NationStates Jolt Archive

General Alexei Verennikov clutched the railing lining the forward deck of the large transport ship Lew, his knuckles white, cold, and damp as the sea spray mingled with frozen drizzle from above. Cold drops matted his thick grey hair, and dripped down his neck, running under his heavy collar and adding to the dampness of an already soaked heavy green overcoat. The man’s traditional perma-scowl was glued to his jaw.

He detested the sea, and always had, having grown up in the landlocked streets of the great southern Generian city of Sofia, the majestic second capital. He found that the salt air annoyed him, as did the incessant squawking of sea birds, disgusting winged rats that he often took pleasure in blasting out of the sky with a double barreled sporting shotgun.

Unfortunately (as fortune rarely seemed to particularly favor Verennikov), it had been recently assigned to him the duties of establishing a garrison within a newly claimed strip of Imperial territory on a distant continent. As distasteful as the fact was that he would have to make the trip via ship, it was even more of an annoyance, possibly even an insult, that he had been pulled away from his duties commanding Generian troops in Buchiana. It was one thing to be given a lousy assignment, but being pulled away from combat operations during wartime to take over a lousy assignment was an entirely different story.

Thus the good General’s less than pleasant mood was understandable, however, when through the thick fog a shadow resembling the contours of a shore became visible, his spirits lifted somewhat, though no visible change in his demeanor was evident. Another form in a green coat approached over the slippery deck, trying to keep a cap pressed down on his head much to the displeasure of the wind. Against the thunder of the waves, he called out to Verennikov.

“General, sir, the Captain reports that we will be ready to put ashore in forty minutes.”

Verennikov grumbled something inaudible and waved his hand dismissively. The other man, recognizing the General’s disgruntlement, turned and disappeared into the belly of the vessel, where it was both warmer and dryer while the General continued watching the vaguely defined contours of the new land.

As the captain of the transport had promised, in forty minutes the first of the transports, having ascertained that the depths of the approach were free from hidden reefs and sandbars, lumbered up to the very edge of the shoreline and let the great doors of the stern swing open to reveal the gaping maw from which a column of Imperial G-119 APCs rumbled forth, through the two feet of surf that lapped at the steel.

Further out, the rest of the Imperial 7th battlegroup and transport fleet drifted. Wide missile cruisers moved sluggishly on the current behind the line of transports waiting to divulge their soldiers and supplies. Overhead, GH-2 utility helicopters from the battlegroup’s lone carrier moved in to hover over the soggy beach.

General Verennikov stepped out of the chopper, which had set down in a stretch of grass that separated the shore from the thick forest that seemed to run endlessly along its edge. The rain had turned into a sort of icy sleet now, sludge that moistened and stuck to the fibers of the General’s coat, prompting a deeper scowl than usual.

“Feels like home.”

He looked around at the terrain. From the helicopter he had noticed that much of the area seemed heavily forested, with ridges and rolling hills pervading the landscape further inland. He had been tasked to set up a garrison here, but he was not sure he could think of a worse place to have to do it.

“The things I do for God and country…”

Verennikov grumbled and climbed back into the helicopter.

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Official Status Report

Sender: General Alexei Vernnikov
To: General Lew Nys’ky

We have landed on the continent and have begun preparations to establish a garrison to secure territory claimed by the Empire in preparation for colonial landings later in the year. The current deployment stands as

-14,000 Imperial regular infantrymen
-6,000 Imperial military engineers
-200 G-119 Heavy Armored Personnel Carriers
-25 ST-29 Main Battle Tanks
-assorted heavy construction machinery

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2 Weeks After The Landing

The Imperial Military Engineers and their regular infantry counterparts had been hard at work, setting up their beachhead in this desolate swath of territory that the Imperial High Command had christened Novaya Alberia, recognizing the similarities to the frozen sub steppe regions of the northern Empire commonly referred to as Hell’s Freezer.

The labors of the Generians contingent had already yielded a completed airfield and the makings of a full airbase a half kilometer inland, where construction crews had cleared away the trees from a section of very flat land. Further inland, where the hills rolled and the ridges stood imperiously overlooking the free range of Manium, General Verrenikov had his teams constructing a second base on the top of an oversized high plateau. It looked now more like the base of a fortress with the beginnings of steel and concrete walls and heavy brick structures replacing the temporary wooden longhouses and cloth tents. Imperial 155mm artillery guns, airlifted in a few days earlier from the transport and supply vessels which still lingered offshore, now peered off over the boundless stretch of trees that led up to the imposing mountain range that lingered in the distance, silent and still like a great sleeping beast.

General Verennikov now sat in a snug second floor room in the largest structure of the plateau base, dubbed Fort Antonius. The noise of electric drills and heavy equipment was still audible as the crews continued work on the rest of the building which would become the headquarters of the Novaya Alberian Colonial Military Command. Verrenikov leaned back in a leather chair and put his boots up on the polished mahogany desk, freshly brought in from Port Belgrade Generia as a present from the Military High Command in recognition of the initial successes he had made in building up the Imperial foothold in the foreign land. The tip of a long Guadalombian cigar burned slowly in the soft glow of an electric lamp as a fireplace roared on the opposite wall. He was almost able to forget the gale outside and the noise of the construction equipment, and felt some of the tension in his neck melting away. He decided that he might be able to get used to this job. At least he wasn’t being shot at.

A knock came on the heavy wooden door, and the General shouted his permission to enter. An officer appearing to be in his early forties stepped into the room. He had the mark of a Colonel, and the grim, self assured look common to the members of the Generian Officer Corps. He offered a starch salute and stepped forward.

“General Verennikov, sir.”

Verennikov took a long pull on his cigar.

“Colonel Androupov.”

“You requested my presence, sir.”

“Indeed. I wanted to inquire about the status of the special operations recon unit that was supposed to arrive today.”

“A cargo aircraft brought them in at airbase NA-1 shortly before you called for me, sir.”

“Good, good. Has the commanding officer unloaded?”

“He’s informed me that he is on his way here as you requested, General.”

“Excellent. Alright, go back about your business. This base won’t build itself.”

“Of course, sir.”

The colonel saluted and walked out of the room, nearly running straight into a younger officer as he left. A muttered apology later, the man, a major by his markings, stepped into the room and saluted.

“General Verennikov, sir. Major Nikolai Vrantasha reporting. I was told to come here as soon as my unit finished unloading.”

“At ease, Major.”

Smoke from the cigar drifted over the General’s lower jaw and nostrils, floating up to wreath his head in grey.

“I’m sorry if this deployment isn’t as exciting as the battlefields of Buchiana. I’d rather be back over there myself, but we do have work to do over here too, and according to the Emperor, this colony is just as important to Imperial interests as the war effort in that rogue hellhole back home.”

Of course Verennikov didn’t buy a word of what he was telling the young man, but it was imperative that he keep his men focused, knowing full well that everyone there would rather have been fighting the rebels in Buchiana.

“Of course, sir.”

“I personally requested that your company be deployed over here because I like your record. If we intend to hold onto this little strip of hell, we’ll need good men like you and your team to get their hands dirty for us.”

“Sir, if I may, what exactly will we be doing here?”

“The first assignment of C company, 3rd Imperial Regular Infantry Special Forces battalion stands as strict recon duty. We don’t know what’s out there under all those trees, so I’m sending your boys to find out. Should take you a couple weeks working out in opposite directions to map the place and find anything interesting that might be sitting out there. You and your boys rest up. You’ll be pulling out of here first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, sir.”

The Major saluted and walked out of the office, leaving the General to his cigar.