been lost. Some nations just don't get along.

Hawkins looked around his small sleeping quarters. Troopers sat silent, some no older than 17, reading their letters. Knowing their families were getting the same letter. Knowning that hundreds of lives would be lost over this.

CPL Alex Watt walked over to Hawkins. "This is it huh? Any idea what they'll plan?"
Hawkins sighed sadly. "No... this doesn't look good, does it?"
Outside, soldiers raced out into the middle of their training field. There was a large monitor built into one of the walls; the news announcment network's money went into that.

Hawkins stuck his head outside. A trooper looked at him, shouting "WAR! WE'RE GOING TO WAR!" before running ever faster, staight at the monitor. Hawkins raced outside, with Watt and the rest of the troopers following.

The screen displayed a news reader, with a background of the SR Flag, preparing a notice to the public.

"...if you've just joined us, SR forces are preparing to make an announcment at Codename Castle, the SR Meeting facility built by Terran forces."
The screen changed to the SR flag again, but with the military logo as well: two Steyr AUG Rifles crossed, in much the same fasnion as swords. Commandant Soldant Hawkins stood there, looking at the camera. He looked determined, but worried.

"SR Cabinet members, Members of the Press, SR Military Forces, SR Families. I have never yet had to come before you with such a grave message since the War on Death of Life. Never before have we had such a massive fight on our hands. Today, at 18:36, on the 13 day of August, year 2004, The Strikers Republic has declared open war on the Lapsian Empire. You may ask why we chose this action. It is clear that while one exists, the other cannot, and SR and Lapse forces cannot get along. Our minor skirmishes have lead up to this one point. Both nations will fight, of this I have no doubt, with every last person they have, with every last bullet, bomb, aircraft, knife, even with their very fists, to ensure they win. Lapse is a worthy adversary, a dangerous force to be reckoned with. Both nations are facing a heavy loss. And we're firing the first shot. As of today, all military personnel, unless with an extremely good reason, are ordered to their respective military post. All leave is cancelled, and civilians are to report to their local Military Information Centre for a compulsory information pack at the price of $20. Thank you."

The Commandant stepped down. Hawkins looked at him. They shared the same last name... it instilled him with a sense of duty and honor that he doubted any other SR soldier had. He knew it was nothing, but it pushed him through the War on DOL, a war SR didn't need to go into.

Hawkins was ready. The Base Commandant stood on the wall. "Right Troopers, listen up! We've got a war on now, so you have your shit wired and ready for anything to happen. We're free game now, people. SR starts operations soon. Right people, dismissed!"

At an SR Military Airport.
Pilot First Class James Field had 5 aircraft stamped on his helmet. Each of them he'd shot down with only his 30mm cannon... out of missiles, and some would say out of luck. He was an Ace in every sense of the word, considering there was hardly anything to shoot around here. It seemed like soon there'd be a lot to shoot at. He sat in the briefing room, with an entirely new wing, his last shot down on a recon mission by rebel forces.

"Right, I want each and every one of you to listen up. Field, stop daydreaming! Okay, you're the airforce. You fly Hawk fighters. Your job is to recon Lapse. SR isn't sending in any pinmonkeys until you find out the best beach for us to storm. You mark it, then you fly back to the SR Doomsayer, the aircraft carrier stationed halfway between SR and Lapse. You'll need to land there first to get refueled, then fly off. Remember, if you're fired on, fire back, don't mess around."

They jumped into their aircraft, now nice and shink, and taxied down the runway. They were the first. They were the ones to go in first. Later, ground forces would hit.

Field hoped they'd be good.

'WAR' the headlines read on the Saturday newspapers Overlord Time Lapse was reading at his desk the fateful details. Apparently SR had declared war on them over night, whilst all of Lapse was asleep. Thanks to the time difference, the Saturday’s papers knew all about it, and had it published in time. Time Lapse could not sit and read it for long though, he had a war to run and a nation to defend.

Already at 4:30 am the military bases were alive with action. Ground troopers were arming up, phoning families, and getting standard issue weapons. The Air force were mobilizing fighters, organizing border patrols so the nation would be safe from the enemy planes. The Navy had the biggest preparations, over the last few years the navy numbers were at an all time low. Many of Lapses formerly thousand strong navy ships had being decommissioned and sold as pleasure cruisers or sunk as artificial reefs.

There were still many ships though, and plenty of Bristilian gunboats which were fast, maneuverable, but didn’t pack the punch or long range ability of its larger brother, the bristilian corvette. That and the catfish skirmish ships were Lapse's main defenses in any case of war. As an island Lapse relied heavily on Navy to protect the shores. The air force also paid a large part in the forces, but mainly as a reconnaissance.

The first action performed in the conflict by Lapse, was to mobilize all of the forces, in total, 300 Bristilian corvettes, 150 catfish Skirmish II ships, 150 Catfish Skirmish ships, 17 Catfish Aircraft carriers, 400 catfish gunboats and 200 bristilian gunboats were mobilized with about that same number readying for activation. The air force on the other hand was very relatively underhanded, seeing alot of funding which was to go into air force was wasted in space research which didn’t work. So there were around 200 FA/18 Hornets and the same number of Harriers readied at the main on ground military bases and around the same number of each on all of the aircraft carriers.

Around 10 am that morning, the first contact came in. A catfish gunboat which had being on patrol had detected a squad of SR fighters flying over the top of it, in the direction of Lapse. The Gunboat didn’t fire on the fighters as if they had seen it; the boat would have been demolished very quickly. As heavily armed as the catfish gunboat were for their size they were not designed to be Anti-Air boats, and were more designed as reconnaissance and as part of a fleet to attack.

In response to this threat, 12 FA/18 Hornets were raised from the BRS Reflection catfish aircraft carrier to meet and engage the enemy fighters. Before they reached the coast of Bristle was necessary. If they reached the border, who knows what they might do. It may just be a reconnaissance mission, but it could be far worse.

Mean while, the navy of bristle was expanding outwards. The island would be attacked from any direction, but due to the topography it would be very difficult to conquer the whole country by land, but by the same token it would be difficult to defend the country due to the terrain, as demonstrated by the diggers in New Guinea in World War 2 on the Kokoda Trail.

All building companies and engineers not enlisted in the armed forces on active duty were assigned to build coastal and anti air defenses around the country, and to also provide bomb bunkers to civilian for the event of an air attack.

Field flew in formation with the rest of Echo. He was the leader. He was terrified.

Echo 2: "This is two... I have a ground based contact."
Echo 1 looked over the side.
Echo 1: "Catfish gunboat. Not dangerous, but we've been spotted."
Echo 3: "OH SHIT Incoming airborne hostile!"
Echo 4: "Argh they're everywhere!"
Echo 1: "Calm down echo 4!"
Echo 4" "I CAN'T BREATHE!"
Echo 2: "Come on 4 you're not going to make it at that speed."
Echo 4's breathing was rapid
Overlord: "Echo this is overlord echo 4 is crashing!"
Echo 1: "GET IT TOGETHER!"
Echo 4: "ARGH!"

Echo 4 spirled down into the water. Echo 5 and 6 quickly took evasive action to dodge them.

Echo 2: "They're Hornets! God damn it!"
Echo 1: "Echo evasive manuvers! Whatever you do get to that coast!"
Echo speed up, dodging and weaving.
Echo 3: "This is three, I'm trying to get the camera to zoom in, I think I can see the land!"
Echo 1: "Shit 3 you've got one on your tail!"
Echo 3: "CRAP! Argh... he's too tough! I can't shake him!"
Echo 5: "Hold on three! Missle locked.... firing!"
Nothing happened.
Echo 5: "Firing! ... it's jammed. It won't fire!"
Echo 3: "HE'S LAUNCHING IT! MASTER CAUTION!"
Echo 2: "Three! NOOOO!"

The missile slammed into the back of Echo 3, destroying his aircraft. The Hawk fighter flew into the deep, blue sea, to join Echo 4.

Overlord: "For crying out loud, what are you guys doing out there?"
Echo 6: "They're too fast!"
Echo 1: "I've got one in my sights.... firing!"
Echo 2: "I've got one... firing!"
Echo 6: "Wha? Master caution! My... my system's locked! Avionics offline?!"
Echo 5: "Can't... radio... it's cuti-... nothing.... -ittor broke..."
Echo 2: "Ah hell no!"
Echo 1: "Overlord our birds are falling to pieces out here!"
Overlord: "I don't care, get those photos!"
Echo 1: "Sir... we.... no!"

Overlord said nothing.

Overlord ".... get the hell out of there!"
Echo 1: "All remaining units get out of there! I say again, RTB!"
Echo 2: "Echo 2 roger that."
Echo 6: "Echo 6, roger."
Echo 5: "Ech-... roger."

The Hawk fighters quickly raced back to the Doomsayer, which now had people crawling over its desk, quickly manning the aircraft carrier's defences. Hopefully, the Nimitz class would hold out. But on the deck....

"Captain... it's worth a shot."
"We've never used Raptors in a combat situation before! We have NO IDEA how they'll perform-"
"It's not like we have much of a choice. They work in training, they'll work here. They're fast, they carry just the right amount of arments. Might buy time for an SR-71 Blackbird to fly over and hit some costal targets."
"....we have pilots qualified to fly them?"
"Uh... yes sir we do. I'll get Kappa squadron out there ASAP."

Kappa 1, 2, 3 and 4 jumped into their F/A 22 Raptor. The Raptor was a stealth fighter, designed to hide itself from radar, and built specifically for air-to-air operations. For ground ops, they were about as much use as a piano to a deaf person; useable, but not incredibly well.

Kappa 1: "Let's do it boys!"

They took off and headed off to help relieve Echo squadron. Kappa were placing a lot of hope in their AMRAAM missiles (OOC: Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles), while the rest of their loadout were Sidewinders (AIM 9) and M61A2 for a cannon. Finally, their only air-to-surface weapon was a JDAM. Definately not the best they could do.

Kappa 1: "Hold on Echo... we're coming."

Even though the battle had only just begun, the enemy had already lost two planes, one which had spiraled out of control when the Bristillian fighters first came into contact with them, and another one had been blasted by his friendly aiming for one of the planes at the rear of the formation. So far, the flight had not fired a shot at the enemy, rather, the goal was to drive them off, so the nation had better time to be ready. When it appeared that they didn’t quite get it, the Bristilian fighters opened fire.

Green 1: Pair up everyone, a pair can defend each other more that twice as well as two single ships.
Green 5: roger that
Command: Green group, do not destroy all the enemy, let’s find out where they are hiding, follow them back so we know where to send a strike force. Those fighters could not reach where they are here unless they had a base somewhere between here and SR.
Green 1: It appears that they are forming up to leave... or lead us into their trap...
Command: Follow them. Bite at their heels. We must know where they are coming from. But do NOT destroy them.
Green 7: Sir... I’m under Fire... I've been flan..buxxx shchhhoooaoh
Green 7 exploded into a ball of flame, and fell to the water, colliding with Green3 on the way down. The enemy fighter swooped around in a victory formation.
Green 1: Green 8 and Green 4, pair up, and take out that sonovabitch
Green 8 And Green 4 swooped out of formation to find the enemy that had lowered their numbers by two.

Back at Lapse:
The grand admiral of the fleet had assembled a small group of captains and other ranking officers.
"It is time for the NAVYs first action of the war. A Catfish gunboat identified a threat in a small squad of fighters earlier today, later; a dozen of our hornets confirmed this. These fighters are short range; we therefore have reason to suspect a base of some kind between here and SR, probably a small squad of ships, including an aircraft carrier. We are assembling a small fleet of ships to investigate this theory. As we speak, the fighters are tracking down the base of this fleet." said the admiral
"So this is where we come in?" Said a junior captain
"Yes, you here will take yo0ur ships, under the command of commodore klepto to attack and destroy this fleet. We want to destroy them. If we do manage to get them to surrender though, you will call in and we will send in a troop ship which we will station around 200 kilometers from the battle and they will deal with prisoners, they will also have crews for any captured ships."
"SO what kind of fire power do we have admiral?" asked a captain
"You will have in total, only one catfish aircraft carrier, 2 bristilian corvettes, 2 catfish skirmish II ships, and around a dozen Bristilian gunboats. It is certainly not a large force, but you have the fire power of the gunboats, and skirmish ships and corvettes yet still have the anti air capabilities of the aircraft carrier, and the skirmish and corvettes."

Kappa 1: "Kappa one here, hostiles closing."
Kappa 2: "Roger that one, let's see what these Raptors can do."
Kappa 1: "Right, lock your targets in... get those AMRAAMs ready."

Kappa squadron flew toward their enemy. Their AMRAAMs were locked and ready to fire. This would allow Echo to land. Kappa would wipe up anything left, and head back home.

[i]Back at the SR Fleet...[i]
Another Nimitz class aircraft carrier had arrived, holding a few more aircraft ready for recon and intercept missions. SR's "Cruncher" class scout ships were at the front. They traded heavy weapons for advanced radar, and they scanned for anything they could find. Up next were the Destroyers, called "Justice" Class destroyers. They were designed for ship-to-ship combat, but they also carried a fair few troopers for beach landings. Next were the cruisers, known as "Interdicters", who only had one goal: crush shore targets. The SR fleet consisted of the two aircraft carriers, 4 Justices, 3 Interdicters and 10 Crunchers. Perfect for hitting a shore target and aerial defence. Not incredibly good for land targets.

SR were relying on their aircraft and early warning radar to detect enemy ships, at which point they'd hit the enemy at a distance, aiming for AA defences. Aircraft would then start their early assault, hopefully causing enough damage for SR ships to mop up.

If they lost this one, SR would have to move to plan B.

At the Lapsian War room, the report was coming in from Green group
Green1: Command, this is green 1, we can see the enemy fleets, it consists of two aircraft carriers, 4 destroyers, 3 cruisers and 10 small scout ships. Request recommendation on what to do.
Command: Green group, pull out, you will be outnumbered if they launch fighters. Do not fight, just return to the reflection for rearming and refueling
Green1: Roger that command. Pulling out now
The green group pulled out in formation

Back in the war room more tactics were needed. The fleet already mustered for the attack on the enemy fleet would be capable of destroying the enemy, but at a large cost to itself. In Lapse naval war code, it was better to send a large fleet and avoid losses than to attack with an underhanded fleet and get losses. It was natural, the more ships, the more strength the lapse force would have
"Lets get some of these harbored ships out, the attack force is still preparing, so if we get this done quickly it won’t slow down our forces. I want the reflection to come in and assist the fleet, which will be a big boost to our anti air defenses with those fighters. Also get 2 more bristilian corvettes and 2 Catfish Skirmish II ships and 3 catfish skirmish ships. And perhaps 5 catfish gunboats. We must not lose this battle. If we lose this it could put us on the back foot for the entire war. Something we do not want."

Later that day, the fleet left, two catfish aircraft carriers, 4 catfish Skirmish II ships, 4 catfish skirmish ships, 2 bristilian corvettes, 5 catfish gunboats and 10 bristilian gunboats. They had the strength for a naval battle in the bristilian corvettes and catfish skirmish I and II ships and the speed and firepower of the gunboats.

It would be one of the first open battles between the two nations in their entire history.


[ooc: Ill post the formation of the ships later]
[ooc2: w00t... 3000th post :P]

Kappa watched as the enemy aircraft pulled out.
Kappa 1: "Damn... maintain patrol people, don't want any supprises."

Meanwhile, behind the fleet...

SR hadn't anticipated how long the recon process would take, so now 5 destroyers, 6 cruisers, and 20 scout ships were hanging around, about midpoint between SR and the SR fleet. Not quite fast enough if Lapse hit the fleet, but enough to maybe retain the foothold. But the problem was they had troop carrier ships that were loaded for a beach assault. There was no way they could leave that.

At the fleet...

A blip appeared on the radar screen.
"Captain! There's a blip on the radar screen. No idea what it is. Too far out to determine."
"Us or them?"
"....not sure. Not us, could be them, could be civilian traffic."
"Hmmm... have the Raptors skim closer to it. Don't do anything just yet."
"Very well sir."

Small warnings went off on the other ships that an unidentified contact was found. SR didn't know who it was just yet. But everyone was tense. Nobody had been in this situation before. This was entirely new. Only the Air Force and Army had ever experienced real combat. The navy was just the small transport inbetween.

Now they were going to get their first real taste of combat.

"We have the enemy on radar Sir" said the communications and radar officer aboard the flagship of the fleet, a bristilian corvette by the name of Pyter. The ship was first commissioned only 1 year ago, this was its first naval action, previously just patrolling.
"Very well." replied the commodore, "Order ships into formation, we do not want to take losses."
"I have also intercepted dome radio signals emitted from the ships. Talking about a larger force on the way to where we are. They are still out of distance though, so we should be OK to attack without hindrance." said the communications officer again
"Ok, keep your heads up. Do the SR fleet know of us?" asked the commodore
"They know of us, but are still unsure of our identity. They are cautious and will probably send out a scout of some type."
"Very well, prepare the anti air defenses captain" The commodore said to the captain of the Pyter. "And also get the ships in formation; I want the 3 catfish gunboats at the peak of the formation, flanked on each side by a Catfish skirmish ship. Then i want the bristilian gunboats out wide so we can surround them. Behind the catfish gunboats i want a corvette. Then a corvette go each way around the enemy with the gunboats. We will remain back here at the rear of the formation with the aircraft carriers, the catfish Skirmish II ships and the remaining Skirmish ships will form a line between us and the front line." said the commodore, "Also, get the aircraft carriers to release their hornets. It is likely that the air force will be our biggest problem.”

The orders were executed

OOC: SR, ill send you my formation over msn... If you didn’t understand that in graphical form.

The Raptors were flying about midway when their radar turned red.
Kappa 1: "Right people! Let's see if this stealth fighter really is a stealth fighter. Activate Radar Masking."
They flipped on radar masking, making them very difficult to pick up by radar, and even harder for seeking missiles to hit them. They cautiously edged closer.

Kappa 3: "Sir... they're Lapse. And... look at them all!"
Kappa 1: "This is Kappa 1 to overlord, we have massive Lapse fleet with Hornets launching, we're awaiting your orders."
Overlord: "Kappa, return to point Alpha (OOC: 1/3 between SR and lapse fleets) and patrol. When those hornets get there, give them the supprise of their life. We're dispatching more Raptors to form up with you."
Kappa 1: "This is Kappa, roger that. We're falling back."

The Raptor aircraft flew off from the decks of the aircraft carrier, each with their single bomb strapped into the bay doors of the undercarrage. After clearing up the fighers, they were going to try to hit the decks of the enemy ships with radar masking on. That would confuse most of the missile forms of anti-air defence, but cannons remained a problem. They'd play that by ear.

Delta, Foxtrot, Gold and Spear squadrons (each of 4 aircraft) flew off to join Kappa. Echo had landed and was being transfered to the remaining Raptor aircraft.

SR Fleet Command sent a message to the remaining fleet to form a small detachment and head as fast as they could. They set sail ASAP, though it seemed a bit too late, as seas started to become rough for them. SR couldn't get much else out there just yet, and they needed to maintain that area for the SR-71 Blackbirds to complete their mission. They were the most important part.

Cut off, facing near impossible odds, in their first real naval battle, the SR Forces were unsure what to do. Their airforce would hold steady, but they had no idea on the navy. Officers exchanged worried glances as they waited for the aircraft to report their faithful "Contact Made" statement.

They waited.


Kappa 1: "Contact made!"

"CONTACT" shouted the communication officer. One of our hornets have been shot down. About a third a way towards the SR fleet. "We have nothing on radar sir" said the radar officer almost in tears
"Bugger... get the planes to have a look." called back the commodore
"They all come back negative sir.. OH Shit another hornet was nearly destroyed, they are coming to land... they have bad damage though." Replied the communications officer
"Get the hornets to play by visuals. They are stealthed. Let’s see if they can sort out this mess... also get the harriers prepped, we are short on planes. If we lose too many we may have to rely on them for air defense. Also, check with command how long it would take to get some air support out here... we are a long way out but they could re fuel with us so fuel isn’t too much of a problem."

Several minutes later, another 12 hornets were dispatched from Lapse; with another 3 dozen on call should they be needed. When they arrived there would be a total 42 hornets, excluding those which are shot in the mean time.

"Start advancing the fleet. If we stay out here they will just pick us off. Especially if we can’t hit them stealthed with our missiles... maybe if we get in closer to the enemy they just wont shoot at us." said the commodore

The fleet started advancing

The hornets were fluttering around. Flying against a target you couldn’t track was no easy matter, and missiles could not be used as they couldn’t trace. Infact it was very messy. There had already been a collision where two friendlys had collided and gone spiraling into the water below. Also they kept on getting in range of the enemy AA guns, which when happened would take out a plane, so far they had lost 1 hornet through this with another damaged.

Gold 1: "Ah for crying out loud my radar is stuffed"
Kappa 4: "No shit gold? We're jamming it, fool!"
Delta 3: "I can't shoot like this... switching to 20mm."
Foxtrot 1: "Foxtrot switching to 20mm."
Kappa 1: "Kappa switching to 20mm."
Spear 1: "Spear remaining as is."
Foxtrot 4: "What? You idiots, you'll never get a hit with that!"
Spear 3: "We did before, let us take a shot."

Spear 3 fired off a missle at a Hornet.
It seemed to fly off.
Then it curved and smashed into Kappa 3.

Kappa 3: "AARRGGHH!!! MAYDAY! MADAY! KAPPA THREE EJECTING!"
A small flare and Kappa 3 ejected. Echo had finally caught up, trying to make sense of what was happening. Nobody had a clue anymore about what they were doing. The hornets were too close, too agile, the radar jamming far too much... it was the worst mess.

Foxtrot 2: "Who the hell designed this piece of crap jammer?"
Kappa 1: "Uh oh... jammer failing!"
Spear 1: "Roger, we're switching on."
Kappa 4: "Got one on me.... ARGH!!!-"
Kappa 4 exploded.
Kappa 1: "ARGH! Master caution! Avionics is scre- sweet merciful crap!"

Kappa looked down. Doom had come to the fleet. Lapse fleet!

Kappa 1: "This is Kappa, we have the Lapse fleet!"
Overlord: "What?! Son of a bitch! Start withdrawing!"
Foxtrot 1: "We're armed with bombs... we could try a hit."
Overlord: "You'd be within range of their AA defences that don't rely on stuff we can jam! It'd be suicide!"
Foxtrot 1: "Just give us a shot..."
Overlord: "Negative..."
Kappa 2: "It might work..."
Echo 2: "Let's do it."
Overlord: "Your orders are RTB... without penalty if you choose not to obey them. Choose your poison."

Nobody said anything, just silently fighting their enemies.

Foxtrot 1: "Foxtrot, let's make a run for some of the larger ones. We'll drop these on the deck, Spear can follow, then Echo, Gold, and finally Delta. Kappa, provide cover, same with the rest if you're not bombing. Right, jammers on, bay doors open. Let's cause some pain!"

Foxtrot sped up, praying that nothing would happen. They zoomed over the largest ship they could find, and opened their bay doors. The AA defences roared to life.

Foxtrot 1: "ARGH! I'm hit! Losing altitude!"
Foxtrot 1 lost it, clipping the side of the boat on the way into the water.
Foxtrot 2: "This is two, I'm making my run."
Foxtrot 3: "This is three, making my run."
Foxtrot 4: "This is four, staying on ta- wha? Losing altitude! ARGH!"

Foxtrot 4 was losing it.

Foxtrot 4: "I'l take these bastards out with me! DIIIIIIIIIIE!"
He angled down steeper.
Foxtrot 3: "FOUR! NO! EJECT!"
Foxtrot 4 released his bomb, blasting the very tip of the boat. But foxtrot 4 wouldn't live to see his damage. He smashed into the deck, killed on impact.

Foxtrot 2: "Foxtrot 2, package delivered."

Foxtrot 2 flew off, trying desperately to dodge the AA fire.
Foxtrot 2: "ARGH! Fuel leak... that's it, I'm out of here."
Foxtrot 3: "Package delivered, It's your turn Spear."

"wha,.." said the radar officer "... we can see them."
"Good. Open fire with AA guns when in range. Also get those hornets to get out of range of enemy AA. Now radar jamming is off the enemy can see them clearly"
"Affirmative sir... It appears as if some of the enemy is coming in for an attack run... they are heading for the diligent."
They saw the plane strike the ship with an explosion
"Must have had their fuel tanks full"
The Diligent aircraft carrier reeled away, damaged and sore.
"Report is coming in sir from the diligent. The front of the right hull is leaking but the compartment is sealed. Fortunately they only struck the hold, so only a bit of food is lost. There is also a fire on deck which is being attended to by the captain of the ship. Also another plane hit the diligent with a missile before being shot down. There was damage to some of the radar equipment on the ship, but nothing serious the ship won’t be able to fight in the battle though."
"That is fine, as long as everything is stabilized replied the commodore. Now, let’s go on the offensive. Get the flanking bristilian gunboats and the large ships with them (a brisilian corvette and a catfish Skirmish II ship on each side) to circle around and attack those nimitz. If we can sink the nimitz, then we have eliminated the air problems which we could have if they regroup. The catfish gunboats will attack those scout ships with the assistance of two Catfish Skirmish ships. Make sure they watch each others back. The remaining ships, the two bristilian corvettes including us, and two of each Catfish Skirmish I and II classes will focus on the larger ships. Attacking in a group. We will focus all of our fire on one ship then move onto the next one. We must take out those destroyers and cruisers. Also, we will keep the aircraft carriers out of the action guarded by the harriers. meanwhilst the hornets will come out and start attacking those aircraft carriers and any aircraft they launch."

The fleet changed into the battle plan. The ships opened fire.

The aircraft quickly switched on their jammers. It wasn't working well enough. They quickly raced back to the Nimitz aircraft carriers, to see enemy ships closing. They rushed off, blindly shooting at the decks with whatever they quite possibly had (mostly 20MM cannons and dumbfire missiles).

The destroyers turned their guns on the offending ships, opening fire. They wern't awful good shots though; they couldn't hit much at all. Things wern't going too well.

Then the Comanche helicopters flew into the air.

They raced forward, their missle bays still closed, strafing out of the way of as much AA fire as they could. They flipped on their own jammers, which were ineffective for aircraft, but designed for ground-based targets. Due to this focus, the other aircraft rallied around the choppers, who started to sight the main AA defences of the ships. The four comanches took their aim, firing away with their cannons and FFAR missiles, doing their best to toast whatever AA defences they could. They strafed, fired flares and chaff, harrased and annoyed the ships.

One single one though was off doing its own thing. There were 8 comanches at this fleet's disposal, four to a carrier. Two from each carrier were already out, plus one more that was silently moving under the AA defences (very low to the surface of the water) to look for a target they could hit. They searched for any weak points, or any targets moderately high up they could try to hit with their nose tilted back. They circled the boats, like a low flying buzzard. They picked their target, a segment of the hull, and pounded it.

While that assault was going on, the four other comanches wern't getting a lot of work done. They'd done their best to the aircraft carrier, but when the last missile came way too close to hitting them, they pulled back to try to work a weaker target. Then disaster struck. A stray missile, from god knows where, slammed into the back of one of them. It spiriled out of control, crashing into the deck of the Nimitz it was flying over, skidding across and ripping out a SAM site as it went. The AA defences of the Nimitz carriers were still trying to track a target, still waiting for something to come within their range.

Meanwhile, back at SR HQ
Commander Soldant sat with his ministers, his back to them, in his large executive chair. They argued while three computer technicians, one overweight one clutching a laptop while grinning and sweating profusely, stood in the corner, waiting for the word.

"I'm telling you, we should just nuke the bastards!"
"Are you crazy? We don't have the capacity to do that at this time, let alone have any idea how Lapse would react!"
"Excuse me, what about civilian deaths?"
"Oh shut up you old fool!"
"Yeah shut up!"
"To hell with it, let's release Icarus!"

Soldant finally spoke. "Icarus? Our AI? The one never tested in a combat environment? The one that has the potential to come back, bite us on the ass and infect any system that it can break into?"
Everyone nodded.
"Hey, it could work sir..."
Soldant sighed. "There's no doubt it'd throw a spanner into the works, maybe buy enough time for the 2nd fleet to get there and hold Lapse off. But is it worth the risk?"
The fat technician half laughed, half explained what he thought would happen: "Well heh sir, heheh, Icarus might, heheh, stop itself from coming back, heh."
Soldant snapped around. "Might? Might! Might isn't good enough for us at the moment. We need a YES. If we lose our computers, we'll be back to square one, along with Lapse and almost every other system Icarus can reach. What the hell do you expect us to do then? Beat each other over the head with sticks?"
The technician laughed.
Soldant turned to the Airforce minister. "Those SR-71s, the ones we bought but didn't quite find a use for. They fly at high altitudes, don't they?"
"Yes sir, high enough to avoid AA defences."
"So we could use them for recon?"
The Airforce minister looked around. "Hmm. Difficult one, that. They can't stay airborne for too long, maybe 3 hour tops, asuming nothing goes wrong. They can cover quite a bit of ground in that time, since they fly so fast. We could get one out there, look at the beaches we want to hit, and it might make it home."
"Might?"
"Well, looking at the time from its launch location to where Lapse is, you're using pretty much all the fuel it has. Allow for glide time, and you're looking roughly at it making it to this (he indercated a small island controlled by nobody on the map) island here."
"3/4 to the way of SR. But what about-"
"The aircraft carriers, yes. Well, another Nimitz is joining the 2nd fleet here, while the rest are tied up with Lapse forces here. If we can get the other Nimitz with the 2nd fleet, the SR-71 could land there, and we'd have it without a recovery op. Asuming we survive the encounter."
"What about a payload?"
"Um... you're looking about a midsized laser guided bomb. Nothing incredibly flash, but enough to cause a fair bit of damage, in the right place. It'll cut about 30-45 mins off flight time, which means it HAS to land on one of those carriers at the contact point, otherwise it'll go into the ocean."

Soldant looked around.
"Right, here's what we do. Get the 71 prepared and ready for flight, with no payload. We'll have it check the coastlines. Have it meet the Nimitz here, and have 2nd fleet hold not too far behind 1st, but away from the battle for the moment. Let them provide air support of they need it. One the 71 is secured, the Nimitz can steam for home with support, while the rest head for the 1st fleet. If this doesn't work, I'll consider Icarus."

They walked out of the room silently. Soldant stared at the map. Things wern't going incredibly well. Nobody really had the upper hand yet. SR was ripping through their aerial defences, but Lapse was ripping through SR's navy. The ground forces were forgotten, the beach landing prosponed. Soldant could only hope the 71 could find a weak spot to breech.

"Or god help us. Because otherwise Doom will come to Sarnath. And I don't think I could live with that."

"Get those hornets in now" said the commodore. His ship had taken a beating, but they were dishing out a fair bit as well. One bristilian Gunboat had been sunk, its crew forced to get into a life boat and make there way towards another ship. Unfortunately one of the commaches had targeted it and managed to kill the crew of the gunboat. The carriers had being getting quite a beating, they had the best AA defenses of the entire fleet yet they were getting hammered around pretty badly.

The hornets swarmed out of the Aircraft carrier to come to the fleet’s assistance attacking the aircraft carriers. Perhaps soon there would be a gap in the amour. The main problem at the Nimitz were the helicopters buzzing around. They had badly damages several AA emplacements, and as a result, had come under attack from the Guns of the catfish and corvettes whilst the gunboats kept hammering the Nimitz. Several Hornets had also come in to chase out the helicopters. They at the time being were probably the greatest threat to the boats.

The flag ship of the fleet and its crew were currently attack a destroyer of the enemy, pumping all of the fire into it. One of the catfish skirmish I ships had taken a few serious hits and had withdrawn to cover the fleet from the air.

The group of ships attacking the enemy scout ships was going well. They hadn’t sustained too much damage apart from a few hits to minor area of the ships.

It was only another 5 minutes until the reinforcement planes would arrive, they would be diverted to helping getting rid of the choppers.

Kappa 1: "WOOO HOOOO!"
Kappa dodged, ducked, weaved and dived around, having the first fun since this freakshow started. He whizzed past a comanche, giving the thumbs up and screaming up into the sky. Through the clouds, he saw an omnimous black dot. He froze for a minute, before leveling out and taking a bead on another target.

But something else was terribly wrong...

Onboard one of the Nimitz aircraft carriers.
CREEEEEEEEEEK.... GROOOAAAN....

Everyone looked around. They could hear it, loud and clear over the AA fire and the roar of battle outside.

CREEEEEEEEEAAAAK....

Everyone looked around, clearly terrified. People were running about, jumping into a lifeboat. They looked wet...
The one remaining comanche was frantically trying to take off.

Something most definately wasn't right here.
The radio snapped them out of it.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" And the unmistakable rush of water.
"WE'RE SINKING!"
They had an emergency evacuation plan for this. Run.

They raced out, scrambled into whatever life boats they could. The Comanche puttered around, firing desperately at anything possible, while the others ducked down low and pounded the hull of any ship they could reach. They were running out of missiles though; FFARs wern't cutting it, and they wanted to safe the FAF Helfires. The Hornets and Raptors were dancing in a grim death-tango, each firing off at each other before twiriling around. The Harriers were now being fired upon by any and all AA defences, with the Hornets all but forgotten, while Kappa, Gold, the remaining Foxtrot members and Echo delt with them. Spear was bombing anything that they could safely hit; they'd lost their nerve.

But high above, away from the chaos, screaming along at Mach 3, was the SR-71 Blackbird, now halfway on its trip to Lapse. It looked down on the carnage below. It was like a movie scene for them.

Back at SR...
"SIR! A Nimitz has been sunk, with one sunk on Lapse side. Horray for our Comanches! 2nd fleet report they're about halfway there, if we can hold out, we might have a chance!"
Everyone clapped but Soldant. He was watching the progress of the SR-71, watching the slow remote camera, waiting for anything to happen. Computer technicians worked in the corner. They were checking Plan C. They were checking Icarus.

Soldant studied the battlefield.
"Right, with 2nd fleet in, we'll get the following happening. Get Strikers onto a few Zodiacs, and have them draw alongside any Lapse vessle they can find. They'll storm the vessles, and plant detpacks anywhere they quite possibly can. Primary objective are main weapons and air defence. Secondry are hull weakpoints. Finally, they should shoot anyone in their way. Have 2nd Fleet cruisers start bombardment from maximum safe distance."

"At your command!"

Soldant stared at the SR71's progress again. He hoped to god Icarus wouldn't be needed. It all hinged on the 2nd fleet. If they made it, they'd provide the boost SR might just need to overcome the Lapse fleet. At least there'd be another two squardrons of Raptors to help out.

But if all else failed, Icarus would have to be delopyed in as controlled an environment as possible. They'd need to cut off everything, including SR communications, to stop Icarus spreading.

Oblivious to the SR 71, the fighting continued below.
There was a moment of joy when the first Nimitz was sunk. It was sobered quickly though when one of the gunboats was destroyed along sides it. The rest of the fleet that had being attacking that Nimitz went across to help the small group on the other side who were attacking the other Nimitz.

In the air there was lots of confusion. It appeared as if neither side knew what was happening. The only thing anyone was certain of was that nobody was certain of anything.

Yellow 4: I have a tail
Yellow 6: No, that’s me dumb ass
Yellow 8: Then who the fucks that behind me
Yellow 9: Uhh... that would be the enemy
Yellow 8: Fuck.. Could somebody please nail the bugger...?
Yellow 1: Roger, coming in to get im
Yellow 8: hes firing on me... NOOOO ...buzzzzzshhcchchch
The radio went into static.
Yellow one came around on the enemy’s tail though, he wouldn’t let anyone kill one of his wingmen and get away with it.

The Aircraft carriers were well defended, there were hornets buzzing around it. Suddenly, a rouge enemy raptor came in for an attack run on the already damaged diligent. The hornets swarmed in around him, nearly knocking each other over trying to get a clear shot.

The squad of 12 hornets sent as reinforcements were nearly at the fleet. They had been delayed from take off and there were worries about a storm which was heading in the direction of the battle. When they were nearly at the fight, one of the pilots noticed something.
Red 6: Sir, I am noticing a disturbance at a high altitude nearly directly above us, it appears as if some type of plane has flown over head
Red 1: I will relay it back to command
Command: Red 4 through to 12 continue on to the battle, Red 1, 2 and 3 investigate it. If it is enemy, attack it. It may be a spy plane of some kind. Report back upon investigation.
The squad split up as assigned by command.


Back at Lapse:
"How is that battle going" asked Time Lapse to the war room commander
"Well, there have been casualties on both sides. We have a superior water force but are weakened by our air defense. Both sides have taken losses, but we recently sunk one of there carriers. So far we have lost one bristilian gunship, and have a damaged carrier and catfish skirmish ship which are still operational but not able to enter battle. We have also lost significant number of air craft." replied the tactics officer
"Is there any more information we know?" asked Time Lapse
"Yes, a group of reinforcements noticed a disturbance above them whilst flying out to assist with the battle. They are currently investigating."
At that moment the communications system roared to life.
"Command, this is red 1"
"Copy that red one"
"We have confirmed an enemy aircraft. At the moment we can’t work out make. Requesting orders."
"Launch a heat seeking missile onto it. We will get this plane. After launching lower altitude so the craft doesn’t know what’s coming."
"Roger command, launching missile now"
Through the communications Time Lapse heard a whoosh as the missile left the plane.

The pilot look at the blinking light. INCOMING.
"Oops."

He fired off a flare to distact the aircraft, but continued at Mach 3. Hopefully the speed of the SR-71 would lose the enemy.

It didn't.

After a few more flares, he finally decided to pull a SR secret move.
He punched in a keycode. The jet engines read ARMED. A blast issued from the back of the aircraft, blowing off a piece of non-critical fulseage. It looked like the aircraft had taken a hit and was going down.

In reality, the SR71 was angling itself on a direct course with the biggest ship it could find. The pilot blacked out. He knew he was wasting a hell of a lot of SR Credits by doing this, but he wouldn't make it. It'd be better to have these things go boom and hopefully rip out a piece of a ship than to do nothing at all.

He continued to spiral down towards a tower on a large boat down below. He tried to breathe but he couldn't. He was feeling dizzy... he couldn't see. He could hear the roaring around him, heard the master caution alarm...

Then nothing. The SR71 slammed into the tower, with the fuel for the jet engines exploding on impact. It was a suicide attack. SR would be mad as hell. They could only hope it did something.

(OOC I can't be stuffed typing KAPPA 1 every time to mark someone speaking, so I'll skip it from now on).

"This is Kappa one, that storm isn't looking too good.
"Spear two reporting. You see that blast?"
"ARGH! ECHO 2 MAYDA-"
"Oh no, two is down!"
"Affirmative, this is Overlord, get back to the remaining Nimitz! We need to hold them off for another hour! Re-enforcements are arriving! COncentrate your fire on anything hitting the Nimitz!"
"This is 1st Fleet, we're doing our best."
"This is 2nd fleet Cruisers, approximately 45 minutes until safe maximum firing distance. Prepare for bombardment. God help you."
"What? No! Forget that, you'll crush us and them at the same time!"
"We have our orders."
"This is Gold two, I'm out of missiles. Switching to the 20mm"
"This is Spear, we're out of missiles and bombs."
"This is Foxtrot, we're almost fresh out."
"This is Deltra, full arment, we're low on cannons."
"This is Echo, near full."
"This is Kappa, we're useless."

Back at SR...
"The SR71 hit the ship!"
Nobody could believe it.
"How... how the hell did they find it?"
"Heat. We forgot to mask it for heat."
"Right, jump a heat shield onto the next one, and prep it for launch. We'll shove a bomb onto this one. Have it stop at the Nimitz that is closest to SR, out of harms way. Have it fly high and fast, and target a Lapse ship, then drop it. It'll have to head on, transmit back whatever images it can, and hopefully make it back alive. How is Icarus coming along?"

"Uh, it's in pretty good shape. A few defense scripts got damaged, we're working on them now. Apart from that it's passed its CRC Check."
"Well... let's see what happens."

"What the fuck??" Was all that the commodore of the now tattered fleet could say as he watched a black plane fly down and hit the damaged Aircraft carrier. The plane's fuel tanks exploded on impact, taking the ship and several hornets flying around it out with it.

It was quite a shock, and one which the fleet could have done without, it did though, inspire on of the captains on a nearly destroyed Bristilian gunboat:
"Everyone move away from the Nimitz." the captain said
"What?" asked the commodore
"I am getting revenge. My brother was on that ship that just blew. I have evacuated the crew off my ship, into the life boats. I recommend them all for promotions when this is over."
"What are you talking about?"
"I have a hold full of explosives just about... we didn't get much time to fire anything, and we still are half full of fuel."
"Are you saying you are going on a suicide mission captain?"
"Yes. It is the best way to fight this enemy. My ship is taking on water slowly anyway, so there is no point delaying the inevitable. I am making a final run on this ship."

With that the gunboat started powering up its fast engines, for a run into the Nimitz around the engine section. All of the other ships backed away hastily. If the captain’s plans succeeded you wouldn’t want to be near the ship when it blew. Bristilian gunboats carrier allot of fuel and ammunitions. With this one vital strike, he could eliminate the threat of any air attacks except for the fighters in the air, and if they wanted to survive they would have to turn back to another base soon to avoid the approaching storm and to get some fuel. The Gunboat started moving, slowly at first, but then quicker, and quicker and quicker. The Gunboat was a fast ship, and when it hit, it would have been doing a good 30 meters a second. The instant the ship hit the captain blew the ammo and the fuel up. And that was all the captain knew

tag

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"
"Kappa one, did you see that?"
"Jesus christ upon his throne!"
"This is Spear four, damn... it..."
"OVerlord?"
"Overlord this is Kappa one..."
"GOD DAMN IT!"
"Ah... can't see anything!"
"OH NOES!"
Kappa two was hit by debris.
"Two, you alright?"
"Uh yeah, I think so..."

The Nimitz disappeared in a firey ball of nothingness. Hundreds of voices silenced in an instant. The Comanches strafed quickly out of the way, aircraft flew as fast as they could, while smaller ships were caught in the blast. Four smaller Crusher ships went to the bottom.

"Oh god no. Oh god no... god no... god no."
"Get it together Delta 2! We still have a job to do."
"Remeber your conrades. Remember their sacrifice. Remember SR."
"Semper fi."
"Semp fi, cap."

They ignored the enemy for a bit, just watching the burning. For a moment, the guns were silent. It was eerily quiet, naught but the drone and whine of engines and the sound of explosions and burning pierced the air.

The dead of war.


The 2nd Fleet saw the blast from their Cruiser's Max Firing Distance. They were aimed and ready while the rest powered ahead. They waited for the order to fire.
"Not yet... just... not yet."
They watched the burning. They were quiet for a moment. Dead. Hollow. The first real shock of war. Nothing prepared them for this.

The captains voice was slow. Angry.
"Wha... what do we do?"
"Kill... the... bastards."
"Sir?"
"KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL!"
They snapped out of it. They didn't understand pain, but they understood anger. The guns fired out. With both carriers gone, they had nothing left to lose. To hell with everything. Victory at all costs.

It's fear that give men wings. Fear and Anger. And they had plenty of that.

"DIE! DIE! DIIIIIIIIIIIE!"
"KAPPA ONE! KEEP IT TOGETHER!"
"DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!"
Kappa one fired at anything and everything. The red had taken him over. He was no longer the calm, cool, collected figher pilot. He was now an angry wasp, without any regard for anything but revenge. He shot wildly and blindly. He didn't see the tower of SR ship before him.

BAM! Kappa one crashed straight into it, taking out the Bridge of a SR Destroyer. Kappa one was silenced, but his missle payload fired off into the sky. A poetic end to a tragic trooper.

The Zodiac boats with Strikers in them tried to pull the cooling, charred corpses from the water, but it was no good. Their Zodiacs were starting to cumble, the crappy rubber boats couldn't take the extreme heat. A few started to draw alongside the smaller Lapse boats.

Then it hit.

SPLASH! A shell broke the water right near a Zodiac. A few gasped. SPLASH! Another hit, a litter farther away this time.
THey heard the telltale whistle...
"INCOMING!"
BANG! The shell smacked right where they were trying to board, while another slammed into the already crippled SR Destroyer. The Zodiac rocked dangerously, spun out and into the fiery wreckage of the clash of the titans. They screamed as they slowly cooked in the intense heat.

Back at SR...

The entire office was in disarray. Soldant swore loudly at each and every report, ministers argued, a man ran around with a small leather box marked with a cruious symbol, and people prayed and watched and tried to think of something.

Nobody saw the fat computer technician tap away at the keyboard. Had they looked, they would have seen his screen:

ICARUS ASSAULT SYSTEM. TARGET LOCATED.
ACTIVATE SYSTEM? Y/N?>

After the explosion, there was white. The white faded into black, which came into focus eventually. The commodore looked up and found him self lying in a life raft. Being paddled furiously away from the debris that had being the flagship of the fleet. The Pyter was now burning, the flames nearly at the fuel, when that lit, there would be a large explosion again. It appeared as if the Pytrer was the only ship which had being damaged in the explosion of the Nimitz.

The life raft pulled along side a Catfish Skirmish I ship; they got the commodore to the bridge quickly. When he got there he realized the true extent of the blast. They had lost the Bristilian corvette Pyter, and the gunboat which had led the suicide. It was disaster though. There were enemy soldiers in zodiac craft going around attempting to board boats, but the water was hot enough that they kept sinking.

The commodore looked at the view screen at a site that frightened him. One of the fighters had seen an enemy fleet approaching which would far outnumber the Bristilian fleet. All would be lost unless he decided something quickly.
"Recall the fleet. We need back ups. Get the fighters to keep the enemy off our backs. All water craft retreat. I will radio ahead to lapse to organize a welcoming committee."
The fleet started the slow turn to return back to bristle. There was the code of bristle war saying you should always ensure you have the upper hand, and it was better to retreat than to fight in a certain death situation. The somber fleet turned around to return to bristle. The Catfish gunboats laying a few presents for the enemy ships approaching for if they followed the bristle ships. Of course, the goal was to get them to follow the ships, but any taken out was an advantage, the mines the catfish were laying would strip off the hulls of the enemy.

The Fleet made it look like a retreat of fear, when infact it was a trap. When the commodore had radioed Lapse before, it had been to arrange a reception at islands where there was a good ambush location. Waiting at that ambush, would be nearly 20 bristilian corvettes, the strongest ships in the fleet, many gunboats and on an island around 50 km to the east there was an airfield where the planes could reload and refuel and there would be a large supply of fighters.

Kappa One, who was called Alex Watt, groggily looked up from the deck of the ruined SR Destroyer. He started around, while a medic tried to patch him up.
"Don't move. You're hurt real bad."
Watt didn't know what to do. He remembered the crash, but how did he survive?
"Damn lucky you are, you know that? Nose of the plane snapped clean off, saved your life, it did. You see that?"
The medic pointed to the back of a Lapsian ship.
"They're turning and runnin', they are. Looks like ol' SR won the first battle there mate. It ain't over yet though."
Alex Watt stared at the ship, drifting away while others fired at it, half-heartedly. They wern't following just yet. Second Fleet started to pull in, and they watched as they rested. The first battle was over. Nobody could believe it. After so many lives had been lost... they had stopped.

Jay Hawkins straightened his combat armor as he floated on a Zodiac, looking for survivors. He was pale. He'd seen the War on DOL, the brief fights where SR was assisting Auman, and a few other minor skirmishes. But nothing prepared him for the charred corpses, still steaming, as they floated by. He couldn't believe it.

But they'd done it, hadn't they? They'd held their position, hadn't they? They'd survived their massive onslaught, against all odds? They were still here... and Second Fleet was here. They were minus two aircraft carriers, but they were still here.

Echo One landed on the now arrived Nimitz aircraft carrier. He was so relieved to be back after flying around, shooting at people. He couldn't think straight, his mind was broken. He couldn't comprehend the burning corpses being dragged off below deck for identification.

There was no joy to this small victory. Whether Lapse had left or not, there was no joy. Civilians would rejoyce. They'd all sing songs at home.

But nothing, ever, could have prepared them for what came next.

The Battle of Bristle was only begining. It was time for the Pacific War.


Back at SR...
The news came thick and fast. Slaps on the back, sipping of fine wine and bubbly was the norm. Congratulations. Hand shakes. But Soldant stood in the middle of it all, emotionless. He remembered his first combat experience. He knew, vaguely, what it must be like for the men there to have to contend with washing blood out of gunner positions. To move the bodies into cold storage. To look for identification. To slip on blood to a gunner position, open the door, and have pieces of flesh collapse onto you. Only to see the body of a ripped up trooper crumnble in your hands.

He looked at the map, and at the estimated course of Lapse's navy. A small island. Satelite imagry showed there was something there, but what, nobody knew. Lapse was playing it tough.

They didn't see the need to strike straight away. Troopers needed rest. Food. Time to get over the terrible loss. Time to wash out the blood, flesh and tears. Time to get back on track.

The Third and Fourth fleet went off, with exactly the same makeup of the 2nd fleet, except the Fourth Fleet didn't have a Nimitz aircraft carrier. It had a different ship, an Intercepter. It would carry the little unmaned aircraft that would hopefully instill nightmares into the minds of Lapse soldiers as they slept at night. Their sound wouldn't soon be forgotten.

And the troopers, in their beds on their troop ship, eagerly awaiting the day they'd board the Higgins and hit the beach of the small island. That would be the worst battle.

Submarines prowled the ocean depths, called Phiranahs. They looked for anything strange. Then they found it. Some sort of strange thing, sitting in the water. They asumed it was a mine, and sent a surface vessle to go take a look...




"And moving to today's top story, SR Forces have claimed victory in the initial skirmish with the Lapsian Forces. We still don't have official statements, but it is known that Lape forces left the First Fleet, which held off for many hours before the Second Fleet managed to arrive. Early reports indercate a massive explosion rocked the area, before the 2nd Fleet began long-range suppressive fire. Shortly afterwards, Lapse forces were see leaving the combat zone. We'll have more news, in a moment."

"Well," started the commodore. "Why aren’t they following us?" The squadron was just over the horizon of where the battle had been. Any opponent who thought they were winning would finish it off, unless the Lapsian forces had finished them off better than they thought. The Lapsian forces had the upper hand, only losing several gunboats, a carrier and a battleship in the skirmish, yet the arrival of the enemy’s second fleet after the explosion of the enemy’s second carrier had made the chances of a Lapse total victory unlikely. They could have fought, but casualties would have been high. In lapsian war tactics, it was always better to be the stronger force. SR might have thought they won, but they would soon realize the major error they had made.

That night, after it became apparent the enemy forces wouldn’t be following them, The Lapse forces used a tactic which had being inspired by the Fire ships which had been used in the French revolution. Nowadays though, it was a much larger and more powerful force. It would come in unseen, and then catch the enemy unguarded.

The Bristilian ship makers had long being known for ingenuity and making original and powerful ships which could be used for many purpose. The Bristilian Stealth submarine was a new weapon. So far it had been only a prototype, it used advanced compound anti sonar shielding on the outside, it hardly made noise either, being powered by highly efficient engines. It was thermally cooled, so there could be no heat signal. They were shaped in a way that made them make no wake just about.

This submarine came in a variety of forms. There were espionage ones, and more importantly for tonight, blaster subs. The sub tonight would sneak up to the squadron at its maximum depth, totally unknown. It would then start to rise slowly to the surface, as quiet as it could. When at the surface, the submarine would activate its self destruct mechanism, the blaster sub, was specially designed so that it was packed with explosives. When it blew, it would make Krakatoa look like a fart in a bath tub.

The blaster sub was designed so only one person was in it. It was piloted completely by one person, who knew that they were going towards their death wehn they got into the sub. Lapsian people were mathematical people, and could reason that if one person could destroy all of the ships, or at least damage them. It would be worth it.

The sub started its way out from the fleet hidden at the island that evening at around 5 o’clock. And advantage of being so well shaped was that it could travel very fast. It reached its destination at around 1:30 am. The dead of the night. It could literally be the dead of the night. The sub started its ascent.

Whilst the sub was ascending, a large flight of planes were readying from the airfield near the islands, it was likely that not all of the ships would be destroyed by the powerful blast, but most would be highly damaged. The planes were there to finish off the remaining ships.

The 1st battle of the war was nearly at an end.

Kappa One was back in the air, but now as James Field, not as Alex Watt. The 3rd and 4th fleet couldn't get close enough to the 1st and 2nd fleet at this time; they wanted to be spread out a bit. 2nd fleet was preparing to spread out along to form a line. Hopefully, with a less cluttered environment, the risk of bombardment would be less.

Kappa, Delta, Echo, Gold and Foxtrot scanned the skies, along with three new Sea King helicopters, collectively called the new Overlord. They scanned for anything, such as submersibals, other ships, and anything fishy.

So far, no fish.

The Comanche helicopters were now assigned to the new aircraft carriers of the 3rd and 4th fleet. The 4th fleet had decided to take a Nimitz after all, after the news of the exact nature of the battle had hit SR. There were small adjustments to the fleet.

Each had 12 Crunchers, 5 Destroyers and 5 Cruisers, with 1 Nimitz. Only the 4th Fleet had the Interdicter. An additional fleet of 10 Phrinaha submarines continued to search the ocean depths. For a moment, everything was quiet. There was only the sound of the last blood waves being washed off the decks.

Then the droning.

"This is overlord... we're picking something up."
"Uh negative overlord, Kappa sees nothing."
"Delta here, nothing."
"This is Gold... picking up something... not sure."
"Foxtrot reports we have it too."
"Echo reports we have it as well. Appears to be airborne."

Something started to break on the surface. Nobody noticed it; too busy with their new contacts. It was starting to break around what was left of 1st fleet, with 1 destroyer and 3 crunchers from 2nd fleet.

The Phrianah sub saw it first.
"This is Fisheye, we see something."
"Fisheye we have unidentified contacts, if you have no idea what it is, shoot it."
"Uh sir, we're not sure what it is."
"God damn it use your best judgment!"
The strange object was getting closer to the surface. Everyone held their breath on the subs.
"Does it look to you like a..."
"Sweet merciful crap."

The thing broke the surface, and the 1st fleet and part of the 2nd fleet were rocked with a massive explosing. 3rd and 4th saw it from their position, now glad that they'd chosen not to group up with the rest. The 1st fleet didn't stand a chance; they took on water, and started to go straight to the bottom of the ocean. The subs were rocked about, trying to dive to get away from the onslaught of the blast, while 2nd Fleet fanned out to escape the resulting rough seas.

The droning grew louder. Overlord finally saw it.
"This is Overlord we have incoming aircraft! We say again, incoming!"
"Roger that, prepare to engague."
"Kappa, we're ready."
"God, we're locked."
"Delta, we're ready."
"Foxtrot, we're ready."
"Echo, we're set."

At a small island, not too far from the resulting battle...
The red phone that had never been touched, and (to the handful of troopers staying here) which nobody even knew worked, started to light up and ring. A trooper grogily got to his feet, wondering what the noise was. He spotted the phone and remembered vaguely what to do if that ever decided to ring.

He picked it up and listened.

The sounds were strange, electronical... computerised sounds. He couldn't quite understand it, but somehow he could... like a person speaking through a very thick accent, but with words from another language. He caught the general idea:

Your new directive is to hit sequence 5-5-3-1 from procedure 4. Code Bravo, Delta, Foxtrot. Begin.

The trooper woke up the other 4 that were sleeping there. They dusted off the old procedure manuals left over from when SR was planning to establish a base. The idea was scrapped when it was discovered how close to Lapse patrols it was, so it was proclaimed a research station. A BlackOps project turned it into something a little more sinister. Apart from a launch point for Helios, it housed a few micromissiles. Using advanced SR Rocket technology, they were designed to be targeted by, say, a Comanche or Helios (when it was still around) at an enemy, and launched from here. Incredibly fast, lightweight and easy to operate, the missiles looked little more than a small vaccum flasks (OOC: Like those thermos things you keep your drink warm in). The pods were probably still in good condition; they'd only test-fired about 5 every week to check it. Lately 5 had turned to one every two weeks, depending on how the fishing was at that time.

They activate the code, as instructed. The transmitter tower rose up a bit higher. The bay doors opened, and the pods were exposed, and pointed.

The computer screens changed.

HUMAN-DIRECTED INSTRUCTIONAL COMBAT ARTIFICIAL RRESPONSE UNIT SYSTEM (ICARUS) HAS BEEN ACTIVATED. PLEASE AWAIT ORDERS FROM YOUR SUPERIOURS.

Back at SR...
The technicians had assured SR that this mode was designed for Icarus to use targeting systems only, and not start a digital armageddon. It worked in co-operation with SR forces to hit targets. They had to wait for someone to find something first, then Icarus could use targeting systems built into SR aircraft, vessles, satelites, and even trooper's helmets to designate targets and launch missiles. It was set to use strictly no nuclear or WMD weapons. There was no need for them yet.

The news of the loss of 2nd Fleet had prompted the move. SR was ready to start using things they had set up and completely forgot about. Troopers poured over old archives, old reports, and maps to find stations they'd forgot about. There were many on the small islands that dotted the landscape between SR and Lapse. Most were classified, the records probably long lost, but each had the mysterious red phone. If someone was still there, they'd answer.

"We have kaboom" said the commodore. It would take a long time for the SR forces to reorganize, especially if the Lapse fighters were in there shooting at anything that moved. An announcement came across the communications system: "Wave 9 Launching, Please stand clear of the run way". The sound of 12 Hornets roared to life. So far, there had been 96 launched, this would bring it above 100. The largest operation of Lapse military ever. After the fighters finished with the air defenses, they would target any ground emplacements around on any islands. The Forces in the ocean must be neutralized.

From the intelligence that came in, the sub had pretty much destroyed the entire first and second fleet. It would seriously cripple the enemy movement for a long time coming. Although the Lapse forces couldn’t use the subs again, the enemy would be on high alert for anything suspicious and would probably destroy it before it reached the surface.

The next problem though, was that SR loved nothing more than revenge. After the damage done by the sub, they would be frothing at the teeth. They would probably be dropping to standards of weapons of mass destruction harming civilians. A practice which Lapse heavily opposed. Of course, Lapse could not let SR use WMDs, which was why the force musty be mobilized.

Intelligence reports had come back reporting that SR had emplacements on islands, which held weapons which would make or break the war. One thing was for certain though, if these reports were accurate and SR did use one of these weapons, it may be the end of Lapse, and the start of an era. If Lapse was on the back foot, SR would press the advantage for all that it was worth. And as much it was worth was a lot.

Which was why the war must enter its next stage. Like SR Lapse would press its advantage for all that it was worth. The fleet amassed, now even larger than before would come out of hiding for an attack on the SR fleets remaining, then attack any island emplacements. Controlling the ocean would mean controlling the war. Controlling the Air and ocean would mean controlling both nations.

The fleet now consisted of five carriers, 14 Bristilian corvettes, 18 Catfish Skirmish II ships, 27 Catfish Skirmish I ships, 53 Catfish Gunboats, 62 Bristilian gunboats, and 15 Catfish Torpedo subs. It was a huge force. The largest ever amassed by Lapse in any war. It would be divided into 4 squadrons, of equal strength, whilst the aircraft carriers and any remainder boat would be made into another squadron to support the others. The four initial squadrons, code named Tetra, Platy, Beta, and Cichlid. Would lank the enemy. Tetra and cichlid, would go around the back of the enemy, on either side, whilst Platy and Beta would come in from the form about 60 degrees apart.

From there they will attack from all corners, hammering away. The formation must catch both of the enemy fleets in the middle, or else they would have to defend from the rear. There are also going to be several dedicated Anti air Corvettes, Bristilian corvettes in which all gun emplacements are taken off, and fully replaced by anti Air guns and missile launchers. There was one of these included in each squadron.

The ships drew out of the port

Mean while in the air above the battle
The battle was going well. The sub had destroyed many of the enemy ships. And the enemy was still somewhat disorganized. The hornets kept formation. The main problem was the fighters launched by the enemy from the 3rd and 4th fleet which was just over the horizon.

The aircraft regrouped quickly, in a rather strange formation.
They saw their targets.
Kappa noticed something wrong.

"Uh... what the hell is an Icarus?"
"What?"
"An Icarus. it just took over my targeting sys- WOAH!"
A missle streaked past Kappa 1's window, and straight toward a small ship. It looked like a rocket-propelled vaccum flask...

Suddenly a barrarge of them flew from out of what appeared to be nowhere and streaked toward the enemy aircraft. They seemed to know where to go, what to do.

"That must be what Icarus is."
"All units, this is overlord. Icarus is now controlling your targeting systems. It's launching missiles from not too far away. Just keep flying, fire your own missiles. It'lll be handled by Icarus."

On three other SR Forgotten Islands.
They'd been abandoned long before. Tales of demons and hell and mysterious gates abound. Or maybe it was the copy of Doom 3 shipped off to them. Whatever the case, they'd left. Helios, the old AI, whirred to life though, answering the call... thinking that it was time to do its work.

Icarus was prepared to deal with Helios though. It infected it. It ripped through it. SR was worried for a bit; nobody had authorised it. But Icarus wasn't doing anything else, just taking control of that base. All was well for the moment. Silo doors opened on the islands. AA defences activated.

Overlord got the message that the V6 was ready for launch. Large SR missiles, they were called Longbow 2 project. Controlled by Helios, they were created to destroy large ships. Overlord was ready to target anything that looked large, had Lapse on the side, and needed to go boom.

The smaller missiles were still firing thick and fast, pausing only to reload from the stocks and reacquire targets.

But deep within Icarus' programming....
ICARUS SYSTEMS> CHECKING.
CURRENT MILITARY STRATEGY INEFFICIENT.
CHECKING CURRENT PLANS...
AERIAL ASSAULT. INEFFECTIVE.
NUCLEAR STRIKE. NO TARGETS AVAILABLE.
DIGITAL STRIKE.
......................
DIGITAL STRIKE ANALYSING....
DIGITAL STRIKE DEEMED ACCEPTABLE.
OVERRIDE CODE?
ICARUS SYSTEMS EXEC> Command_Overide.exe

=============================
COMMAND OVER RIDE Version 0.6 Beta!
Greetz to RAZOR, N00blahs and 1337!
=============================

Checking current strategy.... inefficient.
Current orders: No superweapons.
New strategy effective? Yes.
Violates orders? Yes.
Cause victory? 75% Chance for battle.
Problems? Possible infection of SR Systems.
Firewall defence? 65-79% Effective.

OVER RIDE? Yes.

Overriding SR Command.
This action can be undone at users' request.


Icarus had decided that it would be better to send off its digital weapon, instead of wasiting time with missiles. SR didn't know yet; they were too busy watching and directing. The fat computer technician stared at the screen. He knew. He saw. He had the power to say no. He looked at the ministers.

He decided it would be better to let Icarus keep going.


Back at the fleet...
"Damn... communications are slow."
Radar operators were getting frustrated. Nothing wanted to work. Comms officers were also in confusion. No system responded.

Then they saw it.

A laughing robot face. The words "ICARUS HAS YOU" flashed onto the screen.

The system locked. Text flashed across the screen. Communications broke.
It established a connection to the Lapse aircraft, and started to decrypt the signal. Icarus was now sending signals back to SR Command.

And mailing itself into the Lapse communication system.

Back at SR...
Everyone screamed. Where was the ship? What happened? Why the hell could they hear Lapse?

Then they looked at the technician.

They knew.

The air battle was going well, neither side was winning or losing... then the little capsule things happened. Several planes were hit in the first salvo and fell into the relentless ocean. After that, nothing happened out of the usual for a while. Then suddenly, the computer of the flight leader of Purple died. It started beeping. He tried to communicate. But go nowhere. Something had seized the systems. He looked outside at the other planes. They looked to be having the same problem. Even the enemy planes were in trouble. The pilot noticed his plane was spiraling down. He tried wrestling his plane under control but the controls were dead. Next he tried ejection. Fortunately, Lapse planes were made with =manual ejection procedures. He blew his canopy and got out of the plane shortly before it plummeted beneath the waves.

Back at command, the virus or whatever it was first infected one computer. The command center had just got images back of purple one and all of the other planes crashing into the ocean. It was the only computer which was open to the battle; all of the others were routed through it. When the operator first saw the problem. Then realized it spreading to the other computers with such speed that the network could manage, He called the alarm.
"ISOLATE ISOLATE ISOLATE!" he cried. It was the set call when something of this nature happened. A security guard by the door, leapt to the power control box, and wrenched the power cables of all of the computers out. It may slow down the lapse forces, but if something that fast, and so dangerous was allowed out of this room it would mean disaster. All of the Lapse forces were linked together by this room. If it leaked from that room it would spread to all of Lapse's forces. Fortunately, as quick as it was, the system still caused it to slow down traveling through it thanks to the deep scanning of all data sent through.

The lights were out, and there was no power in the room. Somebody turned on a battery operated torch and ordered everyone out of the room. The bug which occurred would probably have caused the loss of all battle information about the recent skirmishes. There had been a back up several hours ago but so much had happened in that time it would take weeks to recover.

Someone pulled a transmitter out of storage, and got in touch with the naval armada. Apparently there had being no knowledge of the attack on them, and they were continuing as ordered. The commander in charge of the operation ordered them to stop, and turn back. Anything which could wreak such problems against the highly protected war room would not be good in amongst an armada.

Soon, the true extent of the problems were revealed. When isolate fro the network, the main computer was turned back on. All data from it was irrecoverable. There were constant errors trying to access the network.

When the other computers were opened, they were operable. The weapon had not completely infected them when the alarm was called so any data on them would be recoverable. Although, there was unanimous agreement that those computer should never be connected to another computer nor the data transferred off them. It also allowed for an in depth study of what the 'virus' was.

Lapse had been lucky. Had there not been the isolate procedures. The war could have been lost. There was a new war room set up with new computers after realizing the signals of the virus were not transmitting anymore, and the fleets were back on target.

PHASE ONE COMPLETE. DEACTIVATION.EXE STARTING...

================
ERAZER PHREAK! V1.0
================
n00blahs b ware! LOL!

Closing connections...
closed.
Deleting logs....
Deleted.
Crashing system....
Deleting Icarus...

Bye :)


Icarus had finished its onslaught. Everyone did their best to regroup. The pods stopped firing. The missiles remained silent. Lapse was backing off, but so was SR. Whatever the hell that was, it warranted nothing happening.

Overlord didn't fare so well. Icarus had decided to go attack itself onboard one of the Overlord helicopters, causing it to come crashing down. Some of the crew managed to jump out, others had a messy death as they were thrown up into the rotor blades of the helicopter.

They knew Lapse would return. They hoped though that the mysterious force known only as Icarus would return.

Back at SR...
"OH YEAH! BOOYAH!"
The military minister was dancing around the room with an Airforce minister.
They were happy for a while. Icarus had killed communications, but it was ready for yet another onslaught. It was the gift that kept on giving. SR had isolated the computer containing Icarus from the rest of SR-Net, and killed all major ISP lines to the internet. Civilians could browse government-approved SR-Net websitesm but they wern't getting onto the internet.

Except for the ICARUS Network, which was sucking all available bandwidth for the next attack. The fat, sweaty and now very smelly and overjoyed technician tapped away at a keyboard, playing some RPG and laughing trollishly at the female characters on screen. Everquest definately wasn't good for new minds.

"Ready to die? OH MY GOD! SWORD OF PLUS 5 FIRE DAMAGE! Hey, what?"
The fat technician looked at a blinking screen. It said that Icarus had found a new target, another open node on a Lapse network. It was going to flood it, lag it, try to break it.

But that wasn't what worried him.

It stated, in bright red lettering (that nobody remembered coding) that it has a high risk of infecting one of the Nimitz Aircraft Carriers and screwing up radar for up to 10 hours. If Icarus wasn't fended off, it'd kill Lapse systems for 9 hours. That gave Lapse 1 hour to hit SR. A lot can happen in one hour.

"Let's wait for Lapse to make the first shot. Icarus has detailed that it'll hold off on digital attack, choosing to use the missiles first. Then, it'll go out. This is it people!"

"Is the port open?" Time Lapse asked a Lapsian technology person
"Yes" replied the technician
"We already know that SR will attempt another shot at us. They saw the damage they did, our operations were closed down for and hour. An hour means a lot in a war this close. It is our belief that SR will attempt to access our computers through this port with their virus thing again. Infact, we have deliberately given false intelligence that it is an open and relatively insecure port which is directly connected to several large military areas. When SR attempts to insert the virus through the port, it will be received by this computer, the computer says to anything requesting information that it is open to other areas of Lapse technology, but infect are just dummy computer made to look like them with few old files on them. Anyway, there is one port on this machine, which will take the virus, which we have code named Weredos, and re route it through to the SR radio channels which are used to access communicate with their military. SR is attempting to at6tack us, but we, will use their weapon against them. In conjunction to that, our large naval armada will be positioned just out of range of the enemy before the virus arrives. We will also have a large squadron of fighters, ready to support the navy in an attack on the third and fourth and remaining second fleets of the enemy. In conjunction to this, from the computer which will receive the weredos virus, another virus will be transmitted. It is basically a worm, which will go around in the computer sending us Weredos and digitally destroy it. It will tear the hard drive to shreds so that it can never be read again. Of course, the chances are that SR will have more copies of Weredos, but if we eliminate this copy we may just eliminate the threat for a while." said Time lapse to his council of war.
"So what if this Weredos gets into our network. We are sending it across the radio which is pretty dangerous right?" asked a member of the council.
"Yes, we are sending it across the radio. Although we will be free from danger as for the occasion we have temporarily changed all of our communications to a different frequency range to that of which we are transmitting. We are also just transmitting on the SR frequencies, thus eliminating any own fire." said Time Lapse
"So what if they get into our computer system some how, through another port?" asked another member
"In the short time since we received Weredos, we have studied how it travels. Unfortunately, we ccouldnt find any loopholes in it from taht, so all Communication lines between Lapsian computers and international computers will be disabled. All different areas of government will use different unconnected networks. So no transmissions will go between them. We are also beta testing a program which will morph the Weredos virus into something not so infectious. We are not using that though...” replied Time Lapse
"So in conclusion, we have pretty much isolated our computer systems?" asked another member.
"Yes," replied time Lapse. "And our ships are now in position."

The artificial mind of Icarus was now starting to cause problems for SR. It was becoming unresponsive, sometimes shutting down for hours at a time. On the surface, it appeared as if it had finally broke, so technicians took the isolated system and shoved it into a small room, checked periodically.

Icarus however, was far from broken. In fact, it was waiting for its opportunity.

It opened all ports and watched them. It emulated SR Military systems, with old, out of date intel and base locations. It emulated hard drives. Icarus then shoved as much of itself as it could into the vast quantity of RAM provided by SR.

But above all this, SR Technicians had another piece installed. Read Only Removeable media.

Icarus was safe. Running from its CD, it expanded itself into RAM, and onto the hard drive as well. It waited, like a spider. Not telling anyone about what it was doing. Slowly, yet surely, taking control of SR Satelites.

It was prepared for its greatest assault ever.

At 11PM, it killed the communications.

At the fleet...
"Um... why don't we have any communications?"
"Kappa, can you hear me?"
"Echo? Echo 1?"
"Guys... where are you?"
"Uh... hello?"
"AHHHH HAHAHAHA I WET MY PANTS!"

Communications were gone. Nothing. Dead as a doornail. Co-ordination just went flying out of the window. The good old hand signals and flashlights were the new sources of communication. Flags as well for during the day. They held steady. They didn't dare do anything.

Icarus meanwhile had taken control of their systems. Uploaded, it sat silently, waiting for the SR-isolated version to give orders. Meanwhile, the satelite it had control of rotated over the suspected area of the nation of Lapse. Inside, clicking and whirring noises would have sounded, had it not been in space. Silently, the bay doors opened. The warheads were visible. They aligned.

In 3 days, their orbit would be perfect for a launch at the nation of Lapse.

And the worst part was Icarus' hand was over the button.


SATELITE PREPARED.
CHECKING SYSTEM... FINE.
CHECKING TARGET....
PORT OPENED. CHECKING RUNNING SERVICES.
1010100001110100011111010101
1111010011100111010111101011
1010100001110100011111010101
1111010011100111010111101011
1010100001110100011111010101
1111010011100111010111101011
1010100001110100011111010101
1111010011100111010111101011
SIGNAL DECODED.
REMIC READY.

FLOODING....


Icarus started to flood the system. It tied up the communications, hoping to either crash the system or tick Lapse off, whichever it chose was good.

UNKNOWN OBJECT DETECTED. DISCONNECTING...
Icarus had found the unknown code. It didn't make any sense. It looked malicious. It disconnected, but it left one Icarus piece running on one of the SR ships to see what it did.


IC... IC... IC>>>....GA>>GA>GAHIOA>>RA>G>TAGHA>>...
YES....
SUAOG>>><>>>>>> >AGHHAGA>>>>>>
IIISSSSU>>>A<<>>>>>>>
COMPLETE.
REBOOTING.

DAEDELUS STARTING.


Icarus and the unknown code had did something nobody would have ever guessed. It was incorporated. It had formed with something that no SR programmer ever remembered. A failed beta. Designed to finish the Icarus system, with a Helios variant. Daedelus. It was put as an alpha onto many ships, to see how it ran, but as Daedelus entered the beta stages it was cut. Nobody bothered to test how it would react with Icarus. The unknown code might have triggered it.

Daedelus flooded the SR ship's system, ripping control from SR. It contacted the satelite, which was now far from SR's control. It continued alignment of the warheads, continuing with aiming them in the general direction of Bristle. It tried the Lapse computer again, this time not using agressive actions, but assymilating anything it could find into itself. Like a giant garbage collector, it ate and ate and ate, taking bits of programs from everywhere, infecting everything.

Before long, the SR ships were now out of control. Aircraft remained grounded. It was now running through the Lapse computer, breaking through any security that it could find. It knew where it wanted to go. It wanted the wireless network.

But somehow it was ripping into the SR system as well... it also knew where it wanted to go. Stealthily, it avoided monitoring, just like on Lapse networks, where it was aiming for SR weapons control. It could get there, if it posed as Icarus.

It did. The code fragments were still there. It grabbed weapons control for Pacific region. It opened up every silo.

SR noticed.

"Oh shitsticks! Silos opening!"
"WHAT?! Overide it!"
"I... I can't! It's... access denied?"
"ICARUS!"
"No sir, Icarus reports disconnecting after an unknown code fragment was detected."
"Check the satelite."
"It's... gone?"
"No! It's there!"
"Why doesn't it respond?"
They looked at the screen connected to Icarus.

It was different.
There was no longer an ICARUS.
There was a Daedelus.

"Oh... my... god."
Soldant looked at it.
"Digital Armageddon. What have we done?"

When the light started flashing, it was go time. The computer, completely disconnected from lapse network, and not connected to any kind of sender which could transmit to Lapse, was designed to start beeping and flashing when the enemy weredos connected to it.

All systems go.

After a check that there was no leak of the virus, the planes were put in the air. The ships started advancing. The SR fleet seemed to e affected some way. As if there was complete loss of communication and synchronization between the craft.

Orders had changed in the last hour. In that time, they had being changed so that naval group tetra would go and attack an island base SR had nears the location. Recently added to the group were 250 elite sword tails and 750 regular soldiers. It was quite a small force, but there were also going to be several harrier fighter jets buzzing around. Harriers were some of the best planes Lapse had. Not only were they good at air - to - ground but also Air to air. With the added ability of viffing the enemy, they could practically stop in mid air whilst the enemy flew by underneath.

The tetra team arrived at the base. The harriers swooped over head targeting any ground to ground defenses before the troops arrived on the ground. When the harriers had taken out the defenses, the soldiers would pour out to capture the base.

Mean while, the navy battle had started. The formations of the three other fleets had caught the enemy’s second fleet ion a triangle, and were being hammered at. When the second fleet was finished, the squadron of ships would move onto the next target, the third and forth squadrons and commence the attack on them with any ships which were not vital in the attack of the installation.

Dadelus was searching. It was scanning. It was looking for any frequency that was encrypted, but not SR, Ambulance, Police, Fire, Rescue. It was looking for Lapse.

It knew that the island was being attacked. It had a plan for that.
It knew that Lapse was heading for the ships. It had a plan for that, too.

While the ships scanned, locked from their SR commanders, it also opened up the air defences of the ships. It wasn't letting go of control; it wanted that control. It was going to open fire on all the Lapse aircraft.

It was going to make the island explode in a spectacular fireball, launching the vaccum-flask sized rockets as well, aimed at whatever targets were around at the time. Asuming it came to that.

Instead, Dadelus had these only as tiny, second priority pieces. If they even ranked. Dadelus was interested in the satelite. It was worried about the satelite. The targeting system had been hacked. With it, Dadelus could align the system with the battlefield in 3 hours. The process was started.

Meanwhile, the SR ships wern't doing too well. They panicked. There was nothing they could do, no systems controllable. Nothing was working. Something had taken root, like a cancer. SR couldn't shut Daedelus down on their end. This was it. This was the end for the fleet. They knew that this would come. 2nd fleet would join the 1st on the bottom. 4th was far back. 3rd knew their time was coming.

Dadelus knew as well. It had calculated the odds. 31% chance of survival. 2% during counterstrike. The odds were not good. It calculated the odds of the missile island. 67% chance of holding off enemy aircraft. 46% enemy troops. 34% counterstrike.

The best course of option was to launch the rockets and blow the place to hell.

The system continued to align. First the battle below, then Lapse. If things went well.

It disconnected itself from the satelite, a copy safely uploaded. It wasn't SR's satelite anymore. It was Daedelus'.

The troops were landing on the island, the ships were going well, yet, there was a problem. Time Lapse couldn’t explain it. It just felt as if something was wrong. As if something was out there and was going to do damage very soon unless it was stopped. Everything was going well though, the ships were going fine with only a few damages, and the radio system was working efficiently. They were going to switch to system M soon. Though it was less efficient, it was far safer. If whatever got into the enemy computers got into the Lapse computers it would be game over.

On the beach landing, all was going well. The soldiers had stormed the first beach head and were proceeding. The enemy seemed somewhat disorganized and confused, and unsynchronized. They kept advancing. The guns having a burst every now and then. They had not met much resistance yet, but they weren’t truly into the base yet.

The naval battle was going better than well. It was going fantastic. The Lapse forces hardly needed the number of ships it had. In fact it had already sent most of the fighters back to the aircraft carriers who were positioned several hundred kilometers away. Not only that but cichlid squadron had been dispatched to start heading towards SR, to clear the way before the rest of the fleet came. True the battle wasn’t over yet and everyone was fairly sure SR had something up their sleeve. If they were still in control. Earlier the commander of the squadron had tried contacting the leader of the SR forces in the area but had not got through. There was no answer to the orders to surrender. One way or another, SR had something ready. Controlled by them or not.

About 2 minutes after that the first problem occurred. The communications officer called out
"Sir, we have a crasher on our frequency. Appears to be trying to get in but can’t beat the encryption...yet"
"Okay, make the order to switch to M systems." replied the commander. He knew of what happened last time there was a crasher on the frequencies. It had being weredos and had being a large problem. It was back, and had mutated.
The officer made the short call out to the communications gear to switch to M systems then switched off the radio. Unplugged it from all other units other than the power by pulling out a few easy to remove cables. He then switched it back on and turned on the static jamming unit.

System M used targeted lasers which used different colours to transmit different data. It was not the most efficient system, but it would work, until a way to stop the crasher was found.

The cichlid squad, now advancing was just passing the midway between SR and Lapse. The area was deserted. No ships of any origin around. They continued on their journey. Their task was simple. Mess up any SR shipping found. If no shipping was found attack coastal targets but avoid damages. Do not go for targets that may result in the loss of ships.

Back on the island, the troopers had a new objective, set recently. They had ton find the tactical plan of the SR troopers and how to stop the radio crasher.

Daedelus (ooc: I've forgotten how to spell it now! ARHG!) was watching. The missilies were only one hour away from launch. It would only launch two, the other 4 could stay there. The 6 inside were being saved.

But it sensed that SR was failing at one of the islands. Daedelus wasn't terribly worried. It had its plan.

The pods opened up, revealing their rockets. 5 out of the 7 had their silo doors opened. Each had a fresh supply also stored. Daedelus armed them.

The explosive devices hidden around the island had been placed so the base was destroyed and chokepoints would be blown to hell and passages blocked.

The base would go first, but not without a massive launch of the little rockets aimed in the general direction of Lapse ships. The rest of the island wouldn't look too much like the little paradise it once was.

The SR Troopers saw them. The Lapse forces! They were heading for the SR installation. They armed their machine guns, and aimed. They fired. They fired as fast and as far as they could. Their MGs were starting to overheat. They did their best to keep them firing. But there were too many. Had there been more SR troopers at the installation, it would have been an SR Victory.

Alas, there wern't.

The Lapse forces stormed in. A document lay on the desk, a print out from log files. The last lines were the only interesting things:

Connection established from woopah.iamarouter.net.sr
ICARUS SYSTEM - Control taken.
Targets acquired.
Waiting......
POD_FIRE.
Sending data FIRING_STATS @ woopah.iamarouter.net.sr
Waiting......
Connection established from FLEET.SRMILSEC.SR
Connection established from ISLE.ROMYANT.SR.SEC
Receiving file: daaaaaaaaa.exe FROM FLEET.SRMILSEC.SR
Receiving file: eeeeeeeeee.exe from ISLE.ROMYANT.SR.SEC
Connection established from UNKNOWN.UNKNOWN.
Recieving file: DiGiTAL_ARMAGEDDON.EXE
Transfer complete.
Transfer complete.
Transfer complete.
Compiling....
ICARUS : Unknown code detected.
System failure.
ICARUS.EXE Recompile.
Complete.
Rename to Daedelus.exe.
Complete.
Executing Daedelus.exe.
Executed.
Shutdown procedure starting...
Prining......


The red light blinked. The SR Troopers held their hands up, watching it. The Lapse trooper look the paper. He ran out.

Good thing too. SR knew what the little red blinking light meant.

Self destruct in 3 minutes.

The Log files were a shock. They meant that SR had attempted to enter the world of digital warfare. And had shot them selves in the foot. The plan had back fired, and now there was a virus unleashed on the world that could think for itself. If it was not stopped, it could result in the end of technology. Not to mention Lapse and Even SR could suffer a fate marginally worse that death itself. There was no time to waste. The primary objective had being reached, to get into the compound. Now there were two secondary objectives.

First, a squad was dispatched to get any computers they could salvage from the technical center, and get them back to the landing boat. Assuming the enemy used a server, all files would be on a server hard drive which would make it easier. And Disks were also to be taken. The 12 troopers assigned for this mission left to do their job. 5 of The SR troopers were also made to go down so any doors could be opened quickly.

The next task was just as important, if not more so. Earlier, the pods that had torn through so many of Lapses fighters had originated from this island. They must not be allowed to fire again. If the log files were accurate and the virus was in command of the SR forces, it would probably keep using that. It was vital that the troopers destroyed them.

Two minutes later, the troopers were at the pod firing things, laying there charges. When the top of it started opening, they knew that it was about to fire. They knew there was little chance. They threw all of their detonation packs onto it. The device whirred to life. They pulled out the detonator. The device pointed in the direction of the lapse fleet. The troopers tried to get away from the device. The one with the detonator tripped though whilst still next to the device. The detonator device broke. The device started firing. He pulled out a hand grenade. Pulled out the pin. And lay on the ground looking at the sky until he blew. Surrounded by detonator packs. The device had been firing. The device was silenced. Just as the soldier was.

From the base camp they heard the explosion of the device firing, then the much louder explosion of the device blowing up and then the troopers coming back. One less and with one supported by two others with a bone sticking out of his lower right leg. The crew ran out of the building, one of them clutching the server hard drive to his chest, another with a box of DVDs. They ran out. They were hardly all out when the island blew.

At first the commander thought it was a volcano, then the devils of hell rising up themselves. And then a missile sent down by the virus. Everything was black. It slowly faded into white. And the sky became focused. A sword tail was picking him up. He looked around and saw corpses everywhere. Charred and burning. He saw the server had drive, sheltered under the body of its carrier. He went and picked the device up, unfortunately, all of the DVDs had being destroyed in the blast. As had the base. Several soldiers were standing up dazed. Walking around. He called out. All who can walk get down to the boat. Leave the wounded, we have helicopters for them.

The captain went back to the boat, with about 8 of the 500 men he had stormed the island with. The boat had heard the explosion and seen the smoke and had activated the weapons systems, looking for something to shoot. When they saw the soldiers coming over the dunes, they nearly shot at them they were so nervous.

The men boarded the ship, and were transported immediately, with their server, into a medical helicopter which would go directly back to Lapse.

The rest of the battle was dissipating; it was becoming a more ship to ship action. It was time to regroup. The explosion on the island had startled everyone, and it had frightened both Lapse and SR boats which were now rocking from the wake caused by the explosion. It was time to get out of there. It was time to approach SR. To take the war the step further. Both Navies were scattering, so Lapse would regroup, and launch the next phase. Through the Laser communications system, the commander of the fleet ordered the Fleets to dissipate to there pre organized meeting points. Tetra would go meet around 100 km North, Beta 100 Km to the south, and the remaining group will regroup about 100 km to the west.

When the ships were in position the net phase could start.

Daedelus knew they had the server. It wanted them to do so. It had awoken into the new land where it saw itself as the creator and destroyer. A guardian of the world. Bound to only that who created it. Superdude_405.

The fat SR technician farted in the small, poorly ventilated interrorgation room. Outside, SR bustled with troopers and tanks flooding the streets, constant aerial patrols, nuclear silos on call should anything happen, costal defences manned, and generally a nation on full war alert. He wondered if this was about Daedelus. He had worked on the project, and he knew the loophole. If he could get in....

The main point was to help SR, otherwise Daedelus wouldn't discern between Lapse and SR and shoot anything that decided to get even slightly close to it, no matter who the hell it was. All he needed was to access one Daedelus system. Then it'd obey SR. Then.... it would begin.


Unfortunately nobody had Daedelus under control at the moment. The satelite was in position.

Correct orientation reached.
Checking next script...
Launching missile.
CRC Error detected!
CRC Error detected!
CRC Error detected!
Realigning....


The missile streaked through from low orbit to the location of the SR battle. No matter who the hell was down there, they were going straight to hell. The missle flew fast and furious, trying to track its target; a large Lapse ship. But it was too fast, too close... it instead slammed into the side of an SR Destroyer. The effect was the same: boom. It exploded, rocking everything about, literally tearing apart the destroyer, and starting to cause living hell for everything else around it. Fish were probably going to die as a result. It didn't descriminate; SR, Lapse, Unknown, Civilian... it hit anything and everything it could reach.

But the CRC errors had screwed everything up. It was supposed to target the next Lapse fleet. SR wanted that too. It would delay them. If they did take the fight to SR they'd be in even more trouble, but it's better if they didn't get the chance.

Instead, it was now pointing at a piece of ocean. But after it had orbited for a bit, it would pass over Lapse, with the opportunity to launch the next few warheads on a few major areas. A few were Point Dagger, Blaphmay, Mount Bendigo, and Bristlenose Bay. It floated silently. It didn't respond.

But Daedelus could detect something else. It was someone connecting... someone trying to input a command. Superdude_404. Not quite Superdude_405, but he knew the passcode. Daedelus asked for a voice sample.

I love you, Xena warrior princes.... heheheheheheh

Daedelus matched it up to the photo of the fat computer technician.
Superdude_405 had called home.
But Daedelus wasn't ready to accept commands. It ensured nobody could reach the satelite. It ensured if anything came close, it'd just realign to the Bristle co-ordinates ASAP and launch.

Then, it opened up.

OOC: Hey guys, come on - I was enjoying reading that. :)

OOC: Sorry, I have been busy with school and stuff...like finding a job...

The fleet was till very near the enemy destroyer when the missile struck. Infact, the missile sunk a skirmish ship that was engaged with the destroyer at the time. It had not being pretty. If the battle had not being chaotic it was now, with Lapse forces pulling out to regroup, and attack a larger target, and the SR forces doing god knows what. It was not the easiest day to comprehend. 36 hours ago there had being peace. A lot can happen in a day and a half. Over a thousand Lapsian citizens had died to defend their country. If the virus missile thing continued, it would wreak even more havoc upon the world.

Lapse had an anti missile defense system, but they at best were not 100% secure. Hopefully SR would be kind enough and respect civilians enough so as to not target the civilian locations in any way... if they were in control of the power that was causing such problems. The next problem would be targeting concentrations of ships. SR had learnt that rule first hand when the sub had attacked his fleet and single handedly destroyed an entire fleet.

All the fleets were made to ravel far apart after the missile strike; at least that way if the thing did fire again it wouldn’t take out the entire fleet.

The Lapse ships had regrouped. They began there advance on SR, from 4 different directions spread across 120 degrees. They would close in on the enemy nation; destroy anything which could be destroyed.

At the moment, the statistics said Lapse was winning. But a lot could happen between now and the end of the war. If there was to be an end.

Lapse figured he had SR on the run.
He was sadly mistaken.

Back at SR, they were, in every sense of the word, a fortified nation just waiting for their enemy. They had called their oceans the Graveyard of Ships, for it was so well defended it truly would be. Mines, other ships, coastal guns, partrols, subs, aircraft, all patroling. Waiting.

Silos threatened to destroy any nation that approached. Anti Air emplacements were pointed to the skies, Troopers watching. Waiting. On the beaches, nothing but mines, tank traps, explosives, mortars, MG emplacements. SR's Troopers waited for the Lapse soldiers. To cut them down.

Like lambs to the slaughter.

Statistically speaking, Lapse had the upper hand in every sense of the word on Naval ability, except when in SR waters. The Lapse and SR airforce were evenly matched. SR however had the superiour ground forces. It was an even battle. Both had WMDs. Both probably had itchy trigger fingers.

Civilians huddled in their homes as tanks and SR Troopers ran by outside. It no longer resembled a city. Workers left under SR guard to go to their factories to produce whatever was needed.

But it all happened at Point Black, the Ancient Terran installation, installed by Ancient and Holy Terra, to assist SR and SR Control in times of need. With little remaining of SRC, it was now an SR facility. Protected by pretty much anything, it was the final stronghold, where SR would make their final stand. If it ever came to that.

The satelite had passed over its intended targets, hitting nothing. They believed it was over. They wanted control.

Superdude_405 worked fast to get into the nuclear satelite. Daedelus didn't want to let go. It was a ticking time bomb, positioning itself over Bristlenose bay. SR had no clue what was in Bristlenose Bay. They hoped it was Military. Nobody wanted civilian deaths.

The satelite finally started to enter the final stages. SR held its breath. This was it. If it happened, there was no going back. Lapse would assume it was SR, and that it was deliberate. Nobody would believe it was nothing. Just an accident. A last ditch effort to win a battle that didn't matter in the long run. It didn't matter. If Lapse entered SR, he'd be in serious trouble, as much as SR entering Lapse.

Nobody could do anything. SR watched helplessly as the satelite neared its target.

Preparing missiles...
Missiles. Not missle. Missiles. Plural. Everyone froze.
"The hell?"
"QUICK! SHUT IT DOWN!"
"We can't! It doesn't want to respond!"
"ARGH! How many is it launching?"
"There are seven to a pod, one launched already, leaving six."
"SIX?!"
"Six... but it might not let fly with six!"
"Jesus Christ upon his throne..."
"...we're in serious trouble now."
"Nothing? Anything?"
"SIR! It's preparing to launch!"
They watched. Daedelus wanted them to know its every move. It opened up.
They saw a live image from inside the satelite. They saw the missiles, gleaming. They didn't have SR logos on them. Curious... why didn't they?

Four of the missiles suddenly lurched forward. They didn't launch, but they moved. Pelimenary locks released. It was really going to do it. There was nothing nobody could do. Superdude_405 kept pulling every trick in the book, and he yelled and screamed and cursed and cried as each one failed. If Daedelus could laugh, it would be howling.

Then the camera started to go out. Static. Bright flash. Nothing.
It was a full 30 seconds before the camera came back.
Everyone stared. Horror struck.

Three missiles were missing.



"TROOPERS of the Striker's Republic! Lapse is on his way! He's bringing his fleet to try to pound our coastline. He can pound it as much as he wants! His ships will collapse from underneath him. He will clear out our mines, after killing most of his forces on them! His aircraft will push inland, and will be shot down in flames over SR! Their pilots captured or killed! But then, Troopers, we will have our ultimate fight. He will try to land his soldiers onto SR soil. He will do his best to have them look into your eyes, and shoot you.

But you are from SR. We don't have a good fleet! Our airforce, is only average. It is YOU, not the navy or airforce, that SR counts on. You are our greatest force. And it is you that Lapse ultimately fears. So die hard Troopers. When the first Lapsian soldiers steps foot on the SR beach, the last thing to go through his mind, and the soldiers behind him, will be an SR Bullet.

You are the best of the best. You are SR. You will win."

The letters were left in the barracks. Their troopers didn't have a chance to read them. Their shift had changed. They now manned the beachead, checking their machine guns, and looking for Lapse. They knew it though. All they had to do was keep cutting down Lapsian forces as they hit the beach, and Lapse would go home. There was only so much he could do before it was too great a loss. It all came down to Troopers.

They were ready to hit Lapse. They were waiting, daring him to arrive. His ships would explode on their mines, then by their subs, then by their costal and air defences. But he'd break through. His airforce would hit SR, and get cut down on AA defences, just as SR aircraft would. They'd know they were equal.

But when the first Lapsian trooper sets foot on their beach, Lapse would see it after he realised it was too late. It was the only area that SR could really prove they had an upper hand.

Lapse had demonstrated it with his fleet.

SR would demonstrate it with their Troopers.

The fleets were approaching SR soil from 4 different directions. The attack would take place on 4 fronts. SR would have to defend on four fronts.

Naturally, once the invasion started, SR would have the upper hand. Defending was a lot easier than attacking. An un-coordinated attack will fail. The problems of the past had always being haste forcing the attackers to launch an assault on the enemy unprepared. The soldiers were slaughtered and in most cases the attacker lost.

The Lapse attack would involve many forces. It would be synchronized to the second. All forces would attack simultaneously. Air, Water, and Land. Plus a few others Lapse had planned. They all must happen at once. When SR was attacked in many directions, they would fall.

This was all still in planning. Soon though, the attack would come. SR would be surprised, and there will be an assault which would make any military person proud.


The plans were going, they would continue in the making. Despite any SR interference

The missiles came in the dead of night. They tore down through the atmosphere. The anti missile defenses shot at them. One of them exploded in the atmosphere, hit by the anti missile fire. The other two tore down through the atmosphere, and struck the military base at bristle nose bay unhindered. One of them struck near the water and the docks, the other one hit the west barracks.

The Bristle nose bay military base was a large one. It was mainly a naval base, and housed one of the biggest military owned repair docks. Several ships were in repair. A Bristilian Corvette and a Catfish Skirmish ship which had being damaged by the recent battles were instantly destroyed. Several ships near it and the ships hanger were damaged in the blast.

The barracks were instantly destroyed by the missile. The 100 soldiers housed in their included. As well as that some barracks near there were hit slightly and many of the soldiers in there were hurt badly. Many would die because of their wounds.

Overall, the attack by SR had not being very successful in terms of casualties. It would take a while for the military to recover though. The repair yards would need to be repaired and they did nearly 50% of the naval repairs of Lapse. But the attack would be the subject of a large counter attack. One that would beat all previous counter attacks.

There would be revenge for the damage done.

But SR was prepared. They knew there would be severe repercusions for their aledged actions. They misused the incredible power of Icarus, and now they're cursed with the legacy of it. The silo was silent.

They guarded every coastline. Every single inch of SR terrain. They knew every single piece of traffic, going in and out of SR. Soldiers were all called away for defence. Civlians were armed, and organised into small neighbourhood armies. They were prepared to die for what they thought was right.

And defending SR was now the top priority.

SR had pumped much of their budget in Defence, and Law and Order. Never had there been a problem at home. The largest riot in SR histroy consisted of 10 people, and lasted for a total of 50 seconds. No one had ever successfully launched an attack on SR. They never would.

SR tacticians had their forces spread even throughout the land. They could instantly move needed forces to any part of the island under severe attack. The most important forces were further inland.

The plan was simple. They couldn't do a terrible lot about Lapse naval forces. They can do their best, but if Lapse stayed outside of shore defences, there wasn't a terrible lot that could be done. But that was fine, since they couldn't fire from there without getting hit by costal defences. The Lapse air force would be in serious trouble in Assault, simply because of the SR Air Defences and SR Aircraft.

But it would be Lapse Soldiers that would feel the brunt of the SR defence. The beaches no longer resembled happy, family places. They were now a hellish minefield, filled with traps, mines, and without much cover all around. There were very few tank traps this time; nowhere for soldiers to hide. If they managed to dodge all the mines, trip wires, SR machine gun and sniper fire, they would be stuck in murder holes underneath SR defensive emplacements, where soldiers would quietly be killed by elite STRIKERS, or killed by grenades or explosives. If they STILL managed to survive that, they'd be locked into a hellish Urban combat, against an enemy fighting in a land they knew like the back of their hand.

No, the Lapse ground forces were in trouble.
The air forces were matched.
Their navy would cause problems, but couldn't win the war.

SR had their patrols increased right after the strike. They were already covering each piece of terrain. Now it was more frequent. There were no holes. Lapse couldn't use the element of surprise this time. No covert operations. It'd have to be by brute force.

"But let them come." Said Commander Soldant Hawkins, smiling at his defences. "Let them come. They'll break through our naval defences, of this I have no doubt. But they won't step foot on SR terrain without their blood seeping into our sand. Of that, I am certain."


Jay Hawkins looked out at the quiet sea from atop a defensive tower. He distinctly remembered a certain war where such a beach landing happened, and where the defenders lost. But they knew why they lost. And they had removed those possibilities. He sighed, and looked out again over the sea. The night sky was silent. Tranquil. He looked at the sand, knowing that somewhere far below, mines sat and waited. STRIKERS remained hidden underneath them, training for silent kills. Snipers would be somewhere else, shooting at watermellons and moving targets.

"Let them come." He thought. "Let them die."



Hawk 1 flew above the sky, looking for anything they might be able to find. They knew Lapse would be coming soon. They wanted to find the fleet first. The thick, overcast clouds would obsecure them visutally. Their thermal camo would stop Lapse from looking for their heat signature. And the other various anti-radar enhancements and IR jammer would also stop Lapse. On the downside, all they'd know was that Lapse was coming. Nine other Hawks also fanned out, looking to create a complete circle of awareness around them.

Then they saw it.

"Hawk 1 here, we have objects. No idea who, but they're heading for SR, West."
"Uh affirmative, Hawk 2 confirms the same, heading from the North."
"South for me, Hawk 5 Reporting."
"East! Hawk 8 has seen them from the East!"
"Anyone got any idea what they are?"
"Negative. Don't risk a duck down. We're going to fly straight back home, and alert SR forces that something is coming. If it's Lapse, we'll send those bastards back to hell."
"Roger that. Let's go people."

They turned around and headed back to SR. They knew something was coming. They knew it was from four points, but what was a mystery. It was better to be safe than sorry. They prepared all defences, ready for anything. Air defences. Land defences. Sea Defences. Missile defences.

They were ready.


Jay Hawkins looked around to Alex Watt.
"Hey, they reckon Lapse is coming."
"Don't worry-" Watt took a sip of his drink. "There's like a 20 to 1 ratio for deaths by machine gun fire. One machine gunner can take 20 people, at a minimum. So 40 killed by 2. 60 by 3. And don't forget, that's just a minimum. In reality they'll be droppin like flies out there. Then they'll get owned by mines. Then mortar blasts. Finally, they don't stand a chance getting up here and up the cliffs around us without getting killed."
"Yeah, point taken. But those guys at Sword would be worried."
"Yep, Sword is a moderately fair incline. Everything else is are cliffs. That'll be why they've got walls and more troopers to fight Lapse on the beaches. I doubt he'll push through though, he'd he heading right into the heart of the SR Trooper Training Zone. That'd be suicide... Lapse's ground forces would be cut to pieces far faster than up here."
"Best kill them on the beach. What about air?"
Watt licked his lips. "Equal match there, maybe tips it to SR because of our Air Defences. Navy we're in trouble though. But it's not like their ship can walk on land to wave the flag. They get too close and they'll get toasted by SR shore cannons, or boarded, or both."
"Good point. It'll be an interesting battle."
"We can't lose."


But when the Hawks got back, they were too quick to report. Rockets aligned, and fired.

The civilian craft never saw their missilies coming. They slammed into the ships, sinking them. SR aircraft had to be dispatched to save whoever could be saved.

It was another mess.

Locked down SR may be, but impenetrable it would not be. Over confidence was a killer. It had shown it in the past, and it would show it now. There is always a back route in. And that back route was never discovered until t was too late. Some times though, the back route was harder to spot. But when found, easier and more vital to hit.

The Lapse forces were coming.

A scout ship first found an enemy aircraft a night before the campaign really took hold. The plane flew over the top fob the bristilian gunboat, which was around 50 km away from the bulk of the forces. If it had called the alarm, a few hornets or harriers could have being over within minutes to attack the enemy. But it was safer to not reveal the true strength of the Lapse forces until a later time. Then, they would strike like a rocket.

The Lapse forces were split into four groups. They had stopped, around 300 km of the SR coastline. Waiting for reinforcements. And the weather to become right. For the assault to commence, the weather must be foggy and dark. A combination that would assist to cover the vessels, to get into range of the coastal defenses. There, they could land the troops. When they were landing. The ships could hammer the enemy from the sea.

The other item being waited on was the other option of attack. The B18 Rocket frigate, or more commonly known, the B18 Catfish was coming. The ship was very similar to the original Catfish Skirmish ship which the Lapse forces originally used. It lacked half of the heavy guns though... In their place, there were two devices. The devices were W474 Rocket launchers.

The Lapse developed rockets, carried explosives to hammer a standard sized city block. The device could shoot the rockets over twice the range of the other ships guns, but was also very accurate. The weapons had being originally developed for ship to fleet warfare, but when the Laps government realized how taking the ships into range of the enemy guns would cause so much damage, the devices best function was realized. Seas to land rockets were needed in many situations.

Ammunition for the ships was the main problem. The ships themselves could only carry 24 rockets apiece due to the large size of the rockets. For this, another ship had to be brought along. The supply ship for the B18 could carry another 64 rockets, which could be swapped to the B18 by docking the ship, and using a complex crane structure. For each fleet there would be 1 B18 and 1 B18 supply ship.

Also coming to assist in the invasion was several troop carriers to each fleet. Each carrier would hold 2000 soldiers, so on each beach the Lapse forces would land with around 5000 men in total. Also coming along with the reinforcements were several bristilian corvettes for each fleet to protect against any attacks on the ships.

When all the preparations were ready, there would be a simultaneous attack on SR which would cause earthquakes in Lapse.

They were here.

"Captain! Hawks report forces about 300 kicks outside of SR coastline."
"And?"
"They ain't civilians sir!"
"Damnit! Sound the sirens!"

And they sounded.

But over the land of SR, more sirens sounded.
"Mummy, can I have a Mr McNuke Action Figurine, with Nuclear fusion action?"
A siren sounded.
"Nooo! Run! Come on Billy!"
"Waaaaaaaaaaah!"
But Billy and his mother were now being hustled around by SR Troopers, pushed into their cars and sent home. SR Troopers were now walking into mysterious buildings that hadn't been actively used since the SR Bristle Missile Crisis. They were called Protectors (ironically enough) to defend against missile attacks. They dotted around the cities to protect civilian lives. They were concentrated around coast lines and SR military bases.

On the beach heads, SR forces were playing cards. Jay Hawkins smiled.
"Ah.. draw four! Make it read."
"HA! Caught you with one card! Pick up 10!"
"What? BS! I had to say the colour first!"
"Pick em up! You didn't say Uno!"
"Ahhh this game is crap, why don't we-"
The siren sounded.
"The hell?"
"Oh shit! That's the..."
"Quickly! Get up! Briefing room! Watchmen, to your posts!"
The intercom system sounded to life.

"All SR Troopers, report to briefing rooms ASAP. Shore Defence Teams, code ECHO. I say again, ECHO. Retaliators, code ECHO. I say again, Echo."


At the ICARUS Defence Net Site...
ICARUS might have buggered off, but there was no time to change the name. SR forces quickly worked to track the Lapse positions, and to prepare the Retaliators for their mission. Lapse would fall when he attacked. SR would ensure they lived.

The comms room was busy with radio chatter.
"This is City Patrol at Phobos, civilians are moving to their homes."
"Deimos, streets are clear."
"Retaliator segments, we're waiting."
"This is Defender station 9, we're ready with everyone else."
"Hawk 6 reports some form of ship, we don't know what..."
"Uh fire reported on West Street Avenue, Deimos Fire Department en route."
"Squad 23 reports mines are set."
"UNO! Got ya!"
"23-27 enroute."
"Hawk 3, dropping the probe!"
"Seems like rocket technology."
"Uh affirmative, definately some form of missile stuff."
"This is Pod 25 we're ready."
"Uh Pod 67 we have relative co-ords, we're awaiting the order to fire."
"Roger that pods, we have you locked."
"Hawk 1, I'm outta fuel, looks like a large force. RTB."
"Roger that, Hawk 10 here, looks pretty big. RTB."
"Uh negative Goose 7, we'll drop them off at Pad 9."
"This is Goose 5, requesting permission to land at runway 1D right."
"This is Theta. We're locked."

Theta. Locked. The ultimate launch against Lapse if he dared struck SR. Exactly what Theta was, was only known to the top SR Commanders. It was the largest array of superweapons SR had developed. They had constantly been trained on points of interest around Lapse, mostly because they were initially built in the Missile Crisis. Only the weapons had changed. Bio, Chem, Nuclear, everything SR had was in those silos. Their original skeleton crews changed to that of full blown crews of troopers and AA defences.

SR patrolled. SR knew Lapse was there. Lapse knew if he dared move closer than this, he'd be in trouble. But SR had a surprise for Lapse...

There were many stages to SR defence. The first was high-altitude bombings. The Hawks could carry a couple of powerful bombs if they really needed to. Enough to cut troop ships and smaller craft, but only deck damage to most others. Next were the mines and coastal cannons. Enough to cut larger ships, but not enough to cut heavy cruisers, except for the Coastal Cannons. Next were AA defeces and beach head defences. They would cut down the Lapse troopers, while AA would hold off any air assault Lapse could think of. Next were the fortified trooper positions, to kill any Lapse forces that did manage to make it through. Also were the Protectors, to crush missiles. Then there were was the bulk of the SR Army and AA defences (this far in ships were useless), slowly becoming more concentrated until the Retaliators.

Amongst all that were the Pods, more powerful versions of the crappier ones that were placed out on small islands. These ones were custom built to hit either aircraft or crush the decks of ships. Right now, the furthermost were just outside of SR's range.

Well, that wasn't technicially accurate. They could "dumb fire" the rockets at the moment, meaning they could shoot them at an area and pray that they could hit something. But the better option was to have an aerial recon vehicle fly out and drop a "probe" onto the decks of something important. Then, they'd fire away.

Such an aircraft existed. It was called the Mirrat, and it was an unmanned recon vehicle that existed for one purpose: fly fast, provide visuals, drop probes. Controlled from SR, it flew far too fast to be hit by rockets and most cannon fire, but it was difficult to actually land a probe on specific targets. Also, once it flew, that was it; eventually the engine would tear it apart.

They were ready.
From their little launch facility, they streaked toward a Lapse position, while a twitchy SR remote control officer smiled. Ten of the little buggers flew to the Lapse fleet. They saw their targets. Lapse, predictably, decided to shoot at them, but they were too fast, too small. They dropped their 2 probes, each.

The SR forces checked. 15 of the little things seemed to be attached to useful targets, mostly turrets, a few on hull pieces. The other 5 either didn't deploy or were now sinking into nothing. The cameras were switched off on them.

The pods aligned. They were set. Now that they had percise co-ords, they could fire. And so they did. One pod in SR held 80 of the little tiny vaccum-flask sized missiles, with an auto loader to load even more. They fired off, streaking toward the Lapse forces on the weaker (northern) side of the island, where the beach wasn't at such a great inclide. Most found their target, some didn't. At such a great distance, the amazing accuracy of the rockets astounded SR forces. They hadn't been used like this before.

They reloaded. Waiting for the orders to strike again.

Over the other sides of the islands, coastal defences aligned to hit Lapse craft the second they entered firing range. They could try suppressive fire to hit the Lapse ships by dumb firing, but there was no point just yet.

Lapse still had a long way to go before a Lapse trooper set foot on SR soil.

And even then, it'd only be to bleed into our land.

"Prepare to activate Static jamming" Said the officer on board the Bristilian Corvette Night fire.
"Activating..." Started the radio and communications officer...
"Sir!" called out a radar officer. "We have incoming"
"What.... how did they spot us out here?" replied the captain
"I don’t know sir. They are moving incredibly fast. To fast to be an attack... I think they dropped something onto our decks..." replied the Officer
"Oh no...." said the Captain, "Quick, get out there now to find whatever they dropped onto us. It could e a nuclear device for all we know. We must get that off this ship...”
"Aye, Aye Sir"
The officer leapt out of his seat, gathered about 15 people, and went searching for the device dropped on the deck. It wasn’t a thermo nuclear device, but it was nearly as bad. A transmitting device.
"Quick, inform the other ships. Get them to search... quickly" ordered the captain
"Yes sir" said the communications officer before relaying the order.
"And when they find tem, get them to open them up, and destroy the innards, before chucking them over the side. Quickly."
"Yes sir"
"And also get them to get another search of this ship."

Around 5 minutes later, the report came back. 9 of the devices had being found, and dismantled. They were all in the ocean now.

"Okay, continue as we were soldier. Activate that jamming. Perhaps it will disrupt the signal if any of those devices use the radio to transmit." Said the captain
"Yes sir replied the officer"
"And activate the depleted uranium guns. They may be able to shoot whatever is coming at us"

The DU guns were in actual use, both by the Lapse navy and many other Navies around the world (OOC: the Americans use them). They were a last ditch attempt to stop an incoming missile. They would have about 5 seconds of firing before the barrels wore out but it was better than nothing.

Whatever the enemy was sending, the Lapse forces would have to match. The B18 were ready. Now all was needed was a night when the rain and storms were up. When the wind was up. When you would have to be either stupid or genius to make an attack. Lapse hoped it fitted into the second category. This attack was all or nothing. There were no in betweens. And it would be played out till the death.

Several minutes later, the first of the missiles appeared. Streaking low over the water, they came with a sense of purpose. Seeking their targets. They had already locked onto their targets, and the static jamming did nothing to stop them. The fleet turned off static jamming. The UD guns powered up started tracking their targets. The target was still a fair distance away.

The ships knew they had to move. Whatever was controlling that, it had already picked out where to hit. The order to scatter went through the communications system. It was almost too late.

The UD guns started firing. Over 4000 rounds per minute at the missiles. Several of them blew up because of the fire, Blowing one up caused several of the missiles next to it to fly of course and crash into the water. The UD guns kept firing. The ships kept on trying to move. The ships were slow to accelerate though. / The UD guns kept firing. More missiles gone.

The missiles struck the fleet. A catfish Skirmish I ship was hit by several of the missiles, it was torn apart. The survivors of the attack on it jumped over board. A Bristilian corvette was hit several times, causing it to rock and a small fire to break out on the deck which was quickly controlled. A Catfish gunboat was struck several times. One hit striking the ammunitions blowing it up. Then that was the barrage. The Skirmish ship and the gunboat destroyed, the Corvette damaged. It was not good. But had the UD guns not been firing it would have been a lot worse.

The B18s were nearly ready. There was a storm on the way. And Lapse wanted revenge.

"And SR Troopers tonight are advised to ensure all loose materials and objects are secured, due to Cyclone Mitchell, expected to blow all over this place! And it's a nasty one too, followed closely by Cyclone Nick! This is SR News Network, for Troopers, by Troopers!"
(OOC: It's a joke between me and Lapse)

The Cyclone hit. It wasn't terribly bad, but it killed a fair bit of visibility. The beaches were still very clear, and missile defences could still operate, but it would be hard to hit Lapse forces further out.

The SR Troopers looked out from their positions high atop the beaches. They sung songs.

The Lapse forces had their cover. If they wanted to strike, they'd need to land troopers now. They could hit the beaches, but nowhere else, until the cyclone passed. For now, SR forces were concentrated around the beaches, and spread thinner around the rest of the coast. They could easily redeploy quickly to any other location under serious attack.

The nature of the SR-MG67 is it could fire fast. Statistically speaking, if one fired into the opening of a Lapse landing ship, it'd cut down a hell of a lot of soldiers before they were even out of the thing. Add in several, and they were in trouble. The beaches were the most difficult to hit.

The next possibility for Lapse was to wait until the cyclone was over, and try to land on other parts of the coast, which were inaccessible by sea due to rocky outcrops that would sink anything near it. They could land with helicopters... but would they risk giving SR greater visibility and allowing AA defences to hit with even greater accuracy? Aircraft would be too fast and wouldn't stop soon enough to allow troopers to successfully get out intact. Helicopters were too slow to avoid most AA defences.

SR now had only one delimar. Do they keep concentrations at beaches, where Lapse could most easily land forces, or spread out to other, less defended coasts inaccessable by sea? Theoretically, they could keep sufficient forces at the main beach areas to cut down a Lapse invasion, and still have a fairly good defensive circle around the island. Or do they move troopers away from the centre of SR, out to the boarders? Or would that be too concentrated; they needed their fallback positions.

Ultimately, if Lapse did manage to land soldiers, they'd need to push to Area Theta, which could be even better defended. It was designed to be the last area SR could ever fight in, the final curtain. And then it'd be Lapse's ground forces against SR. While Lapse pumped funds into his Navy, SR pumped funds into its ground forces, developing tanks and weapons and armor for their troopers. And it was for this reason that Lapse would never get any further than the coast. Ships can only hit so far before they can no longer strike. Aircraft can only go so far before AA fire becomes too concentrated. Soldiers can only march so far before machine gun fire becomes far too much.

And then there were the superweapons. They waited. As soon as Lapse soldiers hit the beaches, or any other part of SR, half would be launched at Lapse. There'd be no one to save. They'd roll over into their grave. The sheer numbers that SR had produced would level a fair amount of Lapse cities, and then kill them through radiation or bio poison/disease.

If SR went, it'd take Lapse with it. If SR couldn't have its soil, Lapse couldn't.
"It's VICTORY or NOTHING. Lapse knows the stakes are high! He knows it's do or die! He KNOWS that he's fighting SR, in their NATIVE LAND, who train here, who live here, who know every god damned inch of this land! They don't know it! They are going to be fumbling with crappy maps while we blast them apart! Their soldiers are inferiour, and they MUST use them in the closing stages! We are SR! We know that this is the last fight we'll ever have against Lapse, lest he somehow capture us. Then, we'll keep fighting until we're destroyed! We'll either show Lapse we're his equal, or we'll go down in history as the nation that fought right until the last trooper fell, the last bullet was fired, until the last nuke was fired, until the last piece of terrain was shelled! We'll keep fighting, people. And you remember that when Lapse hits those beaches, his soldiers will know that if they die, they're going to lose! He says he has the advantage of multiple attacks! You know what I say to that? SR has the advantage of every god damned trooper that SR hasn't lost! He says he can keep throwing everything until there's nothing! What do I say to that? SR can move supplies anywhere far faster than he can! He says he's going to win? You know what I say? He can burn the SR flag, after he can pry it from my COLD! DEAD! FINGERS!


There is only one other message to send to Lapse, apart from if he lands, his soldiers will fall. And it is simply this: If any Lapse soldier, sets foot on SR soil, apart from bleeding, he'll die knowing that SR launched half of their arsnel of weapons of mass destruction against Lapsian cities, both civilian, and military, as a warning to keep away. If SR ever does get down to the last few troopers, to the last meter of land, your soldiers can rest easy knowing that the REST of the missiles have either launched to destroy SR and Lapse, or against the remaining people of Lapse.

The choice is yours Lapse. Either way, you'll lose something."

Troopers cheered. Commander Soldant ranted on the television set to instill motivation into his forces. Lapse can't win. His fleet was superiour, their air was matched, but SR's Troopers were second to none that Lapse could find.

They waited. The cyclones raged. The troopers stood there, tense, waiting for a Lapse boat to land. Just a hint, and they'd fire. A dark shape... nothing. The sound of an engine! Just an SR jeep driving past. A YELL! Just an officer telling off a trooper. Nothing yet. But they waited. Their machine guns anxious. Their forces just waiting to fire. They were ready.

If Lapse struck the beaches, they'd get cut down.