NationStates Jolt Archive

Alexander studied the reports for one last time. The worries have begun to take their toll on his face, as the wrinkles started to show up. This was no problem that would go away fast and easy. The problems of a crowded nation, with large needs of refined oil and natural gases could only be resolved by money, and the budget was getting fin on credits. He raised his eyes to the council of ministers that was waiting for his words.

`Gentlemen, you obviously all read the report before I did, or you wouldn’t look at me with these worried faces. You all know the problems and the solutions suggested by the Minister of Finance. Quite expensive, and they all include a further increase of our trade deficit and expenses from the budget. I have another report here from the Imperial Security Service, one that you don’t know about. It implies military action against Euroslavia, and the annexation of one of its islands, the one called Pirate Island to be more specific. As you are aware, the main qualities of this island are the extensive agriculture system and more important, large underwater oil deposits. This would resolve our problems for the next thirty years. As such, I have ordered the 6th Amphibious Assault Group to advance towards Pirate Island and stand by for further instructions.`

Alexander waited as the ministers started to come back from the shock of hearing the news of war.

`Minister of Defense, as we discussed, I expect a full report on the forces sent to Pirate Island. Until then gentlemen, I apologize for not asking your advice on this, but the situation asked for maximum secrecy, and I was not convinced that some of you would be able to keep this for yourselves.`

He stood up, and left the room, enjoying the total silence that his advisors could not break, still in awe from the news they’ve just received.

`Sir`, his minister of defence approached. `I have the numbers on the forces that you required. `
`Thank you Colville. Come with me. I’ll study them and we’ll decide together on the orders to be sent to the fleet.`

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
6th Amphibious Assault Group - Admiral Francis Dubois
Land and Air capabilities

[4] Marine Brigades with a total of :
- 10.000 marines (out of which 50 commando)
- 80 T-2 Decebal main battle tanks
- 120 IFV-1 Legionnaire infantry fighting vehicles
- 300 armed Humvees (220 with MG, 80 with TOW)
- 400 snipers, 400 heavy machine guns, 400 RPG-7 missile launchers, 400 22mm mortars (1 of each/plutoon)
- 50 towed 105mm artillery
- 12 self-propelled howitzers

[1] Carriers based Air-Wings with a total of:
40 AH-1Ro Dracula atack helicopters
60 Puma medium transport helicopters
60 Su-30Mk carrier based fighter-bomber
8 E-6B Prowler
8 carrier based AWACS
16 close-support Harrier II aircraft (VTOL)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Alexander smiled as he finished reading the report.
`Sir, our report shows that our forces can match the ones based on the military base on the island. `
`Very well, Colville, we have the element of surprise on our side too. If Dubois is as capable as I think he is, he will be the new Navy grand-admiral by the time this is finished. Send the orders now. `


*encoded transmission*
To: Francis Dubois
Location: 6th Amphibious Assault Group, CVN-135 Oituz
Subject: Alpha Strike
From: the desk of Emperor Alexander Caladon

Admiral Francis Dubois, you will continue as ordered before towards the designated target. On arrival you will carry the orders received before departure. Operation Alpha Strike may begin.

Francis held the decoded piece of paper in his hands, burning with anticipation. It was the third time he read it, and each time his dream of becoming grand-admiral of the Imperial Navy seemed closer. He turned towards his war council and told the two men:
`Operation Alpha Strike is a go. Prepare your men for the assault as soon as we come in range. Arm the airplanes, prepare the soldiers and the landing craft. First wave, aircraft attack on the military base, while keeping some airplanes for fleet defense. Second wave, 1st Marine Battalion will set foot on the island, via helicopters, and secure the landing point. Third wave will land the rest of the troops and armored vehicles. Meanwhile, the commandos will occupy two points on the roads that come to the beach and ambush any forces that try to surprise us. After that, the command rests in your hands and you may use any strategy you deem necessary.`
`Sir, we’re sixty miles away of the island`, said a young officer, timidly interrupting the battle plans.
`Very good lieutenant. `
Francis looked in the direction of the island and smiled. He could feel this was an important day for him, the day he would become a war hero.

The General that was stationed at Pirate Isle was getting irritated. He wasn't too happy at the orders he received from Lady Destra nos Thiendrel, in staying on the island for a longer period of time. He joined the army so that he could get experience through war, not sit back, and watch life slowly pass him by. It was killing him softly, inside his heart. If he didn't get any war action soon, his heart would stop, out of boredom.

The rest of the island was perfectly quiet; the way it has been for the past ten years. Nothing ever happened here...but today...today would be different. They were about to get into the greatest fight that has ever happened in Pirate Isle history, as well as being put to the test for Euroslavia's Armed Forces.

A soldier ran up towards the cabin of the General. He was a watch-out for Pirate Isle, and occassionally flew around the Island just to make sure nothing suspicious occurred, though he knew nothing would really happen. Most of the time though, he sat back in the underground base, which was really an outdated place, but the technology was quite new. He could just sit back and keep watch of the radar that aided Pirate Isle in sensing enemy movements, as well as allied movements.

"Sir," he let out, gasping for air, "It seems there is a pretty decent sized naval group heading towards the island. What should we do about it?"

The General reacted in suprise. "You've got to be kidding me. Why would anyone attack Pirate Isle? It's probably the least important of the islands under the Euroslav Flag, but still, I suppose it could be a good staging point for an attack..."

"Should we sound the alarm, and prepare for a seige? What about naval reinforcements?" said the soldier, questioning the General.

"Send a radio wave to the Navy High Command, and request that naval and air defenses are launched. If they act upon it quick enough, they'll be here just as the enemy forces arrive. Now soldier, we need to identify the enemy. There are approximately four submarines within the waters around Pirate Isle, only because of the fact that the Island is rich is oil; otherwise, we would have abandoned it a long time ago. Contact one of those submarines and have them find out who our enemy is."

"Yes, sir!" The soldier then ran out, back to his base, and immediately sent a request for the submarines defending the Island to find out who the enemy was.

"It's about damn time something happened here." shouted the General. He let out a sadistic laugh, and started running back to his cabin, where he would contact the rest of the island, and prepare its defenses.

`Launch the aircraft from the Oituz carrier, and the helicopters with the 1st Battalion from the Marasesti and Marasti. Start preparing the landing craft. What are you waiting for? Get on with it! `, screamed the admiral, with the stress already taking over him. His first battle, hell, the first battle in a hundred years for his nation, and he’s got the command. He grinned as he saw the Su-30Mk`s launching for their target.

Captain Gustave Caber looked down as the fighters under his command launched from the carrier, following him to the designated target. He looked again at his radar and all thirty-six planes were in the air. All nice and easy, or so he hoped. Twenty-four of them armed for interception and anti-radiation weapons, and twelve with air-sol missiles and anti-paveway bombs to destroy the airfield and any defenses of the base that they could get their eyesight on. Hopefully they wouldn’t encounter much resistance due to the surprise, but he felt relieved that at least the aircraft armed with bombs had at least two missiles to defend themselves.

`Raven, Tornado and Vulture squadrons, follow me. Nice and as low as you can boys, just as we practiced. We must remain invisible as much time as possible. Let’s just hope their radars aren’t too advanced. `

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As they left for their designated target, they could see behind them the helicopters rising from the decks of the smaller carriers. Sixty transport helicopters, forty attack helicopters and sixteen Harrier II`s for escort, and in the next hour 1st Marines Battalion will have secured the landing point if all went well.

What the enemy failed to realize was the fact that Pirate Isle was easily one of the more defended islands within the territories of Euroslavia. It's location wasn't exactly the most profitable; however, the resources that it held within its small area was well worth the advanced defenses placed across the island. One of the most vital surface-to-air missile that the island had to defend against any sort of air attack was the FIM-92A Stinger Weapon system, which defended against low-altitude attacks, while the YMGM-157B (http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/mgm-157.htm) had a little longer of a distance allowed in traveling, and is the most accurate of the defensive missiles aquired. Both of these missiles are short-ranged defense, so a third type of missile was acquired recently, and deployed approximately four months ago. The missile was recently renamed the EUR-10A, seeing as there are continually new tests being made at advancing its range, as well as its capabilities. The EUR-10B is still in the testing phase, and is still unauthorized by use in any defensive/offensive mode.

Men all across the island were mobilizing for an attack, in case the units spotted were of an enemy. They still weren't exactly sure if the ships were from an allied nation seeking a refuge, because there was always a war going on somewhere. The aircraft of the island were fully prepared for such an event; however, the pilots weren't exactly within the area of the planes. One good thing about the island was that it was small enough for anyone to get around it within a short amount of time. There were checkpoints all across the island where transport vehicles would be placed, in case of an attack, so that each of the pilots/soldiers could get to his place within a matter of minutes. One of the rules of the island was that a soldier/pilot could not go five miles away from his stationed area, to prevent mass confusion and anarchy among the island in an attack.

While the missiles were being deployed, and the aircraft prepared to launch, the reinforcements from the mainland of Euroslavia had begun to arrive. Naval ships full of marines and armed forces, as well as tanks and artillery were being unloaded. One problem though, was the fact that the entire mobilization of the mechanized units wouldn't be in their correct places if a quick attack was planned by the enemy. It was in hopes that the anti-air defenses would hold the island to minimal damages until all of the units could get into their position to defend the island at all costs. Euroslavia was known for its defenses, rather than its offense, and this would be a great test of skill.

Meanwhile, within the underground base of operations, the soldier monitoring the radar screen for the area surrounding the island noticed an explosion in the amount of units that appeared within its range. It was in good timing that the General appeared in the room and began to speak.

"How many units are we looking at here, soldier?" he asked.

"It seems as if they've just launched their first wave of aircraft. The amount of units on the radar have nearly doubled. We need to begin firing our missiles if we're going to have a chance at destroying their first wave of attacks, sir." the soldier replied.

"Alright then. Give this signal to everyone to begin firing our long-distance missiles. They were brought to the island for a reason, not long ago, now we're ready to put them to the test."

The General looked at the soldier and sighed.

"I wish we had time to develop the EUR-10B, though unstable, it would have given us a much bigger advantage than this missile. Though, it'll have to do for now. There ain't nothing wrong with it... I just like to have superiority over our enemy."

He paused again, for a few seconds, and then gave the command.

"Fire the missiles!" in the intercom, which was connected throughout the entire island.

At once, approximately sixty missiles were fired from along the coastline. They began their campaign in taking out as many enemy aircraft as possible, shooting off into the ocean. The number of aircraft that had been launched by the enemy was still unknown, though an estimate of 50 had been given, with the possibility of being quite inaccurate.

`Raven 1, I got contacts on radar, bearing 180, forty eight, no, make that sixty seekers. `
`Crap, Vulture 1, 2 and 3 lock on the air-defense radars and fire the anti-radiation missiles. Tornado squadron, launch the ASM`s, target any air-defense batteries you can find and the ground base. Now, let’s see if we can put a little fire on them. `, said Gustave in a silent laughter.

Twelve anti-radiation missiles launched, targeting their air-defense radars, went away towards the island. As the anti-radiation missiles were fired, the Tornado squadron started launching the air-to-ground missiles, targeting the enemy ground positions. Twenty-eight ASM`s were launched towards the military air-base, targeting the airport and twenty targeted the air-defenses from the coast.
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`Missiles away, Raven Leader. `
`Tornado squadron, return to the carrier. Your mission here is done. We’ll take care of the seekers. `

As the missiles approached, they spitted in two groups and some went towards the helicopter group taking off from the carrier. Those wouldn’t be such a problem, due to the fleet air-defenses, but the missiles approaching the Su-30Mk`s were giving Gustave a headache. Airplanes started to maneuver, trying to loose the missiles, launching counter-measures and moving to confuse the seeker. Not much you could do against those missiles though, thought Gustave while watching some of his precious friends getting blown out of the sky. Twelve of his friends perished in this first attack, and who knows how many more will follow until this war is over. At least they managed to complete their mission, they launched the missiles.

Meanwhile, back to the carrier, the helicopters taking off saw with awe on their radar the seekers approaching their group. Though many were shot down by the fleet defenses, eighteen helicopters were blown out of the sky.

` Tell the Harrier squadron to take out the remaining of the air-defenses on the coast. I want the rest of the airplanes in the air, protecting the fleet from any incoming air attacks, and the Prowlers with anti-radiation missiles, jamming and targeting the enemy radars. What’s the situation on the land assault? `
`They’re approaching the coast sir. ETA five minutes. `

As the surviving twenty-four airplanes returns to the carriers, another two squadrons of Su-30Mk`s numbering twenty-four aircraft, armed each with two short and six medium and long range air-air missiles, launched to protect the fleet while the first wave was refueling and rearming. Sixteen ground-support Harriers, each armed with two short range air-air missiles, two ASM`s and two laser-guided bombs headed to the coast, supported by eight EA-6B Prowler’s, electronic warfare aircraft, each with four anti-radiation missiles, to seek and destroy any enemy radar that dared to scan for aircraft. The AWACS airplane was in the air, scanning for any incoming missiles and aircraft. Meanwhile, as they launched, the Prowlers started jamming the enemy radars, hoping that they wouldn’t see them coming.