NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: Note the first post is merely an introductory.
IC:
In the city of Larca lay the bones of General Alastair Axel the Great of the Menonia. The Menonian general was the Supreme Commander of the Allied Army, who drove away the vile scum known as the Dinonians. During the late 500’s C.E. a great influx of Greek settlers began establishing settlements in the land they named Collistat. At first small, scattered coastal villages dotted the new promising land, but soon powerful city-states just like their homeland in Greece began forming. As the city-states hunger for resources and power began to grow, as did the bravery of those who sought riches inland. Men in the hundreds plowed their way through the thick brush of the yet unexplored inland territory. Almost all of the explorers did not make it back. Survivors that actually did make it out alive told stories of an advance civilization, which killed, tortured, and some even ate the flesh of the explorers. Outraged by the savage tactics and by the inhumane treatment of the Greek explorers an army was raised by thirteen of the fifteen city-states and led by General Cedric Herrik of Attica.

The two city-states, which refused to contribute soldiers to the Allied Army, were Lacedaemeon, and Boeotia. The two city-states claimed that their own army was needed for the protection of New Sparta and Boeotia. This angered the other city-states, which claimed that Lacedaemeon and Boeotia has more than enough soldiers in supply to both protect their city-state and conduct expeditionary expeditions. Despite the minor setbacks the Allied Army of three thousand hoplites, and three hundred cavalry began massing in Attica. Their first objective was to secure the Attican Island, then to move to another island and clear it of all aggressors. The Allied Council approved this plan and the army was given the command to begin operations.

Using the phalanx formation the hoplites inched their way across Attican land, the cavalry standing guard in the flanks. The first engagement between the Dinonians and the Allied Army was a skirmish along the Incis River. The small battle resulted in a decisive victory for the Allied Army, the Dinonians were sent running. With word of a Greek Army heading towards the Dinonian city of Peltash, the cities militia was called up to ranks. At the Battle Of Operculum the Greek Army was utterly defeated by the Dinonian Army. Panic spread as news of the defeat spread to Attica. Fearing a Dinonian counter-attack Attica raised up its army of one thousand eight hundred hoplites and two hundred and fifty cavalry. Governor Pelicules of Attica cried for help as reports of a Dinonian Army spread throughout the city. In Lacedaemeon, the Spartans had just finished destroying the last Dinonian settlement on their land, and Boeotia as well defeated the two Dinonian settlements on its territory.

The Spartans finally gave in to pressure from it’s allies and offered two-thousand and fifty hoplites for the Allied Army, while Boeotia offered four hundred hoplites and a fleet. It was during this period of time when General Alastair Axel was of Menonia was appointed head of the Allied Army. In a brilliant display of military strategy and tactics the six thousand strong 2nd Allied Army crushed all Dinonian settlements in the Attican Island. Within five years the Dinonian strongholds were now only in Glaciea. It was here where the Dinonian Army numbering some four thousand soldiers, and the Greek Allied Army of four thousand five hundred met. In a bloody battle known as the Battle Lacer Lacrim the Dinonians were finally driven out of Collistat into the frozen abyss. Historians to this day believe that every Dinonian was killed by the fierce and bitter cold of the Frozen Abyss.

As ages past conflict between the fifteen city-states increased. Eventually the fifteen city-states were narrowed down to ten. Alliances were formed and wars, which engulfed entire regions, were not out of place.

Now in the year 2005 C.E. the city of Larca is all but a small insignificant village near the frozen abyss. The village was the home village of the current Imperator of Menonia. The imperator and his family often visit the village for several weeks, staying in the old mansion where the imperator had grown up. A guard militia of one hundred, armed with Winchester M64 rifles, and double action revolvers, maintains order within the city, this is likely to triple when the imperator is present. An old wooden palisade wall, slowly rotting, surrounds the ancient city. Twelve modern watch towers provide full security of the perimeter, and six metal gates ensures that anyone that enters the city is noted of. The bones of General Alastair Axel the Great lay buried deep in the Temple of Zeus for protection against forces against the gods. Menonian guards keep watch of the grave at all times, ensuring that no one may disturb the great generals rest. In the Main Entrance Gate of the City four guards sit in their chairs against the outside of the gate. Some two hundred meters to their left is a guard tower, which controls the opening and closing of the gate.

The intense fog clouded all view for more than fifty yards, the only noise audible is the sound of men talking and laughing loudly. The four Menonian guards didn’t notice the dead silence when they paused in their conversation. Nor did they notice the dark clouds, which blanketed the stars and moon to provide any sort of natural light. Only the small tactical flashlights on their M64 lever-action rifles and the watchtower’s searchlight broke the darkness. One of the soldiers looked out towards where the forest should be, seeing only darkness. He picked up his rifle and flashed the light towards the darkness, the fog obscuring his view. ”Derrek, don’t you think it’s abnormally foggy today?” Derrek turned towards the forest, ”Yes, I would agree. A little frightened Simeon?” The soldier said laughing, the other two nearby soldiers laughed as well. Simeon, who was still looking towards the fog, cleared his throat and spoke, ”Of course I’m not scared, I’m just wondering why the gods would do such a thing as to block out the lights. Perphaps it is a sign.” Derrek laughed even louder, ”A sign? A sign of what may I ask Si-?” Derrek stopped short and looked out towards the fog. The other three soldiers did the same. One of the soldiers whispered from behind Derrek, ”What do you see?” Before Derrek could answer a hooded figure moved from out of the fog.

The figure wore a black as night cloak, the hood of the cloak concealing his face. ”Halt, you are entering the Larca. Identify yourself.” Derrek said with a deep and commanding voice. The hooded figure stopped at roughly ten yards from the main gate. ”Yes?” spoke the figure in the voice of a frail old man. The voice of an old man eased the soldiers tensions, in a more normal tone of voice Derrek spoke, ”Sir, public entry into Larca is prohibited after eight o’clock P.M. Are you a resident?” The soldiers waited for the man to speak, ”No. I have come to speak with Imperator Selwyn, son of Eli. It is urgent.” Derrik took a step towards the man to get a better view. ”Do you have papers from Menonia?” The man’s breathing was deep and long, as if he had just ran several miles. ”No, I do not come from Menonia or from The Council of Collistat. I must speak with the imperator.”

Derrek looked back towards the three soldiers behind him. His old radio crackled with the voice of the soldiers in the watchtower. Derrek unhooked the radio from it’s carrying pouched and listened, ”Derrek this is watchtower five, is their a problem down there?” Derrek turned his back to the old man and pressed down and the transmit button, ”No tower five. I believe just a beggar that wishes to speak with the imperator, he has no papers nor identification.” He let go off the transmit button and waited for a response. ”Very well. Order him off of the premises Derrek. He has obviously been cursed by the gods.” Derrek took a deep breath, ”Consider it done.” Derrek turned towards the hooded man who remained where he had stood before. ”I’m sorry sir but you must leave the premises. Will you leave willingly?” The hooded figure turned his back to the four soldiers and spoke, ”I shall. But know this, the armies of the Dark King march today. Its death shall engulf all that you see, what there is shall be no more. And out of the burning ashes of death shall arise a new glorious kingdom. All that you know will be gone, as will be yourselves. Heed my warning young ones and leave. For the peril that is to come is far to great for anyone to bear.” With that last message the figure walked forward and disappeared into the dense fog.

The next night the same four soldiers were on the main entrance guard watch duty. All four men were somewhat disturbed by the old man’s prophesy of an unknown enemy destroying and killing everything they know. Derrek and his team were a little tenser this night, no jokes were told and laughter was nearly impossible. The soldiers had their finger on the trigger, and the other hand ready to work on the lever of the rifle. This night was as dark as the night before if not darker, the fog was about the same but this night the men had a strange feeling in their stomach. At around 1 o’clock in the morning each soldier was tired. Their relief was coming in an hour, and each soldier was eager for a warm shower, some food, and a nice long nap. ”I guess that old man was insane.” said Derrek, finally breaking the silence. ”To think I actually thought something would happen today. I must be going insane myself.” A few of the soldiers managed a snicker Derrek himself was smiling. As Derrek turned to get a snack bar from the small guards station he heard an unusual noise. He quickly turned back, facing the forest, towards the noise.

The other soldiers heard the noise as well and had gotten up, their rifles in the air. Derrek quickly got his radio and spoke, ”Tower Five, this is Derrek. We’re hearing something pretty weird over here, can you get some Imperial Guardsmen over here?” The crackled of the radio was barely audible as the noise increased. ”Negative Derrek, the Imperator left five hours ago on his helicopter. What’s the situation?” Derrek grabbed his rifle from the rack in the guard’s station and lifted it up towards the noise. ”Just get someone over here Tower 5. I think we might have something.” The light from the watchtower shone towards Derrek’s position. The light was far too weak to pierce through the thick fog it did nothing. Derrek tensed up as nearby rocks on the ground began to shake; it was evident that the tower heard the noises now too, due to the voice yelling orders through the radio. Finally the outline of numerous dark figures could be made out of the fog. Derrek yelled towards the advancing figure, ”Halt, you are entering Larca village. Halt or we will fire.” As the figures continued to approach a shot rang out. Simeon had fired a shot towards one of the figures.

Before Derrek could correct the young soldier a series of automatic gunfire came from the figures in the fog, still advancing. Derrek crawled to the guard’s station and watched in horror as all three guards were pelted with heavy rifle fire. Their bodies twitched and squirm in violent motions as the bullets rip apart vital organs and flesh. Finally the figures were close enough for Derrek to see who the assailants were. What looked like men wearing old gothic style armour, mounted on black horses also heavily laden with armour. The men wore spiked helmets, with chest plated, and leg armour. The watchtower now began firing its .223 machine gun towards the attackers. A series of well-aimed shots from the attackers silenced the tower. Derrek, who was still hiding in the guard’s station grabbed his M64 rifle, and checked to make sure a round was still in the chamber. He rose up from his hiding position and released two quick 30-30 rounds towards the nearest attacker. Derrek heard the noise of metal hitting metal and his target fell. A series of rifle burst fire from the attackers hit Derrek in the shoulder, shattering it. He fell hard on to the ground and screamed in pain.

As he looked up towards the sky the figure he had hit with his rifle stood over him. Two dents in the metal armor showed where Derrek had hit the man. The man shouldered his rifle and drew out his dagger. As the man began slice down onto Derrek’s throat he managed to mutter his last words, ”Who…are…you?” The figure stopped moving his dagger wielding hand and stood up straight. The figured answered in a deep booming voice, ”I am Lord Thanatos of the Dark Legion. We have come to reclaim what is rightfully ours.” With that the man known as Thanatos threw down his hand onto Derrek’s neck ending him.

All six gates were opened by a total of two hundred mounted warriors from the 1st Dark Legion. Once all the horsemen were inside the city and the towers eliminated, the massacre began. With their rifles and pistols at hand the legionnaires killed every single inhabitant of Larca. Houses, hospitals, motels, even the Imperator’s mansion, everything was burned to the ground. All that remained was the Temple of Zeus. Thanatos walked into the simple marble temple. It was a traditional Greek structure with columns and arches. At the very end of the temple the warrior found what he sought. He read the tablet several times. Here lies General Alastair Axel the Great, son of Eli, brother to Zarek, father of Klaus A devilish smile was on the warriors face. One of the horsemen entered the temple and called across, ”Lord Thanatos, the village is clear.” Thanatos looked up, ”Very well, order the men to desecrate this grave and we shall leave.” The warrior nodded and carried out the orders. By daylight the horsemen were gone, only the smoldering ashes were left in what was once a village of thousands. A man from a nearby village, looking for trading surplus crops for coinage, found the city and quickly reported the incident to the government. Within several hours a squad of Menonian soldiers scanned the area for the attackers. No one could be found.

In the United Greek Council of Collistat Conference Room, the Menonian delegate, Claus Boreas, was informing the Council of the raid against Larca. ”Delegates of the Council of Collistat. I know that you all have been deeply briefed by your respected governments about the treacherous raid against Larca. All citizens were killed during the raid and the body if General Alastair Axel was desecrated. At this moment the Imperator is mobilizing the entire military in case of a more attacks. Menonia itself has been fortified heavily. We ask for financial support and possible assistance in investigating the scene of the massacre, and for a possible counter-attack of equal measure.”

The Korinth Delegate, Demetri Icarus stood up from his seat. ”Korinth does not have the means to assist in funding the investigation of this magnitude. In fact I believe none of us other than Glaciea, Attica, and Lacedaemeon even have the funds to spare. Perphaps if we can-“ The Delegate stopped short as a messanger whispered into the Menonian delegates ear. Delegate Boreas spoke up from his seat, ”Council members, it seems that the mysterious attackers have destroyed the village of Pumsar, thousands more lay dead. They attacked under the cloud of night and destroyed everything. Only ash and death remains.” A great uproar of noise came from the Council as all members spoke at once. Delegate Jayr Kadmus of Olympus, leader of the Council, spoke out, ”Everyone calm yourselves. This event is indeed troubling, but we cannot let this cloud our minds of good judgment. At the moment most of us are indeed unable to conduct military or financial operations to assist Menonia. But I believe that we can plead with the international community for funds and such. Is this sufficient Boreas?” The delegates turned to Delegate Boreas who slowly nodded. ”Good, I will begin with a draft immediately. Meeting is dismissed."

Public Release From The United Greek Council of Collistat
Greetings nations of the world I am Delegate Jayr Kadmus of Olympus. Recent barbaric attacks against the villages under the control of the city-state Menonia has left thousands dead, and millions in damage to government structures, and religious temples. We have reason to believe that these attacks will not stop unless something is done. Therefore we wish to ask the international community for military equipment, or funds in return for natural resources. If the resources we sell are not favorable to a nation then we can then establish a contract for a specific amount of money that will be paid in a specific amount of time plus a negotiated interest rate. We plead for any nation that is willing to help to do so.
Delegate Jayr Kadmus

Resources of Collistat
Note-Though large mineral and metal finds have been found throughout Collistat, many still remain unmined due to lack of sophisticated equipment and man power to do so. Nation wishing to acquire the mineral or metal must provide own equipment and men to excavate site. Others have yet to be refined.

Exports Avaliable
Gold-102% of national needs
Zinc-188% of national needs (67% unmined)
Titanium-221% of national needs (101% unmined)
Grains-304% of national needs
Iron-166% of national needs (12& unmineed)
Copper-191% of national needs (21% unmined)
Steel-101% of national needs
Platinum-107% of national needs (55% unmined)
Aluminum-167% of national needs (44% unmined)
Oil-131% of national needs (Unknown amount of oil in deep reserves or in waters)
Tungsten-193% of national needs (102% unmined)
Coal-132% of national needs (27% unmined)

Public Release From The United Greek Council of Collistat
Greetings nations of the world I am Delegate Jayr Kadmus of Olympus. Recent barbaric attacks against the villages under the control of the city-state Menonia has left thousands dead, and millions in damage to government structures, and religious temples. We have reason to believe that these attacks will not stop unless something is done. Therefore we wish to ask the international community for military equipment, or funds in return for natural resources. If the resources we sell are not favorable to a nation then we can then establish a contract for a specific amount of money that will be paid in a specific amount of time plus a negotiated interest rate. We plead for any nation that is willing to help to do so.
Delegate Jayr Kadmus

Dr. Violet was a very busy man. He worked throught the gloomy hourse of the day, through the never ending rain, and through the cries of pain that slowly echoed up from the deepest reaches of the city. He cared not, however, he had a job to do. After completing yet another letter to the wretched and hopefull foolish Blood Moon Goblins he found a small notice in his briefing. Apparently a small nation was in need of assitance. He slowly read the request for help over. The Infinite Crucible had no need of more money and had a very robust export sector mainly due to the fact that the nation was incredibly rich with natural resouces of many kinds. So these offers were of no use to the great nation. He knew however, where there was a will, there was a way. There must be something The Infinite Crucible could take from this pitiful excuse for a nation. Suddenly an idea hit him, and that same wrily smile cam to his face.

To Collistat
To Whom it May Concern

We have heard your cry for help, and after much diliberation have decided that our nation will provide aid against these unprovoked attacks. This aid can come in two forms, and both must be accepted, not one or the other. The first is we will be willing to supply your military with a limited amount of basic weaponry and funding for as long as we deem necessary. Secondly we will dispatch a team of three hundred soldiers to help in the quelling of this enemy force. They will also contain a special Inquisition task force to help strike at this rot. This has been a highly debated issue within our government may result in a pulling of all aid. We suggest that you accept without too much hesitation, or those godless heathens in the opposing party may vote to pull aid. I hope that this will not have to happen.

Sincerely,
Dr. Violet

Clearly a great deal of this message was a lie, there were no parties and this idea was Dr. Violet's alone. Well hopelfull this tiny nation would not notice.

To: Dr.Violet
From: Delegate Jayr Kadmus
"Your proposal has been accepted. The Council does wish to know however, what specific military equipment are you sending and how long would the package take to arrive. Also the most ideal location for your three hundred soldiers would be Callid Island, that is the location of the raiders attacks. Thank you for your aid, we hope to have a long and beneficial relationship with your nation."

bump

The city of Igos is the second largest city under the control Menonia, second to only Menonia itself. Due to the recent raider attacks against several other smaller cities the city was fortified with two hundred and fifty professional Menonian soldiers armed with M1 Garand self-loading rifles, fragmentation grenades, and .38 revolvers. The old crumbling walls of the ancient city were still strong enough for guards to patrol on, so the captain of the company ordered that there should always be at least a squad (12) of soldiers to constantly patrolling the North, South, East, and West walls. The remaining soldiers were ordered to guard the gates or stay in the city itself. With the recent military garrison added to the Igos Guards the thought of an attack against the city did not seem possible.

As night fell upon the city the fog from the Northerlands slowly crept it's way towards the city. By midnight the entire city was consumed in the dense fog, sight beyond twenty meters was impossible. Through the dense fog a thundering sound could be heard. "What is that?" said a nearby guard. Another answered, "Thunder, perphaps the gods are angered by our failed attempts to destroy our attackers." The sound increased, soldiers along the wall tensed up as the noise increased. "Notify the captain. He should know about this." spoke one of the guards. A nearby scout nodded and ran off to the captain's quarters. Suddenly the sound stopped, and the guard's found themselves in silence. "I suppose that was thunder..." Suddenly a series of enormous booming sounds broke the silence as tank shells smashed against the ancient city walls. Soldiers on the wall quickly hurried to get off the wall as it crumpled under their feet. Screams of pain screeched from the wounded as chunks of concrete fell onto them. By this time the other soldiers in the company had come running towards the site of the attack.

Rolling over the debris was several infantry fighting vehicles, and several more main battle tanks in the rear. Soldiers quickly prepared their old WWII era bazookas and fired a volley toward the vehicles. The rockets merely bounced harmlessly off the heavy armour towards the sky. Now the infantry fighting vehicles responded themselves with their 25mm chain gun and 7.62mm co-axial machine guns. Out of the rear compartment bursted out several dozen soldiers wearing black military battle dress uniforms, and black painted equipment. The soldiers aimed their rifles towards the frightened Menonian soldiers and easily silenced them. More infantry fighting vehicles joined in the fray, as well as several Jeeps. More soldiers joined in on the killings as the entire city of Igos was cleansed of all inhabitants. Due to the suprise and sheer speed of the attack no word got out that Igos had been attacked. The plumes of smoke and fire however, could be seen from miles away.

Kazakhstanian Intel HQ
Shortly After

The pictures the Captain was looking at were vague, but set the scene pretty well. They had been keeping an eye on this conflict for a short time, ever since the public announcement made by Collistat. It seemed pretty low key at the time, compared to happenings in Feline Catfish, but these satellite pictures gave the situation some urgency.

Plumes of smoke and columns of fire could be seen, along with various large, hulking figures of great tanks around what could be just seen as the remains of a great wall.

An urgent, pre-emptive reply was sent out to Menonia:

Due to recent happenings and your plea for help, we ask, what help is it you need. Be it financial, social or military? We wish to help, but want to know how. Please reply.

Also, a last, desperate message was sent out to the city of Igos, what they had suffered. And so, the staff and general's waited for a response.

Pelop Island; Headquarters of the United Greek Council of Collistat
As news spread about the destruction and massacre at Igos, debate in the UGCC continued on. Each city-state had a different view on what to do, and how to do it. "As I have stated before we must gather our forces and hunt these savages which plague Menonia. None of us are safe until we do so." spoke the Delegate from Phoronic. The delegate from Dacia rose from his seat, and spoke, "My brothers, the required funds to accomplish such an operation would be staggering. Only a few of us can actualy conduct offensive operations, most of us, including Menonia, can only fight a limited defensive war. Even then we must depend on our allies to supply us the necesarry war material and food. That proposal must be out of the question if we are to think of the future." Now the delegate from Delphia rose, "We must not give up on international assistance. If an international power was to give us even some funds and some military equipment then we would be more than able to quell the attacks." With this the delegate sat down.

With silence in the room High Delegate Jayr Kadmus rose, "Delegate Castur Baruch of New Sparta. Do you wish to add anything?" Delegate Baruch was whispering to his assistant as High Delegate Kadmus called him out. Baruch nodded to his assistant who exited the Council Room with a written message in his hand. The delegate then rose from his chair, "As a matter of fact I do High Delegate Kadmus. As you all most definetly know Lacedaemeon is the most powerful city-state militarily wise. Our armies of thousands have defeated your combined armies of tens of thousands battle after battle, war after war. If my proposal to my brother is acceptable to him, then you can expect four hundred highly trained Spartan soldiers to be deployed to Menonia with armoured vehicles. Does the Menonian delegate find this approvable?" The heads of the delegate turned to the Menonian delegate who was whispering to his assistance. Finally he rose from his seat. "We find this approvable. Though I can't give for certain your soldiers will be accepted I would assume they would."

High Delegate Kadmus rose from his seat, "So it has been decided. As of now the only action taken will be the deployment of spartans to Menonia. If any other nations wishes to deploy it's own soldiers to Menonia they can do so in our next seccesion. All channels remain open to foreign assistance. The Council is dismissed."

TO:Kazakhstania
FROM: High Delegate Jayr Kadmus
SUBJECT: Aid package
"We thank you for your concern. At the moment what we require is somewhat modern military equipment and reconnaissance vehicles. The guards of our cities use lever-action rifles as their primary weapon, to my understanding these are considered out dated to the modern world so I believe it would be best if you could ship rifles as soon as possible.

Our city-states do have a fairly large military but most have no way of transporting their soldiers. If we were to undergo such an operation the funds wasted on it would plunge several of our city-states into an economic depression. If you could provide any one of these it would be greatly beneficial to discovering who is attacking our cities.

We also have a large amount of natural resources which can be exported to your nation in return for funds or military equipment.

As for the city of Igos all 21,000 inhabitants are dead or unaccounted for."

OOC: Very well done, keep up the good work.

IC:

Criticus Zabic, the Foreign Affairs advisor to Emperor Cutter of the vast Imperial Guilder Empire sat staring at the flickering screen occasionally his gloved hand moved in deliberate patterns changing the display. He was in fact flicking through the diplomatic contact between the official channels to the Empire looking for nothing in particular. He flicked another message up on the holographic screen...

Another diplomatic insult

He thought, and spoke a word in Old Latin activating the link network device that sat in his ear, saying calmly and deliberately

Constantine, please send the nation's details I am sending you to the Templar. Tell Cicero he is to give this nation a few headaches perhaps cause a few hundred thousand casualties in order to remind them, what we are capable of.

He spoke another word in Old Latin and the link device made a little click as it turned itself off. Touching the next message and reading through it his expression changed, the message was from the young state of Collistat... they were having security problems... Zabic sensed an opportunity for Imperial expansion as well as new potential trading partner for the Empire. He immediately began to dictate a message to the Collistat Government, which read as follows:



To: Delegate Jayr Kadmus

We have heard about your unfortunate situation especially the recent massacres, which have taken place. We express our condolences on the matter and wish to offer our help in dealing with this problem.

Whilst we cannot sell you our weapons (due to National security), we are willing to help you sort out your problem in the form of sending 'Military Advisors' or even if you wish several Imperial Guilder Legions to forcibly restore order in your troubled nation.

We can assure you our soldiers are very efficent and effective at dealing with guerilla and insurgency warfare due to the Alan Insurgency as well as the many campaigns they have undertaken to expand the Empire.

When the situation is deemed secure by yourself, they will leave, however in return we would like access to your natural resources and your internal markets (to a yet to be negotiated point).

We would like you to note, we have no intention of abusing this position to take you into the Empire by force.

For God and Saint Peter,

Criticus Zabic,
Foreign Affairs Advisor to the Emperor,

OOC: Great work, Collistat. Keep it up!


TAG for future IC response.

TO:Criticus Zabic, Foreign Affairs Advisor to the Emperor
FROM: High Delegate Jayr Kadmus
SUBJECT: Advisers
"Military advisors would be a great help to train some of our city-states armies which are currently in a ghastly state. Our current estimations deem that we would require some one hundred and five (105) military advisers to retrain the armies of Dacia, Boeotia, Menonia, Olympus, and Phoronic. After some deliberation with the council we must respectfully decline your offer of your own military personnel. We turn to the international community to assist us in solving our problem, we don't want them to do it for us.

Exportation of our natural resources can be arranged through a signed contract. We are somewhat weary of what you mean, "control of our internal markets". Could you elaborate on what you mean?"

Thank you

Captain Juliusr eyed the four soldiers sitting next to him. The UH-1 Huey swayed heavily in the undisturbed skies of Menonia. This was most likely due to the old age of the helicopter though the captain. Most of Menonians military equipment was kept in storage, with little or no maintainence to ensure it's reliability during war. The once army green paint was now mostly rust, the captain was even surprised they got the helicopter to even start up. He checked his rifle to make sure he had a round in the chamber. Then he looked out of the left door, seeing the two other helicopters some fifty meters away. An old 7.62mm machine gun hung on the side of the helicopters, swaying freely in the air unmanned.

The Captain's patrol team was the first patrol not done by foot. After the massacre of Igos, the Imperator must of figured he was dealing with something much bigger than a small band of renegades. The attack completely destroyed an entire Army Company, and a battalion of City Guards. Doing that without leaving behind a large pile of dead casualties was a difficult thing to do. Looking down towards the ground the captain sees the untapped lush green forest below him. The soldier next to him broke the uneasy silence, "Hey Cap, you think it's those spartans that are raiding our cities? I mean, me and the guys have been talking and we don't know anyone that would attack us." The captain turned towards the green soldier, somewhat irritated by the question. "No. Lacedaemeon is actually sending soldiers to assist us. If they wanted Menonia they could take it easily. I think we're dealing with someone foreign, no one from the islands of Collistat could of done what I saw."

Suddenly the helicopter next to the captains bursted into flames. Shrapnel from the helicopter flew out in the air, luckily missing the captain's own helicopter. Out of the corner of the captains eye he saw a white streak flying in the sky. Quickly turning his head he saw the second Huey get hit in, the missile impacted the soldier compartment, splitting the aircraft in two. By now the pilot and co-pilot were yelling. "Shit, they got Kaj. Do you see anything coming at us?" The co-pilot swerved his head in several directs, looking for in an inbound missile. He shook his head towards the pilot. "Get base on the line. We're going to be getting some heat our way." The co-pilot fumbled for the radio and held the transmit button, "Base this is Huey #332. 331 and 330 are down, repeat, 331 and 330 are down. Current position is 51-22-37-L9-B7. Request some sort of air support." The radio crackled, a response came soon after. "Huey #332. That's a negative on the air support. All resources are used. Do what you can." The co-pilot slammed the radio on the receiver.

Captain Juliusr turned his head to see two more missiles, he yelled out towards the pilot "We have two more missiles at our seven o'clock." The look on the pilot's face was all the Captain needed. Within seconds the first missile impacted several meters away from the pilot's area. The explosion blew out all of the windows, and damaged the electronics severly. Before anyone could react the second missile hit destroying the aircraft completely.

Base Camp Orilius; Menonia
"General, Patrol #330 has gone down. All three helicopters are suspected to be destroyed by unknown means." General Miniscuis observed the large map hanging on the wall, "Order the 4th Battalion to the area. I'll try to scavenge for some artillery and aircraft support. Also try to get some recon photos before we go in. I want to know what we're up against." The operator nodded and dispatched the orders.

IC:



To Delegate Jayr Kadmus

Yes, we will send 105 military advisors to help re-train your military in the methods of combatting such a problem, as well as your permission helping train them further in the future.

After consultation with our Military Planners of the Crucible we feel that you most benefit from the following division of Advisors:

15 Infantry Officers (Mix of Centurions, Chief Centurions and Legates)
15 Infantry NCO's (Optios)
5 Armoured Officers (Mix of Centurions, Chief Centurions and Legates)
5 Armoured NCO's (Optios)
10 Logistical Officers (Tribunes)
2 Command Officers (Generals)
8 Staff Officers (Staff Tribunes)
10 Intelligence Officers (Knights of Saint Peter, Knights Templar)
5 Artillery Officers (Mix of Centurions, Chief Centurions and Legates)
5 Artillery NCO's (Optios)
5 Airforce Officers (Mix of Centurions, Chief Centurions and Legates)
5 Airforce NCO's (Optios)
3 Special Operations Officers (Sword of Christ, Templar/St Peter Elimination Teams)
2 Medical Officers
5 Adminstration Officers
5 Engineering Officers (Mix of Centurions, Chief Centurions and Legates)

We hope that will be sufficent.

As for the markets, we were hoping to have priveleged access to them in order to buy and sell from/to your people.

For God and Saint Peter,

Criticus Zabic,
Foreign Affairs Advisor to the Emperor,

TO: Collistat
FROM: Kazakhstanian Deployment HQ

We are sending a small wing of two KN-12 transporters and twelve F/A-41 Fighters (jazzed up F-16's) to the warzone, to help with the conflict ongoing in your country.

The first KN-12 is carrying 7,500 M-65 Assault Rifles (http://www.bdlltd.com/2496-_Daewoo-_left_side.jpg), 2,500 M-269 7.62mm Machine Guns (http://ofp.samren.cn/html/Black%20Hawk%20Down.files/m60.jpg) and 5,000 RPG-32 Anti Tank Launchers with Rockets (http://www.vk.mesi.ru/arms/rpg-22.jpg).

On the second has two M-15 Scout Vehicles (http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/row/m-80a1_1.jpg) and 300 Kazakh "Fatal Force" Paratroopers. (http://www.uwsp.edu/rotc/images/paratrooper.jpg)

We hope this is of assistance.

TO:Criticus Zabic, Foreign Affairs Advisor to the Emperor
FROM: High Delegate Jayr Kadmus
SUBJECT: Advisers
"Once again we can not thank your esteem nation enough for assisting us in our time of crisis. As for the access to our markets, and our natural resources both have been accepted by the Council. Once this dreaded war is over then we shall finalized the agreement. The airport at New Athens will be awaiting your military advisers."

To: Kazakhstania
From: High Delegate Jayr Kadmus
SUBJECT: Shipment
"The weapons will be acceptable gratefully. However, after deliberation with the council, we have decided to respectfully decline your shipment of soldiers. This is mostly due to the fact that we wish to quell these troublesome attackers, we do not wish to rely on international intervention to solve our problem. If you wish however you can send the para soldiers as military advisers."

The eight hundred strong infantry battalion slowly made it's way through the dense forest. Some ways off three distinctive clouds of smoke slowly rose into the air. This was obviously the crash site. Captain Major Zander Titus motioned his company to continue on to advance. The remaining eight companies were spread out evenly, covering around a half a mile of ground. Each soldier had their rifle ready in their hand, waiting for the unseen enemy. Capt.Maj. Titus stopped to examine his map. Roughly a mile behind he crash site was a small dirt road, there they could position armoured vehicles to cut off any retreating enemy fighters. Titus motioned the company to stop and secure the perimeter. He knelt down on one knee and called for the radio. A soldier came from within the ranks, carrying a heavy radio on his back. The Captain Major grabbed the radio and dialed the military channel, "Base, this is Unit#67-A. We are within a half a mile of the first crash site. Request armoured vehicles at location 55-97-5L-6A-21. Any news of ariel support?' He let go of the transmit button and waited for a response, "Unit #67-A, A platoon of Cobra Light Armoured Recon Vehicles inbound. Ariel support has been denied by command." The Capt.Maj. nodded for the radio man to return to his appropiate unit. He then motioned the company to continue advancing. If Titus encountered a large enemy formation, his unit will be ill-prepared to sufficienty dispose of it. The Cobra LAV's were a complete jock. A 7.62mm AP would penetrate it's thin armour.

Despite being ill prepared for hard fighting the battalion continued to advance. Suddenly a ping noise attracted the Capt.Maj's attention. Following the noise he heard a gurgling sound. Turning to his left he sees a soldier with a bullet wound in his neck. The soldier stood still for a few moments in disbelief. Then he slowly crumpled onto the ground. After that all hell broke loose. A series of well-aimed shots killed nearly a dozen around Titus. Seemingly out of no where mortars began landing on their position, and RPG's impacted against trees sending hundreds of dangerous pieces of wood in the air. The disorganized company took cover in the trees and on the high forest grass, firing their rifles blindlessly whenever they could. The Captain Major fumbled for his short range radio. After finally getting it he hit the open channel button for all company commanders. "4th Battalion this is Captain Major Titus. I am receiving heavy fire in the center. Request immediate support. Respond." He let go of the transmit button and got his rifle. He fired blindly over his head at what he believe to be the enemies position.

Hearing voices from the radio he brought it to his ear. "Capt.Major, this is Low Captain Ateius at the far right flank. We are too receiving heavy fire. Some thirty have been killed and many more wounded. The flank is unstable. We are being routed." The Capt.Maj. yelled back through the radio, "Low Captain Ateius you must stand your ground. If your position falls we are all dead. Do not retreat." A response came from a different officer, "Capt.Maj, this is Captain Terci at the right flank. We are receiving overwhelming fire, most of my men are dead and wounded. The right flank is falling. From what I have gathered the left flank is following a similiar fate. We must retreat." Titus looked blankly at the floor. He could not believe what he was hearing. Turning to his right he sees three of his own men firing their rifles in a valiant attempt to ease the rifle fire. One soldier gets struck in the head with a 20mm HE round, completely exploding his head off. Another soldier gets hit several times in the shoulder with rifle fire, he falls down onto the floor in agony.

Seeing that the situation was out of hand the Capt.Maj. grabbed his radio and put it on open channel for all to hear. "This is Captain Major Titus. All units retreat from the forest. I repeat all units retreat." He dropped his radio and loaded a fresh clip into his Garand. As his men turned and ran he provided them with cover fire. Once he had finished two clips of ammunition he turned and ran himself. By now the soldiers were roughly twenty meters in front of the Capt.Maj. All had dropped their knapsacks, and had kept only their rifles. Suddenly, the men ran into a wall of gun fire. Each soldier dropped with a chest of head wound. The Capt.Maj. himself was hit in the shoulder, shattering the bone. The enemy had routed the right and left flanks, and encircled the entire battalion. Titus lay bleeding on the ground, his rifle meters away from his grasp. He heard foot steps but didn't turn his head. A man stood over him, wearing what looked like black kevlar all around his body. His head was encased in a black strong helmet, which hid his eyes and face. The man drew his pistol and shot the Capt.Maj. several times in the head.

At the end of the day the eight hundred strong infantry battalion lost six hundred soldiers. An estimated four hundred were killed outright, a hundred were taken as prisoners, and another one hundred were left on the forest floor to bleed to death, or to be taken by the animals.

IC:

Through the dusky red sky flew a huge black aircraft, on it's tail and wings was the well known symbol of the Wolves Head, the symbol of the Imperial Guilder Empire. The aircraft was approaching the nation of Collistat, on board were 105 Officers and NCO's from the Imperial Guilder Military.

They sat in rows on cargo netting seats with their packs loaded onto a cargo holdalls towards the back of the aircraft. The gloomy interior made their black uniforms look ever more omnious, perhaps the only difference in colour was the Air Legions Officers and NCO's who wore their blue uniforms and stuck out like a sore thumb in the middle of all the Army, Templar, St Peter and Sword of Christ personnel. There was a little chatter here and there, but most personnel seemed to content to either stare into space, read a book or noisely play cards.

As the plane began it's descent towards New Athens, the warning light flickered on and beeped causing much consternation among the personnel in the plane. The tannoy system cracked harshly as the pilot spoke...

Approaching New Athens for those of you with holiday plans, we suggust using the Doombringer Frequent flyer cards to gain the local ladies benefits. The temperature is probably warmer than Terrania and besides that you've got a nice hot warzone to go into. Good luck, ladies and gentlemen.

This got a laugh from the Imperial troops, this was just as well since the plane had been given clearance and was currently on it's landing run.

The plane landed without incident and was directed to it's unload point, where the back of the huge black plane slid down revealing lines of men and women in sheet black uniforms with such sigils as the Wolves Head, Deaths Head and other runic devices on their uniforms, most of them seemed to be decorated as well.

The Guilders stood up and slung their Doomingslandian made assault rifles or weapon of choice over their shoulders and marched out to meet the Collistat greeting party.

A smaller figure in a habit followed them, hardly noticed by the later... he seemed to be priest but at his side followed two young girls whom looked quite innocent, but there was something about them that disturbed the soul.

High Delegate Kadmus watched as the large transport aircraft touched down onto the airport's runway. Once it seemed like everyone was off the aircraft Kadmus approached the group of soldiers. At the delegates side was several other men wearing military style uniforms. Kadmus stepped foward in front of the group and spoke. "Greetings noble soldiers. Welcome to New Athens, city of Athena. I am High Delegate Kadmus of the Council of Collistat. This is General Kleitos Tycho of Lacedaemeon, commander of the United Army. And this is High Captain Admes Cyrus of Glaciea, he and his squad will join you as you travel throughout Collistat. Tomorrow you will be joining the Attican 5th Brigade for two days. Then you shall then go to Thebes Military Base in Phoronic. There you will stay for two weeks training the Phoroniceans, and after that we will see where you will be needed. May I ask who is the leader of this contingent?"

Pelop Island; Headquarters of the United Greek Council of Collistat

"My brothers this is an outrage. Our 4th Battalion was completely massacred, few survived and those that did are unfit for service. I call upon those that can to send professional soldiers. We already know for certain that a foreign military is on Menonian soil. Who knows when they'll strike at another city." The Menonian delegate was clearly in a state of anger. His face was blood red and his fist shook angrily as he spoke. Delegate Casture Baruch, acting as High Delegate, rose from his seat in the center of the Council Room and spoke. "We must all be calm. We all understand that this situation is dangerous for the well-being of Menonia. I agree that we must send military support to Menonia. Sparta has contributed a battalion of infantry and a company of armour. Will no one else contribute?" The Delegate from Delphia rose, "Before Delphia wishes to make any committments we wish to know the general military strength of Menonia." Everyone's head turned to the Menonian delegate. He stood up, "To my undestanding we have roughly thirty thousand enlisted soldiers and some twenty thousand city guard. The professional army currently uses the M1 Garand self-loading rifle is it's primary rifle. The City Guards use lever-action M64 rifles. We have around one hundred and five T-55 tanks, and twenty-five T-72 tanks. Our mechanized forces have two hundred and twenty BMP-1 infantry combat vehicles. Our airforce uses the UH-1 Huey heavily, and our primary combat aircraft is the Su-24 with numbers around the twenties. Does this answer your question?" The Delphian delegate rose, "Yes, thank you. Delphia wishes to send one hundred soldiers to Menonia to restore order." The Delphian delegate sat down.

Delegate Demetrius Istvan rose from his seat, "Glaciea will deploy three hundred and fifty soldiers, and attack helicopters to Menonia." He quickly sat back down. Slowly the Delegate Lidio Medus of Attica rose, "Attica shall deploy five hundred soldiers, limited armour, and aircraft. Official numbers will be released at a later date." Delegate Baruch smiled, "Very well. I trust all of those that promised deployments will do so speedingly. Meeting is dismissed."

The Kazakhstanian Troops were, to tell the truth, a little pissed off. Now the Officers and more intelligent men had expected something like this to happen - this was an internal war, and external forces were not needed. But now, they sat on the runway with nothing to do and no purpose in being there. Some had expected combat, but that was unlikely.

The Brigade Commander suggested two things to the Menonians. Either deploy troops around the city as advisers to individual platoons, or have the entire force as "Menonian Troops", under Menonian Command and stripped off al things remotely Kazahstanian. The choice was there.

Later that day at the same time, the two KN-12's returned, loaded with five T-80UM's, 15,000 M-65's, two 155mm Artillery Guns and around fifty 80mm Mortars.

This was all the Kazkahstanian Aid Menonia would be getting, unless Menonian itself was taken or a Kazahstanian too many was killed. then it would become and incident.

IC:

A youngish looking man stepped forward to meet the man whom had identified himself as Delegate Kadmus. He was in his late thirties with black hair, an energetic face and blazing eyes. He spoke slowly and deliberately in English, which evidently wasn't his native tongue:

Delegate Kadmus, it is an honour to be here. The Emperor and Empress would like to offer you their condolences on the attacks. I am Marcus Cato, General of the Imperial Guilder Army, this is my second General Julius Scripo

Said Cato indicating the man behind him, whom had silver braid over his right shoulder on his uniform indicating he was a Staff Officer.

The schedule you have informed us of, I am afraid is not nearly enough time wise if you are to be able to fight your enemy effectively. I would suggest it would be simpler if we were to go to a singular base and begin to review your armed forces. From what our sources have learned about your nation from the limited time we have had to learn about it we have found from our Satellites there has been a substantial increase in fighting and that your troops are with respect possibly not able either through lack of technology or tactics/strategy to deal with the problem.

We politely suggest that your armed forces work in conjunction with us, we even offer to act as a broker in helping you procure modern armaments with a possible discount.

For the current combats we are happy to send our Officer and NCO Teams to help out with your units, giving them help as far as they can.

We would also like to set up some equipment we have brought with us so we can use Imperial Spy Satellites to glean intelligence on this enemy we face.

I do apologise if I seem rather forceful, but I am trying my best to help you.

Cato said, looking a little worried that he had been perhaps too forceful. Then recognition seemed to ping in his eyes, he continued.

The Emperor in recognition of your situation has also given you a great honour, he has sent Noir here to help deal with your problem.

Strangely, all the Officers and NCO's seemed to look around in horror at the young duo... as they walked forward the men and women fell back just staring. Cato continued:

If the enemy have a leadership, Noir will see to them if not they will hunt your enemy through the forests of this land. We hope you approve

The two young girls had arrived next to Cato now and Scripo was looking at best uneasy and worst terrified. The two girls looked at Kadmus, unfeeling, cold eye's narrowed and nodded.

OOC: http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/collistat/ProvColstcolordetail.bmp
For reference Collistat is made up of ten city-states, much like ancient greece, which are united through the Council. Map excludes Dark Legion territory.

IC:
Delegate Kadmus eyed the two young girls and bowed his head slightly, "It is an honour." Turning to General Cato he spoke. "The level of training and technology varies from each city-state. Menonia and several others just happen to be one of the more ill equipped and trained military forces. The Spartans, Glacieans, and Atticans are currently deploying forces to assist Menonia. I'm sure your own would be welcomed amongst their ranks.

Your satellites would be very much needed due to the fact that our only sources of intelligence comes from aircraft, and scout vehicles. I can get some Attican C-141 Starlifters to transport your forces and their equipment to Laska Military Headquarters. General Tycho and Captain Cyrus will answer all of your questions from now, I must return back the Council to give my report. It was a pleasure." Kadmus bowed his head and turned to return to his vehicle. In the hangar three C-141 Starlifters began rolloing out, preparing to take the soldiers on their voyage to Menonia.

Laska Menonia
Night was falling on the small port town of Laska. The town had ten thousand inhabitants, mostly sailors or fishermen who made their living off of the sea. A ten foot high fence surrounded the town, ensuring that the only way to get into the town was through the three roads leading in and out of the town. A garrison of one hundred Town Guards maintained order in the town. Armed with M64 lever-action rifles and .38 revolvers the Town Guards were no match for a professional or somewhat trained military. The Menonian Coast Guard had several small corvettes in the harbour, due to security issues fifty Menonian soldiers armed with M1 Garand rifles were ordered to keep watch of the vessels. The soldiers had arrived a day before and had immediately sealed off the harbour to civilians.

At the Main Entrance gate ten Town Guard soldiers stood on watch. No one would expect the devastation that was to come. Suddenly out of nowhere a series of explosions rocked the three naval corvettes, sinking them. Soldiers ran to the scene of the incident but where dumbfounded as to why the ships exploded. Suddenly several cluster munitions landed near the town's center, killing a dozen guardsmen. Then the 500 pound and one thousand pound bombs began landing, heavy aircraft cannon fire ripping through homes and bodies. The guards had absolutely nothing to defend against the aircraft. They just stood in the open, their rifles firing into the black night. Bomb after bomb fell, then napalm was dropped. Gallons of napalm fell onto the city lighting it ablaze. Soldiers cried out in agony on the ground, limbs missing. Entire apartments and homes crashed down from bombs or cannon fire. Within twenty minutes the entire city was destroyed. Two hundred Death Riders rode into the city, shooting and killing anyone left alive. Tanks and infantry fighting vehicles began arriving into the city. Troop carriers and cargo trucks unloaded ammunition and soldiers. By morning an entire armoured battalion would have the area under their control.

Lord Thanatos dismounted his horse, and walked towards the commanding warlord of the operation. "When will the rest of the army be here?" The man stared into the man's cold blue eyes for several seconds before answering, "Well, sir, they should be here by the nightfall. I believe we should concentrate on holding out against the greeks during the day though." Lord Thanatos looked deep into the mans eyes, "Don't even suggest an order to me ever warlord. I'll ensure that another battalion gets here before morning. I must go now. Make sure you hold the city. For if you don't I will personally cut out your heart and feed it to the horses. Understand?" The man nodded slowly. "Good, now go ensure the defenses are strong." With that Thanatos boarded his horse and he and his Death Riders rode down the road, towards the forest.

The new Kazkahstanian Satellite images were in. This showed yet another town, ruined. The satellite had been drawn to the large explossions and napalm strikes, and taken photos of the area. The pictures were taken after the Armoured Battallion had arrived, and clearly showed the tanks and trucks, and in many cases troops.

The information was forwarded to the Kazahstanian Troops in Collistat. Only one thought crossed the commanders mind: Retaking that town. He sent an urgent message to he who was in control of the defenders.

TO: Collistat Command
FROM: General Robert Naus

We believe you have heard of the news of the wrecked town, Laska. It has come to our attention that an Armoured Battalion/Division has
arrived in the town, and that massive airstrikes did take place. Retaliation must be sought, for from what we can see there is not much left of Laska.

The 775th Airborne Battallion is hereby requesting permission to drop 300 men by Parachute, with Air Support, in the vicinity of Laska, and retake the town. We will of course require reinforcements quickly afterwards, but the raid should be succesful.

This question is official: We are asking permission to be combat dropped near the objective. We know the odd's are against us, but vengeance must be sought.

Thankyou.

TO: General Robert Naus
FROM: High Delegate Jayr Kadmus
SUBJECT Laska
"We also have recently found out about the destruction of Laska. A nearby Menonian infantry battalion is en route to the city to retake it. Your airborne soldiers have been cleared for dropping into Menonian territory. The Menonians have a 105mm battery nearby that an provide assistance to your airborne battalion. We must warn you that we do not know the enemies strength in numbers or equipment. You must understand that you will be going in practically blind. We wish you luck."

OOC:
Dark Legion Battalion consists of:
950 Grunts armed with M16A4 5.56x45mm
36 T-80UM Main Battle Tanks with
68 BMP-3 Infantry Fighting Vehicles
120 Ural Multi-Purpose Vehicles
25 81mm Mortars
15 108mm Mortars

Twelve F-45's led the way. Six were on protection duty, the other six to look out for ground targets. One was up ahead, looking around. And it couldn't see nothing.

The KN-12's behind were filled with nervous paratroopers, after their first taste of combat. There were three 155mm guns with them, enough to take out any tank or building that got in their way.

They neared the jump zone, and the rear doors opened. The troops attached themselves to their static lines and prepared to go. The guns were readied for drop. The fighters were looking around. They hit the drop zone, 10 miles west of Larka, and the green light came on. All 300 men and their weapons, equipments and guns were thrown out of the aircraft, and glided gently onto the landing zone.

Tracer fire could already be seen, and though sporiadic was near enough to be a threat. All 300 men landed without incident, and spread out in a perimeter. The guns were readied for use, as the troops waited for a coutner-attack.

The F-45's circled overhead.

Airborne soldiers..." spoke Warlord Genetius quietly. "Certainly not Menonians. Must be a foreign powers. Interesting. Radio to the 11th Battalion and order them to sweep West to South to East. Have our anti-aircraft systems ready and missiles armed. Only fools would go in without air support. Also inform the battle carrier, if things get too heated then we have to call in air support." The nearby officer nodded and spoke, "What about our soldiers and the tanks?" The Warlord turned from the window towards the officer, "The tanks are to bring up thermal imagery sights, and the soldiers are to focus on anti-aircraft operations. The mortars, tanks and BMPs can deal with the airborne soldiers. That is all for now"

In the Eastern forest the poorly armed battalion of Menonians slowly trudged their way through the dense foliage. They suspected that the airborne soldiers had already landed so they had to increase their pace to meet up with the airborne commander.

This was the moment the F-45 pilots had waited for. Their radar screens blossomed with SAM sites and AAA emplacements. Three of the aircraft were loaded for such an eventuality. Thirteen AGM-135 missiles sought to that. Short range, Air to Surface Anti Radar weapons, almost undetectable after launch.

And so, Forty-five straked off into the distance, after their alloted anti aircraft facility.

The troops on the ground cheered the aircraft above them, and waited for the pending coutner attack. The artillery was ready. They were unstoppable.

We have them smiled the Warlord. Suddenly a dozen SAM systems and half a dozen AAA cannons in the Western District of the Town turned their Radar air. Immediately they received tone confirmation of lock-on. The ZSU-23 23mm anti-aircraft artillery began pouring out rounds after rounds at the aircraft in the skies. Thirty-six SA-11 missiles came streaking from the West, and soldiers armed with SA-18 shoulder fired missiles shot missile after missile towards the hostile aircraft.

The anti-aircraft systems targetted switched their radar on and off to confuse the enemy missile. Eleven ZSU-23 and SAM missile systems were destroyed despite the crews best efforts.

In the Eastern forest the Menonian soldiers heard the unmistakable sound of anti-aircraft artillery and of missile explosions. The battalion quickly ran through the forest, hoping to arrive in time for the land battle.

The planes got the fright of their life.

There was only one thing to do. They turned on "Athena", a radar disruptor device used against short range search radars. This cofused the hell out of most of the flak cannons, who were reduced to strafing the air, and the missiles, of which two hit one plane and a third hit another. The first plane expldoed, with the pilot still inside, but the second aircraft managed to limp back to base.

The ground commander smiled. he had managed to get the information of AA positions off the aircraft, fed them into the artillery and...opneded fire.

The artillery fire was foccussed on each SAM site and AAA battery in turn, blasting out into the night.

"Warlord, enemy artillery is engaging our anti-aircraft systems." The General looked out towards the window, "Commence counter-battery operations immediately." Upon the commanders orders the 81mm mortars, 108mm mortars, and six 105mm howitzers began raining High Explosive shells onto the enemies artillery position. Several AAA systems had been destroyed or damaged already.

In the Western forest the 11th Battalion sat and waited for the order to out flank the enemy attacking the town.

The Menonian battalion had finally arrived at the battle sight. The soldiers slowly began to form a line in the forest. Bayonets were fixed upon the rifle and the men waited for the order to attack.

The Artillery disintergrated. Two guns were destroyed, leaving only one with which to engage.

It was moved to a safer position near the forest, where it began pumping round after round into the Artillery batteries, waiting for the moment it drew fire once more, ending this guns life aswell.

Various 81mm and 120mm Mortars were set up, and began shelling the enemy positions.

The troops began to advance downt he hill, looking to work with the Menonian's to outflank and pincer the enemy in the town.

OOC: Goign to bed. 'Night.

The Menonians saw that the airborne soldiers were advancing at the enemies flank. Upon orders of the Captain the battalion came sprinting from the forest, their Garand at their side firing widly. Rifle fire was coming from the destroyed buildings, which was quickly suppressed by overwhelming semi-automatic fire. The soldiers ran quickly down the town's streets, looking for any enemy infantry that would be firing at them.


Soldiers manning the Southern defenses saw the massive Menonian assualt, most didn't even fire a shot. The Menonians would be dealt with by the soldiers in the Town Center. Only four Dark Legion soldiers were actually killed in the assualt.

The foreign airborne soldiers were now slowly advancing down the hill. The soldiers switched fire selection from burst to semi-automatic and began targetting individual airborne soldiers.

IC:

In the dimly lit Central Intelligence Room of the Knights Templar, female knights sat in rows of stations, metal visors covering their eyes, their fingers hitting buttons, which weren’t visible to anyone but them. The great flickering screens projected onto the walls showed maps of the Empire and accompanying territorial waters, others showed the conflict zones of the Empire, one the largest was a map of the World which was awash with red nations, whom were considered enemies of the Empire. Green dots indicated lines of fighting… one area this showed up was the area of Collistat where Imperial Advisors had arrived to help the City States in their insurgency problem. Information was being relayed to the personnel there, from Imperial Space Assets as well as tit bits compiled from persons in the pay of the Empire.

*****************************************************

Cato and Scripo watched as Officer and NCO alike dragged equipment into the three Collistat Transport planes. The two Noir stood with them ever watching the proceedings…

Cato spoke to them silently, speaking of their mission and whether there were any specific orders from Altena, High Priestess of the Noir Programme. What they spoke of few could comprehend but it was quite possible the Imperial mandate went beyond merely helping the Collistat City states out…

When the planes too off, the deal was sealed the question, which probably would have dogged any cynic, was:

What was the Empire truly after and why was it here?

As the troops advanced down the hill, rifle fire began to eminate from the buildings. Second's later, men started to fall, one man was hit in the neck and went down screaming. Another was shot in the head, killin ghim instantly.

Just moving down that hill, the Batallion suffered 23 casualties. Damn, these guys were good shot's. The squads machine gunners hit the deck, and began laying down automatic fire on the buildings. The .223 and 7.62mm rounds raked the buildings, taking great chunks out of the walls. Aimed shots were taken, and the snipers set up their firing points, and began picking targets and firing. These guys were experts, veterans of the "Kurd Campaign", and knew how to use their scoped L-96 rifles.

Mortar fire was called in, as the group continued their flanking maneuver. The group leader, Hertz, popped off a couple of rounds from his M-65 before getting round to organising things.

"1st and 2nd platoons, lay down a base of fire on the buildings! 3rd to 5th, flank left! 6th platoon with me, we are going to meet up with the Menonian's.
Leiutenant Major Kunst, your in command here! MOVE!"

Chaos reigned. As the men headed off their seperate ways, the Artillery and 120mm mortars kept a steady fire on the artillery of the enemy. Radio men frantically called in the smaller mortar fire, and the call for air support went out. Two F-45's armed with GAU-8 cannons (as on the A-10), rockets and Cluster Bombs swooped down, to begin their attack run.

The C-141 Starlifter aircraft took off from Attica. Five MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters flew along side the transports. Protecting them from any incidents that might occur in their voyage to Menonia. The voyage was a short two hour trip, and before the soldiers knew it Menonia Airport was in sight.

The Menonians had never stopped running until they reached the Town Center. The Town Center was surrounded on four sides by apartment buildings and old government facilities. The battalion slowly made their way into the town center, their rifles raised. Suddenly a tank high explosive round landed right in the middle of a group of Menonian soldiers killing a dozen. Tanks and IFVs which had been camoflauged erupted into life as they unleashed heavy cannon and machine gun fire towards the Menonians. A dozen more Menonians fell before the battalion managed to scurry into several nearby buildings. Enemy infantry began firing into the buildings and chain gun fire took whole chunks of the buildings out. The Menonians were successful in destroying two IFVs with their old RPGs, but it had little effect. One building collapsed after several tank rounds destroyed the buildings supportive structure. Nearly one hundred Menonian soldiers were taken out of the battle as a result.

A Menonian Armoured Company was quickly diverted to the ensuing battle in Laska. The old T-55 tanks however were most definetly no match for the superior tanks wielded by the Dark Legion. Despite knowing this the 3rd Armoured Company slowly trudged it's way to the battle.


The Dark Legion soldiers manning the defenses against the foreign airborne soldiers were receiving considerable enemy fire now. Nearly twenty-five soldiers lay dead or severly wounded. Mortar fire began to take it's toll on the buildings structure. Seeing the need for a quick victory Warlord Genetius ordered the 11th Battalion, who had been waiting in the woods to sweep down on the left flank in the hill as his soldiers continued to put pressure on the foward lines. The 11th Battalion cried a piercing battle cry as they charged toward the hill where the foreign airborne soldiers were positioned. With the Legion's own mortar fire bearing down on the enemy victory was almost certain.

Enemy aircraft inbound. Diverting SAM and AAA fire." yelled a nearby officer of the warlord. In the city a dozen SAM and AAA systems began targetting the sweeping aircraft, releasing eight SAM missiles and unleashing volley after volley of 30mm cannon fire.

The advance towards the town was stopped dead. The surprise attack on their lefk flank had caught the Para's by surprise, and they were vurnerable. Most hit the deck, and started aiming shot's into the mass of oncoming combatants. The Machine Gunners directed their fire towards the new threat, laying down fire. The snipers, however, were caught in the open, and were quickly killed by enemy Automatic fire.

The troops atop the hill, in their foxholes, began firing ont he new enemy, aswell. Grenade launchers lobbed greandes into the crowd, along with various mortars. However, some Para's lost their lives, caught in the open by surprise. 12 casualties were taken, and the advance had been halted, for now. it would be another while before the troops in the town were relieved.

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

Most of the SAM's failed to lock on due to the extreme short range, but two hit one aircraft, wipping off its wing. It continued to fly, before converging 30mm fire on the illuminated, burning plane blew it to pieces.

The other aircraft managed to dodge it's way through the fire, and let off 36 rockets towards the tanks in the city centre, before strafing every object that moved. It pulled up, dropping four 500 lbs Cluster Bombs, before climbing and sweeping away into the night, Active Camfolauge and radar disruptor engaged.

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

The KN-12's had returned, paradropping five more 105mm guns and two M-25UM4 Light Tanks. These beasts were armed with 105mm ETC guns, and could penetrate the front armor of a T-80. They landed, and began to roll towards the town. The artillery was set up about half a mile back, and starting lobbing shells into the town,

The 11th Battalion continued on, surging foward towards the enemies lines. Rifles were releasing round after round of automatic fire as the soldiers began getting closer and closer to the enemies position.

As the battalion continued towards the hill the enemies fire increased. Grenades, and rifle fire killed nearly two dozen soldiers. However the soldiers returned fire with RPGs and their own rifle fire.

The ERA of the T-80 were somewhat effective against the enemies rockets. Eleven T-80 tanks were destroyed as the rockets hit the turret and top armour. The crews inside were immediately killed as a result of the rockets explosion. The cluser munitions killed only sixteen soldiers on the ground due to the fact that most remained in the buildings.

A counter-attack of shoulder launched surface to air missiles, AAA fire, and SAM systems were ordered against the fighters. Though the effectivness was decreased due to the aircrafts stealth.

Off shore Menonia the order came from command. Twelve DA-101 aircraft took off from the Legion Carrier Dominance. Armed with AAM, AGM, and their 30mm cannon the fighters were sure to turn the stalemate into a decisive victory for Legion forces.

bump

As the F-45 climbed away, missiels streaked by, aimless. But the AAA fire was more accurate, and one column of tracers raked right through the aircraft. The pilot ejected the moment before the aircraft exploded, sending him high up, before gliding gently back to earth. A CSAR mission would be another thorn in the side of the paratrooping forces.

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

An entire platoon of men got cut off from the rest of the force at the front, as the enemy appeared from the forest. They were quickly cut down by enemy fire, as RPG's tore men apart. That was another 25 men dead or wounded, and the others in retreat up the hill again. 14 of them were made casualties by the sweeping automatic fire, as the other dived into hastily dug foxholes, occasionally less than 3 feet deep.

The new guns were set up, but they had little ammo, due to a "logistics failure" in the drop. Basically, they had 10 rounds each, and those were reserved for anti tank duties. The existing gun and 3 80mm mortars rained fire on the troops from the forest, but the left flanking maneuver was stopped dead.

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

However, on the right flank, thinks were goign swimmingly. Following the wake of the Menonian attack on the right flank (I am assuming some are still alive in the city centre), 6th platoon led by Major General Hertz had advanced to the edge of the town, and were beginning to penetrate. The two M-25 tanks began to move down the right flank aswell, to assist the infatary.

At the same time, a temporary command post was set up on the hill, next to the artillery batteries. The troops weren't going to pushed off that hill without a hell of an attack.

The Menonian Battalion was receiving increasing enemy rifle fire. Already some three dozen soldiers were killed and many more were wounded, lying bleeding on the side of the buildings or on the streets. Their advance had been halted to a complete stop. Enemy tank fire rained down round after round, and heavy machine gun fire penetrated the thin walls of the buildings killing even more. Despite the heavy casualties the Menonians were wearing down on the enemies soldiers. Some two dozen enemy soldiers were suspected to have been killed and nearly double that wounded. Though now the enemies machine gun fire was pinning down much of the battalion. Soldiers only had time to shoot a couple of unaimed shots before hundreds of bullets came flying towards their position.


The 11th Battalion continued slowly up towards the hill. Their previous engagment left twenty three men killed and roughly double that wounded. Soldiers in the buildings provided cover fire as the soldiers slowly trudged up the hill, throwing grenades and taking rifle shots as they did so.

In the buildings Legion soldiers noticed enemy tanks were moving in. Several anti-tank teams began to assembled their anti-tank launchers to destroy the new threat.

The DA-101 aircraft began speeding their way to the battle site. The twelve strong aircraft formation would arrive soon.

Pelop Island; Headquarters of The United Greek Council of Collistat
Silence had arose in the Council Room. News of the ongoing battle for Laska hindered the good spirits of the delegates. The well organized and well armed soldiers attacking Laska meant only that this group was intending to invade Menonia itself, not pillage a few outer villages and cities. Menonia, herself, was not strong enough to even establish a defense against an invasion, this was most likely why Menonia has been attacked first. Finally High Delegate Jayr Kadmus rose from his seat to break the silence. "My brothers, this is indeed a dark day for Collistat. I am sure you all have been updated about Laska, the never ending battlw which shall test the true determination of our foes. I must urge you all to committ more soldiers, more men, more equipment to Menonia. For I fear that if nothing is done, Menonia and then the rest of Collistat will be englufed in a sea of darkness in which their is no way out. With my word, Olympus will committ forty-five soldiers to Menonia. Forty five soldiers out of the thousands which guard our sacred land, will you all not spare a few of your men to fight for the defense of a fellow Greek?"

With that Kadmus sat. After he sat delegate after delegate committed soldiers to Menonia. Kadmus had the specific numbers written down by a nearby assistant.

Glaciea-Two Battalions (1,600 men)
Attica-A Brigade (2,400 men)
Lacedaemeon- A Battalion (800 men)
Korinth-A Battalion (800 men)
Dacia-Two Companies (240 men)
Delphia- Two Battalions (1,600 men)
Phoronic- Two Companies (240 men)
Boeotia- One Company (120 men)
Olympus- A Platoon (45 men)

And so the mighty Greek Army began to assemble in Attica, preparing for their voyage to Menonia where they will make battle with the enemies of Greece.

The soldiers hunkered down in their foxholes, as grenades and rifle rounds popped round about them, while machien guns roared at them from far away. Grenades rolled into the foxholes, some soldiers throwing them back and others diving on them to stop their buddies from being killed. Seven were mortally wounded, and two were killed by rifle and MG fire, their heads being hit, killing them instantly.

Further up the hill, in a better prepared defending area, troops opened fire down the hill with 7.62 Machine Guns and 6.62mm rifles. Mortars were called in to kill the advance, as the troops in the foxholes up ahead waited for the enemy to be metres from their positions before jumping up and surprising them.

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

The other two platoons had reached the town, and camped out inside a building to catch their breath and wait for the tanks. The two tanks, in this case Tank 222 and Tank 294, took up positions on the street putside the building, and waited for a counter attack. The troops sat in the top of the building and directed artillery to visible enemy positions in the town, calling it with the laser accurate JTID System.

IC:

At Menonia Airport, the Black and Navy-Blue uniformed Guild personnel dragged crates and boxes off the planes with the help of some Menonians who had been kind enough to lend a hand to the foreigners.

The pair of Noir sat on a crate near Julius Scripo and Marcus Cato, who were confering as to where the hell the greeting party had got to.

The crates coming out of the plane were made of the sort of plastic that only the military ever seems bothered with having. On most of the crates was the Guild logo, the Wolves Head it had been moulded into the plastic and on the side of the boxes had been scribled Latin words indicating their content. The only one, which was different was the crate the two Noir sat on, it had a symbol of two girls with swords behind which stood a be-robbed Priestess stamped in the plastic with the intials TN stamped into the green plastic.

Cato glanced at the box... thinking the intials probably meant The Noir or Temple of the Noir...

That must carry their weapons selection and their clothes...

He thought to himself, he saw a Noir notice him and changed what he was staring at.

Where is that damn reception party, Scripo?

He asked.

Mortars, rifle fire and grenades rained down on the advancing battalion. Already twelve more soldiers had been killed in the bloody attack, but the advance had not stopped nor slowed. Soldiers trained their rifles in automatic mode to keep the enemies head down as they advance. RPGs, and controlled machine gun fire were trained on the enemies fixed defensive positions, hoping to ease the amount of firepower bearing down on the battalion.

Looking out from a window on the soldiers on guard sees an enemy airborne unit taking rest in the street below. Slowly crawling back into the command room he notifies his commanding officer who informs the other squad across the street of the enemy right below them. Quietly the platoon takes up position, waiting for the order. Once the commanding captain gave the order via radio, twelve soldiers on both sides of the streets dropped twenty four fragmentation grenades into the street. The grenades were cooked before releasing, giving the infantry unit on the street literally only a second or two to respond to the grenades. Once the immense boom was heard the soldiers jumped to their feet and began spraying automatic fire down towards the street.

The three anti-tank teams carefully measured the window and angle, ensuring that the rounds will strike true. On the sergeants order three Milan rockets came screeching towards the two enemy tanks.

High above the skies the twelve DA-101 Multi-Role fighters entered the battle area. Immediately they established their course towards the enemy airborne controlled hill. Loaded with cluster munitions and several 500lb pounds their purpose was clear.

From one of the many hangars of Menonia Airport several humvees, accompanied by eight large trucks, began heading towards the newly arrived Guild military advisors. The convoy stopped several yards from the group of foreigners. The doors of the vehicles opened and out of them emerged a squad of Menonian soliders and several Menonian officers. General Tycho walked towards the group and greeted them. Captain Admes turned to the two foreign generals and spoke, "These are our escorts. They shall take us to New Menonia, the capital. Their we shall meet with the Imperator who can detail you on the condition of the military and so forth. The drive is only thirty minutes. Shall we?" The General opened the door of a humvee and quickly sat down. The Captain jumped in the back of a truck and motioned the Guild advisors to do the same.

The defending soldiers took few losses to the next wave of the attack, but it forced them to keep their heads down. But one thing that might win the battle was the 155mm guns kept in reserve. They rained six HE shells apiece on the advancing soldiers, hoping to stop the attack. New machine guns opened up, hoping to rip the attackers to shreds. In some cases, the defenders were reduced to bayonetting the enemy, or using their extensive hand to hand training (they are para's after all) to kill the enemy.

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

In the town, the men got taken completely by surprise by the grenades, but most were inside. The few by windows and doors jumped to get out of the way, but there were 6 casualties, all dead, anyway. The machine gun fire didnt do anything, and just alerted the para's to the presence of the enemy int he buldings. They used their grenade launchers to clear the upstairs windows, as the men flooded up the stairs, using CQB maneuvers.

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

The tanks ERA armor possibly saved their lives. The Milan rockets were disturbed byu the ERA enough to make them not effect the 590mm front armor, though on tank 222 the thermal imaging camera was knocked out, meaning that night combat would become very difficult, reduced to the teams NVG goggles.

The tanks sung their turrets, and fired HE shells at the building the rockets came from, before machine gunning the remains.

The heavy artillery rounds killed nearly two dozen advancing soldiers, and wounded more. Seven more soldiers were wounded, but the men continued on firing their rifles or in some cases shooting their pistols. The main defensive line of the enemies airborne soldiers were still some two hundred meters away, though some soldiers still encountered some isolated pockets of airborne soldiers. The airborne soldiers were quickly killed not after receiving some losses however.

In the town the enemies grenades killed eight soldiers. The remaining soldiers continued to fire their weapon towards the enemy visible. Seeing as the group of soldiers had enterred the building some ten soldiers were in, the team commander ordered all doors to be locked and to spread out in two rooms. The men were ordered to listen for enemy foot steps and any noises.

The tanks shell killed all three Milan teams, the building they occupied slowly crumbled to the floor.

In the skies the twelve DA-101 fighters split into two groups of six. One group began strafing runs on the airborne's hill positions. Letting loose hundreds of 30mm rounds, and two canister munitions each. The other group headed towards the reported enemy tanks. Each launched one missile at each tank in hopes of destroying it.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Caladonn City, Caladonn
Caledor, Junior Minister of Foreign Affairs, looked over his computer screen, scanning the list of corresondence. After replying to several e-mails, he noticed a message, several days old, from a nation called Collistat. He quickly read the message, and referred it to the Senior Diplomatic Minister. She decided to help this nation in their struggle, and typed this reply:

Dear Leaders of Collistat,
It has come to the attention of the Grand Mgocracy of Caladonn that you are having some trouble with insurgents, and need international aid. Incidentally, the Imperial Navy of Caladonn's VI Carrier Group is in your vicinity, and we would be willing to provide your campaign to retake the city of Laska with air and possibly ground support. Suitable compensation can be found at a later date. I hope that our nation may support yours in an hour of need, and further relations between our nations may improve from this point forward.
Sincerely,
Amastacia Silvarel, Senior Diplomatic Minister of Caladonn

Ocean, Kilometers Off the Shore of Menonia
Admiral Casion, in Command of the VI Carrier Group of the Imperial Navy of Caladonn, made his way to the bridge of his flagship, the nuclear-powered carrier HAS Silver Needle. He looked out through the plexiglass over the flight deck, accepting the salute of the Lieutenant in charge. The fleet was sailing for Laska. Suddenly, a radar operator beckoned to him. "Sir! I'm picking up a carrier with indeterminate escort on the edge of our radar! They seem to have launched planes at Laska!"

That must be a fleet of the Menonian Insurgents!" said Casion. "It appears we will be entering combat sooner than expected." He quickly began issuing orders, as men ran off to relay them. "Put the fleet on Red Alert. Scramble the II Air Wing, prepare for take-off. Send forward two submarines. Target our surface-to-surface missiles on the enemy fleet, and man the anti-aircraft guns."

He turned on the fleetwide intercom, and spoke into it. "Sailors of the VI Carrier Group, this is your Admiral speaking. We have identified an enemy fleet at radar range, and are readying an attack. You all know what I expect of you, we have trained for years and been in countless other battles. If every man does his duty to the best of his ability, then we will conquer."

On the carrier deck, the II Air Wing was ready for take-off. Thirty stealth Falcon-Class Fighter-Bombers took off and streaked toward the enemy fleet, stealth capabilities enabled and radar disruption devices active. The other twenty planes in the wing remained around the ship, waiting for a counter-attack. Dozens of Surface-to-surface missiles streaked from all the ships in the fleet, locking on to the enemy fleet. Caladonn would be victorious this day.

That two hundred metres was the most important 200 metres ever. every soldier braved the covering fire to pop their heads up and fire rounds at the advancing enemy. Machine guns opened up and artillery raiend down. It was like World War One again.

The main defensive line was disrupted by the strafing and bomb runs, however. Twelve soldiers were killed and another ten wounded, cut to shreds by the 30mm shells. But the six F-45's swooped down, letting off 8 AAM missiles each before coming down tho dogfight, activating their radar camo and active camo, hiding them from view.

One tank was blown to bits from the rear by a missile, while the other missile was taken out by the anti-missile laser on the two tanks. The decision was made by the other tank commander to withdraw to assist the defence of the hill, so he reversed back and made their way back to the stonghold.

The soldiers in the buildings were trapped, until a demolitions specialist had a great idea....

Part of the back wall flew off the building, and troops escaped through it, probably catching the enemy by surprise. They began to exit the building.

IC:

Cato grinned, shaking hands with the man who introduced himself as 'General Tycho'...

After introducing the General to Scripo, he turned to the young captain and said still grinning:

Yes, we shall

Guilders and Menoian worked in joint effort to get the trucks safely loaded, despite the obvious language barrier in most cases... they appeared to find a common language in a series of hand signals.

After all this was done a hour or two later the Guilders sat where ever they could in or on the provided transport.

Cato turned to the Captain.

Shall we?

TO: Amastacia Silvarel, Senior Diplomatic Minister of Caladonn
FROM: High Delegate Jayr Kadmus
SUBJECT: Caladonn Assistance
"We thank you greatly for your offer of assistance. Of course permission for your carrier group to enter Collistanian waters has been granted. We must warn you however that we do not know how many enemy carrier fleets their are. A Glaciean Fleet is heading to meet up with your own fleet to provide assistnace."

The advance continued as casualties mounted. Twelve more soldiers were put out of combat, either dead or wounded. Soldiers now began crawling up the hill, stopping every few yards to fire off shots.

The twelve DA-101's quickly pulled up from their strafing runs and hit mach 2, heading towards Laska. They broke up formation and released counter-measures. Some missiles took the bait, but some still continued on course. The pilots dangerously weaved in and out of buildings, making sharp turns and increasing speed. As the fighters reached the end of the city they pulled up quickly. One fighter was destroyed from crashing into a building as he tried to get several missiles off his tail. The missiles, attracted by the fireball, exploded into the fireball, destroyed the building and actually killing six soldiers.

Four more fighters were destroyed from missiles. The remaining fighters turned sharply towards the enemy fighters. Forty LIDAR missiles were launched at the enemies aircraft.

The explosion which blew out the wall attracted the attention of soldiers in nearby buildings. At the sight of enemy soldiers jumping out of the hole, they immediately began throwing grenades, and shooting their rifles at their foes.

OOC: Should of mentioned that their are six enemy carrier battle groups in Collistat and three fighting in Menonia.
Shore off Menonia
Commander, incoming enemy missiles and aircraft. Range is some ways off sir." The radar operator turned to the nearby commander. "Active CWIS, and form inform the other battle groups. Do you have the source of the missiles and aircraft?" The radar man looked back at the screen quickly, "Yes Commander. Do you wish for me to relay the coordinates?" The Commander nodded. Immediately a heavily encrpyted message was sent to the other two fleets in the area.

Twelve more DA-101 fighters took off from the carrier, this time with only AtA weaponry. The twelve aircraft hovered around the carrier group, waiting for the enemy fighters and bombers.

As the missiles neared the fleet dozens of small Anti-missile SAMs were launched, only some were actually successful. Counter-measures were launched, and CWIS was activated. The strong hulls managed to resist most of the blasts, however two frigates were sunk and a cruiser was heavily damaged as a result of the battle.

The two other fleets around Menonia began to slowly close in on the new naval threat from the North and West.

Captain Admes moved some equipment aside for the two generals to sit near him. As the convoy slowly began to start their engines he spoke to the two, "You do not know how we need foreign military guidance. Of course Attica, Lacedaemeon, and Glaciea can effectively fend off foreign invasions but that is only three out of the ten city-states. Menonia is by far the worst militarily wise, their economy is horrible and they can barely maintain their population. Now with this invasion funds have been diverted to purchase more military equipment. Government funding for nearly anything else is non-existant... It seems like we are entering the outskirts of the city."

The convoy entered the smooth paved road now. The buildings surrounding the convoy however were all in terrible shape. Some were overgrown with weeds and vegitation, while others were practically crumbling. Sad faces of inhabitants of such houses were seen through the windows. "Here is the Imperators residence" said Admes pointing through a window. In the distance a glamorous mansion sat in the center of the capital. In the front were greek columns of marble, and a large wooden door guarded by a dozen soldiers. A massive dome of marble coated with gold hung high into the skies.

The massive wooden doors swung open and Imperator Cedric Selwyn came out, the twelve guards quickly formed a circle around him. The Imperator walked up to the lead vehicle, where the Guild generals and Captain Admes were sitting and spoke, "Greetings officers of The Merchant Guilds to Menonia. If you will please follow me inside I believe you and your men would be most comfortable inside."

In a dark and damp cave in the cold abyss in the far north sat a man of great power. In his throne of black gold and glistening red gems he seemed somewhat like a god. His tall stature and impressive sword immediately struck fear into any and all that saw him. His face was covered in the shadows of his black hood, his face was deemed to fierce for any man to see. Before him kneeled Lord Thanatos Of Galadnor. "My king, all has gone smoothly. Some foreigners have been reported engaging our men but nothing we can't handle. As a matter of fact our invasion for Menonia City should be-" The man lifted his hand to silence the lord. He spoke to Lord Thanatos in a deep and dark voice, "Do not speak to me of your plans Thanatos. I wish to know who these foreigners are. Their initial shipment of soldiers may be small but we can surely expect many more to come if we are slow to quel Menonia. Launch the attack immediately. Seize all but Menonia City. I want this done quick and fast Lord Thanatos. Should anything go wrong the price to pay will be fierce." Lord Thanatos bowed his head, "As you command." As he turned to leave the man spoke again, "Wait!" Thanatos turned. "I want a public message to be sent, tell the people of the world of the darkness that is to come." Thanatos bowed his head again and left the cave.

Greetings nations of this vast world. I am Lord Thanatos of the Dark Legion. Our attacks in Greek Collistat have been thus far a success and we plan to expand our influence across the region. For too long has the men and women of greece reap the benefits of our rightful homeland. They live in a world of hapiness and of joy. Well that is to change, the Dark Legion has risen and shall not stop it's conquest until we have acquired what we want. All foreigners are to leave Collistat immediately or else face the true wrath which is the Dark Legion. Our numbers grow daily, and hundreds of thousands are eager for fresh blood of unspoiled meat. The last day of a coalition known as Collistat is coming. Soon their shall be only us in this land.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Caladonn City, Caladonn

The Senior Minister recieved the Collistat reply, and quickly sent off one of her own. The Collistat Operation was beginning to get bigger, it seemed.

TO: High Delegate Jayr Kadmus
FROM: Amastacia Silvarel, Senior Diplomatic Minister of CaladonnHigh Delegate Jayr Kadmus
SUBJECT: Re: Caladonn Assistance
We are happy to help your nation, however your report of other enemy fleets is worrying. We are glad for any assistance you can offer in conjunction with Admiral Casion, of the VI Carrier Group.

Suddenly, a new transmission came in, from what was apparently the leader of the Collistat insurgents. The Collistat Operation was about to get out of control.

Ministry of Military Affairs, Caladonn City, Caladonn
The military affairs building was a bustling place. Supreme Admiral Architron could gaze into the main room from his spacious office. The main room had a giant projection of the world, showing current Caladonnian territory, allies, and areas where Operations were being conducted. they were updated constantly from spy sattelites orbiting the planet. However, suddenly Architron noticed some agitation from the personnel on duty. He strode out from his office as the map was zoomed in, revealing the area around a nation named Collistat, where minor naval operations were being conducted. When Architron was the screen, his eyes widened. It showed a single Caladonnian Carrier Group, the VI, under Admiral Casion, with small allied ships scattered around. But the main points which werre the source of the personnels' agitation were six red blips-six enemy carrier groups. Not good odds. Architron ran into his office, and picked up the phone. "This is the Supreme Admiral speaking. Get mee on the phone with the Admirals of Carrier Groups XI, XII, IXX, II, VII, and XXI now!" He quickly briefed them, and soon six other carrier groups were sailing towards Collistat. The three in that area went straight to the aid of Admiral Casion, while the other three sailed toward the other enemy carrier groups to attempt to engage them. Unfortunately, it would take quite a while for any to get there.
Next, Architron also despatched a message to Admiral Casion, so he would be prepared for the coming onslaught.

IC:



To: Lord Thanatos of the Dark Legion.

We suggust you do not threaten the Empire or any of the pure Guilder blood, the Empire will do as it wishes and will brook no interference with our affairs not even in the case of your enemy the Greek nation of Collistat.

Our Military will be passively assisting the city state of Meonia's military, we suggust you do not anger us. For if you do you will soon find out what Imperial Justice looks like...

For God and Saint Peter,

Criticus Zabic,
Foreign Affairs Advisor to the Emperor Cutter,


***********************************************

Cato looked around, the place seemed old and somewhat unmaintained apart from a few buildings...

He heard the comments of the Captain ring in his ear...

Yes, I can see you are having... problems... when everything is set up I will proprose a solution of the Emperor, he will no doubt approve...

I would have prefered to bring far more in the way of troops, perhaps a few Legions to help free up your security forces.

I can't speak for the Imperial General Staff, they may well deem the security of Collistat as important to future Imperial Interests. If that does happen expect full scale military forces to start landing...

The Empire isn't exactly tactful...

The convoy pulled up at a beautiful palace, which seemed old but was far better maintained than the rest of the city seemed. As Guilders dismounted picking up their stored weapons and light equipment man appeared greeting their Officers.

Cato spoke for the Empire...and before he spoke threw the man the an Imperial salute, his troops did likewise, it was a mark of respect from the Empire, even if the Meonian's weren't exactly the Guilder's ideal allies they could be used and made a profit out of.

We would be happy to come in but we will need to unload and install this equipment to allow us to help you in your war. What kind of power sources do you have available, if you have any problems with power we will be happy to order in our own generators.

Cato said with a trace of concern in his voice...

The pair of Noir just looked on, the old priest with them...

The shots were aimed, you could tell, but weren't accurate. No-one could shoot while getting blown up and shot at. The soldeirs were within range to lob greandes and fire rifle grenades now. Mortars provided accurate, up to the second fire support, due to the fact that they were only 50 or so metres behind the lines! The Machine Guns kept firing, as every man possible attempted to stop the attack.

The tank came thundering back up the hill, firing off HE rounds at the prone soldeirs, before mowing them down with its .50 cal HMG and 7.62mm MG. It kepy moving, however, turning erratically to confuse any anti tank squads around.

The troops in the town tried to escape, but twelve were killed or wounded. The rest took up positions and fired back into the building, and lobbed hand greandes back up. they used tactical withdrawal movements to begin the retreat back up the hill, some men convering while others moved.

The 12 F-45's let off another 4 AAM's, before turning to evade the incoming LIDAR's. They used their thrust vectoring to evade some, as well ass using active countermeasures. However, three aircraft were put out of action, and another two critically hit. The other seven pulled up above the town, not wanting to be drawn among the buildings. They fired their 27mm cannons at the enemy fighters, the tracers zinging off towards the enemy.

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

Meanwhile, around thirty KN-12's were requesting approach to Menonia City, carrying a Division of Paratroopers and their equipment. This had been planned for some time, as it seemed that with the fierce fighting in Larka, only 300 men would not be nearly enough....

OOC: Short post for now, I'll respond to all the other posts tomorrow.
IC:
Pelop Island; Headquarters of the Greek Council of Collistat
The Council of Collistat was in session. The expected talk was to be of economic recovery after victory was assured in Menonia. Before High Delegate Kadmus could even start the debate Delegate Casture Baruch of New Sparta rose. "I am afriad I am going to have to interupt your beginning speach High Delegate Kadmus... Newly placed long range sensors in Menonia have detected the presence of several carrier fleets in and around Menonia. One is more closer to Glaciea. Now our engineers have managed to hack into several foreign high resolution satellites, of course this is an illegal action but it has been deemed necesarry by the king. What we found shocked us. Three more carrier groups are around Darcia, and Boeotia. Their intent is obvious. I wish to propose the combining of several of our own Defense Fleets to do battle with the three enemy fleets. If we manage to isolate each and destroy it before assistance can arrive victory can be guarenteed." Delegate Kadmus rose angrily from his seat, "Did you not even think to consult with the Council before you made such a rash decision Delegate Baruch?" Delegate Baruch looked back at Delegate Kadmus, "Of course. Time was an issue however and we deemed it necesarry for the protection of Collistat."

Delegate Istvan rose immediately, "Is their a significant possibility that Glaciea will be attacked?" Baruch eyed the delegate, "Yes, the three are in striking distance of Glaciea... Well four if you include the one that is engaged against Menonia." The council erupted with the voices of the delegates. Kadmus lifted his hand to silence them. "It is obvious this is a grave situation. I would recommend that all city-states who have the sufficient reserve funds to purchase naval and military equipment. The formation of a United Greek Navy sounds like an excellent idea. I believe this should be done immediately. Any objections?" Silence. "Good, the session is over. Next session is tomorrow morning at 1200."

Offshore of Menonia
Admiral Casion was calm, considering the information he had just recieved from Supreme Admiral Architron. Six enemy Carrier Battlegroups were around Collistat, with three in the immediate area. The fact that six of Caladonn's own Carrier Groups were on their way did little to help the situation, since only two would be within range soon. At least the numbers were relatively even at the moment. Casion hoped that the Glaciean Squadron would arrive soon, they would provide a much needed possibly suprise attack. However, he was distracted by a Lieutenant who rushed up. "Sir, thirty planes from I Air Wing are nearing the enemy, the remainder of I Air Wing and II Air Wing are scrambled and ready."

Casion turned and accepted the man's salute, saying, "Good. Send off a second wave of I and II Air Wing planes, fifty in total. Fire more salvos of missiles from the fleet, use radar jamming devices, we want to try to shield these from them. And ready our SAMs and anti-aircraft."
The Lieutenant saluted and ran off, and soon Casionheard the roar of planes flying into the air, and the fleet firing off missiles.

The 30 Falcon-Class Fighter-Bombers were nearing the enemy carrier fleet, all radar-jamming devices active. They began to fire off Air-to-Air and Air-to-Surface missiles at the enemy fleet and support aircraft. Each plane was equipped with four, and they relied on the radar-jamming and the experience of the pilots to avoid getting hit.

TO: Ministry of Military Affairs, Caladonn City, Caladonn
FROM: High Delegate Jayr Kadmus
SUBJECT: Carrier Groups
"I am sorry to say that after some deliberation with the council we have decided to permit a maximum of three carrier battle groups into Collistat's waters. Our delegates are somewhat afraid that too much foreign military power in Collistat could bring about another war. We hope you understand."

TO: Kazakhstania
FROM: High Delegate Jayr Kadmus
SUBJECT: Request to land airborne division
"I am sorry to say that after deliberating with the council we have to decided to allow only 5,000 of your airborne soldiers to land in Menonia. Once landed we request that follow our generals advice and stick to mainly defensive duties around several key cities. We are eager for your reply."

Menonia City
The Imperator thought for a moment, about the foreign general's question. "I believe our power supply should be sufficient to meet your needs. However just to be certain I would believe it would be best to order some of your own generators incase ours are knocked out. I'll get my men to start moving your equipment immediately. I'll show you and your men their rooms for the night." The Imperator led the men into the lavishly decorated palace. Menonia guards and soldiers carefully carried the Guild soldiers equipment behind the group. Each room was elaborately decorated with flowers, fine paintings, and crystal lamps. Swords and armour of great warriors of the past hung on each wall.

Once the Imperator finished showing the soldeirs to their rooms he showed them the Grand Congregation Room. "Now this is where we will be planning your retraining methods, and exercises. Once the everything is planned out we shall transport your men to the nearest army base and you can commence your planned mission. Is this fine with you?"

Laska
The Menonia battalion was suffering far too many casualties. Despite allied bombing runs the Menonians were still being continiously ravaged by tanks, and infantry combat vehicles. Buildings were being toppled by High Explosive Rounds and any soldier caught in the open was immediately targetted and killed. With over one hundred and ten soldiers killed and three hundred and forty wounded the call to retreat came from a lieutenant, the captain had been killed during the early stages of the battle. The Menonians immediately dropped their entire knapsacks, save their rifles, and took off running. Dark Legion soldiers managed to kill a dozen or so more soldiers as they took off running into the woods. With the Menonians out of their troubles the garrison now looked to destroy the remaining foreign airborne soldiers.

TO: Criticus Zabic, Foreign Affairs Advisor to the Emperor Cutter
FROM: Lord Thanatos of Galadnor

"We do not fear your empty threats. If any foreigner is found fighting alongside Greek fighters they will be dealt with even harsher than the greeks. It would be best if you ordered your men out of Collistat before it is too late."

Laska
The mortar fire was wearing the soldiers down somewhat. A dozen more killed and two dozen more wounded as a result of the enemies effective mortar fire. The long crawl up the hill continued. A massive RPG attack was carried out, twenty-four RPGs were launched towards the front lines in hopes of destroying fortified positions and killing the enemies airborne soldiers. Machine gunners took up positions and began laying down cover fire as soldiers began to quicken their pace to the hill.

At the bottom of the hill, twelve BMP-3 and six T-80UM tanks were called to provide support to the soldiers. The six T-80UM tanks immediately began targetting the enemies own tank, firing off twelve aimed shots at various weak spots in the armour.

The BMP-3's started climbing up the hill, going in a zig zag pattern to avoid enemy anti-tank rockets. As the vehicles climbed the hill they let off 30mm rounds and 7.62mm machine gun rounds.

News of enemy airborne soldiers in the town spread quickly. Four BMP-2's and two T-72's were dispatched to block off the streets the trapped soldiers could leave through. Legion soldiers in the buildings continued to harass the airborne soldiers by lobbing grenades and white phosphorous grenades at the enemy soldiers in the buildings.

In the skies the DA-101's continued to loop in and out of the towns buildings to avoid the enemies missiles. AAA crewmen on the ground fired rounds at enemy fighters as they flew over the town and soldiers launched a series of Stinger missiles at enemy aircraft. Still three aircraft were destroyed in the process.

Now turning back towards the enemies fighters the remaining nine fighters launched twenty-seven AtA missiles at the enemies aircraft. They continued to follow close behind the aircraft firing off their inaccurate cannons.

Off Shore Menonia
The newly launched missiles did little to the fleet. One destroyer was damaged slightly, damaging it's navigational systems. Seeing as the oppurtunity was right, the three DL fleets launched fifty missiles each for a total of one hundred and fifty missiles towards the foriegn enemy fleet. All aircraft were launched from all three carriers for a total of seventy-two aircraft, twenty-four per fleet. The aircraft were ordered to maintain position around the carrier and to act as anti-aircraft platforms.

The DA-101 Raven and DA-88 Super Falcon fighters were ready for an enemy missile attack. At a range of 75km they each launched four Meduim Air to Air missiles, for a total of ninety-six missiles. The fighters broke off formation and began to close in on the enemies fighters, preparing to launch another wave of Short Range Air to Air missiles.

The aircraft were too late, however, in preventing the enemies own missiles to be launched. Seven fighters were downed from the enemies missile attack, and three corvettes, a frigate and a destroyer were heavily damaged or destroyed as a result. The Johnston AA Destroyers still remaining began to blanket the air with missiles aimed at enemy fighters. However one missile targetted and destroyed a DA-101. The Missile Control Operator was shot for his stupidity in shooting down a Legion Aircraft.

High above the skies in the frozen wasteland a flight of 52 DA-88 Super Falcon Air Superiority Fighters, and 12 DA-20 Meduim Bombers quietly flew. The formation was moving away from the known carrier positions of Glaciea, and the foreign carrier position. Their mission was held in the highest of secrecy, only Lord Thanatos and the Dark King knew the true purpose of this mission. Their destination would be reached soon.
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To: Commander Of Caladonn Fleet
From: Commander Cervis Ostrin
Subject: Fleet Position
"Greetings I am Commander Cervis Ostrin of the 2nd Glaciean Fleet. Our fleet currently has several contacts on radar but are uncertain of your own fleet's position. If you could relay us your position that would assist us greatly."

TO: High Delegate Jayr Kadmus, Collistat
FROM: Supreme Admiral Architron, Ministry of Military Affairs, Caladonn City, Caladonn
SUBJECT: Re: Carrier Groups
We understand your hesitancy, however do not wish to be overwhelmed by the no less than six carrier groups of the Dark Legion. However, the enemy fleets seem to carry smaller amounts of planes than our own carriers, so this may even the balance somewhat. We hear you are attempting to develope a more advanced navy, and if possible we may be able to sell you ships and or send experts to Collistat to help train your personnel.

Offshore of Menonia
TO: Commander Ostrin of the 2nd Glaciean Fleet
FROM: Admiral Casion, VI Carrier Group of the Imperial Caladonnian Navy, Chief of Collistat Operations
SUBJECT: Re: Fleet Position
Greetings Commander Ostrin, this is Admiral Casion. My location is 45 degrees North Latitude, 36 degrees East Longitude. I hope I can rendezvous with your fleet, so that we may coordinate operations for the eradication of the enemy.

Admiral Casion was pleased, as he had not only met up with the Commander of the XXI Carrier Group, Commodore Arvon, but had also established communications with Commodore Quathilar of the II Carrier Group. Suddenly, all his good will evaporated when the radar operator reported 150 missiles headed for the merged carrier groups.

Immediately, all radar-jamming equipment was put on emergency power, the full air wings of both carriers were scrambled and sent into the air, all ships began evasive action, and anti-missile systems began firing. With all these combined, the radar-jamming causing some missiles to miss their targets, the Falcon Fighter-Bombers shooting down all missiles they could, the drastic movements of the ships confusing some missiles, and all the guns of the ships targeted above, most missiles were diverted. Despite this, a destroyer and a frigate from the combined fleets were destroyed, while two other destroyers and one cruiser suffered heavy damage. Luckily, most of the personnel on board the sunken ships were rescued, and repair crews got right to fixing the other ships.

Meanwhile, 150 missiles were launched for retaliation against the enemy, and another assault of a full 80 aircraft was launched, the remainder of II Air Wing on the Silver Needle and the entire I Air Wing of the Wraithguard, the other carrier.

Over the enemy carriers, the two waves of Falcon Fighter-Bombers had merged, and now 60 aircraft attacked the enemy. Ten were downed by the combined effort of the Dark Legion fleets, many narrowly escaping by flying out of range of the surface-based guns and resorting to barrel-rolls and other complicated maneuvers, still executed to perfection due to the pilots' high training.

The planes fought back, launching volleys of Air-to-Air missiles, four per plane, at the enemy planes, while also firing a whithering hail of Air-to-Surface missiles at extreme range at the enemy fleet, engaging the enemy fighters at long range for the ships to minimise the enemy's advantage.

Laska

The RPG fire was tremedous, meaning every object or rock that stuck up int he air was instantly destroyed. Six machine gun posts were destroyed along with fifteen men, and collapsing several trenches. The 30mm fire also had a nasty habit of richoceting, heavily wounding seven more.

On the other flank trenches, the troops began to withdraw to the rear. Was this it? Was this the Kazakhstanian retreat? Machine gun fire continued down the hill, assisted by withering mortar and grenade fire. The enemy was so close greandes could be lobbed, and they were, masses of them down the hill.

The remaining tank turned to engage, getting of four aimed AT shots before the turret being peeled off like an orange skin. Only one of the crew survived, Alexander Nivsky, who ran for the woods. The resistance seemed to be decreasing, however. With many MG's gone, the line was weaker, and rifles and grenades were being called on now.

Three platoons had been wiped out, aswell as two tanks and half a platoon in the town. The commander in the town, one Dimtry Grylov, ordered the squads to make a break for the woods with the Menonian's. One platoon would cover fire, while the other ran. When the other platoon reached the woods, it would cover the rest to get across.

And, with the ful might of a platoon, they set up positions and fired on everything that moved.

The troops on the hill were relying on one last resort. They frantically radioed the Caladonnian Fleet, with the following message:

TO: Commander, Caladonnan Fleet
FROM: Commander, Kazakh Forces

URGENT. Our forces engaged in Laska require serious help from either bombardment by Naval Vessels, or heavy air support. No additional support is available. Please, assist us to take the town of Laska!

The aircraft didnt stand a chance. they got off six emergency IR missiles before being engaged from all over. The jets were torn up, and only two pilots ejected. They decended, meeting up at an obscure statue just west of the town, near the woods....

The II Carrier Group, commanded by Rear Admiral Derian, plowed through the placid sea toward Laska. They had heard a distress call from the troops of Kazakhstania, and judging that Admiral Casion and his Carrier Groups could hold the enemy carrier groups for now. Once he was within range, his carrier group launched 75 surface-to-ground missiles at the Dark Legion emplacements, and scrambled both Air Wings. I Air Wing took off, 50 Falcon-Class Fighter-Bomber zooming off at high speed for Laska. Both the planes and the ships had all defenses on, with radar-jammers and maneurverability at maximum. The ships continued to close, and eventually the battleships, cruisers, and destroyers were within range with their guns. They began to bombard the city, thousands of high-explosive shells detonating all over before the planes reached the city.

Bump

A meteorite hit the conning tower of the carrier, and made a bump.

This thread be dead.

Indeed.

One last bump...