NationStates Jolt Archive

Before The Storm; Euroslavic Civil War Part 1 (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=392921&page=1&pp=40)

The political dissension in Euroslavia was at the breaking point, after the fall of the Communist government. Two main groups within the struggling nation were vying for control of it all, the Underground Democratic Movement and the Citizens Supporting Dictatorship.

Within Arcadia, the Citizens Supporting Dictatorship were preparing themselves for the most important battle that the nation has ever seen in the borders of Euroslavia. The UDM itself was preparing for an all-out assault from Valua into the rest of Euroslavia, particularly positions held under CSD control. The third, and no longer active participant in the civil war, the United Christian Movement, fell from existence at the split within their own party. Majority of the UCM threw their support behind the CSD, in hopes that it would get some sort of recognition in the new government.

Approximately 100,000 CSD troops consisting mostly of the former Communist Armies of Euroslavia were mobilized with the weapons that it could afford from foreign nations and what it could capture from the Communist government. Number-wise, the UDM movement had the slight advantage, strictly speaking of support from within Euroslavia, however, the CSD had the most foreign support. The civil war in Euroslavia depends mostly on the decisions of foreign nations and their quest to send aid to a faction that would be friendly to their own government. It was a sad state that the entire nation was in…and it’s unfortunate that Euroslavia was unable to solve its own problems without the intervention of foreigners, however, every action taken by every nation involved would be remembered forever…

The UDM itself was mobilizing within Valua with full force. The UDM volunteer Air Force consisted of the air base in Valua, which was captured without a single death soon after the fall of the Communist government, leaving the UDM with a formidable Air Force. In terms of manpower, the amount of troops mobilized amounted to 125,000 troops, leaving them with more of an advantage, but neither side knew the potential of their enemy. Strategy was the key element to winning this war… and both sides had plans of their own for victory.

Nations supporting the CSD
New Endenia
Azazia
Independent Hitmen
Wirraway (humanitarian and financial aid)

Nations supporting the UDM
The Macabees
Intelligent Neighbors


Neutral Nations
Vastiva
Schultaria Prime
Both covertly involved.
Note: These nations aren't necessary neutral, in their perspective, but in an overall view by the factions in Euroslavia, they are seen as 'neutral'.

OOC: READ THIS BEFORE POSTING. This RP is closed.
OOC Thread here: http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=401238

HMS Yorke

Vladimir Tokayev paced the Combat Center deep within the hull of the mighty aircraft carrier. Inside the ship’s bulkheads were thousands of men, billions of dollars of military hardware and who knew how many tiny computers tracking, running, and analyzing everything going on within and without this vessel. Tokayev knew the stakes – the Commonwealth itself had none in this theatre. The Yorke was operating far from her supply lines, necessitating the protection of the fleet oilers and ammunition supply ships. In time he hoped to hear from fellow friendly fleets and the possible use of extra fuel and stores; as a backup, the Royal Navy was launching a second battle group soon, and in the interim a re-supply force that would arrive in five or six days.

In the meantime, the Yorke ran at a heightened state of alert. The anti-submarine patrols were operating around the clock, coordinating and collating data from low-altitude MAD sweeps, helicopter dropped sonobuoys, and the normal bow-mounted systems and towed arrays. The eight aircraft patrol sweeps were maintained around the clock, and the ships were acting primarily in passive radar mode – alerting few to their presence with massive amounts of electromagnetic radiation as it simply wasn’t being generated.

For now, they waited official orders from the Admiralty back thousands of kilometers away.

Whiteland Royal Air Base
Outside Whiteland, Commonwealth Republic of Islandia

The camoflauged underground bunkers at Whiteland hid the massive stealth bombers of the long-range strategic bomber force, and underground out of sight and out of mind technicians performed ready-flight checks, ensuring that at moment’s notice the bombers would be capable of taking off and striking at targets deep in Euroslavian territory – though the technicians knew not the targets or even the target nation.

Racks of electro-magnetic warheads, cluster munitions, bunker-piercing warheads, anti-runway warheads all stood ready for deployment. Further, deeper in the facility were the nuclear warheads that at this point no one even contemplated using.

Except those in charge of the overall mission.

The military was preparing itself for the eventuality that a divided nation could resort to nuclear launches, and so in addition to quietly ensuring the reliability of nuclear warheads, the anti-ballistic missile defences were quietly raised to a heightened state of alert. And the diesel-electric coastal patrol boats began their quiet deployment into the waters off the coast of the Commonwealth, far away in the central Pacific. Such a large undertaking couldn’t be accomplished without fully ensuring the supply routes and the safety of the homeland.

The Citadel
Imperium, Commonwealth Republic of New Britain

The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth sat in his favourite leather chair, his arms resting on the armrests angled upwards so that each met at the tip of the other’s hand. The hands had a touching base too, at the thumbs. Unbeknownst to Alistair Tetley he was forming congruent triangles. Although if he had known, he wouldn’t have cared.

Within the past year, the Commonwealth had managed to entangle itself in more foreign fiascos than he wished to remember. Yet, it had all been for the benefit of all parties; when he reflected on the gains, he saw enormous benefits for those who had lsot their land.

First it was Lindim, which had similarly to Euroslavia, fallen into a civil war. With the help of the Royal Navy and the same HMS Yorke the socialist fleet had been destroyed, and then the Royal Star Marines had managed to rescue the captured Prime Minister Fuego. Despite the loss of nearly 1,500 sailors, the people of Lindim had returned to a stable government and the Commonwealth gained footholds and powerful military bases on its southern area of operations.

Later, the purchase of the Juristan Republic yielded over 100 million inhabitants from the bankrupt Golencia as well as an industrial/commercial base from which the Commonwealth could invest in their share of the island and develop the local economy – to the benefit of the Commonwealth and the local people.

The Verdant Archipelago Territories were gained by sheer accident, and despite their inhospitable environs, they would surely prove the lynch pin of any Indian Ocean possessions that were likely forthcoming. However, their treacherous seas and hostile jungles would take years of hard work before the city of Tetley would become the Commonwealth’s own Hong Kong.

Ongoing was Datria, a short distance to the west. The small island underwent a coup and Azazian special forces had extracted the imprisoned prime minister. Now the Royal Navy had the island blockaded while the Royal Air Force picked off its targets as the Royal Marines prepared to launch for an invasion.

Now it was Euroslavia. Hopefully the Commonwealth would install a government that would be fair to its people; and then the Commonwealth would receive a colony far away from its shores that would serve as the doorway to the rest of the world. Already prepared were large grants and low-interest loans to help rebuild the nation afterwards. International trade was critical to the expansion and survival of the Commonwealth, and no better place existed than a nation with an infrastructure in place – even if it did come through the civil war slightly damaged.

However, time had yet to play its hand. Tetley could not see whose sleeve held the ace, all he could do was keep his cards close to his vest for now.

For now.

CSD Meeting in Arcadia

“This meeting has been called into session to determine the leadership of the CSD when the inevitable has come to pass. The CSD, having the most foreign support by far, will take the throne once the UDM has been knocked out of its place in Valua. Currently, our military is preparing itself for a massive strike against their capital city, however, in order to successfully do so, we need military support from those nations that have pledged to help us.

There are many tasks at hand here. First, declare the leader of the CSD, and send out diplomatic teams to boost our support as much as possible. Secondly, organize the military to successfully strike at the UDM camps in Valua to effectively paralyze them, and leave them with no opportunity to strike back. Thirdly, in a worst case scenario, boost our own defenses for an all-out attack from the UDM against Arcadia. Where shall we start”

A tall man, wearing a black suit coat and a top hat stood up and began to speak.
“I think the choice is obvious as to who we should nominate for the leadership of the CSD. We all remember the government before the Communist revolution, and how efficient it was in boosting Euroslavia to its golden age. Under the leadership of the Shogun, but more importantly, after the Shoguns’ death under Empress Destra, our nation grew to become a very vital part of the world. Our influence spread beyond its own borders into allied nations, as well as enemy nations. Under her leadership, we successfully stood up to multiple nations politically and militarily, and proved that our nation was not one to play games with. Empress Destra must be brought back, with the approval of the Vastivan government, to take rule over the nation once again. I see absolutely no other choice for leadership here.”
He looked around the room and seem a wave of silence for what seemed like an hour, but finally, every single person, man and woman, present stood up and began to clap. The decision was unanimous as to who was going to take the throne when the CSD took charge. The only thing left to do was contact Vastiva and let them know that the former Empress is being sponsored for the potential leadership of her previous nation.

The man who began the meeting then moved on to the next issue.
“Now, onto military strategy. Exactly how can we prove ourselves to be superior to the UDM when we have evidence that they captured the entire air force of Valua without losing a single plane? Our air force is definitely one to not be underestimated, but we certainly can’t go against their entire air force and expect to pull out a victory, by strategy alone. We need the support of those who pledged aid to us, plain and simple.”

The same man that answered the previous question stood up and replied to the question.
“That’s a simple answer. Euroslavia is a member of multiple alliances, such as the New World Order, the Union of World Powers, Arda, and the Woodstock Pact. Most of the members of the New World Order have already pledged to send us aid. Perhaps this is the time to call upon their pledges, and have them aid us in the war against the UDM. The UWP has already said that it would steer clear of this conflict, and Arda and the Woodstock Pact seem preoccupied, or just uninterested in the events taking place in our nation. We need to request that Independent Hitmen, ViZion, Comdidia, Dr Twist, McLeod03, and the rest of the New World Order begin their mobilization to support the CSD in taking control of the government. Diplomacy is key in such an event. We need their word that they will help us. In that case, we can launch a two front attack, hopefully with the aid of Independent Hitmen on our side, and the rest of the NWO allies from the other direction, sandwich the CSD, and eventually circle the entire city of Valua. Of course, this strategy won’t be easy, as I’m sure that they’ve already predicted that we would do such a thing, but it all depends on time. The less time we wait to do so, the more of a chance we have at catching them off guard.”

It felt like deja-vu. Once again, everyone stood up and began clapping in unison, and shouting, “Lady Destra forever!” and “Long live Euroslavia!”. The entire leadership was unanimous with every decision made here, and were ready to enact the decisions made by this mysterious, yet intelligent and courageous man. Who was he? Why did he know so much about the entire conflict, and exactly how to solve it?

After the meeting, the mysterious man was the first to walk out of the building. Everyone else turned back to the man leading the meeting and questioned who it was. Not a single person could identify him, and by the time the rest of the leadership walked out, he was no longer in site. The next meeting would be held in two days, to see what has progressed in the civil war. Perhaps then, he would reveal himself…

And so, this message was sent out to the world. A message from the CSD to inform the world of its plight.


To The World,
You have begun to familiarize yourself with our conflict, as it has been continuing for some time now. Our goal is to seize power within Euroslavia, and return its government to what it was before the Communist Revolution led by Comrade Maloney. Under the previous dictatorship of Empress Destra, who is currently in exile in Vastiva, Euroslavia rose to its golden age economically and militarily. In past times, it has been proven that dictatorship within our country has succeeded, while democracy does not belong here. The first government of Euroslavia, led by the one who brought Euroslavia out of dependence to the Ottoman Empire, was proven later to be inefficient and not to its full potential. Our people have flourished under every single government that has been established in Euroslavia, however, in order to become the most efficient as possible, a dictatorship is proven to be necessary, since the rest of the governments aren’t quite experienced in the political ways of our nation.

We ask of the world today to look at the past history of Euroslavia, as it is proof alone to support the CSD in its quest to liberate Euroslavia from the control of those who do not know how to lead such a great nation. We already have the support of numerous nations, however, this isn’t enough. We need the support of more powerful and influential nations out there who are concerned with the situation here. We can also guarantee that supporting our faction into becoming the legitimate government of Euroslavia will give the supporters a definite boost in political relations with the newly formed government. Those who support us in our roughest times will not be forgotten; however, those who wish for us to be defeated will not be forgotten. We pledge to help those who voluntarily aid us in our struggle, and we promise not to forget those who deserted us in our hard times.

Currently, our armies are training in the former capital of Arcadia, which we plan on re-establishing as the capital once more. Pyrynn does not have the influence a city must have over the entire nation, as Arcadia does. The weapons that we have seized from the former Communist regime and its armies isn’t quite sufficient to support the large amount of goods needed to run a successful campaign against an enemy with superior supplies, therefore we also ask for limited military aid from those of you who wish to help us. The things that we are mainly looking for are weapons to support our infantry, as well as tanks, anti-aircraft weaponry, and offensive missiles to strike their camp first, before they can get an attack out. If we are able to paralyze them within Valua, we can easily take them out. Valua’s geography is one of the most simple cities in Euroslavia, with almost no place to hide, leaving no chance for guerilla warfare.

We will accept armies from other nations willing to enter in and help destroy the UDM once and for all, but we have seen the error of our ways before in allowing too many people enter our nation for jaded reasons. One such example was that of Communist Louisiana and its aid towards the former Communist government of Euroslavia. Approximately 100,000 CL troops remained in the nation after the civil war ended, giving control of most of the nation to CL. Political and military tensions remained high until the troops of CL were removed, and the economy of the entire nation plummeted to an all-time low. It was able to recover after some time, but not nearly to the point of where it was before the Communist revolution took place.

Economic aid packages along with humanitarian aid are the most needed at this point. Cities all across the nation have been ravaged by the minor battles taking place between the main factions, and even minor cities that have sprung up and tried to gain independence from the Communist government, and allying themselves with either of the factions. At this point, the entire nation is fragmented into multiple tiny pieces, and the only way to unite them once again is for the Citizens Supporting Dictatorship to be thrusted into power. We will guarantee that our nation is restored back to its original power, under the leadership of Lady Destra once again.

The Citadel
Imperium, Commonwealth Republic of New Britain

Alistair Tetley reviewed the grand plans of the Royal Navy. One of the newer age of politicians, he had entirely forgone the enlistment in the armed forces and depended instead upon the advice of his admirals. They assured him that all was going according to plan, and from the reports he had seen he tended to agree.

There were no hostile contacts reported, and as of yet there had been no breakout of international hostilities over the entire situation. All was well… so far.

In the meantime, he had begun to prepare shipments of arms and aid packages to Euroslavia. Now he merely need inform the CSD of their arrival. And to begin negotiating for the payment to be owed to the Commonwealth after the fighting ends.


Secret IC
Official Communication to the CSD

The Commonwealth of Azazia welcomes the return of a stable government committed to the prosperity of all Euroslavians. Despite the advantageous position your government occupies at the moment, both our parties can agree to your need of weapons and humanitarian supplies. It is to that end that the Commonwealth wishes to assist Euroslavia in returning to the power it once was.

At this time, we have one carrier group off your coast, in international waters of course, that will be able to provide your government with limited air support during any military actions. Due in several days time will be a re-supply convoy that can be diverted to a Euroslavian port under CSD control. Although it carries no real shipments of infantry weapons, there are cruise missiles which could be utilized as offensive weapons. They are designed to be launched from vertical launch systems onboard our warships, however, if you’d so desire engineers could be dispatched and a rather ad hoc system of land firing from Euroslavian computer systems could be worked out. Of course, I myself am no weapons engineer so I’ll leave it to the professionals to provide estimates and such.

Now onto the most pressing matter of humanitarian aid. A merchant fleet will be dispatched in several days time that will contain basic food supplies as well as critical medicines, blankets, water, and temporary homes – more like rigid tents, but they shall make do in a pinch I imagine. Again, I merely need only a safe port of call for the Commonwealth’s merchant marine fleet. In terms of economic aid packages, perhaps some sort of arrangement could be negotiated regarding large grants or fixed low-interest loans.

The Commonwealth is, and I make no bones about it, an expanding liberal empire desiring territories and markets in which we can actively expand our influence. Of course, I understand the concerns of your government with reference to your example of Communist Louisiana’s de facto occupation. What I propose, would be perhaps a purchase of a territorial port city that will serve as both a repayment of sorts and the logistical headquarters for my nation’s humanitarian and military aid programs. It need not be large, even a semi-developed deepwater port would do; however this would greatly ease the problems of sending our assistance a great deal.

In return, your government would be more than equitably repaid, most immediately in terms of multi-dollar grant that would come from our accrued budgetary savings. Some of this cost could also be defrayed in the shipments of need arms and ammunition to your soldiers. In the long-term, treaties assuaging your concerns for de facto occupation could be negotiated, mutual non-aggression pacts, trade treaties, et cetera.

In the meantime, while you consider this offer, I will also be preparing a long-distance cargo flight of several thousand tons of food and water which will be arriving via a commercial air cargo plane at any open CSD controlled airport, hopefully civilian in nature as I’d rather not have to explain to my citizens why a civilian asset was shot down by UDM troops.

I hope this letter finds you and your cause well. My regards to Lady Destra and your fine men and women serving on your front lines.

Sincerely,
Alistair Tetley

Imperial Palace, Athens, Greece

Emperor Nikolaos Onassis gathered his Generals in the palace's war room.

"Greetings Generals. I am glad you all came. This is about Euroslavia. As you all know I have publicly announced support for the CSD. I also received news from very trusted sources that once the CSD wins they will put Empress Destra, currently exiled in Vastiva, back on the throne-" before he can finished Nikolaos's son, Atticus Onassis the new Supreme General interrupted.

"That’s outrageous father! You know very well that Empress Destra has always been Greece's enemy and has hated us ever since Euroslavia left the Balkan Alliance!" said Atticus

"I know that very well! But Destra is the only person that will be able to bring stability to Euroslavia. Do you know how many refugees will spread out all over the Balkans from Euroslavia? Thousands I tell you and maybe even millions. Greece's economic will weaken by this." replied back Nikolaos

"Fine. I will go with this but I won't pretend I will like it." Said Atticus

"Our first concern is to equip the CSD with an air force. Most of the Euroslavic airforce was taken by the UDM. This is will be a serious disadvantage for the CSD over the war. That is why I gave orders to the Supreme General of the Hellenic Airforce to get fighters ready so they can fly at the aid of the CSD at any second. I also want to start a military buildup along the borders so we can enter Euroslavia at any minute."

"Emperor, there is a problem with the army. Around 200,000 Hoplites are in China right now assisting the Rosians. General Metaxas is there too." Said General Alexander

"They will be withdrawn from there. The Rosians are able to handle the Chinese situation on there own. Also the folders in front of you all contain your orders and what to do. This meeting is over and get to work right away. We have to get ready for war."

The Generals picked up there folders and left one by one from the war room.

Encrypted Message

To: Unknown contact in the CSD
From: Emperor Nikolaos Onassis

I have started a military buildup along the borders to be ready to come to your aid. I also gave the command for every fighter in the Airforce to be ready to fly for Euroslavia any second. I also received some news from a trusted source in Euroslavia but I want you to confirm it. Once the UDM is destroyed is the CSD planning to put Empress Destra back on the throne?

-Emperor Nikolaos Onassis

Official Communication to Azazia

We thank you for your offer of concern for our nation, and your wish to establish a regime that will govern the nation in the most compassionate and most fair way possible. Due to the past flagrancies of the UDM, we feel it in our hearts that if they were to gain power in Euroslavia....well, let's just not even think about that. Millions would die because of their opposition to their faction. Hidden deep within their minds is the fact that the UDM is not even representing democracy in its true form, but that its' regime has plans that make the former Communist government look like a utopia.

As for the aid that has been presented, we will greatfully accept any such offer from your nation. The carrier group can effectively aid us in any sort of attack upon Valua. We can only hope that our plans for an attack upon the UDM are ahead of schedule from their plans to attack us in Arcadia. Sources say that they're mobilization is going much quicker than expected, and that some sort of systematic bombing of Arcadia is in the works, in the leadership of the UDM.

Our faction is still quite apprehensive about lending or giving any sort of land to foreign nations, given the situation that occurred before, however, we are willing to work out some sort of agreement where you may 'rent' out a port for the time of five years (negotiable, up to 10-15 years), so that you can have control of it during the civil war. Owning this territory will give you easier access to the country. We are also willing to leave your men independent of our faction, meaning that you can prepare your own operations against the UDM, provided we approve of them first. So technically, your actions won't be completely independent, but you won't have our intelligence teams stalking you.

The terms of the agreement for the renting of a port in Euroslavia can be confirmed once an offer is put on the table. If the agreement that you offer is longer than 15 years, we must certainly discuss the possibility of an exchange proposal where Euroslavia, once the new government is stable enough, can in turn 'rent' out a port within Azazia for economical purposes, mostly having to do with trade in and near your region. Of course, your military and humanitarian aid to our nation will offset some of the 'rental money' for the port that is given to you.

The deliverance of the humanitarian goods can be sent to Arcadia, which is the biggest port city in Euroslavia, thankfully under CSD control. If we didn't have this port...then who knows what would be happening in Euroslavia right now. The UDM would probably have control over the nation by now. We will do all in our power to see that this doesn't happen, and once again, we thank your nation for its pledge of support. It will not be forgotten. Your leaders and your people are an inspiration to us all in this struggling nation.

OOC: Here's the map. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v721/Nanakaland/TKotMMap2.gif

To: Emperor Nikolaos Onassis
From: CSD Leadership

We are concerned about your military build-up on our nations border. I certainly hope that we all remember exactly what happened last time such a thing happened; it led to an invasion of Euroslavia. We cannot allow such a thing to happen again, and before your military is welcome to aid the CSD cause, we need insurance that you will not take advantage of your position and attack us. A non-aggression treaty is in order for our nations, if we are going to succeed in this war.

Another issue we must address is the amount of troops you are willing to dedicate to our cause. We do admit, the more troops that you offer, the easier it will be to win this war, however, our previous situations have again formed a distrust to the intentions of foreigners. We cannot allow your nation to contribute more than 50,000 troops to the war, but the amount of air support you offer is unlimited. Our lacking in that general area is the most important thing to obtain at this point.

At this point, it is official that Lady Destra will be returning from Vastiva to take control of the country once again. We do realize that Lady Destra came to absolute power at the time that Nikolaos the Great and Euroslavia were at war, and that she does have a grudge against you, however, we are willing to work something out so that her grudge will not remain. That will be up to us, in convincing her that your nation is out to aid us, rather than destroy us. The only thing you can do at this point is to be one with your words. Do not stray from anything you say. Doing so will put your nation in an even more complicated situation.

The Citadel
Imperium, Commonwealth Republic of New Britain

Tetley sighed as he read the letter from the CSD. Without a doubt, the Euroslavian denial for territory would be seen as a blow to his government’s plans in Parliament – however, if it could be negotiated for fifteen years that could possibly offset some of his political losses. That, however, would be something only time could tell him. Although his Minister of Defence was telling him plenty about the importance of a Euroslavian military base of operations and the importance to maintain such a presence.

However, given the past history of Euroslavia, he was not entirely surprised at their refusal. In truth, he did not even blame them for the refusal. In time, Euroslavia would once again regain its power – the power that could only come from a stable state. And when that time came the massive nation would surely not want a foreign colony sitting on their lands. Perhaps, on the other hand, after fifteen years they would be more open to at least a small naval base. That was, though, a matter for another distant time.

“Daniel,” Tetley finally asked of his now quiet comrade, “plans for dealing with this UDM threat massing in, Valua was the city I believe? I’m assuming you’ve read their response?”

“Yes, Alistair, I have. And frankly, I think we can provide them with limited aerial support, but the Royal Marines won’t be in the area for many more days yet. I’ve thus prepared a draft proposal for a limited air-strike against the city that I’ll be sending to the CSD government when we’re finished.” Blair handed over a copy of the report.

Tetley skimmed the proposal quickly, knowing that time was of the essence. “A little, not drastic, but perhaps, encompassing? Isn’t it?”

Blair nodded. “Under other circumstances, yes, sir. However, satellites indicate that the UDM has the majority of the airfields and thus aircraft at their disposal. The CSD government itself has indicated that the UDM forces are rapidly preparing for a strike against Arcadia. Frankly, sir, if we don’t act thusly I fear that the CSD could lose their strategic momentum.”

“I agree with you there. But this, this will be non-nuclear, correct?”

“As the report points out, sir, it is generated by a non-nuclear means. However, the collateral damage will effectively put the entire city of Valua out of action. Although, given the strategic importance of the city such an attack could be of much benefit to the CSD and their supporters, including us.”

“Alright then, go send this to the CSD military command structure, get their approval, and then launch immediately. Godspeed to our boys out there. I'll begin negotiations later.”

“Of course, Alistair.”

Secret IC

Communication to the CSD Military HQ

Following is an initial strike package to be delivered against the city of Valua and enemy airfields within range of the Royal Navy ship HMS Yorke. This plan has both the approval of the Ministry of Defence and the Prime Minister himself.

Operation Blackout

Units
14 Azrael stealth strike fighters from the 32nd Air Wing onboard HMS Yorke
2 Grizzly aerial-refueling aircraft – for the Valuan objective
Primary Weapons – 28 x AS.38 Daedalus Missiles

Mission Outline

The Daedalus Missile utilizes an electromagnetic pulse warhead, generated from a non-nuclear process of ‘short-circuiting’ a large high-power electromagnet warhead, which upon detonation causes a short circuit when it touches a large capacitor bank, which is itself inside the main body of the missile. The first detonation moves forward along the length of the missile, in essence pushing forward an electro-magnetic pulse. The air-to-surface variant proposed for use in this effectively blankets an area of 15km in an EMP blast, without the side effects of lingering radiation. The missile features a hardened electronics suite to defend against counter-EMP attacks as well as stealth design to minimize its RCS. In addition, since the EMP blast does not need to be specific, the Daedalus flies with inertial guidance to a pre-progammed point, where it detonates, because of this inertial system the Daedalus flies without radar, furthering reducing its chances of interception.

The wide-spread effect of the weapon should knock out the UDM’s ability to control their units across the city, and across Euroslavia. Sixteen of these missiles (onboard four of the fighters) will target the city of Valua, hopefully blanketing enough of the city to cause all possible vehicles – both ground and aerial – to permanently fail. This will give the CSD troops and their allies the advantage when moving into the city, as they will be motorized and capable of communications.

Three other fighters will target the three largest air bases within range of the carrier (the Azrael has a combat radius of 1200km, so effectively 1000km from Arcadia). Each of these fighters will be escorted in by an Azrael entirely dedicated to air-defence for the strike aircraft. The objective in Valua will be covered by four Azrael fighters.

The aircraft will launch their Daedalus missiles from a range of 300km from their targets, at which point they will begin their exit routes over these routes which appear to have the least surface-to-air missile and artillery threats.

Anticipated Objectives

Elimination of UDM ability to communicate and control their forces
Elimination or reduction of UDM threat to Arcadia and CSD forces through aerial means
Elimination of UDM ability to launch counter-strikes against the CSD through destruction of all non-hardened electronic systems, though even if hardened, all peripheral systems such as hydraulic controls in aircraft, missile release clamps and such should be disabled
Surprise and capture of offensive momentum

This report has been prepared by the Ministry of Defence and the Admiralty

Signed.

Daniel Blair
Minister of Defence

The Hall Of Sitters,

"Intelligence reports that war is a high possibility in the nation of Euroslavia, I believe this is the best time for us to aid the CSD. However I advise against directly sending our troops into the battle, I am against sending the Tower Guard into other people's affairs." Verin Sedai spoke to the Hall, "But we are already committed ourselves to the aid of the CSD." Voiced out one of the Sitters. "Perhapes we should just send over equipment as per our agreement." The Amrylin Seat nodded her head. "Contact the Aes Sedai who is in Euroslavia and tell her we are sending over the aid." Verin Sedai bowed, "As you command Mother."

Euroslavia.

"Yes...I understand...I will tell them straight away." The Aes Sedai spoke in the phone and then hung up. She walked up to the CSD representative, "The Hall Of Sitters has moved to send the equipment to your movement now. They will use the Thunderhawks to send them over, so thus a port will not be needed yet."

Salidar Military Airbase.

"ThunderHawk 1, 2, 3 and 4. Your cleared for liftoff." The Comm officer spoke into her microphone. "Roger Control. We're moving off." Each of this massive superhawks carried tons of ammunitions and weaponry as well as 2 tanks each that are destined for the CSD city.


OOC: Sorry for the short post, will post longer in the next post.

Conference Room ,Joint Military Headquarters, Riyk

William Gert, supreme commander of the imperial forces was standing at the head of a long table, a table lined with top military brass. Everyone was waiting for him to begin.

"You have been called here today, as the top leaders of the military arms, to discuss the unfolding situation in Euroslavia. As you all know, there is great history between our nations, although Euroslavia has long been under the rule of a despicable communist government. Recent events led to the downfall of said government, and for a time it looked as if a neutral, democratic, party would come to power."

"You mean the Underground Democratic Movement?" Interrupted Clark, leader of the imperial forces stationed in the city of Drakkensburg, formerly Neuvo Rican territory.

Gert glared at the young man with cold, calculating eyes. "Yes, I do." He began again.

"This period of promising stability has been relatively short lived however, and as we speak the Citizens Supporting Dictatorship have begun to stockpile weapons and call for militray aid against the UDM. This cannot be allowed. Another communist country cannot rise up, another challenge to the future of fascism will not be tolerated. We will cut this at the shoot."

"The Emperor has already agreed on my proposed plan, namely the full, unconstrained, support of the UDM by the Empire in any way possible. By doing this, we ensure the long-term security of our own nation. My plan consists of three stages, each of which can be carried out simultaneously. I have prepared a computerised presentation outlining my proposals."

Gert motions to his aide waiting to one side, and the aide pushes a button on the wall. A panel in the wall slides back, revealing a large plasma screen. On it is an outline of Euroslavia, and the background is the flag of Intelligent Neighbors.

'Click'

==========
Stages


Stage One: Supplying the UDM with whatever it needs to fight off the CSD threat.
Stage Two: Prevention of foreign intervention in the war, specifically in the aid of the CSD.
Stage Three: Mobilisation of imperial forces to Euroslavia, to aid the UDM in war.

==========

"As you can see, my plan involves two obvious routes, and one unique solution; the prevention of foreign assistance to the CSD. Stage two may involve the invasion of nations proved to be supporting the CSD."

'Click'

==========
Stage One

There are three types of supplies given to the UDM:
- Food/Citizen Welfare/Propaganda: These will help to ensure that the population of Euroslavia remains in favour of the UDM, and will try to minimise the loss of civilian life in the upcoming conflict.
- Economic Aid: Money to be given to the UDM to allow it to decide where it best needs to be spent. They, being citizens of Euroslavia will make better use of it than foreign powers.
- Military Supplies: Equipment, as well as ammunition, clothing and spare parts will be needed by the UDM. They may have better military equipment than the CSD, but if any exterior forces get involved, they will be hopelessly out-gunned.
==========

'Click'

==========
Food/Citizen Welfare/Propaganda

To be distributed through charities, as well as being directly transported to Euroslavia. Vessels designated for the task will be non-military, and manned by civilians. It is hoped that no nation will interfere with this shipping, as it is not linked to military activities.

Propaganda leaflets, written in the Euroslavian language, will be air dropped on areas of importance by civilian aeroplanes.

Overall, 500 billion US$ worth of aid is designated to this.
==========

'Click'

==========
Economic Aid

It has been decided that the UDM is in the best position to purchase what it needs to defend itself, and therefore 500 billion US$ will be made available to them to purchase whatever they need in the way of non-military items, whether it be food or something else. Another 500 billion will be available should the desparately need it.
==========

'Click'

==========
Military Supplies

We have ordered our primary arms producing company, Venom Defense (http://s7.invisionfree.com/Venom_Defense/index.php) that it is to allow the UDM to select whatever military equipment it needs up to a total of 2 trillion US$. Our government will pay the bill. In addition, they have been ordered to step up production of all of their items in anticipation of the war ahead, when according to law they will need to supply our forces with whatever we need, free of charge. Extra workers have been drafted in to fulfill this requirement.
==========

"As you can see, the cost of supplying the UDM will be around 3 trillion US$. Some might say that that is a lot of money, but in the long run the investment will be worthwhile."

'Click'

==========
Stage Two

If foreign powers are allowed to intervene in this war, then they may back the CSD. This would be highly unfavourable to us, so I propose that we stop them in their tracks, before they oppose us in Euroslavia itself. This will involve the sinking of as many hostile (to us or the UDM) ships within Euroslavic waters, or approaching them, as well as the possibility of engaging said nations on their own land, thereby reducing their capability to aid the CSD considerably.
==========

"So far, there has been little mobilisation towards Euroslavia by foreign nations, but our satellites watching the area have confirmed the presence of a foreign carrier, believed to be the HMS Yorke of Azazia. We are currently watching the area intently, if they make a move, we'll blast them out of the water."

'Click'

==========
Stage Three

As you are no doubt aware, our armed forces are currently unoccupied, and available for military operations. We have roughly 5 million front line soldiers, with another 5 million militia ready to be called should there be need. I suggest that Fleets III and IV (with attached amries, total 120,000 soldiers) be sent to Euroslavia initially, with fleets I and II (total 400,000 attached soldiers) in reserve. These fleets are fully equiped with the latest technology, will be able to deal with any threat posed.

Fleet VII (60,000 attached soldiers) will also be prepared. Ready to engage nations as written in Stage Two.
==========

'Click'

==========
Predicted Total Cost

Money: $6 Trillion
Lives: 80,000-120,000
==========

The screen turned black, and Gert turned back to the table.

"As you can see, the price will be high, but I promise the gains will be greater. Now, do any of you have any questions?"

They did, but Gert answered them reassuringly and knowledgably. After a while they seemed convinced that this was the correct method of dealing with the situation. Gert motioned to his aide again and the man left the room, leaving them to get on with sorting out the details.

The aide went and collected the documents prepared by Gert, and quickly dispatched them to their intended targets, by way of civilian plane.

~~~
To: UDM Leadership
From: Intelligent Neighbors High Command
Enclosed you will find a flash drive. On it is our nations proposal to help you, as discussed in our meeting. We hope you accept our generous offers, and invite you to attend a meeting in Intelligent Neighbors.
~~~

~~~
To: Azazia Leadership
From: Intelligent Neighbors High Command
In the interests of the safety of your nation, we politely request that you withdraw your vessel(s) from the area around Euroslavia. They are not contributing to the stability of the area, and their presence is frowned upon. Should they partake in any military action against the rightful leaders of Euroslavia, you will be treated as hostile to our nation and measures shall be taken to see to it that you do not threaten us or the UDM. You have been warned.
~~~

Communication to Azazia

Operation Blackout is currently being reviewed by the leadership of the CSD for approval, however, it seems like there shouldn't be any problem. Our leaders can't exactly be picky at this point in time. The only concern we have so far is the possibility that any of the missiles will fire inappropriately and take out both the UDM military and the CSD military at the same time. We certainly hope that your pilots know what they are doing; not to say that they're experienced. I'm sure they got where they are by doing well for your own military. After your initial military strike and paralysis of their forces, our military is planning to launch a massive assault to take advantage of their inability to communicate and fight back in an orderly fashion.

The disarray among Valua, that is, if your attack is a complete success, should be good enough to make this war as short as possible, and should put a cap on the amount of casualties expected. We are looking to do this in the most orderly fashion, as to not collapse the entire nation into anarchy; each city for themselves. A long and expanded war will only work against us in decreasing the morale of not only our own soldiers, but the citizens of Euroslavia. We can't afford to lose the large amount of citizens who have fled to other nations for refuge.

Aside from this operation, we have received reports that the UDM has also gained allies outside of Euroslavia. We must warn you of the possibility that you may be attacked for your support of our regime, and we are deeply sorry for involving you in such a situation, however, in the long run, we can only hope that this matter will be finished, and our nation restored to its former glory. We will look to our allies in the New World Order to aid us as well, in the event that your military must withdrawal to defend your own nation, and we will seek some sort of compromise in which they would aid you, as if you were part of the NWO.

A package had arrived at the UDM headquarters in Valua. The current leader of the UDM meetings picked it up and opened it, wondering exactly what it could be. He tore the package open to find a flash drive, with instructions attached to it.

An hour later, after the emergency meeting was called, the man at the head of the meeting called for everyone to quiet down, and began to speak.

"I have already reviewed the flash drive. The nation, Intelligent Neighbors, has pledged support to our faction. In this, they have identified their plans for their support of us, and their plans of attack upon the CSD. It's quite easily outlined, however I will stop after each Step to go over it with everyone."

At this point, he began to play the flash drive.


Stage One

There are three types of supplies given to the UDM:
- Food/Citizen Welfare/Propaganda: These will help to ensure that the population of Euroslavia remains in favour of the UDM, and will try to minimise the loss of civilian life in the upcoming conflict.
- Economic Aid: Money to be given to the UDM to allow it to decide where it best needs to be spent. They, being citizens of Euroslavia will make better use of it than foreign powers.
- Military Supplies: Equipment, as well as ammunition, clothing and spare parts will be needed by the UDM. They may have better military equipment than the CSD, but if any exterior forces get involved, they will be hopelessly out-gunned.
==========

The man stopped the flash drive, and began to speak again.
"The most important thing, obviously, is to keep the support of the citizens. If we don't have any support from them, our morale will drop dramatically, and despite having superior weaponry, the amount of deserters, as you can imagine, will increase significantly. We can't afford to have confusion among our own ranks."

"Secondly, economic and military aid will be most welcome. It has been proven time and time again that an overwhelming amount of force can beat almost any type of strategy, that is, with a quick all-out assault. With this strategy, and the aid of Intelligent Neighbors, I can't see how we can lose this one. The important thing is that we get our attack in first, before the CSD and their allies can launch anything. We can only hope that Intelligent Neighbors is as dedicated to our victory as we are."

The man stopped talking and turned the flash drive back on, showing the Second Step.


Stage Two

If foreign powers are allowed to intervene in this war, then they may back the CSD. This would be highly unfavourable to us, so I propose that we stop them in their tracks, before they oppose us in Euroslavia itself. This will involve the sinking of as many hostile (to us or the UDM) ships within Euroslavic waters, or approaching them, as well as the possibility of engaging said nations on their own land, thereby reducing their capability to aid the CSD considerably.
==========

The man once again stopped the drive, and continued with his summary and speech.
"We in fact have proof that multiple nations, including the entire alliance of the New World Order plans on pledging their military to the aid of the CSD. This cannot be allowed. We need some sort of plan that can force the alliance to withdrawal from any promise to attack us. Perhaps, a diplomat of our own can be sent to Independent Hitmen, who seems to be heading the aid to the CSD, to convince them of the error of their judgement. We also have proof that New Endenia, who previously was involved with the CSD, plans on pledging aid to the CSD, militarily."

"We also need to step up the diplomatic missions to nations not currently involved, in hopes that we can get as much aid as possible. The Macabees is currently very interested in this civil war. Hopefully, we can convince them that the UDM is the most legitimate faction for leadership of Euroslavia."

"And now on to the last step."


Stage Three

As you are no doubt aware, our armed forces are currently unoccupied, and available for military operations. We have roughly 5 million front line soldiers, with another 5 million militia ready to be called should there be need. I suggest that Fleets III and IV (with attached amries, total 120,000 soldiers) be sent to Euroslavia initially, with fleets I and II (total 400,000 attached soldiers) in reserve. These fleets are fully equiped with the latest technology, will be able to deal with any threat posed.

Fleet VII (60,000 attached soldiers) will also be prepared. Ready to engage nations as written in Stage Two.
==========

"This overwhelming amount of aid promised by Intelligent Neighbors is what we need to win this war. There really isn't much else to add to this, except that our faction is under-rated, according to the amount of support foreign nations is offering. We have deals with multiple nations that are on the discussion table, and are looking to finalize a few more military pledges."

The leading man looked around the room to see a complete silence. Each man couldn't comprehend the amount of aid promised, and their hopes of winning the war have increased significantly. That was enough to take the breath out of their body.

"Is there any obejctions to this plan?"

An older woman stood up and was the first to respond.
"We have nothing else to add to this, and hope that their aid is genuine. We can't afford to be tricked into a fake deal."

"I can assure you that Intelligent Neighbors is genuine in this offer. We cannot go wrong with this."


To: Intelligent Neighbors High Command
From: UDM Leadership

We have reviewed your Stages for your aid to the UDM, and we are extremely grateful that you have dedicated yourself to such a massive struggle. We also suggest that your nation ask allies of your own to get involved in this war. The more allies we have, the easier it will be to take down the CSD, the less lives that will be lost.

We are willing to send delegation from the UDM to your nation, and are preparing to do so immediately. Expect their arrival within the next twenty four hours. We apologize for any inconvenience, however we need to be sure that the CSD has no chance of intercepting the diplomats before they reach your nation.

Within the CSD Meeting Hall...

"The current battle plans with the aid of Azazia are being prepared. More troops are being mobilized for security reasons; that is, to make sure that the UDM is defeated in Valua, once and for all."

A young man ran into the Meeting Hall with what looked like important news. He ran immediately to the front of the room, while every single person present became silent, and looked to him in hopes of more good news.

"It seems that the New Endenians have kept their word and are sending the supplies that they have promised. Military weapons, according to our communications, are the main good that is being sent."

The man at the head of the Meeting Hall smiled, and began to speak.
"Our luck just keeps getting better and better. With the aid of more countries than we had previously expected, the war will be finished sooner than expected, however, we can't let our ego block our thoughts. We still need to be as strategic as ever, and we cannot let our guard down for a single moment. They will likely take advantage of that."

Everyone nodded their head and looked at the rest of the leadership in the CSD. The chances at winning this war seemed almost perfect for them. Little did they know, however, that there were other nations preparing to aid the UDM and that the UDM had other areas in which the CSD did not have any imformation on...

"Preparations are complete sir!" shouted the soldier.

"Great. We'll attack the CSD when they least expect it. They have absolutely no idea that we have in fact occupied Nasrad and are planning an assault against Arcadia from the north. Their intelligence sources are... quite unreliable in the very least. Now go prepare the rest of your troops, and begin getting in ranks!"

"Yes sir!"

The Underground Democratic Movement had covertly taken over the city of Nasrad through negotiations with the former United Christian Movement and had already set up camp within the city. Troops formerly dedicated to the UCM now were under control of the UDM, giving them a much larger advantage than before. The geography of Nasrad was mostly desert and was perfect for guerilla warfare, unlike Valua, which was an open plain. Approximately 50,000 troops awaited orders to march into an unprepared Arcadia to swiftly defeat their enemies even before their aid could reach them. Unfortunately though, the UDM also underestimated the CSD, which in fact was more prepared than they had ever thought. Supplies from other nations had already begun arriving, and the citizens who supported the CSD had even volunteered by the masses to fight and to aid others medically during any battle.

The first shot to spark the massive civil war had yet to be fired, but everybody knew it was going to happen very soon. Each side predicted that they would be the first to attack the other, but due to the failures of each sides' intelligence, the war had actually started already. The city of Daccat was already in flames, so to speak. Small outbreaks of battles between approximately 540 UDM volunteers and 720 CSD volunteers had happened in the past few days leaving a large amount of casualties, and a very high amount of civilian deaths. The volunteers within this city were acting independently from their loyalties in hopes that they would be greeted by their allies when the rest of the country was taken over. Daccat was one of the more important port cities of Euroslavia, and control over this city was vital in receiving military-related trade. If the UDM could take control of the city, despite being outnumbered, they would have control of a main port city, but if the CSD took control of it, they would have effectively taken hold of all of the major port cities in Euroslavia, making the transfer of weapons and other goods to the UDM much harder.

Five Hours Later...

"The troops are ready sir! We are prepared to begin the march towards Arcadia to take the city once and for all!"

The General interrupted the soldier and spoke, "Now don't get cocky soldier! We don't know exactly what we're up against and whether they have received aid from other nations. We could very easily win this war, or we could be horribly crushed. We all need to focus, and hope that we do win this. The inevitable battle between our forces in Valua and their forces in Arcadia will ultimately decide who wins control of Euroslavia, so I suggest you and the rest of your soldiers say a small prayer."

"Yes, sir! We will begin to march."

With that note, the 50,000 troops began their march towards Arcadia. They prayed that the CSD forces in Arcadia wouldn't even bother with checking their intelligence to see if any army was moving against them, seeing as they had no idea the UDM was in Nasrad in the first place. Each soldier was decently armed, and in full bullet proof vests, thanks to the funding from the UCM. It was only a matter of time before the true war began...

Encrypted Message

To: Unknown contact in CSD
From: Emperor Nikolaos Onassis

I see you Euroslavians still do not trust me. There is nothing you have that I want. Not even land. I think you and Destra can trust me. Remember when I handed over a piece of Turkey to Euroslavia. I hoped that would have sealed a alliance between of the two of us of friendship and trust but I guess I was wrong. I will continue the military build up because I know how to fight a war you are just rebels. But I will respect your request and only send 50,000 Hoplites.

-Emperor Nikolaos Onassis
Athens, Greece

OFFICIAL CONCORDIAT COMMUNIQUE
TO: CSD

We of the Iron Concordiat of Wirraway participated in the failed attempt to destroy the Communist revolution in your nation. We watched with despair as they reduced your once proud nation to a ghost of its former self, a mere parody of the mighty Euroslavian nation run by an inefficient and ill-conveiced command economy.

Now that the Communists have fallen we see on oppurtunity to place a friendly and stable government at the helm of Euroslave. For this reason we have decided to pledge our support your cause.

Please specify what troops and units would be most helpful to you at this moment. We all units excepting some specialized units, at your to choose from.

We hope to hear from you soon.

The Citadel
Imperium, Commonwealth Republic of New Britain

The cups of black tea with milk and sugar had come fast and frequently in the past several hours. The palace’s mess operated in a state of high-alert, which meant high-production. Fortunately for the head chef, the Prime Minister’s orders for tea were not entirely taxing on his staff, a simple pot of boiling water, a tray of teas, and a container of milk, and another of sugar.

And one of these trays sat in front of Prime Minister Tetley and his Minister of Defence, Daniel Blair. The two men, joined by Lord Admiral Sir Henry Whitford – military commander of the Commonwealth armed forces – and Lord Admiral Colin Leary – commander of the Royal Navy – sat around a well upholstered sofa and its accompanying chairs, each man sipping from his own cup of tea – the leaves chosen by each man. On a center table of blown glass were four laptop computers and a map of the Euroslavian environment.

Blair sipped his tea and pointed to the map, “This here is the location of the Yorke, sir. As your orders Operation Blackout has been initiated; however, something new has also appeared on the screen. This nation, here, Intelligent Neighbors has threatened us with military action should we continue Operation Blackout.”

“Do you mind telling me how they knew?”

“Satellites most likely, sir. As of right now it seems that Intelligent Neighbors knows only of our presence and that the secrecy of Blackout has been maintained. Since they have threatened us, sir, I recommend a preemptive strike against their major military installations.”

“Are you out of your bloody mind?” Tetley swore. “No offense, Admiral, however, you’re advocating the launch of a preemptive strike on a foreign power. That I cannot and will not sanction. We gave our support to the CSD when they appeared as the leader of Euroslavia, and they have asked for our help in defeating the UDM and to that end we will honour our agreement. In the meantime, I intend not to inflict any casualties upon foreign nations, and if possible any Euroslavian civilians, although I fully realize that there may be collateral damage.”

“Sir, the fact is that Intelligent Neighbors will launch a strike against us in retaliation for assisting the CSD.”

At that moment, the last member of the party entered, late as usual. Ivan Valovich was an older man, who was nearing the age of retirement, and as Minister of Foreign Affairs he had done his share of high-stress negotiations. With elections not far off, Tetley had been long considering replacing him with his next cabinet. Perhaps this could be the coup de grace to his long and prestigious career. However, his demeanor showed no evidence of Tetley’s thoughts as he strode right in and placed on the table his own set of documents.

“Gentlemen,” he declared in his rather loud voice, “I have before me documents relating to the lease of a Euroslavian port facility that, should they agree to it, give our forces a safe place to dock, and receive repairs if this warning is carried out.”

Tetley itched his brow, a nervous tic that he secretly despised. War was bad for business. In the short-term it boosted the arms industries, which would perhaps put a dent in next year’s statistics on manufacturing growth in the Commonwealth, however, a sustained war would cost billions of Credits. Not that the nation couldn’t afford it, and hopefully the CSD would remember the valiant efforts of the Yorke and her men and women, whatever the outcome. Hopefully they would remember it with trade agreements that would restart both states’ economies. However, a full-blown war with a third party could be disastrous. The Commonwealth was thousands of kilometers distant from Intelligent Neighbors, he was confident that an invasion of the homelands would be a logistical nightmare for their government. More than likely, it would be limited to long-range precision strikes against valuable targets within the homeland. If they wanted a full-blown invasion, the Royal Navy would decimate their force before they made it anywhere near the Commonwealth’s waters.

Thus, his concern laid across the seas with the lives of the men and women onboard the Yorke and her escorts, the people who stood the most to lose from any conflict. In becoming Prime Minister, he had sworn to protect the Commonwealth. At the same time, he had pledged his support to the legitimate government of Euroslavia; to go back on his word would be dishonourable to say the least. Thus, he had to go forward and support his sailors and airmen.

Finally, he interrupted the bickering that had broken out between the hawks and the lone dove. “Gentlemen, Admirals, we have a unique situation here. Our forces are already engaging the enemy, and yet we now wait to be engaged ourselves. There is no honourable way for us to back down, not when Intelligent Neighbors threatens the legitimate government of Euroslavia. And so I have an option I would like you to consider. After the action against Valua we put a freeze on active military intervention. I daresay that we don’t even have the resources in theatre to sustain a concerted military offensive. In the meantime, I will personally get in touch with the leader of Intelligent Neighbors and see if we cannot reach some sort of compromise on one, the safety of our merchant ships – since they are supplying only humanitarian aid; and then two, the safety of our own sailors from Intelligent Neighbors’ own military forces. To that end, Admiral Whitford, Admiral Leary, I’d like you to draw up emergency plans for a military response to an Intelligent Neighbors first-strike. However, Intelligent Neighbors is off-limits until they strike us.”

Whitford frowned, his displeasure obvious, “Sir, that will be leaving us vulnerable to a first-strike. I highly suggest we act now and destroy their offensive capabilities.”

Blair nodded in agreement, “Sir, we can do it. Reposition the Yorke to the south and launch an airstrike against their high-value targets.”

Sir,” Valovich interjected, “even if we do launch this stealth airstrike, no one will be able to prove it was our forces unless they down one of our aircraft, which I admit is a probability. However, we have several options. Plausible deniability. The responses came at roughly the same time, they won’t know that and so we can claim their request came after the strikes had reached point of no return. If by luck our planes aren’t shot down, than the UDM won’t have the proof that our aircraft did the damage because it will all be erased. In the meantime, I’d suggest we contact them and begin negotiations limiting the scope of this war between our two parties at least. Total war will bring nothing but economic devastation and possibly destabilization. Surely they’d want to avoid such an eventuality.”

Tetley merely nodded, “and that Ivan, is why I like you. You’re far more reasonable and civil than these two Admirals. No offense, sirs. Our foremost priority is to protect the Commonwealth. Not to have the chance to test out the fancy toys my government has procured for you. I had hoped never to use these weapons but it appears more and more likely that they will be used, rather shortly too I must add. Ivan, I want you to set me in contact with Intelligent Neighbors, I want to talk to their leader as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Admirals, I expect to be hearing reports on Blackout as soon as possible.”

HMS Yorke

Night operations remained a tricky thing at best. Despite the best equipment and most advanced technology, a pilot still needed to land a large heavy object on a floating, moving object, and stop it in a short distance. However, as in most navies, carrier pilots were among the best trained in the entire armed forces. Tonight’s crew was no exception. The Yorke was fortunate in having one of the few air wings with recent combat experience, and so were battle hardened.

The carrier utilized electrically-driven catapult systems, leaving more of an electric requirement on the nuclear reactor, but eliminating all the massive pipes carrying steam to the flight deck. Tokayev watched the lead aircraft taxi from their elevators to the catapults, where they were secured and locked into place, ready for his command. The four catapults were loaded with the four lead Azrael fighters, their black skin appearing odd on the matte grey reinforced deck, however, once in the air their skin would melt into the night sky. Their exteriors were clean and crisp, making them invisible to the invisible rays probing the Euroslavian country side. Not that he’d be flying over much UDM country – at least so each pilot found himself thinking.

In the command tower Tokayev nodded to the Yorke’s commander. At the signal, the captain issued his command, “Stalker team, go.”

On signal, in a staggered launch the Azrael fighters took off into the wind, turning slightly to put them on a course over CSD controlled territory from the south, unaware of UDM movements to the north of Arcadia, however, their flight plans would take them over the ocean to the slight turn in the coastline, where they would fly low and fast over the terrain, attempting to fly low. On the carrier, the next wave of aircraft was preparing for launch, the Hyena electronic warfare aircraft. The Hyena itself was a modified carrier attack aircraft, whose bomb loads had been replaced with high-power multi-frequency jammers that would attempt to flood the UDM air defence grid with static. These four aircraft were launched and began to loiter over the carrier, their equipment off for the time being as they waited for the remainder of the strike package to take off.

In short order, the remaining fighters took off into the night sky. The lead escorts carried their weapons internally, while the strike aircraft needed to carry the large EMP missiles – modified Icarus cruise missiles – fell in behind the jammers, which hid the unstealthy characteristics of the strike aircraft, visible because of the large missiles slung underneath their wings.

Several minutes later, the lead fighters began their run over Euroslavian airspace, preparing to safe the launch area, a distance of 300km from Valua. The secondary objectives each had their escort fly low and fast while the jammer aircraft and the strike aircraft flew behind. Meanwhile the Hyenas listened attentively for the signals of enemy radar systems, at the first sign of detection the second seat electronic-warfare-officers (EWOs) were prepared to flip the switch and blind UDM defences.

Official Communication to Intelligent Neighbors Leadership

The Commonwealth of Azazia must politely decline your offer to vacate its position for the time being. Currently our forces are in international waters off the Euroslavian coast at the bequest of the legitimate government of the people of Euroslavia, that of the Empress Destra. Given the history of her rule before the overthrow of her government, the Commonwealth cannot understand, nor does it recognize the claim of usurpers who call themselves the legitimate government. Therefore, we regretfully cannot recognize your claim of the UDM being the legitimate government of Euroslavia.

However, we do wish to assure you that no harm will come to your people, your state, or your government so long as your forces do not engage those of the Commonwealth. We seek to reassure you that the Commonwealth is no threat to your state, and we hope that this trying time excepted, that our two governments can grow closer in understanding and friendship so as to avoid any un-necessary bloodshed in the future.

I sincerely hope this can be the beginning of a fruitful dialogue between our two peoples as we all seek to find an equitable solution to this crisis.

Alistair Tetley
Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Azazia

Secret Official Communication to CSD Leadership

At this time the Blackout is rolling, so to speak. We too sense the need for an urgent close to this war, and we are willing to help expedite its closure also in any diplomatic means possible. Should a meeting be possible between yourselves and the UDM, the Commonwealth is willing to host these talks in the hope that further harm does come upon the people of Euroslavia.

In the interim, we appreciate your concerns for the safety of my citizens; however, we pledged to support the government of Euroslavia, and at this moment in time, most regrettably, the government of Euroslavia is in peril. We are not planning on dishonouring ourselves, or our agreement. We of course would welcome any further aid that you are able to enlist – although we sincerely hope it is not necessary. We appreciate your offer to negotiate with the New World Order for our protection if we fall under the arms of a foreign power – as the nation of Intelligent Neighbors has threatened. Until the time calls for desperate measures, however, we will not leave your side.

Our humanitarian aid continues in its shipment, and we hope that foreign nations do not use this neutral aid to its own political and military ends by the sacrificing our citizens and your own in order to delay the aid needed by those under your control.

Earlier we spoke of possible rental arrangements for a port. As the situation has regretfully deteriorated, we wish to make these negotiations as brief as possible. For the time being, a sum of 10 billion Commonwealth Credits (ooc: appox. $20billion USD) would become available for your government in exchange for access to a port. In time, we hope this agreement could be refined, but I sense that my sailors and airmen will need a safe port in the time to come.

The continued safety of yourselves, your people, and your state.

Alistair Tetley

"Every Schultarian revolution starts in a bar..."
-Themir Oligowvey: The Schultarian Upstarts: pSDC 500 - SDC 500

-----

Colloi, Schultaria Prime


As Jemmir Calem stealthily tucked himself in the back alleyways of Colloi, he felt relieved to be out of the public eye and sitting in the shadows. It had been so long since he had a peaceful moment alone, Calem didn't know what to do. Fumbling around in his coat pocket, he pulled out a small pipe and a gold plated tobacco box; of course he had tried to quit years ago, but now smoking was one of the few comforts he could enjoy to himself. A wave of relief passed over his face while he took in the sent of burning tobacco and cooked food in the many bars nearby. Sucking back on his pipe, his covert, yet frenetic, activity mellowed; "Guess I can burn more than just time right now," he thought as he blew a large cloud of gray smoke skyward.

Of course, had circumstances been different, Jemmir would have preferred to remain in Heerlu where he felt more secure, but fate was against his side. His life, his health, and his psyche were all in shambles; in the last three months his business had gone belly up along with his marriage of fifteen years. Stumbling from one failed job to the next, he drained his life savings and retirement bonus pay trying to keep the family household. No matter what scheme he tried, Jemmir was truly out of luck. The government did what they could to keep him financially solvent, but his qualifications were hard to place for regular employment; as a decorated member of the SKC-Otkron, his pension provided just enough to keep him afloat but not enough to keep his family together. His spirit broken, he had resorted to excessive smoking and drinking until a friend offered him a chance to apply his talents to make a difference.

Taking a long drag on his pipe, he approached a small bar tucked away in one of the older sections of town amidst a rather dreary brick and mortar facade. Pulling out a scrap of paper Calem recited the words in his mind, "18 Elbar Way, The Bucking Ram; we'll let you in." Sitting in a booth next to the bar, he surveyed the scene with his special operations training; although he was grateful that one of his friends was looking to help, his indoctrinated wariness from the Otkron had never been fully removed from his psyche.

"Quiet scene, enemies abound; never take the environment at face value."

A hand suddenly came down on Jemmir's left shoulder. Without hesitation he curled his right arm, grabbed the hand, and with nary any effort slammed the hand on the booth's table. Even before he heard the yelps of pain, he knew he had made a mistake.

"Sweet merciful god! The hell did you do that for?"

The voice was instantly recognizable, and Calem's face turned brick red as he turned his head to see his would be "attacker". Sweating, he called for the bartender to bring several rags and some stiff drinks. "Damn I'm sorry, but in a place like this I just feel a bit... You know... Uncomfortable."

"Well you certainly didn't have to break my hand, but I guess with your luck it might have well been a pickpocket, eh," he said, wincing from the pain as he applied clean rags to his swollen hand, "You came for a job, yes? Lucky for you, I have a helluva gig. Mercenary stuff you see.."

Calem's eyebrows rose, "You know that I haven't been in the military in a LONG time. What can a broken old sod like me hope to do?"

Smiling, his friend replied, "You can help to bring freedom to an oppressed people, preserve democracy abroad, and get a chance to put your combat skills to more 'practical' use. The Schultarian dream, with more action."

"Well, I think your crazy," he replied while bringing himself closer to whisper in his friend's ear, "but you've nearly sold me; I need to get out of this place. Just exactly who am I working for, and where will I be going?"

"Unfortunately I can't tell you who you'll be working for here, but I will tell you that Euroslavia's your final destination. Don't worry about finances and travel planning, my people have already planned that; we want you to help us by working with a faction called the Underground Democratic Movement."

"Is this a government job? Why would they want me; surely there are more qualified individuals to send over for this kind of resistance fighting..."

"All in due time Jemmi; right now, just wait for me to call you with more information. However, expect to board a commercial ship bound for Euroslavia within the week."

Admiralty Ship, Imperial Fleet III

"Sir, we are recieving reports from military command that there is a message from Azazia, stating that they want to open negotiations regarding this matter. It has been left to us to decide our course of action."

"Have they launched any attacks yet?"

"No sir, not officially. Although IR sensors have picked up increased activity on the decks of their carrier, HMS Yorke."

"Any reports from inland?"

"No sir, only one unconfirmed report that fighting has broken out in Daccat. We have looked there with satelites, and there is a lot of fires there."

"Hm, Daccat is essential for the UDM, we must help them hold it. How fast can we get troops there?"

"The airborne can drop 20,000 men there, within 48 hours, but they will be only lightly armoured."

"That is Ok, for now, lets hope they can hold until we get there."

~~~
To: Azazia High Command
From: III Imperial Fleet
We wish to offer counter-assurances that no civilian or merchant vessel will be targeted by our forces, as long as it contains no military equipment. You are also assured that no targeting of your nations homeland shall happen, unless forced to do so by the attacks of your nation upon our homeland.

Upon the matter of the HMS Yorke, we have recieved word that there is widespread destruction in Daccat, and this corresponds to increased activity on board your ship. We wish for you to know that should the two events be linked, a state of war shall exist between our two nations.
~~~

Airbase 101, Intelligent Neighbors

'HONK HONK HONK'

"Get up you lazy sons of dogs! It's time!"

In the barracks of the huge airbase, 5,000 men stirred, woken from their slumber to the sound of orders bellowing from the loudspeaker.

"This is not a drill, all service personnel to their stations, prepare for war."

OOC: More later

"CSD Command, this is Thunderhawk 1, our airfleet is approaching the landing zone, entering clearance codes." The Commander of the airfleet of 6 Thunderhawks calmly spoke into his receiver and pressed a button to begin transmission of clearance codes, around the Thunderhawks, the anti-air guns and missiles systems were on full alert as they were entering a hot zone and the possibility of UDM airforce approaching them to intercept them is a very high possibility. "All screens are clear for now sir. All Thunderhawks report no incoming contacts." The Commander nodded his head. "Good. Report it to the White Tower."

The White Tower, The Hall Of Sitters

In the emergancy session of the Hall Of Sitters, the Amrylin Seat sat watching the screen of an Oni Gang operative inside the Euroslavian crisis. She shook her head. "What have we got ourselves in? This is going out of the hands of the White Tower." Verin Sedai looked at her, "No Mother, this is what happens when foreign nations intervene in an internal matter....consider ourselves lucky that we are only providing aid to the CSD and not direct military assistance yet." The Amrylin Seat nodded her head, "However there is hope, CSD's other Ally Azazia seems to be a strong contender, I believe it would be most wise to contact them immediately." The Hall Of Sitters murmured in agreement. "Mother, Commander Kendrick of Black Tower Military Command on line 1."

She picked up the line and answered. "Yes Commander?" "Mother, regarding the current crisis in Euroslavia, I recommand that we mobilise our Armed Forces just in case we need to send direct Military Aid to the CSD." "Agreed. I will tell the Hall." The Amrylin Seat coughed to get the attention of the Hall. "I am placing the White Tower Armed Forces on High Alert due to this crisis, The White Navy will be deployed outside Euroslavia's waters and the White Airforce will prepare all remaining Thunderhawks for emergancy launch."

Official Transmission To Azazia From The White Tower

What Is Spoken Here Is Sealed To The Flame Of Haven (A.K.A Top Secret)

We are overjoyed to see another ally of the CSD in this crisis concerning the government of Euroslavia. Although the White Tower has committed itself to a non-interference stance concerning the crisis in Euroslavia, circumstances have forced us to do otherwise. One of our own kind, An Aes Sedai is currently inside the CSD headquarters acting as a liasion with us here. Please contact either her or the White Tower should you require any assistance concerning this crisis.

The Amrylin Seat Of The White Tower
The Flame Of Haven
The Guardian Of The Great Seal
Leader Of The Forces Of Light
The Queendom Of New Endenia
Blessed Be By The Light

New White House, J City.

The weather was fine, the sun shone brightly onto the steps of the New White House as President James Anderson walked up them towards the main enterance of the house.

Around him Secret Service Agents walked with their jackets unbuttoned whilst more were visible standing on the few rooftops that were in view, including that of the house itself.

The President had decided to walk up the steps to the house as part of his new fitness regime that he was putting himself through, much to the Secret Service's annoyance. Luckily he hadn't asked why a Secret Service Suburban had always been no more than ten metres from his position.


The ongoing situation in Euroslavia had been watched by an ever increasing number of intelligence assets, including one medium placed agent who had been placed shortly before the embassy staff had been recalled for "consultations".

Orbiting KH-10 and KH-11 satellites, along with one of the brand new KH-12's had been watching the country and providing 24hr coverage of the major "hot spots" as they were now being called.

As soon as something, such as a congregation of men with weapons, was noticed it was immeadiately forwarded to the Defence Department, a cavernous building sitting in five blocks of downtown J City. Built before the city had expanded to house nearly half a billion people the Defence building was massive after having undergone several upgrades and additions over the years. On two floors the satellite telemetary was displayed and analysed by nearly 1000 technicians so that the process could go on around the clock.

Earlier that day they had forwarded data to the New White House (NWH) that had had the effect of putting a Delta Task Force onto standby status at the nearby SOCOM base at Fort Wright-Howard.

Now with increasing signs of militarism being shown in the nation the President had ordered the force to begin moving to an airstrip deep within Euroslavia, under the guise of a peacekeeping mission. Accompanying the 78 Delta men were two teams of Army Special Forces and several people in civilian clothes.


Fort Wright-Howard

Here also the sun shone down on the men who were boarding their aircraft. A mixture of C-5 Galaxies and C-130 Hercules Transport aircraft littered the airstrip as HMMWV's were driven on and men began to take their places in the passenger compartments.

They were the elite of the Army and they knew it. The swagger with which they walked was only matched by fighter pilots. They had been training harder than normal for several weeks now, an emphasis on weapons firing and infantry tactics as well as fighting from their vehicles with the usual PT and drill being left for individual soldiers to do.

In the transport aircraft men stored their personal weapons in the overhead bins or on the floor next to them. Being Delta they had a collection of weapons, and most men had two primary and at least that many secondary weapons. All had body armour with them which they would put on when they entered Euroslavian airspace, two refuel stops from now.

Commanding this forward force would be Colonel Dwight Johnson, a decorated Delta Commander who had been involved in the Civil War in Lindi and in combat in Sniper Country, both actions that had taken place earlier in the formation of the now great country. Most of the men had also seen combat, for a majority as Infantrymen in the Talaax-Insog Provinces conflict or as Special Forces during the McLeod Civil War.

On the other side of the airfield the helicopters of the 47th Helicopter Wing were being loaded into their own transport aircraft. The UH-60's, AH-6's and AH-64's were swallowed up into the massive aircraft as the crews took their places with the maintenance men on the top level of the birds.


As for support for them there was a Navy carrier, IHSBlack Prince heading for the region at maximum fleet speed. They were sheduled to arrive in six days. By that time some of the Delta teams would be involved in training the CSD forces whilst others would be making active recon missions throughout the country. Providing of course that the CSD leadership accepted their request to enter the country. However that was being handled by the State Department, and if they werent allowed in they would simply be having a free trip to Credonian controlled Somalia.



Message to CSD Leadership
From: IH State Department

The United States has heard your plight and is interested in sending military aid to you in order to return Euroslavia to the way that it once was before the communist take-over. We are prepared to offer any aid that you may request and that we can provide in order to help you attain this goal.
All we ask in return is the return of Euroslavia to its previous ways and the continuation of our alliance.
We have Special forces en-route to you as we speak and we hope that you will give them permission to land. We will send more forces as and when the situation demands it.
Please respond so that we may be of assistance.

Imperial III Fleet, en route to Euroslavia

Plane after plane was being readied on the carriers, every one being checked and rechecked. Fuel, weapons, computer systems, the lot. This was no training exercise, this was the real thing. Blood would be shed.

Pilots sat in their cockpits, checking all their instruments, everything they depended upon to survive. Trolleys of bombs were being loaded onto the 'Merlin' fighters (http://s7.invisionfree.com/Venom_Defense/index.php?showtopic=4), the main constituent of the fleets air wing.

Everyone wondered how long they would be waiting, some itched for the thrill of combat, others wondered if they would survive the upcoming war. Everyone waited.

...

"Sir! we have reports of aeroplanes heading into Euroslavia. From the looks of things they are military transport craft. They are not destined for the UDM, we would know."

"Hm? I forbade any military aid to the CSD, those planes are in violation of my order. Do we know who's they are?"

"No sir, our reports are not detailed enough to assertain that information."

"Damn it. Where are they now?"

"Somewhere over Euroslavia, we are unsure as to the exact location. Hopefully they will return the way they entered."

"Yes, they will not be allowed to get home in one piece though. Send a flight of Merlins to wait around the area. Tell them to keep hidden, no chatter over the radio, engage camoflage when attacking. Blast whatever they are out of the sky, we can't afford to let them return. On confirmation of enemy survivors, send a 'Tsunami' helicopter (http://s7.invisionfree.com/Venom_Defense/index.php?showtopic=80) to pick them up."

"Yessir. About the Azazia situation?"

"I have made up my mind. Wait a while, see what they do first."

The aide saluted and left, leaving the Admiral alone in his office.

To: Emperor Nikolaos Onassis
From: CSD HQ

We have our reasons for being unable to trust you and your nation, seeing as you tried to take advantage of us during our last civil war, but were crushed at the hands of Lady Destra. We seen the cooperation in Turkey as nothing more than two nations wishing to gain more territory. An alliance between our two nations is far off, and for us to even consider such a proposal, would most likely require a regime change on your part. I will be completely blunt at this point and say that the CSD and the Emperor will never have an alliance, as long as he is in power.

We may be 'rebels' in a sense that we aren't in the current leadership of Euroslavia, however, compared to the UDM, we are the more civilized faction in the nation and are taking legitimate steps in making sure that the leadership position does not fall into the wrong hands. Be aware that the title of the UDM alone is misleading, seeing as they plan on transforming Euroslavia into a government even worst than the Communist regime. Democracy has no roots in its faction.

However honest you may be in sending troops to our aid, we cannot help but wonder exactly what your intentions are in Euroslavia. We are currently reviewing our tactics, the allies that we have, and their pledges to our defenses; therefore, we will notify you if we no longer need your support. We cannot risk having 50,000 hoplites in our nation when we cannot even trust the nation that they belong to.

Secret Transmission to Wirraway

We thank you for your offer of support, and we are currently looking for ways for your nation to support us without you having to get involved in the actual war. It has been proposed that financial aid, as well as humanitarian aid be requested from Wirraway, seeing as the military aspect of the civil war is covered by many nations already. We also will not forget the fact that you were one of the few nations that did not support the rise of the Communist regime, and we thank you for trying to stop it. Without you, the Communist government probably would have lasted longer than we, nor the entire world wanted to last.

To be sure that you are supporting the right faction, we must inform you of the travesties that the UDM has committed. In the past, the UDM has committed genocide against those who supported the CSD in the small town of Esperanza. Approximately 10,000 citizens of Euroslavia were slaughtered, leaving the rest of the town to flee from their wrath. This action was never broadcasted to the rest of the nation and the world because the UDM threatened all of those who would dare try to report it, with their lives. We see it fit that we report it to all of our allies, as well as those who support the UDM. Still, there are a few nations out there, whom we have yet to identify, throwing their support to the UDM in hopes that democracy will actually take hold in Euroslavia. They are blindly throwing their own military into a fight that they have no place in.

Once again, the CSD thanks Wirraway for their support, and gives you the go-ahead in sending humanitarian and financial aid to our people. I'm sure that, after the war, we can come up with some compromise to re-pay your nation. After all, if our nation can become as efficient as it was before the Communist revolution, we will be able to pay any loan off very quickly.

Secret Communication to Azazia

We can only hope that Operation Blackout is going to be as successful as we think it may be. Disabling their communications will leave them 'decapitated', with no sense of direction. They literally won't know what hit them. If there is anything that we can contribute to this, let us know so that we can act upon it immediately.

It is highly doubtful that the UDM will be willing to negotiate after the slaughter of our supporters in the city of Esperanza. We do not negotiate with cowards who kill innocent men, women, and children for the sake of taking control of a a few miles of desert. This action is disgusting, and we seek to end this as quickly as possible to prevent any further murders.

Once again, we must thank the speedy offer of aid from Azazia. The actions taken by your government and your people will not be forgotten when the times comes that the CSD takes legitimate control of the government. In any event that your nation is threatened, we will do the same for you. Your troops that have dedicated themselves to the aid of our 'government in peril' are heroes and will go down in history as the troops that truely liberated that nation of Euroslavia.

As for the threats coming from Intelligent Neighbors, which we have confirmed is aiding the UDM in their quest to take control of the government, we will not take such a move lightly, and will ask Independent Hitmen, who is one of our staunchest allies, to take control of the situation and eliminate them from this war.

We will do our best to see that yours, as well as the rest of the nations pledging aid, goes exactly where it needs to be. The inefficiencies of sending aid to a foreign nation in turmoil has, and always will be a concern when it comes to getting everything to the right place at the right time, however, we can guarantee that our soldiers will distribute such aid equally throughout the lands that we have control over. I cannot guarantee that the UDM will not try and interfere though, seeing as they will do anything to decrease our morale and try to get those who support us to change their minds.

As per the agreement over the leasing of the port, we will accept the $10 million USD and will give control of the port city of Fenjris over to your nation. The location of the city is on the small island just south of the Euroslav mainland. We hope that this is sufficient for your military.

To: IH State Department
From: CSD HQ

The CSD thanks Independent Hitmen for the offer of its forces and requests that it gets involved immediately in the war. Relations between our two nations have never hit a rough path, due to the flexibility of each of our nations governments, however, if the UDM were to take control on the nation, I can guarantee that relations between Euroslavia and the rest of the world would plummit, leaving it isolated.

Military aid would be sufficient, especially with the latest pledge from Intelligent Neighbors in aiding the UDM. We must ask a favor of you; that you involve yourselves in the military intervention of Intelligent Neighbors and that you eliminate them, with the aid of Azazia and New Endenia. We cannot afford the UDM receiving any sort of aid from foreign powers. We also must immediately shut the UDM off from the rest of the world to make this conflict as short as possible.

When the CSD takes control of the government, your aid will not be forgotten, and steps will be taken to guarantee you that Euroslavia will become what it formerly was, before the Communist movement. We also ask that relations between our two countries be taken a step further than before. Of course, a conference or meeting of some sort would be necessary to discuss such steps. Lady Destra would be glad to do so.

Your special forces will be admitted into the nation through the city of Arcadia, which is on the southern border of the nation.

UDM forces continued to come closer to the city of Arcadia, and had yet to be detected…or to be reported. Perhaps the intelligence team of the CSD was taking a snooze? There weren’t any complaints coming from the UDM forces and leadership. A surprise attack would throw the CSD off-guard, and lead to an earlier end to the war than ever expected… but maybe the CSD did know about it. Maybe they were planning some sort of defensive move. There really wasn’t anything that the UDM forces could do until they reached the city.

Transportation of the 50,000 troops to lead the attack against the CSD was absolutely no problem. Humvees and aircraft, among other things were full of soldiers, and were ready to empty them when the time came. The mobile units of the UDM armies were moving along quickly as well, with only a few minor technical problems with one of the tanks. If things were to go this well in the battlefield, control of the government of Euroslavia would be no problem…but it all seemed to easy. The awkward silence between each of the soldiers indicated that each and every one of them didn’t expect an easy battle at all. As a matter of fact, majority of the soldiers were worried of a severe defeat at the hands of the CSD and allied forces. That was it! Had the CSD received aid already? Perhaps they were coordinating with their allied soldiers in a defensive mode, while planning a counter-attack upon Valua. The situation looked grim, all of the sudden, once you started to think about each specific detail of the war. The CSD had the major advantage, whether they would have admitted it or not.

Just Outside Arcadia...

"Sir, we have reports of a massive amount of movement coming towards our city. It has been determined to be of UDM origin, perhaps this is the massive attack that they have been warning us about?”

”Yes soldier. We knew about this from our intelligence reports. We have tried to throw them off by acting as if we are completely unaware of their plans. If they waltz in here, acting like they own the place already, then they are in for a complete surprise. Just look over there.”

The General pointed to the massive mobilization of the CSD military, which had been completed within the past few hours. Civilians had already been evacuated, in hopes that such casualties would amount to nothing. Suddenly, a call had come in to the General saying that the UDM troops had halted movement just outside of the city, approximately five miles, and were preparing to launch a pre-emptive strike on the city. Airplanes had just been let go, and were heading straight for the city.

”Sir, it looks like their air force is…”

[i]We know soldier.” the General said, in a calm manner. ”This is expected.”
He turned to on his communicator and replied with, [i]”Get ready to fire at the jets and fighters. Their air raid will be a complete failure.”

Almost immediately, enemy jets and fighters appeared over the horizon, approximately 200 of them. Air defenses had been completed within Arcadia, and were ready to take down as many possible, before they can get any missiles fired. Unfortunately though, just as the enemy aircraft moved into the horizon, approximately fifty-six missiles were fired. Most of those headed straight towards the CSD Army encampment, killing over 1,500 troops in confusion, and approximately ten of those missiles headed towards the Mobile units, destroying and damaging a few of the anti-aircraft tanks. It was definitely a successful hit, but in all reality, it barely put a dent on CSD forces.

It was time for the CSD to fire back. Their own aircraft were launched, approximately 275 of them to counter the incoming aircraft. The UDM Air Force was slightly more advanced, but the CSD had the advantage of having the battle over their own territory, with the aid of anti-air missiles and other defenses, such as the strategically placed rocket-launchers and more anti-air tanks and artillery. Within minutes, ten of the UDM aircraft were shot down by the advancing CSD Air Force, while six of the CSD aircraft were shot down, and one partially disabled. The Air battle wasn’t looking good for the UDM, as they were preparing to march on the city, no matter how the Air Force did.

Each CSD aircraft had begun to outmaneuver the UDM fighters and jets, and had begun what could very well be considered a rout of the enemy forces. Within twenty minutes, around ninety percent of the UDM air force had been neutralized, while sixty percent of the CSD air force had been shot down, or unable to fly as well. The losses were great for both sides, but all that mattered was the faction that would have any sort of air force left after the battle. Multiple targets had been bombed, in the meantime, by UDM forces and had driven the number of dead up to 5,063. Losses were mounting, but the clear victor here was the CSD. It was time for a speedy counter attack upon the UDM soldiers who were on their way to Arcadia. The CSD air force, or what was left of it, took off and began to strategically bomb the areas where UDM troops were headed to, causing mass confusion among their own ranks. Troops had already begun retreating in the UDM side. Their suspicions were right in thinking that the CSD already had a plan for this, rather than not even knowing about it, and the enemy Generals would forever remember this day as one of the worst decisions in UDM history. This battle could already decide who would succeed the throne of Euroslavia.

"Attention! All UDM troops, sound the retreat! Our Air Force has been defeated, and approximately forty enemy aircraft are heading this way. I repeat, sound the retreat! Use evasive maneuvers, and take down as many aircraft as you possibly can!"

Just like that, the battle was already over, if you call that a battle. CSD forces had swiftly kicked UDM forces out of Arcadia, whom didn’t even set a single step within the official city lines, and had prevented a large amount of lives lost. It was estimated, in the retreat, that over 7,034 enemy troops were killed, including the lives lost in the battle between air forces, and even more had been wounded. The first victory was cause for a celebration, however such a celebration would not happen until Lady Destra was firmly in the seat of the throne, with the UDM forces completely eliminated…

(This battle took place before anyone had arrived at Arcadia, or Euroslavia for that matter)

Colonel Johnson had moved forward to the flight deck of his C-130, the lead plane in the group.

They had crossed into Euroslavian airspace five minutes ago and were now over the coast and half way through their descent into the main airport.

In the cabins the troops had donned their body armour and hockey-shaped kevlar helmets. They were checking their weapons and equipment now, for the eighth time on the flight, men adjusted their radio microphones and fitted magazines loaded with live rounds into their weapons which were then cocked and flicked the safety catches on.

On command from their element leaders they stood up and headed nearer to the doors as the aircraft descended through 5,000 feet.

A second C-130 came up closer behind them so as to leap frog over the first aircraft and land on the second half of the runway thereby putting twice the normal amount of men onto the ground should this be an ambush. These men would then have to secure the runway and immeadiate area so that the rest of the unit could arrive.

The landing gear began to come down as they passed 2,000 feet now on a straight course into the runway clearly visible infront of them. The men in the back relaxed slightly, if this was an ambush surely AAA fire would be coming up at them by now, either that or a missile exploding under a wing.

But the aircraft continued to glide in, threat recievers idle but pilots with their hands on the throttles just incase they needed to climb quickly.

However that was not needed, the Delta teams were met on the ground by representatives of the CSD and signalled for the other aircraft to come in on a normal approach.

As each touched down a local vehicle took them to a parking spot on the tarmac and the giant aircraft at once began to disgorge their cargo.

Technicians started to get the helicopters ready for flight whilst another group began to unload crates containing Stinger III hand held SAM's.

A battery of Patriot launchers was going to be coming in the next day and so until then this would have to do for air defence.

OFFICIAL CONCORDIAT COMMUNIQUE
TO: CSD

We would be most willing to supply your cause with funds and materials. We can offer up to 1 billion USD and as much civilian or millitary equipment as you need. Of course we shall have to transport this to you in an armed convoy. The convoy may go to your nation but it does not have leave if you catch our drift. Be assured that we will protect you from any seabourne assault and can provide some limted ground and air support. The convoy will be underway shortly.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Concordiat naval base in Amsterdam was strangely active for a sunday night. Normally a day of rest for the yard workers and naval personelle, their quiet, or in some cases not so quiet afternoons had been interrupted by a phone call and an order to proceed to their muster points.

From the command and control center of the sprawling facility one could see a line merhcantmen making their way through the heavily trafficked sea-lanes and into the inner harbor. From there they nestled in next the gigantic quays lining the harbor and proceeded to be loaded with all possible haste. Tanks, APV's, troops and tons upon tons of crates stuffed full of humanitarian aid along with weapons and ammunition quickly moved from trucks and either up a ramp or on a crane into the ships.

Farther off the west a line a light grey warships could be seen making ready for sea as well. Task Force-89, broken off from the Atlantic Squadron would be providing for the defense of the heavily laden merchantmen. Within two days all would be ready and the convoy would sail for Euroslavia.

HMS Yorke

Tokayev rubbed his nose, trying to rid himself of the slight itch that had been bothering him for the past few hours. He supposed it was better than trying to deal with the launch of ‘enemy’ fighters from a distant carrier group. Back in the good old days, ships would see each other before opening fire with a broadside of large guns in heavy turrets drooped and coated and covered in thick steel armour. Nowadays, ships used long-distance aircraft, beyond the horizon missiles, stealth technology… the list went on and on. If only this were the Battle of Jutland.

However, it was not, and as Tokayev glanced at the satellites images from the high-altitude high-resolution photographs. They had recorded flights leaving from the Intelligent Neighbors carriers. More than likely, at least he would assume, that they had seen his own fighters take off. However, with the arrival of transport aircraft, the air situation was rapidly becoming a mess. But then again, if they wanted to take potshots at large transport aircraft, better them than his own aircraft, who would hopefully slip between any hostile contacts. He still had no permission to launch a strike on that carrier group, though it was well within range.

The battle group was semi-diffuse in its spatial arrangement. The carrier had positioned itself the furthest from the Intelligent Neighbors fleet, preferring to place most of the ASW and AAW picket ships between itself and the ‘enemy.’ The two heavy missile cruisers were close in with the carrier itself and would provide most of the necessary firepower. Then of course would be the arsenal ship, sitting low in the water, entirely stealthy. The utter antithesis of Jutland. But it would provide significant firepower should the need arise.

The satellites indicated multiple carriers and superior numbers being rolled out by Intelligent Neighbors, however, that was to be expected being so close to Euroslavia. However, if they thought that the Commonwealth’s lone carrier group would be easy pickings they would be dead wrong. At that Tokayev smiled, there was the entire possibility that they would decimate his fleet. But hopefully not before he unleashed hell upon their own, and made them think twice before attacking the Commonwealth proper. To that end, he had made his fleet ready. The orders had come down that he couldn’t initiate the attack on their fleet, but he was more than ready to retaliate at the first sign of trouble.

In the air were over twenty Talon (http://s7.invisionfree.com/Merchants_of_Azazia/index.php?showtopic=14&hl=) reconnaissance drones, and four tactical drones armed with NXMRAAM-3 Electric Cobra (http://s7.invisionfree.com/Merchants_of_Azazia/index.php?showtopic=12) missiles. The relatively small drones sat outside the fleet, giving them a secure 500km range of exclusion that was heavily monitored by satellite, AWACs, the drones, ships, and submarines. Not to mention Tokayev’s own eyes when he could spare the moment. The satellites had begun to move their cameras to track the fighters while his own air patrol began to perform shield flights that would intercept their general heading before they came within 400km of the fleet. The outer stealth frigates maintained their passive systems, becoming all but invisible, instead listening for the noises associated with electromagnetic radiation.

So now Tokayev stood, scanning the seas as he would have done at Jutland. Waiting for the modern era’s rising smoke on the horizon.

But damn that itch, he thought as he rubbed his nose.

The Citadel
Imperium, Commonwealth Republic of New Britain

Valovich thumbed through the messages received in the past several hours. Priority tags were attached to all the documents from Intelligent Neighbors, the only real threat posed so far in the whole conflict. The UDM was too preoccupied with Euroslavia, and likely wouldn’t be able to muster the logistical support needed to strike the Commonwealth proper, and so Intelligent Neighbors was the highest priority communications.

However, first to receive a response was New Endenia – a non-military supporter of the CSD. Their message was nothing more than standard greeting protocol, however, it established to Tetley and others that the Commonwealth and Euroslavia were not alone in this conflict. Potentially, the nation would also serve as trading partners at the resolution of this conflict, and help the Commonwealth develop further.

Secret Official Communication to New Endenia

The Commonwealth thanks you for your offer of assistance in this developing conflict. I am personally glad that our two parties both can see the legitimacy in the Euroslavian government. At this time we have no official contacts in Arcadia, and we thank you for the access to your own liaison.

Ivan Valovich
Minister of Foreign Affairs

Secret Communication to CSD Leadership

Here in the capital we are still awaiting word on the success of Operation Blackout, although our collective fingers are crossed. I hope you understand we here at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are among the last to learn of military operations and their successes or failures.

To the matter of Intelligent Neighbors, we appreciate your contacting Independent Hitmen for their assistance in this conflict. Sadly, our reinforcements are days – along the lines of a week and a half – away. In accordance with such, we appreciate your agreement for the renting of Fenjris, I am quite sure that our sailors will be quite happy with any sort of dry land once this conflict is over. For the time being, however, we will continue to send aid through to Arcadia and the Euroslavian mainland, except if needed some small diversions to the people of Fenjris and the neighboring communities.

The continuing best wishes and safety for yourselves and your people.

Ivan Valovich
Minister of Foreign Affairs

Ministry of Defence
Imperium, Commonwealth Republic of New Britain

Daniel Blair scratched his goatee and stared at the latest communication from Intelligent Neighbors. Their reply was interesting, instead of being directed to Ivan, basically across the street, they had sent it to the Admiralty in Breningrad. It had taken some time to filter its way to the capital, a few hundred kilometers away; but it had arrived nonetheless. And now it sat neatly on the desk in front of Blair.

Proper Commonwealth protocol dictated such messages being delivered to Ivan – but given the lack of interaction between these two states it was understandable. It provided evidence that in time the two nations would have to embark on a process of learning more about each other’s cultures. But for now, Blair was more concerned about the plight of the thousands of men and women off the Euroslavian coast. Which meant more secure transmissions of data, although this time it would not be to a location too far away.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Imperium, Commonwealth Republic of New Britain

I really am getting too old for all of this, Valovich grumbled to himself. More than likely he would retire at the next set of elections as the stress of such international conflicts – wars tops among them all – was eating away at him. Most normal people would surely shrink and wither under the pressure; and although his skin was wrinkling and the hairs now entirely grey, he considered himself one of the best Foreign Ministers since the great Matthew Avin.

More documents relating to the Intelligent Neighbors situation. So far as he understood no shots had yet been fired, it merely remained extremely tense on the high seas. This would be where his skills proved fruitful or not; he knew that the Commonwealth would perform limited military strikes for the CSD government, which would not please Intelligent Neighbors, but would a few precision strikes equal the death of thousands. If they did go through with their threatened attacks, he would make sure the international community thought it and treated it as a war crime. But that was a matter for another day, the task at hand was a simple reply to a document received hours ago.

Secret Communication to Intelligent Neighbors Imperial Fleet III

This is Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivan Valovich, speaking on the behalf of Minister Blair and Prime Minister Tetley. As I am sure you would understand, the Admiralty is quite busy and actually constrained by law to limit its foreign contacts, especially with those who have threatened the safety and security of this people, state, and government. Therefore, as a matter of mere protocol, I would suggest that in the dual interests of expediency and efficiency you direct all inquiries and communications to me here at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Imperium, where I will be capable of providing much more prompt responses. With regards to that, I hope you understand the delay.

Now, the Commonwealth recognizes our agreement not to target civilian and merchant marine vessels, with the caveat being should they be in possession of arms or military equipment the vessels forfeit their right of neutrality. We also join in agreement that neither side will launch an attack against targets within the homeland of the other. At this time, no formal state of war has been declared against Intelligent Neighbors, and the Parliament does not even have a draft on the table.

With that in mind, I can assure you that the destruction and carnage seen in Daccat is not a result of our aircraft carrier’s “increased activity.” I hope you understand that our increase in operational tempo is a systematic response to your direct threats against the safety of those men and women serving onboard the HMS Yorke and her accompanying battle group. At this time, being that there has been no engagement against targets in Daccat, I need to formally relay the message from Prime Minister Tetley that he will regard any strike or perceived first strike against Commonwealth assets will be construed as an act of war by Intelligent Neighbors. Although I sincerely hope that both parties agree violence is not the best means to a peaceful end of a united Euroslavia.

With the most sincere hopes for a continuing peace between our governments, however tense the peace may be.

Ivan Valovich
Minister of Foreign Affairs

[Convoy 1130]
The fairly larger convoy sliced through the thin waters leading the myriad of harbors on Euroslavia's coastline which extended enough to give Convoy 1130 enough leg room to not be targetted by nations supporting the CSD, or by the CSD itself, and at the same time effeciently deliver the cargo inside the hulls of the fairly large merchant ships. Publicly Convoy 1130 was carrying, as noticed to Euroslavia and the NWO, "civilian clothing, food, and medical supplies for the victims of any military escalation inside said borders [of Euroslavia]," however, any search in depth would prove otherwise, and instead the bowels of Convoy 1130 hid massive stockpiles of Macabee grade ordnance and armaments, including assault rifles to large missiles, albeit all export designs so that subsequent capture by the CSD should such a thing happen would not give out any trade secrets of the like, yet still give the UDM the firepower needed to at least have a fighting chance in any civil war which might brew in Euroslavia, much to the Second Empire's distaste. This was the first convoy, and perhaps the final, that would carry the white Macabee flag with the double-headed Imperial Eagle centered, as in the future such flags would prove a dangerous insignia to parada - however, for now the Macabees were known to be strictly neutral and any bording of Macabee property would be seen as a breach of neutrality and would most likely brew an escalation of Macabee military power in the region, which although, in the end, wouldn't make much of a difference, it would surely make an impression in the post-bellum Euroslavian foreign policy, as well as the NWOs.

Captain von Fiedrol, an ex-navy lieutenant who had taken a job up with the merchant marine, led Convoy 1130 on the high seas towards Euroslavia, and he stood on the bridge of his flagship, the SS Irene - named after his deseased wife - and looked at the christening waves forming around his only loved one left. He spoke to his executive officer who was half asleep on the computers beside the captain in a low tone,"So much war, so much death, and I find myself in the midst of it. Are we doing the right thing Pieter?" He turned to look at his executive officer but found the lazy man sleeping on the job and von Fiedrol sighed and turned his head back towards the waves, gazing at the syncronous rise and fall of the water. Under his breath he muttered,"RIse and fall... all Empires rise and fall."

It didn't take long for Convoy 1130 to make it to a Euroslavian port as far away from any small term conflicts arising and as soon as the twenty ship convoy had made it to harbor they immediately docked and set upon the task of clandestinely unloaded the storage, which would have to remain utterly secret. Several preperation tactics were undertaken, including the smoking of the area using gaseos compounds secreted through tubing wired inside the upper areas of the hull, therefore virtually rendering any sattelite imagery of the harbor, or at least of those sections of which were occupied by Macabee shipping, 'invisible'. Moreover, Captain von Fiedrol asked the local deputies to clear the area as the Macabee sailors would do the dirty business of transferring the goods to depots, and then he claimed that the UDM para-military would take care of business in the depots and paid the administration of the harbor to guard whatever was inside those depts with their lives, and without seeing the goods. And thus, securely, and effeciently, the Macabee sailors began to unload their cargo of utmost importance, including thousands upon thousands of K-21 assault rifles (http://s6.invisionfree.com/techdatabase/index.php?showtopic=24) and at least two hundred of the newly designed MTAAM-3 Silencer air to air missiles for use by the fledging UDM airforce which would be soon supplied with Macabee aircraft. Moreover, some fifty MAAM Ausf. B cruise missiles were also given to the UDM for surface to surface purpose launch as it was doubted that the UDM would have much to fire from the air. In any case, it was a large first order for the UDM, and although the Macabees were not being paid, it was expected that even if defeat should come to the UDM the Macabees would get their money's worth one way or the other, even if it meant a change of sides late in the war and a quick escalation and raid into UDM territory. However, for now, the Macabees would take their chances supplying the UDM movement.

Captain von Fiedrol's Convoy 1130 would remain in Euroslavian ports for the remainder of the two days, taking it easy, and then it would set back for Macabea City, to the sunny port harbor of the Macabee Empire - arguably the best harbor in the world, in terms of both grandeur and service and beauty.

White Fleet Combat Group Alpha 1

-Ships-

1X Nimitz Class Carriers (85X F-35 JSF)
1X Kitty Hawk Class Carriers (60X F-35 JSF)
2X Admiral Class Battleships
4X Alliance Class Frigate
3X Earl Class Trimeran AA Frigates
3X Reformer Class Cruisers

Flagship The WhiteStar (Nimitz Carrier)

"Admiral, we have arrived outside Euroslavian waters." One of the officers told his superior. "Excellent, tell the fleet to maintain positions and go to Yellow Alert just in case." "At once Admiral." The officer saluted and ran off. "What do you think Katherine Sedai?" The Admiral asked the Aes Sedai accompanying the Combat Group. "I recommand maintaining positions here for now. Also we should contact the Azazian Taskforce nearby and ask if they require assistance. I believe they are....outgunned by the numerically superior Intelligent Neighbours." The Admiral nodded his head in agreement. "Very well. Ensign! Open a channel to the Azazian Command Vessel."

"At once Admiral! Channel open sir." "Azazian combat group, this is Admiral Neil of The White Tower Combat Group Alpha 1. Do you require assistance?"

To: Ivan Valovich, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Imperium
From: Jupp Link, Intelligent Neighbors High Command, Riyk

I am pleased that you have agreed to our proposals, and hope that you will honour them as we will. You seem like an honourable foe, and I agree that this matter would be best solved without conflict. However, given the nature of the tension in Euroslavia it seems unlikely that peace will prevail.

As for the Empire initiating a first strike against the commonwealth, it will never do such a thing. We will only attack when it has been proven that you have taken the first step against the UDM or any of its allies.

As for the hopes of peace between our nations, I think that the peace is close to breaking point. Let us pray that it does not shatter.

Airbase 101

Thirty C141B Planes taxied up the runway. On them sat 5,000 Imperial Paratroops, all ready to drop on to Daccat in a bid to turn the tide of war. Amongst them sat jeeps and Humvee-like vehicles, all capable of being air dropped.

The planes took off and headed toward Euroslavia. The flight would only last a short time, but already VA-2 'Demon' Interceptor (http://s7.invisionfree.com/Venom_Defense/index.php?showtopic=95) planes streaked around them, watching the skies for any disruptive elements.

Imperial Fleet III

The waiting VA-1 Merlin Fighters (http://s7.invisionfree.com/Venom_Defense/index.php?showtopic=4) recieved the green light. Twenty-five planes roared into the air, spiraling higher and then setting off in formation towards the target. This mission would be easy, no enemy fighters to be seen, only a few carrier planes...

Captain Jurgen rubbed at the bridge of his nose and tried not to think about what lay ahead.

The VSS Changeling was the first Vastivan SST allowed out of her territorial waters; more to the point, she was the first of her class, and the first to attempt such long voyages unsupervised.

Operating alone, she had managed to slip through the Chellian-held Gibraltar Straits without detection; from there, it had been a short but tense voyage to Euroslavia, shadowing first a combat fleet from New Endenia, then a merchant fleet from Macabees - though indeed, the Captain knew neithers flag, only their presence at just the right time.

The Changeling now had found a safe position at the ocean floor, mere miles from Euroslavia's coastline. Here she would register as nothing more then sea floor, provided she remained quiet. There had been a few moments of worry - more like hours, Jurgen noted silently - when he had ordered the launch of five SHARD drones, each in their own pod. Even use of the SVL chambers had given a case of angst. Yet, as yet, there was no sign any knew of her dark shadowy presence here.

He would try to get some sleep, he would try not to think of the time - a few more hours hence - when Changeling would raise her mast to gain the data from the SHARD drones.

If any still flew.

Sweat glaced to chills; he forced himself to strip, to wash quickly with the dry soapfoam, to take a green pill and relax into bed.

"A few more hours..." he thought to himself, as the drug took him to a dreamless slumber.

HMS Yorke

To Tokayev it seemed as if he was watching a flame eat away at the long fuse on a homemade bomb. Everything had started out well, back when the fuse was long, and his planes had launched in the clear, his dinner went well, even his morning tea was fine. Now, the next day, things were becoming more and more tense in this increasingly crowded sea. There was finally enough intelligence to provide an accurate view of the Intelligent Neighbors fleet – and large it was. And now there was the report of a fleet from New Endenia, which being a friendly force was a sight for some very sore eyes around the combat center not to mention the convoys and other fleets all set to arrive within the coming days. Maybe he would have his Jutland.

The communications center was located adjacent to the combat center in the Avin class carrier. Most other warships the two were integrated into one, however, the function of the carrier as a command station required more communications abilities than could be packed into the already jammed combat center. Lieutenant Commander Kelley Hayes did not mind so much, however, because her compartment was manned by herself and only her few ratings beneath her. Until this point, communications had been routine checks with the AWACs aircraft as well as with the twelve fighters overhead and the forces engaged in Blackout. Then she received the message from the New Endenia Fleet.

“Azazian combat group, this is Admiral Neil of the White Tower Combat Group Alpha 1. Do you require assistance?”

Hayes smiled as she realized the fight had become a little less one-sided. “Alpha Combat Group 1 this is His Majesty’s Ship Yorke reading loud and clear. Jolly good to hear from you, I daresay things are a tad tight over here. Please hold as I relay your call.” Hayes switched to the inter-center line. “Admiral, incoming communication from New Endenia Combat Group Alpha 1 actual.”

Tokayev made his way around the large display table and into the next room, “Thank you, commander.” He took the communication on a private call as soon as Hayes replayed the call and encrypted the line.

“Admiral Neil, good to hear you, this is Admiral Vladimir Tokayev of the Yorke Battle Group… We can surely use all the assistance we can get at this time. Currently Intelligent Neighbors is threatening our fleet, and although they haven’t prosecuted just yet, they have fighters airborne. Personally, I would imagine they’re going to be firing on us shortly. It’s what I would do… Any sort of aerial defences you could provide from your carriers would be welcomed as I am preparing to launch my own fighters with anti-ship missiles just in case they do attack, I want a counter-strike ready immediately.”

Several meters down, the hangar bay – which in parts stretched across all three hulls – was a hub of activity per Tokayev’s orders. Shortly before contact with Admiral Neil, Tokayev ordered the launch of 16 fighters for a possible counter-strike against the Intelligent Neighbors fleet. And so while the men carefully loaded the missiles onto the planes, and performed fueling of aircraft, the seas off Euroslavia became even more fraught with peril.

A small fish, an Atlantic Halibut to be exact swam lazily through the frigid waters off the coast of Holland. Through its ill-developed eyes the world around was nothing more than the odd splotch or shadow, occasionally it would catch sight of a bit of drifting seaweed, its favorite snack, but now up head in the distance and large black object appeared.

Intrigued the fish swam closer as the splotch resolved its-self into a solid mass moving with considerable speed. In the few seconds it took the Halibut to realize the object might be dangerous the lead destroyer of Convoy-89 thundered over it leaving nothing but pieces to be picked at by plankton.

From overhead it was plain to see that the ships were arrayed in Standard formation. A lone Yorktown class Carrier along with the merchantmen clustered in the middle while the destroyers and cruisers manend the exterior, farther out lone subs held the outer periphery.

At the speed it was going the convoy would reach Euroslavia within 3 days or so.

Encrypted Message

To: Unknown contact in CSD
From: Emperor Nikolaos Onassis

My intentions in Euroslavia are to bring stability to the nation. Do you think I will risk invading Euroslavia a second time? We where badly defeated with loses in the fifty thousands and I also lost my son in that invasion. My real intentions are to protect my Empire's economy and by doing that I need to bring stability to Euroslavia under a faction that led the nation perfectly through out history and that faction is the CSD.

I don't plan on retiring any soon so there won't likely be a regime change unless I am somehow defeated by some of those active rebel groups in Greece which is still very unlikely that it will happen. Anyways right now we are temporary allies that way we put it so lets leave the fighting between us after this war.

I am moving my forces into Southern Euroslavia but they will still be close to the Greek border. I don't want to move my forces in to fast and the UDM cutting out my army's supply lines. My forces include 50,000 Hoplites with 2,200 M1A2 Abram tanks and hundreds of artilleries, anti-air missiles and other rocket launchers. The Hellenic Air force will start to send fighters out to patrol Euroslavic skies and to shoot down any UDM fighters and to bombard on any enemy military outposts found. The Hellenic Navy will also send ships to protect CSD ports that will be needed to receive supplies.

By the way now that the Communist government is overthrown and there is not threat to you will you reveal your identity now to me?

-Emperor Nikolaos Onassis
Athens, Greece

Greece-Euroslavia Border

50,000 soldiers where being transported easily by humvees and other armored jeeps into Euroslavia. They have not met any resistance from UDM forces but the soldiers knew that once the UDM learns of the Greek military camp in Euroslavia they will try to attack. At the right side of the army rode Supreme General Atticus Onassis and General Metaxas on there black war horses.

Atticus chose Metaxas to help him lead this campaign since he was the only person he trusted in the army. After the death of George Papagos the Supreme General position was vacant. The rest of the Generals did not want Atticus as the next Supreme General because they believed he lacked wisdom in military tactics but Metaxas believed in him so did his father. Since his father was the Emperor he got the position he dreamed so long to have. Now he was on his first military campaign but it did not turn out how he wanted it to be. He was helping the Euroslavians which he hated with all of his heart for what they did to his brother. But he agreed to do this and fully cooperate with the CSD.
"Atticus, I think the best way to secure our supply lines is to find some hills that are perfect to fortify. We can leave around a hundreds of Hoplite garrisoned on the hill. We should fortify it just like the military Acropolises back in Greece."

"Good idea. We will also need to send out scouts to find any UDM forces near by. I am also afraid of the UDM's air power in this war. It haves most of the Euroslavic Air force and the CSD barely haves any. And we don't have enough time to set up an air base in Euroslavia and I doubt the CSD will lend us a air base."

"Then we will just have to rely on our anti-air missiles and hope our fighters can help us."

Atticus took out a map of Euroslavia and showed it at Metaxas.

"This is a perfect spot to start the camps. And those hills will give us enough protection. It's just a few kilometers away so we should be there in a few hours."

The army continued on trying to reach its destination as fast as possible and on an occasion a few fighters might fly over them for some support in case UDM fighters find the army.

Euroslavic National Waters

The 1st Naval Fleet, under the command of Admiral Stuckov, sailed through the Euroslavic waters. They where 5 miles off land and intended to stay that far. They where searching for UDM and ally ships to destroy.

1st Naval Fleet

-6 Curtis Fabus Class Battleships
-9 H.N. Greco Class Carrier (Carrying 150 carrier versions of the F-18 fighters each)
-30 Arleigh Burke AEGIS Destroyer.
-30 Ticonderoga Class Cruisers.
-15 General Purpose Gunboats.
-9 Virginia Class Future Attack Submarine.
-9 Trident II Class Ballistic Missile Submarines.
-6 Command Ship

Multiple aircraft approaching Euroslavian Air Space.

Identifying aircraft……… aircraft identified as relative to Independent Hitmen origin.

Sending acknowledgement of arrival…..
“Your aircraft have been identified of Independent Hitmen origin. It is requested that you proceed with your landing at the Arcadian International Airport, landing space number three, which will be slightly north-east of the direction you are at currently. Change direction, and land immediately, where you will be greeted by CSD representatives.”

Once the first aircraft landed, the signal was given to the rest of the support aircraft that it was safe to land. Already, support had begun to arrive, and the morale of the CSD as a whole was increasing even more, if that were possible. Even without the aid of allies, the CSD was able to send the UDM forces in full retreat from Arcadia. It was known that the retreating forces weren’t the full amount of the army that the UDM had to call its own, but still… a victory was a victory, no matter the circumstances.

CSD leadership had been present for the landing of the allied aircraft, and awaited the representative from Independent Hitmen to proceed over to them to continue discussion of further coordination between the CSD and their nation.

A tall man, wearing a suit approached one of the men who looked like he may have been leading the mission, and began to speak.

“Welcome to Euroslavia! It is unfortunate that you have your first glimpse of our nation in such a terrible state, however that cannot be helped. We thank you for your continued support of our faction, and we certainly hope that our coordination and our efforts can bring back the return of a stronger, united Euroslavia. Let’s continue back to Arcadia so that we can plan some sort of attack. Azazia has already released its plan to effectively eliminate all communication in Valua, between the UDM, leaving it completely paralyzed, but we’ll get into more depth once we arrive there. Representatives from Azazia, the CSD, New Endenia, and Independent Hitmen will discuss ways of removing the UDM from Euroslavia once and for all.”

The CSD representative looked at the Independent Hitmen representatives, and motioned for them to enter one of the limos that was waiting there.

“We need your strategic commanders to follow us for the continued discussion, while the rest of your support team can remain here, and get acquainted with the rest of our troops when they arrive to assist in transportation of the support to a smaller airport, closer to the battlefront.”

“Admiral Neil, good to hear you, this is Admiral Vladimir Tokayev of the Yorke Battle Group… We can surely use all the assistance we can get at this time. Currently Intelligent Neighbors is threatening our fleet, and although they haven’t prosecuted just yet, they have fighters airborne. Personally, I would imagine they’re going to be firing on us shortly. It’s what I would do… Any sort of aerial defences you could provide from your carriers would be welcomed as I am preparing to launch my own fighters with anti-ship missiles just in case they do attack, I want a counter-strike ready immediately.”

"A pleasure Admiral Vladimir, our fleet stands ready to assist you in this conflict against UDM and her supporters. The White Tower is about to declare war on the UDM soon. I will be placing the White Fleet on high alert and will be scrambling jets over straight away." With that Admiral Neil signaled to his officers. "Red Alert, Red Alert, begin deploying fighters immediately. This is not a drill. Send Alpha, Beta and Gamma Wings to assist Azazia's fleet now and contact the Black Tower Military Command for additional reinforcements now!"

"At once admiral!"

Slowly the White Fleet made their way towards the Azazian fleet to provide assistance, fighters launched one after another from the decks of the WhiteStar and Peacemaker. Around the two carriers, the escort ships begun arming both their long and short range Anti-Air missiles and their Anti-Ship missiles. "Admiral, all Wings are in the air, Alpha, Beta and Gamma are moving towards the Azazian Fleet."

"Excellent Commander."


The White Tower

-Emergancy Session Of The Hall Of Sitters-

"Who here will stand with me to declare war on the United Democratic Movement and her allies?" Announced the Amrylin Seat to the Hall. "The CSD requires our assistance now! No more must we merely stand at the side delivering weapons to them, we need to take a more harden stance against them now!"

"What you are proposing the White Tower do? Never has the Tower Guard been deployed outside the New Endenia, are you going to break it now?" Demanded Romanda Sedai. "Yes I am! Euroslavia need our aid now and we are no longer going to sit on the side lines and watch!"

Listening to the Amrylin Seat passionately laying out her plans concerning the Euroslavian Crisis, The Hall of Sitters were swayed to her side. Soon one by one the Sitters stood in support of the Amrylin Seat. "Thank You, with the support of the Hall Of Sitters, I now declare war on the United Democratic Movement, our White Fleet Combat Group there request additional reinforcements, therefore i am deploying 4 more combat groups to assist them immediately."

Two more bodies were found, face down in the street. The last "leaders" of any sort of Pro-Communist coup had met their maker - or makers, as the case might have been.

Witnesses, however, were not to be found. Both bodies showed signs of long torture, and both had had their left thumb removed at the first joint. The meaning of this gesture was unknown... to most.

Elsewhere, "Team Six" finished its evacuation and left, leaving behind only a sanitized house, ready for more renters. Within the hour, its membership would be headed towards the border, to gain Vastiva some information about the coming storm.

Colonel Johnson was surprised at the limo, but got in along with his J-3 Operations Officer, Major Davis.

Both kept their pistol belts with them but removed their body armour and placed it on the seat in the middle of them, much to their amusement. The man in the suit looked slightly less amused and so they put on their straight faced parade ground look.


Meanwhile at the airport the Delta men began to move out and mix with the local troops. To their pleasure they found that most were familiar with their weapons and had a reasonable state of equipment. Within an hour they had begun teaching some of the more promising men how to use the Stinger III SAM's and had moved several to vantage points around the airport. Yet more were being trucked off to a CSD military depot whilst the transport aircraft continued to touch down.

The Army Special Forces team had mounted up on their HMMWV's and had driven out after the limo's heading towards the CSD base whilst the technicians began to reassemble the helicopters that were being wheeled out of their transports.


IHS Black Prince, Isomer Class Carrier and Flagship of Task Force 4

Admiral Jack Benson strode out of the air-conditioned gangway and onto the side of the flight deck. His baseball cap fluttered slightly in the wind that was going across the deck at nearly 47knots. A strong wind of nearly 15 was helping the carrier launch aircraft for her BARCAP patrol as she neared the Euroslavian coast.

From his position Admiral Benson could see the flat-top of Revenge launching aircraft as well, an S-3I Viking lifted off the deck as he watched and headed out to help the ASW pickets. It was followed by the sleek shapes of a pair of F-22S Sea Raptor's that rocketed up towards the current BARCAP aircraft. Inside their missile bays hung live ordinance, not the practice missiles they had been using five days before.

Even though this was only a four carrier group, it numbered some 410 fixed wing combat aircraft that would and could punch a hole in almost anything at sea. They had tactics for dealing with enemy aircraft, and with long range bomber support probably availiable from the IH mainland it looked very promising for the task force to blast a way through for the two army divisions that were on the large transports that sat on the other side of the carriers, furthest from the threat axis.

Submarines provided an outer picket, followed up by frigates on outer picket and then destroyers and cruisers closer in. A single Aasimar Class Battleship was providing a missile launch platform as well as the option for a beach bombardment should the need become apparent.

The eight carriers of the combined fleet were now the centre of a flurry of action, with a quarter of the total planes scrambling into the air. Twenty-five planes roared of each carrier in rapid succession, wheeling in the air like a huge flock of birds.

All of a sudden they wheeled away, speeding at mach 4 toward their not too distant target. On board each was two Hex III (http://s7.invisionfree.com/Venom_Defense/index.php?showtopic=82) anti shipping missiles, as well as four Shocker (http://s7.invisionfree.com/Venom_Defense/index.php?showtopic=78) A2A missiles, and two Wave Skua (http://s7.invisionfree.com/Venom_Defense/index.php?showtopic=76) anti shipping missiles. This was a big job, and needed to work, first time.

Back in the midst of the fleet, ships were being readied to fire the first barrage at the Azazian fleet. Hundreds of missiles were readed, and soon all that was needed to unleash an attack unlike any before it was a single word.

"Go."

Flames erupted all over the fleet, explosions could be heard way off. A cloud of missiles screamed into the air, buzzing like angry hornets, and streaked after the planes, repidly catching and overtaking them. The fleet stood still for a moment, then started it's laborious move toward the Azazian position, trying to bring it into range of the wave skua missile and the naval guns. The layout of the fleet was standard, with the carriers spaced around in the centre, and submarines protecting the perimeter. Brand new stealth-ships, the SeaSnake Class (http://s7.invisionfree.com/Venom_Defense/index.php?showtopic=112) destroyers led the fleet, silently thrusting towards the fight.

The Admiral watched from his command ship, noting with awe the power he commanded. With this power he could be Emperor of Intelligent Neighbors...

When the two-hundred Merlin planes were around 180km from the Azazian fleet they launched a barrage of one Hex III missile each at the enemy, forming a second wave that would hit a short while after the barrage from the fleet, hopefully catching the enemy in the open. Unlike normal procedure they carried on, following their missiles into the fray.

---
(OOC (sorry!))

Missiles in wave 1:
200 Hex III missiles, all programmed to strike at the biggest ships first, then the smaller ones.

Missiles in wave 2:
200 Hex III missiles, all programmed to strike at the biggest ships first, then the smaller ones.

Total number of inbound merlin planes: 200
---

HMS Yorke

Captain Benjamin Ramsey sat calmly in his seat, made of polished steel supports and rich, royal blue synthetic upholstery. A steaming cup of tea occupied the cup holder on the right armrest and some papers sat in his lap. Ramsey was the commanding officer of the HMS Yorke reporting only to Tokayev, who was asleep in his cabin. Ramsey had suggested to the man that he retire for a short period since he had been up for many hours straight. He was afraid, however, that he would need to be woken soon as the fleets from Intelligent Neighbors were approaching quickly.

“Captain, satellites report enemy fights now 50km from exclusion zone.”

And with that simple report he knew that the time of peace for his nation had ended. Maybe not immediately, but within the next hour or so many thousands on both sides would be dead. May whatever gods we all believe in have mercy on our souls. “Communications, get me the Admiral’s stateroom. Commander Delaney, sound general quarters, all men to their battle stations if you will.”

“Aye, sir.” As the combat center’s lighting switched from white to red the hulls of every ship in the fleet echoed a similar message. “General Quarters, General Quarters. All hands to Battle Stations. This is not a drill. Repeat this is not a drill.” Following Delaney’s words, and the words of other executive officers on other ships, klaxons screamed out to every man and woman, prompting them to drop their current duties and prepare the ship for full combat – defensive and offensive.

Down below, the small phone in Tokayev’s stateroom rang, disturbing the admiral from his slumber. The man grumbled, but rose smartly and grabbed the receiver from the hook. “Tokayev.”

“Admiral, Captain Ramsey. Satellites report enemy fighters at now 45 kilometers from exclusion zone. Ship is at battle stations.”

“Standard protocol for enemy infiltration. I will be up in a minute, have the chief prepare some tea.”

Above the fleet a combat air patrol secured the skies of the fleet. With the sounding of general quarters the Azrael fighters checked their weapon systems to ensure optimum conditions for firing. A lone fighter flew ahead of the group to the edge of the exclusion zone, directly in the path of the oncoming fighters. The pilot knew it could be his last duty ever performed if the Intelligent Neighbors meant to bring death and destruction. But he would do his duty, and his comrades would tell his wife and daughter that the man died with honour.

The Yorke’s combat center sprang into action as Delaney barked orders that brought first all defensive weapon systems online, and then the offensive systems. The remaining complement of serviceable aircraft also were launched and the fleet was made ready for combat. “Communications,” Delaney ordered, “open frequency broadcast to the inbound aircraft and the enemy fleet.” He stared at the LCD, bringing him real satellite data on the entire battle. The collision of two juggernauts it would be, as the firing on the Royal Navy would surely provoke the allied fleets supporting the Yorke into action. At least he hoped they would stand by their words and honour their pledges.

“Frequency ready, Captain.”

“Inbound fighters. You are approaching the 400km exclusion zone of the Royal Navy. If you do not reverse course immediately, we will open fire. Repeat, you are approaching the 400km exclusion zone of the Royal Navy. If you do not reverse course immediately, we will open fire.” Delaney used his hands to cut his throat, the frequency was closed immediately. “They get that?”

“I put it out on a broad range of frequencies. Probably the whole damn battle zone heard it.”

“Well then, they know we won’t be pushed around.” Delaney turned as he heard loud sharp clicks from what could only be Tokayev’s polished shoes. Indeed, the admiral appeared in front of him, dressed not in the usual combat dress, but in the full regalia of formal dress. “Admiral on deck, he has the conn.”

Tokaeyev nodded at Delaney, impressed with the man’s work. If he survived, he would make a good admiral some day. “Communications, send messages to the commanders of the,” he glanced down at the table’s LCD screen, finding the nearest friendly fleets. “Send word to Admiral Neil, the commander of the Independent Hitman fleet, and the Greek fleet. Tell them that we require any and all assistance they can provide immediately, attack appears imminent. Then, encrypt a message to the Admiralty with full status report. Captain Delaney, I assume outer frigates are still running dark?”

“Yes, Admiral. The frigates haven’t had active detection on the entire time. They should be a hole in the dark to radar systems; however, satellites have picked up Intelligent Neighbors ships that are also hidden from radar. Length of approximately 180 meters, estimated to be guided missile destroyer or light cruiser. Aside from that, it appears they are utilizing American hulls – Ticonderoga class and Arleigh Burke class. Their carriers, however, are of a unique design. No real data.”

“Good work, Captain.”

“Admiral,” the communications officer interrupted the small briefing, “I have open frequency ready for CSD fleets.”

“Very good. Put me on.”

To the Commanders of the Fleets of
New Endenia
Independent Hitmen
Greece

At this perilous hour, Intelligent Neighbors readies its fleet to presumably launch an attack against this HMS Yorke for supporting the CSD in this conflict. Greatly outnumbered, I must ask for your help in defeating this enemy should they in fact provoke such action. I know most of you have never even heard of the Commonwealth, however, I ask you in the name of defending the CSD that you come to our aid. If you choose not to, I wish you God speed for when this enemy comes to sink you.”

End

Tokayev glanced about the combat center. Although many of the crew had seen combat months ago. They had at that time met and defeated a fleet of equal capability and of equal numbers. Now, while Intelligent Neighbors used some advanced weaponry, from what he could tell the Commonwealth perhaps enjoyed a slight advantage. However, it was summarily negated by the sheer size of the oncoming ships. And he saw in the eyes and the souls of each person present that they too realized this.

Tokayev walked over to the shipboard speaker system. “Communications, patch me through to the fleet.” He waited for the signal, and nodded his thanks when it was given. In every ship, and on the seas of the fleet Tokayev’s quiet, but calm voice could be heard.

“Ladies and gentlemen. For centuries, the Commonwealth has defended the rights of her own. The Commonwealth has defended its monarchy, its government, its rights and liberties, its trade and its assets. Never before this new era, however, have we been called upon to defend those who cannot defend themselves. In this new era, we are the shield of a new government – one that promises to bring freedom and prosperity to a people who have not known such freedom and prosperity for many years. They have asked for our aid, and we will give it as honourable men and women. As an honourable nation.

“Indeed, today, we put our lives on the line for fellow human beings, not of our own descent. We risk our lives in the noblest of endeavours, in defending the rights of others to live as we live. To live free from fear and tyranny and oppression. And they, ladies and gentlemen, officers and ratings. The government of Euroslavia could not have picked a finer crew to do this. From the Yorke to the Bonifice the Royal Navy has selected you and trained you because you are the best the Commonwealth has to offer.

“And when you do your duties. When you perform them as admirably as I know you will, the world too will realize the awesome power of the Commonwealth. And more importantly, the valour, courage, and honour of all of you. There is no nobler sacrifice than to give your life so another man or woman may live.

“I cannot promise you that you shall all return. For when the enemy crosses into our exclusion zone, they have declared war upon the Commonwealth. They are surely to be a fearless and courageous enemy in their own right, however, they are cowards and send eight carriers to deal with our one. Their commanders must know your tenacity, and they must know that we will give them hell. For should we all lose our lives today. It will not be in vain. The damage we will inflict will save the people of Euroslavia from that much hardship.

“Today is our day of destiny. In the end our nation and our cause will prove victorious, and all will remember what you have done here today. You are the very best of the Commonwealth and I expect nothing short of the best. God speed. Long live the Commonwealth and the Emperor.” Tokayev cut his sound and signaled for Rule Britannia to be played. Ever since independence, the Commonwealth Republic of New Britain had held the melody as the anthem of the Royal Navy and the Commonwealth. In time, the Commonwealth had abandoned the tune, but the Royal Navy maintained the tune as its own anthem.

And as the bows of each ship sliced into the rises and swells, the hearts of the men soared to Tokayev’s words and the crescendo of the recorded trumpets and horns.

If the Intelligent Neighbors fighters didn’t turn around with the last warning, the Royal Navy was going to war.

Official Communique to Wirraway

Your offer of one billion dollars is quite sufficient. As of now, military equipment is not an issue, but in the event of a shortage, we will file a request for aid from your nation. When it comes to the actual delivery of the humanitarian aid, I suggest that your convoy be heavily armed as the seas around Euroslavia are swamped full of ships. Getting around them would be nearly impossible. In the event of an attack upon your convoy, our condemnation of the sinking of a neutral ship will be filed, and an official grievance will be filed against the aggressor. We pray that such an event does not occur, but we cannot insure you that it won’t.


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


Meanwhile, in the office of the temporary leader of the CSD…

“It seems that Wirraway will be sending humanitarian and financial aid to us.” he shrugged his shoulders, and a worried look came upon his face.

“They’ll probably get pulled into the civil war. There are enemy ships all over the place, and there’s always a chance that one of our allies will mistake them for an enemy. The convoy is bound to be sunk, bringing Wirraway into the actual war.”

“Let’s pray that it never happens. We don’t want to bring any more nations into the war. There’s already too much bloodshed happening. I wish that this war could have been avoided…but alas, there’s no use worrying about things that can’t be changed. We can only hope that this ends soon, with minimum casualties, and that the UDM realizes its fate.”

Secret Communication to Azazia

We understand that Operation Blackout will be happening quite soon, and we pray for its success as well. Putting an end to this conflict as early as possible is one of our main goals, with hopes that many lives can be saved, especially when it comes to our allies. We can only hope that most of the casualties say within Euroslavia, and its own people, not that we are hoping for casualties, it’s just the fact that our allies’ troops are fighting for a country that they don’t fully understand. I certainly hope that you understand what I’m trying to relay, as I’m sure it can be taken in many different perspectives. In easier terms, we don’t like it when people going out of their way to save another nation get hurt. It’s something that is in the back of our minds every day, ever since the civil war began to brew.

Again, we must thank you for your aid, and we hope that with the addition of your aid, as well as New Endenia and Independent Hitmen, we can take back our country, and put an end to all of this.

IHS Black Prince

Admiral Benson was now in the CIC having just returned from his nap. An officer appeared from the next door communications room.

"Sir, just recieved a communication from the Azazian fleet. They are also supporting the CSD in this situation, and we show their fleet to be heavily outnumbered as they say."

"Thank you Commander, give me the message"

The man handed over the message and stepped back waiting for a reply as the Admiral scanned the page. He raised his eyes from the sheet and spoke

"IN. We have had altercations with them before."

He cast his mind back to the Dr_Twist civil war when he had been a Captain commanding a cruiser that had taken the wounded from that fight. However he continued, knowing that they had been worthy and honourable opponents and now were regional neighbours.

"Bring the Task Force to General Quarters, start lighting up the SAM radars. They could be coming for us as well. Estimated distance to the closer elements of the IN fleet?"

"Around 800km to their outer pickets by our last calculations Sir. Figure about another 25km to their carriers. However we have been informed that their position is changing slightly to move in on the Azazian fleet."

"Distance to them?"

"Just under 400km Sir."

"Right. Start shooting off the birds. I want the decks clear. The attack birds are loaded for Air-to-Surface correct?"

"Aye Aye Admiral"

"Good send half our fighter with the attack birds towards the Azazian fleet. If IN makes a move they have authority to defend our new allies by what ever means necessary. Standard support for our aircraft, and launch some SH-60's for pickup incase we need it."

"Aye Aye Admiral, I'll inform the Azazians that the navy is on the way."


On the Decks of the four carriers aircraft began to shoot up.

The standard BARCAP patrol was added too by another pair of E-2CI's and fully half the Task Force's fighters, all F-22S Sea Raptors.

Meanwhile three E-2CI's lead the air armada towards the Azazian fleet. Squadrons of F-22S formed up behind them followed by the FA/18E Super Hornets.

The F-22S had a mixture of 2 AIM-9X Sidewinders and 6 AIM-120D AMRAAM's whilst the FA/18s carried a pair of AMRAAM's for self defence and AGM-84I Harpoon's for offensive action against enemy surface combatents.

The Wirrawayan convoy cautiously entered Euroslavian terrirtorial waters. For the past few hours the radar control systems aboard the massive AEGIS cruisers had almost been overhwhelmed by the sheer number of targets in the area and the gigantic display of Euroslavia was hardly visible underneath the mass of red and blue target tracks.

Admiral Von Smoot paced in his stateroom, mulling over the situation at hand. His orders clearly stated that he was to under all circumstances, short of being fired upon, that he was not supposed to engage in any action whatsoever. On paper it was strictly humanitarian convoy and they High Command wanted to keep it that way. But he had already seen action ahead between IN forces and those of the nations supporting the CSD. There was no way to get into a Euroslavian port except by running the gauntlet.

He decided that the best way to approach the situation was to to let everyone in the area know he was there so there woudl be no mistakes.

Moments after he gave this order the 4 AEGIS crusiers turned their gigantic SPY-1D radar onto max power, lighting up everything in a 400 mile radius with over 5 Megawatts of raw power.

The threat board momentarily tried to cope with the vast amoint of new data but simply could not and went into reset mode.

The convoy sailed on, radiating at a prodigious rate, not only form the shipboard radar but the airborne Hawkeyes. Then suddenly all radar turned off, having surveyed the situation and letting everyone knwo it was there, the convoy vanished from the electronic spectrum, now just a group of ships sailing the ocean bluw.

The limos drove off from the airport with the representatives from Independent Hitmen occupying them. There were many things to be planned in this meeting that was going to take place, such as the coordination of the allies of the CSD to destroy the UDM and their allies. If each nation acts independently of the rest, there is the possibility that the war could be lost. For the sake of the CSD, the citizens of Euroslavia, and the nation itself, every soldier needs to work together with the rest of the allies to secure a victory here. If this can be done, the CSD will take power, and the nation will be safe, but its going to be much more complicated then that.

Securing the city of Valua, as well as the seas around Euroslavia is the most difficult task at hand. With enemies such as Intelligent Neighbors aiding the UDM, there was no telling how bad it could become.

There was also the question of whether the retreating UDM soldiers fled back to Valua to build-up some sort of legitimate defense there, or if they fled to a city closer to them, and conquered it. Another fear was that genocide of some form has taken place, yet again. Daccat was the prime example, and would forever be remembered in Euroslav history as one of the most brutal slaughters in history.

At the arrival of the limos to the main military base in Arcadia, the representatives of the CSD who greeted their allied counterparts from Independent Hitmen stepped out of their transportation and told their allies to follow them. There was a meeting hall in the southernmost part of the military base, where any sort of attack or defense would be planned. Here, representatives from Azazia, New Endenia, Euroslavia, and Independent Hitmen would map out their strategy against their foes.

"This is our main military base in Arcadia. As you can see, we are continuously mobilizing against any possible military strike from the UDM, while we are getting ready to make a coordinated attack against them. Offensive and defensive strategies at the same time. For now, we will be heading to the meeting hall in the southern part of the military base to coordinate more effectively, however, tours of the base are probably in line for after everything is planned out."

Two humvees pulled up to where the representatives of both Independent Hitmen and the CSD.

"This will now be our mode of transportation. It seems...more in tune with whats going on." the representative of the CSD gave a large chuckle, and then hoped in his humvee, heading for the meeting hall.

“Admiral, radar contacts on arc from 240 to 270 degrees. Talons report humanitarian convoy.”

“Admiral, EM detection, AEGIS radar system – search only, maximum known power output.

“Admiral, communications from the Independent Hitmen fleet. Their fleet is making way to assist us. Fighters en route, identified as F-22 and F/A-18 variants.”

Tokayev said nothing as the reports streamed in from all his duty stations. Contact had been established with Independent Hitmen and their aircraft were in the air – and with four carriers to his one they would be more numerous. But the most important part was the coordination, uncoordinated the IN aircraft would make mincemeat of the combined CSD fleet’s own air cover. That could not happen, at least without inflicting heavy casualties on the Intelligent Neighbors fighter aircraft. Which presumably were also going to act as strike aircraft. “Communications, secure line to Admiral Benson and Neil. I’ll take it in the conference center. I am going to inform them of the plan.”

Secret IC

Gentlemen, I’ll make this brief, but here’s the plan of attack. Even with your six carriers and my one, we are still outnumbered by an air wing, though thankfully this situation is a far cry from what I was looking at a short time ago.

However, we need a central plan of attack. What I propose is the following. Intelligent Neighbors utilizes advanced aircraft – this we all know. However, there are some things advanced electronic systems cannot ignore. Electromagnetic pulses. My fighters are armed with EMP warhead missiles, and I propose that should IN breech our exclusion zone, they will launch these weapons at their aircraft. Now, I fully realize that these aircraft maybe be hardened. However, I believe that the aircraft of my Royal Navy are on par with those of IN – meaning that the best way to prevent massive EMP damage is to shut off the systems until the wave and its aftershocks have dissipated. This will give us perhaps one opportunity in order to inflict massive casualties before they reach us, at which point EMP weapons are out of the question.

My Azrael fighters – 40 of them, there'd be more but they have been engaged in another mission – will loose one EMP missile each at the mass of fighters inbound. They will simultaneously detonate. Normally most EMP shielded planes – like IN’s and my own, perhaps yours – could fly right through this, merely having to shut down their electronics and praying that the peripheral systems such as maneuvering controls aren’t badly damaged. However, immediately after the EMP missiles are loosed, my aircraft will fire their long-range NX-MRAAM-2 (http://s7.invisionfree.com/Merchants_of_Azazia/index.php?showtopic=11) missiles. Mach 4.6, highly maneuverable for their speed, and a range of over 200 kliks. Each plane has six such missiles onboard, and will fire all six. The missiles will stagger themselves behind the EMP NX-MRAAM-3 (http://s7.invisionfree.com/Merchants_of_Azazia/index.php?showtopic=12)s and in the wake of their detonation, they will prosecute the IN fighters, which will have had to shut down their radar and threat detection systems as they are all electronically worked. That provides us with 240 missiles targeting their 200 hundred aircraft.

I make no illusions that the launch will be one-hundred percent effective. This is where I need your assistance in my fleet’s air defence. Currently, we are the closest to Intelligent Neighbors and presumably their first target. My fighters will land, refuel, and rearm as quick as possible. However, in concentrating such firepower, I will lack air cover for a brief amount of time – which is where I would greatly appreciate your Raptors, Hornets, and your fighters Admiral Neil.

Since my fleet has drawn the luck of being the first of the CSD fleets to be attacked, I am sure we will receive the brunt of the assault. At this time my fighters are readying to engage the enemy at 200km of my fleet when IN crosses the line at 400km. This will still give us a comfort zone to gauge the success of my counter-strike. At that time, the defence of this fleet is dependent on your fighters and my anti-air missiles. The time has come, however, when I must go and direct this battle… and what a glorious and tragic battle it shall be. God speed, gentlemen. Here’s to hoping we can have a drink together in Arcadia at the end.

End Transmission

Tokayev walked from the conference center across the corridor into his combat cabin. Opening his top drawer of his dresser he rummaged until he found a cross of the Russian Orthodox Church. He knelt before his bed and closed his eyes. “Lord, have mercy on those who die by my hands on this day.”

With a sigh and a tradition sign of the cross, he returned to the combat center. “Status?”

“IN fighters have yet to cross the exclusion zone and have not responded. Our fighters are merely awaiting for them to cross the line.”

IHS Black Prince

Admiral Benson finished listening to the communication. Inwardly he swore because his aircraft would not be able to resist the EMP and so would have to hang back and provide overhead cover for the Azazian carrier group as instructed. Normal procedure would have been to close and prosecute the contacts, however he fully recognized the need for co-ordination here to defeat this attack.

" Commander, send word for our aircraft to set up a BARCAP over the Azazian Fleet. At this time they are not, repeat not, weapons free. Rules of Engagement Option Charlie now exists for the entire fleet. "

Option Charlie meant that no WMD's would be fired from the Task Force unless it was engaged by them. This was the standard ROE but it still needed to be spread throughout the fleet just to ensure that no commander got the wrong idea, however remote a possibility that might have been.

Now the SAM boss onboard the Guided Missile Cruiser IHS Orion ordered his systems to full power for a thirty second sweep of the area, whilst the ASW boss on the Destroyer Martin had his pickets start using a mix of active and passive sonar for a certain time instead of their previous only passive mode.


The fighters changed their course slightly, with the radar birds out infront being caught slowly as they came closer to the Azazian fleet.

Using passive 12-point gear, the Changeling "watched" the engagement occuring south of her actual position - the feed down the 'long mast' from a SHARDs and from the shore locations gave a huge triangle of data feeds. That nothing could be "directly" sensed would make little difference - the types of sensors used actively, the general activity, and the sounds penetrating the ocean would be enough to give some indication of who was doing what to whom.

She sat quietly at the bottom, her crew busilly quiet at their stations. Not a single unnecessary sound would be made - regardless of the fact even beating a tin pot against an inner wall wouldn't bother an angelfish swimming right next to the outer wall.

Discipline was discipline.

Vice-Commodore Peter Von Smoot reclined in his high-backed executive chair, one of the few luxuries one could bring aboard a man of war, it was beautifully crafted from the finest Argentinian leather and Romanian hardwoods and stood in stark contrast to the otherwise utilitarian appereance of his cabin.

Von Smoot rocked slowly back forth in chair while reading the transmission in his hand. Although it contained few words, its meaning was of much larger proportions. He read it once again to be sure and then set it down on his metal desk. He got up and began to pace his 20x15 rectangle of personal space.

So, those eggheads over at the State Department finnaly grew a pair, its time we took it to the commie's anyway. They don't want to get stuck on the sidelines again

The Peter had been here years before as a Destroyer captain and had watched helplessly as the Euroslvia fell to Communists, his commander hamstrung by a cautious foreign policy, but now it was different.
He looked at the paper again, still not believing that he had been ordered into action.

I just wish they had decided earlier. This changes everything, instead of shepardinf these bledding merchants we get to sink our teeth into something

He smiled wickedly and sat down again goingover the forces at his disposal

One Yorktown Carrier, 2 AEGIS Cruisers, 4 Arleigh Burke Class destroyers, 2 Seawolfs and 8 damm Merchantmen. Not even a full squadron, not even half a squadron, what does old Harry Brown expect me to do, throw myself to the dogs? I can't take on anything expect maybe a small gulf state with these ships.

At least the Rotterdam has a full air wing now, with all the foulups and problems in procurement its a wonder they finished refitting with the navalized F-22 in under 3 years. I'll have to leave a destroyer and a sub bakc with the merchantmen unless they can sneak through into Euroslavia...his mind filled with visions of delighted radar operators targeting missile after missile onto the cumbersome cargo ships, and the idea was dismissed as quickly as it came

The Von Smoot came to the decision that the best course of action would be to contact the Azazian and IH fleets to work out how he could cooperate with their much larger assets in the area.

He dictated the contents to his personal valet who then sent it off to the other fleets.

ENCRYPTED TRANSMISSION TO AZAZIAN AND IH FLEETS

This is Vice-Commodore Peter Von Smoot of the Wirrawayan Concordiat Navy. I have been directed to engage and destroy all USD and USD supporters. Although my force is small I believe that I can be of assistance to you in your fight against IN assets.
I have 1 Yorktown class carrier (50 F-22's), 2 Ticonderoga Class AEGIS cruisers cruisers, 3 Arleigh Burke Class Destroyers and 1 Seawolf Class SSN at my disposal. Please inform me if you have any use for my forces. If neccesary the Concordiat will send more.

HMS Yorke

The seas of Euroslavia held hundreds upon hundreds of ships, and tens of thousands of men and women. All of it seemingly balanced on the razor thin edge of a sword. With the Intelligent Neighbors fighters moving towards his exclusion zone the balance was tipping. Tokayev reviewed the intelligence before him once more, the Independent Hitmen were to his east , closer to him were the forces of New Endenia, off the coast were the Greek ships, and now to his north west was the Wirraway fleet that had sailed between the poised fleets of Intelligent Neighbors and the Royal Navy.

The amount of firepower afloat, aloft, and submerged in such a confined area was likely more than any of these nations had seen at any time in recent history. This battle, if IN forced his hand, would be epic in scope, and historic in legacy. Tokayev’s thoughts lingered on the brief thought of history – remembering his earlier thoughts of the Jutland, Salamis, and the countless other massive naval battles throughout history.

He was startled out of his thoughts with a slight tap on the shoulder. “Admiral,” Tokayev turned to see his communications officer with a piece of paper.

“Thank you.” The message was succinct and to the point. A trait he certainly admired as the time grew shorter and shorter. The fleet wasn’t large; it was comparable to his own minus his arsenal ship. However, it would even the score against the Intelligent Neighbors combined fleet. Eight carriers against eight carriers. The escorts surely added up to reasonable numbers that would provide the clear skies with thousands of titanium enshrouded missiles and their toxic rocket exhausts.

Finding that the position of the Wirraway forces would be advantageous in the coming battle he prepared a brief response.

Encrypted Transmission to Wirraway Secret IC

Vice-Commodore, this is Admiral Tokayev of the Royal Navy; your forces are certainly well-valued in this coming conflict. Regretfully, the Concordiat could not send forces in near enough time as the clock is counting in mere minutes at this point. However, your forces could prove to be extremely valuable. As it stands the IN fleet is located to the west and heading in an easterly direction towards my own fleet. To my east, behind my fleet the fleets of Independent Hitmen and New Endenia can be found. With your fleet to the north of the gap between IN forces and my own we effectively have a shield against IN forces from advancing towards USD-controlled shores.

In this coming battle, our two forces are likely to be hardest hit – and for that I apologize. However, if your Raptors can contain the flank of the approximately 200 IN fighters approach my fleet, then after the initial engagement where my fighters will launch a medium-range standoff strike against their fighters. In the wake of an EMP blast will come my advanced medium range missiles and hopefully deliver if not a crippling blow, a sizeable reduction in their forces. At that point, my aircraft will return to the Yorke for refueling and rearming and the fighters of IH and New Endenia will engage the remnants of the IN forces. If at that point, you can detach some of your fighters and approach the IN forces from the north. By my calculations this won’t be their entire aviation force, so it is critical to keep some in reserve – however I hope that we will inflict enough damage to drive a massive ship to ship engagement to the back of our counterpart’s mind.

God speed, Commodore.

End Transmission

Tokayev returned to the combat center, where the IN fighters were still approaching.

The mass of fighters spread out into battle formation as they approached the line thought to mark the boundries of Azazian sea territory. Nothing.

The pilots called to one another over the radio, wondering where the enemy had got to. Then Commander Vrett ordered them all to: "shut the damn hell up", and so they switched off their radios and got ready for the hell that awaited them. A single voice came over the radio, Commander Vrett: "Turn on your Battlefield Visualisation Systems and Stealth aids, we need to do this quietly."

To an lone observer, the mass of planes seemed to vanish before his eyes, leaving nothing but a shimmer in the air. To radar systems and the naked eye, the planes were very nearly invisible.

The 200 Merlin fighters dove earthward, pulling up and flying close above the clear, blue water. They altered course slightly, turning away from the target and arcing around, hoping to confuse the Azazian's predicting their course.

~~~
To: UDM
From: Imperial Fleet
The situation has demanded a change of tactic, we can no longer hope to easily win the war at sea, especially since the intervention of the Independant Hitmen. They badly damaged some of our forces before, and we hope to repay them the favour. We will now be sending one of our carriers and a small task force to accomany our supply ships to the port in Daccat, currently being reinforced by paratroop divisions. The rest will attempt to eliminate the allied fleet opposing us. Hope to see you soon!
~~~

As the huge transport planes arrived over Daccat, the fighter escorts peeled off and began to provide covering fire. The doors of the planes opened, and white chute after chute emerged. Soon the air was filled with Imperial soldiers drifting slowly down towards the ground, toward their destiny.

The Commodore stood on the combat center of his flagship the WCS Rotterdam. Having drafted his communique he had turned to the task at hand. First on the agenda setting up a servicable perimeter around his fleet.

On the radar board he watched with satisfaction as his ships deftly arranged themselves in the standard comabt formation of Concordiat navy. His two Seawolfs stood out to the west on ASW duty while his 4 destroyers formed an arc around the front of the fleet. Farther back, his 2 cruisers were spaced equidistantly between the 4 destroyers and then finnally the Rotterdam.

Now how to deal with those fighters...look at them there must be over 200. But hell thats what they made the AEGIS for. Now how to minimi--

"Sir, a communication from the Azazians"

Von Smoot jumped away, startled, but quickly regained his composure. He turned to see the ensign still standing at attention holding the message.

“Thank you, Evers” he replied and took the message. He sat down and began to read and by the end he was thoroughly impressed by the Azazian commander’s foresight and guile. He drafted a quick reply.
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Encrypted Communique to Admiral Tokayev

I agree with your battle plan completely and will follow the instructions tasked to my fleet. From now on I think it would be our best interest to maintian radio silence unless the need is pressing. Good luck and better hunting.
-Commodore Peter Von Smoot
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After a terse series of orders the AEGIS cruisers went to full power and auto mode. The battle was now totally in the hands of hugely powerful shipboard computer as it began assigning targets to each of its missiles.

In the up-linked destroyer getting feeds from the cruisers the new images snapped onto their threat boards. All over the fleet hundreds of Standard Block IV SAM’s were readied for launch in the their VLS tubes.

In board the Rotterdam, 40 F-22s blasted away in the sky directed by an orbiting E-3c Eagle Eye. Basically an up-graded E-2 Hawkeye, it had more powerful radar and was much more stealth in its design, using the same techonology as the Comanche attack helicopter to mask its huge propeller. Alongside of it a Prowler ESM aircraft dutifully intercepted and logged the radio transmissions of the incoming aircraft.

All was going well until the IN aircraft suddenly dropped of the radar screens of the ships of the fleet and Eagle Eye. Now all that could be done was to use their last radar locations and radio transmissions to determine their course.

It was no problem for the fleet though, they knew that eventually the IN fighters would come to them whether they knew where they were or not, besides anything within 200 miles no matter how stealthy would show up under a full barrage of AEGIS radar. Although it might look like a bird it was better to be safe than sorry.

HMS Yorke

For what had seemed like days if not weeks the combat center on the Yorke had been transformed from a cramped but bright workplace to a suffocating cell of nerves on end, perspiration on the brows, and muttered prayers to gods. Tokayev’s giant LCD screen provided real up to the minute visual and radar information on the approaching fleet. Then, they were gone.

“Sir, enemy fighters have… disappeared!” an ensign near shouted, obviously in a panic.

Tokayev laughed – holding his internal fears at bay. “Calm yourself ensign. This was all basically expected. Remember, we’re going up an equal opponent this time, not the Lindimese or our neighboring Ticonderogas and Burkes.” Tokayev leaned down and pressed a few small keys, switching the types of sensor output that the fleet was able to view. “Our counterparts are very good. But they have crossed the line sadly. Secure, encrypted data burst to IH, Wirraway, and New Endenia. Provide them with satellite uplink protocol, codes, and authorization keys. The AEGIS system should be able to process our data feed if they tweak their systems right. Meanwhile, tell our fighters to fire EMP weapons, then NX-MRAAM-2s. Keep pickets off EM screens, passive systems only. They’d better be ready to start taking out their damn missiles if our friends don’t mop up the rest of ‘em”

On the screen below, Tokayev smiled as the satellites had shifted their output from visual and radar detections to a triple output of EM signal generation, thermal outputs, and unnatural aerial disturbance patterns. The enemy had masked their approach, and to any lesser of a counterpart they would do well, however, perhaps they hadn’t counted on the Royal Navy being prepared. Either way, they still had a bead on the inbound fighters… except their stealth maneuvering was a declaration of war.

Azrael Fighters 200km from Outer Picket Ships

The secure data burst to the lead aircraft was detected, unscrambled, decoded, and verified almost instantly by the onboard computer system. The lead pilot read the message, three simple words: Go. God speed.

Having instructed the crew before launch to maintain radio silence, he signaled with his hand the maneuver for weapons free. The Azrael fighters opened their payload doors, and loosed their EMP missiles at the inbound mass of… electronic air… since they couldn’t actually “see” the fighter aircraft. It was still enough for basic firing mechanisms.

At that point, the EMP missiles raced out towards the enemy fighters, guided through inertia and occasional data burst transmissions. They would detonate ahead of the fighters and either force them to shut down electronic systems if they had EMP detectors – at which point they’d be more than vulnerable to the following missiles. Or, they’d simply suffer catastrophic failures in mid-flight. And although they were the enemy, the lead pilot hoped for the sake of humanity that they were simply destroyed by the conventional missiles, so they could perhaps have a chance of ejecting.

Within seconds, the fighters has launched their sortie and headed back to the Yorke at supersonic speed, allowing the IH fighters to take their place and the survivors of the initial missile barrage. The lead pilot was the last to turn, he saw tiny contrails behind a few, and through his IR screen he could see tiny specs of heat – then again he wasn’t facing the front of the missiles which would have reduced IR characteristics.

He thought briefly about a gentlemanly warning to the enemy; a brief flash of his radar to alert them to their presence. But then, they had gone on stealth mode with what could only be the intent of a first-strike on the Yorke and her escorts. He shrugged inwardly, such was modern warfare. Cold and inhuman. Apparently, that was progress.

Merlin Fighters

Commander Vrett is feeling uneasy inside, being so shut off from his command centre left him with only his own aircraft's sensors to pick any enemy up. Nothing. "You would have thought they'd try to stop us", thought Vrakk, "damn fools".

They proceed en-masse toward the Azazian position, all quiet... Bepp, beep, beep! The airways suddenly spring into life, 200 pilots scream down their radios.

"SHIT! WE'VE GOT INCOMING MISSILES!"

"Pull up, pull up, split!"

"Crap! what the hell is happening!"

"Must be 300 missiles, two waves!"

"We're gonna die!"

"SHUT THE DAMN HELL UP!" Booms Vrett over the radio, instantly everyone quietens. "Groups one and two, fly with me, the rest of you, keep stealthed and split up, regroup as best you can after."

Vrett turns his plane toward the missiles, keeping his stealth systems active he rockets toward the first wave of missiles, knowing deep in his head this is what the Emperor would want. Groups one and two, his best men, follow him.

"For the Emperor!"

They begin to blast away at the wave of destruction with everything they have, fruitlessly. The first wave of missiles split as well, some screaming toward the fleeing planes. Behind them, the next wave turns and follows the Merlins.

Ten of the EMP missiles detonate on the fifty suicide planes, electromagnetic pulses billow out, discharging over the planes, a rippling skin of electricity sinks into the planes. The erupt in a spectacular fashion, detonating ordinance and systems alike, fifty flaming wreaks fall sadly toward the sea.

Further away, more EMP pulses take out the fleeing planes, cutting them to shreds. The second wave of missiles scream toward them, but are finding it hard to navigate with all the electronic disturbance and the frustratingly 'hidden' Merlins. Nevertheless, the huge barrage of 240 missiles overcomes this, and many planes are hit, flames and smoke billowing out, screams emitting from the radio's. White chutes open, drifting survivors down into the cold sea.

The remaining Merlin fighters, now considerably reduced in number, circle high above the carnage. The radio is silent, and now they form up, heading serenely away from the carnage toward the Azazian position, with a burning fire in their eyes. They would repay their collegues sacrifice.

(OOC Note: 38 surviving planes, out of 200. 162 destroyed planes, 116 pilots KIA, 46 MIA (ejected))

Now within striking range of the Azazian fleet, they all flip the switchon their deadly fleet killer, the Hex III. Ninety-two missiles streak away, following the returning Azazian planes back to the fleet (OOC: taking the same path, not stalking).

The raging Merlin pilots kick their planes into 'top gear' and scream after the missiles, muttering curses under their breath. They were not thinking about enemy air threats, all they wanted was to destroy that damn fleet. It was a good job that the Azazian fighters had no more missiles.

Imperial Navy

"Damn and blast! Two-hundred planes, gone?"

"Yessir, I don't know how, but reports from the mainland should arrive soon."

"F**k, F**k, F**k!"

Daccat

The paratroops landed securely, and in good formation. They quickly formed up and began to enter the city. Soon they were ordered to a halt, by way of a bullet pinging off the ground in front of them.

"Sniper, church tower" Whispers a NCO, before raising his rifle at the figure hiding up high.

The commander steps out into the open, and unrolls a flag, the flag of Intelligent Neighbors and the UDM combined. Then he calls out:

"We are the Imperial Forces of Intelligent Neighbors, we are here to help you destroy the Citizens Supporting Democracy. We come in peace."

The captain grinned, then added:

"Take me to your leader."

Commander Jeff Hayes was in the lead F-22S that had been launched from Black Prince and was also the Airwing Commanding Officer of the Task Force. Admiral Benson had tried to make him stay, but he was having none of it and had gotten into his F-22 before any of the other pilots had even reached the flight deck. Once in the cockpit he had adopted his call-sign "Gun-One".

Now on super cruise his flight of four were now infront of the E-2CI "Eagle Seven". To his left and right other flights of four had formed into a rough V-formation but where now coming on line with him.

He glanced quickly at the fuel display, half his fuel was gone but several Prowlers had been launched from the carrier carrying buddy store tanks to top the aircraft up when they turned. Another brief check at his weapons display showed all the missiles to be showing green. As his eyes swept over the other flight instruments on the HUD the radio began talking to him.

"Gun-One, enemy aircraft just went stealth. We are switching to Aquire mode to try and burn through their systems. Be advised you are now weapons free, repeat weapons free."

"Copy Eagle Seven, weapons free acknowledged."

He flicked a switch to the left of his joystick that armed all of his missiles as he also looked at the radar display that was being crosslinked from the AWAC's aircraft.

Streaking towards the fleet now nearly below him were nearly one hundred dots that had to indicate missiles. Behind them slightly slower came some more. These would fuzz in and out of picture but for the most part where not yet accurate enough to get missile lock on.

The missiles however where showing enough for the warbling tone in his ear to indicate that the AMRAAM's had lock on them. He selected two and opened the outer doors on his stealthy fighter whilst at the same time ordering his other aircraft to do the same.

""Gun flight, going Slammer on the Vampire's. All aircraft with two."

He listened in as the other three aircraft chimed in their response and then loosed off their missiles at the centermost inbound missiles.
The flights to his left and right fired at their corresponding inbound missiles whilst the rest of the F-22's came into missile launching position to fire a further 48 missiles at the inbound targets.

In total their was 92 AMRAAM's heading for 92 inbound's. There would be some leakers and so the allied fleet was warned of this as the aircraft began to break left and right to allow shipboard SAM's the chance to fire.

As they did this the radar birds were still trying to get a lock on the inbound fighter contacts that were sitting right behind their missiles, although hopefully some of the AMRAAM's would take them out as well.

When the aircraft had gotten to their positions again they launched a further two AMRAAM's each at the missile contacts before checking their IFF sensors to ensure that they were working correctly whilst simaltaniously knowing that they were probably in the flight paths of inbound missiles as well as outbound SAM's.

The Wirrawayan F-22 Raptor's having stayed well clear of the EMP pulses now dove onto the scattered Merlins witha predatory instinct that would make their namesake proud.

Major Rob "Buzz" Burns, was the flight leader and therefore had the glory of launching the first missile. As he closed in he flipped on his infra-red sensors which immediatly began picking up the engine blooms of the Merlins.

"Alright boys, I got 'em on IR and they're as hot as they come, here we go."

He pushed his throttles to the stops, rapidly closing the distance as the rest of his wing followed.

"Fox-1" he yelled as his Sidewinder 9-X acheived lock,

almost simultaneoulsy 40 other F-22 yelled their own missile status and with that the sidewinder streaked off towards their targets. The F-22 broke formation and began evasive manuever against any incomings.
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At this very moment the 10 F-22 held in reserve blasted off the Rotterdam. Although heavily laden with Harpoons, they quickly accerlerated towards the now aircraft starved IN fleet at over Mach 1, skimming the wavetops as they flew. Their nastiest trick however, was not there harpoons, it was the laser designator beacon each one would drop in passing the fleet.

Back aboard the Cruisers and Destroyers specially modified navalized Tomahawk missiles with TV seeker heads as opposed to the standard radar transmitters were being prepped for launch. After being fired they would home in the beacons and then begin searching for ship shapes that matched what they had imprinted in their memories, contuining its search pattern until it found a target or ran out of fuel.

HMS Yorke

Tokayev buckled himself into the command seat, well within the ships central hull. When his missiles struck, he would have stirred the flight of hornets already determined to sting him. “Air threats, if you please.”

On a single panel above the one of the many consoles the image changed to a display tracking the 240 inbound missiles and the enemy targets. “Targets inbound, five seconds, four, three, two, one… contact.” Blue and red icons merged into the colour of death as blue and red targets disappeared into the unforgiving and unbiased sea beneath them. In a matter of seconds, as computers and men far from the carrier sorted out their business the screen became clear once again, and targets were readily identifiable. And it became clear that the first part of the battle had gone decidedly in Tokayev’s favour.

“Admiral, now 38 aircraft inbound on course two-five-five, trailing the Azraels by nearly two hundred kilometers…” the officer trailed off in mid report as new data appeared on his screen.

For a moment the combat centre waited anxiously for the report from the young redheaded officer, but they did not wait long.

“VAMPIRE! VAMPIRE! Inbound missiles!”

Tokayev smirked, now Goliath would begin to swat at the miniscule David. Hopefully, enough of David would remain for a counterstrike against their fleet. He hoped. “Combat, you have weapons free authorization. All ships turn to bear maximum missile defences at will.” In short order he heard in the background the crisp repetition of his orders while he continued on giving them, “communications, Wirraway and Independent Hitmen are now authorized to engage IN fighters trailing our Azraels. Hell, if they want to start shooting some goddamned Harpoons and Tomahawks, tell them to do so. I don’t want to wait around for a second wave of carrier aircraft.”

Underneath the calm seas, propellers and waterjets began to make revolutions or thrusts for maximum speed as the Royal Navy carrier group, itself only 1/8th the size of their adversary began to dig in for their very survival. The outer stealth frigates, designed for stealth, opened their forward and aft hatches, allowing their gun systems to slide into place and lock into the under-deck magazines. The FFG-32 Medcor class had been designed principally for anti-submarine warfare, and up until now had been focused on keeping tabs on the submarines associated with the IN fleet. However, the circumstances had changed.

HMS Zimmerman

Commander Bert Bligh stood in his combat centre, watching the inbound missiles as they entered the range of his own EMP missiles and conventional warhead missiles. The dotted green line on his LCD display indicated the maximum range for his extended-range Longbow missiles. “Combat,” he said slow and steady, seemingly as if deep in thought over his moves, “Release 24 extended-range Longbow missiles.” From the forward missile bay hatches tore open and plumes of smoke flew into the sky as missiles shot up like arrows loosed from the Longbows that were their name. Rocket motors ignited and accelerated the missiles to supersonic speeds where the motors dropped off and allowed the ramjet motors to kick in. At speeds in excess of Mach 4 they raced off to intercept their targets.

Euroslavian Seas

The world looked like the antiquated game of Battleship, as missile coordinates were plotted and computed for grids and interception paths, and ultimately damage reports and battle assessments. Across the Royal Navy’s battle group, missiles were fired and fired again. Unlike the fighters from where they had launched, the EMP warheads of the missile defence shield proved ineffective. The fragmentation warheads proved the ultimate victor, although as the Hex IIIs passed by the frigates, their high-degree of maneuverability gave most a pass on into the destroyer screen.

The missiles flew onward into the Valley of Death they could not comprehend, and encountered firmer resistance as the amount of bullets and missiles thrown into the sky increased almost arithmetically. However, as the destroyers and frigates were not the main targets, the missiles flew onward toward the Yorke and the capital ships of the fleet.

HMS Yorke

“Missiles now nearing destroyer line, Admiral.”

“Order the arsenal ship to arm her defences. Contact our allies, wish them godspeed. Gentlemen, it appears as if our time has come. Captain Ramsey, when this attack is over, should I not be around, I want you to engage a full retaliatory strike then get the hell out of here and fall behind the Independent Hitmen fleet to our east. Once our weapons are fired, we should be able to just make the defence screen of their fleet. And dispatch rescue helicopters from the frigate Zimmerman, pick up their pilots before they’re eaten or such.”

Above the carrier, the missiles slammed into the wall of fire from the cruisers and carriers. In turn, however, a few began to penetrate the defences. If people had been observing the battle, and not fighting for their lives, they would have witnessed two missiles slamming into the towers above the Yorke’s flight deck. The missiles’ delayed action charges detonated well within the thinly armoured superstructure and the bridge was vaporized immediately from the one blast. The second missile slammed into the separate air combat center, which had monitored the successful interdiction of the main IN air sortie. At the same time, one missile slammed into the forward superstructure of the heavy guided missile cruiser Philadelphia and another into the Cambridge. With a slow groan the tall forward mast, encompassing most of the ship’s aerial arrays, tore free from the superstructure and collapsed down the port side of the vessel, gouging a giant hole through the amidships structures before sliding into the sea. A short distance away on the Cambridge a similar collapse was occurring while the second missile slammed into the aft structure; although the second blast was not strong enough to tear the more squat tower from its moorings, the ship shuddered as several lateral support beams began to buckle around the sensitive helicopter deck between the forward and aft structures.

A third missile was knocked off course from slamming into the Cambridge’s forward bridge, however the missile dove into the superstructure below, detonating well within the hull. Although the fire suppression gear and their men acted bravely in stopping the fires amidships from reaching the helicopter stores, the third blast had torn a small hole through the bulkhead separating the 127mm guns’ magazines. Unbeknownst to the fire teams, who assumed the bulkhead was intact, as all the equipment panels displayed, the fire was creeping into the magazines. Ordinarily a rupture would have been detected by the system has failed only four days before unknown to the rest of the crew. The occasional daily failures of ship systems were to today have a disastrous consequence.

Meanwhile, the Yorke had not faired far too much better. After the two blows to her top superstructure, another had detonated towards the bow where the central hull was exposed. The explosion tore upwards through the decks ripping giant holes in the forward flight deck. Two more slammed into the outer pylon hulls, since the center main hull was almost unexposed. These tore the titanium/composite armour to pieces, the pressure from the blast throwing shrapnel all across the hangar bay – where if there had been aircraft aboard they would have certainly pierced fuel tanks and missile warheads and caused a much greater devestation.

The arsenal ship, HMS Valiant, lived up to her name, the dedicated self-defence systems knocked away missile after missile – a testament to her being the newest ship in the group, armed with the latest weaponry, and to the sheer amount of self-defence mechanisms onboard. The view from her tiny bridge witnessed more missiles slamming into the Yorke, one on the stern of the central hull, and another to the pylons, attempting to broach the firm support system and gut the innards of the vessel.

As the missile barrage died away, one last missile struck the HMS Philadelphia in her aft quarter, wrecking the aft 76mm gun mount and 2/3 of the VLS cell. After that, the guns continued to whir having been run on automatic, and the missiles continued to shoot up, but the remainder were all splashed harmlessly into the water.

HMS Yorke

Tokayev and Ramsey ran topside from the secure combat centre as soon as the skies were clear. About them, the two cruisers were engulfed in flames and forward on their own flight deck a large hole offered up flames to the heavens. East of them, the extremely low-to-the-water Valiant raised its mast out of the small superstructure, and proudly flew the flag of the Commonwealth. The two men smiled, miraculously, they had survived the enslaught. The admiral turned to the captain and shook his hand, for the group had performed far better than either had hoped. “Go find a tall pole, run up the flag. The least we can do is encourage these men.”

Ramsey saluted, and darted off shouting orders as he went to the rubble of the forward superstructure, now with a gaping hole and collapsed machinery all about the deck. He pointed to the flag on the Valiant and then to the bow since the hissing and roaring of the fire-suppression systems were deafening amongst the roars of the waves, as the Yorke was still maintaining some speed. He turned to face the admiral and gave the thumbs up.

HMS Cambridge

Captain Emily Trumbow was one of the rare women serving in the Royal Navy as the commander of a capital warship. Up until now, she had never seen action outside of minor skirmishes when she ran narcotic interdiction missions as a patrol-boat captain. Her crew was performing admirably, she in fact already had preliminary damage reports. With the two towers down, she would be unable to receive direct communications from the rest of the fleet until she dispatched the sensor drone vehicles, which acted as off-ship receivers for electronic communications, as well as external sensors for the ship. The forward gun and missile stations, as well as the secondary batteries to starboard and aft reported all clear. The port side batteries had taken a beating from the collapse of the superstructures, but within the hour the guns could be somewhat operational. She gave the order to effect repairs and she headed to the forward open bridge, which had been miraculously saved by the last ditch efforts of one of the guns now out of commission.

Below the decks, the forward fire still roared, and the heavy smoke served only to complicate the problems. The missile had slammed into the section with such force such as to break the main lines feeding water from the sea-pumps to the fire hoses being used by Petty Office Grant and his men. Further aft, the fire from the amidships hit was under control and being extinguished, however, the forward fire continued to move forward as it burned the combustibles in the noncom quarters and consumables quarters.

Unbeknownst to Grant, the fire had forced its way into the primary magazine for the ‘B’ gun, and then through air vents and other cracks it leapt into the adjacent ‘A’ turret magazine. Inside were hundreds upon hundreds of unspent rounds for the two 127mm main guns. Between them and above them were the two forward 128-cell VLS systems. For minutes the flames had stayed away from the shells, content with only raising the temperature, which the temperature sensor recorded and logged, and then sent to the CIC.

The CIC, however, was full of such temperature readings, and Ensign Gale Herbert almost ignored it, except for the fact that the rooms reported were the magazine rooms. He leapt up from his seat and turned to the XO. “Fire in the magazines!” As Herbert’s words exited his mouth, the flames crept over the actual warheads, and the intense heat cooked off the first shell… which was all that was needed.

In the forward bridge, Trumbow watched the fires burning on her sister ship, the Philadelphia and far closer aboard the Yorke. Beneath her feet she felt a sharp rumble followed by a piercing crack. On instinct she shielded her eyes as the forward half of the missile cruiser erupted into a single tongue of flame that reached nearly a thousand meters into the sky. All across the Royal Navy, and for nearly a hundred kilometers in any direction an explosion so terrific and awe-inspring, yet so amazingly quiet, lightened the day sky into the palest of blues.

Trumbow was thrown backwards as the blast snapped the keels of the cruiser. In front of her was the crumpled forward bridge, now exposed to the roiling heat of the massive fire engulfing the separated bow section. The first one hundred or so meters had been shorn off and lifted itself high into the clear blue sky, before bobbing briefly, and falling rapidly under the waves. In the aft half, Trumbow felt the length of the cruiser moving swiftly forward; indeed she could only watch as the water began to rush up and over the open superstructure. She did the only thing she could as the stern rose forward first at an angle of nearly fifty degrees; she had the 1MC on and functioning. “All hands, abandon ship.” There was a single groan as the watertight bulkheads collapsed from the pressure, and water ripped into the open compartments. To the outside this was merely a bob in the water. Then as Trumbow held onto the wheel as tight as she could, the water raced up to meet her, slamming her into the back of the bridge, snapping her spine and ending her life swiftly.

For nearly 700 more of the men and women onboard the cruiser of 800 the end would also be swift as rooms filled too quickly to be exited, as smoke was pushed to the last chambers of breathable air. The forward escape hatches were underwater and all were trapped. From the CIC to the aft gunnery station death took all of them away. The few that survived were those above deck fighting the fires, and many of them drowned in the suction that carried the ship to the bottom only two minutes after the explosion.

HMS Yorke

Ramsey stood silent as he watched the explosion and sinking of the ship. He watched the stern slip into the waters fast enough that he knew the Royal Navy would be lucky if any survived. It wasn’t until the ship went under that he noticed Admiral Tokayev laying down on the flight deck. He rushed over, but saw as he neared, a small bloody hole through the back of his head. As he rolled the body over, the front was pitted with several holes and pieces of debris thrown far clear of the Cambridge. Ramsey felt glad, however, that his eyes were wide open and his face still calm and semi-happy. The death had been so quick he hadn’t realized the Cambridge had gone down.

He turned to the superstructure, and saw the flag Tokayev had ordered raised and flying in the breeze, now torn with a few holes from flying debris and scarred from the fire that had entered its room. Yet after the events he had witnessed, the Royal Navy carried onwards, and Ramsey was intent to inflict further punishment on the enemy.

Within the combat centre, Ramsey alerted the entire fleet – both Commonwealth and not – that he was in control of the Royal Navy’s warships. “Weapons officer, how many ships are ready and able to fire weapons?”

The crew was sullen-faced, but ready for action – for before many of them had witnessed the similar destruction of the finest and most decorated ship in the fleet. This just made them ever more anxious to do their finest. If not for the adrenaline surely most would be ready to quit, but then that was the story of battle, these men and women, Ramsey knew they would do their finest until the very end.

“Sir, Valiant reports all offensive missiles go, all defensive missile systems were used up. Philadelphia is a go except for some of the aft VLS missiles. All destroyers and frigates ready for launch.”

“IN fleet within range?”

“The two fleets have been sailing directly at each other, sir. You betcha.”

Ramsey nodded. This would likely be the end for himself and the men and women under his command. Their coup de grace, their final act.

“All ships to target the IN fleet. Standard missile programming. Largest ships first, gentlemen. I want to make sure they pay as dearly as we have. Target their carriers, then their troop ships. Full spread from the Valiant should include her full six-hundred missile complement. Same for the Philadelphia, how many does she have operable?”

“With the dual load length VLS cells, sir, lights indicate she has a total of 177 offensive-loaded cells of her initial 256 in operation. We have green missile status for 354 Icarus anti-ship missiles. Computer reports that with the staggered launch of the Valiant’s, as they’re also dual load strategic cells, that we will have two closely spaced waves. Each with 477 missiles.”

Ramsey again nodded. “The destroyers, and frigates, what about them?”

“Sir, they’re not supposed to be included in the first strike policies. It’s against usual procedure.”

“Lieutenant, they just obliterated the Cambridge and her whole bloody crew! Do you really want to get into a pissing contest over BLOODY STANARD PROCEDURE! Lieutenant, let me clear this up for you. They have eight carriers. We HAD one! Do you seriously think that 200 fighters are all they are capable of?! Lieutenant, they will now come at us with everything they have because we hurt them, perhaps worse than they even anticipated because they sent so few to hit us in a first strike. They made that mistake once, they won’t make it again. We have just this one chance. So if you will, Lieutenant Anderson. How many missiles do we have on the picket ships?”

Anderson and the combat centre stood in silence. They had all witnessed the disappearance of the Cambridge from radar, but none were yet privy to the actual devastation that Ramsey had seen up above. “Sir, the frigates have a single 64 cell dual load strategic length VLS system, a total of 16 cells dedicated to Icarus missiles. Each therefore has 32 missiles. The destroyers, with their 128-cell system have double that amount. In summation, sir, the frigates have a total of 128 Icarus missiles. The destroyers 256 missiles. Combined, that’s an additional 384 missiles. Two waves, sir, each with 669 missiles… that gives us…”

“How many Lieutenant?”

“Sir, that gives us 1,338 Icarus anti-ship cruise missiles.”

“Fire.”

“All of them, sir?”

“I GAVE YOU A GODDAMNED ORDER, LIEUTENANT! Fire the goddamn missiles!”

Amongst the bruised and damaged and partially sinking fleet, the hatches to the VLS cells opened in order, the decks above each ship were obscured from sight from the clouds and plumes of rocket exhaust boosting the ramjet-powered missiles into the air for their mid-altitude approach. For a brief moment in time, satellites observing the sea would be unable to obtain visual information on the exact whereabouts and conditions of the Yorke group – though not by any planned means. The launch of so many missiles simply polluted the air to an extent not ever dreamed of by any Royal Navy strategist. Ramsey was the first commander in Royal Navy history to fire an entire battlegroup’s offensive missile load.

In one minute, two waves of missiles streaked towards the Intelligent Neighbors’ fleet, ready to drop low and fast when they entered the range of their sensors and weapon systems. Meanwhile, Ramsey saw the advantage in the smoke. The only hope to save some of his men and women.

“Order all ships back, flank speed towards the IH fleet. Warn them we’re running like hell.”

Far beneath the waters, there was only a slight comment.

"Holy shit".

VSS Changeling held her position, far away from the widening hell to come - watching, alert, alone.

Silently, at least one crewmember found time for a silent prayer.

Ace-1, the lead of the strike package headed for the IN fleet skimmed above the wavetops at barely 50 feet. Behind him the sea was scarred with a vivid whiteness where his exhaust plume had roiled to calm waters of the Euroslavian Sea.

Now only 120 miles out and within the range of his harpoons Ace-1 continued to close the gap, ticking off a mile every 40 seconds. He wanted no mistakes, IN had hit the Azazians hard and now it was time for a little payback.

He briefly toggled his radio, sending a bit of static streaming into the ears of all the members of his flight. This was all the signal they needed. Cooly and efficiently they each armed their 4 Harpoons one by one, checking the status light and watching them turn from red to amber to bright green.

As one they hit the trigger on their control sticks and sent 40 Missiles blazing in towards the IN fleet, but this however was only the first wave, a puny strike compared to what was coming next.

Aboard the ships of the fleet tension mounted as Officers, Captains and especially Commodore Von Smoot waited anxiuosly for the telemerty from the stike package to come through.

"How long have the been off radar now" the commododr adressed a radar tech.

"Well they went to wavetop 10 minutes ago and we haven't heard from them since, according to their flight plan they shoudl have shown up 2 minutes ago."

"Well keep me posted." He wandered over to a computer bank and stared up at the threat board, his oppurtunity to strike back decisivly fading whith every ticking second. Then an exited shout from the ohter end of the room.

"I've got 'em sir, I've got 'em, heading ESE 500 feet and climbing. Getting telemetry now........its uploading, should take a few minutes and were good to go sir."

He turned to his Commodore with a bright grin on his face

"We're gonna get the bastards this time, I know it."

The Commodore simply smiled back and turned to his missile boards, watching intently as each ship checked in and reported their missiles up and ready to go.

He picked his a transmitter and spoke

"Let 'em fly boys"

For 5 solid minutes the fleet was enveloped in a cacaphony of smoke and flame as Harpoons and Tomahawks blasted into the bright clear sky above them. All told over 250 missiles were now homing in on the IN fleet. Abotu 50 of the special TV guided Tomahawks were also in attendence.

The fleet wasted no time, not evern stopping to observe the morbid beauty of the smoke patterns now wreathing each ship. They quickly turned and followed to Azazians out the battle area, hoping to refit and prepare for their next engagement.

OOC: Sorry!! Was too busy...I seemed to have missed alot*

White Fleet Combat Group Alpha 1

"Admiral, Azazian airfleet has made contact with IN airforce, they are engaging the enemy as we speak." The Comptroller reported. "Ah I see, contact the Azazian commander, tell him that our forces are at his disposal in this combat situation, have all fighters and cannons arm with the N2." "At once Admiral, we have received word that Combat Group Alpha 2 and 3 are arriving as well."

"Excellent, send them orders to move into formation and awaiting Azazian's orders."

OOC: N2 - Anti-Matter Warheads.

Imperial Fleet, Admiral's HQ

"Sir, they seem to be fleeing from us! We have surely won!"

"I don't think so", replies the Admiral. "If they had been beaten they would not have the capabilities to run away. Also, they do not seem the type, they are not cowards. I think that they are performing what is known as a tactical withdrawal, probably to refit and refuel. We must not let them do that, fire whatever we can at them, and lets go after them, full speed."

"Yessir"

The fleet begins to become more active, if that were possible. Already flights of Merlins patrolled overhead, and Tsunami Helicopters flitted over the nearby ocean, searching for survivors of the devastation inflicted by the Azrael fighters.

Missiles click into place, hatches open, time begins to count down, getting slower each second.

"F-I-R-E"

Suddenly the quiet calm shatters, and with the sound of a million handclaps, the fleet is engulfed in fire and smoke, streaking demons bursting away with roars of anger. The massive Imperial Fleet is making itself heard, and giving full voice to it's anger.

Hundreds and hundreds of missiles stream from the ships and planes overhead, as many firing positions as can be mustered safely blast their contents into the ocean air. Many men on board felt sorry for the Azazian fleet that would surely be smashed to pieces by this vicious attack. They were honourable foes, but foes none the less.

The thunder quietens for a moment, and then another belch of fire emanates from the fleet. The Admiral watches the mass of missiles streaking after Azazia, and smiles to himself. They would not know what hit them.

(OOC note: Hex III missiles: Wave 1: 550 Wave 2: 250| Exocet/Harpoon/other RL AS missiles: Wave 1: 450 Wave 2: 250| Total: 1500 missiles. Will write about Azazian attack on me later today/tomorrow. Work beckons.)

(OOC; And the post you have all been waiting for... (sorry, busy))

Fleet Control Room, IN Imperial Fleet

The mass of missiles fired at the enemy is a blotch on the radar screen, moving away from the fleet to destroy Azazia once and for all. As the pulsating spot reaches the edge of the radar range, it suddenly grows, doubling in size.

"Whuu? Sir look at this!"

The admiral strides over nochalantly, feeling good about how the Azazians would be cursing him.

"Yes, Barker?"

"Sir, another mass of considerable size is coming toward us, similar to the signature of our missile swarm."

"Damn, this could be why the Azazians are fleeing, they have fired all they have got at us. Can you identify them as missiles?"

"No sir, not yet."

"Shit, put the fleet on full alert, scramble any planes on deck, shoot those missiles with everything we have."

The fleet once more becomes a hive of activity, with defence weapons being readied, and the decks cleared. Merlins already in the sky turn away from the fleet and head toward the approaching cloud of death. They reach it, and begin to loose off missiles and cannon rounds into it, blasting away fruitlessly at the mass of missiles, now spreading to attack. Some of the pilots dive into the storm, and activate their countermeasures, spraying flak into the air. The mass of missiles does not thin perceptively, but 81 missiles crash into the ocean.

The missiles drone on, streaking toward the fleet with a buzz.

"Defence sheild up!"

Simulataneously, every ship in the fleet opens up it's guns, spewing flak into the sky. Missiles roar from the ships, targetting the enemy swarm. Planes high overhead add to the carnage, discharging their loads into the hellstorm.

The missiles smash into the first wall of fire provided by the picket, and many detonate or veer away wildly, their control systems wreaked. A few plunge into the ocean, and the picket ships.

A destroyer was hit by four missiles simulataneously, one of them plunged into one of the engine compartments and detonated, blasting the whole end out of the ship. She sank rapidly. The fate of several of the outer picket was similar, and many were crippled or sunk.

Meanwhile, the missiles plunged into the second wall of fire, from destroyers and frigates. More detonate harmlessly or streak into the sea, but still more fly through, or hit the ships below.

The third line of destroyers, the new SeaSnake class, fared better. They had the newest technology available, and where stealthy enough to avoid many missiles' glare. Missiles dropped like flies under the hail of fire they sent up, although two ships where damaged.

The cruisers where the last line of defense for the carriers, and they blasted flak into the air like a volcano. Alas, many where targets of missiles, and where ripped apart by repeated explosions. They where effective though, and only 48 missiles pentrated the wall.

The carriers tried their best to prevent the missiles hitting them, but they where large and bulky, with too few flak guns. 22 missiles smashed into the seven carriers.

The INN Karakki was hit by eight missiles, three on the flight deck, one around the engine room and four on the hull. One of the latter penetrated a storage tank for aircraft fuel, and detonated, taking a chunk out of the ship the size of a house. One of the missiles falling on deck struck a Tsunami helicopter, laden with munitions, and exploded, sending the flaming wreak of the helicopter into the control tower, cutting communication with the rest of the fleet. The fire started by the hits went rapidly out of control, spreading unstoppably to another fuel tank, and ripping another chunk out of the ship. Water began to flood in, and the ship listed heavily. A claxton was sounded, and men dashed for the lifeboats.

The INN Redemption was hit by four missiles, hitting the lower portion of the hull. The missiles did not hit anything vital however, and the four gaping holes and the fires within were soon secured.

The INN Storm was hit by six missiles, two of them ripping the command centre apart in a ball of fire. The carrier, lacking any coordination between firefighters quickly was riddled with small fires, burning fiercly.

The INN Valiant (Admiral's ship) was struck by four missiles, but one that penetrated the engine compartment failed to detonate, and did no real harm. One of the others smashed into the deck, opening a hole to the inner workings. The other two missiles buried themselves in the hull, and did only minor damage.

The Admiral, in a state of shock surveyed the ruined fleet around him. Out of a magnificant fleet of 77 surface ships, only 63 remained. The cost had been two carriers, four cruisers, four frigates and four destroyers sunk. Also, one carrier, six cruisers, five frigates and eight destroyers were all out of the war for good. He only had 41 ships in working order, and only four carriers.

Those Azazians would pay...

Far beneath the waves reports were spotty but constant - including several dozen disturbances following a strong bit of static.

Chameleon held to her position; despite the loss of one drone to "cause unknown", her 'view' of things was still good. The intel reports alone were worth the sub's weight in gold.

Her relative invisibility was worth that much and more.

Commander Hayes pulled his F-22S up slightly higher, the rest of the Air Wing following.

"Gun One this is Eagle Seven. We show multiple numerous inbound contacts, designate as Raid-two. Range two-hundred. Engage at will. Be aware Azazian fleet is heading East, you are blocking force Acknowledge"

"Acknowledge Eagle Seven. Whats the status on the attack birds?"

"Charlie One is currently over the package and heading your way."

"Roger."

He changed the direction of his fighter slightly so that he was heading towards the few blips that had appeared on his HUD, crosslinked from the AWAC's aircraft that had just been buffeted by shock waves from the explosion of the Cambridge.

Captain Jurgen looked over the StelStar displaytable: on it were shown the relative locations of fleets, inbounds, outbounds, SHARDS - each data feed was interpolated, relayed, shown on the holographic display.

"XO, are there any indications we have been spotted?"
"Negative, sir. At the moment, they are far too interested in shooting at each other. While there is active anti-submarine maneuvers, none has moved in our direction and no attacks could be attributed to our vector."
"Very good. Power?"
"Nominal, 72%."

Jurgen considered the hell above and below, the racket all that steel hitting the ocean floor, the maze of sensors and data...

"Bleed charge to 90%, one-fifth cap by fives and listen. I want to be able to run fast if anything comes our way."
"Aye, sir."

HMS Yorke

Ramsey paced the combat centre deep within his now-shredded flagship. Inwardly, he yearned to be on one of the new capital ships back in the Pacific. Their armour would have proven too difficult even for the missile barrage he had witnessed – there were some advantages to modern-day dreadnaughts and super-dreadnaughts. However, he was here and not there. And for the time being there were far more important concerns – among them saving the remaining men and women under his command.

The fleet raced at varying speeds due east, slowly coming into the shield of Independent Hitmen’s missile and gun systems. In seconds his own missiles would register on the screens of the enemy, seconds after that would be impact… and death. “Weapons, status on the missiles.”

The young fair-haired lieutenant, still stunned by the onslaught of missiles from both sides, paused as he pulled up the relevant data. “Missiles running straight and true, captain.”

“Captain! VAMPIRE, VAMPIRE! Inbound missiles! Heading 270! Count, roughly 1500!”

Ramsey slipped into a state of automatic response, his training had drilled him sufficiently so that another massive engagement would not frighten him as it would likely some of the very crew in this combat centre. “Combat, weapons free authorization is given. All ships to turn to bring maximum defences online and in range. Prepare to launch autonomous decoy drones. Communications, radio IH, warn them we are coming in hot.”

“Captain, the enemy fleet is turning towards us, flank speeds reported.”

Ramsey nodded, the enemy was going to attempt to cut off his escape – and so they were pursuing him at flank speed. However, he had perhaps one last trick up his sleeve. In the end it too was nothing more than suicide, similar to his launching all the missiles. But perhaps it would work and cause further damage, death, and mayhem in the enemy line.

“Communication, secure burst to the submarine screen. They are to shut down their reactors and switch to battery power as they rig for ultra-silent. They are to hold position as we run over top of them and remain as the rear guard for our fleet. When the enemy forces enter range, they are to open fire with everything they have. At full speed no one would be able to hear a submarine dead in the water. Tell them they’ll have perhaps one shot, and shot only. Tell them to make it good… and Godspeed.” He nodded to himself as an affirmation of the necessity of the action. He was condemning them all to death – but it would buy them some time, and hopefully further cripple their fleet.

As the clipper bows sliced through the waves, torpedo tubes were opened and large drones were expelled from each ship. Upon hitting the water, the motors engaged and the electronic signatures array rose from top and the stabilization fins from the underside. The motors matched speeds with the rest of the fleet, and the rudders began their mission to steer them away from their mother ships and into the disbursed fleet. The area of the Yorke’s surviving group became cluttered with surface contacts emitting the same electronic signatures as the rest of the fleet, as well as massive multi-frequency jamming that served only to hinder electronic sensor systems attempting to penetrate the fleet.

HMS Swiftsure

Captain Lindsay Reims took the paper from her communications officer, skimming through the new orders from the Yorke. Things had definitely taken a turn for the worse, and onboard her small submarine the turn would surely result in the death of herself and her crew – but that was their mission, to die for the Commonwealth.

“XO, reverse course. Forward bearing two-seven-zero degrees. Engineering, emergency shut down of the reactor, engage battery power. Weapons officer, arm the cruise missiles and load rocket torpedoes in the forward torpedo tubes. Rig ship for ultra-silent.”

As the crew began to carry out their orders, Reims’ executive officer stepped to her side a look of puzzlement on his face. “Ma’am, what are the orders?”

Reims continued to look forward into the empty space of the combat centre. “The fleet will run over top of us, and we will stay to the rear, providing cover fire as the enemy fleet pursues. The Yorke has ordered us to shut down our reactor plant and rig for ultra-silent because the enemy is steaming in at flank speeds. With everything shut down this submarines will seamlessly integrate into the background acoustic radiation of the ocean. At full speeds passive systems won’t detect us, and active systems will be unreliable. As they sail over us they will do us the favour of allowing us entry from their perimeter. We’ll target their largest ships, and fire everything we have.”

“But, ma’am… isn’t that suicide? If we launch from inside their battle group, they’ll surely be able to find us and sink us.”

Reims merely nodded, surprised that it had taken the man this long to realize their mission was suicide. “With battery power, we’ll be able to maneuver at low speeds, and perhaps one of the three subs will be able to evacuate the area. I give our odds of surviving as one in three – not quite suicide, Brett; but it will require the absolute best from all of us. And I am quite sure we will all execute our orders accordingly.”

“Yes, ma’am.” As the XO walked off to check the status of the weapons Reims comforted herself in being single – there was no husband or child back home to worry about. She instead had this crew, and more than likely they would all perish. She didn’t doubt that penetrating the enemy fleet could be accomplished – or even a launch from outside the perimeter if the situation changed. However, if the enemy commander was as pissed as she would be if in his place… the Swiftsure or one of her sister ships could perhaps dive deep and escape to the north towards the Wirraway forces.

HMS Philadelphia

Captain Arthur Snyder absent-mindedly picked the scarred flesh from his cheek. During the last encounter a panel had exploded in a burst of flames, scarring the face of the captain; however, duty necessitated his presence in combat. Especially given the approach of inbound missiles. Something he was loathe to encounter once again. He still had three hundred air-defence missiles ready to launch, not to mention the remaining guns onboard, as well as the drones he had deployed. His only hope was with the outer picket ships, if they did their job… he would attend the funerals.

HMS Zimmerman

Bligh motioned for his aviation crew to stow their helicopters. The SH-22s had just returned from recovering downed IN fighter pilots; the mission had been cut short with the second missile barrage – however a total of sixteen men had been recovered. Regretfully, Bligh now doubted for their safety from their own countrymen. His own passive systems had detected the inbound missiles – and they were rapidly approaching the maximum range for his air-defence missiles.

“Weapons, time to launch?”

“45 seconds before we can engage at maximum ranges.”

“Electronics, I want you to alter the drones’ outputs. Mask five of them as cruisers, two as carriers. Tell the rest of the frigates to follow suit.”

Bligh’s exec walked over to the man as the orders were carried out and relayed. “Sir?”

“Notice how last time they targeted only the larger displacement vessels, they left us alone. Perhaps if they are operating similar to our own missiles they are programmed to attack as such; and if that’s the case, we could cause some confusion by throwing in more large targets into their target area.”

“You think it’ll work?”

“John, at this point there are 1500 missiles inbound. I’ll take any help I can.”

At the most extreme range, the pickets began their work, launching their long-range missiles so as to begin dancing at their most extreme ranges. The EMP missiles had no effect on the advanced Hex missiles, although Ramsey and many of the commanders had suspected as much. However, the Exocets and Harpoons were susceptible to the invisible waves and most were sent off course or simply ceased to function and crashed harmlessly into the ocean at the feet of the pickets. To the gods above, the contrails and slim bodies arced and twisted in the air as part of a finely choreographed ballet. The air defence missiles began their effective tangos, luring the missiles into dances of death – a sizeable number were destroyed before entering the fleet’s shorter-range missile defence systems.

HMS Yorke

Ramsey stared anxiously at the now-flickering display. Over 800 missiles had already been knocked out of the sky, mostly the woefully inadequate Exocets, Harpoons, and their contemporaries. Ordinarily, he would have never launched such a barrage; however, the enemy was merely attempting to saturate his air defences. Fortunately, the EMP missiles worked magic against such weapon systems. The ratio of missiles fired to enemy missiles downed was staggering. However, he was now left with the more tricky situation of short-range defences.

The first missile barrage had significantly reduced his missile stores. And as his screen showed the missiles of shorter range beginning to deal with the more advanced IN missiles, he watched as the crew began to cross themselves and mutter short prayers. He realized that it was unlikely the Yorke herself would survive a second barrage. The hull itself would probably remain intact – however internal damage would leave the ship as nothing more than a floating hulk. The Valiant had loosed about all of her missiles, so she was luckily devoid of the billions upon billions of Credits invested in her – she now served as a target to absorb missile strikes. Lastly were the destroyers, frigates, and the Philadelphia. Now, however, each ship was in its own hands.

HMS Zimmerman

Bligh watched his own screen, which was bright and steady, while Hex missiles began to penetrate the medium and long-range defences of the fleet. The short-range missiles were far more capable of dealing with terminal-phase maneuvers engaged by the enemy’s missiles; however, here they were merely a screen. And screen they did as missiles plowed into walls of lead, which actually consisted of depleted uranium and tungsten though the old adage was still preferred. Some of the missiles chased after the frigates’ decoys, crashing into the seas around the decoys before a few more-precise missiles plunged into the decoys themselves, entirely obliterating the outer decoy screen.

Finally, as the tail end of the second wave approached, Bligh began to consider his time as up. With 1500 total missiles, he had long-expected the tail-end to target the smaller displacement vessels such as his own, despite whatever stealthy measures were enacted, active missile launches and self-defence guns always provided the necessary information to enemy missiles.

“Commander, VAMPIRE! VAMPIRE! Inbound missiles! ON US!”

There was nothing more that Bligh could do, his mission was to target those missiles continuing their run in towards the Yorke. “Continue to cycle targets heading inbound. Sound impact alarms.” The small frigate continued to fire its dwindling stock of missiles into those passing on by while klaxons roared throughout the interior corridors, signaling men to brace themselves for immediate impact. As missile after missile streamed upwards from a VLS cell, as bullet after bullet flew off on an intercept path with an enemy missiles, Bligh’s fears were realized.

A single missile led the path as it plowed into the high superstructure, sheering off the top-most aerial arrays. Deep within the monohull ship Bligh felt the deck move slightly, while long range contacts from his own systems and the linked data net went offline. Before his sensor operator informed him, he knew that long-range sensors were down… as well as communications. In quick succession he felt three heavier concussions. Topside, two missiles had slammed into the forward superstructure above the combat centre while the third slammed into the helicopter hangar. In mere instants the lives of both members of the Royal Navy and the pilots of the Merlin fighters were obliterated, the third missile having detonated inside the same room where the pilots were being held.

Bligh slammed his fist into the table, an outburst of frustration uncommon in the stoic man. He was oft considered to be among the best potential candidates for future positions in the Admiralty; despite his tendency to occasionally become a rather soft-spoken leader. On this day, however, Bligh’s frustrations came out for all to see – and not be seen as far too many were busy attending to their duties, which pleased Bligh and eased his frustration somewhat. However, in seconds, more missiles would impact and certainly knock out his ability to defend the Yorke… at which point the Zimmerman would be remiss in her duties. Nevertheless, his men had performed their duties well.

Those would be the last thoughts of Bligh, however, as three more missiles slammed into the hull, towards the waterline. Two managed to penetrate the thin armour scheme and detonate outside the combat centre. In less than a second, the entire compartment was showered in molten steel and pieces of titanium and ballistic composites. Computer screens shattered from the force of the impact, lacerating the faces of panels’ operators to a point beyond recognition. However, as metal penetrated the fragile flesh simultaneously, the men and women were witness to no more than mere milliseconds of extreme and excruciating pain. Before Bligh could even react, a support beam outside of the compartment managed to fall loose and swing into the compartment, it took less than a second for Bligh’s face to collapse and explode as the beam pushed out through the back of his skull, the force of the impact severing the connections of the spinal column, decapitating the man in a timely, and in his case a rare instantaneous death.

The Zimmerman herself continued to spew missiles as the weapon systems were autonomous and independently controlled in the case of catastrophic command failure. The close-in-defence-systems meanwhile switched to their inherent self-preservation subroutines, directing the gun systems and missile systems to target those missiles heading towards the Zimmerman herself. However, to surviving crew members, the switch did little good, as the missile cells ran dry, and the gun systems were not enough to defeat inbound missiles. Four more missiles slammed into the ship, shredding to pieces the engine room and magazines for the VLS cells – although in their empty state further secondary damage was limited. However as the ship began to list to her port, secondary damage became of minimal importance. The holes beneath the waterline were too large and too numerous for the watertight bulkheads to contain. As the barrage ended, one more missile would slam into the aft mast, the force of the impact providing the requisite momentum to push the Zimmerman over onto her side. The surviving officers and NCOs ordered the remaining crew to abandon ship.

Lieutenant Clive Dockson, one of the communications officers, watched as the sleek vessel slid beneath the waves. He wiped a tear away from his eyes as he silently checked his gear stowed away on his life raft; meanwhile his eyes scanned the seas… searching in vain for large groups of survivors.

HMS Yorke

Little else could be done at this point. The picket ships had managed to take out a large number of the missiles, however, none had survived the onslaught. The information he had reported the Gershwin as having exploded in a fireball from a hit on her magazines. The Rushinev was still firing her guns and missiles, but was sinking slowly by the stern – it was only a matter of time before she slipped beneath the seas. The Franklin had capsized and the Zimmerman was listing heavily to port, just about ready to join the Franklin in a similar fate. The destroyers were faring slightly better, knocking down more and more missiles, though they too were flat running out of missiles. Already, he had lost the Dragons Bay and the Um Lizaa was nearly out of commission. However, the numbers of missiles inbound towards his own ship, the Valiant and the Philadelphia were falling off dramatically from the selfless efforts by his picket commanders, none of whom would be forgotten after this day.

HMS Philadelphia

The missiles inbound from the destroyers were fewer in number than he had hoped, of course, it helped that the Yorke and the Valiant had managed to survive as larger targets. His long-range systems were already engaging the inbound targets, and some of the missiles had already gone after his decoys – although only four remained in operation. Several times the missiles had been destroyed so close in that the decks were peppered with debris. Yet this was a fight for the life of his crew – not to mention his own life.

The Hex missiles continued their weaves and bobs and some managed to avoid the long-range missiles, dozens upon dozens had already penetrated, many had struck the frigates and destroyers – far too many for Snyder to count. Underneath him, the deck shook and above him alarms sounded from a missile impact. Above the sirens and alarms and the screams from aft sections he heard reports indicating that the missile had hit the hangar bay and the forward stack. For all intents and purposes, the entire forward superstructure unit of his ship was a waste. The mast had long since been wrecked, and now the hangar bay’s roof had collapsed, the smoke stack penetrated and within danger of imminent collapse. “Seal off forward stack above the engine plant! Reroute through aft stack!”

The deck rocked again, “Report!”

“Aft mast, sir! Direct hit!”

“Secondary sensor and communication systems offline!” shouted somebody other than Snyder’s regular sensors officer.

“Engage tertiary systems and prepare signalmen for flag communications!” Snyder steadied himself as another blast shook the ship. The bastards were serious this time.

HMS Yorke

“Sir! Missiles have penetrated!”

“Sound impact alarms!” On Ramsey’s orders the first of what were to be many missiles slammed into the outer pylons. The hangar deck had secured its blast doors and reinforced them with ad hoc armour and welded debris on potential weak-points. These would do little, however, as the first missile fortuitously penetrated at one section weakened by the heat of the earlier fires. The warhead exploded within the hangar, where most of the aviation maintenance crew had gathered to act as firefighters when the time came. Instantly, hundreds of men found their bodies punctured by shrapnel before passing out from shock and dying on the spot; dozens more had no such time to register their imminent deaths. The lucky few who survived began to scream as the fires had burned away their flesh and the metal had embedded itself deep within whatever flesh remained.

Forward of the pylon hulls, five missiles hit in successive order, tearing away the bow of the vessel. In the combat centre, these hits sounded further alarms above all others.

“Captain! Hull breach, bow section. We’ve lost all contact with sections forward of Bulkhead 7.”

“Seal Bulkheads 7 through 9 on all decks.” The loss of contact with all sections meant only one thing, the bow had been shorn off; he could only hope that the hundreds of men in those sections would find someway off what would surely be a rapidly sinking section.

However, Ramsey’s thoughts and hopes went unheeded. As the bow section was itself a large target, two missiles honed in on their previous target, all but obliterating the section as it rapidly sank beneath the waves. At the opposite end of the ship, a missile slammed into the aft quarters and the admiral’s cabin. Two missiles then ripped into the aft holes and managed to work their way deep within the ship to the secondary engine plants; where their detonations shredded the secondary gas and oil turbine systems. On the port and starboard sides, the pylon hulls continued to be shredded to pieces, exposing interior compartments and passages and the men unfortunate enough to draw duties in the pylons to the open air.

Ensign Jenny Davis had been assigned the duty of maintaining the electrical grid on the starboard hull during the attack. She had felt each missile strike so far – and she had lost count as she had blacked out for a brief moment. Having quickly regained consciousness she moved forward to the secondary power distribution control room; upon opening the hatch she found the console intact, though the bulkheads and walls and everything else had been blown away. The deck was littered with debris from papers to keyboards to disks to severed hands and arms – all of which she pushed out the open side of the ship. She looked out briefly before concentrating on rerouting power to more protected secondary lines deeper within the hull. As she clicked the final key, she glanced out the open hole, mesmerized by the twisting, moving, graceful contrails, the fireworks from explosions in mid-air, on the sea, on the decks, and deep within ships further out. However, one small speck gained her attention, appearing to racing towards her. Her optical sensors detected the shape of fins and a cone while the optical nerve relayed the information to the rear of her brain, which processed and classified the shapes as an incoming missile. The threat was relayed to her motor-controls; however, by that time the Hex missile had reached Davis and the open compartment – and upon detonation the young married ensign was incinerated, as was the entire control station she had just worked on.

The Valiant, unlike her companion capital ships, had been taken a beating. Her commander, whose body had been blown to numerous pieces when a missile slammed into the combat centre, had targeted his missile systems to protect the rest of the fleet – having realized his own ship was now expendable like the picket frigates and destroyers. Consequently, the ship was buffeted by impact after impact. After nearly two dozen strikes, the hull of the new vessel began to sink lower in the water until the entire flat-bodied craft disappeared without a sound, without a blast, without any real struggle.

The Philadelphia had managed to survive three more blasts, although the decks were littered with holes, fires, and bodies. Snyder still managed to fire the occasional missile and gun, though a strike to the power grid has cutback on the ability to simultaneously fire all the systems. The remainder of the fleet, however, absorbed strike after strike, each ship successively slipping beneath the waves. Finally, the barrage began to life as the end of both waves registered their impacts; and to those who could see, the devastation was immense.

HMS Yorke

Ramsey wiped away a trickle of blood running down his forehead into his eyes. His ship had suffered no less than twenty direct impacts, most on the armoured flight and hangar decks and outer pylons. It was for the fact that this ship was built so well that it managed to continue to float. Of course, Ramsey was well aware of the damages caused by the missiles, and the few enemy fighters which had also entered the fray.

The mighty carrier was now entirely put out of action. Only one of her reactors remained operational, so she could maintain a speed of five knots for perhaps three hours – after which the chief engineer, who had miraculously survived a blast on the main engine room, informed him the stress on the propeller shafts would result in complete failure. Somehow, he had two remaining choppers ready to take off; although with the destroyed flight deck, they’d be taking off from the now exposed hangar deck – a tricky maneuver, but one deemed necessary to pick up as many survivors as possible. The defence systems were now entirely expended, and those which did have weapons still ready to fire had been knocked out by peripheral damage to power grids and critical systems. There was really only one course of action left to take.

He ran up the battered steps to the flight deck and saw the flag still flying. He hurriedly brought it down once again and folded it quickly before placing it his jacket pocket. He slid down the railing, slicing open his left hand from an unnoticed jagged break in the tubular structure. He swore loudly as he entered the combat centre, now covered with blood and scorch marks. “Gentlemen, 1MC if you will.” The chief handed his now only one good hand the transmitter.

“Gentlemen, you have fought well and have only honoured the Commonwealth, the Royal Navy, and our friends and allies. However, the time has come for us to abandon ship. All hands are to proceed to the motor launches and the rafts, head east towards the Independent Hitmen forces, who will pick you up. In the meantime, required officers will stay onboard and scuttle the ship. That is all. Godspeed.” Ramsey clicked off the transmitter, and turned to face his weapons officer.

“How many of theirs did we sink?”

“I don’t know, sir. We’ve lost long-range sensors. But I’d imagine we did some damage, sir.”

“Very well then, communications sent out a request on any available frequency to the IH forces, request they commence operations against IN forces and rescue operations for our men and women. After that, proceed to the rafts.” He turned to face the remaining crew, “the rest of us will depart. XO, prepare a launch to take you, myself, and surviving command officers to the Philadelphia. We will be transferring the flag.”

Minutes later, the seas of Euroslavia added further burning hulks to the deep watery graves. While motorized launches and helicopters from the pickets dispatched before the missile strikes picked up most of the survivors – who were few in number – and began to make their way to safe ships and land. A single launch trailed away from the Yorke, now an unrecognizable hulk of metal as she slipped deeper and deeper into the waters. The launch cut through the oil-slicked waters and found itself alongside the Philadelphia, the sole remaining ship from the fleet.

Ramsey climbed the ladder, greeted by a scarred and bloodied Snyder. “Permission to come aboard, captain?”

“Of course, Benjamin, glad to see you made it.” The two old friends and classmates shook hands and embraced each other – both glad that the other had survived in spite of the obvious injuries. “What can I do for you?”

“What’s your top speed?”

“We’re down to about 21 knots.”

“Flank speed due east. Now that we’re under the cover of the IH forces, I want us moved to the rear, at least one ship needs to survive for the voyage home.”

Snyder smiled, “of course.” He signaled for his XO, who had accompanied him, to go and give the appropriate orders. “What about the attack subs, and the guided missile sub?”

“They’re… the rear guard. They’re going to be the means for our escape.”

“You mean…”

“Indeed.” The two men had not to speak of the mission of the submarines. They knew the realities as well as the commanders of the submarines themselves. They would, however, allow the Philadelphia to escape. And although she would likely not fight again during the war, she would represent the Commonwealth at the conclusion of the hostilities… in which the two men were sure the CSD would prevail.

The two looked off to the west and saluted the submariners who were to be the last piece of Ramsey’s game.

IHS Black Prince

Admiral Benson was in the CIC watching one of the large plasma screens that was projecting the take from an E-2CI that had been sent closer to the Azazian fleet. It showed only the last minutes of the attack, with the rear of the wave of missiles striking ships which then disappeared slowly from the screens leaving a sole vessel heading east.

Five SH-60’s had been sent out that way for survivor recovery, whilst a flight of five F-22S Raptors were now providing top cover. The Azazian helicopters were being given vectors for IH fleet vessels so that they could land on them and then rejoin the fight in ASW or SAR missions.

A pair of destroyers were also heading out from the main fleet lines towards the Philadelphia to provide a better escort for her trip into the fleet.

The outer picket ships had pulled back in slightly so as to be under air cover from the fleet as a whole when the inevitable missile strikes started to come. However now they had one major advantage over the enemy who must have fired off a large proportion of their missiles whilst Task Force 4 had fired none so far. Besides Task Force 4 had three container ships sailing with them that contained a multitude of spare parts, extra ammunition and supplies to keep the group in fighting order. Another specialist ship that was with the group was a dedicated repair ship that contained engineers and workers who were expert at patching up ships and getting them back into the fight, a valuable lesson learnt from the Talaax conflict. This ship, IHS Hope was now heading West to link up with the limping allied ship to see what could be done to help. Whilst not experts in their constructions these men should prove to be a valuable asset to keeping the ship afloat and in working order.


IHS Aasimar, Aasimar Class Battleship

Captain Jenkins surveyed his weapons screens. All lights showed green. The VLS tubes were loaded with a mixture of SM-4I SAM’s and Tomahawk cruise missiles, configured for anti-ship operations, whilst the CIWS gun mounts had their ammunition containers full to the brim with 20mm slugs.

Looking further down the status board his blue eyes paused on the symbols of the two reactors that were providing the ship with the power to do the 31knots that it was now parting waves with. This was no mean feat, the reinforced armoured decks and had been added after the purchase of the ship, and then strengthened with a titanium composite shortly afterwards. The reactors had been upgraded to help pull this new weight along, but the top speed had still been knocked down from 39 to 36 knots which would impair manoeuvrability in a missile strike.

Sailing close to the Battleship at roughly the same speed the Guided Missile Cruiser Grisley had her VLS cells filled with the new SM-4 Block V SAM’s and the Tomahawk Block X Specialised Anti-Ship (SAS) missiles. These were the newest in naval weaponry that had been implemented into the navy, and delivery had only been made to this and two other ships in the formation before the Task Force sailed. Now they would have to rely on a multitude of previous versions of missiles to use against the enemy fleet.

All of the surface ships had however received the latest software for their CIWS systems that enabled them to track targets for each other to engage, thereby allowing reloading units to still use their systems to allow other weapons systems to engage the inbound threats.

HMS Swiftsure

Underneath the now calm waters off the coast of Euroslavia, the latest in the Royal Navy’s submarine fleet stood its positions with its reactor shut down, the ship running only on battery power. The Swiftsure sat dead in the sea as the IN fleet ran full speed straight at Reims and her crew – and the two other subs off her port bow. By luck of the draw, Reims had been set to screen the north, which put her close to the Wirraway forces, and her route of escape. To her south, the HMS Sandtiger and HMS Stingray sat awaiting their chance to strike out at the charging enemy.

Unfortunately, Reims also knew that the remaining two submarines were older nuke boats, and that although far quieter than any of the Seawolfs or Los Angeles class boats operating in the waters, once they started firing, they’d be just as detectable. Reims also knew that the commanders of those boats knew that as well. But they were the only force between the Independent Hitmen and the Intelligent Neighbors, not to mention the fleeing Philadelphia.

“Conn, sonar.” The voice over the intercom broke into her mind, derailing her train of thought. “Multiple contacts, spread bearing two-seven-zero through two-five-zero degrees. Designating targets Skunks One through Twelve.”

“Sonar, conn, acknowledged. Weapons officer, begin relegating targets. Chief, 1MC if you will.” Reims took the small transmitter in her hand and clicked the key. “Rig ship for submerged cruise missile launch. All hands to battlestations.”

The perforated anechoic decks switched from their dullish grey in white light to a blood red in the lights alerting the crew to man their combat stations. Throughout the ship, men and women rushed through hatches and slid down ladders to their respective duty-stations and in seconds the ship was ready for combat. Reims knew it could be their last call to battlestations.

“Conn, weapons. Missiles are ready for submerged tactical launch.”

“Weapons, conn. Acknowledged.” Reims now stood awaiting her time to shine, and die in honour of her country, her friends and family that had perished above them, and were likely perishing below them as twisted ravaged hulls plummeted to the ocean depths below. Sonar, conn; range to targets?”

“We’re at about one hundred kliks, ma’am.”

Reims knew the time was nearing. She only needed to wait several more minutes.

“Communications, secure data burst to the Sandtiger and the Stingray; flood tubes and open outer doors. Fire on our lead.” The secured burst found its way to the other submarines in the fleet and upon their acknowledgment signal the comm officer nodded back towards Reims.

“Weapons, flood tubes and open doors.”

“Flooding tubes and open doors, aye, captain.” In silence water filled the launch chambers equalizing pressure between the chamber and the outer seawater. With the chambers full, the doors slid open and into recessed covers within the hull, and the guided missiles tucked away in their canisters, were ready to fire. All was so far going according to plan.

“Conn, sonar, transient noises!” Throughout the hull a small, barely audible groan could be heard, running slowly through the water.

“What the bloody hell is that?!”

“I think it’s the missile doors on the Sandtiger!”

“Captain, Sandtiger reports Hatch Three has seized. They are going to fire and dash south.”

“Captain, I think targets could have acquired her… that was awfully loud.”

In an instant, the situation had changed, the enemy now knew that one submarine was waiting for them – and although they had continued to close well within missile range, the surprise on the Sandtiger’s end was up. The small LCD display panel provided new blue icons representing the stricken vessel’s missile sortie. There were a mere eleven instead of the twelve planned upon. That and six heavy self-guided torpedoes; both waves of warheads rushed onwards into the charging fleet.

“Conn, sonar; it sounds like the Sandtiger is restarting her reactor plant!”

Reims nodded and decided her next course of action. “Weapons officer I want—“

“Conn, sonar! New contact, submerged. Designate contact Sierra Four. Bearing chance… now in pursuit of Sandtiger.”

“Damnit!” Reims swore. At this rate, they might not even get a missile off before something else went awry. “Weapons officer, fire missiles and torpedoes.”

From the surface burst thirty-five canisters carrying sub-sonic stealth cruise missiles, which activated their cooled-exhaust turbofan engines as they began their evasive plots in towards the close-at-hand enemy ships. Flying just above the ocean, they ran shut down, guided via inertia towards the enemy fleet, where they sought their prized targets. More IN carriers.

Reims knew that the IN fleet would remain superior so long as they could still launch and recover aircraft – and so the missiles were programmed to disable, if not destroy, their capacity for aerial operations. Below the missiles sped self-guiding torpedoes, homing in on the noise-signature of the larger escort vessels. The rocket torpedoes accelerated at standard speeds of 70 knots as they began their approach to the enemy escorts. When within kill range, they would switch to their supercavitating drive system and speed straight into the hulls at speeds in excess of 400 knots, with the requisite course corrections made through minor shifts made to vector the thrust in the appropriate directions.

The IN fleet, rather suddenly, was confronted with the weapons released by the Swiftsure, Sandtiger, and the Stingray. Eighteen rocket torpedoes and thirty-five cruise missiles – far less than the previous salvoes from both parties. But then this was the last effort of the rear guard to delay and/or stop the IN fleet from further encroaching into Euroslavian waters. Reims pushed these thoughts out of her head, and concentrated on merely surviving until she was under the protection of Wirraway’s forces kilometers away to the north.

“Weapons officer, seal hatches and tube doors. Diving officer, take us down to 1300 meters. Engine room, engage secondary AIP system and make revolutions for five knots. Navigation, course will be due north towards Wirraway picket forces. Diving officer, when we reach depth, make sure we are within the transition layer and then deploy the towed array above the layer so we can actually see and hear what’s going on.”

Deep below the seas, far, far below the operating depth of the remaining Los Angeles class and Seawolf class attack subs, the titanium-alloy hull of the Swiftsure protected her crew comfortably at a depth twice that of the crush depth of her enemies above her. Of course, Reims and her crew were so far down that the pressure on torpedoes and missiles was far too great to fire, and she had conceded that by going deep her mission was over. However, unlike her compatriots in the older submarines, she was likely to survive. And at that she smiled. Perhaps the first bit of good news she’s heard all day.

Far away, and far below, the Changeling began slowly rising from the depths. Under electric power, there was no telltale noise to be heard - and the spooling return of her longmast was below the sensitivity of any SONAR which did not want to listen to everything in the sea all at once.

At less then three knots, she set off forward, hugging the bottom - and depending on deep-view maps downloaded from OVERSIGHT - to keep her presence unknown. Still far from the IN fleet, she rose a touch higher to remain off the bottom - yet still beneath the thermal layer.

Here she sat, "hovering", and listening with her passive SONAR.

At the sudden groan of what could very well be a missile door opening, she dropped back towards the floor, swiftly but surely, until she was again a ghost near the bottom, a ray, a wreck, an unknown...

Her XO had counted twice what it would take a NATO missile to arrive on target - and yet the seas above her remained quiet.

"Helm, take us to course 306, zero bubble, speed current plus two."
"Aye, Captain. Coming to 306, zero bubble, speed seven knots".

Patiently, Changeling began to shadow the last known course of the IN fleet in parallel, allowing herself to fall behind for the time being.

There would be more data to be had later.

Eagle Four, E-2CI Hawkeye orbiting 200miles West of Task Force Four


The controllers screens showed the aircraft from the aborted first strike now beginning to land on the carriers. The attack birds went in first followed by the fighters and then radar aircraft and other support assets.

By the time the last aircraft was landing on the decks, the air operations officers had already gotten the first flight of attack birds back up. They were put into a holding pattern above the carriers whilst the rest of the aircraft were turned around below them, mostly involving refueling and replacing the few AA missile that had been expended.


IHS Black Prince

Whilst this went on their was discussion in the CIC as to what to do. President Anderson had authorized a first strike as a possible option, but they didnt have pin-point accuracy needed for a strike from the shipboard missiles. The only thing that they knew for certain was that the fleet was running due East, heading straight for them. They could launch their assortment of Tomahawks down that bearing but that would probably mean taking out only the forward escorts with a few lucky strikes on the large capital ships that they needed to destroy.

As aircraft were fueled and loaded outside, the commanders sat and discussed options. They agreed upon a relatively simple plan, and Eagle Seven was sent West along with a squadron of Sea Raptors.

The small formation increased its height whilst the giant radar looked down on the surface of the sea for the enemy fleet. As soon as it found it the co-ordinates would be sent back to the Task Force, where computers would predict its position when the strike was to take place.

On ships across the fleet, keys were turned and missiles were armed. There were no adverse weather conditions and so in most cases the VLS tubes were opened so that firing could be done as soon as the GPS co-ordinates were inputted into the missiles.

"Sir! Possible contact, bearing 262, course 49 - possible intercept..."

Jurgen's blood ran suddenly cold. Had they given themselves away?

"SONAR, feed possible to StelStar. Helm, reduce speed to current local. Ops, active degauss pulse on charge. Chief, board?"
"All lights are green, all conditions normal."
"Aye, sir, speed now five knots."

Jurgen knew the hull had been degaussed by the tingle in his teeth seconds before he heard "Degauss, aye-aye!"

In front of him, the glowing StelStar table added "maybes" and "possiblies" to it's index.

"Current Depth?"
"Two-zero-zero-zero and holding, Captain."

StelStar showed eight maybes, the closest below them at 2100, the furthest above at 1200... "XO, mark SONAR possible as Sigma One."
"Aye, Sigma One."

A bunch of fuzz, 1200 meters down and over sixty nautical miles away glowed suddenly, the notation a ghostly indicator.

"How recent is this?"
"Twenty seconds, Captain."

Damn... another sink? A plane?

"Surface activity?"
"Plotting, sir."

Even in the cool interior, Jurgen began to sweat.